Members of Questers El Molino Chapter #599, a California nonprofit dedicated to the preservation and restoration of historical objects, has designated its February monthly meeting as a fundraiser to support the Altadena Historical Society’s recovery, restoration and rebuilding of AHS after the Eaton Fire, with a special emphasis on the Black Community.
The keynote presenter for the Octavia E. Butler-themed event is Dr. Chi-Ming Yang, Professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania and an accomplished scholar specializing in histories of race, empire, and East-West cultural exchange. Her recent book on the childhood influences and writings of Octavia E. Butler, Octavia E. Butler: H is for Horse, published by the Oxford University Press, is available May 2025.
Dr. Yang says the Horse represents the contradictions of freedom and captivity, which are concepts central to Butler’s creative thinking. The book also includes interviews with Butler’s classmates at the John Muir High School in Pasadena, as well as Altadena community members.
“Our Questers’ goals include education through research and study of antiques, preservation and restoration of artifacts, existing memorials, historic buildings, landmarks and education,” says Fundraiser Chair Dr. Kathleen Lesko, a longtime researcher at Huntington Library and award-winning co-author of “Black Georgetown Remembered,” chronicling the Black history of Georgetown, Maryland, from 1751 to present day.
AHS President Veronica Jones will be featured for her leadership in the decontamination of the existing AHS archives and buildings (which were miraculously saved) and the ongoing effort to digitize these resources to ensure significant Altadena stories are not lost to history.
“All that you touch/You change. All that you change/Changes you.” – Octavia E. Butler, Parable of the Sower (1993).
Members chose the event theme focusing on Octavia E. Butler, an award-winning Black woman author of immense accomplishment and reputation who lived her formative years on the border of Pasadena and Altadena. Her papers are deposited in the Octavia E. Butler Archives at the Huntington Library.
Her powerful, prophetic voice inscribed in her science fiction novels “is more relevant than ever given the devastating effects of climate change being realized today,” remarks Lesko.
DEETS
- Questers El Molino Fundraiser for Altadena Historical Society
- “The Black Pasadena of Octavia E. Butler”
- Monday, February 24, 2025; 5:30 PM Meet and Greet; 6:00 PM Program
- Pasadena Heritage Historic Blinn House, 160 N. Oakland, Pasadena 91101; free parking behind the building
- RSVP: [email protected]
