CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Fighting Illini student-athletes Tarique Barnes (football), Madison Hardamon (women’s track & field), and Kelly Ryono (softball), along with softball head coach Tyra Perry, and Associate Director of Athletics for Illini Way Student-Athlete Development Liz Reyes, took part in the second annual Big Life Series: Selma to Montgomery. This educational journey provided by the Big Ten Conference took place this past weekend July 14-16 in Selma and Montgomery, Alabama.
The trip opened Friday with visits to many of the local civil rights museums, including the Rosa Parks Museum, Freedom Riders Museum, and Montgomery Interpretive Center. Those in attendance Friday evening heard a speech from civil rights activist Sheyann Webb-Christburg, known as the “smallest freedom fighter”.
Saturday’s experiences began with a bus trip to Selma where attendees packed back-to-school backpacks with school supplies and balls provided by Wilson Sporting Goods. This was followed by a stop at the First Baptist Church where the landmark Selma to Montgomery civil rights march was spearheaded by the Dallas County Voters League in 1965. The Big Ten Conference was also presented with a Proclamation of Gratitude from the Selma City Council and a key to the city.
The Illini in attendance were able to hear from many local speakers including Mayor James Perkins Jr., Lynda Blackmon Lowery, and Warren Billy Young. Shortly after they made their own walk across the Edmund Pettus Bridge and visited the award-winning Legacy Museum, which provides an immersive experience from enslavement to mass incarceration.
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