Blackhawk Technical College hosting ‘Freedom Summer’ exhibit with Wisconsin Historical Society

JANESVILLE — Blackhawk Technical College is hosting a Wisconsin Historical Society traveling exhibit about the summer of 1964, when thousands of Mississippi citizens, volunteers and civil rights activists challenged segregation and voting laws during what would later be known as “Freedom Summer.”

Open to the public, the exhibit, known as “Risking Everything: A Freedom Summer Exhibit for Students,” is in Blackhawk’s Student Success Center at the Central Campus, 6004 S. Highway G, Janesville, and is available for viewing from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Aug. 22.

The Freedom Summer Exhibit remembers the hundreds of people who were beaten, arrested or murdered in the fight for equality.

Their efforts and pleas for fair voting rights were met with widespread violence by community leaders, local police and state officials.

The Blackhawk Technical College Multi-Cultural Alliance and Student Success Center have teamed up with the Wisconsin Historical Society to bring the exhibition to the campus.

It includes 77 historic photographs, documents and memorabilia. The exhibit has appeared in venues throughout the country, with more than 100,000 attendees to date.