Reflecting, Sharing, Learning

The Athens Historical Society presented the 2018 Augustus Longstreet Hull Award to Charlotte Thomas Marshall during their annual meeting. Marshall has edited and written many books and papers on Athens history. The award, which recognizes those who have contributed to recording and studying Athens history, was presented in the Richard B. Russell Library.

Mokah and Knowah Johnson, President and Vice President of Athens Anti-Discrimination Movement held a Town Hall meeting in the Appleton Auditorium of the Athens-Clarke County Library, following the events in Charlottesville, to discuss whether or not Athens’ monument should be removed. The video includes Milton Leathers’ reading of his grandfather Andrew Erwin Cobb’s speech before the 1924 Democratic National Convention.

Watch a video of the Library of The Year award ceremony honoring Athens Regional Library System. State Librarian Julie Walker presented the award to ARLS Director Valerie Bell: “I am especially pleased to congratulate the Athens Regional Library System on being selected as Georgia’s Library of the Year. The leadership team, staff and trustees of ARLS do a terrific job of working together to offer creative programming, thoughtful customer service, and strong community partnerships that benefit library users of all ages throughout the five counties they serve. This is a richly-deserved honor,” said Walker.

Life The Griot: The Poet/The Film

Lemuel LaRoche AKA Life The Griot

Athens-Clarke County Library

Appleton Auditorium • 2025 Baxter Street • Athens, Georgia • 706 613 3650 x343

Wednesday, February 28, 6:30 pm

On Wednesday, February 28, at 6:30 pm, Athens community organizer, activist, teacher and poet Lemuel LaRoche, AKA Life The Griot will be onstage at the Athens-Clarke County Library’s Appleton Auditorium. Life is a social worker, poet, chess enthusiast, and activist on a mission. His inspirational words entertain and touch thousands with a simple truth: if we want to see better, then we have to do better.

Life’s performance will be preceded by a screening of the 2014 documentary Life The Griot, directed by Matt DeGennaro and produced by Kathy Prescott and Grady Thrasher. This film chronicles one man’s effort to make an impact on the lives of as many youth as possible by activating change.

Lemuel LaRoche is the founder and executive director of Chess and Community Conference, Inc., a nonprofit youth empowerment organization dedicated to developing strategic leadership skills in young people. Known in the communities that he serves as Life the Griot, he fuses chess with conventional therapeutic methods to curb impulsive behavior amongst youth with delinquent pasts. Life has over fifteen years experience in adolescent and community development and brings a fresh innovative approach to counseling.

The Athens-Clarke County Library presents three opportunities this month for you to learn about the first African American graduate of West Point, Lt. Henry O. Flipper with the one-act play by author Bob Rogers, Lt. Flipper’s Trial.

The play will be performed by Rogers at East Athens Resource Center, Lay Park Resource Center, and Athens-Clarke County Library.

Born in Thomasville, Ga., Flipper was a former slave who graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y., in 1877. Flipper earned a commission as a 2nd lieutenant in the U.S. Army and was the first nonwhite officer to lead the Buffalo Soldiers of the 10th Calvary Regiment. In 1880, Flipper distinguished himself in the War against Warm Spring Apache Chief Victorio. A year later, 25-year-old Flipper was tried for embezzlement of government funds. He was dismissed from the Army on June 30, 1882. Following his time in the army, Flipper was a civil engineer in El Paso, Texas, eventually retiring to Atlanta where he died in 1940. Flipper was pardoned by President Bill Clinton in 1999.

This play dramatizes the 1881 court martial and draws the audience into the controversy about whether Lt. Flipper was treated fairly before, during and after the trial.

The play will be performed by its author, Bob Rogers, a former U.S. Army Captain and combat leader during the Vietnam War in Troop A, 1/10th Cavalry. An audience discussion will follow each performance of the play, including discussion of Rogers’ book, First Dark, a Buffalo Soldier’s Story.

The play will be performed three times in Athens. Each performance is free and open to the public:

Thursday, Feb. 22, at 3:30 p.m. at East Athens Resource Center, 400 McKinley Drive, Athens.

Thursday, Feb. 22, at 7:00 p.m. at Athens-Clarke County Library, 2025 Baxter Street, Athens.

Friday, Feb. 23, at 3:30 p.m. at Lay Park Resource Center, 297 Hoyt Street, Athens.