The August 9 Kaw Mission Councils: Westward Expansion lecture Series program will be “An afternoon with John Brown,” presented by Kerry Altenbernd. The program will be held at the Council Grove Methodist Fellowship Hall, located at 21 North Mission Street in Council Grove at 2 p.m.
John Brown will tell the story of his life, including his time in Kansas Territory, and the struggles he went through to end slavery in the United States. Kerry Altenbernd is a third-generation native of Douglas County, Kansas, a retired librarian, and a first-person interpreter of the abolitionist John Brown. He has worked for many years to protect the Black Jack Battlefield and develop the Black Jack Battlefield and Nature Park.
He chairs both the Guardians of Grover Barn, an organization dedicated to protecting an Underground Railroad site in Lawrence, Kansas, and the Lawrence Branch NAACP Community Coordination and History Committee.
In addition, he is a member of the Oak Hill Cemetery Committee, a standing committee of the Douglas County Historical Society supporting the historic Lawrence cemetery.
The friends of Kaw Heritage will provide refreshments after the program. The Kaw Mission Councils Lecture Series “Westward Expansion” is sponsored the Kansas His- torical Society, Friends of Kaw Heritage, Trembly, Young, and Area Foundations, and trusts and the City of Council Grove. A $3 suggested donation will be collected.
For more information contact 620307-2754 or mark.brooks@ks.gov.