Community Forums
On June 27, 2021, the Village Initiative's Local Black Histories Project collaborated with Mr. Curtis Lassiter and his family to host students from the Bruton Heights Class of 1965 to reflect on their experiences at school and in the community during the Civil Rights era.
Participants included Mr. Curtis Lassiter, Mrs. Yvonne Alston, Mr. Anthony Conyers, Mrs. Fredi Epps-Jackson, Mrs. Kaye Pierce Molley, Ms. Verne H. Parker, Mr. Elwood Lewis, Mrs. Mable V. Wynne, Mrs. Sandra Braxton Trower, and Mrs. Thomasine Lewis.
The Village Initiative hosted a community forum on September 21, 2019, titled Integration: Then and Now. The forum marked the 50th anniversary of school integration in the WJCC School District. The multi-generational set of panelists - Ms. Edith "Cookie" Heard, Mrs. Sylvia Willis, Mrs. Janice Canaday, Mr. Philip Canady, and Ms. Xavia Carter - were asked to reflect on the experiences of integration and its continuing implications for future generations.