While the most important civil rights legislation was passed in the 1960s, the social, economic, and legal transformation made possible by that legislation has taken decades to implement and adjust. Learn about Freedom Summer with Mitch Gurfield who spent 1963 in Mississippi and key civil rights leaders including Thurgood Marshall, Marian Wright Edelman, Hattie Canty, John Lewis, and Bryan Stevenson who brought civil rights to life in the courts, educational institutions and museums, the labor movement, and Congress. How did these important individuals open doors for future leaders and create new institutions that continue to shape civil rights today? And if these names don't ring a bell for you, join in the dialogue between Katherine Kidd and Will Singleton as they explore the trajectory of civil rights from 1968 to the present. 

Will Singleton is a frequent OLLI instructor and taught the summer 2025 civil rights course that covered civil rights history to 1968. Will earned a doctorate in education and worked as a teacher, principal and school superintendent. He returned to the Berkshires in retirement where he revived the Berkshire County NAACP and served on the boards of the Clinton Church Restoration and the WEB DuBois Center. 

Katherine Kidd teaches regularly for OLLI drawing on her background as a university-level teacher and administrator. She earned her doctorate at the University of Pennsylvania. She has worked in Latin America, the former Soviet Union, and Africa where the lessons of the civil rights movement informed her work on human rights in an international environment. 

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