March recalls Civil Rights Era

In May 1961, the Congress of Racial Equality sent thousands of people throughout the South to protest the segregation laws that applied to interstate transportation. They became known as the Freedom Riders.\nThat trip, a milestone in the Civil Rights Movement, will be commemorated at IU today.\nIU Dean of Students Richard McKaig said the commemoration march today is important because it acknowledges all the work that has been done. But there is a great deal of work yet to be accomplished in the struggle for racial equality, he said. \n"It is important to remember the Freedom Riders since their daring actions constituted one of the most courageous chapters in the 1960s civil rights movement," said John Stanfield, chairman of the African American and African Diaspora Studies Department.\n"The march is a tribute to the marches on Selma and Montgomery during the Civil Rights Era," said Teter Quad CommUNITY Educator Brandi Vardiman, chairwoman of this year's event. \nMarchers will assemble at 6:30 p.m. in the courtyard of the Collins Living Learning Center at 541 N. Woodlawn Ave. Once all the participants gather, the marchers will leave Collins at 6:45 p.m. to travel Tenth Street with stops at the Main Library, Wright Quad and a culminating reception at Teter Quad.\nAt each stop, a participant dressed up as a historical figure will perform. Actors will portray figures such as Stokely Carmichael with a vocal celebration. Actresses representing Marian Anderson and former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt will perform on the steps of the Main Library, with Angela Davis and Coretta Scott King at the next two stops.\nThe members of the procession will sing various commemorative songs, most notably, "We Shall Overcome."\nPlanning took one month with a $100 budget, Vardiman said.\n"They rode buses, walked, picketed, whatever it took in order to accomplish the goal of equal rights for everyone," Vardiman said. "As college students we need to embrace those same values and at times call on those same spirits so that we are ever proactive and not merely reactive."\nAfter the march, the demonstrators can assemble in the Teter Lounge for refreshments and watch a 12 minute film on the life of Martin Luther King, Jr.\n"It is done as an acknowledgement of the big change in the '60s and pretty much what everyone did to get it through," said IU student Dante Pryor of the importance of the march to the IU community.