Boston Scenes

Local and Culturally Relevant Events this week

Rita Dove (right), Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and former poet laureate of the United States, discusses her latest work, “Sonata Mulattica,” at the Harvard Book Store on Monday, June 1, 2009. Introduced by Harvard University Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., Dove took questions and signed copies of her book for a standing room only crowd. (Don West photo)

Local comedian Chris Tabb (third from left) hosted the “Stroke’s No Joke Comedy Night” at Nick’s Comedy Stop on Friday, May 15, 2009. The evening of live comedy was part of Power Weekend, a multicultural celebration of Power to End Stroke, the American Stroke Association’s campaign to raise awareness of the dangers of stroke in communities at greatest risk. (From left): Comedians Steve Donovan and Lamont Price, Tabb, master of ceremonies Ramiro of JAM’N 94.5 FM, comedians Kelly MacFarland and Jonathon Gates. (Photo courtesy of American Stroke Association)

Barbara Russo of Hyde Park, a longtime Project Bread supporter, completed her 38th Walk for Hunger last month. Russo joined 46,000 walkers and volunteers in raising $3.8 million for 400 emergency food programs across the state. The funds will buy food for families in need this coming winter. (Photo courtesy of Project Bread)

Absalom F. Boston of Nantucket, depicted here in an artist’s rendering, was a whaling captain, retail store and land owner who at the time of his death in 1855 was called “perhaps the wealthiest black on Nantucket.” Boston is featured in “Black Entrepreneurs of the 18th and 19th Centuries,” an exhibit on view at the Museum of African American History (MAAH) through Sept. 30, 2009. (Image courtesy of MAAH)

Rap icon Chuck D of the group Public Enemy appears in “Freedom Songs: The Music of the Civil Rights Movement.” Airing Saturday, June 6, 2009, on WGBH 44, this powerful new documentary explores how various styles and eras of music were inspired by and helped sustain the struggle for equality and human rights. (Sarah Edwards photo)