Tribute to Rosa Parks’s Life of Activism

On Friday, April 26, at 7:00 pm, a diverse group of over 25 community organizations will sponsor a celebration of the lifelong activism of Rosa Parks, with special guest Jeanne Theoharis, author of The Rebellious Life of Rosa Parks, at Milwaukee’s Central United Methodist Church, 639 N. 25th Street (at Wisconsin Avenue). The event is free and open to the public, with free off street parking south of the church. Doors will open at 6:15pm, when a preview documentary on Rosa Parks will be shown.

According to MSNBC’s Melissa Harris-Perry, “At last, Jeanne Theoharis answers the question, who was Rosa Parks? The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks will undoubtedly be hailed as one of the most important scholarly contributions to Civil Rights history ever written.” Julian Bond, Chairman Emeritus of the NAACP, similarly praised Theoharis’s new biography: “In the first sweeping history of Parks’ life, she shows us a long-time activist, committed to fight white supremacy from her earliest days, and continuing that fight when her notoriety forced her to relocate to Detroit.… Rosa Parks not only sat down on the bus, she stood on the right side of justice for her entire life.”

This event will include live music and light refreshments, visual displays of artwork related to Rosa Parks from AYZHA Fine Arts Gallery, and a discussion of Rosa Parks’s six decades of activism with Dr. Theoharis. There will be a book sale and signing after the program, in cooperation with Reader’s Choice Bookshop, 1950 N. Dr. Martin Luther King Dr., 265-2003.

Jeanne Theoharis is professor of political science at Brooklyn College of CUNY. She received her AB in Afro-American studies from Harvard College and a PhD in American culture from the University of Michigan. She is the author or coauthor of six books and numerous articles on the Black freedom struggle and the contemporary politics of race in the United States.

The sponsors include: the NAACP, Milwaukee Branch; Wisconsin African American Women’s Center; YWCA Southeast WI; Amalgamated Transit Union 998, AFL-CIO; Peace Action WI; AYZHA Fine Arts Gallery; Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom; Readers Choice Bookshop; Central United Methodist Church; Milwaukee Muslim Women’s Coalition; National Lawyers Guild, Milw.; Progressive Democrats of America, Milw. County; ACLU of WI Foundation; Vietnam Veterans Against the War; Peace Learning Center; Greater Milw. United Nations Assn.; Veterans for Peace; Running Rebels; Milwaukee Turners; Voces de la Frontera; and Youth Empowered in the Struggle (YES); Wisconsin Black Historical Society; Democratic Party of Wisconsin Black Caucus; Women’s Circle International, Rethinking Schools, American Federation of Teachers, # 212, AFL-CIO; Latin American Solidarity Committee; Bail out the People Movement; Wis. Employment Lawyers Assn; and MICAH. For more info, call (414) 562-1000 or 964-5158, or visit www.peaceactionwi.org/rosaparks.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.

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