A program this Friday night at Central Congregational Church in Galesburg is expected to bring “three remarkable women” back to life.
Mary Allen West, Susan Van Allen Richardson and Mary Ann “Mother” Bickerdyke will be re-enacted.
West, who was Knox County Superintendent of Schools and a public education pioneer will be portrayed by Gail Masinda.
Semenya McCord will act as Richardson, who was a runaway slave who helped to run the Galesburg Underground Railroad and founded Allen Chapel AME Church.
Finally, Bickerdyke will be re-enacted by Pam Johnson. Bickerdyke is the well known Civil-War nurse who cared for soldiers.
The event is being put on by the Galesburg Public Library Foundation. GPLF President Terry Bruner tells Galesburg’s Evening News on WGIL that looking back to look forward is the inspiration for the re-enactment.
“We can make our community better if we understand our past, our present and we work towards a preferred future,” Bruner says. “I guess, the idea was to really acquaint people with some of the incredible historical people we’ve had in Galesburg over the years and the things that they have accomplished that have just changed the world.”
The event is free and open to the public. It begins at 7 p.m.
