The March Against Fear was a major demonstration in the 1960s Civil Rights Movement. It was originally launched on June 6, 1966 by activist James Meredith. James Meredith started a solitary walk from Memphis, Tennessee, to Jackson, Mississippi, a distance of 220 miles, to counter the continuing racism after the passage of federal civil rights legislation in the previous two years and encourage African Americans to register to vote. He invited only black men to join him and did not want it to be a large media event dominated by major organizations. Meredith was a desirable target for rituals of placement because of a combination of the factor he had history of highly publicized challenges to Mississippi’s racial order, his walk was framed as a confident if not arrogant repudiation custom.On the second day of his walk, Meredith was shot by a white gunman and was hospitalized.
The march is also the occasion when Stokely Carmichael, the new militant chairman of SNCC, introduced the idea of Black Power to a broad audience. Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. participated and continued to attract admiring crowds; his leadership and reputation brought numerous people out to see him, inspiring some to join the march. As the march headed south, the number of participants grew. Finally, an estimated 15,000 mostly black marchers entered the capital of Jackson on June 26, making it the largest civil rights march in the history of the state.
Part of FringeNYC 2016
PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE:
August 13 @ 1:15 pm
August 15 @ 7:00 pm
August 16 @ 2:45 pm
August 19 @ 6:15 pm
August 21 @ 9:15 pm
Age Guidance: 13
Show Notes: No Intermission
Audience Advisory:
NO LATECOMERS ARE ADMITTED at FringeNYC.