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   from the issue of April 7, 2005

     
 
Conference marks Voting Rights Act anniversary

A celebration marking the 40th anniversary of the 1965 Voting Rights Act will be held at UNL and Southeast Community College on April 14 and 18.

The conference, "From Selma to Washington: A 40th Anniversary Celebration of the 1965 Voting Rights Act," will include discussions from civil rights movement members Rev. C.T. Vivian and Joanne Bland. The two will speak at the Champion's Club April 14 at 7 p.m. Bland will also conduct a discussion at 1 p.m. April 14 at the Southeast Community College Student Center, 8800 O St.

Vivian and Bland will discuss their experiences in Selma and that campaign's crucial link to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Vivian participated in the 1959-1961 Nashville sit-in movement and the 1961 Freedom Rides.

Vivian was a member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, where he served on Martin Luther King Jr.'s executive staff and played a central role organizing the Selma voting rights campaign. Vivian currently holds leadership positions at the Southern Organizing Committee Education Fund, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the Black Action Strategies and Information Center and the Center for Democratic Renewal.

Bland is the director of the National Voting Rights Museum in Selma, Ala. As an 11-year-old, she was active in the Selma campaign. She was on the Edmund Pettus Bridge during Bloody Sunday and participated in the Turn-Around Tuesday march, both pivotal moments in the local and national civil rights drama.

Bland was the youngest person arrested and jailed during the Selma voting rights campaign.

Sam Issacharoff, professor of law at Columbia University, will speak on "The Heroically Troubled Future of Voting Rights Law" at noon April 18 at the UNL Law College Auditorium on east campus.

Issacharoff is the Harold R. Medina Professor in Procedural Jurisprudence at Columbia Law School. His wide-ranging research deals with issues in civil procedure, law and economics, constitutional law, particularly with regard to voting rights and electoral systems, and employment law.

The panel discussion "What is the legacy of the Voting Rights Act of 1965?" will be at 7 p.m. April 18 at the Nebraska Union. Participating will be Issacharoff, Michael Pitts, United States Department of Justice, who specializes in civil rights and voting rights, and D'Andra Orey, UNL assistant professor of political science, who researches the racial aspects of representation, redistricting, and voting rights.

The events also expand to Lincoln public high schools as Bland will talk at Lincoln High, Southwest, Southeast and Bryan Community Learning Center on April 15.

All events are free and open to the public, except school assemblies.

Sponsors include Southeast Community College, the UNL Political Science Department, the Nebraska Humanities Council, The Office of the Dean, College of Arts & Sciences, the College of Journalism and Mass Communications, the Office of Equity, Access and Diversity, the Office of the Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, the Institute for Ethnic Studies, the Department of History, the African/African American Studies Program; and the OASIS/Culture Center.


GO TO: ISSUE OF APRIL 7

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