Dr. John W. Wright, Author Dr. Sydney Norton, Ph.D. Dorris Keeven-Franke Rev. Starsky Wilson
Ruth Ezell moderator
Click image to open, then right click to download
February 20, 2019
Media Contact
Rachel Brown
[email protected]
314.266.7035
MEDIA ALERT & INVITATION TO COVER
Free Gitana Productions’ “The Face of Love” symposium will explore the remarkable shared history of African Americans and German immigrants in their quest for freedom
WHAT:
Historians, community leaders, and artists will come together this Saturday to explore and celebrate the remarkable shared history of African Americans and German immigrants in their quest for freedom. The Face of Love: Symposium on the Common History of German and African Americans is presented by Gitana Productions in collaboration with the Missouri German Consortium.
VISUALS:
To start the program, the City of St. Louis Board of Aldermen and Gitana Productions will present a proclamation to Herbert Quelle, Consul General of Germany. This is the first time an African American-led organization has publicly recognized the contributions of German Abolitionists in Missouri. (copy of proclamation available upon request)
The Consul General, a musician who has written a book on the relationship between the harmonica and the Blues, will play at the event. Additional entertainment will be provided by the local German and African American communities.
WHEN:
Saturday, February 23
2 p.m. to 5 p.m.
WHERE:
German Cultural Society’s Jefferson Hall
3652 S. Jefferson Ave.
St. Louis, MO 63118
WHO:
KETC-TV producer and reporter Ruth Ezell will moderate the symposium, with special guests Colonel John Hayden, St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department Police Commissioner, and Herbert Quelle, German Consul General. Speakers include:
- Dr. Sydney Norton, assistant professor of German Studies at Saint Louis University and author of German Immigrant Abolitionists: Fighting for a Free Missouri
- Dorris Keeven-Franke, executive director of Missouri Germans Consortium and author of Missouri – Where the Sun of Freedom Shines in “Utopia – Revisiting a German State in America”
- Dr. John W. Wright, author of Discovering African American St. Louis – A Guide to Historic Sites
- Rev. Starsky Wilson, CEO and president of the Deaconess Foundation and social activist appointed in 2014 by Governor Jay Nixon to head the Ferguson Commission
CONTACT:
The program is free and open to the public. To register, go to www.gitana-inc.org. For more information, visit www.gitana-inc.org, contact [email protected] or 314-721-6556.
ABOUT GITANA PRODUCTIONS:
Gitana Productions, Inc. is a not-for-profit arts and education organization dedicated to increasing cross-cultural awareness and collaboration using music, dance and drama in the St. Louis region. For more information, visit www.gitana-inc.org.
# # #
Media Contact
Sharon Thatcher
314-721-6556
[email protected]