LUNCH WITH BOOKS: "Great Law of Peace" featuring Kulture Kids

September 14, 2021
12:00pm - 1:00pm

NOTE: At the request of our performers, this program will not be broadcast online. It will only be available to view in person at the library. Program starts at noon in the Library Auditorium.

For Constitution Day (September 17), journey back in time through dance, song, and powerful acting to meet Ben Franklin, Hiawatha, Columbus, Thomas Jefferson, Ponce De Leon, Walter Raleigh, and many others as the origins of our Constitution are revealed by the Iroquois Confederacy. This program is suitable for grades 4 and up, including students in high school, college, and adults.

Robin Pease and Kulture Kids previously performed “The Last Fugitive Slave” (a community participation play about Lucy Bagby) as a part of our 2019 Juneteenth celebration. They, and our community players, received rave reviews.

PRESENTER BIO: Kulture Kids was founded by Artistic Director, Robin Pease, in 1999. The organization’s original goal was to use arts and culture to promote E Pluribus Unum: out of many, one. Meaning, the exploration of the many arts and cultures that make up our world open doors to education, understanding, appreciation, and unity for all people. With a cadre of over 20 artists, Kulture Kids became known for creating customized programs requested by communities, arts organizations, and educators. Visit the Kulture Kids website at https://www.kulturekids.org/.

Robin Pease holds a Master of Fine Arts from Case Western Reserve University and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from The Boston Conservatory at Berklee. She has performed and taught drama/theatre, music, dance, literary arts and multiculturalism for people of all ages throughout the country. Pease has been the Director of Theater/Dance and instructor at several schools and institutes of higher learning, including Hiram College, Hawken School, Notre Dame College of Ohio, and Lakeland Community College. She has been the Artist-in-Residence at Hathaway Brown School and Laurel School, as well as for the New Jersey and Nebraska State Arts Councils, and the Idaho Commission on the Arts and Humanities.

RECOMMENDED READING: The Constitution of the Five Nations (Read on Google Books) and Understanding The Iroquois Constitution (James Wolfe, & Heather Moehn,  Enslow Publishing, LLC, 2015 — Check out the ebook with your OCPL Library Card on Hoopla)

Much has been said about the inspiration of the ancient Iroquois “Great League of Peace” in planting the seeds that led to the formation of the United States of America and its representative democracy.

The Iroquois Confederacy, founded by the Great Peacemaker in 1142, is the oldest living participatory democracy on earth. In 1988, the U.S. Senate paid tribute with a resolution that said, "The confederation of the original 13 colonies into one republic was influenced by the political system developed by the Iroquois Confederacy, as were many of the democratic principles which were incorporated into the constitution itself."

FEATURED BOOK: Iroquois: People of the Longhouse, Michael G. Johnson (Firefly Books, ©2013)
[ Reserve a copy from the Library  |  

Michael G. Johnson, the author of the award-winning Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes and its companion, Arts and Crafts of the North American Tribes, looks at the people of the Iroquois Confederacy. The tribes were the Mohawk, Oneida, Cayuga, Onondaga, Seneca, and — admitted into the Iroquois as a sixth nation by 1722 — the Tuscarora. Iroquois: People of the Longhouse details their story up to the present day, when perhaps 50,000 people of Iroquois descent still live on, or near, their reserves in Canada and the U.S., with that many again living in cities.

This book contains archival, contemporary and modern photographs, maps and illustrations, and covers The Origins of the Iroquois Confederacy; The Six Nations and Incorporated Tribes; History 1500-1750;  The French and Indian War 1754-1766; New Wars in the Old Northwest; The American Revolution and the Aftermath; Disintegration, Reformation and Perseverance 1783 to the Present; and more. 

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"Lunch With Books" is the library’s flagship program for adult patrons. These lunchtime programs feature authors, poets, musicians, historians, and more every Tuesday at noon. Bring lunch (to your computer), feed your brain!