Southern cities to celebrate Civil Rights 50th anniversary
Click on photo to enlarge or download: David Agnew, White House liaison to mayors, and Mayors Steve Benjamin, of Columbia, S.C.; William A. Bell, of Birmingham, Ala., and Harvey Johnson, Jackson, Miss., announce the Civil Rights 50th Anniversary Commemoration Friday. SHFWire photo by Jordain CarneyWASHINGTON – Six mayors said Friday they plan to mark the 50th anniversary of the civil rights movement with special events across the South.
“Out of that struggle came an opportunity for African Americans as well as other people to come together to say that we are going to make the changes necessary so that all men and women came live up to their potential ,” Mayor William Bell, of Birmingham, Ala., said at a press conference.
Bell, Mayor Harvey Johnson of Jackson, Miss.; Major A.C. Wharton Jr., of Memphis, Tenn.; Mayor Vincent Gray of Washington; Mayor Steve Benjamin of Columbia, S.C., and Mayor George Patrick Evans of Selma, Ala., will host and take part in the events during 2013.
The mayors will sponsor events in their cities and visit the other participating city governments during the 50th anniversary. They also plan to create a heritage trail with traveling exhibits in each city. Announcements for future events will be posted on the city of Birmingham’s website.
The 50th year commemoration is a way to show changes in the South but also to remember those who risked their lives in 1963, Johnson said.
Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous “I have a dream” speech during the 1963 March on Washington.
A graduate of the University of South Carolina, Benjamin has a personal connection to 1963 because it was the year USC allowed African Americans to enroll.
“They kicked down the doors to USC in 1963 in August and allowed me and several other young people that would follow the opportunity to get a quality education in their home state,” Benjamin said.
The mayors will work with their state governments and Congress to help fund the project.
“It’s an extremely important initiative to remember this history, to make sure that the people in the South remember the history, but more importantly, people across the country and across the world remember this history,” David Agnew, President Barack Obama’s liaison to mayors, said.
The events in 1963 and the Civil Rights movement, “really proved to the world what the human spirit is capable of here in America,” Agnew said.
Reach reporter Jordain Carney at carneyj@shns.com or 202-326-9861. SHFWire stories are free to any news organization that gives the reporter a byline and credits the SHFWire.
