Chatham Community Library will host local author Marcia Herman-Giddens presenting her book Unloose My Heart: A Personal Reckoning with the Twisted Roots of My Southern Family Tree.   The program takes place in the Holmes Family Meeting Room on Saturday, April 27, from 2:00 - 4:00 pm.  

Unloose My Heart  chronicles journeys and back stories of exploration and discovery, full of angst, sorrow, and joy, as it seeks a mending. It tells of uncanny traveling adventures full of synchronicities and unexpected discoveries. Some included learning about African American cousins who taught the author grace and love. It is the story of a girl, finding herself in the apartheid world of Jim Crow Birmingham, Alabama, at the age of six. 

Herman-Giddens was born in Washington, DC, to a Pennsylvania father and a south Florida mother. In 1947, the family moved to Birmingham, Alabama, arriving when the first bombings of African American establishments had begun. As Marcia grew up, she was profoundly affected by her exposure to the wrongs of Jim Crow, the ongoing atrocities, and pervasive injustice. Later, as a young mother, she and her then-husband participated in Birmingham’s Civil Rights Movement. 

This program is free and open to the public.

Residents may visit the libraries’ website www.chathamlibraries.org, or contact the Library at (919) 545-8084 for more information on this and other events and programs.

Members of the media interested in attending/covering this event are asked to please notify Public Information Officer Kara Lusk in advance at 919-542-8258 or kara.lusk@chathamcountync.gov.