Charles O. Prickett

I first saw Dr. King at the March on Washington on August 28, 1963.  I was one of over 500,000 who were on the Capital Mall that hot day in Washington, D.C.  The atmosphere was charged with feelings of solidarity and optimism.  Dr. King took the podium, and after the first sentence of his “I Have a Dream” speech, the entire crowd became silent.

I relate my experiences in the 1960s civil rights movement to students in a variety of educational settings. I have presented to elementary, middle school, and high school students, as well as to community colleges and universities, both undergraduate and graduate classes. My program of presentations has earned me the Carter G. Woodson Memorial Award from the National Education Association at their 2019 meeting in Houston, Texas. So far, no one has complained or suggested that I am teaching something called Critical Race Theory.

I propose to present an engaging program addressing justice, civil rights and equality in a civil society. The program puts you in the trenches of the civil rights movement in the 1960s. These are the events that lead to the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

During the summer of 1964, I was one of about 1,000 volunteers who came to Mississippi to assist SNCC (Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee), CORE (Congress of Racial Equality), and COFO (Council of Federated Organizations) in the struggle for civil rights. During that summer, we operated Freedom Schools, organized the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, tried to…

Critical Race Theory is not being taught in schools, except seminars in grad school or law school. I see all those people shouting about CRT as a threat to their child’s education as uninformed and frightened racists.  A legislator in Tennessee said his reason for proposing legislation to keep it our the public schools is ‘I…

I have spent my life helping others learn and grow in the area of racial diversity. It has been my mission in life. I want to help you contribute where, and how you can.

Are you struggling with how to bring diversity to your organization, or write a Diversity Statement for your organization? Diversity Statements for Businesses and Organizations Diversity is all about the unique ways we differ as people, and the value those differences bring to our workplace and our organization. Some of our differences are physical, such…

John Lewis:  A Brother I met John Lewis during the1964 Mississippi Summer Project, later known as  Mississippi Freedom Summer.  I had heard him speak at the March On Washington in August of 1963.  He was very focused and forceful, but his speech was changed because some felt it called for violence, and the following passage…

African American life and history were an integral part of the civil rights movement in the 1960’s, especially the Mississippi Freedom Summer of 1964.  This particular part of the push to empower Black communities all across Mississippi and the South significantly impacted public education and spurred the achievement of equal opportunity for Black communities.               Even though…

Civil Rights:  Then and Now The civil rights movement in the 1960s is being reflected in today’s movements, but it appears history is repeating itself in the public perception of today’s Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement to the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.  There are many more similarities and differences, but the main difference…