Celebrate the power of words as a source of witness and healing as Dr. Jewell Parker Rhodes delivers the 27th annual Effie Lee Morris Lecture. Rhodes' numerous award-winning and bestselling books for young people include Ghost Boys, Black Brother, Black Brother, Paradise on Fire, Bayou Magic (part of the Louisiana Girls Trilogy) and many others. A book-signing with the author follows the event. 

(Please note: Copies of the author’s books will be available free of charge to youth while supplies last. Any copies not claimed by youth will be available free of charge to adult attendees while supplies last. Books will not be sold at this event.)

This year, the Effie Lee Morris Lecture returns as an in-person event to the Koret Auditorium for the first time since 2019. Masking strongly recommended.

For more information, call 415-557-4554. 

This event will also be accessible for real-time remote viewing via Zoom. Registration required here for Zoom attendees: https://sfpl-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_3LpMJV9vSsyNKrle5V6OsA

The Effie Lee Morris Lecture is a co-production of the SFPL Main Children's Center and the SFPL Racial Equity Committee, supported by the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library and in association with the San Francisco chapter of the Women's National Book Association.

The Effie Lee Morris Lecture series at SFPL honors the values embodied by Effie Lee Morris (1921 – 2009), the first SFPL coordinator of children’s services, the first Black president of the Public Library Association, and founder of the San Francisco chapter of the Women’s National Book Association.

Ms. Morris was a tireless champion of diversity, inclusivity, and the rights of all young people to read, learn and create. She initiated the first annual celebration of Black history for youth at the Cleveland Public Library, and at the New York Public Library was the first librarian whose work focused on the needs of children who were blind or visually impaired. At SFPL, she was especially noted for her commitment to personally visit underserved communities to get books into the hands of all our youth.

Photo credit: Jay Watson Photography