This Little Light of Mine Honors the passing of:

Bernice Johnson Reagon 1942- 2024 & Elijah Lewis 1999 - 2023

 

Bernice Johson Reagon at 16 was the founder of the Freedom Singers. She sang with this group in Washington DC at the end of Dr Martin Luther King’s March on Washington in 1963. Ms Reagon continued leading singing at marches and events throughout the Civil Rights Movement. Later she founded Sweet Honey in the Rock and took on opposing apartheid. After thirty years she retired from her role as director of Sweet Honey in the Rock and retired.

 

Elijah Lewis also started organizing for his community as a young man. In high school he organized to fight gun violence. He went on to work with Africa Own as a community builder and started Flourish Financial Group to teach financial literacy. In bitter irony, Mr Lewis was shot to death in 2023, victim of a road rage incident. He was only 23 years old and is deeply missed and mourned by family and friends.

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Ofrendas are displayed at El Centro de la Raza starting November 2nd, and then from November 4th to the 18th.  11am to 8pm Monday - Friday / 12pm to 6pm Saturday. 

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The following links were used to research this installation. We hope you spend some time learning more about these inspirational lives and LET YOUR LIGHT SO SHINE!

 

Bernice Johnson Reagon Source Links:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernice_Johnson_Reagon

https://www.npr.org/2024/07/17/1213897036/bernice-johnson-reagon-sweet-honey-in-the-rock-obituary

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrGntTuh8O4

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Elijah Lewis Source Links:

 

https://www.capitolhillseattle.com/2024/04/path-to-justice-continues-one-year-after-elijah-lewis-was-shot-and-killed-at-broadway-and-pine/ 

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/law-justice/capitol-hill-shooting-victim-identified-as-elijah-lewis-community-activist/

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/elijah-lewis-left-us-words-to-live-by​​