Community Listening Session: Audio Documentary on Juanita & Wally Nelson

Vermont Premiere of Audio Documentary on Civil Rights Activists, Simple Living Advocates, and Subsistence Farmers Juanita & Wally Nelson

Brattleboro, VT – On March 12th at 7 pm, Brooks Memorial Library (224 Main St. Brattleboro) will host the Vermont premiere of the audio documentary, “Eyes on Freedom,” on the lives and legacy of beloved peace and civil rights activists, Wally and Juanita Nelson. There will be an opportunity to hear the documentary again on April 6th at 6pm at the Congregational Church of Westminster West (44 Church St. Westminster West). Both community listening sessions will include time afterwards for guided reflection and conversation with individuals who knew Juanita and Wally.

The Nelsons were civil rights and peace activists, war tax refusers, subsistence farmers, and advocates of simple living.They were members of such groups as the Congress on Racial Equality, Fellowship of Reconciliation, and Peacemakers. In western Massachusetts, they were founding members of the Greenfield Farmers’ Market and Winter Fare. They were recipients of numerous awards during their lifetimes, including the Courage of Conscience Award from the Peace Abbey in Sherborn, MA and the Sacco and Vanzetti Award from Community Church in Boston.

“Eyes on Freedom” tells the story of the Nelsons through their own voices and those who knew them. The documentary was commissioned by the Nelson Legacy Project and was produced by Carrie and Michael Kline of “Talking Across the Lines.” These community listening sessions will be an exciting chance to consider what people can learn from the Nelsons’ lifetime of simple living, war tax refusal, and peace activism and how it can apply in their lives today.

“I look to Juanita and Wally as examples for how to live courageously,” says Lindsey Britt, Nelson Legacy Project member and Brattleboro, VT resident. “Anyone interested in nonviolence, concepts of freedom, growing food locally, building community, living simply, and finding solidarity with people near and far can take away something profound from this audio tapestry; there is truly something for everyone.”

WHAT: Community listening session & conversation on Juanita & Wally Nelson

WHEN: Wednesday, March 12th, 7pm

WHERE: Brooks Memorial Library, 224 Main Street, Brattleboro, VT

WHO: Nelson Legacy Project, nelsonhomestead.org

CONTACT: Bob Bady, bobbady@gmail.com

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WHAT: Community listening session & conversation on Juanita & Wally Nelson accompanied by light refreshments

WHEN: Sunday, April 6th, 6pm

WHERE: Congregational Church of Westminster West, 44 Church Street, Westminster West, VT

WHO: Nelson Legacy Project (nelsonhomestead.org) and Living Earth Action Group

CONTACT: Betsy Williams, laladust@gmail.com

 

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The Nelson Legacy Project is a group of individuals whose mission is to make the Nelsons’ ideas, beliefs, commitments, ways of relating to people, and ways of being in the world accessible and available to future generations. Since 2021 NLP has been working to maintain the Deerfield, MA homestead of Juanita & Wally Nelson while spreading their message of peace and simple living. NLP creates educational materials, hosts visits for people of all ages, and provides speakers for events which have a connection to the Wally & Juanita’s legacy of civil rights and peace activism, war tax refusal, subsistence farming, and simple living. Learn more at nelsonhomestead.org.