JCC event features Bernice King, Susannah Heschel | Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle

JCC event features Bernice King, Susannah Heschel

 

MILWAUKEE – Bernice King, daughter of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Susannah Heschel, daughter of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, will visit the Pabst Theater in an event co-organized by the Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center.

The JCC and the Milwaukee Urban League are holding “Praying With Their Feet,” a community program featuring Bernice King and Susannah Heschel. The 3 p.m. Sunday, March 4 discussion will be a free, ticketed event. Two tickets per registered attendee are available for reservation at JccMilwaukee.org/KingHeschel.

Bernice King

The two women will hold a moderated conversation on the civil rights movement, their fathers’ unique roles in that movement, and their own personal leadership in advancing their fathers’ legacies in the current social environment.

“It is a great privilege to bring these accomplished, exceptional women to Milwaukee and to learn from their experiences, perspectives and memories,” said JCC President & Chief Executive Officer Mark Shapiro.  “This event is a perfect representation of the role the JCC serves in our community – Jewishly and beyond.”

The program’s title is inspired by a quote from Abraham Joshua Heschel, who marched alongside Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during the Selma Civil Rights March and later wrote, “When I marched in Selma, my feet were praying.”  Rabbi Heschel, a professor of Jewish mysticism at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, authored a number of widely read books on Jewish philosophy and was active in the civil rights movement. Dr. King earned the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize for combating racial inequality through non-violent resistance.

Bernice A. King is the CEO of The King Center, which was founded by her mother in 1968. Born the youngest daughter of the late Coretta Scott King and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Bernice began her oratorical journey when she spoke in her mother’s stead at the United Nations at age 17. She holds a master of divinity and doctorate of law degrees from Emory University.

Susannah Heschel

Jewish studies Professor Susannah Heschel of Dartmouth College has focused on Jewish-Christian relations in Germany during the 19th and 20th centuries, the history of biblical scholarship and the history of anti-Semitism. Her numerous publications include “Abraham Geiger and the Jewish Jesus,” which won a National Jewish Book Award, and “The Aryan Jesus: Christian Theologians and the Bible in Nazi Germany.”

The conversation will be moderated at the Pabst Theater by Bonnie North of WUWM Milwaukee Public Radio.  More information can be found at JccMilwaukee.org.