Community Conversations Book Talk Wes Moore

Event Date: 
Monday, November 15, 2010 - 6:30pm to 8:00pm
RSVP Recommended
Cost:
$0.00

 Wes Moore, author of New York Times best-seller The Other Wes Moore: One Name Two Fates, will speak about the power of education and public service on November 15 at Lisner Auditorium as part of Boston-based Facing History and Ourselves’ national Community Conversations series, made possible by The Allstate Foundation. Following his presentation, Moore will autograph books for the audience.

Free to the public, the program is the first of many tied to Facing History and Ourselves: Choosing to Participate, an acclaimed multi-media exhibition, which will open at the Historical Society of Washington, D.C. on January 17 and remain on display through June 17.

Seeking to help young people redirect their lives, Moore tells the story of two kids with the same name, living in the same city who started in similar neighborhoods, but grew up to lead very different lives. One became a Rhodes Scholar, decorated combat veteran, White House Fellow and business leader, and the other is serving a life sentence in prison for felony murder.

Moore, who has been featured on Meet the Press, Oprah, Charlie Rose, NPR’s All Things Considered and in USA Today, People and Esquire, is committed to being a positive influence and helping kids find the support they need to enact change. Pointing out that a high school student drops out every nine seconds, he says public ser-vants—teachers, mentors and volunteers who work with youth—are as important to our national standing and survival as our armed forces. By sharing his own powerful story of resilience and participation, he is a model for Facing History teachers, students and community members.

Reservations for Wes Moore’s Community Conversation are recommended. To RSVP, visit www.facinghistory.org/communityconversations or email Lindsay_bowles@facing.org.

Community Conversations is a national series, sponsored by The Allstate Foundation and presented by Facing History, that brings prominent authors, scholars, filmmakers and policy leaders together with audiences across the U.S. to discuss topics of civic participation, individual and collective responsibility and diversity. In April 2011, Maya Lin will be a featured speaker in Washington as part of Choosing to Participate. Past Community Conversa-tions speakers have included Marian Wright Edelman, Nicholas Kristof, Paul Farmer and Congressman John Lewis.

Facing History and Ourselves is an international educational and professional development organization whose mission is to engage students of diverse backgrounds in an examination of racism, prejudice, and antisemitism in order to promote the development of a more humane and informed citizenry. By studying the historical develop-ment of the Holocaust and other examples of genocide and mass violence, students make the essential connec-tion between history and the moral choices they confront in their own lives. Facing History reaches nearly two mil-lion students each year through a network of more than 29,000 trained educators. In 2009, the Facing History and Ourselves website received more than 700,000 visits from people in 215 countries and territories, with 2.6 million page views. To learn more about Facing History and Choosing to Participate, visit www.facinghistory.org or www.choosingtoparticipate.org

The Allstate Foundation, established in 1952, is an independent, charitable organization made possible by sub-sidiaries of The Allstate Corporation. The Allstate Foundation partners with non-profit organizations on community initiatives that promote "safe and vital communities," "tolerance, inclusion, and diversity" and "economic empo-werment." Teen driving and empowering victims of domestic