Eric Etheridge’s Photographs of the Freedom Riders

Opening Reception – Saturday, January 9, 2010 at 7pm

In the spring and summer of 1961, several hundred Americans-blacks and whites, men and women-converged on Jackson, Mississippi, to challenge state segregation laws. The Freedom Riders, as they came to be known, were determined to open up the South to civil rights: it was illegal for bus and train stations to discriminate, but most did and were not interested in change. Over 300 people were arrested and convicted of the charge “breach of the peace.”

Artist and author Eric Etheridge’s exhibit, Breach of Peace, collects the mug shots of those arrested, which were only recently made public, and juxtaposes them with present-day photographs of the Riders and their recollections about the experience. The group, half black and half white (a quarter were women), was remarkably young; in their faces we see strength, courage, defiance, dignity, and, occasionally, fear.

When the Jackson jails quickly filled to capacity, Freedom Riders were sent to the maximum-security state penitentiary, where those who refused bail could languish for weeks and months. Many, looking back, speak of the brutal conditions at the prison, but quite a few now view their incarceration as a formative period of growth and learning, with Communists and pastors debating political strategy and with black and white activists, in segregated cells, communicating (and infuriating the guards) by singing freedom songs to each other across the divide.

This exhibit serves as a testament and a moving archive of a chapter in U.S. history that hasn’t yet closed.

1961 Mugshot of then 19 year old LeRoy Wright

MAKING HISTORY:

Join us to meet artist & author Eric Etheridge and Syracuse resident and Freedom Rider, Rev. LeRoy Wright as they make history come alive at this very special event at ArtRage.

Directed by Richard Pearce

With Sissy Spacek & Whoopi Goldberg. Montgomery, Alabama, 1955: A white socialite and her black maid must decide how each will respond to the famous bus boycott led by Martin Luther King, birth of the Civil Rights movement.

Image Award: Best Actress (Goldberg)

Political Film Society: Human Rights Award

“Powerful and affecting”  —Roger Ebert,  Chicago Sun-Times

$5 Suggested Donation. ArtRage is handicapped accessible.

From the Back of the Bus, Walt Shepperd & the Media Unit

The Media Unit presents From the Back of the Bus, a national award winning original musical theater performance on racism and racial healing at ArtRage in observance of Black History Month and celebration of Breach of Peace, an exhibit of portraits of the 1961 Mississippi Freedom Riders by Eric Etheridge.

Debuted in 1996 at the BeVard Theater in the John H. Mulroy Civic Center, Media Unit teens have toured From the Back of the Bus from Jackson, Mississippi to Portland, Maine with four performances in New York City. Combining drama, dance, music and comedy, it was judged Best Performance @ the BeVard Festival and received the Award of Excellence at the Michael Harms Festival.

The production represented Syracuse at the All-American Cities competition in Louisville, Kentucky, and has been recognized with Community Service Awards from the NAACP, the city-county Human Rights Commission, the Southside Business Association and Urban CNY.

The cast for this performance includes Allen Graves, Ana-rachel Richardson, Anna Quackenbush and Sarah Orr. After the performance Media Unit Executive Producer Walt Shepperd will facilitate an audience discussion, sharing his experience with the Mississippi Freedom Summer of 1964.

Free to the Public.

Poetry & Rebellion

performance poetry directed by Mark Wright

Cultural Eclectic to Perform 100 plus years of Poetry and writings of African Americans.

“Cultural Eclectic” is a performance troupe directed by Mark Wright and features Cheryl Wilkins Mitchell, Carol Charles, Vanessa Johnson, and Tony Brown. They will perform a sampling of selected poetry and verse representing commentary and expressions of the struggles of African Americans fighting for freedom and equality in America. The writings of Paul Laurence Dunbar,  Sonia Sanchez, Langston Hughes, Claude Mckay, James Weldon Johnson, Maya Angelou, Gwendolyn Brooks and some lesser known poets, will show the way they used words to fight for the right to be free and equal. Some were forrunners of the official Civil Rights Movement and some were products of the Movement. The performance will be followed by a discussion. We also invite local poets to come and share their poems and stories.

Free to the Public.

Celebrate Valentine’s Day a little early…put yourself in the mood…with these charming films about love and the human animal. Come for one or all three!

6pm-  TWO WEEKS WITH LOVE (1950)

Jane Powell. Ricardo Montalban. Debbie Reynolds.Two young sisters find romance during a tuneful holiday at Kissimee-in-the-Catskills. “hilarious and enchanting” – imdb.com

8:15pm- THE PHILADELPHIA STORY (1940)

Directed by George Cukor. With Katherine Hepburn, Cary Grant, James Stewart. Oscars: Best Actor (stewart,) Best Screenplay. AFI: One of top 100 American films! “perfect comedy—what is says about the nature of love still counts” – filmcritic.com

10pm- THE WAY WE WERE  (1973)

Directed by Sidney Pollack. With Robert Redford and Barbra Streisand. Modern classic about romance between two people, with differing political views and convictions. Oscars: Best, song, best scoring. “Intimate and heartbreaking”—Crazy 4 Cinema

$5 Suggested Donation. ArtRage is handicapped accessible.