- This event has passed.
Glory: A Life Among Legends w/ Dr. Glory Van Scott
May 16, 2019 @ 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Hear dancer, actor, playwright, and teacher Dr. Glory Van Scott talk about her new memoir!
Info and RSVP: https://gloryvanscott-ethicalnyc.eventbrite.com
Free! Reception at 6:30pm with refreshments. A portion of the proceeds from donations and book sales go to The Encampment for Citizenship.
The 1950s was a tumultuous time for race relations in the U.S. There was the high of the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision, but also the devastating low that was the murder of Emmett Till. While we have come far in the nearly 60 years since, we find ourselves facing similar strife and hatred today.
Whether it’s Trump’s incitement of violence against people of color or the rash of racially motivated mass shootings, this decade in some ways resembles the 1950s. Dr. Glory Van Scott was just coming of age when her cousin Emmett was murdered in 1955, and she translated her anger and grief into her passion for dance, theater and education. Come listen and speak with Dr. Van Scott about her thoughts on the current state of race relations and how her background with Ethical Culture helped inspire her world view.
Dr. Scott’s long career has taken her from the screen, where she appeared alongside Michael Jackson and Diana Ross in The Wiz to Broadway in productions of House of Flowers and The Great White Hope.
Even before her cousin’s brutal murder, social justice was a big part of her life thanks to her mother. That was cemented further when she traveled from Chicago to New York at 17 to be a part of the Encampment for Citizenship, a summer camp founded by Ethical NYC. Emmet was murdered after her time at the Encampment and it not only galvanized the country, it spurred Dr. Van Scott to fuse her passion for art and education to affect change.
It was at the Encampment where Dr. Van Scott met her best friend David Rothenberg, the founder of the Fortune Society. Understanding that education is the best way to combat hate, she volunteered to teach incarcerated young boys at David’s urging. That experience led to a career of teaching, including forming Dr. Glory’s Children’s Theater at Ethical NYC in the 1980s, which still runs today.
Praise for GLORY: A Life Among Legends
“Glory Van Scott — dancer, actor, playwright, teacher and now autobiographer has given us a fierce and telling memoir of a woman whose talent, self-confidence and sheer bravado can inspire us all. There are never enough stories of strong women who have risen above the endemic sexism of show business to use all their gifts. Where does Glory’s self-confidence and energy come from? In this book you will learn of the great women in her family who came before her, of her cousin Emmett Till whose death from racism is an unforgettable lesson for all Americans and of the propulsive hope that enables excellence. Glory has worked with all the greats: George Balanchine, Katherine Dunham, Agnes De Mille. She has that rare ability to learn from everyone and to say no when her artistic intuition tells her to. ‘Yes’ is important but sometimes ‘no’ is even more crucial. I admire her talent, guts and passion.”
-Novelist Erica Jong
Copies will be available for sale and signing.
