Unity in the Community

Unity In the Community held its third annual event on May 4, spotlighting the launch of the Northern Neck Hidden History Trail interactive website and app at Town Centre Park in Kilmarnock.

The event celebrated Alva Jackson and the Northern Neck Hidden History Trail, featuring local musical talents such as the Children’s Community Choir with Mark Favazza and Betsy Wineland, cellists from The String Orchestra for Northern Neck Youth directed by Rebecca Young, keyboardists Gregg Shivers and Sam Oliver, soloist Anajah Carter, classical pianist Lisa Ruth and duets by Erik Demario and Steph Lyons, reported co-chairman Mary Helen Scott-Lewis.

Rev. Dr. Ulysses Turner emceed the event, joined by Rev. Dr. Linwood Blizzard II and Sandy Ball. Jim Lamb, Amar’e Starks and Rev. Kim Bunns shared their experiences traveling to Montgomery and Selma, Alabama, with Interracial Conversations of the Northern Neck.

Sen. Tim Kaine sent a video message about the Northern Neck Hidden History Trail and Kenny Park from Lucha Ministries closed with a blessing. Hot Mixx Va Radio live-streamed the event, and photographers Jessica Abbott and Tom Martin documented it.

Nearly 30 vendors and nonprofits participated, including representatives from the Patawomack Tribe. Activities for children included games and face painting by Merle Thompson of Smiley’s Face Painting. Despite the weather, everyone enjoyed the day and the sense of community

Group Tours

On Wednesday, February 7, 2024, a bus containing 46 travelers departed from Kilmarnock to begin a journey to Montgomery and Selma, Alabama. The trip, sponsored by Interracial Conversations of the Northern Neck (IRC), was not just a journey, but a collective experience that lasted five days and ended on Sunday, February 11. Over a dozen different local churches from five different denominations were represented, uniting in a shared mission. 

On the first full day in Montgomery, participants visited the Legacy Museum, the From Slavery to Mass Incarceration exhibit, and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice. Both sites were developed by Montgomery-based attorney Bryan Stephenson, through his Equal Justice Initiative (EJI). The EJI is known for its work in securing release from prison for wrongly accused death row inmates.

Participants continued their visits to the EJI sites on the second day or toured other notable civil rights-related locations. These included a parsonage where Coretta and Martin Luther King once lived, Dexter Street Baptist Church, the Rose Parks Museum, the historic Montgomery waterfront along the Alabama River and the state capitol building. In the afternoon, the group took a bus tour of the civil rights-related sites in and around Montgomery. The tour was led by guide and Montgomery native Wanda Battle of Legendary Tours-Montgomery. With humor, song, knowledge of history and a commitment to being “light and love” to one another, Battle conveyed how significant this period was in the struggle to end the legacy of slavery, as well as the need to continue the work of ensuring everyone’s civil rights.

On the third day of the tour, participants regrouped in the afternoon for a bus tour to Selma. Led by Battle, the group saw Brown Chapel, where the march from Selma to Montgomery began. They had the opportunity to walk across the Edmund Pettus Bridge and visit the Civil Rights Memorial Park.

Throughout the trip, people who weren’t fully acquainted ate, walked, explored and talked together. By the end of the journey, not only friendships had formed, but also a profound sense of personal growth and enlightenment, as each participant had learned and experienced so much about civil rights history.