The celebration for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was also the kick-off for a series of townwide events commemorating the 150th birthday of civil rights pioneer and author W.E.B Du Bois who was born in Great Barrington. Included in the article is a video of Martin Luther King's 'I Have a Dream' speech in 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial.
The Winter 2017 issue of Stone Walls II features work about the late poet, journalist and feminist Michelle Gillett written by Patty Crane and others, as well as two poems by Gillett.
The concept of an auction to get the fundraising rolling salted some deep historic wounds when one African-American attendee felt the auction process harkened back to the auction blocks of slavery.
Topics for discussion at the Friends of the Clinton AME Zion Church Restoration Project meeting include setting up a fundraising strategy, recruiting a committee, and formulating a plan to raise $100,000 in the next 60 days.
Great Barrington native and African-American author, scholar and civil rights leader W.E.B. Du Bois attended the church as a child. The church is registered as an important site on the Upper Housatonic Valley African American Heritage Trail and on the National Register of Historic Places.
Du Bois stands as a towering figure in American history. A product of the local public school, from which he was the first black graduate of the high school, and a fixture of several local institutions, his legacy here has nevertheless triggered debates.
