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• Dr. Wayne Wiegand, Historian and Author: "In Silence or Indifference: Racism and Jim Crow Segregated Public School Libraries”

  • When
    Tuesday, September 02, 2025
  •  
    10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
  • Location
    Fireside Gateway Room

  Register

  HCC Speaker Series,
  Tuesday, September 2, 10am,
  Gateway Fireside Room

  

  Join Rossmoor’s own library luminary on Tuesday, September 2 at 10:00 a.m. in the Fireside Room as Dr. Wayne Wiegand returns to the History & Culture Club’s Speaker Series.

  Wiegand, often referred to as “the Dean of American Library Historians,” is the author of many articles and books and is VP Development of the Rossmoor Scholarship Fund. He was also historical consultant for the PBS documentary “Free for All: The Public Library,” which will be aired on April 29.

  At the September meeting, Wiegand will discuss his new book, In Silence or Indifference: Racism and Jim Crow Segregated Public School Libraries, where he takes an unflinching look at librarianship during the Jim Crow era of 1954−1974.

  The idealized notion of libraries, charges Wiegand, was actually one of racism in the practice and customs of public school libraries during these decades. In fact, this led to the landmark Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision. Paradoxically, during this same period, the library profession was honing an image as a defender of intellectual freedom, the freedom to read, and an opponent of censorship.

  In this inaugural interview format, Wiegand will be joined by panelists Mary Taylor and Wayne Emrich and moderator Susan Moxley. Taylor is a social and racial justice activist advocating diversity, equity, and inclusion. Formerly a corporate sales and leadership professional, Taylor is currently Second Vice President of the Democrats of Rossmoor, Chair of the Black Lives Matter Committee of African Americans and Friends, and Chair of the Diversity Consciousness Committee of the Interfaith Council. Following a Fortune 500 accounting career, Emrich became a library assistant in Contra Costa County. A Texas University student in the 1950s, Emrich felt he should do his part to overturn Jim Crow and participated in social, nonviolent activism.

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• Day Trip: Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum & Edison Theater

  • When
    Tuesday, October 07, 2025
  •  
    9:00 AM - 4:00 PM
  • Location
    Meeting Place Announced with Reservation Acceptance
  • Spaces left
    48

  Tour, Tuesday, October 8.
  The Essanay Silent Film Museum, Fremont.
  Hosted lunch at Tyme for Tea

  Reservations for Day Trips are by US Mail only. Cost is $119.00. Registration by mail starts on Wednesday, August 27 and closes Sunday, September 28.
  

  Step back in time before talkies with HCC. Did you know the Essanay Silent Film Museum was an early studio for Charlie Chaplin films?  Have you ever seen the 'little tramp" walk down a dirt road?  It was right there in Fremont, just down the street from the Essanay. 

  Built originally in 1912, the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum is housed in an historic motion picture theater. The museum is dedicated to the exhibition, education, study and preservation of films from the silent era. Experience a docent led tour and view lots of early film memorabilia along with the projection room. Hear a brief talk on early film making, the history of the Niles film and Historic District and the Edison Theater - home of the Essanay Film Studio from 1912-1916. We’ll even watch 2 ‘shorts’ with Charlie and first movie cowboy, Bronco Billie. The hosted lunch is a block away at Tyme for Tea Cafe & Shop. Enjoy a Victorian Tea with savory sandwiches, sweets and teas.

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• Donato Cabrera, California Symphony's Artistic Director

  • When
    Tuesday, December 02, 2025
  •  
    10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
  • Location
    Gateway Fireside Room

  Register

  Tuesday, December 2, 10am, Fireside Room. 
  

  Donato Cabrera,
  Artistic Director of the California Symphony

  

  What does a Conductor do?

  Get ready for a treat! Mexican American conductor Donato Cabrera, Artistic Director of California Symphony, is renowned for adventurous programming, championing living composers, and dynamic community engagement. And he is coming to Rossmoor’s History & Culture Club on December 2, 2025! A leading advocate for living composers and digital innovation, he is keenly focused on outreach, engagement, and programming that reflects the communities he is serving. Don’t miss this dynamic presentation!

  Maestro Cabrera served as the Resident Conductor of the San Francisco Symphony and the Wattis Foundation Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra from 2009-2016. Cabrera is one of only a handful of conductors in history who has conducted performances with the San Francisco Symphony, San Francisco Opera, and the San Francisco Ballet. 

  Since Donato Cabrera's 2013 appointment as Music Director of the California Symphony, the organization has redefined what it means to be an orchestra in the 21st Century. In 2017, the California Symphony became the first orchestra in the country to make a public commitment to diversity. The statement underscores the orchestra’s commitment to creating an equitable, diverse, and inclusive artistic space and work environment both on and off stage. Furthermore, the California Symphony was one of the first orchestras to provide a bilingual Spanish and English website, allowing underrepresented segments of the Bay Area community to interact and engage with the orchestra. Under Cabrera’s baton, the California Symphony has reached new artistic heights by building on its reputation for innovative programming and championing music by living composers, while also committing to programming music by women and people of color.  Through California Symphony’s celebrated Young American Composer-in-Residence program, Cabrera has commissioned and premiered over a dozen compositions, including works by Viet Cuong, Katherine Balch, and the current Composer-in-Residence, Saad Haddad. The California Symphony's concerts are regularly broadcast on KUSC in Los Angeles, KDFC in San Francisco, and across the country via the WFMT Radio Network, through the orchestra's radio series. 

  Deeply committed to diversity and education through the arts, Cabrera evaluates the scope, breadth, and content of the California Symphony’s Sound Minds program, which has achieved national attention for its El Sistema-inspired approach and has a proven track record in impacting the lives and improving the test scores of hundreds of K-6 children in San Pablo’s Downer Elementary School.  Also an advocate for adult education, Cabrera helped create and shape the California Symphony’s program Fresh Look: The Symphony Exposed, a summer weekly lecture series that helps to explain the music and composers in an approachable, yet in-depth, way. 

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