JAMESTOWN – Residents of Jamestown and Chautauqua County will have the opportunity to get a close look at the American Civil Rights Movement in a new exhibit opening this evening at the Robert H. Jackson Center.
“Civil Rights: Making the Movement” tells the history of the Civil Rights Movement and how it accomplished what was thought of then as “impossible dreams.”
The objects and artifacts in the “Making the Movement” collection include buttons, badges, pinbacks, posters, pamphlets, flyers, and mailers. Together, they document the changing goals and messages of the Civil Rights Movement over time – from the movements’ early days in the years immediately following World War II to the historic decision of Brown V. Board of Education to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
A special portion of the exhibit also features photos and poems created by Jamestown High School ESL students.
“Civil Rights: Making the Movement” was developed by the Jackson Center in collaboration with David L. Crane, curator and owner of many of the objects in the exhibit. Crane is a college professor in North Carolina and is currently authoring a book focusing on the Civil Rights movement.
Tonight’s public opening will run from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at the Jackson Center. Attendees will have the opportunity to meet Crane, as well as the teachers and students who participated in the project during the exhibit opening.
A short commentary will be offered at 7 p.m. to accompany the exhibit. Refreshments will also be served and there is no fee or reservation required to attend.
You can also learn more about the exhibit by tuning in tonight to WRFA’s Community Matters program, where both Crane and Jackson Center Collections Manager Jennifer Champ will talk more about the exhibit. Tonight’s program begins at 6 p.m. right here on WRFA.
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