|
|
||
|
Freedom Riders' talk provides inspiration UMW kicks off Freedom Rider celebration with activists who rode buses to challenge segregation
Date published: 2/8/2011
BY JEFF BRANSCOME
Charles Reed didn't learn much about the Freedom Riders in high school. But during his first year at the University of Mary Washington he took a class about the life and legacy of James Farmer. He learned that Farmer, who died in 1999 at age 79, led the movement to desegregate interstate buses and bus terminals. "Wow," he recalled thinking. "How did we not know about this in high school?" Reed, now a UMW senior, spoke yesterday at the Fredericksburg campus as the school kicked off a semester-long celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Freedom Riders. Hundreds showed up for the occasion. The anniversary is especially significant to UMW because Farmer was a distinguished professor of history and American studies at Mary Washington from 1985 until 1998. "I stand here on this prestigious campus of UMW as the result of the many difficulties and adversities that they had to overcome," said Reed, who is an aide at the school's James Farmer Multicultural Center. "I am inspired by their devotion and commitment, and I am indebted to them." The original Freedom Ride in 1961 saw Farmer and 12 other civil rights activists--black and white--ride buses from Washington, D.C., into the Deep South to challenge segregation. Many others joined the Freedom Rider movement, including the Rev. Reginald Green and Joan Trumpauer Mulholland, both of whom attended UMW's commemoration yesterday. Green, 71, who was jailed in Mississippi for nearly six weeks after riding there on a bus from Richmond, asked students to find an issue they're passionate about. "Maybe it's hunger; maybe it's the ecology; maybe it's education. Maybe it is the message that says we've come too far to turn back now," he said. Green, who is from Washington, was 21 when he traveled to Mississippi. The backdrop for yesterday's event near Ball Circle was a 1960s-era Greyhound bus similar to what the Freedom Riders took. The windows of the 40-foot long bus are covered with press photos, including images of Freedom Riders being beaten. It will remain at UMW until April 1.
1. Be respectful. No personal attacks.
|
|
|||||||||||
