A plaque for poet, author, educator and civil rights advocate James Weldon-Johnson in downtown Wiscasset, where a car-train crash killed him in 1938, will acknowledge “the town’s place in his life” and add to the town’s cultural tourism, resident, Friends of Wiscasset Village member and Wiscasset Art Walk organizer Lucia Droby tells selectmen in documents for the board’s Tuesday night, May 4 meeting.

“However unfortunate the connection, Wiscasset is part of this remarkable man’s life story,” Droby writes. Last October, Friends members and Town Manager Dennis Simmons agreed to look into a way to honor Johnson. A Florida congressman’s representative had told Simmons, Johnson’s birth city of Jacksonville, Florida planned a monument and a park to open in 2022.

Droby proposes to selectmen a town and privately funded, cast aluminum or bronze, projected $3,000 to $7,000 plaque and less than $500 to install it on the iron railing in front of the former Hasenfus Gallery, 64 Main St. Droby proposes dedicating the plaque in a privately funded, spring 2022 service with townspeople, visitors, historians, clergy and area legislators; and Jacksonville representatives.

Droby writes in the new documents, “Memorializing (Johnson) in Wiscasset acknowledges the town’s place in his life and further highlights his many accomplishments in the arts, education and civil rights during a time of rampant Jim Crow attacks of people of color. It also highlights his connection with the Midcoast Maine region as a place of respite and renewal.” The proposal notes when the accident happened, Johnson was en route home to New York City after visiting a colleague up the coast.

“Wiscasset’s connection with (Johnson) will be the passageway through which we connect with Maine’s multi-layered history and our community’s ongoing aspiration to be a welcoming and kind community for all to live, play and work.”

Selectmen are also set to take up a coronavirus response grant for Wiscasset Municipal Airport and a truck vendor request from Sea Bags LLC.

The board meets at 5:30 tonight on Zoom, at 

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83625653734?pwd=M1k5K1lwNnhlakhvR0tHQlJHQVArQT09

Or call 1 646 558 8656. Meeting ID: 836 2565 3734, passcode: 911529