Thanks to the research of city staffers and the memories of two organizers, we’re learning about the field trips to Washington, D.C. which Congresswoman Laura Richardson spearheaded back when she was Long Beach’s Sixth District Councilwoman.

Richardson served the Sixth District from 2000 to 2006, before being elected to State Assembly in November 2006, and to U.S. Congress in August.

As Sixth District Councilwoman, she helped organize the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration every January–a commemoration of the nation’s foremost civil rights pioneer–plus a children’s essay and art contest that was a part of the Celebration.

According to members of the Central Area Association–longtime co-sponsors of the MLK Celebration–the essay/art contest was a way to get Long Beach students talking and learning about Dr. King.

But under Richardson’s leadership, the MLK Celebration–the Sixth District’s signature event–became a larger, grander enterprise, and so did the essay contest. (I placed a call to Congresswoman Richardson’s office this afternoon, and I’m waiting to hear back from the congresswoman.)

According to Long Beach resident Ethel Powers, who helped organize the contest from about 1998 until the spring of 2002, Richardson upped the top prizes in the essay/art contest from $25 gift certificates to local bookstores, to JetBlue Airways tickets to Washington, D.C.

John Edmond, who is chief of staff to Richardson’s successor, Sixth District Councilman Dee Andrews, says Richardson’s administration held the essay/art contest every year. And from 2002 on, winners were told that they’d won trips to the nation’s capital.

But according to Powers and Association President John Malveaux, only two groups of essay/art contest winners ever flew to Washington, D.C.: one in early 2002, following the 14th Annual MLK Celebration–and another in early 2003.

So what about the remaining winners of essay/art contests held during Richardson’s last three or so years in Long Beach?

Employees in Councilman Dee Andrews’ office and Mayor Bob Foster’s office have located most of the estimated 10-12 winners who never received their airplane tickets–and Edmond says the students will finally receive their airplane tickets.

Stay tuned for more.

Tags: California, D.C., Dee Andrews, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration, essay contest, Ethel Powers, John Edmond, John Malveaux, laura richardson, Long Beach, Long Beach City Council, Mickey Mouse, sixth district, Southern California, The District Weekly, Theo Douglas, Washington