Meet Ron OJ Parson!

This is an exciting week: two fantastic "11 Months" programs back to back!
On Monday at 6, we'll be reading and discussing August Wilson's The Piano Lesson with Ron OJ Parson!  This is is a don't miss event: Mr Parson is a legendary director whose stellar  productions of the Wilson plays at Chicago's Court Theatre have garnered national acclaim. Visit the the Court Theatre production, website to watch  video clips,  and review  the play guide.

Tuesday night at 7  is our discussion of Sundown Towns, James Loewen's sobering account of enforced "white only" communities across America. All of our copies are out, but take a look at Loewen's  21 page introduction for an overview.

Why all-white communities aren't "natural"

There are a lot of myths about why so few American communities are racially integrated: naturally occurring cultural preferences, familial ties, even the weather. In his book Sundown Towns, James Loewen blows these myths sky high and demonstrates persuasively that the reason all white communities exist is because their residents wanted it that way, and often fought violently to keep it that way.

This is not a primarily Southern phenomenon, in fact sundown towns, (and counties and even states) were the norm in the East, Midwest and North throughout the late 19th and early to mid 20th century. We'll be discussing Loewen's research and why he believes it is so important to dismantle continuing racial segregation at our June 17 AAL meeting.