A Community Conversation

The Western Illinois Museum, in partnership with The CT Vivian Project of Macomb, invites the public to a community conversation, held at the Museum on Friday, July 29, 2022, at 6:30 pm. The program marks the birthday of Dr. Rev. C.T. Vivian, who was born on July 30, 1924, and celebrates a new mural that features Vivian’s life and accomplishments that is located in downtown Macomb. Byron Shabazz, founder of The CT Vivian Project of Macomb, will lead participants in sharing and discussing how Vivian can be a model for community development ensuring equal representation of all by building new and stronger coalitions.

Participants include Michael Boyd, Child Protection Specialist for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services; Robin Carey-Boyd, president, East St. Louis NAACP; Rev Dr. Earle J. Fischer, senior pastor of Abyssinian Baptist Church, Memphis, Tennessee; Rev. Kelly Ingersoll, senior minister at the First Christian Church of Macomb, Illinois; and Ronald Pettigrew, director, Veteran Resource Center, Western Illinois University, and Chaplain, U.S. Navy Reserves

The event is free and open to the public. It will also be live streamed on the Museum’s YouTube channel. Refreshments will be served. The Western Illinois Museum is located at 201 S. Lafayette Street, one block south of Macomb’s Courthouse Square. For more information, call the Museum at 309.837.2750, text 309.837.2613, or email at info@wimuseum.org. More details can be found on our website and social media channels.

About the Participants

Michael Boyd
Michael Boyd is a native of Memphis, Tennessee, where he is employed with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services as an Investigator for Child Abuse and Neglect. He is a former Army Officer and was Honorably discharged in 1996 at the rank of 1st Lieutenant.

He is a 1991 graduate of Lincoln University where he majored in Graphic Arts and minored in Military Science. He holds a Master’s degree from Missouri Baptist University in Education with an emphasis in Counseling.

A 1987 initiate into the Alpha Psi Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. For more than 25 years, Michael has served in numerous roles with the Greater St. Louis Lincoln Alumni Association and is active with the local Chapter.  He is the Immediate Past District Director of Illinois for Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. and the Midwest Regional March of Dimes coordinator for Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.

Currently, he serves as the Chaplain for the National Pan Hellenic Council of East St. Louis as well as an active member of the NAACP East St. Louis Branch. He serves as the Board President of the nonprofit Metro East St. Louis Community Initiative and as the Vice-President of the Rev. Dr. C.C. Vivian Cultural Center.

Robin Carey-Boyd
Robin Carey-Boyd, a 1984 graduate of the Blue Tiger Family, is the Immediate Past President of the Greater St. Louis Lincoln Alumni Association. Presently, she serves as President of the East St. Louis National Pan Hellenic Council as well as the President of the NAACP East St. Louis Branch. Robin is a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta, Sorority, Inc. Currently, she works as a Special Education Administrator for East St. Louis District #189.

Rev. Dr. Earle J. Fischer
A Movement and Ministerial leader at the forefront of social justice and black liberation efforts in Memphis, Tennesse, and beyond, Earle J. Fisher was born September 26th, 1978, in Benton Harbor, Michigan, to Min. Claudia Fisher and Mr. Earl Bradley. He sojourned to Memphis, Tennessee, in the fall of 1999 on a full-ride athletic scholarship to play basketball at LeMoyne-Owen College. He earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer Science in 2003 and subsequently obtained his Master of Divinity Degree in May 2008 from Memphis Theological Seminary and is ordained in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and Missionary Baptist Denominations.  In 2018 Rev. Fisher earned a Doctor of Philosophy in Communication from the University of Memphis and currently serves as Senior Pastor of Abyssinian Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee.

As a community organizer, Pastor Earle co-organized the Memphis Grassroots Organizations Coalition in August of 2015.  Spearheading initiatives in criminal justice reform, media accountability, the removal of confederate monuments, and voter empowerment, Dr. Fisher formed #UPTheVote901 in November of 2017 to “give more political power to more people” and “increase voter turnout in Memphis and Shelby County.”

Dr. Fisher is the 2019-2020 Henry Logan Starks Fellow at Memphis Theological Seminary and the 2020 Political Science Research Fellow at the University of Memphis teaching and studying Political Theology and Radical Black Politics.  Most of Dr. Fisher’s work focuses on the African American Religious Rhetoric, Contemporary Rhetorical Theory, Black Liberation Theology, and the prophetic persona of Albert Cleage, Jr. He is a proud member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated, husband of one wife, Denise, father of one son, Jalen, a believer in one God, and friend and mentor to many.

Reverend Kelly Ingersoll
Rev. Kelly Ingersoll is the senior minister at the First Christian Church of Macomb. Kelly was ordained in the Disciples of Christ Church in 1993. He is from the Kansas City, Kansas area and has been married for 15 years to Anne, a high school counselor.

Ronald Pettigrew
Ronald Pettigrew received a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from the University of Southern California (1987), Master of Divinity in Urban Ministry from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, Illinois (1996), and Master of Science from Western Illinois University in College Student Personnel (2009).

Ronald serves in the Reserves as a military chaplain, with over thirty years of military experience. As a Chaplain and military officer, he has traveled extensively throughout Europe, the Far East, Near East, and Pacific with multiple deployments and tours in combat or direct support of those serving in combat. From his military training and experiences, he is a certified trainer in Combat Operation Stress Control, Family Wellness and Critical Incident Stress Debriefings.

Ron previously served for close to ten years as an Academic Advisor at Western Illinois University within the General Studies Degree Program within the School of Global Education and Outreach, previously known as the School of Distance Learning and Outreach. Ron also worked as a Resident Hall Advisor and Director at previous universities he attended and served as a Graduate Advisor in the Multicultural Center and Provost’s Office for the First Year Experience and also as a Peer Mentor Coordinator at Western.