Wyoming Arts Council

UW screens “Freedom Riders” documentary


From a University of Wyoming press release:

A documentary about the Freedom Riders — the civil rights activists who, in 1961, rode interstate buses into the segregated southern United States to challenge the non-enforcement of the U.S. Supreme Court decision which ruled that segregated public buses were unconstitutional — will be shown Thursday, March 5, at the University of Wyoming in Laramie.

“Created Equal: Documentary and Discussion Series” will be at 6 p.m. in the UW College of Law Room 186. The film and discussion are free and open to the public.

“Freedom Riders” explores the role of hundreds of ordinary Americans from all walks of life in attacking the discriminatory effects of Jim Crow segregation by demanding equal treatment for all citizens in interstate travel. The Freedom Rides demonstrated the power of popular insurgency and nonviolent direct action strategies in championing racial justice in both law and practice.

After the screening, discussion will be led by Kerry Pimblott, an assistant professor in the UW African American and Diaspora Studies Program, and the Department of History.

Sponsored by the Wyoming Humanities Council, the series is made possible by a grant from the Bridging Cultures initiative of the National Endowment for the Humanities and with the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History to “encourage public conversations about the changing meanings of freedom and equality in America.”

For more information, contact Pimblott at (307) 766-3856 or kpimblot@uwyo.edu.


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