Please join us June15, 2023 at 7:30 p.m. for our monthly meeting. Our speaker will be EUNICE E. Y. HAIGLER. After retiring as a Mental Health Professional working in every aspect of human services Eunice E.Y. Haigler has become a local historian, activist, advocate and the Community Liaison to former Commonwealth of Virginia State Legislator, Joshua Cole. Eunice specializes in Human Relationship Building and has diligently worked to eradicate racism by advocating for change, being a resource for education, instilling diversity awareness and understanding, and by improving information access.

Eunice’s advocacy and activism activities with the Virginia Organizing team has led to many changes in Virginia. When the Unitarian Universalist Church in Fredericksburg, Virginia wanted to become more racially diversified, upon reaching out to Virginia Organizing, the Race Coalition was organized. Out of that effort, Eunice looked for actions that would lead to sustainability and she discovered that it was the 150th anniversary of Juneteenth. However, Juneteenth was not a state or federal holiday. She set forth on a seven-year project to make Juneteenth a legal state holiday. This was accomplished on October 13, 2020, when then Governor Ralph Northam proclaimed Juneteenth a legal statewide holiday in answer to Mrs. Haigler’s years of hard work and prayers.

Joining Eunice will be her cousin Frank White reading a poem he wrote about Juneteenth.

This presentation will also be live streamed via Facebook. To view the presentation from Facebook, go to https://www.facebook.com/StaffordHistory. You should see the live feed listed at the top of the posts. If not, you may need to refresh your page.