Students prepare to talk about the need for a new social movement, while revisiting the past in an upcoming discussion panel, at 4 p.m. Tuesday in Room 4440 in Booth Library.

The panel, “Revisiting the Civil Rights Movements of the 1960’s” is part of the Revolutionary Decade series at Booth.

Felix Kumah-Abiwu, a professor of Africana Studies, will be moderating the panel. The students in charge of the panel are from the African-American Social movement course.

The panel will focus on some of the successes of past civil rights movements and also look at the current conditions to see if a new social movement is needed.

“The whole idea of our presentation is going to center on the Civil Rights movements against racial segregation in many parts of the south,” Kumah-Abiwu said.

The panel will focus on the idea of representation, both then and now, for African-Americans all over the country.

“The Civil Rights movement of the 1960s has really brought the conciseness of the American public to things such as the Jim Crow Laws,” Kumah-Abiwu said.“ The laws virtually separate blacks and whites and because of that, there was oppression in public facilities.”

The student panel will be using the ideas from the past to answer the question of whether or not there needs to be a new social movement to help address the current state of affairs going on in the country.

“The struggle for civil and political rights is the centerpiece for our presentation,” Kumah-Abiwu said. “We know that there have been great achievements that have been made in terms of progress.”

Kumah-Abiwu also said the progress made in terms of civil and political struggle is a huge achievement but there remains a bigger question to be answered. Kumah-Abiwu also said the discussion of a new social movement would be the centerpiece of the student panel.

“In spite of all the progress that’s been achieved in the past fifty years, there’s a debate among observers that there is a need for a new social movement,” Kumah-Abiwu said. “So the question is that why do many observers believe that there needs to be a new social movement.”

Luis Martinez can be reached at 581-2812 or lpmartinez@eiu.edu.