Many Paths to Freedom:
Looking Back, Looking Ahead
at the Long Civil Rights Movement

Memorialization and Justice as an Ancestral Imperative: Two American Cases (co-sponsored by the Hispanic Division, Library of Congress & the Smithsonian Institution National Anthropological Archives)
Pickford Theater, 3rd floor, Madison Building [map]

• Ken Bilby (Smithsonian Research Associate)
  The role of orally transmitted ancestral memory in ongoing struggles to overcome past injustices is proving critical in the struggle for human rights, civil rights and justice. In this context, the presentation reflects on two path-breaking cases of recent public memorialization: the Moiwana Massacre, which took place in the Republic of Suriname, South America and the Sand Creek Massacre in Colorado...[read more]

12 noon - 1:30 pm: Book Talk & Film Screening

Selma, the Voting Rights Act, and Reel History
& Bridging History: Selma & the Voting Rights of 1965 (2015)
(co-sponsored by the Interpretive Programs Office & Education Outreach)
Pickford Theater, 3rd floor, Madison Building [map]

• Gary May (Professor Emeritus of History, Delaware University)
  August 2015 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the enactment of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, a landmark civil rights public law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of race and language, among other provisions.  The events leading up to the passage of the law were highly charged and far-flung ...[read more]

7:00 pm Film Screening & Discussion
SPECIAL LOCATION: Hill Center, 921 Pennsylvania Ave, SE, Washington DC

This Little Light of Mine: The Legacy of Fannie Lou Hamer (2015) (co-sponsored by the Interpretive Programs Office & Education Outreach)

• Robin Hamilton (Filmmaker, Silver Spring, MD)
  This Little Light of Mine: The Legacy of Fannie Lou Hamer (2015) is a documentary short that explores the life of an impoverished sharecropper who became a powerhouse in the battle for the right to vote in Mississippi during the Civil Rights Movement.... [read more]

12 noon - 1:30 pm: Research Presentation

Teaching the Civil Rights Movement from the Bottom-Up Fifty Years After the Voting Rights Act (co-sponsored by the Interpretive Programs Office & Education Outreach)
Mumford Room, 6th floor, Madison Building [map]

• Emilye Crosby (Professor, SUNY-Geneseo)
  What most people know about the Civil Rights Movement comes through a top-down lens that focuses almost exclusively on visible leaders like Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., and major legislation, like the Voting Rights Act of 1965. This approach misses...  [read more]

September 10

Tipi with sign "American Indian Movement" at the Washington Monument, Washington, D.C., during the "Longest walk", (1978)
P&P Division, Library of Congress
[LC-DIG-ds-00753]

6:30 pm - 9:00 pm: Symposium (co-produced with the Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries & Museums)

Registration required: http://bit.ly/1IFsQbP

Civil Rights, Identity and Sovereignty: Native American Perspectives on History, Law, and the Path Ahead (co-sponsored by the Law Library, the Interpretive Programs Office, Educational Outreach Program - Library of Congress; Institute for Museum & Library Services, DC; Ak-Chin Community Council, AZ; Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation, CA)
Coolidge Auditorium, Ground floor, Jefferson Building [map]

Noted Native American scholars, authors, and civil rights activists Walter Echo-Hawk, Malinda Maynor Lowery, LaDonna Harris, and Tim Tingle look back at the long Native American struggle for equality, examine current barriers for sustaining community ways of life and identity, and address the path ahead for Native nations and communities. The event is moderated by Letitia Chambers. The symposium marks the opening of the annual International Conference of Indigenous Archives, Libraries and Museums.

• 5:00 PM - Jefferson Building open
  *Law Library collections on display; book sales begin
• 5:45 PM - Attendees may begin taking their seats
  
• 6:30 PM - Welcoming Remarks
  -Betsy Peterson, Director, American Folklife Center
  -David Mao, Deputy Librarian & Acting Law Librarian of Congress
• 6:40 PM - Opening Remarks and Introduction of presenters
  -Letitia Chambers, Moderator, Chairman of the Board, ATALM
• 6:50 PM - Presentations
  -Walter Echo Hawk (Pawnee), LLS, author
  -Malinda Maynor Lowery (Lumbee), Associate Professor, UNC Chapel Hill
  -LaDonna Harris (Comanche), President, Americans for Indian Opportunity
  -Tim Tingle (Choctaw), story-teller, author
• 7:50 PM - BREAK
• 8:05 PM -The Path Ahead -Round-table discussion
• 8:50 PM - Concluding Remarks
  
• 9:00 PM - Book signing with authors
• 9:45 PM - Event Conclusion and Exit

August 3 -7

Summer Teacher's Institute with a focus on Civil Rights
(produced by Education Outreach, Library of Congress)

Each Institute week, Library of Congress education specialists facilitate sessions modeling strategies for using primary sources to engage students, build critical thinking skills, and construct knowledge. Participants reflect on and discuss how the strategies apply to their students, subject areas, and classrooms or school libraries.

....... .Exhibition

The Civil Rights Act of 1964: A Long Struggle for Freedom
Southwest Gallery, Second Floor, Thomas Jefferson Building [map]

The Civil Rights Act of 1964: A Long Struggle for Freedom is produced by the Interpretive Programs Office, Library of Congress and made possible by a generous grant from Newman’s Own Foundation and with additional support from HISTORY®.