John Cooley will talk about the evolution of Sam Clemens' views on race, from his own childhood in a slave-owning family in Missouri, to his marriage into a staunch abolitionist family, whose house, in Elmira, New York, had been an important 'station" on the underground railroad. John will also tell the story of how Mark Twain heard Mary Ann Cord's dramatic narrative of her years in slavery, and her delivery to freedom, and of his literary rendition of her narrative, his first attempt at reproducing African-American speech in literary dialect. In the second half, John will be joined by the talented reader, Carline Seide-Murphy,and percussionist, Azouke Legba, in a "reader's theater" presentation of "A True Story: Repeated Word for Word as I Heard It" by Mark Twain. Q@A and a reception will follow.