Toussaint L'Ouverture cut-out in the Haitian ParadeAn exhibition featuring artworks that honor Haitian revolutionary Toussaint Louverture is on display at the Mattapan Branch, located at 1350 Blue Hill Avenue, through July 18. On Tuesday, May 27, a reception will be held from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the Mattapan Branch to celebrate the exhibition. The reception includes poetry readings, testimonials, and light refreshments.

At the Central Library in Copley Square, located at 700 Boylston Street, the exhibition The Soul of a Man: Toussaint Louverture & the Haitian Slave Revolt opens in the Rare Books Lobby on Tuesday, June 17, and runs through September 30 of this year. The Central Library exhibition tells the compelling story of Toussaint Louverture, a leader of the armed resistance against colonization and slavery and his significant role in the future of a free Haiti.

"Boston Public Library welcomes researchers, visitors, and academics to view the materials that played a critical role in the freedom and development of Haiti," said Susan Glover, Keeper of Special Collections.
A panel discussion and slideshow featuring Toussaint Louverture's historical impact and his influence on the abolitionist movement and popular culture in the United States will be held on Tuesday, June 17 at 6:30 p.m. in Rabb Lecture Hall at the Central Library in Copley Square. Panelists include Boston Public Library Trustee and State Representative Byron Rushing, Dr. Marc Prou of the University of Massachusetts, Professor Patricia Hills of Boston University, and moderators Marie St. Fleur and Dr. Nesly Metayer. Representatives from the Boston City Council, the NAACP, and State Senator Linda Dorcena Forry will join the panel for special remarks.

Haitian-American elected officials are raising concerns that the United Nations, charged with peacekeeping mandate in Haiti, may try to prevent the nation’s cholera epidemic victims from taking the organization to court.

A year ago, she was in the thick of a special election to succeed Jack Hart in the state Senate. Now Linda Dorcena Forry, who eked out a win for the Senate seat, is in the middle of another campaign: Putting together the traditional St.

Thanks to a group of generous Boston-based artists, the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti (IJDH) will hold an online Haitian art auction beginning January 10, 2014.

The Andrew Square-based IJDH helps individual Haitians enforce their basic rights—in the courts, in police stations, and on the streets—in ways that force the justice system to work better for all Haitians. The featured artists all hail from Haiti and include Boston Haitian artists Charlot Lucien, Colette Brésilla, Renold Laurent, and Fritz Duchiene. The auction also features a self-portrait by up-and-coming artist, Mathieu Jeanbaptiste.

UNITED NATIONS — Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon recommended a 15 percent reduction in the number of U.N.

Sen. Linda Dorcena Forry, introduced by Senate President Therese Murray as "another Dorchester girl," joined the Upper Chamber just after 2 p.m. Thursday after being sworn in by Gov. Deval Patrick.

"There is work we are going to do together," a jubilant Dorcena Forry said in remarks from the Senate rostrum.

Dorcena Forry called for her colleagues to work together and to rise above politics and campaigning, and described Murray, a Plymouth Democrat with Dorchester roots, as "an inspiration to me."

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

State Rep. Linda Dorcena Forry of Dorchester hardly flinched in the mid-evening hours of Tuesday as The Boston Globe and the Associated Press were reporting that state Rep. Nick Collins, her opponent from South Boston, would win the Democratic nomination in the special election to represent the First Suffolk District in the state Senate.

Despite those calls by the local media, all the ballots in 77 precincts across South Boston, Dorchester, Mattapan, and parts of Hyde Park had not yet been counted, and when the unofficial results were posted a few hours later, it was Dorcena Forry who was on top, by 378 votes out of 21,730 cast.

See a precinct-by-precinct breakdown of the election returns (PDF).

Toussaint L'Ouverture portrait by de GirardinIn commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation and of the first black Civil War troops from the North, several Greater Boston educational, historical, and cultural organizations are collaborating to present Freedom Rising: The 150th Anniversary of The Emancipation Proclamation and African American Military Service in the Civil War from May 2 through 4, 2013.

On Saturday, May 4, a special performance called "Roots of Liberty – The Haitian Revolution and the American Civil War" will be staged at the Tremont Temple Baptist Church, 88 Tremont St., Boston at 5 p.m.. Produced by Underground Railway Theater, in residence at Central Square Theater, the performance will include special guests Danny Glover, author Edwidge Danticat, and Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Danny Glover will be performing one of the key historical figures in Roots of Liberty.

The first-ever performance celebrates the Haitian revolutionary hero Toussaint Louverture and the impact of the Haitian Revolution on the American Civil War – the antislavery movement and African American soldiers. It is set in Boston’s historic Tremont Temple, where the Emancipation Proclamation was read in 1863.

State Rep. Linda Dorcena Forry, the second Haitian-American elected to public office in Massachusetts and the only one still at the State House, is making a bid for the upper chamber. If elected, Dorcena Forry would be the Bay State’s first Haitian-American state senator.

Rep. Forry is part of a field of candidates aiming to replace former state Sen. Jack Hart, who left for a job at Nelson Mullins, a top law firm. State Rep. Nick Collins, a colleague in the House, is also running, as is fellow South Boston native Maureen Dahill. All are Democrats, and a Republican, Joseph Ureneck, has pulled nomination papers.

The heavily Democratic district will likely mean that the April 30 Democratic primary will determine the eventual occupant of the First Suffolk Senate seat. The general election is set for May 28.
Dorcena Forry is the daughter of Haitian immigrants who live in Uphams Corner. She is married to Reporter publisher and editor Bill Forry of Lower Mills.