Join us for a lecture with Moorestown native Richard Gray who will review the history of the West End Community Center, and his plan to protect the legacy of a place so important in the history of Moorestown. 

The WECC was originated and managed by Black women and men in the West End neighborhood as a space where residents could congregate, celebrate, and create programs to build strong community relationships, in the face of the discriminatory policy which prohibited African-American residents of the town from using the Community House on Main Street.

The WECC was a place of belonging where social ties were deepened through joyful, purposeful interaction.  Despite its historical and cultural significance, many Moorestown residents are unaware of WECC, in large part because the building was destroyed after the Community House was eventually integrated in the 1960’s.

Mr. Gray currently is the Director of Community and School Development for the Center for Collaborative Education and a lecturer at the Columbia University Law School.

This presentation is part of the Historical Society’s “New Jersey History Speaks Lecture Series”