Contextualization Advisory Committee meets next week

For two-hours Wednesday, Historic City News will be watching the proceedings as appointed members of the Confederate Memorial Contextualization Advisory Committee debate how best to tell the story of the Civil War period in St Augustine.

One resident, Jill Pacetti, who has ancestors with their names engraved on the memorial, was so moved by the attacks of the racist Gainesville activist, Ronald Rawls, Jr., pastor of St Paul AME, that she produced a change.org petition supporting preservation of the nearly 150-year-old Confederate Memorial in Constitution Plaza.  Over 11,000 citizens signed the petition supporting Pacetti and her effort to save the memorial.  The commission voted 5-0 to preserve the memorial after listening to hours of public testimony spread over two nights of hearings.

The members of the Advisory Committee are:

• Michael Butler, Ph.D., Professor of History, Flagler College
• Sharyn Wilson Smith Coley, retired educator, St. Johns County
• Elizabeth A. Dove, Adjunct History Professor, Flagler College
• Thomas Graham, Ph.D., Professor of History Emeritus, Flagler College
• Thomas Jackson, Recreation Supervisor, St. Johns County
• Susan Parker, Ph.D., former Executive Director of St. Augustine Historical Society
• Regina Gayle Phillips, Director of Lincolnville Museum and Cultural Center

If you plan to attend the meeting, it will be held on Wednesday, March 4th, from 3:00 p.m. until 5:00 p.m. in the Alcazar Meeting Room of City Hall; located at 75 King Street in St Augustine.