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Acknowledging the 50th Anniversary of Bloody Sunday, the Selma to Montgomery March, and the Voting

Rights Act of 1965 March 59, 2015 Selma, Alabama

RARIA:

Race & Reconciliation in America

Mission:

Advancing the Principles of Social Justice and Equality through Education and Community Engagement

Founders William S. Cohen and Janet Langhart Cohen are honored to

support NAWJ District Twos presentation of Janet Langhart Cohen's one act play: Anne & Emmett.

SPECIAL THANKS

Friends of Anne & Emmett Committee Hon. Sallie Krauss, Retired Supreme Court Justice

Hon. Karen S. Smith, Retired Supreme Court Justice Rhonda J. Tomlinson, Esq.

NY NAWJ Anne & Emmett Committee Hon. Cheryl J. Gonzales, Housing Part,

Civil Court of the City of New York Hon. Tanya R. Kennedy, Supervising Administrative Judge,

New York County, Civil Court Hon. Bernice D. Siegal, Supreme Court Justice, Queens County, Civil Term

Hon. Juanita Bing Newton, Dean of New York State Judicial Institute

Hon. Betty J. Williams, Supreme Court Justice, Kings County, Criminal Term

"To forget would not only be dangerous but offensive; to forget

the dead would be akin to killing them a second time."

Elie Wiesel

National Association of Women Judges District 2 presents

A Reading of Anne & Emmett March 5, 2015

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Sponsors & Supporters

Silver _______________________________________________________

RARIA: Race & Reconciliation in America Robert Kaufman

Windels Marx Lane & Mittendorf, LLP

Bronze ________________________________________________________

The Cochran Firm Jewish Lawyers Guild

Law Offices of Denise Mortner Kranz & Associates

Supporters _______________________________________________________

Association of Black Women Attorneys Black Bar Association of Bronx County

Brandeis Association Lavonnie Brinkley

Brooklyn Bar Association Brooklyn Womens Bar Association

Hon. Susan Danoff Maddy deLone

Hon. Betty Weinberg Ellerin Dr. Juliet A. Emanuel

E. T. Consulting Services, Inc. Hon. Julie Frantz

Hon. Cheryl J. Gonzales Hon. Sylvia Hinds-Radix

The Judicial Friends Association Hon. Marcy L. Kahn

Hon. Tanya R. Kennedy Alfreida B. Kenny, Esq.

Hon. Kathy J. King Hon. Sallie Krauss Hon. yvonne lewis

Hon. Andrea Masley

Shirley McRae Metropolitan Black Bar Association

New York State Bar Association of Trial Lawyers

New York Womens Bar Association Hon. Emily Olshansky

Hon. Ann OShea Lisa Pertchik

Hon. Geraldine Pickett Delores B. Pogue

Queens County Womens Bar Association Hon. Joanne Quinones Hon. Ruth Shillingford Hon. Bernice D. Siegal

Hon. William C. Thompson Nola Whiteman

Al Wiltshire Hon. Betty J. Williams Grady & Celia Williams

Womens Bar Association of the State of New York

Dr. Charles E Grannum

Officers-District 2 Hon. Betty J. Williams NAWJ District 2 Director & NAWJ Co-Chair Women In Prison Committee

Hon. Mary E. Sommer Superior Court, Bridgeport Connecticut State Chair

Officers NAWJ, New York Chapter Hon. Kathy J. King, President Supreme Court Justice, Kings County

Hon. Arlene Hahn, Vice President First Department Housing Part, New York City Civil Court

Hon. Margaret Walsh, Vice-President Third Department Albany Family Court

Hon. Marguerite Grays, Secretary Supreme Court Justice, Queens County

Board of Directors

Hon. Doris Gonzalez Supreme Court Justice, Acting, Bronx County

Hon. E. Jeanette Ogden Supreme Court Justice, Buffalo

Hon. Laura Visitacion-Lewis Supreme Court Justice, New York County

National Association of Women Judges, District 2

(New York, Vermont & Connecticut) & New York State Chapter

Thank You Student Facilitators: Dr. Juliet Emanuel

Vicky B. Broadhurst, Retired Assistant Principal Velma Banks, Social Worker

Donna Grant, Author/Mentor Fayola Williams, Esq.

Henry Lancaster III, Photographer

Community Organizations Diversity Awareness Initiative for Students, Inc.

Footsteps To Follow/Madison Square Garden Boys & Girls Club Blue Nile Passage, Inc.

Hon. Colleen A. Brown, US Bankruptcy Court, District of Vermont Vermont State Chair

Hon. E. Jeanette Odgen Supreme Court Justice 8th Judicial District, Buffalo New York State Chair

Hon. Renee Forgensi Minarik, President Elect New York State Court of Claims, Rochester

Hon. Harriet Thompson, Vice-President Second Department New York Civil Court, Kings County

Hon. Shirley Troutman, Vice-President Fourth Department Supreme Court Justice, Erie County

Hon. Joanne Quinones, Treasurer Kings County Criminal Court Hon. Rachel Kretser Albany City Court

Hon. Karen Uplinger Syracuse City Court

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National Association of Women Judges

Mission Statement

The National Association of Women Judges is the voice for women jurists. The mission is to pro-

mote the judicial role of protecting the rights of individuals under the rule of law through strong,

committed, diverse judicial leadership, fairness and equality in the courts, and equal access to justice.

Since 1979, the National Association of Women Judges has fought to preserve judicial independ-

ence, ensure equal justice and access to the courts for women, minorities and other historically disfa-

vored groups, to increase the number and promote the advancement of women judges at all levels,

and provide cutting-edge judicial education. NAWJs diverse membership includes women and men

at all levels of the federal, state, tribal, military and administrative judiciary from every state and

territory in the nation, as well as attorneys, law clerks, law students and law professors committed to

our mission of diversity and equality in the system of justice.

NAWJ National Officers & Staff

President Hon. Julie E. Frantz Multnomah County Circuit Court Oregon

PresidentElect Hon. Lisa S. Walsh Eleventh Judicial Circuit, Civil Division Florida

Immediate Past President Hon. Anna Blackburne-Rigsby District of Columbia Court of Appeals District of Columbia

Vice-President-Districts Hon. Ann Breen-Greco Illinois State Board of Education Chicago, IL

Vice President of Publications Hon. Diana Becton Contra Costa County Superior Court, Dept.

Martinez, CA Treasurer Hon. Ariane Vuono Massachusetts Appeals Court Boston, MA

Lavinia Cousin National Association of Women Judges Senior Programs & Publications Manager

Finance Committee Chair Hon. Tanya R. Kennedy New York Supreme Court New York, NY

Secretary Hon. Beverly Winslow Cutler Alaska Court System 3rd Judicial District Palmer, AK

Projects Committee Chair Hon. Marcella A. Holland Baltimore City Circuit Court, Retired Baltimore, MD

International Director Hon. Ann Walsh Bradley Wisconsin Supreme Court Madison, WI

ABA Delegate Hon. Norma Shapiro U.S. District Court, Eastern District PA Philadelphia, PA

Marie Komisar National Association of Women Judges Executive Director

Craig A. Evans National Association of Women Judges Director of Finance & Administration

National Association of Women Judges

District 2

presents

Janet Langhart Cohens One Act play

ANNE & EMMETT

Directed by

Ron Himes

William S. Cohen Ken Johnson Executive Producer General Manager/Line Producer

Original music by Joshua Coyne

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Playwright's Note

To help me understand and articulate the need to find tolerance and harmony in the world rather

than hate, I have turned to an imaginary vision of two historic and tragic victims of institutionalized

terrorism, Anne Frank and Emmett Till.

Anne Frank needs little exposition. Her diary has been read by untold millions in virtually every

country. Anne's story is that of a people in desperate need of help against Adolph Hitler and his Nazi

Party that had goose-stepped its way across much of Europe during the 1930s and 1940s, conquering

country after country.

Through the young, intelligent voice of Anne we learn what it was like for her and her family to live

in fear, to be forced to huddle together with others in a small, confined hideaway, and to cling to

hope in their darkest hours as the Nazis came to cart them off to slave labor camps and

crematoriums.

Few people today know the story of Emmett Till and the impact that his violent death had upon the

fate and future of black people and how it changed America.

Emmett was a young black boy (about Anne's age) who, in 1955, traveled from his home in Chicago,

Illinois to visit his great uncle in Money, Mississippi. While there, he committed the unpardonable

crime of whistling at a white woman. He was abducted from his uncle's home, savagely beaten,

tortured, shot and then, with a cotton gin fan tied around his body, thrown into the Tallahatchie

River.

When Emmett's body was recovered several days later and returned to his mother in Chicago, she

insisted that his coffin be open during the funeral ceremony. When photographs of his hideously

mangled face were published in Jet Magazine, it unleashed a fury in the black community. The

photographs sparked domestic and international outrage and served to energize the Civil Rights

Movement in America.

Nearly fifty years passed before the U. S. Justice Department decided to reopen the case to determine

whether there might have been others involved in Emmett's murder who could be prosecuted. On June

20, 2007, the U.S. House of Representatives passed The Emmett Till Civil Rights Act which provided

authority and funding for the FBI's Civil Rights Unit to focus on solving crimes committed before 1969.

On October 7, 2008, the legislation was made into Public Law 110-344.

Anne & Emmett reminds us of the role that race, religion and ethnicity have played in the past and how

hatred and the evil of genocide continue to stalk the world. Anne Frank and Emmett Till meet

somewhere in time, in Memory, where they are destined to remain locked in a conversation until

the chain of mankind's bigotry is broken by the grace of illumination and knowledge.

The imaginary conversation that follows is offered with the hope that it will appeal to all audiences,

but most specifically to those of Anne and Emmett's age, lest they never know or are allowed to

forget. I dedicate this performance to the memory of Officer Stephen T. Johns of the U.S. Holocaust

Memorial Museum, for his service and bravery in advancing the cause of tolerance and harmony.

-Janet Langhart Cohen

National Association of Women Judges , District 2 Womens History Month Education Program

5:006:15pm Reception 6:307:30pm Welcome Hon. Tanya R. Kennedy, NAWJ Finance Committee Chairperson & Supervising Judge, Civil Court, New York County A Performance of Janet Langhart Cohens Play, Anne & Emmett, based on the story of Anne Frank, a young Jewish girl, and a victim of the Holocaust, and Emmett Till, a young African American boy murdered in the segregated American South during the Jim Crow era.

7:308:30pm Panel Discussion with Q & A Moderator: Justice Juanita Bing Newton, Dean, New York State Judicial Institute Panelists: Janet Langhart Cohen, Playwright, Anne & Emmett Keith A. Beauchamp, Filmmaker, The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till Retired Justice Betty Weinberg Ellerin, NAWJ President 1994-1995 & Retired Justice, Appellate Division-First Department Shiri B. Sandler, U.S. Director, Auschwitz Jewish Center Questions & Answers from the Audience Acknowledgements

Hon. Bernice D. Siegal, Supreme Court Justice, Queens County, Civil Term Hon. Betty J. Williams, Supreme Court Justice, Kings County, Criminal Term

Continue the conversation

www.nawj.org www.janetlanghartcohen.com www.anneandemmett.com

@anneandemmett Anne and Emmett

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About the Director

Ron Himes is the Founder and Producing Director of The Black Rep and the Henry E. Hampton, Jr. Artist-in-Residence at Washington University in St. Louis. He has produced and directed more than 200 plays at The Black Rep, including all ten plays written by August Wilson. His Black Rep directing credits include: Anne and Emmett, For Colored Girls The Meeting, Black Nativity: A Holiday Celebration, Ruined, and The Montford Point Marine. Himes also created and

directed the highly acclaimed, Crossin Over and Tell Me Somethin Good. Directing credits from theatres across the country include: Aint Misbehavin and Fences (The Clarence Brown Theatre in Knoxville); The Colored Museum and Blues for an Alabama Sky (Indiana Repertory Theatre); Flyin West (Delaware Theatre Company); For Colored Girls...(Peoples Light and Theatre Company in Philadelphia); Riffs (Seven Stages in Atlanta); Spunk, Spell #7 and Radio Golf (Studio Theatre in Washington, DC).

Cast of Characters

Morgan Freeman..(Voice over) Narrator

Ernest Bentley* .......................................................................... Emmett Till

Ashley L. Jenkins* ............................................................... Mamie Till-Mobley

Jessie Kenner Tidball ................................................................... Anne Frank

Roger Grunwald*.Otto Frank & JW Milam

Joshua Coyne...Violinist

*Member, Actors Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States

Production Team

Robin Y. Harris Charles A. Coward Joan Cappello

Production Manager Company Manager Stage Manager

Danielle Teague-Daniels Rocco DiSanti

Assistant Company Manager/ Technical Director/Lighting Designer/Projection Designer

Assistant Stager Manager

Douglas James Macur

Sound Engineer

About the Playwright

Janet Langhart Cohen is an Emmy-nominated journalist who began her television career on CBS in Chicago. She has also appeared on ABC, NBC, and BET; hosted ABCs Good Day Boston; undertaken special assignments for Entertainment Tonight; and produced several programs, including Capitol Hill with Janet Langhart. As an overseas correspondent, she covered news in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. She has also worked as a columnist for the Boston Herald and U.S. News & World Report. She has interviewed many leaders and major newsmakers of the 20th Century, including President Bill Clinton, President Jimmy Carter,

Margaret Thatcher, Rosa Parks, Mel Gibson, Bill Cosby, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Denzel Washington, Dan Rather, and Larry King. She has served as spokeswoman for Avon Cosmetics, a judge for The White house Fellows Program, and an advisor to the Miss America Organization. The wife of former Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen, she was known as First Lady of the Pentagon for her active public role while her husband was in office, during which time she spurred several initiatives aimed at improving the well-being of the Defense Departments employees, including the Military Family Forum, the Pentagon Pops Concert Series, and the Secretary of Defense Annual Holiday Tour. Mrs. Cohen also created and hosted the weekly television program Special Assignment, which was broadcast globally over the Armed Forces from 1997-2001. In 2004, she published her first book which is a memoir entitled From Rage to Reason: My Life in Two Americas. In 2005, she and her husband published Love in Black and White: A Memoir of Race, Religion and Romance and the bonds that Langhart and Cohen share. Recently, Mrs. Cohen was inducted into the Indiana Broadcasters Hall of Fame and was selected to receive the 2015 Woman of Courage Award by the Emmett Till Legacy Foundation.

In 2008, Mrs. Cohen and Secretary Cohen founded RARIA with the purpose of advancing the principles of equity and social justice through education and community engagement. Through her non-profit, Mrs. Cohen successfully campaigned for a tree to be planted on the grounds of Capitol Hill in honor of the late Emmett Till. RARIA has also hosted several nationally-televised conferences on the topics of race relations in America, sponsored scholarship programs, and produced Anne & Emmett.

Anne & Emmett has been performed at the Mofet School in Jerusalem as well as in schools, synagogues, and theatres around the country, including the Holocaust Museum in 2009. A curriculum around the play is being developed by the Arlington Public Schools system in Northern Virginia and Anne & Emmett is now available is five other languages, including Hebrew, Arabic, German, Spanish, and French.

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Annelies Marie "Anne Frank"

June 12, 1929 early March 1945

Anne was a German-born Jewish girl from the city of Frankfurt, who wrote a diary while in hiding with her family, the Van Pels family, and Fritz Pfeffer in Amsterdam during the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II.

Anne and her family moved to Amsterdam in 1933 after the Nazis gained power in Germany, and were trapped by the occupation of the Netherlands, which began in 1940. As persecution against the Jewish population increased, the family went into hiding in July 1942 in hidden rooms in her father Otto Frank's office building.

After two years, the group was betrayed and transported to concentration camps. Seven months after her arrest, Anne Frank died at the age of 15 of typhus in the Bergen-Belson concentration camp, within days of the death of her sister, Margot Frank. Her father, the only survivor of the group, returned to Amsterdam after the war to find that her diary had been saved, and his efforts led it its publication in 1947. It was translated from its original Dutch and first published in English in 1953 as The Diary of a Young Girl.

The diary, which was given to Anne on her 13th birthday, chronicles her life from June 12, 1942, until August 1, 1944. It has been translated into many languages and has become one of the world's most widely read books.

Anne Frank has been acknowledged for the quality of her writing and has become one of the most renowned and discussed Holocaust victims. Her diary offers hope and encouragement for an improved human condition in the Twenty-First Century:

"Everyone has inside of him a piece of good news. The good news is that you don't know how great you can be! How much you can love! What you can accomplish! And what your potential is!"

Anne Frank

How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world."

Anne Frank

Emmett Louis "Bobo" Till

July 25, 1941 August 28, 1955

Emmett was a 14-year-old African American from Chicago, Illinois, who was brutally murdered in Money, Mississippi, a small town in the state's Delta region. The murder of Emmett Till was noted as one of the leading events that motivated the American Civil Rights Movement. The main suspects were acquitted, but later admitted to committing the crime.

Till's mother insisted on a public funeral service with an open casket to let everyone see how he had been killed. He had been beaten and had his eye gouged out before he was shot through the head and thrown into the Tallahatchie River with a 75-pound cotton gin fan tied to his neck with barbed wire. His body was in the river for three days before it was discovered and retrieved by two fishermen.

An all-white jury, made up of 12 males, acquitted J. W. Milam and Roy Bryant, who were accused of the brutal murder. Deliberations took just 67 minutes; one juror said, "If we hadn't stopped to drink pop, it wouldn't have taken that long."

The hasty acquittal outraged people throughout the United States and Europe. Following the trial, Look Magazine paid J.W. Milam and Roy Bryant $4,000 to tell their story. Safe from any further charges for their crime due to double jeopardy protection, Bryant admitted to journalist William Bradford Huie that he and his brother had killed Till.

Milam claimed that initially their intention was to scare Till into line by pistol-whipping him and threatening to throw him off a cliff. Milam explained that contrary to expectations, regardless of what they did to Till, he never showed any fear, never seemed to believe they would really kill him, and maintained a completely unrepentant, insolent, defiant attitude toward them.

Thus, the brothers said they felt they were left with no choice by to fully make an example of Till, and they killed him.

This performance is dedicated to the OPPRESSED , the ENSLAVED and the Memory of all Murdered Human Beings.