John R. Lewis Memorial Lecture Series is dedicated to John R Lewis, a VCU graduate who died in 2021, was an activist in Richmond and Roanoke. He worked on food security and social justice issues. He helped found the nonprofit Renew Richmond, which runs urban community gardens and teaches youth to love the process of growing food.

This year’s lecture will highlight the work of the Reparative Land Justice Storytelling Project – a community of community researchers; emerging food justice leaders who have come together to listen to and learn from the stories of BIPOC leaders, elders, and farmers in Central Virginia’s Black food sovereignty ecosystem.

There will be a panel discussion followed by a Q&A. Four panelists from the community researcher team will present snippets of video interviews that have been collected thus far and speak to the work they have been doing. Doors will open at 5:30 with the lecture starting at 6 PM.

Panelists:
Art Burton
Ellis Sawyer
Danielle Freeman Jefferson
Kai Banks
Dr. Alice Freeman

with Duron Chavis moderating