Reclaiming Sacred Grounds: In Memoriam Black Lives Matter

RECLAIMING SACRED GROUNDS: IN MEMORIAM BLACK LIVES MATTER

SATURDAY, MARCH 27, 2021

4:00 P.M. -5:30 P.M. CST

TO REGISTER CLICK HERE: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_gRpcyhOoTlex68289BDTHg

THE SPECTRE OF RACISM CAN EVEN IMPACT BLACK LIVES IN DEATH!

AT A TIME WHEN MANY ARE AT A LOSS TO GRIEVE, THIS PANEL GIVES HOPE THAT IT’S NEVER TOO LATE FOR MEMORIALS & ALSO A CALL TO ACTION TO RECLAIM SACRED GROUNDS OF BLACK CEMETERIES MANY LOST OR FORGOT IN BLACK ANCESTRAL HOMESTEADS IN THE SOUTH.

SPEAKERS:

YAMONA PIERCE, FOUNDER OF HAMILTON HOOD FOUNDATION, AN EXPERIENCED NONPROFIT EXECUTIVE FOCUSING ON YOUTH, IMPROVING HEALTHCARE EDUCATION, AND RAISING AWARENESS ABOUT GENEALOGY AND THE PRESERVATION OF AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY

DEBRA TAYLOR GONZALEZ-GARCIA-DEBRA TAYLOR GONZALEZ IS A PASSIONATE GENEALOGIST. SHE HAS WORKED ON HER FAMILY’S GENEALOGY FOR OVER THIRTY YEARS. AS PRESIDENT OF THE FRIENDS OF GEER CEMETERY, SHE HAS BEEN INSTRUMENTAL IN THE REFORMATION OF THE ORGANIZATION SINCE 2019

JACKIE WRIGHT, FILMMAKER & PUBLICIST OF SAN FRANCISCO BLACK FILM FESTIVAL & THE OAKLAND INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, FOUNDER OF WRIGHT ENTERPRISES, A FULL-SERVICE PUBLIC RELATIONS FIRM IN SAN FRANCISCO & DALLAS

PANELISTS YAMONA PIERCE, DEBRA TAYLOR GONZALEZ-GARCIA AND JACKIE WRIGHT DISCUSS EFFORTS TO BRING AWARENESS TO PRESERVE THE SACRED GROUNDS OF CEMETERIES IN THE SOUTH THROUGH JOURNEYS OF REMEMBRANCE AND INSPIRATION FOR THE FUTURE.

THE PROGRAM WILL INCLUDE SCREENING OF “LOVE SEPARATED IN LIFE…LOVE REUNITED IN HONOR,”  A 15-MINUTE DOCUMENTARY CO-DIRECTED BY WRITER JACKIE WRIGHT & JACK LIVOLSI, EDITOR OF THE FILM AND FOUNDER OF JACKSON STREET PRODUCTIONS IN SAN FRANCISCO.

“Love Separated in Life…Love Reunited in Honor” chronicles the Wright Siblings reburying Black U.S. Army Patriot, Sp5 Wyley Wright Jr. after 50 years in a segregated Jacksonville, Florida cemetery at Arlington, National Cemetery with the love of his life “Ouida Fay Wright.”

The 15- minute short documentary includes a White man, George Moll of Houston, who as a teenager served with Wright and also a White widow, Ginger Shannon Young, whose husband, 1Lt. Kenneth Arthur Shannon died six days after Sp5 Wright on March 15, 1964 when the helicopter he was piloting was shot down, only five days after Shannon arrived in Vietnam. March 9, 1964 Sp5 Wyley Wright Jr., a helicopter crew chief and gunner, PFC John Francis Shea perished when their ship went down in the Mekong River between Vinh Long and Sadec.  

The 114th Aviation Company base in Vinh Long, Vietnam was named “The Shannon-Wright Compound” by comrades honoring the pilot and crew chief.

The Wright Sisters meet the Asian family of the photographer/artist who was commissioned to make what would be the last anniversary presents of Sp5 Wright to send to his wife of eleven years. Quang Thi Anh Dao, retired photographer, daughter of Quang Van Phat and her mother widow of Quang Van Phat welcomed the two Black women in their home with open arms.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR 3/27/21 EVENT: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_gRpcyhOoTlex68289BDTHg

“Love Separated in Life…Love Reunited in Honor  Overview:”

https://youtu.be/9mgDPv012gQ (1:38)

Military Honors: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQT7nUoHqko (1:11)

More about the "Love Reunited" story:

https://www.lovereunited.org/

https://www.facebook.com/lovereunitednow

Yamona Pierce Shares her family’s efforts with Historic Pierce Chapel African American Cemetery Project of  the Hamilton-Hood Foundation; findings on how burial rituals at the site harken back to Africa. Hamilton Hood Foundation website: https://hamiltonhood.org

Debra Taylor Gonzalez-Garcia shares her work about the Friends of Greer Cemetery in Durham, North Carolina  and their efforts to reclaim the sacred grounds where reconstruction era Blacks began to be buried in 1876.

Geer Cemetery Facebook Page: https://m.facebook.com/friendsofgeer/

TO REGISTER CLICK HERE: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_gRpcyhOoTlex68289BDTHg

(SEE THE PHOTO OF HANK WILLIS THOMAS' "THE EMBRACE" COURTESY OF "KING BOSTON"/ART NEWS)

https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/hank-willis-thomas-mlk-memorial-boston-12032/