Please visit the Finding Freedom Summer website.

Please click here for the registration form.

Please click here for directions to Miami University.

Please click here to find the locations mentioned on the program and registration form.

Please click here for a brief bibliography for background to "Voices of Freedom Summer" Conference.

Voices of Freedom Summer Reunion and Conference in Oxford, Ohio
September 17, 18, 19, 2004
Miami University

Sponsored by Miami University’s
Center for American and World Cultures and the Department of Theatre

With Support from: American Studies Program, The Bever Family, Campus Ministry, Center for Community Engagement in Over-The-Rhine, College of Arts and Science, Department of Anthropology, Department of History, Department of Sociology/Gerontology, Division of Student Affairs, Etheridge Center for Reflective Leadership, Graduate School, Hillel, Honors Program, Miami University Art Museum, Miami University Libraries, Middletown Campus, NAACP-Oxford Chapter, Office of Alumni Relations, Office of Continuing Education, Office of Liberal Education, Office of the President, Office of the Provost, Office of Service Learning and Civic Leadership, Presidential Academic Enrichment Award-Sheriff Fund, Richard T. Farmer School of Business, Robert E. Strippel Memorial Fund, School of Education and Allied Professions, School of Engineering and Applied Science, School of Fine Arts, School of Interdisciplinary Studies-Western College Program, Talawanda/Miami Partnership, Western College Alumnae Fund, Women’s Center, and Women’s Studies Program

Conference Schedule and Program
(Pre-registration is required for ticketed events at Hall Auditorium and events with food and transportation.)

Friday, September 17th

“Faces of Freedom Summer: Photographs by Herbert Randall”
Miami University Art Museum
801 South Patterson Avenue
http://www.fna.muohio.edu/amu/
Museum hours: Tuesday- Sunday, 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

12:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. Conference Registration
Peabody Hall on Western Campus

Ongoing tours of Western College for Women and the Freedom Summer Memorial

The following events will take place at Leonard Theatre in Peabody Hall on Western Campus

2:00 p.m.- 2:50 p.m.
Film showing of “Race: Mississippi” with Jane Adams and D. Gorton
Chair: Allan Winkler, Distinguished Professor of History, Miami University

“Race: Mississippi” examines the concept of "race" through conversations with Mississippians.

3:00 p.m. - 4:20 p.m.
Lecture/Demonstration
“Non-violent Philosophies and Practice: 1964-2004”
Jim Kates, publisher and activist
Chair: Sally Harrison-Pepper, Professor, School of Interdisciplinary Studies—Western College Program

The Oxford training of Freedom Summer volunteers involved the study and practice of techniques of non-violent resistance. Since 1964, these practices have changed with the unique challenges of different protest movements.

4:30 pm – 5:30 pm
Lecture, “The History of SNCC: The Student Non-Violent Co-ordinating Committee,” Chuck McDew, Former Chairman of SNCC and Professor at Metropolitan State University
Chair: Rodney Coates, Professor of Sociology and Program Director for Black World Studies, Miami University

SNCC was important in facilitating the work of Freedom Summer. However, the organization had a rich history prior to 1964, and this lecture will look the legacy of grassroots organizing that came from its work.

6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Conference Registration
Hall Auditorium, Campus Avenue

6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Dinner for Presenters and Freedom Summer Participants
Undercroft Community Room of the Holy Trinity Episcopal Church
25 East Walnut Street (use the side entrance on Poplar Street)

8:00 p.m. Keynote Address
Representative John Lewis, Democrat-Georgia
Introduction by President James Garland
Hall Auditorium, Campus Avenue

9:45 p.m. Memorial Service and Freedom Songs
Freedom Summer Memorial on Western Campus
http://www.Miami.muohio.edu/University_Advancement/MUAA/alumni_serv/fun_stuff/cp_pages/Freedmemorial_jpg.htm

Saturday, September 18th

8:00 a.m. -5:00 p.m.
Conference Registration
Lobby of the Phillip R. Shriver Center Multipurpose Rooms, 2nd Floor

“Faces of Freedom Summer: Photographs by Herbert Randall”
Miami University Art Museum
801 South Patterson Avenue
Museum hours: Tuesday- Sunday, 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Ongoing tours of Western College for Women and the Freedom Summer Memorial

The following events will take place on the 2nd and 3rd floors of the Phillip K. Shriver Student Center, the corner of Spring Street and Patterson Avenue.

8:30 a.m. -9:30 a.m.
Opening Remarks: Provost John Skillings
Keynote Address: Robert Moses, Founder, The Algebra Project
Shriver Multipurpose Room

Breakout Panel Sessions I: 9:45 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.

Session A: Multipurpose Room A
Reconciliation in Mississippi: A Conversation
Chair: Mark McPhail, Professor, School of Interdisciplinary Studies- Western College Program, Miami University

Ben Chaney, Founder and President of the James Earl Chaney Foundation
John Steele, the Chair of the Mount Zion Chaney, Goodman, & Schwerner Memorial Committee.

This session will explore the work of these foundations and current actions in prosecuting the murders and crimes committed in 1964. Questions will explore the possibility of reconciliation in moving into the future.

Session B: Multipurpose Room B
Round Table Discussion: The Role of the Arts in the Civil Rights Movement
Chair: Bill Doan, Professor and Chair, Department of Theatre, Miami University

Susie Erenrich, Executive Director, Cultural Center for Social Change
John O’Neal, Artistic Director, Junebug Productions
Herbert Randall, Photographer
Matt Jones, Singer, Songwriter, Activist
Betty Fikes, Singer, Activist

Story telling, song, and visual images continue to express the heart and soul of the Civil Rights movement. This discussion will explore the power of the arts to provide strength in moments of crisis, to express the voice of the grassroots, and to unite and renew the spirit of a community of activists.

Session C: Multipurpose Room C
Panel Presentations: Freedom Schools
Chair: Sally Lloyd, Interim Dean of the School of Education and Allied Professions

Kathy Emery, Author, Volunteer for Teachers for Social Justice, Member, San Francisco Organizing Project
Jerry Lignon, Professor of Education, National-Louis University
George Chilcoat, Associate Chair of Teacher Education, Brigham Young University
Nancy Samstein, Instructor, Department of Art, SUNY-Oneonta

Along with voter registration, other goals of Freedom Summer included community development and educational enrichment. Freedom Schools were organized and taught by volunteers and utilized innovative pedagogy that inform the use of education in social justice movements today.

Session D: Shriver Room 336
Panel Discussion: The Algebra Project

Ed Dubinsky, Visiting Professor, Kent State University
Dave Dennis, Director of the Algebra Project's Southern Initiative
Robert Moses, Founder and President, The Algebra Project
The Algebra Project is a national mathematics literacy effort aimed at helping low income students and students of color successfully achieve mathematical skills that are a prerequisite for a college preparatory mathematics sequence in high school. Founded by Bob Moses in the 1980’s, the project exemplifies how innovative pedagogy and grassroots organizing work together to create real social change.
Session E: Bystrom-Reid Room, 3rd Floor
Round Table Discussion: The Continuing Struggle for Civil Rights in Cincinnati
Chair: Tom Dutton, Director, Miami University Center for Community Engagement in Over-the-Rhine and Professor, Department of Architecture and Interior Design

Reverend Damon Lynch III, Pastor of the New Prospect Missionary Baptist Church
Dan LaBotz, Citizens for Progressive Action, Visiting Assistant Professor, History, Miami University
Monica R. Williams, Coalition for a Just Cincinnati
Victoria Straughn, Concerned Citizens for Justice
Dr. Stanley Broadnax, the First Coalition for a Just Cinicinnati

This panel will look at the struggle for Civil Rights in Cincinnati, particularly since 2001. Grassroots organizers will discuss particular tactics for creating social change and for forming a united front in fighting racism in their communities.

11:00 a.m. – 11:15 a.m.
Break

Breakout Panel Sessions II
11:15 a.m. -12:30 p.m.

Session A: Multipurpose Room A
Roundtable Discussion: Women in the Movement
Chair: Cheryl Johnson, Director of Women’s Studies and Associate Professor, Department of English

Chude Pam Parker Allen, Member of the Veterans of the Civil Rights Movement
Debra Schultz, Director of Programs for the Open Society Institute, Soros Foundations Network, Women’s Program
Zoharah Simmons, Assistant Professor of Religion, University of Florida

Panelists will share personal and historical perspectives on the intersection of gender, race and sexuality as it impacted the work of Freedom Summer 1964. Many women in the Civil Rights Movement went on to make significant contributions to second wave feminism, and this panel will bring a feminist perspective to the movement’s history.

Session B: Multipurpose Room B
Roundtable Discussion: Oxford Participants Share their Stories
Chair: Rick Momeyer, Professor, Department of Philosophy

Jane Strippel, Oxford community member
Arthur Miller, President emeritus, NAACP-Oxford chapter
Reverend Elmon Prier, Counselor, Middletown Middle School
and Oxford’s Friends of the Mississippi Summer Project

On June 28, 1964, members of the Oxford community met together and acknowledged that they needed to come together in order to provide both financial and moral support for Freedom Summer volunteers going to Mississippi. Panelists will discuss their role in supporting the movement, the resistance to Civil Rights that was voiced in the Oxford community, and the impulse to initiate the 1999 memorial on Western Campus.

Session C: Multipurpose Room C
Panel Presentations: Mississippi: Then and Now
Chair: Marguerite Shaffer, Associate Professor, Department of History and Director of American Studies

Jane Adams, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Southern Illinois University
D. Gorton, Photographer, Southern Illinois University
Hardy Frye, Retired Professor Sociology, University of California-Santa Cruz
Hollis Watkins, President, Southern Echo

In 1964, Freedom Summer volunteers learned about the intricacies of the political landscape of Mississippi, including the racial and class dyna.m.ics of the white and black communities. Panelists will discuss from both a historical and contemporary perspective the intersection of politics and identity in the various communities of Mississippi.

Session D: Shriver Room 336
Roundtable Discussion: Religion and Social Activism
Chair: John Hughes, Dean of the Graduate School, Miami University

Reverend Damon Lynch III, Pastor of the New Prospect Missionary Baptist Church
Reverend Victoria Jackson Gray Adams, Retired campus minister, Virginia State University
Dr. Vincent Harding, Co-chairperson of the Veterans of Hope Project: A Center for the Study of Religion and Democratic Renewal

The church played a critical role in the social activism of the Civil Rights movement. This panel will discuss the intersection between religious faith and activism, and examine the role of religion in today’s political landscape.

12:30 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Lunch Break, Shriver Center
Box lunches will be provided for those who have pre-registered for the conference.

12:30 p.m. – 3:45 p.m.
Story Gathering Lunch for Freedom Summer participants and Veterans of the Civil Rights Movement, facilitated by John O’Neal, Artistic Director, Junebug Theatre
Location: Macmillan Hall, Spring Street, first floor classrooms 113, 114, 115, 116
Pre-registration is required for this event

2:15-3:45 p.m.
Break Out Panel Sessions III

Session A: Multipurpose Room A
Round Table Discussion: The History of Race Relations at Miami University and Western College
Chair: William Gracie, Dean, School of Interdisciplinary Studies, Western College Program, Miami University

Curt Ellison, Professor of History and American Studies, Miami University
Barbara Cox, community member and Miami University alumna 1964
Tom Russell, United States Postal Service, Information Technology Planner
Miami University alumnus 1964
Judith Hampton, President, Blackside Productions and Judi Hampton Public Relations

Alumni, historians and administrators discuss the impact of the Civil Rights movement on both campuses’ histories.

Session B: Multipurpose Room B
Prelude to Freedom: The Brown Decision and the Summer of 1964
Chair: Mary Frederickson, Department of History and American Studies, Miami University

Speaker: Patricia Sullivan, Department of History and African American Studies, University of South Carolina and co-director, NEH Summer Institute on the History of the Civil Rights Movement, W.E.B. DuBois Institute, Harvard University.

Commentator: Kate Rousmaniere, Chair and Professor, Department of Educational Leadership, Miami University

This year (2004) marks the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court decision that overturned the longstanding doctrine of “separate but equal” and challenged legalized segregation throughout the United States. Prof. Patricia Sullivan will address the broad implications of the Brown decision and the struggle for racial justice that took place in the decade between Brown and Freedom Summer ’64.

Session C: Multipurpose Room C
Round Table Discussion: Civil Rights and Pedagogy

Mark McPhail, Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies, Miami University
Ted Ownby, Professor of History and Southern Studies, University of Mississippi
Tracy Davis Coordinator of Student Success Programs, Office of Student Affairs,
Miami University-Middletown campus

University professors will discuss innovative class projects that incorporate the study of civil rights history and civil rights today.

3:45 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. Break

4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. Shriver Multipurpose Room
Plenary Panel Session: The Struggle for Social Justice
Chair: Steven De Lue Interim Dean, College of Arts and Sciences, Miami University

Moderator: Mendy Samstein, Educator and Algebra Project Activist
Dave Dennis, Director of the Algebra Project's Southern Initiative
Dr. Janet Moses, Retired Pediatrician, Massachussetts Institute for Technology
Staughton Lynd, Activist, Retired professor of history, lawyer

The Civil Rights Movement left a life long impression on individuals who have engaged in the struggle for social justice on several fronts. This panel will look at some of the urgent issues today in the struggle. The session will allow for discussion and participation from the audience.

6:00-6:15 Break

6:15 p.m. – 7:45 Dinner at Alexander Dining Hall, Pre-registration for conference required. (Students can use meal cards to eat at lower level.)

8:00 p.m.
Hall Auditorium, Ticket required for admission

“Wouldn’t take Nothin’ for my Journey: A Celebration in Music and Drama”

Performance directed by Paul Jackson, Professor, Department of Theatre, and Tammy Kernodle, Associate Professor, Department of Music, Miami University
Featuring
Miami University Gospel Singers
John O’Neal, Artistic Director, Junebug Productions
Matt Jones, Former Freedom Singer
Betty Fikes, Former Freedom Singer

Sunday, September 19th

Oxford Events:

8:30 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. Continental Breakfast in the Gallery of Peabody Hall on Western College Campus

9:00 a.m. Ecumenical Service at Kumler Chapel

Guest Speaker: Dr. Vincent Harding

10:30 a.m. “Faces of Freedom Summer: Photographs by Herbert Randall
Exhibit tour by Herbert Randall at the Miami University Art Museum

Cincinnati Events:

Option 1:

10:00 a.m. Vans leave from the Miami University Art Museum to go to: (Preregistration required)

11:00 a.m.
New Prospect Missionary Baptist Church, 1829 Elm Street, Cincinnati, Ohio
Service by Reverend Damon Lynch III, Pastor

2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. “Design Advocacy for Civil Rights in Cincinnati”
Miami University’s Center for Community Engagement in Over-the-Rhine, Cincinnati

The Cincinnati Freedom Summer 2004 Design Charrette for Social Justice is a collaboration between the Miami University’s Center for Community Engagement in Over-the-Rhine and Architecture for Humanity, a non-profit that promotes architecture and design solutions to global, social, and humanitarian crises. The weekend-long event will bring together citizens, design professionals, artists, and students to explore design advocacy in relation to current issues affecting Cincinnati. This afternoon session will convey presentations produced from the weekend’s collaboration. Teams will explore projects including the Washington Park Master Plan, School for Creative & Performing Arts Plan, voter registration booths, and strategies for giving voice to local social movements. For more information, see www.fna.muohio.edu/cce/

Option 2:

12:00 p.m. Buses leave from the Miami University Art Museum to attend tours at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Ohio

2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.: Tour of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center
Using the Underground Railroad as a lens through which to explore a range of freedom issues, the Freedom Center offers lessons and reflections on the struggle for freedom in the past, in the present, and for the future. And it helps visitors discover the power of one voice - shared with many - by speaking out about the meaning of freedom. For more information, see www.freedomcenter.org

For information on the Cincinnati Boycott of Downtown, see www.cincyboycott.org

Thursday, October 14-Sunday, October 17, 2004
"Mississipi Civil Rights Tour"

Please click here for more information and registration form.

Sponsored by Student Success and Co-curricular Programs, The Center for American and World Cultures, and Miami University Middletown.

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