Lisa McNair is a frequently sought-after national public speaker and author of “Dear Denise: Letters to the Sister I Never Knew.” Lisa’s older sister, Denise, was one of the four little girls killed in the Ku Klux Klan’s 1963 bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. Lisa will share her family’s story of survival after this horrific and high-profile loss that marked a seminal moment in the civil rights movement. In 2022, her book was recognized as one of NPR’s “Books we Love.”

Her transformational messages of love, understanding, reconciliation, and peace are as timely today as they were in 1963.

Sponsors & Steering Committee

Unity Sponsors

Susan and Dan Boggio

Debbie and Floyd Kearns

Friendship Sponsors

Bering Memorial United Church of Christ

Jodi Bernstein

Sara Brook and Fred Brecht

Congregation Beth Yeshurun

Wendy Cooper

Dr. Kathy C. Flanagan

Laurie Hill Gutierrez

Kayvon Haghpeykar

Sandy Frieden and Bob Kelly

Sondos Nassef and Osama Khalifa

Sherry Levy

Tina Chadha and Ari Rahman

Kim Selber

Lois and George Stark

St. Paul’s United Methodist Church

Karyl Van Tassel

Host Committee

ADL Southwest

Shirin and Saied Alavi

Amber Burton Alfred

Dr. Loren Blanchard

Sissy Boyd

David Lyon, Congregation Beth Israel

Rabbi Brian Strauss, Congregation Beth Yeshurun

Rabbi Scott Hausman-Weiss, CSK Houston

Phyllis and Peter Gingiss

Lainie Gordon

HILTON AMERICAS-HOUSTON

Margery Loeb

Susan and David Morris

NAACP Houston Branch

Linda and Scott Newar

Pat Pollicoff

Maureen Quirk

Regina Rogers

Cyndi Stewart

Trinity Episcopal Church

Paula and Robert Whitfield

Jeri Wolff

Nihala and Shaukat Zakaria

Steering Committee

Jodi Bernstein

Tina Chadha (Co-Chair)

Wendy Cooper

Shanta Eaden

Sandy Frieden

Phyllis M. Gingiss

Laurie Hill Gutierrez

Susan Farb Morris (Co-Chair)

Sondos Nassef

Gevetta “Jet” Phillips

Kim Selber

Latoya Pace Smith

Cyndi Stewart ( Co-Chair)

Paula Whitfield

Tamla Wilson

Nihala Zakaria