American Civil War Museum CEO discusses social justice at MLK week event

Walter Chidozie Anyanwu, Contributing Writer

The CEO of the American Civil War Museum spoke at Cabell Library Jan. 23 about social justice through the lens of some of Martin Luther King Jr.’s work and writing.

Christy Coleman’s work at the museum involves documenting history in addition to providing historical context to help the general public understand contemporary issues.

“I chose to take that theme of social justice to encourage people through his words and through some of the experiences that I’ve had that social justice work can take on a variety of forms,” said Christy S. Coleman.

She quoted a number of King’s speeches in her remarks, including the 1964 speech he gave when he accepted the Nobel Peace Prize and excerpts of a speech he gave in 1965 after the Selma marches.

“In each of those pieces he tells us three big things,” she said. “The first is that we can’t sit around and wait for justice, it doesn’t happen that way. You have to put in the work. Secondly, he tells that even as difficult as the work will be in the days ahead, you have to maintain your hope.”

The third lesson, Coleman said, is people shouldn’t be distracted by those acting in bad faith.

“People of ill will are organized and they play a long game,” Coleman said. “This could not be more prophetic.”

Coleman’s commentary emphasized key points like being deliberate and stepping outside conventions and understanding “what we’re doing and why.” She urged people to be intentional, which she described as “making sure we lay out the steps that we’re going to make to achieve the goals that we hope for in the social justice arc.”

She commented on the role of public history in relation to social justice, saying she works in the field of history to promote social justice.

“If we are consistently telling each other half-truths and we’re not getting to the meat of the history,” Coleman said, “then we are missing the valuable lessons that are there.”