FREEDOM RIDER RETURNS TO PARCHMAN AFTER 62 YEARS

Mississippi State Penitentiary, Parchman, MS (Jan 25) – For the first time in 62 years, Hezekiah Watkins visited the cellblock where he was unjustly imprisoned at Parchman Prison in 1961… as a 13-year-old teenager.
[NAT SOT, Watkins walking in Unit 17 at MSP]
Teenager Watkins only wanted to see the Freedom Riders that hot Sunday in July 1961, as they marched on the Greyhound bus terminal in downtown Jackson. But as a joke, his friend pushed him into the terminal where he was nabbed by police, put on a bus, and shipped to Parchman along with 327 protesters.
[SOUNDBITE]
[Graphic: Hezekiah Watkins, Freedom Rider]
“I dreaded coming here today. I really wasn’t a Freedom Rider. I was just a 13-year-old boy who went to the bus station to look at the Freedom Riders, not to be one. I just wanted to see what a Freedom Rider looked like. It was all intriguing.”
[NAT SOT, Marker unveiling]
To mark the occasion, Mississippi’s Dept. of Archives & History unveiled a marker at the front entrance of Parchman.
[SOUNDBITE]
[Graphic: Teirsen Olivier, Organizer]
“Freedom Riders were not only African-American, they were multi-cultural. They were young and old, teachers, educators, pastors.”
[SOUNDBITE in the chapel, Watkins addressing the audience]
“Mississippi is a different Mississippi than it was in 1961 and I’m proud of that. And the reason I’m proud of that is because I was part of that change that made Mississippi the new Mississippi that it is today.” (applause)
[NAT SOT tag, Supt. McClure presenting gold cell door key to Watkins]
To end the ceremony, Parchman Superintendent Marcus McClure presented Hezekiah Watkins with the brass key that had locked him inside his cell in Unit 17, 62 years ago.
Today, the 75-year-old Watkins recounts those days at the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum in Jackson.

[haroldjosephcollinsIII]

I am a Correctional Officer at The Central Mississippi Correctional Facility resigned. And i studied at The University of Memphis. American History is the Course. And i don't remember seeing his face in my Text Book being Freedom Rider.. ~ University of Memphis Student.