MEET A CIVIL RIGHTS HERO

Foot Soldiers Park and Journeys to Change, a program by the Ossining Public Library, is hosting a special event June 5, at 6:30 p.m. at the Ossining Camille Budarz  Theater,

Ossining Public Library  53 Croton Ave., when guests can meet and hear the story of Joanne Bland, who by the age of 11 had been arrested 13 times (that are documented).  She was an active participant in Bloody Sunday, marching alongside 600 and was brutally beaten, tear-gassed and hit by clubs from policemen on horses.  

Bland is the founder of the Foot Soldiers Park a nonprofit organization based in Selma, Alabama, which is dedicated to preserving civil rights history and revitalizing the community and inspiring youth. 

“My early involvement in the struggle against “Jim Crow,” the American apartheid, has been the foundation and fuel for my civil and human rights work,” she said.

Bland will tell her story followed by  Q&A led by Joyce Sharrock-Cole, Ossining Village Historian.  

All  are welcome; registration is suggested. For more, contact Abbe Marcus at

845-494-9288 or abbe@journeys2change.com.