We are an organization of former civil rights workers who were active in the Southern Freedom Movement of the 1960s. We were staff and volunteers for SNCC, CORE, SCLC, and Delta Ministry. In the years since, we've all gone our various ways but regardless of where we are now we consider the Movement to be one of the defining experiences of our lives.
The bonds we forged in danger, struggle, defeat, and victory neither rusted, nor withered with age. In our hearts we still stand in that Band of sisters and brothers in a circle of trust.
Those of us who served in the Southern Freedom Movement and associated northern support centers are in a very real sense veterans of America's second civil war and second Reconstruction. And like veterans of other wars, we wonder where our old friends have wandered and how they have fared. And also like veterans of other wars, some of us suffer from forms of post-traumatic stress syndrome and others of our brothers and sisters have fallen on hard times.
We don't have a Veterans Administration — but we still have each other. Since 1999, we've met regularly as a support group to renew old ties, share and assess our movement experiences with each other, analyze current issues, plan activities, participate in current events, and generally seek to continue the work we shared in times gone by. Our activities include:
Keeping in touch with Movement veterans wherever they are, maintaining contact lists, and rebuilding our community.
Analyzing and recording the history of the Civil Rights Movement as seen by those who were part of it.
Speaking to groups who want to learn about the Civil Rights Movement.
Providing research interviews and materials on the Movement.
Helping this website be a resource for movement veterans and all those interested in the Civil Rights Movement.
Continuing to be active in current events and public affairs, doing what we can to defend justice and fight for freedom.
Photos
BayVets, 2004
Seated (L-R): Don Jelinek, Bruce Hartford, Jimmy Rogers
Rear (L-R): Betita Martinez, Wazir Peacock, Mike Miller, Chude Allen, Phil
Hutchings, Jean Wiley.
BayVets, 2016
Seated (L-R): Miriam Glickman, Marion Kwan, Don Jelinek, Chude Allen, Jean
Wiley
Center: Phil Hutchings
Standing: Hardy Frye, Bruce Hartford, Jimmy Rogers, Gene Turitz, Ron
Bridgeforth, Cathy Cade.
BayVets, 2018
Front: Chude Allen, Jean Wiley, Miriam Glickman, Marion Kwan
Rear: Bruce Hartford, Cathy Cade, Ron Bridgeforth, Gene Turitz.
