March 30 - The Langston-Quarles Family
March 30th (Wednesday at 7:00 p.m.) The Langston-Quarles Family: An Untold American Story. This talk focuses on the tri-racial roots of John Mercer Langston and his brothers Charles and Gideon. It considers the background of their mother, Lucy Jane Langston, who was the daughter of a Pamunkey (Powhatan) mother and an African American father, as well as their father, Ralph Quarles, a Revolutionary War Captain. While the three Langston young men moved to Ohio shortly after their parents' deaths, their sister and her family remained in Virginia. What were their lives like before Oberlin? How different were their lives in Ohio compared to their sister who continued to live in antebellum Virginia? Was theirs a unique story, or just an untold chapter of American history? Presented by Dr. Judith E. King-Calnek, an educational anthropologist and instructor at the United Nations International School and a Langston relative. Co-sponsored by the John Mercer Langston Institute and the Oberlin Heritage Center. Location: Oberlin Public Library Community Room. Free and open to all.
