On Monday morning, The Honorable Byron Rushing, state legislator in Massachusetts, will be receiving the “Mass History Commendation” award for his work as a historian of slavery. Many of us know Byron, an active Episcopal lay person through his long tenure as a deputy to General Convention.
The award is given by “Mass Humanities” an organization that “supports programs that use history, literature, philosophy, and the other humanities disciplines to enhance and improve civic life throughout the Commonwealth [of Massachusetts].”
“The Honorable Byron Rushing (D, Roxbury) is a historian by avocation. He was President of the Boston Museum of African American History, and has donated time and insights to, among other projects, a Mass Humanities discussion series, reenactment of a historic Civil Rights march, and public readings of Frederick Douglass’ Fourth of July address. He is author and chief sponsor of bill H01746, which, if passed, would require all companies doing business with the Commonwealth to disclose (and therefore research) their participation in the historic slave trade.”
From here.