The Ocean City Historical Museum invites all to attend a book-signing and reception for local historian and author Loretta Thompson Harris from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the museum within the Ocean City Community Center (1735 Simpson Avenue). Harris is the most authoritative voice on Black history in Ocean City, and her first publication in a three-book series – "The Westside: Ocean City in True Color" – is available exclusively at the Ocean City Historical Museum Gift Shop.

Loretta Thompson Harris is a fourth-generation Ocean City native and retired corporate executive who served on numerous boards and charitable organizations during her working years. She is past president of the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women, past president of the Atlantic City Business and Professional Women, former United Way allocator and member of the Summit Bank Advisory Council. She is currently a member of AARP and Questers.

Her formative years were spent growing up in a medina-like atmosphere behind the invisible walls of the small area called the Westside. Under the watchful eyes of parents and neighbors, the inquisitive little daddy’s girl quickly learned the ways of her world. She relished the stories and banter of neighborhood men at the local gas station and next-door barber shop. Though never destined for the kitchen, she enjoyed being with the women of the family as they cooked and cleaned and reminisced about their Southern upbringing.

For more than thirty years, Loretta has been researching her family history and documenting the untold story of Ocean City’s African American and Native American neighborhood, culminating in the writing of The Westside – Ocean City in True Color, a trilogy on Ocean City’s Westside, and The Westside – Reflections and Recollections, the memoir of a Westside child.

Loretta enjoys antiquing along South Jersey’s back roads, preserving cemeteries, and traveling. She currently serves as a volunteer researcher for the Ocean City Historical Museum.

Ocean City, New Jersey
861 Asbury Avenue
Ocean City, NJ 08226
(609) 399-6111
www.ocnj.us