On Friday 21^st September STRS welcomed Mr Mark Levy, a Civil Rights Veteran who worked in the Mississippi freedom schools in the 1960s. Mark spoke about attending The March on Washington (where Martin Luther King Jnr. gave his famous ‘I have a Dream.. .’ speech). Mark spoke about why he decided to stand up against segregation and the risks he was willing to take. He spoke about the logistics of organising and attending rallies (and making 80000 cheese sandwiches) and why he felt it was important to stand up for those less fortunate. Mark’s talk had two main themes; 1. Are you an up stander or a bystander?  Asking students what they will stand for and against. And 2. The Civil Rights Movement is not over: even when we achieve something we fight for it can still be taken away.

Students really enjoyed meeting with Mark, he gave them lots of interesting insights into historical and political themes they have been studying. At the end of the day one tearful student approached Mark and said ‘It’s just so nice to know there are good people like you in the world’.

We would like to thank Mark for giving his time to visit us on his tour of the UK.