Here you can find/share Opportunities, Resources, Take Action items, Diversity Issues, etc. A movement to memorialize and celebrate our area's historical segregated Booker T. Washington School (BTWS) and raising funds for the mural on the Port of Ashland Floodwall by the Transportation Center (Greyhound/Ashland Train Depot). BTWS still existed after 1954 Brown V. Board of Education but ended in 1
962 before the 1965 Civil Rights Act was passed. Many great minds such as C.B. Nuckolls, Dr. Thelma Johnson, Professors: Beckwith, Thomas, Ross, West, Williams, et. were greatly affiliated with the school. This project was initiated by Artist, Jerry Johnson and UCAN, Inc President, Brenda Martin. Since then, the project was modified with wonderful Chairpersons and committee! Co-Chairpersons: Dan Mahan, History Professor of Community and Technical College (ACTC); Bren Martin, President UCAN, Inc.; Al Baker, Diversity Director of ACTC & Artist JERRY JOHNSON. Other committee members include: Mayor Chuck Charles-, Mayor-Elect Steve Gilmore, Educators: Bernice Henry (a BTWS alumni) & Eliza Lee. We have partnered with Ashland in Motion to assist with the deposits and they hosted the ribbon-cutting reception. Dan Mahan also wrote the grants and shared his unyielding spirit with us and this project prior to his retirement from ACTC! The school was named after Booker Taliaferro Washington, a former slave, educator, author, leader and more who founded the renowned Tuskegee Institute. He also had a major influence on southern race relations and was the dominant figure in black public affairs from 1895 until his death in 1915. He said, "I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has had to overcome while trying to succeed." For more information, visit http://ucanchange.webs.com/muralunite.htm