Arts & Entertainment
Martin Luther King Day Celebration at Westport Country Playhouse
Free event co-sponsored by The Westport Library, Westport Country Playhouse, Westport/Weston Interfaith Council & Clergy and TEAM Westport
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration Features Talk by Carol Anderson on Voter Suppression at
Westport Country Playhouse on Sunday, January 19
Free event is co-sponsored by The Westport Library, Westport Country Playhouse, Westport/Weston Interfaith Council, Westport/Weston Interfaith Clergy, and TEAM Westport
“Voter Suppression in America” will be the topic of keynote speaker Dr. Carol Anderson, historian, educator, and New York Times bestselling author, at the 14th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration on Sunday, January 19, at 3 p.m., at Westport Country Playhouse. The event is free-of-charge and open to the public. However, advance registration is recommended through the Playhouse box office at 203-227-4177 or by email at rsvp@westportplayhouse.org. Seating is general admission (unreserved).
The celebration is co-sponsored by The Westport Library, Westport Country Playhouse, Westport/Weston Interfaith Council, Westport/Weston Interfaith Clergy, and TEAM Westport.
“On behalf of the co-sponsoring organizations, we are honored to welcome Dr. Carol Anderson to this year’s event,” said Harold Bailey, Jr., chair of TEAM Westport. “She is one of the nation’s foremost experts on voting suppression and voter disinformation. Her body of research and historical perspectives directly intersect with the issues most critical to the future of our nation at this time.”
Dr. Anderson is the Charles Howard Candler Professor of African American Studies at Emory University. She is the author of “One Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression Is Destroying Our Democracy”; “White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Nation's Divide,” a New York Times bestseller; “Eyes Off the Prize: The United Nations and the African American Struggle for Human Rights, 1944-1955”; and “Bourgeois Radicals: The NAACP and the Struggle for Colonial Liberation, 1941-1960.”
Anderson’s address will be followed by a moderated audience Q&A and a book signing. Books will be available for purchase at the event. In addition, there will be performances by opera singer Helena Brown and students from Trumbull’s Regional Center for the Arts. Complimentary refreshments will be served in the Playhouse lobby after the presentation.
This event is made possible in part by and is included in the Westport Library's 2019–20 WestportREADS program, "Our Vote. Our Future," a year-long series commemorating the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment.
The annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration began in 2006 as an interfaith gathering, coordinated by the Interfaith Council of Westport and Weston.
All dates and participants are subject to change.
For more information and reservations, call the Westport Country Playhouse box office at (203) 227-4177, or toll-free at 1-888-927-7529, visit Westport Country Playhouse, 25 Powers Court, off Route 1, Westport, or at www.westportplayhouse.org. Stay connected to the Playhouse on Facebook (Westport Country Playhouse), follow on Twitter (@WCPlayhouse), or view Playhouse videos on YouTube (WestportPlayhouse).
