UNA Presents ‘Reflections of the Civil Rights Movement’ With Alabama Author

Jan. 26, 2012

FLORENCE, Ala. – To celebrate Black History Month on campus, the Office of Diversity and Institutional Equity at the University of North Alabama will host “Reflections of the Civil Rights Movement” with author Richie Jean Sherrod Jackson, who is from Alabama and wrote “The House by the Side of the Road: The Selma Civil Rights Movement” Feb. 6 at 7 p.m.

Jackson will discuss how her home became a headquarters during the Civil Rights Movement after her friend Martin Luther King, Jr. asked if he and other activists could use her home while they planned the 1965 Selma to Montgomery march. Jackson’s story involves her journey as a child living in Alabama during the 1930s, as well as her experience with the Civil Rights campaign in 1965, according to Joan Williams, assistant director of ODIE.

Attendees will have the opportunity to learn what it was like during that time in Jackson’s home, which she shared with her late husband Dr. Sullivan Jackson. Williams said Jackson provided a safe haven for King and other members of the Civil Rights Movement during such a troubling and difficult time in United States history.

Williams said Jackson witnessed history being made behind the scenes. She will share never-before-revealed information about what happened during the Civil Rights Movement, as well as personal accounts of leaders who advocated for peace, nonviolence, justice and equality. Williams said Jackson has been featured in a number of TV documentaries, books and articles since the Selma movement.

For more information, contact the Office of Diversity and Institutional Equity at 256-765-6341 or email odie@una.edu. To learn more about cultural diversity events at UNA, visit www.una.edu/diversity.