Monday, May 28, 2012

I AM AN ARTIST !

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Freedom Rides Museum - Road to Equality

Yesterday, I stood on hallowed ground . . . the old Greyhound station in Montgomery, Alabama which is now a museum dedicated to the Freedom Riders.

I am one of five Alabama artists selected to participate in the Freedom Rides Museum exhibition: "ROAD TO EQUALITY - The 1961 Freedom Rides." The exhibit will be on view for one year and is an exhibition of art inspired by the Freedom Rides. The museum is located in the historic Greyhound Bus Station located at 210 South Court Street (corner of Court Street and Adams Avenue).













You can read the history about the Freedom Riders here. Fifteen years ago, I was employed with Black Belt Press, a small publishing house. The building where I worked, the Moore Building was and still remains located directly across the street from the bus station. At that time, the bus station had been long abandoned and was boarded up. I thought that it was just another old structure that would be demolished in short order. Little did I know that it was the historic bus station where civil rights activists, who rode interstate buses in defiance of Jim Crow laws which forbade segregated seating on public transportation, were met by a white mob and were beaten with baseball bats and iron pipes while local police stood by. The rest is history.

I met a few of the Freedom Riders who attended
the exhibition opening. It was a very humbling experience to talk with individuals who had put their lives on the line . . . for me.

The other artists participating in this exhibition are giants in their respective disciplines.
From left to right: Darius Hill, Joe Minter, Debra Riffe, Charlie "Tin Man" Lucas and Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr.  



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