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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2011-06-10-LHRC-minLHRC PROJECT 2011 Planning Committee Summary As of June 10, 2011 The LHRC 2011 Project Planning Committee met twice during the month of May at the homes of Nancy Earcy and Bob Kent. Not all of the committee members were present at these meetings but all tasks were completed that were expected. The committee prepared posters and flyers for the table at Discovery Day. Linda Vine provided copies of the three fold made by Leona, the table cloth and banner as well as a sign up sheet for volunteers. Susan and the Historical Society provided the great looking post cards so we thank her for her help in providing them. Leona and Nancy repurposed two old LexFest! picture posters showing the diversity of the town as of 1996 to emphasize the growth and cultural change of Lexington since the 1960s. Nancy, Fuang, Puran and Leona hosted the table. We were able to promote our program to Jay Kaufman who already had it in his calendar. He made sure we saw that. He introduced us to Steve Grossman, the State Treasurer. Jim Shaw stopped by the booth and offered to help promote the event. Traffic in front of the booth was sparse and sometimes we had to physically go out and put postcards into people's hands. Because of our last minute involvement, our table was right next to the band and we were without a tent cover. All in all it was a fun opportunity to start the ball rolling on our promotion of the November event. Nancy has talked to Edgar Smith and has written him a letter explaining that we would like to invite him to participate in this event and that we are looking for resources to pay for his travel. He was noncommittal at this time and will get back to Nancy. Bob has been in touch with Landon Lindsay and he is excited about the event and would like to participate. So, as you can see, initial steps have been taken towards obtaining a speaker. LHRC PROJECT 2011 REPORT TO COMMITTEE -6/10/2011 Page 1 Leona has recently met Gordon A. Martin, Jr., a retired trial judge, who has written a book on the trial regarding the voting issue in Mississippi, "Count Them One By One Black Mississipians Fighting fog the Right to Vote." He lives in Newton and is getting a lot of attention lately for this book by appearing on some TV programs and public radio programs. Would it make sense to have a participant who is able to address briefly one of the national laws that brought so many northerners to the south? He could be there just to show /sell his books or he has a 9 minute video that he could show. Just something to think about. Nancy has continued to have good luck in finding information about the Lexington Civil rights Committee (LCRC) and the Lexington Commission on Suburban Responsibility (LCSR) from the Lexington Minuteman Archives. She and Fuang met at the Historical Society Archives to hopefully find more information and to take better pictures of the newspaper articles. We will meet twice in June on the 13 and 27 alternating between Nancy and Bob's homes. We continue with a list of things to do which will probably change in some way or be added to as necessary. Some of these things have been done and some are yet to do. 1. We have reviewed music which will have to be scripted and a few videos to see how they can be used as we build our program to include a panel, exhibits and music. 2. As mentioned, we are lining up speakers and invited guests for consideration. As we can, invite each potential speaker to meet with the planning committee 3. We are still looking for people who can share what they may remember about the Civil Rights era here in Lexington regarding housing, education and community relations. 4. Continue to develop promotional materials such as flyers, press releases, and announcements to send to churches, organizations, newspapers and computer sites such as Lexington Patch, the Lexington Minuteman, the Boston Globe, the Banner, Colonial times (Laurie Atwater), List serves, and LHRC PROJECT 2011 REPORT TO COMMITTEE -6/10/2011 Page 2 AmericanTownsOnline. Fuang has developed a list which needs to be reviewed for postings and a plan of action once the speakers are confirmed. 5. For Housing, we still need to research housing Realtors who were active at the time to possibly be a panelist as well as a person involved in testing. 6. For Education, we still need to come up with a capable speaker who can inform us on the atmosphere, etc. as Lexington becomes involved with METCO. 7. For Community Relations, we need probably someone from the Council of Churches, Clergy, or Brotherhood — whatever that active group was called at the time. 8. We will develop a timeline for exhibit that shows when the National laws came into play and how Lexington citizens and town government reacted to them. 9. We need to develop a budget to cover transportation, printing, and other incidental costs in order for Al to petition the Selectmen for funding. We are interested in a couple of speakers coming from a distance such as Edgar smith and Landon Lindsey. There may be more candidates closer at hand. So far, we know that airfare from Charlotte to Boston is between $163 to $215 and from Jackson MS to Boston is between $390 to $460 as of May 9, 2011, departing Sat. 11 /OS /11 and returning on Sun or Mon. A weekday departure will be less expensive, however that will involve housing and entertaining our guests. We expect all members of the overall LHRC committee to take some Save -the- date postcards and flyers with information about LHRC and put them around. Respectively Submitted, Leona W. Martin for the LHRC 2011 Project Planning Committee LHRC PROJECT 2011 REPORT TO COMMITTEE -6/10/2011 Page 3