FREEDOM RIDER RETURNS TO PARCHMAN AFTER 62 YEARS скачать в хорошем качестве

FREEDOM RIDER RETURNS TO PARCHMAN AFTER 62 YEARS

Mississippi State Penitentiary, Parchman, MS (Jan 25) – For the first time in 62 years, Hezekiah Watkins visited the cellblock where he was unjustly imprisoned at Parchman Prison in 1961… as a 13-year-old teenager. [NAT SOT, Watkins walking in Unit 17 at MSP] Teenager Watkins only wanted to see the Freedom Riders that hot Sunday in July 1961, as they marched on the Greyhound bus terminal in downtown Jackson. But as a joke, his friend pushed him into the terminal where he was nabbed by police, put on a bus, and shipped to Parchman along with 327 protesters. [SOUNDBITE] [Graphic: Hezekiah Watkins, Freedom Rider] “I dreaded coming here today. I really wasn’t a Freedom Rider. I was just a 13-year-old boy who went to the bus station to look at the Freedom Riders, not to be one. I just wanted to see what a Freedom Rider looked like. It was all intriguing.” [NAT SOT, Marker unveiling] To mark the occasion, Mississippi’s Dept. of Archives & History unveiled a marker at the front entrance of Parchman. [SOUNDBITE] [Graphic: Teirsen Olivier, Organizer] “Freedom Riders were not only African-American, they were multi-cultural. They were young and old, teachers, educators, pastors.” [SOUNDBITE in the chapel, Watkins addressing the audience] “Mississippi is a different Mississippi than it was in 1961 and I’m proud of that. And the reason I’m proud of that is because I was part of that change that made Mississippi the new Mississippi that it is today.” (applause) [NAT SOT tag, Supt. McClure presenting gold cell door key to Watkins] To end the ceremony, Parchman Superintendent Marcus McClure presented Hezekiah Watkins with the brass key that had locked him inside his cell in Unit 17, 62 years ago. Today, the 75-year-old Watkins recounts those days at the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum in Jackson.