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Audrey J. Cooper
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Beverly J. Martin
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Kirby V. Edmonds
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Audrey Jean Wakim Cooper was both Syrian and an enrolled member of the Sand Hill Band of Lenape and Cherokee Nations. She was the Director of the Multicultural Resource Center, visionary of Talking Circles on Race and Racism; founder of First Peoples Festival and Sister-Friends Celebration. She was a co-founder of Community Leaders of Color (CLOC), Ultimate Re-entry Opportunity (URO); Hospitality Employment Training Program (HETP), and the West-End Breakfast Club. Audrey also served as a member of Equity Inclusion Leadership Council (EILC) and in leadership roles at Family and Children's Services, Greater Ithaca Activities Center, and Southside Community Center. Audrey championed justice, Native American rights, the rights and well-being of young people and their families.
Phrase in Arabic to describe Audrey's attitude: الحركة بركة |
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Beverly Jane Martin was an innovative educator, dedicated activist, beloved mentor, and passionate champion for Ithaca's students and schools. She was the first Black woman in many spaces; the first Black valedictorian at Ithaca High School; the first Black school principal and the first Black school administrator in the Ithaca City School District. She served as the Director of Affirmative Action and Intercultural Relations for 15 years, pioneering, protesting, and campaigning for school equity and hiring a diverse teaching staff. Beverly was a member of numerous local and national organizations, including Club Essence and the Ithaca Council for Equality; and was a lifetime member of the NAACP and the National Urban League. She served on many boards including the Ithaca Zoning Board, National Black Educators Association, Greater Ithaca Activities Center, Southside Community Center, and United Way of Tompkins County. Central Elementary School was renamed Beverly J. Martin Elementary in 1992.
"Beverly Martin had an incredible amount of hope. She believed folks could learn, but it wouldn't happen unless you listened to what they had to say first. If you did, you would learn yourself." |
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Kirby V. Edmonds was an incomparable planner, organization consultant, mediator, trainer, leadership coach, human rights and anti-oppression educator and community organizer. He was Managing Partner, Training for Change Associates; and was a co-founder and Senior Fellow at Dorothy Cotton Institute. Kirby co-designed and facilitated Multicultural Resource Center's Talking Circles on Race and Racism. He served as a committed member of the Equity Inclusion Leadership Council, and Community Leaders of Color. He co-founded the Diversity Consortium of Tompkins County, Building Bridges, Cradle to Career, Be the One, and other collective impact efforts. Kirby devoted his life to resolving inter-group conflicts, promoting human rights, and dismantling discrimination and the exclusion of people on the basis of race, culture, class, disability, sexual orientation or gender identity, and to saving the world.
"It is said that it is human nature for us to hurt and kill each other when things become scarce. It is also the case that much, much, much more frequently, we cooperate. That is a much more common part of the human condition than our tendencies towards violence and aggression. What underlies the notion of Beloved Community is reminding people that those are decisions." |
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Margalo Guo is the local Ithaca artist who painted the Legacy Mural during November 2023 at age 18. Born in Beijing, her family came to Ithaca when she was 7 years old. You can find murals by Margalo around town on the Sciencenter fence, inside Ooy’s deli, and across from Cinemapolis in the alleyway next to Urban Outfitters. During the summer of 2023, Margalo was part of the Ithaca Murals organizing team assisting other muralists with their projects. She enjoys painting portraits because of the expressive nature of the human face and body and she is currently a first-year student at Pennsylvania State University, where she is secretary of a club for BIPOC artists.
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