ABOUT US
"A Fraternal Literary Organization"
The BAR – Brothers Also Read is a fraternal literary organization whose purpose is to support the intellectual growth and development of our members, mentor young men into adulthood, and transform the conversations in our communities into action that produces positive social change.
DISCOVER THE BAR
Community Impact
Taking Collective Action To Create Positive Social Change In Our Communities Begining With Critical Thinking, Intellectual Development And Engaging Discussion Among Men.
Strategic Partnerships
The BAR is interested in establishing partnerships with organizations who share our commitment to the furtherance of education and literacy in our community. We have already established an informal partnership with Chandler Park Academy which was founded by the late Dr. Anthony Shipley, a former member of The BAR.
Scholarship Opportunities
CURRENT READING SELECTION
CURRENT BOOK:
The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates
This book is a thoughtful examination of the forces that surround us, the choices we make, and how minute differences can send similar paths towards wildly divergent outcomes.
From the governor of Maryland, the “compassionate” (People), “startling” (Baltimore Sun), “moving” (Chicago Tribune) true story of two kids with the same name: One went on to be a Rhodes Scholar, decorated combat veteran, White House Fellow, and business leader. The other is serving a life sentence in prison.
The chilling truth is that his story could have been mine. The tragedy is that my story could have been his.
In December 2000, the Baltimore Sun ran a small piece about Wes Moore, a local student who had just received a Rhodes Scholarship. The same paper also ran a series of articles about four young men who had allegedly killed a police officer in a spectacularly botched armed robbery. The police were still hunting for two of the suspects who had gone on the lam, a pair of brothers. One was named Wes Moore.
Wes just couldn’t shake off the unsettling coincidence, or the inkling that the two shared much more than space in the same newspaper. After following the story of the robbery, the manhunt, and the trial to its conclusion, he wrote a letter to the other Wes, now a convicted murderer serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole. His letter tentatively asked the questions that had been haunting him: Who are you? How did this happen?
That letter led to a correspondence and relationship that have lasted for several years. Over dozens of letters and prison visits, Wes discovered that the other Wes had had a life not unlike his own: Both had had difficult childhoods, both were fatherless; they’d hung out on similar corners with similar crews, and both had run into trouble with the police. At each stage of their young lives they had come across similar moments of decision, yet their choices would lead them to astonishingly different destinies.
Told in alternating dramatic narratives that take readers from heart-wrenching losses to moments of surprising redemption, The Other Wes Moore tells the story of a generation of boys trying to find their way in a hostile world.