CNN Presents The Sixties Episode Five: A Long March To Freedom

June 26, 2014 by Masterclass Lady 8 Comments


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This week, CNN’s 10-part documentary, “The Sixties”, focuses on The Long March To Freedom.

And it was a long walk. A really long walk. And, unfortunately, we are still walking that walk.

Donna Brazile, a CNN contributor and a Democratic strategist sums up the significant events focusing on segregation during this decade:

“CNN on Thursday continues its series “The Sixties,” which explores the decade of historically significant social movements, people and events. The new episode — “A Long March to Freedom” — focuses on the Freedom Summer of 1964 for a very notable reason.

This week marks the 50th anniversary of Freedom Summer — the tumultuous period in our history when three young workers were kidnapped and murdered in Mississippi while attempting to register people to vote. James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner shall never be forgotten.

The three youths were civil rights workers in Mississippi who had taken their summer to help eligible citizens to register to vote, a right that state and so many others down South had denied for more than one hundred years.”

The entire article is a mandatory read to fully absorb the 60-minute episode on Thursday evening. It is well-formulated and very insightful.

The show airs on CNN on Thursday, June 26th at 9:00 PM. It is usually repeated again at 10:00 PM and additional times throughout the weekend.

Please share your thoughts in the comments section.

Politics, Television
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About Masterclass Lady

Rosanne (Giallonardo) Simunovic began her musical career in Timmins, Ontario. She studied piano with Anne Pizzale and later, at an advanced level, with Soeur Anita Vaugeois (Sister Cecile of Les Soeurs De L’Assomption in Timmins). Her vocal and accompaniment skills were nurtured by her aunt, the late Dorothea Mascioli. When Rosanne graduated from O’Gorman High School, she moved on to the University of Toronto where she continued her piano and vocal studies while attaining a Bachelor of Arts Degree. She was hired as a piano accompanist for several musical companies, most notably, the National Ballet Of Canada. She presently holds an A.R.C.T. Teacher’s Diploma in Voice from the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. Rosanne has studied choral conducting with numerous well known Canadian Conductors, including Wayne Riddell of Montreal, Quebec and the internationally renowned Dr. Elmer Iseler. She has been a founding member of numerous community-based arts organizations: the Timmins Arts Council, later known as Arts & Culture Timmins, the Timmins Symphony Orchestra, and, the Timmins Youth Singers…as well as the TYS Alumnus choir, the Timmins Concert Singers. In 1987, she was also selected to be the conductor of the Timmins Board Of Education Choir, comprised of talented students from Grades 5 to 8. In 1988, she was elected to the Board Of Directors of the Ontario Choral Federation (now known as Choirs Ontario), where she served as Chair of the Festivals Committee for six consecutive seasons. In 1996, in honour of the Ontario Choral Federation’s 25th Anniversary, Rosanne was selected as one of 25 recipients of the OCF’s Distinguished Service Award for outstanding contribution to the choral art. The ceremony was presided by Lieutenant Governor, Hal Jackman. In November 1997, Rosanne Simunovic was selected by the Rotary Club Of Timmins to receive the prestigious Paul Harris Award for her years of dedication to the artistic development of young musical talent in Timmins. In August of 2002, Rosanne Simunovic was selected by the Board Of Directors of Choirs Ontario to serve as Conductor of both the Provincial Junior and Teen Choir Camps, now renamed in honour of the Camp Benefactors, Don and Lillian Wright. In November 2002, Rosanne was the one of the recipients of the Commemorative Medal for the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II, honouring her work in the development of the arts in Timmins. Under Rosanne Simunovic’s direction, the Timmins Youth Singers and the Timmins Concert Singers have been featured in numerous choral festivals and performing opportunities outside of Timmins. In 1985, they were selected to partici
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8 Responses to “CNN Presents The Sixties Episode Five: A Long March To Freedom”

  1. Kariann Hart (@KariannHart) June 27, 2014 at 1:52 am

    I was quite familiar with the information presented tonight. Rosanne, I think I mentioned that I took a college course called, “The Civil Rights Movement, 1865 – to the Present.” We used the text, Julian Bond’s Eyes on the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Years, 1954-1965. I was the only white student in the class. It was quite the experience; one I haven’t forgotten. I learned a lot and contributed to the class. Have I mentioned this before.

    Again, there are way too many commercials, but a very good presentation.

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  2. louise June 27, 2014 at 5:48 am

    MCL and Kariann,
    I haven’t yet had a chance to watch this episode, but I recorded it and will watch some time this weekend. It’s a topic that interests me very much. A few years ago, one of Oprah’s shows honored the Freedom Riders. It was an excellent show so I’m sending the link to you in case you have not seen it . . . http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/Oprah-Honors-Freedom-Riders

    I am sure the course you took, Kariann, was very memorable. I worked for a college until I retired recently, and one of the professors I worked for, Dr. Kim Lacy Rogers, wrote a book of oral histories titled “Life and Death in the Mississippi Delta.” I proofed her manuscript for her and found it very interesting and moving. During the same period of time when I was reading her manuscript during the day at my job, in the evening I was also reading “The Secret Life of Bees” by Sue Monk Kidd which took place in South Carolina during the early 1960s. I had the sense that I was living in that time period for that brief time, and it was very frightening, heart-wrenching, and, at the same time, inspiring.

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  3. Masterclass Lady June 27, 2014 at 1:26 pm

    KariAnn – what a tremendous learning experience for you. And I am sure your contributions were exceptional.

    I was so upset watching this documentary. How can people be do mean-spirited to those whose color does not match their own. It’s unfathomable!

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  4. Masterclass Lady June 27, 2014 at 1:30 pm

    Louise – another link. Thank you. And I have to try to get my hand on those books. How wonderful they you contributed to the publication of one of these world.

    Also I found it remarkable that the documentary ended the Sammy Davis Jr. predicting in the SIXTIES that a black president would be in our lives 50 years later. UNBELIEVABLE

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  5. louise June 28, 2014 at 10:31 pm

    MCL, I’ve never looked at my proofreading job as a contribution to Kim’s book. She’s the one who did all of the research and spent many, many hours doing the oral histories that then resulted in this book. As a matter of fact, she won the Oral History Association prize for her book the year that it was published. Unfortunately, she passed away a few months ago so there will be no further research from her on this topic.

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  6. Masterclass Lady June 28, 2014 at 10:54 pm

    Louise – yours was still an important job. A good proof reader is important and she must have trusted you wholeheartedly to complete the task in an efficient and thorough manner. So sorry to hear that she has passed away but what enormous contributions she made during her lifetime.

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  7. Kariann Hart (@KariannHart) June 29, 2014 at 2:10 am

    I agree Louise, your job was important! Yes, Rosanne little did we know it would take so long for Sammy Davis’ comments to be fulfilled.

    I may have shared this before, but it is something I’ll be sharing for a long, long time. One evening in my Civil Rights Class, a bullet shot was heard. I kind of scrunched down near by desk, but every student and the teacher were lying on the floor. They had been taught from early on this is what you do when you hear shots. The bullet actually broke the glass in the classroom next to ours. Fortunately, no one was hurt.

    Things change, but in some way they don’t. This series is opening some wounds I have about the Vietnam War. My Grandchildren need to be aware of that war – all wars; however, they are too small to really understand right now. I was very angry with the Generals.

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  8. louise June 29, 2014 at 7:35 am

    Wow! That is quite an eye-opening story, Kariann. Most people who are white have no idea what it has been like to grow up black in America. Unfortunately, I think there are still far too many of us who have not advanced far enough in our understanding of this subject. It absolutely sickens me when I see the disrespect that our black president has had to endure because of the color of his skin. I know people make excuses and say it has nothing to do with his skin color, but I don’t believe it.

    I’m completely with you also about war. I have to admit being too shallow when I was young to realize just how wrong the Vietnam War was. But I did know that all of the “boys” my age were being drafted and it was a frightening time to live in. While I was completely opposed to the war in Iraq, at least the people who were in the military were volunteers. But back in the 1960’s, there were many young men who did not want to go to war, and had very little choice. My husband enlisted in the Air Force in 1968 instead of waiting to be drafted. He was one of the lucky ones who served his country during that time but was stationed in Germany for three years because he was a linguist. So many others were not that fortunate. I now have an 18 year old grandson and can’t imagine what it was like for people who had to send their grandsons off to war.

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