6th Annual Farina Lecture Series: Drew Sanders

Tuesday, October 23, Reception at 6:30 p.m.; Lecture at 7 p.m. FREE (no admission charge for this event)

Join author Drew Sanders as he discusses his book The Garden of Eden. Tucked in a bend of the Trinity River a few minutes from downtown Fort Worth, the Garden of Eden neighborhood has endured for well over a century as a home place for freed African American slaves and their descendants. Some of the earliest inhabitants in the Garden, Major and Malinda Cheney assembled over 200 acres of productive farmland on which they raised crops and cattle, built a substantial home for their children, and weathered a series of family crises that ranged from a false accusation of rape and attempted lynching, to the murder of their eldest son. Major and Malinda Cheney’s great-great-grandson, Drew Sanders, recounts engaging tales of the family’s life against the backdrop of Fort Worth and Tarrant County history.

The Nancy Farina Lecture Series honors Farina, who was a 20-year employee of Dallas Heritage Village. She served as vice president for development and capital giving for much of her tenure, which ended with her death in 2012.

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