On March 3, 2018, the Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project 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.
In the below show-reel, visitors will find photographs from the day.
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Selma Center for Nonviolence, Truth and Reconciliation
March 3, 2018
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(Left to Right) Tchernavia Moffett,
Nichole Ulmer, relatives of Rayfield Davis,
and Henry Gaskins, nephew
of Timothy Hood
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Stuart Wexler
Hightstown High School
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(Left to Right)
Prarthana Singh,
Anna Trancozo
Hightstown High School
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Kathleen FitzGerald,
Cambridge Rindge and Latin -
Kester Messan-Hilla
Former Kimbrough Scholar
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Alabama State Senator
Hank Sanders
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Lowndesboro School Building (est. 1883)
Panelists
Felicia Bell
Director
Rosa Parks Museum
LaTosha Brown
Co-Founder
Black Voters Matter Fund
Margaret Burnham
Founder and Director
Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project
Kathleen FitzGerald
Civics Teacher
Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School
Carroll Hughes
Board Member
The Elmore Bolling Foundation
Ainka Jackson
Executive Director
Selma Center for Nonviolence, Truth and Reconciliation
Rhonda Jones
Lead Archivist
Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project
Melvin J. Kelly, IV
Elizabeth Ann Zitrin Teaching Fellow
Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project
Josephine Bolling McColl
Board President
The Elmore Bolling Foundation
Kester Messan-Hilla
Former Kimbrough Scholar
Williams College
Melissa Nobles
Kenan Sahin Dean of the School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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
Project Director, Restorative Justice
Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project
Prarthana Singh
Student
Hightstown High School
Anna Trancozo
Student
Hightstown High School
Stuart Wexler
Teacher in Social Studies
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
Associate Director
Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project