The Ironwood Carnegie Library in Ironwood, Michigan, has worked with the Ironwood Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Team (DEI Team) as a liaison for their Diversity Matters Reading Group (DMRG). This reading group strives to understand more about the disenfranchised in America (Hispanics, Latino, and black persons; Native Americans, immigrants, LGBTQ members) by reading nonfiction, fiction, and poetry. The books have been educational and the group discussions are lively and interesting. This is a book group well worth joining!

A few of the books we have read include: 

• Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward
• Ring, Shout, Wheel About: The Racial Politics of Music and Dance in North American Slavery by Katrina Dyonne Thompson
• Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
• The Poetry of Langston Hughes & American Sunrise by Joy Harju

The group meets virtually, and the Ironwood Carnegie has provided the Zoom links each month through Superiorland Cooperative.

As the new year begins, we hope to expand this group and invite you and readers from other libraries who might like to participate as we continue to explore diversity, equity, and inclusion through literature. The hope is to make this group a community based reading club spreading across Gogebic, Iron, and Ashland Counties. 

In January, the group has chosen the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. This is the first “classic” the group has chosen to read. We feel it will be a good read, especially since most of us have not read it since we were teenagers. There is much to revisit and rehash from our older perspectives. The book is readily available in several formats from all libraries.

Our January meeting will take place on Thursday, January 27^th at 6pm. We meet via Zoom with the link sent out to members by the Tuesday prior to the meeting date. To join the group or to ask any other questions, contact me at [email protected] or Carol Erickson at [email protected]