Atlanta Student Movement Boulevard honors local Human Rights Advocates
On Monday, November 1 Atlanta marked a milestone in its rich human rights tradition by renaming a portion of a busy street Atlanta Student Movement Boulevard. The event was marked with a march through part of the Atlanta University Center and a site dedication. The celebration featured some of the founding members of the Atlanta Student Movement which was led by members of the Committee for the Appeal for Human Rights. In 1960, the Movement, led by Morehouse College students Lonnie King and Julian Bond, organized fellow young people to nonviolently attain recognition of their civil and human rights through sit-in strategies, marches, rallies and boycotts. They published “An Appeal for Human Rights” in several local and national newspapers, making the case for equality and dignity under the law.
Fifty years later, their example continues to belie notions that inertia, violence, inequality and inhumanity are realities we must tolerate. It was an honor to mark the occasion in Atlanta with so many activists who worked as wise leaders and tireless advocates in the American Civil Rights Movement when they were just about 20 years old, and continue to provide a meaningful, tangible examples of what it means to be a lifelong engaged citizen at 70 years old. Recognizing that this group lost patriots to the violence of the 60’s and all along the way, we realize that the Atlanta Student Movement story must be used to remind young people that they are capable of leadership and action today. The world needs no less from them now than it did of King and Bond and thousands of their peers fifty years ago. It’s humbling to know that the Center will be part of that work, and we were proud to be part of the celebration of the courage and commitment that created the Atlanta Student Movement and made it one our most effective examples of domestic, youth-led social action.