The civil rights activist and Washington power broker who died Monday had been a longtime summer visitor to the Vineyard.

In years past we all have looked forward to celebrating and remembering the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., as we recalled his leadership and contributions during the civil rights struggles.

For Ric Burns filmmaking is a collaborative journey. Last week at a screening of his work-in-progress documentary Driving While Black, even the audience became part of the process.

Many contributors to black history weren’t black. Take the abolitionists, for example.

In the first of a series on diversity at the regional high school, historian Patricia Sullivan explained the critical role college and high school students played in the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s.

A remembrance gathering will be held in Oak Bluffs this weekend for Julian Bond, the well-known civil rights leader and former chairman of the NAACP who died August 15 at the age of 75. Mr. Bond was a longtime Vineyard visitor.

In celebration of the anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, members of the Martha’s Vineyard community gathered last week for an event organized by The Advancement Project.

Passage at St. Augustine spotlights civil rights campaigns in the historic Florida city. Vineyarder Esther Burgess is featured in the film, which will be screened this weekend in West Tisbury.

Vineyarders gathered at the Unitarian Universalist Church to honor the Civil Rights Movement and the memory of Rosa Parks. The guest speaker was Lucy Hackney.

After seeing the northern states for the first time in 1951 during a summer with his aunt and uncle in Buffalo, N.Y., Cong. John Lewis began questioning the quality of life that many around him took for granted.