Montgomery County’s Office of Human Rights Adds Two Special Programs for the Maryland Civil Rights Educational Freedom Experience

For Immediate Release: Thursday, February 16, 2017

Montgomery County’s Office of Human Rights Adds Two Special Programs for the Maryland Civil Rights Educational Freedom Experience

Two unique events have been announced for the Maryland Civil Rights Educational Freedom Experience, which is an annual civil rights historic bus tour that retraces the steps of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights heroes. The two exceptional programs accentuate the violence and struggles of those who steadfastly fought for social justice and human rights.

Prosecuting Attorney Doug Jones will tell the gavel-to-conviction story of the trial of the murderers who bombed the Sixteen Street Baptist Church on September 15, 1963. The bombing killed four innocent young girls preparing for Sunday School.

The Carl Reece Memorial Mass Choir will perform an inspirational concert exclusively for those on the Civil Rights Educational Freedom Experience tour. More than 50 years ago, the Choir sang at the Sixteen Baptist Church Mass Meeting inspiring the Birmingham Freedom Fighters to keep fighting for freedom. Today the choir continues to lift its voice with the songs of freedom and justice

The bus tour will leave from Rockville on April 8 and return on April 16. This year the trip is scheduled during Montgomery County Public Schools spring break. The tour will travel to Greensboro, NC; Atlanta, GA; Birmingham, Montgomery and Selma, AL; Memphis, TN; Little Rock, AR and Jackson, MS to retrace the Freedom Trail to learn about Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Medgar Evers and the Montgomery Bus Boycott, voter’s rights, and Little Rock Nine and significant events of the Civil Rights Movement.

Additional highlights on the tour include the Birth Home Museum of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.; the new National Center for Civil and Human Rights; the Civil Rights Memorial Museum; the International Civil Rights Center and Museum; the Rosa Parks Museum; the Freedom Rides Museum; the National Voting Rights Museum; the famed Sixteenth Street Baptist Church; the historic Edmund Pettus Bridge; the Central High School; Fisk University; Medgar Evers’ Home; and the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel.

The tour is hosted by the Montgomery County Office of Human Rights, in collaboration with the Montgomery County Public Libraries, the African American Employees Association, the Lincoln Park Historical Foundation and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. The tour is available to County and non-county residents.

A deposit for half the tour fee is due as soon as possible and full payment is due by March 8. Registration, itinerary and cost of the tour is available at http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/humanrights/outreach/2017_Civil_Rights_Experience.html. Credit cards and checks are accepted as payment for registration. Interested individuals and groups should contact Beverly Marshall in the Office of Human Rights at Beverly.marshall@montgomerycountymd.gov or 240-777-8479. 

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Release ID: 17-439
Media Contact: Judy Stiles 240-777-6507