M.E.S.A. (Museum Enrichment Series for All) featuring Steve Matthews
Join Lynn Museum/LynnArts on the second Wednesday of each month at noon for M.E.S.A. (Museum Enrichment Series for All). This lecture series covers wellness, genealogy, and current events and features local experts, community members, Museum staff, and others.
We are delighted to be back in person for the first time since the pandemic! Steve Matthews will give a presentation entitled “Finding Mary, The Next Chapter: Twists, Turns, and a Potential Breakthrough,” updating his genealogical journey as featured in The Daily Item.
This a hybrid program. Register for the Zoom here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIsc-6uqDoiHNQ3UizbMARIrV_DL1ftDt4o
About Steve:
Steve Matthews was born in Lynn in 1954 and graduated in the class oSteve’sfrom St Mary’s High School. Steve was a union organizer and negotiator for 29 years in 19 states as well as Puerto Rico and
American Samoa.
Among Steve’s work in the Labor Movement:
- Leading SEIU UNTS organizing in Puerto Rico and participating with other unions in winning the right for public sector employees to bargain collectively in the Public Sector.
- Leading the SEIU 660 “Step Up” Contract fight in L.A. that produced the most significant wage increase to date in L.A. County bargaining for S.E.I.U. members there.
- He was active in the Membership Slate in Teamsters Local 25 in Boston that ousted Billy McCarthy and his corrupt team from control of that Local.
Steve has authored a genealogical mystery called “Finding Mary.” It is the story of his sisters and his ongoing search for his mother’s birth family. It was published in the Lynn Item newspaper (Lynn, MA) in ten installments ending in January 2022. It is also the story of his finding relatives who disturbingly enslaved African Americans. Finding this S.C. family history became the catalyst to reach reaching out to the G.A.R. Museum Curator Wendy Joseph and the Lynn Museum Executive Director Doneeca Thurston to determine ways to collaborate, and the result is the Defending Democracy event planned for the Lynn Auditorium on October 4, 2023.
Steve currently resides in Riverside County, California.
This program is supported in part by a grant from the Lynn Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.
