On March 3, 2018, CRRJ hosted its third event in the three-part symposium “Resurrecting Their Stories” in Selma, Alabama.
Held at the Selma Center for Nonviolence, Truth and Reconciliation, CRRJ co-hosted alongside The Elmore Bolling Foundation and the Alabama Chapter of the NAACP. The focus of this event was on the process of gathering oral history accounts of racial violence and distilling them into high school curricula, to ensure that younger generations can contextualize injustices that remain pervasive today and that these stories are never forgotten.
Central to the event were two groundbreaking high school initiatives. Stuart Wexler, of Hightstown High School, NJ, has directed three dozen students to draft the Civil Rights Cold Case Record Collections Act of 2017, to date pending in Congress (HR 1272). Kathleen FitzGerald, of Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, MA, leads the Kimbrough Scholars Program, which performs investigative fieldwork in partnership with CRRJ.
Josephine Bolling McColl of The Elmore Bolling Foundation presented on efforts to preserve the historic Lowndesboro School building, which has remained standing since 1883. Attendees also heard testimony from the family of Della McDuffie, whose story previously featured in CRRJ’s award winning film The Trouble I’ve Seen, and relatives of Timothy Hood and Rayfield Davis.
Below:
Photo 1: (Left to Right): Kaylie Simon, Josephine Bolling McColl, Rhonda Jones, Alabama Senator Hank Sanders, Margaret Burnham, Rose Zoltek-Jick, Melissa Nobles
Photo 2: Della McDuffie, granddaughter of Della McDuffie
Photo 3: Wilbur Williams, grandson of Della McDuffie
Photo 4: (Left to Right): Tchernavia Moffett, Nichole Ulmer, relatives of Rayfield Davis, and Henry Gaskins, nephew of Timothy Hood
Photo 5: Henry Gaskins, nephew of Timothy Hood
Photo 6: Stuart Wexler, Hightstown High School
Photo 7: (Left to Right): Stuart Wexler, Prarthana Singh, and Anna Trancozo, Hightstown High School
Photo 8: Kathleen FitzGerald, Cambridge Rindge and Latin School
Photo 9: Kester Messan-Hilla, Former Kimbrough Scholar
Photo 10: Alabama State Senator Hank Sanders
Photo 11: Lowndesboro School Building (est. 1883)
Date:
March 3, 2018
Location:
Selma Center for Nonviolence, Truth and Reconciliation
Panelists:
Felicia Bell, Director of Rosa Parks Museum
LaTosha Brown, Co-Founder, Black Voters Matter Fund
Margaret Burnham, CRRJ
Kathleen FitzGerald, Civics Teacher at Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School
Henry Gaskins, nephew of Timothy Hood
Carroll Hughes, Board Member, The Elmore Bolling Foundation
Ainka Jackson, Executive Director, Selma Center for Nonviolence, Truth and Reconciliation
Rhonda Jones, CRRJ Lead Archivist
Melvin J. Kelly, IV, the Elizabeth Ann Zitrin Teaching Fellow at CRRJ
Josephine Bolling McColl, Board President, The Elmore Bolling Foundation
Kester Messan-Hilla, Former Kimbrough Scholar, Williams College
Tchernavia Moffet, relative of Rayfield Davis
Melissa Nobles, Kenan Sahin Dean of the School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, MIT
Victoria Rothbaum, Board Chair, The Elmore Bolling Foundation
Margaret M. Russell, Associate Professor of Law, Santa Clara School of Law
Hank Sanders, Senator, Alabama State Senate
Kaylie Simon, CRRJ Project Director of Restorative Justice
Prarthana Singh, student at Hightstown High School
Anna Trancozo, student at Hightstown High School
Nichole Ulmer, relative of Rayfield Davis
Stuart Wexler, Teacher in Social Studies at Hightstown High School
Tara White, History Instructor/Arts and Humanities Department Chair, Wallace Community College, Selma
Ed Whitfield, Co-Managing Director, Fund for Democratic Communities
Rose Zoltek-Jick, CRRJ Associate Director