Saturday, May 21, 2011 11:00 AM-1:00 PM, Luau Garden Chinese Buffet at 1890 Arden Way in Sacramento.  DETAILS

Sherie Labedis, author, speaker, publisher, teacher, was born in Los Angeles, California, in 1946. When she was 10 her family moved to rural Shingle Springs. She discovered a passion for civil rights when her high school English teacher asked his students what they were willing to die for.

She was 18 in the summer of 1965 when she participated in a community organization and political education project registering black voters in Pineville, South Carolina for King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference. One of a handful of white college students, she turned her terrifying, touching and thought-provoking experience into a memoir titled, You Came Here to Die, Didn’t You.

With the financial support of the NAACP, and the only white student on campus, she enrolled for a semester at Allen University, an African Methodist Episcopal college in Columbia, South Carolina, returning to the University of California, Berkeley, where she earned a bachelor’s degree and teaching credential.

She taught history and English, mostly to at-risk youth, for thirty-five years before retiring to write her story of that summer, a validation that committed people can make a difference.

Labedis will speak about getting her memoir published and offer tips on writing your own.  The title of her talk is “Trust Your Gut.”

For more, visit Sherie’s website at www.sherielabedis.com.