Why We Went: Photos of the SNCC 50th Anniversary Conference

Join us for the Opening Reception for this photography show on Tuesday, November 2nd from 7:00 – 8:30 p.m. at the Sentient Beat at 13 E. Park Avenue.

 

In April of 2010, Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina hosted a historic gathering to commemorate the founding of one of the most influential and effective civil rights organizations, the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee- better known as SNCC (pronounced Snick.) The conference, held on the exact dates and place of it’s founding 50 years earlier, promised to bring together some of the brightest luminaries of the civil rights struggle. But more than that, among the conference’s goals was the thoughtful consideration of how to excite and activate youth to continue the struggle today.

 

A group of Savannahians who were not former members of SNCC traveled to Raleigh to attend. Some of us had been supporters of the struggle; some of us had been too young; some had not been born. Most share a connection to a local organization, Chatham-Savannah Citizen Advocacy which brings people together around the issues of social justice. Our concern for human rights includes persons with disabilities.

 

We trace the lineage of the movement for rights of people with disabilities directly from the civil rights movement: the struggle in our country’s recent history where people were willing, and did die for their beliefs. In awe of the bravery of our heroic brothers and sisters in the struggle, we wanted to meet them, listen to them, learn from them. We were not disappointed.

 

These photos by Ann Curry, Susan Earl and Sunny Ingram show some of SNCC’s heroes, sung and unsung and some of the Savannahians who went to learn and celebrate.