MURFREESBORO — A
veteran of civil rights activism who survived violence and imprisonment will
tell his story on the next edition of the “MTSU On the Record” radio program.
Host Gina Logue’s interview
with Dr. Cleveland Sellers, president of Voorhees College in Denmark, S.C.,
will air from 5:30 to 6 p.m. Monday, Feb. 10, and from 8 to 8:30 a.m. Sunday,
Feb. 16, on WMOT-FM (89.5 and www.wmot.org).
Sellers, who marched with Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr., led voter registration drives and participated in a
lunch-counter sit-in, will be the keynote speaker for MTSU’s celebration of
Black History Month at 6 p.m. Monday, Feb. 17, in the auditorium of the Paul W.
Martin Sr. Honors College Building. The speech is free and open to the public.
“You had to be willing to
suffer whatever sacrifices that you had to make in order for you to move the
movement forward and continue to build the struggle for social justice and
voting rights and economic opportunities,” said Sellers.
Sellers was the only person
arrested in the so-called “Orangeburg Massacre,” a civil rights demonstration
which turned violent when state troopers opened fire on students at South
Carolina State University on Feb. 8, 1968.
Three students were killed
and 28 others were injured in the incident. They were protesting a local
bowling alley’s refusal to allow blacks to bowl.
Sellers served seven months
in jail for inciting a riot, but an all-white jury acquitted the white troopers
in a federal trial. He received a full pardon 25 years later.
To listen to previous “MTSU
On the Record” programs, go to the “Audio Clips” archives at http://www.mtsunews.com.
For more information, contact
Logue at 615-898-5081 or WMOT-FM at 615-898-2800.
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