By Tyra Jackson

The Selma Times-Journal

ArtsRevive will host its “A Look at the Movement from Differing Perspectives” humanities book discussion on Feb. 19 at 7 p.m.- 8:30 p.m at the Carneal Building.

Martha Lockett, executive director of ArtsRevive, said the discussion would be more of a personal reflection from panelists.

Panelists for the discussion include McArthur Award winner Billie Jean Young, Pulitzer Prize winner Howell Raines and journalist and University of South Alabama artist-in-residence Frye Gaillard.

Gaillard will speak of his account of the Voting Rights Movement as a journalist and historian.

In addition, he will talk about his findings from his book “Cradle of Freedom,” and some of his experiences and talks with leaders in Selma.

“I think it’s important people know and remember what happened,” Gaillard said. “It’s important to remember the heroism and struggle.”

Gaillard wasn’t directly involved in the movement, but his heart was.

“I didn’t do anything particularly dramatic,” he said. “ I was one of the people who were sympathetic to the movement.”

Gaillard was in college at the time of the movement, and when he graduated he applied his writing skills toward reporting about the Voting Rights Movement. He said he spent a great deal of time in Selma talking to individuals.

The movement made Gaillard question society and himself.

“It made me ask what kind of person I wanted to be, and the place I wanted to live in,” Gaillard said.

Unlike Gaillard, Billie Jean Young was directly associated with marches and the Civil Rights Movement.

As a secretary for the Southwest Alabama Farmers Cooperative Association (SWAFCA), she helped organize some of the movements for farmers. Young also collected stories for SWAFCA’s newsletters.

“SWAFCA was the coming together of farm families, in 10 Black Belt counties, to receive a better price for their crops,” Young said. “We were the advocates for that.”

She said SWAFCA helped raise the price of peas and cucumbers, which produced a political repercussion, its first year of establishment. Also, she said the organization would sell produce to states outside of the South.

“State troopers would stop the refrigerated trucks from shipping because they would pull drivers over because of some type of violation,” she said.

“We were fighting every inch of the way. At several points, our staff could not be paid because our grant would be held up by state officials.”

The Voting Rights Movement has totally impacted Young’s life, and her career has been based around service to her own people by making sure their stories are told, she said.

Young said it’s critical for all people to know how they can fit into the struggle.

Respectively, she said it is of utmost importance she helps to tell the stories of the movement for youth and posterity at the discussion.

“We can not expect other people to tell our stories for us, we must tell them ourselves,” Young said.

The free event is funded by the Humanities Foundation.