Guest Blogger: Kevin Vandiver, Charlotte Freedom School Partners

The current Faces of Freedom Summer photo exhibit looks back at the historic 1964 efforts by college students to register African American voters in Mississippi. As part of that project, activists organized Freedom Schools to awaken African American youth to black history and their rights as citizens. Today a new generation of Freedom Schools aims to help young people turn summers into a time of scholarly advancement. Our guest blogger, Kevin Vandiver works as the Development Coordinator for Charlotte Freedom School Partners. 

This summer marks the 50th anniversary of the 1964 Freedom Summer Project, which was a voting initiative for marginalized African Americans.  In addition to galvanizing the people to register to vote, there were about 30-40 Freedom Schools in ‘64, which were started to provide African Americans with an education that they were not receiving in the public school system. The actions taken to educate the surrounding communities was a method that advocates used to go on the offensive against oppression:  Education was a key to Freedom.   Whether it was in a classroom, church basement, or on someone’s front stoop, class was in session!  Taught by college students and other volunteers, the Freedom School students were taught black history and culture, math, and character-building.   The ages of the attendees ranged from small children to the very elderly—with the average age being about 15 years of age.  In 1964, over 3000 people attended the Freedom Schools in Mississippi.  

When we fast-forward 50 years to 2014, we understand that while there has been great change, that there are still miles to go.  In the day when there are still educational inequities, thousands of children not reading by third grade, and the billion-dollar cradle to prison pipeline, there is a continued need education and empowerment to achieve the potential with which every child is born. 50 years later, we can say that the ball has not been dropped.  The legacy of Freedom Summer of ’64 is very alive today!

We believe that Freedom School Partners works with many partners and community members to put children on a path of success, and there is room for all to continue in this work that began so long ago. 

This new education that Freedom School Partners endeavors to offer through its programming builds the character of scholars and interns alike, rebuilds spirits, brings together communities of hope, support, and fosters inter-generational leadership, helping us all to know that We Can—and Must—Make a Difference!  Our efforts to bring about this new education have empowered 4000 Children and 400 college students since its first Freedom School in Charlotte, in 2004. 

I am a part of this work—serving as a Development Coordinator.  I hope to spread the word and garner support for this great movement.  Our work is arduous, but it is good work—and it will change the face of our world.

Freedom School Partners join in solidarity with Ella Baker, who said, “We who believe in Freedom cannot rest until it comes!”

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How has public education changed in the last 50 years? Leave your opinion below or on our Facebook page. 

Freedom Summer/Freedom Schools, Then and Now reception, exhibit viewing and discussion will feature Charlotte Civil Rights activist J. Charles Jones and retired Charlotte Observer journalist Lew Powell. Join us Wednesday, May 28 at 6 pm. RSVP: Julie Attilus at Julie@freedomschoolpartners.org or 704.371.4922.

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Ask an Activist! Out of the Shadows: Undocumented and Unafraid

Out of the Shadows: Undocumented and Unafraid is a participatory art project, conceived and orchestrated by artist Annabel Manning. Immigrant youth from Charlotte and the Triangle area of North Carolina collaborated with Manning to create portraits, which were then digitally altered to portray the youth's visible and invisible status simultaneously.  Compelling and personal, the pieces featured in the exhibit demonstrate how art can be a deliberative and imaginative forum for exploring complex issues about immigrant labor, education, and legal status.

Please meet activist and artist, "Touchdown" 

Does the concept of being both visible and invisible relate to your experience, and if so, how? 

Yes. I participate in this society as any other regular person but then there are moments that always remind you that you are not quite the regular person…that there is something missing and that it will limit you. Traditionally, before growing to questioning the immigration system and all that benefit from its lack of working, I understood that not having legal status must be kept secret or invisible as much as possible. Every day was about negotiating identity in a home that is not “your own.” Even today with all the empowerment that has come from being involved in the immigrant youth rights movement, it is still difficult to branch out outside of social justice circles and be fully visible. You don’t know how people will react…to a certain point one may not care but the fact is that the system in which daily life functions with things such as employment, you must be kept invisible or at least the full you and your identity must not be known. At the end of the day it is still a liability upon which many things depend on. 


When did you first become aware of your circumstance of being undocumented? What is it like to be undocumented?

I became aware of this status upon crossing the border by foot with my family. Additionally, it became evident that I was different when I was in school K-12th grade. I was very aware of this immigration status because everything was pointing in the direction of hiding it or making it invisible and just faking it but as youth sometimes that is the last thing you are willing to do. I did not want to participate in a mock presidential election at my elementary school because I had to vote and I knew then that was not allowed for someone like me who did not have a social security number. For me being undocumented became about learning how to negotiate my presence anywhere I went and often being very scared to open what I thought would be a Pandora's box type of situation. However, you learn that life has to continue and if you don’t go back to “your” country then you have to learn the ins and outs of living while being “illegal.” This encompasses everything from your friendships to your goals to the practical thing of getting fake social security numbers in order to get a job somewhere. That’s the truth. This country and its politicians push us to these fringes in which we have to make decisions for which results in either direction have you as the “illegal” losing out. 

What is your dream for immigration reform?

I don’t dream about immigration reform…anymore. I just dream of an empowered community that comes to understand that with or without immigration reform we are worth it and must not live afraid. If there is no reform then I would hope that undocumented people would live life being unafraid and willing to risk it all in this country because the alternative means losing our dignity. 


What does coming out of the shadows mean for you?

Coming out of the shadows for me means a process of healing. It does not necessarily get rid of the fear. Coming out of the shadows means you allow yourself to consider the possibilities of being deported or targeted and having a plan of action for that. It means breathing like you own yourself and your future instead of a nine digit number. It is only the beginning of a longer term process for liberation. 


Out of the Shadows: Undocumented and Unafraid is on display now through June 29, 2014.

Tell us below what does activism mean to you.

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Faces of Freedom Summer: The Photographs of Herbert Randall

The Story Behind the Exhibit

Faces of Freedom Summer, an exhibit featuring 102 photographs taken by Herbert Randall in Hattiesburg, Miss., opens this Saturday, February 22. These powerful images document the struggles and triumphs of Civil Rights activists and disenfranchised African-American voters during the summer of 1964.

That summer, students of all races and backgrounds, voting rights organizers, and a coalition of local black residents worked together to secure the rights for all Americans to vote in the South. Among them were three young civil rights workers, James Chaney, Michael Schwerner, and Andrew Goodman, who were murdered days after arriving to Mississippi.

Herbert Randall became the official photographer for the Freedom Summer project in 1964 when he met Sandy Leigh, director of Freedom Summer. Randall took 1,759 negatives that summer, which he donated to the University of Southern Mississippi in 1998. With the negatives carefully stored at the University's McCain Library and Archives, archivists began a project funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services called "Civil Rights in Mississippi Digital Archives" to preserve the images digitally.

Randall's photos were organized into an exhibit, which has traveled across the country since 1999.  Faces of Freedom Summer will be on display from February 22 through August 17, as part of Destination Freedom: Civil Rights Struggles Then and Now.

Learn more about Faces of Freedom Summer here.

After viewing these poignant images tag us on Instagram and purchase your copy of "Faces of Freedom Summer" by Herbert Randall on Amazon.

What lessons can we learn from the participants of Freedom Summer to use for causes today?

Leave your comment below or on Facebook. Share your thoughts on Twitter using the hashtag #DestinationFreedom.

Ask an Artist! Out of the Shadows: Undocumented and Unafraid

Out of the Shadows: Undocumented and Unafraid is a participatory art project, conceived and orchestrated by artist Annabel Manning. Immigrant youth from Charlotte and the Triangle area of North Carolina collaborated with Manning to create portraits, which were then digitally altered to portray the youth's visible and invisible status simultaneously.  Compelling and personal, the pieces featured in the exhibit demonstrate how art can be a deliberative and imaginative forum for exploring complex issues about immigrant labor, education, and legal status.

Please meet artist and activist, Annabel Manning

What impact do you hope “Out of the Shadows” will have on the public?
I hope that the artwork in Out of the Shadows: Undocumented and Unafraid will show the public how it feels to be in this state of being invisible and without rights. 

I am also interested in the complicity that all the documented (myself included) should feel for the predicament of the undocumented because we are partially responsible for it. I believe all U.S. citizens are complicit because we are benefiting from the work and culture of the Latinos and because, directly or indirectly, we help to make or keep them invisible. My hope is that the public will develop a sense of responsibility for this issue and fight for the rights that the undocumented youth deserve.

How has this Movement changed you? 
The visibility in the general public in North Carolina that the student youth have attained thus far has inspired me to expand this project.  The goal is to provide even more Latino undocumented youth (and their families) with art tools that allow them to express themselves visually and to engage the public in discussions or confrontations about the youth’s specific dreams and demands for immigration reform. 

How did you choose the medium for your artwork?
The show includes photographs, sunprints, monoprints, and a digital installation (with camera, mirror and projection) – all reflecting the youth’s experiences of feeling invisible in their communities, outside their families and friends, separating them into two selves: how they see themselves versus how others see them. This theme emerged from my discussions with them and then we adopted the mediums to capture it in multiple ways.

What does activism mean to you?
To be able to create participatory art activities with communities like Immigrant Youth Forum (IYF) and United 4 the Dream (U4TD) to engage the public in discussions or confrontations about the youth’s dreams, fears, and demands regarding civil rights, education, labor, and citizenship. 

Out of the Shadows: Undocumented and Unafraid is on display now through June 29, 2014.

Tell us below what does activism mean to you.

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Ask an Artist!: A View From The Other Side

View from the Other Side features local artists' response to the previous exhibit, Network of Mutuality: 50 Years Post-Birmingham. The artists created pieces working within the topic of Civil Rights struggles in our region. Both exhibits are a part of the Museum's two-year series, Destination Freedom: Civil Rights Struggles Then and Now. To bring further insights into the exhibit, we took the opportunity to ask the artists about their artwork, what in history inspired them to create it and what they hope guest gain from their art. 

Next up: Antoine Williams, Local Artist and Designer

What part of history inspired your artwork?
When it comes to history, I'm interested in how human beings have interacted with one another. Therefore, points in time when one group exerts power over another and reaction that produces. More specifically, slavery up to Jim Crow and the civil rights movement, American military history, also the relationship between the ruling class and average people.

What do you hope guest experience when viewing your artwork?
Evoking any type of emotion is of particular interest to me. The view completes the piece. So, I hope they bring their own experiences to the work, coupled with what I've created maybe they can come to their own conclusions.

What roles does the community play in your art?
My work is a look at how socioeconomic factors can affect ones cultural identity, therefore, the art I'm creating is heavily influenced by the communities I grew up with and the ones I currently exist in now. 

What other imagery/ stories do you explore within your work?
Lately, I've been interested in merging representations of contemporary people from various social strata with early 18th century animal illustrations, as a look into how we create monsters out of those we deem different than ourselves.

Learn more about Antoine on his Tumblr and website.

Come view Antoine and other's artwork in the View from the Other Side exhibit at the Levine Museum, on display through February 2, 2014. 

Have you seen Antoine's artwork? Tell us what you think below.

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Ask an Artist!: View From The Other Side

View from the Other Side features local artists' response to the previous exhibit, Network of Mutuality: 50 Years Post-Birmingham. The artists created pieces working within the topic of Civil Rights struggles in our region. Both exhibits are a part of the Museum's two-year series, Destination Freedom: Civil Rights Struggles Then and Now. To bring further insights into the exhibit, we took the opportunity to ask the artists about their artwork, what in history inspired them to create it and what they hope guest gain from their art. 

Next up: Rosalia Weiner, Local Artist and Founder of Project Art Aid


What part of history inspired your artwork?
My work is heavily influenced by current events. In my view, what is happening with immigrant rights, immigration reform, and the rise of Hispanic culture in America is historic.

What do you hope guest experience when viewing your artwork?
I hope that guest experience the vibrant colors of my Mexican culture, and I also hope that my work broadens their perception of immigration issues.

What role does the community play in your art?
The community plays a very important role in my work. My work is often based on their stories and experiences, and art is my tool for giving voice to the issues that are affecting us. 

What other imagery/stories do you explore within your work?
I have also told love stories with my art. In a recent commission, I narrated the story of a couple and blended family, with images detailing the places where they were from, where they met, and distinct aspects of their personalities and style. 

Come view Rosalia and other's artwork in the View from the Other Side exhibit at the Levine Museum, on display through February 2, 2014. 

Tell us what you think of Rosalia's work in the comments below and share with your friends!

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Ask an Artist!: View from the Other Side

View from the Other Side features local artists' responses to the exhibit, Network of Mutuality: 50 Years Post-Birmingham. The artists submitted pieces related to the topic of Civil Rights struggles in our region. Both exhibits are presented as part of the Museum's two-year series, Destination Freedom: Civil Rights Struggles Then and Now. To bring deeper insights into the exhibit, we asked the artists to talk about their work and share what in history inspired them and what they hope guests gain from their art. 

Next up: Mikale Kwiatkowski, Local Artist and UNC Charlotte School of Architecture Teaching Fellow

What part of history inspired your artwork?
Feminist theory from the 1970's to the present was the starting point for my research, and queer theory from the early 1990's to the present became an even more influential driver during my actual making process. In addition, artists like Rebecca Horn and Rachael Whiteread continue to  be influential. 

What do you hope guests experience when viewing your artwork?
Honestly, my greatest hope is that my piece will prompt new thought in viewers -- that people who have never before considered how they publicly perform identities like gender and sexuality might consider culturally constructed scripts that they have adopted as their own. I have no issue with conscious choices people make around these identities  but I firmly believe many people unconsciously follow socially prescribed scripts instead of making choices from the stronger vantage point of awareness. 

What role does the community play in your art?
Community, well it plays a big role I guess. Cultural ideology is embedded within communities. There is a lot to like about Charlotte, but the conservative nature of the city is its own obstacle for progressive growth. The effort that Levine Museum of the New South makes in bringing awareness to normalizing ideology is striking and extremely valuable in a community like Charlotte's.

What other imagery/ stories do you explore within your work?
 For the time being, I am focused on creating experiential assemblages that attempt to disrupt or destabilize processes of normalization that exist in Western culture.








Come view Mikale and others' artwork in the View from the Other Side exhibit at Levine Museum, on display through February 2, 2014. 

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Destination Freedom Kick Off: Ask an Activist!

This Sunday is our official Destination Freedom Kick Off, a free afternoon program featuring panel discussions, new exhibits and entertainment, along with a special talk by Civil Rights activist Diane Nash.  In preparing for Sunday, we had the opportunity to ask several of the panelists questions surrounding the pivotal moments of the Civil Rights Movement, their own activism, and what they are looking forward to during the Destination Freedom Kick Off. 

 

Next up: Elver Barrios, Community Organizer at the Latin American Coalition

 

How does Sept. 15, 1963 relate to the causes you are most passionate about? What takeaways have you gained from the Civil Rights Movement?

Sept. 15, 1963 relates to causes I am passionate about because of the fact that there has always been people who, for various reasons, always feared or showed hatred towards others based on their skin color, gender or other identities. But, the fact that there is always someone that stands up to fight for what is right gives me courage to see that it might take a while to make changes. It is never too late to make those changes. I also look at the sacrifices from this day 50 years ago and think about how in movements for change sometimes there are sacrifices and losses.

Changing the immigration system is something that I’m really passionate about since I’m personally affected by the broken immigration system. I think that the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960’s is much like today when we are still fighting for a new group of people that are oppressed. I think that if there is something that I take from the Civil Rights Movement is that perseverance always pays off and that one person can make a difference if they fight with their heart to make a difference and work to make some else’s life better. 

 

How do you recall your activism and any highlights of it?

I think that my activism has impacted in a positive way the lives of many by encouraging them to join the movement. That together we can make changes so our undocumented immigrant families can stay together and not have to be separated.  In 2010, when the fight for the DREAM Act became stronger than ever, I decided to take a stand and fight for my education along with that of other young people in Charlotte and challenge our North Carolina Senators to fight for the future of this country. Although it did not pass, the youth immigrant movement only became stronger! Today, we have grown from that time and have realized the importance of focusing not only on ourselves as young people but also on our families.

 

What are you looking forward to during the Destination Freedom Kick Off

I think that it is important that we acknowledge that in this country there has always been a group of people that has been oppressed at some point in history, and the struggles are very much similar but yet so different. It takes more than one person to make those changes. During this event I hope to see people make the connections to what happened in 1963 and today and why it is important to fight not only for our struggles but also to help others overcome theirs.

 

Hear more from Mr. Barrios and others at Levine Museum, Sunday, Sept. 15, beginning at 3 p.m.

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Destination Freedom Kick Off: Ask an Activist!

This Sunday is our official Destination Freedom Kick Off, a free afternoon program featuring panel discussions, new exhibits and entertainment, along with a special talk by Civil Rights activist Diane Nash.  In preparing for Sunday, we had the opportunity to ask several of the panelists questions surrounding the pivotal moments of the Civil Rights Movement, their own activism, and what they are looking forward to during the Destination Freedom Kick Off.  

Next: Ms. Dorothy Counts-Scoggins, One of 4 girls to participate in the 1957 desegregation of Harding High School, an all-white school in Charlotte, NC. 

How do you remember Sept. 15, 1963 and what did it mean to the Movement?

I was a junior in college and had just returned to school.  Students on the campus that participated in the March On Washington were talking about their experience in Washington on August 28, 1963.  We were all excited about the changes that would happen in this country, “hope” was the key word.  Racial equality was now beginning to happen.  After my experience with school desegregation in 1957 was not a success, I hoped that things were going to change for young children in this country; to receive what they deserved, a quality education. Then on September 15, 1963, the 16th Street Baptist Church was bombed in Birmingham, Alabama, as an act of racially motivated terrorism. I asked myself “how could someone have so much hatred that [one] would kill 4 innocent children?”  This was the turning point for the Civil Rights Movement and passing of the Civil Rights Act in 1964.  Hope was alive again!

How do you recall your activism and any highlights of it?

My activism started as a young 15 year-old girl entering an all-white school in Charlotte, North Carolina, in hopes of receiving a quality education, because racial desegregation was unjust and morally wrong. The law was passed in 1954 and it was time to test the law and I was one of the 4 chosen to test the law.  Charlotte was not prepared, nor willing to make this change in the system. My experience, was not a good one for me, it changed my life. I would go on to fight to ensure that other children did not endure what I experienced. My life has been working with young children, teaching tolerance and injustice so that when they grow up they will learn the importance of acceptance.  I was not a marcher, but I felt that through my teaching and mentoring of young children they could learn the importance of “acceptance” and carry on these beliefs and change the world.

How does the Civil Rights Movement relate to today? 

The passion is gone; people have become accepting of the norm and allowed the fight that we made to be forgotten. Yes, we have an African American President in this country, I did not think I would live to see, but the hatred and racial inequality has resurfaced as it was 50+ years ago. 

What issues are we still facing?

Resegregation of our schools, voter suppression, rights for women [are all] being denied, so many of our laws are being changed to set us back, especially in North Carolina’s 200 years. My hope is that after the March on Washington in 2013, which had a very diverse population of people, we will pick up and fight for what is racially and morally right in this country again.

What are you looking forward to during the Destination Freedom Kick Off on September 15?

I am looking forward to the conversations and reflections of others in the group of their views of the Civil Rights Movement, and their thoughts of now and where we need to go to move forward. Also, looking forward to hearing Diane Nash.

Hear more from Ms. Counts-Scoggins and others at Levine Museum, Sunday, September 15, beginning at 3pm.

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Destination Freedom Kick Off: Ask an Activist!

This Sunday is our official Destination Freedom Kick Off, a free afternoon program featuring panel discussions, new exhibits and entertainment, along with a special talk by Civil Rights activist Diane Nash.  In preparing for Sunday, we had the opportunity to ask several of the panelists questions surrounding the pivotal moments of the Civil Rights Movement, their own activism, and what they are looking forward to during the Destination Freedom Kick Off. 

First up: Joshua Burford, Assistant Director for Sexual & Gender Diversity at UNC, Charlotte.

How does Sept. 15, 1963 relate to the causes you are most passionate about? What takeaways have you gained from the Civil Rights Movement?

I grew up in Alabama and early on learned about the impact of Civil Rights on my home state as well as the US. The killings at the 16th Street Baptist Church were and are a reminder of the innocent life that is lost when people who are blinded by hate, don't understand the ramifications of their actions.  

I grew up learning about how people who believe in change can only make change by putting themselves in positions to challenge the dominate norms of our culture, and how many times [those dominate norms] can bring about harm to [the challengers] in so many ways.  

As a teenager I saw the devastating effects of the HIV/AIDS crisis in the 90’s and watching ACT UP activists put themselves and their bodies on the line really resonated with me.  This same desire to put your physical self in danger and to make your body visible so that people who seek to silence you are forced to think of you as an actual person is what propelled me to become an activist.  

I understand from the Civil Rights movement that a policy or an idea that denigrates some of us in fact denigrates all of us, and that all human beings are worthy of full civil rights in our country.  I became a Queer activist because it’s important to advocate for those with no voice, and ultimately my own privilege allows me and in some cases forces me to be a voice for my community.  

How do you recall your activism and any highlights of it?

My activism started out small and very quiet.  I wanted to make changes and my youthful anger allowed me the brashness of throwing myself into causes with a fervor that I hope I still retain.  I have worked with HIV/AIDS advocacy groups, I have worked for Trans* inclusion in our community, as a professor of Queer history I have worked to try and give a sense of our community back to young people, and I have worked to address needs as they arise.  

I hope that my activism has become more nuanced as I have gotten older and have a deeper understanding of what intersectional justice looks like.  I take pride in the fact that people think I am a radical and I want people to see that my desire to change the nature of our culture for Queer people means that I am willing to put myself on the line, to always be vigilant in the fight for equality, and to harness my anger to redress the creeping cultural heteronormativity that always seeks to undermine LGBTQ life.  My activism is ongoing, growing, and never satisfied and that is why I keep doing it.

What are you looking forward to at the Destination Freedom Kick Off?

I think what I am looking the most forward to is the interaction with various other activists in the community. Since LGBTQ activism intersects with so many other types of identity, I am interested to see what other people's approaches to their activism is and how what we are doing is the same and different.  This will be my first opportunity to converse with people in this type of setting.

Hear more from Joshua and others at Levine Museum, Sunday, September 15, beginning at 3pm.

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Destination Freedom...Four Little Girls



Plaque commemorating the four girls killed in the 16th Street
Baptist Church Bombing

Our kickoff for the Destination Freedom series is scheduled for one week from today on Sunday, Sept. 15. The timing of the event is meant to be commemorative.

If you have been following this blog and the Civil Rights timeline, the reasons are insurmountable. On Sept. 15, 1963, the 16^th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, was bombed after the KKK planted dynamite in the church’s basement. The bombing killed four young girls: Addie Mae Collins, 14; Denise McNair, 11; Carole Robertson, 14; and Cynthia Wesley, 14.

News of the bombing shook the nation. Everyone, including Dr. King, heard what happened and then had to ponder: what kind of hate and racism would allow the killing of young girls at their church on a Sunday morning?

Yet despite the public outrage, it took years to convict the perpetrators of the crime. It has taken years more to answer other questions that the tragedy brings to the fore:

Have we as a nation made it possible for young people (of every color) to feel safer?

Are those who would use violence to further their ideology more likely to be brought to justice today?

Who else, or where else, might be a target for those looking to send a message of fear?



The aftermath of the dynamite explosion at 16th Street Baptist
Church in Birmingham, Alabama

The 16^th Street Church bombing was a significant event in 1963, and it still has reverberations today. Coming after the successful Children’s March and Birmingham campaign (where the 16th Street Baptist Church played a critical role as a meeting place for activists) and the success of the iconic March on Washington, the bombing reminded many of how much work was left undone and how much harm activists were putting themselves in the way of. It also reminded many of what was truly at stake with civil rights: the ability not just to protect those 4 girls but all children so they can grow up in a world free from the dangers their skin color could cause.

In May 2013, President Barack Obama awarded the four girls The Congressional Gold Medal, one of the nation’s highest civilian honors. Read about this historic honor here. 

That is one of the many ways the girls’ legacy is being honored. Today from 2:30-4:30 p.m. Levine Museum will host a screening of the film 4 Little Girls. The documentary, directed by Spike Lee, looks at the lives, loss and continued impact of the bombing.

Share your thoughts with us on Twitter @LevineMuseum. Follow along using the hashtag #DestinationFreedom.
You can also find us at Facebook.com/Levine Museum to RSVP to the screening and learn more about the Destination Freedom series.

See you on the 15^th for the kickoff!

Destination Freedom...The Artists Capturing the Civil Rights Movement

As soon as the landmark events and changes of the Civil Rights Movement began, there were artists—ranging from singers, authors, painters, playwrights, dancers, and more—who tried to capture the stories and explain their impact.

Hughes

We can read it within the works of poet Langston Hughes, who depicted the activists, angst, letdowns and promise of the movement. A poet who burst to the national scene during the 1920’s-1930’s Harlem Renaissance, Hughes had long dealt with the themes of being black in America as well as freedom and equality in his writings.

His poem “Birmingham Sunday” (you can read here), looked at the events of the 16^th Street Baptist church bombing, while the poem “Go Slow” responds to those who criticized the movement as being too confrontational—the same criticism that inspired Dr. Martin Luther King to write his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” In other works like “Freedom [3],” “Bombings in Dixie,” and “Death in Yorkville” about the 1964 death of James Powell, Hughes explored the many questions and contradictions of American democracy that the movement exposed.

Another author dealing with the events in 1963 in his works was Christopher Paul Curtis. His 1995 novel “The Watsons Go to Birmingham,” won a Newbery Honor and the Coretta Scott King Award for children’s literature in its depiction of a family that lives through the 16^th Street bombing and has to find ways to deal with its emotional aftermath. The book has been turned to a television movie which will air on Sept. 20, 2013. Here is more information about the movie adaptation.

Lukova's "I Have a Dream"

Contemporary visual artist Luba Lukova, whose work is featured in the Network of Mutuality: 50 Years Post Birmingham, now on exhibit at Levine Museum, looks at 1963 in a different medium. Using graphics, her work “I Have a Dream” juxtaposes images of Dr. King with the violent attack dogs Birmingham police used in 1963. Lukova has been heralded for her provocative work. The exhibit Network of Mutuality, has been called not only timely but an exhibit that raises questions, through art, for a continuing dialogue about the state of race relations and the quest for equality, freedom and just today.

Public art at Kelly Ingram Park in Birmingham, Alabama

Sculptor James Drake also responded to events in Birmingham in 1963 through art. Drake crafted three sculptural pieces that line Birmingham’s Kelly Ingram Park, the site of some of the most shocking events in the Children’s March. Drake’s sculptures, which depict the shocking scenes of police-led terror on protesters (including police dog attacks and the use of fire-hoses on children), evokes a real sense of what it would have been like to participate in the protests but also reveals how art can translate history in a powerful way.

How do you remember learning about the events of 1963?

What are some of your favorite artistic pieces that deal with the Civil Rights Movement?

If you were an artist, how would you choose to represent the civil rights events of then or now in art?

Share your answers with us on Twitter @LevineMuseum. Follow along using the hashtag #DestinationFreedom.

Or visit us at www.Facebook.com/LevineMuseum to see how social media connects artists, museums and visitors to the stories of the past.

Destination Freedom...Pivotal Moments in 1963

The Civil Rights Movement is considered the pivotal moment of the 20^th century.

1963 is considered a turning point of the Civil Rights Movement.

There are many reasons why:

On April 12, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., is put in a Birmingham city jail. His arrest and the critique from fellow clergymen urging protesters to take change "slow," prompted Dr. King to write the now widely known, "A Letter from a Birmingham City Jail." This letter, in short, advocated for Dr. King's philosophy of nonviolent direct action.  In the opening pages he writes:

“I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”

Today, Levine Museum begins hosting an artistic response exhibit that bears the title of "Network of Mutuality: 50 Years Post-Birmingham," as an homage to Dr. King's words. The exhibit looks forward to the state of civil rights today; 50 years later. However, in 1963, as a direct result of this letter, one month after his arrest, groups of school children committed their bodies for civil disobedience.

The Children’s March of May 1963, was a symbolic and awful moment in Civil Rights history. Eugene “Bull” Connor, then the Public Safety Commissioner of Birmingham, let loose his anger in the form of dogs and the dousing of the children with powerful fire hoses. Televised nightly on the news, the callous nature of his violence immediately shook the world including a statement by President John F. Kennedy saying this “made me sick to my stomach.”

Dr. King’s statement about the inter-relatedness of all people resonated in the reactions to images from Birmingham.



Police turned attack dogs and fire hoses on Birmingham city
protesters, many of them children and teens in May of 1963.
The horrific images were captured by news cameras and
covered all over the world.



Other dates important to the Civil Rights Movement in 1963 included: 

·         May 29-31, after the threat of protest from  Reginald Hawkins, Charlotte business and government leaders stage biracial eat-ins to desegregate dining in Charlotte’s leading restaurants

·         June 11: Alabama Governor George Wallace stands in the schoolhouse door to prevent Vivian Malone and James Hood, two black students, from enrolling in the University of Alabama. President Kennedy orders him aside with federal integration orders and later appears on television condemning segregation and discrimination while expressing his intent to submit a new Civil Rights Bill.

·         June 12: Medgar Evers, NAACP field secretary in Mississippi, is murdered outside his home. No one is convicted until 30 years later.

·         On August 28, 1963, 250,000 people all of them very different in many ways gathered for one singular cause: equality. Whether it was equality in schools or in the workplace the overarching theme was the liberation of colored folk from the fetters of Jim Crow.  Dr. King, after his tumultuous year, came to Washington DC with his “I Have a Dream Speech” prepared. The speech, along with many others in history, has stood the test of time.

·         September 15 marks one of the most somber events of the Civil Rights Movement when an average Sunday turned for the worst. A bomb was placed in the foundation of the 16^th Street Baptist Church and the explosion left four little girls dead.  Denise McNair, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson and Addie Mae Collins were killed on that infamous day. The church had been a hotbed of meeting grounds during the 1960’s which was why it was a prime location for the firebomb.

·         A final major event of 1963 was the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, who was then a big proponent of the passage of a civil rights bill.  He was murdered on November 22^nd while in Dallas, Texas, on a presidential campaign visit.  After his assassination his plan of passing a civil rights legislation was continued and finally enacted by Lyndon B. Johnson, first with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 then by the Voting Rights Act of 1965.  The former outlaws the discrimination in schools and the workplace that ran rampant during the era of Jim Crow and the latter prohibited the discrimination at the polls.

As we look back at the events of 1963, they leave room to consider how our issues “then” coincide with issues “now.” 

Are we living in a post-racial society? 

Is there no more discrimination in schools? At the polls?

Is “Jim Crow” really gone?

For some artists’ answers to these questions, come view the exhibit Network of Mutuality: 50 Years Post-Birmingham among other exhibits, opening today at Levine Museum.

Share your thoughts with us on Facebook, and on Twitter @LevineMuseum.  Follow along with the hashtag #DestinationFreedom

Today there will also be a commemorative march in Washington, DC honoring the landmark March on Washington which took place on August 28, 1963.