THE HARPER COLLEGE CULTURAL ARTS COMMITTEE P R E S E N T S EXPLORING TOO HEAVY FOR YOUR POCKET by Jiréh Breon Holder WITH SPECIAL GUEST FREEDOM RIDER DR. BERNARD LAFAYETTE, JR., 2021 Marks the 60th Anniversary of the Freedom Rides Join Freedom Rider, and special guest, Dr. Bernard LaFayette, Jr., Kevin Long, Director, Mary T. Christel, Dramaturg, and Dorothy Walker, Site Director of the Freedom Rides Museum in Alabama, as we explore the ideas and issues raised in the upcoming, April, Harper College production of Too Heavy For Your Pocket by Jiréh Breon Holder. Dr. LaFayette will share the experiences he faced as he fought to integrate public buses in 1961. We will ignite discussion, bring the concerns in the play into sharp focus, discuss inspiration, determination, and process, and encourage you to think beyond the stage. SUNDAY, MARCH 28, 2021 Individuals with disabilities who would like to request an accommodation or who have questions about physical access 3 - 4 PM may email [email protected] or call 847.925.6266 at least two weeks in advance of the event date. H A R P E R C O L L E G E . E D U / B O X O F F I C E Dr. Bernard LaFayette, Jr. (Freedom Rider) It is an understatement to describe Bernard LaFayette, Jr. as passionate about the philosophy and methodology of Kingian Nonviolence! He is a Civil Rights Movement activist, minister, educator, lecturer and an authority on the strategy of Nonviolent Social Change. He has devoted his life, thus far, to his final marching orders from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968, to “institutionalize and internationalize Nonviolence.” Dr. LaFayette was a co-founder of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in 1960. He was a leader of the Nashville Movement Lunch Counter Sit-Ins, 1960, and the Freedom Rides, 1961. Dr. LaFayette directed the Alabama Voter Registration Project in Selma in 1962. He was appointed National Program Administrator for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and National Coordinator of the Poor People’s Campaign by Martin Luther King, Jr in 1968. Dr. LaFayette has served as Director of Justice and Peace in Latin America, Chairperson of the Consortium on Peace Research, Education, and Development, Director of PUSH Excel Institute, and minister of the Westminster Presbyterian Church in Tuskegee, Alabama. An ordained minister, Dr. LaFayette earned his B.A. from the American Baptist Theological Seminary in Nashville, Tennessee, and his Ed.M. and Ed.D from Harvard University. He held a Peace Chair at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota, while serving as Director of the Nonviolence Peace Education Center. He served on the faculties of Columbia Theological Seminary in Atlanta and Alabama State University in Montgomery, where he was Dean of the Graduate School. He was principal of Tuskegee Institute High School in Tuskegee, Alabama and a teaching fellow at Harvard University. Dr. LaFayette’s publications include his Doctoral Thesis, “Pedagogy for Peace and Nonviolence;” “Campus Ministries and Social Change in the ‘60s” published in the Duke Divinity Review; “The Leaders Manual: A Structured Guide and Introduction to Kingian Nonviolence” and the “Curriculum and Training Manual for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Nonviolent Community Leadership Training Program,” both written with David Jehnsen. He and David Jehnsen also were responsible for drafting the first proposal for the U.S. Institute of Peace. He is the author of In Peace and Freedom: My Journey in Selma, which he wrote with Kathryn Lee Johnson, published in 2013. Congressman John Lewis, in his foreword to the book, states, “A Mary T. Christel (Dramaturg) powerful history of struggle, commitment, and hope. No one, but currently is the curriculum developer no one, who lived through the creation and development of the for TimeLine Theatre’s Living History movement for voting rights in Selma is better prepared to tell this program, which offers residencies story than Bernard LaFayette himself.” This book was honored with and hosts performances for Chicago the prestigious Lillian Smith Book Award in May, 2014. He is an Public School students. She has editor of The Chicago Freedom Movement: Martin Luther King, Jr. served as dramaturg for Harper’s and Civil Rights Activism in the North, published in 2016. productions of Shakespeare in Love Dr. LaFayette is a former President of the American Baptist College and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. of ABT Seminary in Nashville, Tennessee; Mary co-authored Bring on the Bard: Scholar in Residence at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Active Drama Approaches for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta, Georgia; and Pastor Emeritus Shakespeare’s Diverse Student Readers of the Progressive Baptist Church in Nashville, TN. He was founder with Kevin Long and writes about and Director of the Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies at the Shakespeare in contemporary film University of Rhode Island from 1998 until 2006. and popular culture. She is a proud graduate of Northwestern From 2006 until 2015, he held the position of Distinguished Senior Scholar in Residence at the Candler School of Theology at Emory University’s theater department. University in Atlanta, Georgia. He founded the Emory Center for Go ‘Cats! Advancing Nonviolence (ECAN). He teaches an online class through PAGE TWO LAFYETTE continued on page 3 PAGE THREE LaFAYETTE continued from page 2 Coursera and Emory University that sheds light on the often overlooked strategic planning that supported the direction of the events of the Civil Rights Movement. It is called “From Freedom Rides to Ferguson: Narratives of Nonviolence in the American Civil Rights Movement.” He currently holds the position of Chairman of the Board of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) founded by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He is now a faculty member at Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama. Some of his awards include receiving the Bill of Rights Award by the Tennessee ACLU in 1999; the University of Rhode Island Diversity Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2005. He was awarded a Doctor of Humane Letters by Mount Holyoke College in 2012. He was the National Civil Rights Museum’s National Freedom Award recipient for 2012. The following statement was made when the award was presented: “He never stopped believing in the future, even when he was arrested with other Freedom Riders in Jackson, Mississippi, and jailed in Parchman State Prison Farm in 1961.” In 2014, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Rhode Island. He received the “I Am a Man” award in Memphis, Tennessee on April 4, 2016. In November, 2016, he traveled to Durban, South Africa, to receive The Mahatma Gandhi International Award for Reconciliation and Peace. The award is presented by the Gandhi Development Trust by Ela Gandhi, the social activist granddaughter of Mahatma Gandhi. Jeremy Haynes (Actor) Dr. LaFayette has traveled extensively as a lecturer and is excited to be making his debut playing consultant on Peace and Nonviolence, including to South Africa, Haiti and the United States. In Colombia, the role of Bowzie Brandon in Too Heavy South America, youth are trained in Nonviolence by For Your Pocket. A Harper College student prison inmates as a result of his time spent there. Tens and creative writing/spoken word artist, of thousands of militants in Nigeria are turning in their he is looking forward to taking his acting arms after being trained in Nonviolence as part of a government amnesty program. He is featured in the aspirations to a new frontier with the book, The Children, by David Halberstam, written in Harper College Ensemble Company. 1998. He is featured in numerous documentaries, He would like to thank his family including “A Force More Powerful: A Century of and friends for their support during Nonviolent Conflict,” ”Freedom Riders: The Story of the Civil Rights Movement Interstate Busing Protest this time. Campaign” (American Experience) and is an in-demand speaker and trainer across the nation and the world. Dr. LaFayette is married to the former Kate Bulls and is the father of two sons and seven grandchildren. Live streaming production presented by Harper Theater Ensemble Wednesday, April 21 – Sunday, April 25 Wednesday - Saturday 8:00 PM Image source: jirehbreonholder.com Sunday 2:00 PM Directed by Kevin Long Tickets: $15 Students/Faculty/Staff/Seniors Too Heavy For Your Pocket $20 General Admission by Jiréh Breon Holder harpercollege.edu/boxoffice PAGE FOUR Kevin Long The Freedom Rides Museum is located at 210 South Court Street in (Director), Montgomery, Alabama, in the building Nominated for the which was until 1995 the Montgomery 2015 Tony Award® for Greyhound Bus Station. Excellence in Theatre It was the site of violent attack on Education and participants in the Co-Author (along 1961 Freedom Ride with our dramaturg during the Civil Mary T. Christel) Rights Movement. of the book Bring on the Bard: Active Drama Approaches for Shakespeare’s Diverse Student Readers, is an Associate Professor of Theatre at https://ahc.alabama.gov/ properties/freedomrides/ Harper College, the recipient of the 2018 Motorola freedomrides.aspx Solutions Foundation Endowed Award for Teaching Excellence, recipient of the 2012 Illinois Theatre Association Award for Excellence in College Theatre Teaching, and an Associate Member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society. Kevin is a nationally recognized expert in teaching Folio Dorothy Walker Technique and frequently presents his workshop serves as Site Director “Shakespeare Whispers Into Your Ear,” which of the Freedom Rides explores the language and theatre of Shakespeare Museum, a historic site through the use of the 1623 First Folio. Kevin of the Alabama Historical Commission (AHC), teaches Folio Technique for Chicago Shakespeare the State Historic Preservation Office. She Theater’s Education Department, Actors Training also serves as Staff Manager for the Black Center, and at various institutions and theatres Heritage Council, a statewide, all-volunteer across the country.