The Raymond Culture Club met in the Immanuel Center of Raymond Presbyterian Church on Thursday, April 28, 2022. Hostesses for the meeting were Leisha Porch, Joy Lyle and Jeannie Chunn. They served delicious pineapple cake, ginger snaps, cheese straws, and nuts.

President, Nancy Walter called the meeting to order and led in the reading of the Collect. She the introduced our speaker, Garrad Lee son of club member, Nancy Lee.

Garrad is the digital Humanities Program Manager at the Margaret Walker Center at Jackson State University. Garrad has a BA degree from Mississippi State in psychology. He has a B.A. in Ethnic Studies from University of Colorado, Boulder and a Master’s Degree in History from Jackson State University. While in Colorado and at Jackson State his research centered on African American History with a focus on the Civil Right and the Black Power Movements.

Mr. Lee started his job at the Margaret Walker Museum in January of this year. Prior to that he taught history at the Jackson Campus of Hinds Community College.

Garrad gave a brilliant presentation of the work he is doing at the Margaret Walker Center. He is leading an effort to digitized the collections of Margaret Walker’s work and her written personal journals.

The Margaret Walker Center is working as part of a Smithsonian program under the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D. C. called HCAC ( History and Culture Access Consortium.)

The consortium of five historically black colleges and universities will work to digitize their collections and also create an exhibit of archival material that will travel to museums across the country starting in 2025. Garrad’s role is to manage the digitization efforts at JSU and to work with Smithsonian staff and the other schools to create traveling exhibit.

Garrad’s presentation was intriguing. He created a lot of interest in the Margaret Walker center at Jackson State University.