They’re naming streets after Raye Montague in Pine Bluff, Arkansas!

One of the many things I love about working with David Montague is that we have these conversations that are full of things we want to manifest on his mother’s behalf. Some of those things have come true, and other things, well, we’re still waiting on them to come true.

That is not to say they won’t. It’s just to say they haven’t yet.

This morning, David was in Pine Bluff Arkansas, where Pullen and Linden Streets were officially renamed Jordan-Montague Way. Why this is significant: this is the site of the original Merrill High School, where Raye graduated in 1952. If you’ve read the book, you know how and why Raye sang this school’s praises even late in her life (If you haven’t read the book yet, please do, so you can understand why this school was so special). So it’s touching that this street now bears her last name, as well as the last name of Massie D. Jordan, who was the principal from Raye’s last year there until 1980.

A special, heartfelt shoutout to Rosie Pettigrew, a 1967 Merrill graduate who not only organized the school’s reunion last night, but convinced the City of Pine Bluff to rename the street in time for it. Here she is with David last night.

 Other updates:

• On Monday, David and I had a command performance with the lovely folks at Hunton Andrews Kurth, LLP. The first talk was for the firm’s Diversity and Inclusion practice, while this was for their fifty summer associates and anyone else in the firm who wanted to show up. We ultimately had 178 people on this Zoom call, and we are so grateful for the firm’s support! This time we spoke a little bit more to how Raye’s story can serve as an example to young professionals who are making their way in a complex and layered world, and we hope that these young men and women were able to take something away from this talk that will serve them well going forward.
• If you are a reader — or even a potential reader — in Lake Charles, Louisiana, please know that David and I took our book talk to McNeese State’s SAGE series, and that recording will be airing a couple of times a day for the next week on Calcasieu Parish’s C-Gov, which you can find here. Any local media who would like to speak to either one of us about Raye Montague are welcome to contact me via this website, or David via his.