National Underground Railroad Freedom Center to Host Freedom 55: Mississippi’s Exiled Daughter with Brenda Travis

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: Mississippi’s Exiled Daughter with Brenda Travis
Civil Rights Activist and Author to discuss the book
Mississippi’s Exiled Daughter:
How My Civil Rights Baptism Under Fire Shaped My Life

CINCINNATI, OH (February 25, 2019) – The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center will host the Freedom 55: Mississippi’s Exiled Daughter with Brenda Travis book signing on Saturday, March 23 at 1:00 p.m. with Civil Rights activist and Author Brenda Travis. The program is a continuation of the Freedom 55 programming series that includes film screenings, book signings, lectures and musical performances throughout 2019 commemorating the 55th anniversary of Freedom Summer. The program is free with general admission and open to the public.

Excerpts from Travis’ memoir, Mississippi’s Exiled Daughter: How My Civil Rights Baptism Under Fire Shaped My Life will serve as framework for the discussion with Brenda Travis and National Underground Railroad Freedom Center Deputy Director, Jacqueline Dace. Travis will discuss her experience as a Civil Rights Activist and the work that followed afterwards. The discussion and book signing will give insight into other events that transpired during the Civil Rights Movement.

A sixteen-year old youth leader of the NAACP branch in McComb, Mississippi, Travis participated in voter registrations and sit-ins at a greyhound station in 1961 when Freedom Riders reached the city. As a result, Travis was expelled from school which led to her first arrest and a protest walkout of her high school. Because of the walkout, Travis was jailed again and only released on the condition that she left the state of Mississippi. After retiring from movement work, Travis created a foundation in McComb to teach civil rights history and returns to the city annually. Travis spends time speaking to young scholars and groups about her experience as a Civil Rights Activist.

“Brenda Travis is one of many unsung heroes of the Civil Rights Movement,” says Dace. “By sharing her experience as a Civil Rights Activist, guests have an opportunity to learn about other foot soldiers stories who don’t necessarily get the fame and recognition but were significant in making The Civil Rights Act of 1964 possible.”

Freedom 55: Mississippi’s Exiled Daughter with Brenda Travis is the first in a series of book signings 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: Mississippi’s Exiled Daughter with Brenda Travis is Saturday, March 23 at 1:00 p.m. at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. This program is free with general admission and open to the public. For more information, visit freedomcenter.org.

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