Freedom Riders - June 26, 2011

Freedom Riders
June 26, 2011

Lecture by Eric Etheridge and Freedom Riders Robert and Helen Singleton

View the invitation here.

Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Freedom Riders
Author and photographer Eric Etheridge will present a lecture and slide show on the 1961 Freedom Rides. Freedom Riders Robert and Helen Singleton will also share their unique personal stories, being one of the few married couples to volunteer for the Freedom Rides. A clip from Freedom Riders, a new documentary film from the PBS series American Experience will also be shown.

Photography Exhibit - June 26-July 24, 2011

Though outlawed in 1955, segregation persisted in many interstate buses and stations in 1961. Beginning in May 1961, several hundred Freedom Riders challenged illegal segregation by riding buses and entering segregated facilities in the South. Many riders—both black and white—were intimidated, beaten, and arrested. The Freedom Rides drew the attention of the Kennedy administration and the nation to the persistence of segregation and the power of nonviolent resistance. The exhibit combines historic mug shots uncovered by author and photographer Eric Etheridge, combined with modern portraits of Freedom Riders taken by him for his book Breach of Peace: Portraits of the 1961 Mississippi Freedom Riders.

Presented by the Brown Foundation for Educational Equity, Excellence and Research and the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site as part of the 2010-2011 program series, Commemorating Our Nation's Struggle for Freedom: From Civil War to Civil Rights.