Boston campaign brings diversity to America's 250th anniversary

Zoom in: Organizers launched the Everyone250 campaign Thursday with a poetry reading.

• The campaign is seeking submissions of writing and art to compile a book ahead of 2026.
• The team also plans to curate various art projects, museum exhibits, performances and other local happenings to illustrate Boston's contributions to U.S. culture and history at 250.

State of play: The campaign was more than a year in the making and involves a coalition of more than 100 local organizations, including Embrace and the Boston Globe's "A Beautiful Resistance."

• The coalition plans to post deadlines and more information about the submissions it's seeking on its website.

What they're saying: Dart Adams, Everyone250 co-chair, says the campaign aims to bring in people whose contributions weren't reflected in the American bicentennial in 1976.

• "Representation matters," he tells Axios. "If you don't see yourself in the past or included in the present of being thought about, then you just feel displaced entirely."

• He and Imari Paris Jeffries, president and CEO of Embrace, say the campaign is about showing Black, Latino, Asian and queer artists are part of the fabric of the city.

What's next: The campaign is working with city and state efforts to commemorate the United States' 250th anniversary.

• The group's next event is a 1965 Freedom Rally commemoration on April 26.