Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2011 15:54:47 -0600 From: Troy Reeves <treeves@library.wisc.edu> Subject: UWM Libraries host a national traveling exhibition, "Freedom Riders" Message-id: <4D3A00A7.5060409@library.wisc.edu>
[Note: if this has already made it onto the WHS listserv, please
disregard. I haven't seen it on there, but I might have missed it. Troy
Reeves]
Here is the press release for the upcoming Freedom Riders exhibition and
other related events: http://www4.uwm.edu/libraries/News/freedomriders.cfm
"The UWM Libraries are hosting a national traveling exhibition, "Freedom
Riders," which focuses on an important chapter in the nation's struggle
for civil rights: the effort by more than 400 Americans to challenge
segregated travel in the South during a six-month period in 1961.
This free exhibition--running from Jan. 24 to Feb. 21, 2011 in the UWM
Golda Meir Library's Daniel M. Soref Learning Commons--is a companion to
the May 2011 PBS broadcast of the AMERICAN EXPERIENCE film Freedom
Riders, directed by Stanley Nelson.
Several events have been planned in conjunction with the exhibit:
A panel discussion on civil rights moderated by Robert Smith, Associate
Professor, UWM Dept. of History, will be held on Tuesday, Feb. 1 from
3:00 to 4:30 p.m. in the Library's fourth floor Conference Center. After
the panel discussion, there will be a formal opening of the exhibit in
the Learning Commons. Both events are free and open to the public.
Also on view in the Learning Commons from Jan. 24 to Feb. 27 will be an
exhibit drawn from materials that are included in the UWM Libraries new
digital collection March On Milwaukee: Civil Rights History Project.
A free screening of the film and a talkback with the film's producer,
Mark Samels, will be offered at the UWM Union Theatre on Monday, Feb. 14
at 6:30 p.m. The screening is co-sponsored by local PBS affiliate MPTV,
UWM Union Sociocultural Programming, and the UWM Dept. of History. For
more information, call MPTV Friends at (414) 297-8004.
The Freedom Riders, prompted by Supreme Court decisions mandating the
desegregation of interstate travel, traveled in small interracial groups
to the Deep South where integration was forbidden by local law and custom.
The exhibit presents a detailed narrative illustrated with archival
photos and newspaper clippings that document this pivotal event in the
Civil Rights Movement. Viewing is enhanced by companion audio via
cellphone that allows visitors to hear eyewitness accounts of the Riders
who endured racism and violence.
The Gildner Lehrman Institute of American History, in partnership with
AMERICAN EXPERIENCE, created the exhibition. Funding was provided
through a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Milwaukee sponsors of the exhibit are UWM Libraries, UWM Department of
History, and MPTV Friends.
To promote the film and the exhibit, AMERICAN EXPERIENCE is offering
college students a chance to be part of 2011 Student Freedom Ride, in
which the selected students will retrace the steps of the Freedom
Riders, with all expenses paid. Applications are due January 17, 2011.
The UWM Golda Meir Library is located at 2311 E. Hartford Ave. For
Daniel M. Soref Learning Commons hours, visit
www4.uwm.edu/libraries/hours/. For more information about the exhibit,
call 414-229-4786."
Jasmine Alinder Associate Professor and Co-Coordinator of Public History Department of History UW-Milwaukee P.O. Box 413 Milwaukee, WI 53201