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Michael Cartwright will offer a free special presentation for Black History Month beginning at 7:30 p.m. Monday, February 23 at the Crump Theater, located at 423 Third Street, downtown Columbus.

Reconstructing 125-year-old history to a date when the Columbus High School commencement was held in 1901 with head of the class Granville Lee – a black man, Cartwright will begin his talk.

“It was one of the two largest audiences to ever gather at the Crump,” Cartwright shares. “But it has been overshadowed by a complicated set of events involving the school board in 1901.”

Upstaged by Jim Crow, he continues, a group of students – led by Will E. Marsh – disrupted the event and the protest spilled over into the street outside the theatre. As a result of all the chaos, Lee did not receive his diploma or the recognition he deserved.

Cartwright explains that the events of that day have been understood “through the eyes of segregation” – which has created quite the distortion of how people understand Lee and his life.

Monday’s presentation will examine how the community can remember Lee as an exemplar – “A citizen of Columbus who was involved in various ways on both sides of the color line until his death in 1964.

What might it look like for Columbus to remember the CHS Commencement 1901 as a time when the quest for the Beloved Community was temporarily thwarted, and reviving the memory of Granville Lee as a remarkable citizen leader who had many talents?

Prof. Kevin Jones, from IU Columbus, will be giving a response to Cartwright’s talk, which is one of two events in the Progressive Preservation Series to be included in this year’s Black History Month.

“It is a special privilege to be able to hold such an event in the Crump Theater,” Cartwright said in a recent email. “And we hope to fill the house.”