Ann Thomas was an optimistic, courageous woman, a nurse, educator, pioneer, and dedicated patron of the Ohio County Public Library, who was recently inducted into the Wheeling Hall of Fame. After she passed on February 22, 2019, the Library’s Lunch With Books program launched an annual memorial lecture series in her honor.
Distinguished guests have included historian Dr. Joe Trotter of Carnegie Mellon University, Affrilachian poet Crystal Wilkinson, author and activist Dr. William Turner (pictured above right with Ann Thomas’s granddaughter Carrie Ann), and Michelle Duster, great-granddaughter of civil rights legend, Ida B. Wells.
The series’s 2024 guest will be Alvin Hall, author of Driving the Green Book. On the BBC, Hall hosted the award-winning series, “Your Money or Your Life,” on which he offered both practical financial and psychological advice. He is an internationally renowned financial educator, award-winning television and radio broadcaster, artist, and bestselling author.
In the summer of 2019, Mr. Hall hit the road, with companions Janée Woods Weber and Oluwakemi (Kemi) Aladesuyi, for a 12-day, 2,000-mile trip from Detroit to New Orleans. The route was based on information gathered from the historic travel guide, The “Negro Motorist Green Book.” The Green Book was designed to help African Americans while traveling to avoid places that would turn them away due to Jim Crow segregation and instead lead them to establishments where they would be more welcome. The people Hall interviewed shared powerful stories and memories of that time that became the center of the award-winning podcast and book, “Driving the Green Book. ”
“Singletary’s,” aka “The Dixie,” the Wheeling restaurant owned by Ann Thomas’s aunt and uncle, once appeared in the Green Book as did a few other establishments like Doc White’s Pharmacy.
The 2024 Ann Thomas Memorial Lecture will take place at Lunch With Books TODAY, February 20, 2024 at noon. The Library has copies of the book available for purchase and signing by Mr. Hall (Hardcover $20, inquire by email). For more information, check the Library’s website at www.ohiocountylibrary.org, or call 304-232-0244.
