June 28, 2007
Dear Friend of the Americus Movement,
AMERICUS, GEORGIA. The Americus-Sumter County Movement will be celebrated in Americus on Labor Day weekend, August 31 - September 2, 2007, with three days of family-centered activities. The weekend will include an old-fashioned mass meeting, a ball, oral histories of jailed protestors, and an exhibit of civil rights memorabilia that will include photos, artifacts, newspaper articles, and SNCC field reports.
The Americus-Sumter County Movement played a key role in setting the stage for the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act, two laws that put the federal government squarely on the side of racial justice.
The years 1961 to 1965, the height of the movement in southwest Georgia, were also critical in the local struggle to overcome segregation, lack of voting rights, and discrimination in schools and jobs. The movement changed forever the place of African-Americans in Americus, Sumter County, and southwest Georgia.
The summer of 1963 was indeed a defining moment in the history of African Americans in Americus and Sumter County Georgia. After months of mass meetings and voter registration drives, community mobilization suddenly propelled hundreds of students into the streets to protest against racist policies that literally enslaved us both physically and emotionally. These acts of courage signaled a profound paradigm shift in the way we saw ourselves as individuals and as a community under siege. Those who dared to challenge Jim Crow laws of that era remember well, the horrific police brutality, mass incarcerations, and murders perpetrated against us. The consequence of these brutal assaults transformed our lives and laid bare the realization that never again would we exist merely as less than second class citizens.
Thousands of ordinary citizens participated in mass meetings, marches, picket lines, voter registration drives, and boycotts. The weekend celebration will pay tribute to these courageous people.
The planning committee organizing the weekend hopes to make it an annual event and to secure a permanent facility that will house and archive the Americus-Sumter County Civil Rights collection so that students and visitors may view and research it for years to come.
The committee invites people to perform at a talent showcase or to be a vendor on Super Saturday, September 1, at the Americus Sumter Exposition Center (the Sumter County Fairground) on Highway 30, Americus. Anyone interested in performing should contact Mr. Kevin Pless at 229-924-8128 or via email at kpless@amerigospel.com.
The organization has a website at www.ascmr.org.
We ask that you assist us financially at one of the levels on the attached form.
Your contribution will help us to realize our goals. We would like to hear from you, and we ask that you reply no later than July 7, 2007. Please note that an itinerary will be sent to you soon.
Join us this Labor Day weekend
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Sam Mahone, Chairman
Americus-Sumter County Movement-Remembered Committee(ASCMR)
(404)759-3049
Email:
artbakari1@bellsouth.net
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Americus-Sumter County Movement — Remembered P O Box 1313, Americus, GA 31709 |
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Copyright © 2007
Last Modified: August 22, 2007.
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