BSC plans march to honor former student's courage during the Civil Rights ERa | News

BIRMINGHAM, AL (WBRC)- Birmingham-Southern College announced today it's making some big plans to be part of the commemoration next year of the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights movement in 1963.

Marti Turnipseed was a 19-year-old Birmingham-Southern College student in 1963 when she heard on the radio that seven African-American girls were staging a sit-in at the Woolworth's counter and decided she was going to go be a part of it.

The biggest event Birmingham-Southern is planning is a march from campus to downtown Birmingham to commemorate the courage of a Birmingham-Southern alum whose role and sacrifice to help the movement hasn't been very well-known until now.

"She could've just easily turned away and said ‘That's somebody else's problem, that's somebody else's headache,' but she chose to get involved," said Birmingham Mayor William Bell.

Turnipseed was arrested and expelled from school but ulitmately came back to graduate a year later.

BSC will stage the march April 24 where students and faculty from the college, Miles College, and the Footsoldiers organization will all march together to commemorate Turnipseed's courage.

VIDEO: Birmingham-Southern to honor former student

"Her individual concern for her fellow man and woman and the type of person she represented is something we want to emulate and we're going to on the 24th of April," said Gen. Charles Krulak, Birmingham-Southern College President.

"One of the hallmarks of a liberal arts education is that it's not just about the knowledge you gain, but how you apply that knowledge to change the world, and Marti Turnipseed understood that," Bell said.

The mayor says Secretaries of State Condoleeza Rice and Hillary Clinton have been invited to participate in the march, just part of the city's 50th anniversary commemorations next year.

"This is not just about looking at magnificent, important, and critical history, but it's also about where are we today, and where are we going to be tomorrow," Gen. Krulak said.

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