The Moline Public Library plans to host a show on Ann Stokes next Saturday.
The Moline Public Library plans to host a show on Ann Stokes next Saturday.
Storyteller and actress Marlene Rivero will perform a free one-woman show Saturday, March 19, portraying the story of Ann Stokes, an African-American Civil War nurse.
Stokes is recorded as the first black woman to serve on a U.S. military ship. In addition, she served on the U.S.S. Red Rover, the Union Army's first hospital ship, which eventually treated nearly 3,000 patients, many in Confederate territory. After the war, Stokes lived in southern Illinois.
Rivero will inhabit Stokes' character to recount these and other details of Stokes' story from a first-person perspective.
The free, all-ages show begins at 3 p.m.
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