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Program Description
Event Details
The Commonwealth Monument Project returns to the Lancaster Public Library for its annual LIVE AND LEARN CHAUTAUQUA.
Presented in memory of the life and legacy of Lenwood Sloan, the 2026 series is a salute to PA Abolitionist William Whipper's galvanizing Reading Society. Five famous speeches presented by colleagues of Whipper are matched to five contemporary books selected by the library staff.
➡️ Read the book prior to the meeting, then we'll listen to the corresponding speech and discuss both during our gathering.
Registration is helpful, but walk-ins will not be turned away.
List of books:
- January 13 - Black Genius: Essays on an American Legacy by Tre Johnson
- February 10 - The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
- March 10 - Misbehaving at the Crossroads by Honoree Fanonne Jeffers
- April 14 - Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
- May 12 - Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine
List of speeches:
- January 13 - David Walker, 1829 - Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World!
- February 10 - William Whipper, 1834 - The Slavery of Intemperance
- March 10 - Henry Highland Garnett, 1843 - Call to Rebellion
- April 14 - Thomas Morris Chester, 1862 - Negro Self Respect and Pride of Race
- May 12 - Frederick Douglass, 1894 - Lessons of the Hour