NORWAY — The Norway Memorial Library has been selected by the Maine Humanities Council to offer “Let’s Talk About It,” a free reading and discussion group at the library. The program and the facilitator are provided by the Maine Humanities Council’s Maine Center for the Book in cooperation with the Maine State Library.
Race and Justice in America seeks to start a dialogue on the complex and often uneasy relationship between American citizens and the American system of justice. The facilitator is Dr. Leroy Rowe, assistant professor of African American history and politics in the Department of History and Political Science at the University of Southern Maine. Rowe helped develop the series along with librarian consultants Elizabeth Hartsig and Holly Williams.
By offering this series, the Maine Humanities Council’s hope is that participants will gain new insights on the ways that institutionalized racism and individual biases often manifest themselves in ways that deny some American citizens their constitutional right to equal protection and equal treatment under the laws.
Books to be read and discussed in this series, to be held from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Thursdays, include:
May 31: “Contempt of Court: The Turn-of-the-Century Lynching That Launched a Hundred Years of Federalism” by Mark Curriden and Leroy Phillips Jr.
June 14: “Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights and Murder in the Jazz Age” by Kevin Boyle.
June 28: “The Contested Murder of Latasha Harlins: Justice, Gender and the Origins of the LA Riots” by Brenda Stevenson.
July 12: “Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption” by Bryan Stevenson.
July 26: “The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks about Race” by Jesmyn Ward.
Registration is required. Books for the program are available for loan at the library. Contact the library at 207-743-5309, ext. 1, or norlib@norway.lib.me.us for more information about the series and to register.
For more information about the program and the work of the Maine Humanities Council, visit www.mainehumanities.org or call the office in Portland at 207-773-5051.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
