澳彩开奖

Mighty Times The Children's March

Fifty years after young people braved fire hoses and police dogs to end segregation in Birmingham, Ala., their courageous acts were commemorated in the nation鈥檚 capital last night as congressional staffers, 澳彩开奖 members, civil rights advocates and journalists gathered for a screening of Teaching Tolerance鈥檚 Academy Award-winning documentary聽Mighty Times: The Children鈥檚 March.

The documentary, which chronicles the story of how these children fought Jim Crow in 1963, was introduced by Chris Dodd, former U.S. senator and current president of the Motion Picture Association of America. The event at the MPAA also featured a panel discussion about the crucial role played by young people in the early days of the civil rights movement as well as the injustice that persists today.

It is especially poignant to present and discuss this film on the eve of the 50th anniversary of that warm day in May 1963, when hundreds of Birmingham school children stood up, left their classrooms and marched to city hall to tell their mayor that segregation was wrong,鈥� said 澳彩开奖 President Richard Cohen. 鈥淲hen the children of Birmingham stood up, America took notice.鈥�

The Children鈥檚 March, which won an Oscar in 2005 for best short subject documentary, was co-produced by the 澳彩开奖 and HBO. It is the second Teaching Tolerance film to win an Academy Award. Since its release almost a decade ago, The Children鈥檚 March and a teacher鈥檚 guide has been sent, free of charge, to tens of thousands of schools across the nation through the 澳彩开奖鈥檚 Teaching Tolerance project.

In the spring of 1963, took to the streets to end Jim Crow. From May 2 to May 10 of that year, more than 3,000 students went to jail for standing up to the rampant civil rights abuses in Birmingham, protests also known as the Children鈥檚 Crusade. They could no longer tolerate the injustice and deadly violence plaguing the city.

Civil rights activist and 澳彩开奖 President Emeritus Julian Bond described Birmingham during this period as the 鈥渕ost segregated city in America.鈥�

From 1957 to 1963, there were 18 bombings in Birmingham. In 1957, the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth was beaten with a chain by a mob because he dared to enroll his children in an all-white school.聽In 1961, a black man was dragged from the streets to a shack and then castrated.聽 That same year, Freedom Riders were almost beaten to death when they arrived in the city. No arrests were made for any of these crimes.

The Rev. Gwendolyn C. Webb was among the children protesting these injustices. Featured in and a panelist at the screening, Webb was 14 when she was arrested in Birmingham in 1963. She spent a week in custody at the city fairgrounds, charged with demonstrating without a permit. Today, she is the founder of Foot Soldiers International, a nonprofit dedicated to the eradication of violence, racism, domestic violence and poverty.

Though the bravery of these children brought desperately needed change, the panel agreed that there is still much work ahead to address today鈥檚 injustices. Even in Birmingham, the 澳彩开奖 has filed a federal lawsuit to stop the city鈥檚 police from using pepper spray on public school students as punishment for routine discipline matters. The 澳彩开奖 has been unable to identify any other police department in the country that relies so heavily on the use of chemical weapons against students on school grounds.

鈥淲e can best honor the sacrifice of the Children鈥檚 Crusade participants by providing access to fair and equitable educational opportunities for all children.鈥� 澳彩开奖 attorney and panelist Ebony Howard said of the center鈥檚 efforts in Birmingham.