By Cathy Hayden
The exhibits are “Freedom Riders: Journey for Change” and “This is Home: Medgar Evers, Mississippi, and The Movement.”
“Freedom Riders: Journey for Change” focuses on one of the most prominent events in Civil Rights history and includes images of the bombing of a Greyhound bus outside of Anniston, Ala., the journey from Montgomery to Jackson, Freedom Riders at the Greyhound Bus Station in Jackson, Freedom Riders at the Jackson airport and Freedom Riders going to trial in Jackson.
Many of the images were taken from the original film footage in the WLBT News Film Collection. A DVD of the original WLBT film footage of the Freedom Riders is included in the exhibit.
The exhibits are “Freedom Riders: Journey for Change” and “This is Home: Medgar Evers, Mississippi, and The Movement.”
“Freedom Riders: Journey for Change” focuses on one of the most prominent events in Civil Rights history and includes images of the bombing of a Greyhound bus outside of Anniston, Ala., the journey from Montgomery to Jackson, Freedom Riders at the Greyhound Bus Station in Jackson, Freedom Riders at the Jackson airport and Freedom Riders going to trial in Jackson.
Many of the images were taken from the original film footage in the WLBT News Film Collection. A DVD of the original WLBT film footage of the Freedom Riders is included in the exhibit.
“This is Home: Medgar Evers, Mississippi, and the Movement” looks at the life and death of Medgar Wiley Evers, one of Mississippi’s most prominent Civil Rights activists. Evers served as the field secretary for the Mississippi NAACP.
He crisscrossed the state, investigating cases of racial violence and intimidation, organizing local NAACP branch offices and registering voters. Evers worked closely with regional and national NAACP offices and other civil rights organizations and helped focus national attention on the intense social and political issues plaguing the state.
Evers continued to work for the NAACP until June 12, 1963, when he was assassinated in the driveway of his Jackson home. He had known his life was at risk, but even at the end, facing entrenched opposition and grave danger, Evers never relented in his fight for justice, a legacy that has lived on today.
