RAYMOND – The McLendon Library at ż’s Raymond Campus is currently displaying “Freedom Riders: Journey for Change” through Nov. 6, 2024.
As part of the exhibit, two speakers will share their experiences and thoughts. Flonzie Brown Wright, an activist and author of a memoir about her experiences as the first black woman to be elected to public office in 1968 as Canton’s Election Commissioner, is speaking at 2 p.m. Oct. 15. Robert Luckett, a history professor at Jackson State University, is speaking at 2 p.m. Oct. 22. Both will be held in McLendon Library.
The Mississippi Department of Archives and History exhibit depicts what students faced as they protested 1961 Jim Crow laws that prevented black people from using public transit and from eating in public restaurants.
The exhibit focuses mainly on 1961 when the buses first set out with white and black students, members of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), to take action through non-violent protests. They were met with violence and imprisonment.
The students barely made it out of Alabama alive after one of their buses was bombed. When they arrived in Jackson, they were immediately arrested for breaking laws, such as trespassing and unlawful assembly. They were subjected to imprisonment, violence and cruelty.
Many of the exhibit’s images were taken from original film footage of the WLBT News Film Collection. They have been digitally curated and were transferred to still shots and make up a most of the exhibit.
The exhibit is free and open to the public in the McLendon Library. The library hours are Monday-Friday, 7:30 a.m.-9 p.m., Friday’s 7:30 a.m.-noon. For more questions about the ż library system visit the ż website at libguides.hindscc.edu/home
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