(L-R) Ms. Marianne Scott, Chair, Humanities Council of Washington, DC, Ambassador Sharon Wilkinson, Diplomatic Advisor, Meridian International Center, Ms. Judith Terra, Chair, DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities, Ms. Marlene Hunt Moss, Board Member, Humanities Council of Washington, DC

Meridian International Center and The Humanities Council of Washington DC hosted a discussion and reception on Wednesday, May 30th to conclude the Council’s 2012 Live to Read, a city-wide reading initiative and celebration of literature. This year’s featured book was Harper Lee’s perennial classic, To Kill a Mockingbird. The closing program entitled “Through the Eyes of a Child: Seeking a Just World” included readings by Judith Terra, Chair of the DC Commission on Arts and Humanities and 8th grade student, Katherine Estrada from DCPS’s Raymond Education Campus. The event was part of Meridian’s Live Local/Think Global program which provides free of cost cultural programming to the DC community as a way to engage on global issues. The Humanities Council’s board member Marlene Hunt Moss and Attorney A. Scott Bolden, Managing Partner of the Washington, DC office of Reed Smith LLP officially launched a new initiative known as Lawyers for Humanities; a strategic partnership between Greater Washington's legal community, and the Humanities Council of Washington, DC, which will help residents better understand and appreciate the impact of jurisprudence and ethics on our daily lives. Ambassador Sharon Wilkinson, Diplomatic Advisor to Meridian International Center moderated a panel featuring Author Uzodinma Iweala, and literature professor, Dr. Lorraine Henry from Howard University. Both Iweala and Dr. Henry shared their perspectives on how the main characters Scout and Agu from To Kill a Mockingbird and Beasts of No Nation sought a more fair and just world in contrast to the injustices that they witnessed and experienced, whether it concerned racial injustice and the law in the American South or a child soldier in an unnamed West African nation. The event was sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities and Verizon.