From Ybor City’s red clay brick-paved streets to Pennsylvania Avenue and our nation’s capitol, Reverend Dr. Bernard LaFayette Jr. has played a crucial role in advancing the Civil Rights Movement. A student activist in the Nashville, Tenn., sit-in campaign of 1960, and a longtime staff member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), LaFayette gained a reputation as a steadfast proponent of nonviolence before Martin Luther King Jr. offered him the position of program director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in 1967.

Learn more about LaFayette’s story here and join us on Juneteenth at 6:30 p.m. for an unforgettable conversation moderated by Dr. Liana Fernandez Fox at St. James at ENCORE!® (1202 North Governor Street, Tampa, FL 33602). Seating is limited, and registration is required for this free program. Doors will open at 5:30 p.m.

Before serving on the History Center’s Board of Trustees, Fox was a Professor of Mathematics at Hillsborough Community College for 33 years, where she pioneered the college’s distance-learning mathematics program. While working as a professor at the University of South Florida, Fox ensured that cross-enrolled students met their math requirements.

This is the first program of a new initiative by the Tampa Bay History Center in partnership with the Tampa Housing Authority to provide educational experiences in the historic St. James Episcopal Church.