'We Shall Not Be Moved' opens in Athens - Dec. 19-Jan. 24

Thursday, December 19, 2013

photo The new exhibit at the McMinn County Living Heritage Museum in Athens, Tenn., includes this image of a sit-in at a Walgreens in downtown Nashville on Feb. 20, 1960.

IF YOU GO* What: "We Shall Not Be Moved: Tennessee Civil Rights Sit-Ins."* When: Through Jan. 24. Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday (closed holidays).* Where: McMinn County Living Heritage Museum, 522 W. Madison Ave., Athens, Tenn.* Admission: $5.* Phone: 423-745-0329.* Website: living heritagemuseum.com.

The landmark events that helped shape the civil-rights movement of the 1960s are the focus of an exhibit at the Living Heritage Museum in Athens, Tenn.

"We Shall Not Be Moved: Tennessee Civil Rights Sit-Ins," a traveling exhibition developed by the Tennessee State Museum, provides an intimate look at the role Tennessee students played in shaping the modern civil-rights movement. It also was on display at Chattanooga's Bessie Smith Cultural Center earlier this year.

Although civil-rights history rightfully focuses on the work of Martin Luther King Jr., the stories of unsung heroes has remained largely untold, exhibit organizers say. "We Shall Not Be Moved" lifts these important "foot soldiers" into their rightful place in history, telling their story through artifacts, photographs and audio-visual media.

Visitors will come away with an understanding of African-American life during Jim Crow that provided the background for the sit-ins, how students were recruited and organized for the purpose of nonviolent protest and how their efforts facilitated permanent social change.