“We cannot walk alone. And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back.” ? Martin Luther King Jr. Sixty years ago, one of the “greatest demonstrations for freedom in the history of this country” took place on the Washington, DC Mall, according to Dr. Martin Luther […]
Tag: Voting Rights
Follow the fight for the ballot, from the 1965 Voting Rights Act to the battles over access today. These posts trace how the right to vote was won, weakened, and defended across six decades. The ballot remains contested ground, and this history explains why.
Museum Statement on the Passing of Bob Moses
The National Civil Rights Museum mourns the passing of civil rights icon Bob Moses, a visionary leader, innovative educator and champion for voting rights. Moses received the museum’s Freedom Award in 2014. Bob Moses was born Robert Parrish Moses in Harlem, NY. He understood that access to the ballot for the most underserved required educating […]
VOTER SUPPRESSION IS VOTER SUPPRESSION
By Terri Lee Freeman, National Civil Rights Museum President Lyndon Baines Johnson signed into law the Voting Rights Acts of 1965 with the intent of eliminating the legal barriers imposed at the state and local levels to prevent African Americans from exercising their legal right to vote as stated in the 15th Amendment. That amendment […]
Three Lessons from the Election
By Terri Lee Freeman, Museum President Like Everyone in America, I have spent time reflecting on the election. Not just Tuesday, November 8, but the 18 months leading up to Election Day. Three elements of this election have stood out and provide us with an agenda for the future. We have the privilege and […]
Emmett Till 60 years later: the Untold Story
By Ryan Jones, Museum Historian Before Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke of a dream, before Rosa Parks stood up by continuing to sit, before Bloody Sunday, there was a brutal murder in the Mississippi Delta in 1955 that awakened the hearts and minds of an entire generation. The story of Emmett […]
Who was Elbert Williams?
By Jim Emison Jim Emison is an author and retired courtroom lawyer who has spent three and a half years investigating Elbert Williams’s murder and is writing a book, Elbert Williams: First to Die. To read Emison’s article on Elbert Williams in the Encyclopedia of African American History and a short bio of […]
Selma, on the long continuum of the freedom struggle
— by Hasan Kwame Jeffries [Note: This piece was inspired by the author’s remarks at a recent event honoring Dr. King’s birthday, hosted by the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee. It was published January 21, 2015 on “From the Square,” NYU Press blog.] There is no right more fundamental in a democracy than […]
Happy Anniversary to 50 Years of Voting Rights Protection!
By Terri Lee Freeman, Museum President One (wo)man, one vote. This single concept is what our democracy is based on. The Founding Fathers of this country made this so through the ratification of the 15th Amendment in 1870. Each citizen of the United States of America is born with the […]
Exercising our Civil Right (?and Civic Responsibility) to VOTE! – by President Terri Lee Freeman
Terri Lee Freeman, Museum President November 4, 2014 It is a privilege and honor to be the new President of the National Civil Rights Museum. And what better time to introduce myself than Election Day 2014. It’s been stated over and over during this election season that mid-term elections are just as […]
MUSEUM ANNOUNCES THE 2014 FREEDOM AWARD
MEMPHIS, TN – (September 30, 2014) – The National Civil Rights Museum announced recipients of The Freedom Award whose work has impacted freedom, equality and access in the U.S and globally. This year’s honorees are Charlayne Hunter-Gault, highly acclaimed global civil rights journalist; Robert Moses, award-winning educator and civil rights movement organizer; and Frank Robinson, trailblazing professional […]