This program centers on Howard Kester who was born and raised near Martinsville in the early twentieth century and later moved with his family to Beckley, West Virginia as a teenager. Those early years in and around Henry County, followed by his experiences in West Virginia coal country, were formative. Seeing firsthand the exploitation of textile mill workers and coal miners pushed him toward the ministry and shaped a lifelong commitment to social and economic justice. Kester used his role as a preacher to support bi-racial organizing and advocate for the poor from the mid 1920s through the late 1970s.

Join us Tuesday, August 4, at 10:30am as Hunter Haskins examines the life of this forgotten preacher who organized labor, battled the KKK, and mentored a legend in a fight for the future.