Monday, February 10, 2014

[358] ‘MTSU On the Record’ listens to a voice from the civil rights movement



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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