He is considered one of the main leaders of the modern civil rights movement, having worked alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to lead iconic movements like the Freedom Rides and the march from Selma, Alabama.
On Sept. 21, he will be coming to Bloomington to discuss his graphic novel series, “March.” Lewis and co-writer Andrew Aydin are the visiting authors for this year’s Power of Words event.
“The visit of Congressman John Lewis to Bloomington is especially timely, given the recent 50th anniversary of the historic Selma to Montgomery march that he co-led, which changed our country’s history,” said Sally Gaskill, the 2015 Power of Word’s co-chair, on the group’s website. “The library is indebted to our multiple partners for working to ensure that the visit has a long-term, meaningful impact on our community.”
To honor the congressman and prepare for his visit, the Bloomington Community and Family Resources Department wants to recognize the local activists who fought for freedom here in Bloomington.
They plan to do this by using wisdom circles.
“The concept of wisdom circles originates from Native American peoples who practiced oral traditions in communal gatherings,” the department’s press release said. “Elders held a vital role in these gatherings as they imparted their wisdom about the past, present and future through dialogue.”
The department is searching for community members to facilitate the circles. All they have to do is come up with a topic, like art, women, GLBT or religion, and find a local elder to lead the discussion.
The elders must have lived through the ’60s, have experience with the chosen topic and have been somehow involved with the civil rights movement.
“We’re looking for artists, musicians, people who stand in very diverse circles,” said Rafi Hasan, the department’s Safe and Civil City director. “There have been a number of people who have left these wonderful, enriched kernels and seeds. It’s important to understand what they did and what they saw and what caused them to get engaged in the movement.”
The wisdom circles can be organized by anyone, and they can take place anytime between now and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 2016.
Hasan guessed people will be surprised by the stories Bloomington’s older residents can tell.
“People at the local level were critical in advancing the social and political climate,” he said. “It’s not just these people that we read about in books, we have people right here who contributed to making things happen. I think people don’t realize how connected they are to this history.”
Hasan said it’s easy to forget how recently even a liberal city like Bloomington was segregated. He said he hopes people will be inspired to continue working for change by participating in wisdom circles.
“People begin to not see how things have changed,” he said. “They think it just happened out of a natural process, but, in reality, people had to imagine something, make a vision of the world they wanted and then work and protest to make it happen.”
