Conversation with a Freedom Rider features a civil rights pioneer, Charles Person, Thursday evening February 25th from 6:30 to 8 pm at The Lerner Theatre in downtown Elkhart. Join the conversation with this powerful man who helped break new ground in the fight for civil rights. He will be interviewed by Dr. Robert Haworth, Superintendent of Elkhart Community Schools.
Freedom Riders were non-violent civil rights activists who rode buses into the segregated southern United States in 1961 to challenge the non-enforcement of United States Supreme Court decisions, which ruled that segregated public buses were unconstitutional. They were the first of a wave of more than 400 Freedom Riders who would risk their lives challenging the segregation of buses, trains and airplanes from May until November of that year.
A gifted math and physics student from Atlanta, Charles dreamed of a career as a nuclear physicist. When refused admission to the all-white Georgia Institute of Technology, Charles enrolled at Morehouse College. At Morehouse, Charles became active in the civil rights movement, becoming the youngest member of the original 13 Freedom Riders. Charles endured numerous physical attacks during his journey, and was arrested as he silently protested by sitting at a segregated lunch counter.
This event will be on the main stage and is free and open to the public.