News Release
Contact
Laurie E. Bick-Jensen
Director,
Public Relations
320 DuPont Highway
New Castle, DE
19720
(302) 295-1164
laurie.e.bick@wilmu.edu
One Extraordinary Woman: Rosa Parks is at the Center of Black History Month at Wilmington University
"Such a Time" is Gwendolyn Briley-Strand's tribute to the woman whose refusal to "move to the back of the bus" ignited America's Civil Rights Movement.
On Wednesday, February 17, the Wilmington University College of Arts & Sciences, along with its Student Life department and the Robert C. and Dorothy M. Peoples Library present Gwendolyn Briley-Strand in her presentation of "Such a Time," a one-woman representation of the life and times of Rosa Parks in celebration of Black History Month.
The presentation will be held in Wilmington University's Doberstein Admissions Center (DAC) on the New Castle campus from 6:00 p.m.to 8:00 p.m. The presentation is free and open to the community to attend. No advance registration is required.
A quiet but self-determined woman, Rosa Parks was no stranger to segregation. Throughout her life, all of the services, products and entertainments that she participated in were supposed to be "separate but equal," but that was not the reality. Most often, dramatic racial inequality was the rule of the day.
On December 1, 1955, on the bus home from her job as a seamstress in an Alabama department store, Rosa Parks did the unthinkable. As an African-American woman, she was expected to board the bus and immediately move to the back for a seat. Instead, Parks entered the bus, paid her fare and sat in the first seat she found toward the front of the bus.
This simple act, combined with the fact that Parks would not give up her seat to a white woman when told to move by the bus driver, began a revolution for equality under the law like no other the United States had seen before.
“Wilmington University is honored to have Gwendolyn Briley-Strand present her impersonation of Rosa Parks, as we celebrate Black History month,” said Professor Lynn Moore, Regional Chair, Georgetown & Chair of History. “The quiet determination, courage and resolve of Rosa Parks will become apparent to all who attend this professional performance by this accomplished actress.”
Attendees are also invited to come early and experience “Portals through Time” an easy to view, museum-quality exhibit that covers the most pivotal times in both Black and American history. The exhibit will be open for viewing from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. in the DAC auditorium.
For attendance information, contact Lynn Moore by email at lynn.w.moore@wilmu.edu or phone by at (302) 856-5780. For more information about the presentation and exhibit, visit www.seethefruits.com.
