Freedom Center to Host Freedom 55: Music Moved the Movement Blues Discussion with Bobby Rush and Marquise Knox

Contact: Will Jones
Marketing and Communications Manager
(513) 333-7558
(513) 802-7355
wjones@nurfc.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

National Underground Railroad Freedom Center to Host
Freedom 55: Music Moved the Movement, Civil Rights and the Blues
Discussion with Bobby Rush and Marquise Knox
 Discussion to focus on threads that link the Civil Rights Movement to the
blues and the individuals that lived the experience

CINCINNATI, OH (March 12, 2019) – The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center will host Freedom 55: Music Moved the Movement, Civil Rights and the Blues Discussion with Bobby Rush and Marquise Knox on Thursday, April 18 beginning with a reception at 6:00 p.m. and followed by a discussion at 6:55 p.m. The panel discussion is a continuation of the Freedom 55 programming series that includes screenings, book signings, lectures and musical performances throughout 2019 commemorating the 55th anniversary of Freedom Summer. The program is free and open to the public. RSVPs arhttp://nurfc.wpengine.com/special-exhibitions/e required.

Freedom 55: Music Moved the Movement, Civil Rights and the Blues Discussion with Bobby Rush and Marquise Knox focuses on the societal conditions in place prior to, and during the Civil Rights Movement and connects how blues artists that grew up within a segregated culture created music that addressed issues of race and inequality. The discussion will be moderated by National Underground Railroad Freedom Center Deputy Director, Jacqueline Dace and features international blues recording artists Bobby Rush and Marquise Knox.

“Bobby Rush and Marquise Knox represent a genre of music that helped to inspire many freedom heroes,” says Dace. “By sharing their experiences, guests will have a better understanding of how the blues played such a significant role in the Civil Rights Movement.”

Bobby Rush is a 2017 Grammy – winning blues legend, Blues Hall of Famer, 12 – time Blues Music Award winner, B.B. King Entertainer of the Year, and named “King of the Chitlin’ Circuit” by Rolling Stone magazine. Rush has been honored with four Grammy nominations, as well as 46 nominations and 12 awards from the Blues Foundation, and a 2006 induction into the Blues Hall of Fame. Marquise Knox has performed with some of America’s most notable performers such as blues legends  B.B. King, Pinetop Perkins, David “Honeyboy” Edwards (the latter two also N.E.A. Heritage Fellows), along with Billy Gibbons. Knox has toured throughout the United States, Canada, South America and Europe.

“We are thrilled to introduce this part of the Freedom 55 programming series,” says Dion Brown, president and COO at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. “Guests will not only hear the untold stories of featured artists, but they will also have the opportunity get an in-depth perspective on why music continues to be an important part of movements today.”

Freedom 55: Music Moved the Movement, Civil Rights and the Blues Discussion with Bobby Rush and Marquise Knox is a series of programs that includes panel discussions commemorating the 55th anniversary of Freedom Summer, a 1964 voter registration drive, also known as the Mississippi Summer project. The goal was to end the prevailing discriminatory and segregated voting system through increased voter registration of African Americans. In preparation, hundreds of student volunteers gathered for two, one-week orientation sessions from June 14 to June 27, 1964 at Western College for Women (present day Miami University) in Oxford, OH.

Freedom 55: Music Moved the Movement, Civil Rights and the Blues Discussion with Bobby Rush and Marquise Knox is Thursday, April 18 beginning at 6:00 p.m. at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. This program is free and open to the public. RSVPs are required. For more information and to RSVP, visit freedomcenter.org.

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