BRATTLEBORO — Freedom Riders, a documentary that will premiere on PBS stations in May as part of its American Experience series, tells the powerful, harrowing, and ultimately inspirational story of six months in 1961 that changed America.
From May until November that year, more than 400 black and white Americans risked their lives - and many endured savage beatings and imprisonment - for traveling together on buses and trains as they journeyed through the Deep South. Deliberately violating Jim Crow laws, the Freedom Riders' belief in nonviolent activism was sorely tested as mob violence and bitter racism greeted them along the way.
Two programs will present highlights from the documentary, followed by an interactive discussion, on Wednesday, March 16.
Both free previews will take place at the Brattleboro Union High School Auditorium, 131 Fairground Rd. The moderator will be Bill Holiday, a social studies/history teacher in the Windham Southeast Supervisory Union.
The first showing will be from 1 to 2:15 p.m., and Holiday will be joined by co-moderator Lilyanna Sollberger, a BUHS junior. Panelists to discuss the film will include Janaki Natarajan, race relations activist; Curtiss Reed Jr., executive director, Vermont Partnership for Fairness and Diversity; civil rights activist Lou Waronker, and Mikaela Simms, diversity coordinator for the Windham Southeast Supervisory Union.
For 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. showing, Natarajan and Reed will be joined by Juanita Nelson, who has been civil rights activist since 1939; the Rev. Lise Sparrow, pastor of the Guilford Community Church and member of the Brattleboro Area Racial Issues Planning Team; and Chris Williams, a civil rights activist and organizer in Mississippi in the 1960s.
The panel discussions will also be webcast live at www.ustream.tv/channel/sfr-live or www.studentsforrenew.org/sfrlive. More information is available at outreach@vpt.org or 800-639-3351.
The Commons, Brattleboro Community Justice Center, Brattleboro Union High School, Vermont Partnership for Fairness and Diversity, and Vermont Public Television will present the program.