Dear friends,
I would like to invite you to take part in the following events. Please also help spread the word by forwarding this message, sharing the Facebook events (linked below), and telling your contacts.
Best,
Jamie
Thursday, March 8, 7:00-9:00, The Living Roots of Civil Rights
Library at the AJ Williams-Myers African Roots Library, 43 Gill Street, Kingston
Angeline Butler and Muriel Tillinghast will visit Kingston’s African Roots Library to share their insights into effective organizing, movement building, and non-violent activism, each one with over fifty years of experience on the front lines of the Civil Rights Movement. Join us as we honor the 58th anniversary of the first mass sit-in arrests in the south, February 27th, 1960 and the subsequent collaboration with the Highlander School around March 8th, that same year. Angeline Butler and Muriel Tillinghast both rode with the Freedom Riders, as part of a broad effort to secure mass transit rights for African-Americans. Muriel was also part of “Mississippi Summer” in 1964 to increase black voter registration. Their remarkable stories were recently published in the inspiring new book Hands on the Freedom Plow (from Illinois University Press). Music will be included.
Sunday, March 18, 3:00-5:00, Film Screening: Dolores
Hudson Valley LGBTQ Community Center, 300 Wall Street, Kingston
Dolores Huerta is among the most important, yet least known, activists in American history. An equal partner in co-founding the first farm workers unions with Cesar Chavez, her enormous contributions have gone largely unrecognized. Dolores tirelessly led the fight for racial and labor justice alongside Chavez, becoming one of the most defiant feminists of the twentieth century—and she continues the fight to this day, at 87. With intimate and unprecedented access to this intensely private mother to eleven, the film reveals the raw, personal stakes involved in committing one’s life to social change. Directed by Peter Bratt. The film is in English with Spanish subtitles. The screening will be followed by a community discussion (Spanish-English interpretation will be available). Snacks will be provided at this event!
Thursday, March 22, 6:30-8:30, Film Screening: Fundi: The Story of Ella Baker
Library at the AJ Williams-Myers African Roots Library, 43 Gill Street, Kingston
“The kind of role that I tried to play was to pick up pieces or put together pieces out of which I hoped organization might come. My theory is, strong people don’t need strong leaders.” --Ella Baker. From the Young Negro Cooperative league in 1930 to the NAACP in 1940 to the Southern Christian Leadership Council in 1957 to the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee in 1960 and on into the 1970’s and 80’s Ella Baker walked the walk, talked the talk, and did the work for the Black Freedom Struggle in America. She was not someone who looked for the spotlight. She was an organizer and a teacher who devoted her life to building the grass-roots organizations and developing the local leaders without whom the movement could not have been sustained. This is how she earned her nickname – “Fundi”, a Swahili word for a person who passes skills from one generation to another.
Sunday, March 25, 3:00-5:00, Sign-Making Party for the Black Women's March
Library at the AJ Williams-Myers African Roots Library, 43 Gill Street, Kingston
Join Rise Up Kingston and the LGBTQ Community for Racial Justice for a sign-making party for the Black Women's March on April 7th. Bring your poster board, art supplies, and friends! About the March: Black Women’s March: Continuing the Legacy of Harriet Tubman, We March Out of Love, Care and Concern for Our People!!! April 7th, 2018: CVS parking lot, corner of Broadway and Route 119, Tarrytown, New York. You can support the efforts here: www.callblackline.com