Resurrecting Their Stories (Selma, AL)

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

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