If you go
What: “Beyond Textbooks: Civil Rights Movement History from the Bottom Up” by Emilye Crosby, professor of history and coordinator of Black Studies at the State University of New York Geneseo
When: 6 p.m. Monday, Nov. 6
Where: University Center Auditorium
Admission: Free
Information: Michelle D. Deardorff at (423) 425-4281
While the work of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and the passing of the Voting Rights Act are critical and well-known elements of the Civil Rights Movement, they are only part of the story.
The foundation of the movement included grassroots organizing, the dangerous work often initiated by the young people of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and ordinary people who insisted on their citizenship rights and pushed for broader freedom.
“Beyond Textbooks: Civil Rights Movement History from the Bottom Up” will highlight many of these mostly unsung people in the fight for civil rights. Given by Emilye Crosby, a professor of history and coordinator of Black Studies at the State University of New York Geneseo, the presentation will discuss the importance and power of taking action even when success is not immediate.
She also highlights the contributions of what she calls “unexpected actors,” in particular, women who dominated the movement numerically and were essential participants, strategists, organizers and speakers.
Crosby is the author of A Little Taste of Freedom: The Black Freedom Struggle in Claiborne County, Mississippi and editor of Civil Rights History from the Ground Up, a compilation of essays.
