LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (July 13, 2012) - Dr. Terrence Roberts of the Little Rock Nine and Bliss Ann Malone Hunter of the Freedom Riders will be guest speakers at UALR's 2nd annual Civil Rights Heritage Commemoration and Public Forum Saturday, July 14, at the William J. Clinton Presidential Center Park.
Hunter, one of the five Freedom Riders who came to Little Rock in 1961, will give the keynote address with remarks by honorees and attorney Christopher Mercer Jr. Minnijean Brown Trickey will speak on behalf of the Little Rock Nine.
In addition to Roberts and Trickey, Elizabeth Eckford, Carlotta Walls LaNier, and Thelma Mothershed Wair of the Nine are scheduled to attend.
Following the commemoration, which will be at 9:45 a.m., the forum will be held from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the Great Hall of the Clinton Presidential Library. Roberts will speak on the legacy of the 1957 desegregation of Central High.
The events are free and open to the public.
The full list of honorees include attorney Christopher Mercer Jr., publishers and NAACP civil rights activists L.C. and Daisy Bates, and the Little Rock Nine - Melba Pattillo Beals, Elizabeth Eckford, Ernest Green, Gloria Ray Karlmark, Carlotta Walls LaNier, Thelma Mothershed, Terrence Roberts, Jefferson Thomas, and Minnijean Brown Trickey.
The UALR's Institute on Race and Ethnicity will host the event marking the one-year anniversary of the institute, and heritage markers bearing the names of each of the new honorees along the Arkansas Civil Rights Heritage Trail will be revealed.
(Source: UALR Office of Communications)