This year’s Civil Rights Conference ended with a lecture at 7 p.m. on Feb. 27 in Watkins from Freedom Summer Coordinator Dave Dennis, speaking on his up-close experience with civil rights in the ‘60s.
To begin the program, members of the House Band performed a Pete Seeger Tribute, consisting of songs that honored Seeger, who was a folk singer and civil rights supporter who died last week. Following this, the UTM Collegiate Gospel Choir performed several pieces honoring the civil rights theme under the direction of Alvin Summers.
Afterwards, Assistant Professor of English Heidi Huse announced the winners of the Civil Rights Conference essay contest – Madilyn Peay, senior Natural Resources Management major (3rd place); Sierra Phillips, sophomore Education major (2nd place) and Janine Brown, senior History major (1st place).
Then Assistant Professor of History and Philosophy Renee LaFleur introduced Dennis, expressing gratitude for getting to meet him and experience the history of civil rights first-hand.
“I am so lucky. Last year, I got to introduce Diane Nash, and this year, I get to introduce Dave Dennis,” LaFleur said.
To begin his lecture, Dennis dedicated the night to Chokwe Lumumba, the former mayor of Jackson, Miss., who died on Feb. 25 at 66 years old of heart failure. Lumumba was a member of the Republic of New Afrika in the ‘70s and ‘80s and an avid supporter of civil rights.
After making this dedication, Dennis delved into his lecture, talking about his journey with civil rights, and saying that those he met along the way empowered him.
“The heroes I knew gave me the crawl space to do what I did,” Dennis said.
Dennis began by explaining the place and time that he was born into, being born on the plantation of a sharecropper in Louisiana in the 1940s, not knowing what it was like to even have basic utilities until he was 9 years old, when his family moved to the inner city of Louisiana (Shreveport). Despite this improvement, Dennis said that it was still rough, with blacks only able to get basic utilities by entering white territory. He said that even looking at a white woman the wrong way could result in a lynching, and that blacks at the time were just trying to survive.
“I grew up in a time where [blacks and whites] could not walk on the same side of the street. We could not talk about eating at the same restaurants. We had to sit at the back of the bus,” Dennis said.
Dennis continued by telling some of the events he witnessed, such as a sit-in that occurred at his high school and another one that occurred at this college, which he didn’t want to be a part of.
“I didn’t want to have anything to do with this thing called civil rights. … Things were happening [in the country] and I was trying to run from them,” Dennis said.
However, things changed for Dennis when he decided to connect with civil rights supporter Doris Castle.
“[Castle] finally talked me into going to a meeting for racial equality in New Orleans, and I went. [I was] not interested in civil rights, but interested in her,” Dennis said.
After some time at meetings and plugged into the civil rights scene, Dennis found himself eventually participating in a sit-in that landed him in jail for a week. After this, it wasn’t long until he found himself sitting with other influential members of the Civil Rights Movement, planning the Freedom Summer, which focused on challenging the then-Democratic party and getting blacks voter registration.
Dennis said that it was fate and a higher power that pulled him into the movement.
“Fate was taking its course here. … You never know what is catching you. Somebody else has got a plan for you, a bigger plan,” Dennis said.
Dennis ended his talk by encouraging audience members to think about civil rights issues and discuss them. He then invited everyone to join the Algebra Project, which is a project Dennis started to equalize education opportunity for young students, giving the lowest quartile of K-12 the education resources they need to be ready to graduate high school in four years.
“[With the Algebra Project, I hope to bring] awareness of the issues that education faces and awareness of the fact that these kids can do this work, all they need is opportunity to do it,” Dennis said.
Dennis said that in order to make a difference in the world, it doesn’t take a lot, but simply looking to oneself.
“It [takes] looking in the mirror and saying, ‘What can I do?’” Dennis said.
Dennis still implements this mindset in his own life, hoping to make a better world for generations to come.
“[I continue to work as an activist for] my children and my grandchildren. This problem still exists, so [I want to do] whatever I can do to change it, make it a better world for them, make it a better world for all kids,” Dennis said.
To see the photo gallery of the event, click here.
