Civil Rights Veteran Jim Kates To Speak On July 22 As City of Natchez, NAPAC hosts "Freedom Summer 1964"

The event at the Natchez Museum of African-American History & Culture will also include a free screening of the cinema verite film, "Black Natchez".

NATCHEZ, MISSISSIPPI, UNITED STATES, July 19, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Jim Kates, who served as a civil rights worker in Natchez in 1965, will return to the city as a featured speaker for "Freedom Summer 1964: Recognizing 60 Years" on Monday, July 22, 2024 to speak about his time in the Natchez Civil Rights movement.

The event will be held at the Natchez Museum of African-American Culture and History, also known locally as the "NAPAC Museum", which is located at 301 Main Street in Natchez, Mississippi. It is free and open to the public.

The evening begins at 5:30 p.m. with the showing of the film, “Black Natchez” (1967), a visual documentation of the civil rights movement in 1965 Natchez. Beginning after the bombing death of Wharlest Jackson, local NAACP treasurer, the film shows the organization of a secret, armed group for self-defense, The Deacons for Defense, while a power struggle begins between the NAACP and the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. But the main focus of the film is black people, (the men, women, middle-class and lower-class,) the black community of Natchez, and their decision-making process. The cinema verite style documentary by David Neuman and Ed Pincus has a run time of 62 minutes.

Afterwards, Kates will share his experiences and reflections, followed by a round table discussion with veterans of the movement, Mayor Dan M. Gibson, NAPAC Museum Director Bobby Dennis, Dr. Roscoe Barnes III of Visit Natchez, and others.

The event is hosted by the City of Natchez and the Natchez Association For The Preservation of Afro-American Culture (NAPAC), with assistance from Visit Natchez, (https://visitnatchez.org.)

For more information, call the Natchez Museum of African-American History & Culture at 601-445-0728.

ABOUT THE FEATURED SPEAKER
James (Jim) Kates became involved in the Civil Rights Movement in 1963 after his freshman year at Wesleyan University, when he and a group of friends in White Plains, NY helped solicit and collect donations for sharecroppers in Mississippi. In the summer of 1964, Kates served as a Freedom Summer volunteer in Holly Springs and Batesville, MS. Kates returned to Mississippi in the summer of 1965 to volunteer in Natchez.

The time between his two stays in Mississippi was spent first in Paris where he worked to organize the American community in Paris into a Paris Friends of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) / Council of Federated Organizations and then in Washington D.C as a volunteer in the SNCC office.

ABOUT THE HISTORIC CITY OF NATCHEZ
Founded in 1716, The City of Natchez, Mississippi, prides itself on being the oldest city on the Mississippi, and is dedicated to enhancing residents' quality of life while preserving its rich cultural heritage. The official city website is https://natchez.ms.us.

ABOUT NAPAC
The Natchez Association for the Preservation of Afro-American Culture (NAPAC) was created in 1990 to research, collect, exhibit, interpret and preserve cultural and historical contributions of Afro-Americans in the growth of Natchez and the nation. It was founded by Mary Lee Davis-Toles, Patricia A. Washington, Josie Gilchrist-Camper, Flora Terrell, and Mary White after many years of groundwork developing the concept of preserving Natchez Afro American history and culture.

One of the main on-going projects of NAPAC is the Museum of African-American Culture and History, which was established in May of 1991. Located at 301 Main Street, the Museum’s exhibits include: The tragic Rhythm Nightclub fire, information on the Forks of the Road, which was the second largest slave market in the South, and some of the literary works of critically acclaimed author Richard Nathaniel Wright, a Natchez native.

Ronda Doran, Assistant to the Mayor
City of Natchez
+1 601-445-7555
mayor@natchez.ms.us
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