November 27, 2010 Special to the Daily World Spelman College Alumna Tells Untold Story Of Classmates' Involvement In Civil Rights Movement In New Documentary Dr. Georgianne Thomas realized she had a story to tell, and so did her classmates from Spelman College. In the fall of 1960, they arrived at Spelman, not only in the midst of global change, revolution, and independence, but they arrived just as the Atlanta Student Movement was building on its momentum and intensifying its strategy. Students in the Atlanta University Center purchased advertising space to publish "An Appeal for Human Rights" in "The Atlanta Constitution" newspaper in March 1960. A sit-in at lunch counters in federal facilities followed its publication. By Oct. 19, 1960, the date of the largest student coordinated demonstration against several businesses, including flagship stores like Rich's and Davison's, the Atlanta Student Movement was a force for equal rights that could not be ignored. The story of the Civil Rights Movement in Atlanta would not exist without the leadership of student activists and community leaders who supported their relentless quest to end segregation, according to Dr. Thomas. Thomas serves as creator and executive producer of the documentary, "Foot Soldiers: Class of 1964," which shares the stories of women, who were 17 to 18 years old, yet courageous enough to follow the student leaders who led the way. Who were these young women? What motivated these students who had just completed high school to get involved in such a movement? What in their family backgrounds prepared them for such an undertaking? How did their involvement as young college students impact the remainder of their college matriculation and the rest of their lives? Thomas, who majored in French, polled her classmates to establish their interest in sharing their stories in order to add new voices to the history of Atlanta and the Civil Rights Movement - voices that had gone unheard for 50 years. Her classmates agreed to support the project. Through these voices, the public will learn how the desire for freedom can empower. Even in the stockings, heels, and gloves Spelman women were required to wear off campus, these women were the foot soldiers who carried the movement. Some of their images have become iconic, including the photo of noted psychiatrist, Dr. Ida Rose McCree Hilliard, a member of the Class of 1964, bearing a large picket sign. The photo is displayed in the Sam Nunn Federal Building in Atlanta, the site of the former Rich's department store. This same image is featured on the back cover of Harry G. LeFever's book, "Undaunted by the Fight," as an unidentified student. Some of the young women had been sheltered from the harshness of discrimination by their parents, or because they lived in integrated cities, like Thomas. In the documentary, Thomas clearly recounts the shock and trauma of seeing "Colored" and "White" signs at the Amtrak train station when she arrived in Atlanta from Gary, Ind. The shock of the dictated dichotomy lit the embers of activism that were ready to flame when upper-class student leaders called for Spelman students to march. She was joined by her classmates Dolores Young Strawbridge, a retired Atlanta educator who was one of the students arrested, as well as others featured in the documentary such as Retired Maj. Gen. Marcelite Jordan Harris, who later became the first African-American woman general in the United States Air Force, the highest-ranking woman officer in the Air Force and the nation's highest- ranking African-American woman in the Department of Defense, when she retired in 1997. The documentary also features retired Atlanta educator Valjean Williams, who did not march because of the strict non-violent requirements, but who made the signs the students carried; Janice Craig Hartsfield, who marched only once after encountering members of the Ku Klux Klan; and Edwina Palmer Hunter, a musician, who incorporated the songs of the movement in her career as a music teacher. "I will never forget the point of no return -- when I marched over the hill leading to downtown Atlanta, just before the bridge by Rich's, and I saw the Klan. My heart stopped, but I knew I had to keep going. Even when a White man burned me with his cigarette, I knew I had to keep going. I had gone to school with White kids all of my life in Gary. I could not believe what was happening. I had to march," recalls Thomas. The documentary began production in summer 2010. Thomas teamed up with her daughter, writer and producer Alvelyn Sanders, who is directing the project. It is slated to be completed in early 2011. After its release, the documentary will be presented to the archives at Spelman College by the Class of 1964. "As a child, I remember asking my mother how she got a particular mark on her arm. It was childhood curiosity. I never forgot the story she told me about getting the burn while marching as a student in the Civil Rights Movement. I am honored to be a part of this important project of capturing the stories of these courageous women, who marched for my generation and those that follow," said Sanders, a former, longtime local journalist. The focus of the documentary is the Class of 1964 of Spelman College. However, the project will place their activism in context of the larger student movement by featuring the production's recorded interviews with others such as Congressman John Lewis, who recalls the impact of the Atlanta Student Movement when he was in college; former Atlanta Mayor Sam Massell, who was vice mayor at the time these alumnae were at Spelman; and Spelman College alumna Roslyn Pope, Ph.D., the primary author of "An Appeal for Human Rights," the historic document that set the stage for the series of student demonstrations early in 1960. "Foot Soldiers: Class of 1964" will illuminate the power of individual action for a collective good. It will serve as a resource for a greater understanding of the Atlanta story of the Civil Rights Movement, as well as add to the sources in regard to women's involvement and that of the Atlanta University Center. These stories highlight the continuum of activism across generations, according to a press release. "They will honor the past, as well as inspire young adults and emerging activists who can learn from the highlighted experiences," Sanders said. SANDRA M. PHOENIX Program Director HBCU Library Alliance sphoenix@hbculibraries.org www.hbculibraries.org 404.592.4820 1438 West Peachtree Street NW Suite 200 Atlanta, GA 30309 Toll Free: 1.800.999.8558 (Lyrasis) Fax: 404.892.7879 www.lyrasis.org Honor the ancestors, honor the children.