About book club 

The People's Saturday School's Book Club is a transformative learning community. Once a month, we will work through a book written by a movement elder or ancestor and engage in honest and vulnerable dialogue about the themes of colonialization, police brutality, mass incarceration, love and resistance. Together, we aim to develop tools to better analyze our material conditions and work toward collective liberation. Book Club meetings will take place on the second Saturday of each month from 10am-12pm at 30 Ashley Street, Hartford, Connecticut, starting on Saturday, April  12th. 

Space is limited! Please register no later than the 1st Saturday of the month for each month’s session. You are welcome, but not required to register for multiple or all sessions. 

When possible, we will provide registered participants a free digital copy of the selected text. If not, participants are responsible for getting a copy of the text from a local public library or bookstore.

 Coffee, tea, and pastries will be provided. 

High quality masks (i.e. KN95, N95) will be offered and encouraged. A HEPA air purifier will be in use in the meeting space and windows will be open for ventilation, weather permitting. Please stay home if you are experiencing any flu or COVID-19 symptoms, or have had a recent COVID-19 exposure.

About the text

The book for June isMiss Major Speaks: Conversations with a Black Trans Revolutionary by Miss Major Griffin-Gracy and Toshio Meronek.  Miss Major Speaks is both document of her brilliant life–told with intimacy, warmth and an undeniable levity-and a roadmap for the challenges black, brown, queer and trans youth will face on the path to liberation today.

About the author

Miss Major Griffin-Gracy is a veteran of the infamous Stonewall Riots, a former sex worker, and a transgender elder and activist who has survived Bellevue psychiatric hospital, Attica Prison, the HIV/AIDS crisis and a world that white supremacy has built. She has shared tips with other sex workers in the nascent drag ball scene of the late 1960s, and helped found one of America’s first needle exchange clinics from the back of her van.

About the facilitator 

Jose is a Puerto Rican socialist, artist and nerd surviving in the belly of the beast. They are a founding member of The People’s Saturday School and an educator working with youth in Hartford. They deeply believe in the people’s ability to heal and transform, and in a world free of the empire. Jose loves being a papa and is dedicated to raising their bebé in a world that prioritizes people, community and care. 

Any questions? Please contact saturdaycooperative@gmail.com.