October 1, 2016
United Church of Christ, 23 Central Square, Keene, NH
11:00 am (1hr, 20 minutes in length)
FREE
Local actors and singers from the Keene Community and Keene State College perform a selected reading from the book “Witness” by Karen Hesse of Brattleboro, VT. The Chamber Singers of Keene and children from Franklin Elementary School will complement the reading with appropriate music. This short story features characters in an unforgettable cast inhabiting a small Vermont town in 1924 – a town that turns against its own when the Ku Klux Klan moves in. No one is safe, especially not the two youngest: twelve-year-old Leanora, an African-American girl, and six-year-old Esther, who is Jewish. In this story of a community on the brink of disaster, told through the haunting and impassioned voices of its inhabitants, Newbery Medalist Karen Hesse takes readers into the hearts and minds of those who bear witness.
Dr. Martin Luther King’s Beloved Community is a global vision, in which all people can share in the wealth of the earth. In the Beloved Community, racism and all forms of discrimination, bigotry and prejudice will be replaced by an all-inclusive spirit of sisterhood and brotherhood. In the Beloved Community, love and trust will triumph over fear and hatred.
Brought to you by:
- Keene State College, Dottie Morris
- The Colonial Theatre, Vicky Pittman
- Benjamin Franklin School, Melanie Everard
- Chamber Singers of Keene, Matthew Leese