Library’s ‘Unlaunched Voices’ explores Whitman’s legacy

The second program in its series on the Civil War,

“Unlaunched Voices, an Evening with Walt Whitman,” took place at the Marian J. Mohr Memorial Library in Johnston on Wednesday, July 16.

Stephen Collins – an actor, teacher and tour guide – played the part of Walt Whitman in this critically acclaimed one-man show.

The audience meets Whitman on the evening of his 70th birthday as he questions his success as a poet. During that questioning, Whitman talks about his controversial literary creation “Leaves of Grass.” The book is about self-discovery and the beauty of the human body and issues of sexuality. While quite mild by today’s standards, in the 1850s it was met with much controversy and condemnation.

Whitman then tells how his life was changed forever by the Civil War. Whitman was a nurse in that war, and he talks about the young soldiers 16, 17 and 18 years old, horribly wounded and dying and the awful medical conditions in hospitals back then as seen through his personal experiences and letters of those who took part in that struggle.

On Sept. 15, the library will present “Soldiers of the Civil War: Brothers and Immigrants.” Local Civil War authority Less Ralston will share stories of immigrant soldiers who received the Medal of Honor in that war as the next part in the library’s Summer Reading series.