Book Talk! Wednesday, September 21, at the Evanston Public Library

Pam Smith, Sherri Bevel, Gail Schechter

Pam Smith, Sherri Bevel, Gail Schechter

Sherri Bevel documents the first environmental justice campaign in the USA -- around lead paint poisoning in Chicago -- and Pam Smith writes a compelling chapter on youth-led nonviolent direct action in Chicago, then and now. Gail Schechter tells the proud story and ongoing practice of grassroots activism in Evanston and the North Shore for open housing and inclusive and diverse suburbs, beginning with the North Shore Summer Project whose descendant, Open Communities, she directed from 1993-2016.

The three women are founders (along with Mary Lou Finley and Tiffany Childress) of the new Addie Wyatt Center for Nonviolence Training, bringing Kingian nonviolence programs to Chicago-area high schools and school communities.