Kinsey family will attend City meeting

Shirley Pooler Kinsey and her husband, Bernard, will present an illustrated book of their African-American cultural and historical collection to the St Augustine City Commission Monday night; when they are introduced by 450th Development Director, Dana Ste. Claire.

Bernard, Shirley and Khalil Kinsey are in town to discuss plans to exhibit their extensive collection at the Visitor Information Center during 2014 — from Martin Luther King Day, January 20 through July 2, the actual anniversary of the passing of the Civil Rights Act in 1964.

The ninety-plus objects in the collection reveal important aspects of American history and culture including works of art by important African American artists as well as historical documents and artifacts of Benjamin Banneker, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Ann Jacobs, Zora Neale Hurston, and Malcolm X.

“We were fortunate to secure this nationally significant exhibition of African-American intellectual, historic, and artistic works, during a year when the Civil Rights Movement and Act will be recognized nationally and internationally,” Ste. Claire said.

When the Kinsey Collection was exhibited at Brogan Museum in Tallahassee, City Commissioner Nancy Sikes-Kline visited and brought word back to 40th Accord’s Gwen Duncan, historian David Nolan, and others. Discussions began with the Kinseys in 2010. The city was hopeful that the Kinsey Collection would travel to St Augustine, where Shirley Kinsey was born and raised, to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Bernard Kinsey is a former Xerox vice president, who became chief operating officer and co-chair of Rebuild Los Angeles in 1992. The Kinsey family has amassed their collection, which started as a way to share their travels, over more than 35 years.

If you are planning to attend — the regular St Augustine City Commission meeting will begin at 5:00 p.m. Monday and will be held in the Alcazar Room; on the first floor of the west wing of City Hall, located at 75 King Street in St. Augustine. It will be broadcast live on Comcast Government TV (Cable Channel 3) and is streamed over the Internet.