August 3, 2018 | Categories: Events | Tags: book, Brenda Travis, civil rights, civil rights movement, John Obee, Mississippi's Exiled Daughter, vote
Thursday September 27, 2018: 7:00pm to 8:30pm
Downtown Library: Multi-Purpose Room
Join Authors Brenda Travis and John Obee as they discuss their new book, Mississippi’s Exiled Daughter: How My Civil Rights Baptism Under Fire Shaped My Life.
Mississippi’s Exiled Daughter is the riveting story of how the Civil Rights Movement first came to McComb, Mississippi, one of the most violent and segregated towns in a violent, segregated State.
In 1961, 16-year-old Brenda Travis was a youth leader of the NAACP branch in her hometown of McComb, Mississippi. She joined in the early stages of voter registration, and when the Freedom Rides and direct action reached McComb, she and two SNCC workers sat-in at the local bus station. That led to her first arrest and jailing, which resulted in her being expelled and leading a protest walkout from her high school. Thrown in jail for a second time, she was eventually released on the condition that she leave the state. Her poignant memoir describes what gave her the courage at such a young age to fight segregation, how the movement unfolded in Mississippi, and what happened after she was forced to leave her family, friends, and fellow activists.
The program is free and includes a book signing and books will be available for purchase.
Attorney and civil rights worker, John Obee, was one of the guest speakers at our 20th Anniversary celebration. Mr. Obee has been passionate about fair housing issues for decades.
This event is a partnership with the Ann Arbor District Library.
As the Fair Housing Center of Metropolitan Detroit reminds us: “This is a great opportunity for people especially youth to understand the power of protest, the risk and the rewards.Please share this announcement in your network and encourage teachers, youth ministers, book clubs and others to bring their students to this event. It is a powerful reminder that freedom is not free.”
Ms. Travis and Mr. Obee will be at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit on Tuesday, September 25th.
