A scene from the Midwest Premiere of Kenneth Jones' �"Alabama Story” at Peninsula Players through Sept. 4. Carmen Roman as librarian Emily Wheelock Reed, a librarian who stood her ground for the right to read during the onset of the civil rights move Photo

From: Photo Flash: The Midwest Premiere of ALABAMA STORY

Inspired by actual events in 1959, Alabama Story centers on a fearless, no- nonsense librarian, a vocal segregationist senator and an innocent children's book. In a parallel story, childhood friends Joshua and Lilly, a black man and white woman, reunite among the societal tensions of the times. In 2000, Emily Wheelock Reed was cited for her work in 1959 Alabama by the American Library Association and received the Scroll of Honor from the Freedom to Read Foundation for refusing to remove the children's book, The Rabbits Wedding from the shelf.