When the Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library first learned it would be one of 20 sites in the U.S. to host the traveling exhibition on the 1961 Freedom Riders, the plan for additional programming for the community was simple: focus on the freedom songs of the civil-rights movement.
But things soon changed.
The original idea “just blew up on us,” said Charleszine “Terry” Nelson, the Five Points neighborhood library’s senior special collection and community resource manager.
It exploded into a rich cultural and educational trove of free community programs through this month that include teach-ins for K-12 students focused on anti-bullying education; educator workshops; a film series; a live radio drama; and participation by everyone from band members of the Flobots to James Lawson, who taught many of the young Freedom Riders the principles of nonviolence.
Fifty years ago, the Freedom Riders — black and white students later joined by preachers, housewives and teachers — challenged still-enforced segregation customs that had been ruled illegal by the U.S. Supreme Court by riding together in the South on interstate buses and trains, and sitting in white-only restaurants and public spaces in the terminals. Protesters were often beaten, and one bus was bombed.
The traveling exhibition includes archival photographs and newspaper clippings, which “gives you the sense of history and visual reinforcement with powerful images,” says donnie l. betts, a Denver actor and radio producer who wrote a new radio play about the Freedom Riders, which will be presented and followed by a community dialogue Nov. 14.
“But when you hear from the people involved, when teachers and students are able to talk to people like James Lawson or Rip Patton, it brings it all home,” betts says.
Ernest “Rip” Patton Jr., a Freedom Rider who was jailed in Mississippi’s notorious Parchman State Prison Farm, will be part of the educator workshop Friday.
Both past and future will be explored, with civil-rights history linked to current events.
“Rev. Lawson’s focus is based on economics and race, especially (with things like) Occupy Wall Street and Occupy Denver,” said betts, who recently returned from a conference with Lawson in Chicago.
“He said that probably 100,000 protests have gone on in China that we don’t know about, and that every single day people are expressing their outrage, but we don’t hear about it,” betts said.
“The link with Freedom Riders is that blacks and whites, young and old people took part in it,” he says. “They kept coming after they were beaten and jailed. It was about ordinary people doing extraordinary things.”
Colleen O’Connor: 303-954-1083 or coconnor@denverpost.com
Exhibition and events
For a list of “Moving Toward Liberation: Freedom Riders Exhibition and Events,” visit
