Categories
Public Info

Trailside Talk Features Rosa Parks In Celebration of Black History Month

Union County, NJ — Union County residents and visitors have the opportunity to “meet” Rosa Parks in a first-person interpreter presentation by Alexandra Ford of the American Historical Theatre. The event is free and is made possible by funding from the New Jersey Council for the Humanities. 

“The story of Rosa Parks is a reminder that individual actions can lead to extraordinary change,” said Freeholder Chair Alexander Mirabella. “The Freeholder Board is very proud to help keep her legacy alive through this special presentation.”

The program will take place on Thursday, February 13, from 7:00 P.M. to 8:00 P.M. at Union County’s Trailside Nature and Science Center, located at 452 New Providence Road in Mountainside. Ample free parking is located at the site.

Attendees must be adults age 18 or older or high school students. Space is limited and pre-registration is recommended through the Trailside Talks link on the Union County activities online registration website, https://secure.rec1.com/NJ/union-county-nj/catalog (scroll down for the Trailside Talks link).

Rosa Parks became an icon of the civil rights movement 65 years ago in 1955, after she was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a segregated public bus in Montgomery, Alabama.

Parks was an active member of her local NAACP chapter, and her arrest helped spark a 381-day boycott of the Montgomery bus system. The boycott marked the first large scale demonstration against segregation in the U.S.

“The story of Rosa Parks is a reminder that individual actions can lead to extraordinary change,” said Freeholder Chair Alexander Mirabella. “The Freeholder Board is very proud to help keep her legacy alive through this special presentation.”

Rosa Parks will be portrayed by Alexandra Ford, an actor-historian with the American Historical Theatre company. Ford has an AAS degree in Literature, Arts, and Philosophy from Camden County College, and earned her BFA degree in Theatre Studies from Montclair State University.

To research the role, Ford traveled to Montgomery and read extensively on the life of Rosa Parks and the civil rights movement.

Attendees must be adults age 18 or older or high school students. Space is limited and pre-registration is recommended through the Trailside Talks link on the Union County activities online registration website, https://secure.rec1.com/NJ/union-county-nj/catalog (scroll down for the Trailside Talks link).

The Trailside Nature and Science Center is a facility of the Union County Department of Parks and Recreation.

For more information on all activities for all ages including February Festivities at Trailside, call 908-789-3670 or visit ucnj.org/parks-recreation.

#  #

For all Union County programs and services visit ucnj.org, call the Public Info Line, 877-424-1234, email info@ucnj.org or use the online Contact Form.

Connect with Union County on social media.