Day 16: Fourth of July

Today is for community, celebration, friends, and family!

We have crossed the Bridge of Lament! Enjoy this day with friends and family. I hope you can laugh. I hope you can cry if you want to. Spend time with loved ones and appreciate the freedom of the country you live in.

There are several people that we want to thank who have supported this journey:

• Phyllistine Mosley, Chair of the Lynchburg Juneteenth Coalition, who gave us the history of Juneteenth in Lynchburg

• Beatrice Hunter, purveyor of local Black culture and history on It Takes a Village, who shared insight on people in Lynchburg and reviewed Day 13: What’s in a Neighborhood?

• Anabelle Tweedy, trustee at Jackson Street United Methodist Church, who reviewed and advised on Day 10: Tending Life in Death

• The Maier Museum of Art at Randolph College for providing the image of Purvis Young’s Carryin’ a Figure in Day 6: The Birth of America’s Adam

• Dr John Abell, Randolph College Department of Economics, who shared his publication at the Virginia Journal of Economics for Day 13: What’s in a Neighborhood?

• The Lynchburg Museum, which provides the community with a collection of historic photographs at lynchburgphotos.org

• Bridge of Lament contributor and editor, Jeremiah Forshey

• Bridge of Lament contributor and editor, Rebecca Martin

• Bridge of Lament anonymous contributor and friend from Bedford County

• Natasha Sistrunk Robinson, who inspired this project in her book Journey of Freedom

• Author and pastor Duke Kwon, who offered the original idea of an “annual 16-day season of national remembrance, lament, and renewal” between June 19th and July 4th.

• The Center for Formation, Justice and Peace, which has led book studies with Greg Thompson on several books, including the Bridge of Lament recommended reading, Voices of Lament by Natasha Sistrunk Robinson

We enabled comments on this post if you want to say anything. Press the green “Leave a comment” button at the bottom. We intentionally left this off the previous 15 days to avoid negative responses that would distract from the work of lament. But today, we invite you to respond as you desire. In the near future we will follow up with a survey asking for more feedback on this experience.

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Questions or feedback? We’d love to hear from you. Email bridgeoflament@gmail.com.

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