Mississippi Freedom Rider to speak Feb. 22 at Algonquin library

Civil rights activist and Freedom Rider Thomas M. Armstrong III will speak from 7 to 8:15 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 22, at Algonquin Public Library's Harnish Main Library, 2600 Harnish Drive. He will speak about his life and his memoir "Autobiography of a Freedom Rider: My Life as a Foot Soldier for Civil Rights" (Health Communications Inc., 2011).

In the segregated Deep South, when lynching and Klansmen and Jim Crow laws ruled, there stood a line of foot soldiers ready to sacrifice their lives for the right to vote, to enter rooms marked "White Only," and to live with simple dignity. They were called Freedom Riders, and Thomas M. Armstrong was one of them.

Armstrong, a native of Silver Creek, Mississippi, was the first resident of the state to join the Freedom Rides in 1961. His choice to publicly confront segregation had heartbreaking consequences: fearing for his life, he left his home, friends and family to live an extremely private life for decades. He broke his silence about his involvement in the early struggle for racial integration with the hope of inspiring young people to realize the personal power of civic engagement.

Armstrong has built an online community of people around the world who are working to make positive change in their communities.

For more information about Armstrong, visit www.footsoldiersjourney.com.

This program is presented in cooperation with Community Unit District 300 African American Parent Advisory Committee.

To register, visit www.aapld.org.