The Friends of the Westfield Memorial Library, in partnership with the Westfield Memorial Library and the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Association of Westfield, are celebrating Black History Month 2025 with an exhibition of portraits and with four discussions inspired by those portraits. Fourteen paintings, relating to the Black Experience, were chosen from the collection of Americans Who Tell the Truth (AWTT) and will be on display for the month of February.  The portraits on display and programs will be held in the Meeting Room.

Ethel M. Washington willspeak on the African American impact on education and literature, including Westfield's role in the Harlem Renaissance.

Ethel M. Washington spent her career working in non-profit cultural organizations and institutions of hiher education, including the Educational departments of the Newark and Montclair Art Museum, Foundng Coordinator of the African American Design Archive, Cooper Hewitt, National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution, New York City; Director of the Engineering Opportunity Porgram (EOP), New Jersey Instuitute of Technology, New; Assistant Dean of Students for Minority Affairs and Sepcial Events, Douglass College, Rutgers University; History Programs Coordinator, Union County Ofiice of Cultural Heritage Affairs, Department of Parks and Community Renewal. Reitired from position of Grants Manager, City of Plainfield, NJ 2013-2018. She received her Bachelor of Science in English from Central State University, Wilberforce, Ohio; Master of Arts and Master of Education, Columbia University, New York, NY ; pursued doctoral work at Rutgers Graduate School of Social Work, New Brunswick; recipient of a Museum Studies Certificate, Rutgers Graduate School of Art History, New Brunswick.