Voting-rights activist and U.S. Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) will deliver a public address Oct. 16 at the University Auditorium at 7 p.m.
The event is free and open to the public and will be streamed live.
In 1963, Rep. Lewis was nationally recognized as one of the Big Six leaders of the Civil Rights Movement and was named Chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Rep. Lewis was a keynote speaker along side Martin Luther King Jr. at the March on Washington. Lewis is known for organizing the march from Selma to Montgomery known as “Bloody Sunday” which helped to expedite the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
A roundtable discussion on the Voting Rights Act – moderated by UF political science professor Dan Smith and including UF political science professor Michael McDonald, author Ari Berman, journalist Brentin Mock, and Miami-based attorney Lida Rodriguez-Taseff – precedes the speech at 4 p.m.
The University Auditorium box office will open at 5 p.m. on the day of the event. Tickets will guarantee a seat until 6:45 p.m., then seats will be filled on a first come, first served basis. The top two floors of the parking garage on Museum Road and Newell Drive are reserved for this event and will open at 4:30 p.m.
