By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
The red carpet and the bright lights were missing, and there was not a paparazzi in sight for the premiere showing of “The Struggle to Create: A Civil Rights Documentary” but that didn’t matter to the members of Threads Community House of Lawrence, which produced the film.
About 100 people turned out to see the short film, which was created by Lawrence High School students and focused on the obstacles to building Eggerts Crossing Village. The affordable townhouse development at 175 Johnson Avenue is in the Eggerts Crossing neighborhood, on the Lawrence/Ewing border.
The film, which aired Feb. 7, kicked off the month-long Colour Conference at Lawrence High School. The Colour Conference celebrates Black History Month.
Other events include an open-microphone night for students to share poetry, music and art Feb. 21, plus another video that traces the history of black people in the United States and their contributions Feb. 28.
Last week’s event also provided a showcase for black businesses, which set up displays on tables outside the Lawrence High School auditorium. The businesses ranged from the SBR Realty agency to Beautiful Waxing Boutique and Swanson Brothers Cleaning.
”The Struggle to Create” opens with Fred Vereen, who was one of the driving forces behind the development of the 100-unit Eggerts Crossing Village. He explains that his family moved to Eggerts Crossing “the poorest neighborhood in Lawrence” in 1941. He attended the Eldridge Park School and then went to Trenton High School.
Through interviews with Fred Olessi, Mr. Vereen’s childhood friend, and the Rev. H. Dana Fearon III of The Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville, activist Peggy Huchet, planner Joseph Feinberg and attorney David Friedman, the film takes viewers through the struggle to develop the project in the 1970s.
The Eggerts Crossing Village development was triggered by some township residents’ concerns about the substandard housing in which black families lived in the Eggerts Crossing neighborhood. There were holes in the floors, and it was as cold inside the house as it was outside. Most houses did not have indoor plumbing.
Once the decision was made to create decent, affordable housing, the backers had to overcome many obstacles from purchasing the land to rezoning the land and financing construction of the project. The groundbreaking was held in 1972, and the first residents moved in two years later.
Mr. Friedman, the attorney who represented Lawrence Nonprofit Housing Inc., which developed Eggerts Crossing Village, recalled a party at Mr. Vereen’s home when the last hurdle had been cleared. He recalled everyone holding hands and singing “We Shall Overcome” and that the song “never meant anything to me” until that point in time.
Flash forward to 2013, and the film outlines the Every Child Valued program at Eggerts Crossing Village. The program provides enrichment activities and homework help for elementary school children who live in the development, in cooperation with the Lawrence Township public school district.
Following a short intermission, in which the audience was entertained by dance team Satisfaction With a Guarantee (S.W.A.G.), a second film was shown that explained how Threads Community House of Lawrence was created. The student-led group takes on service projects, aiming to connect the school and the community and to allow each one to see the other’s needs.
”We are our own community. We don’t have to wait to be an adult to do what we want to do (to help other people). Do not let anyone tell you ‘no,’” Nyya Toussaint, one of the organizers of Threads Community House of Lawrence, said in the film. He is a Lawrence High School senior.

