By Nick Ubels (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: March 13, 2013
From Martin Luther to Martin Luther King, Jr., popular history often focuses on charismatic figures who capture the public imagination. This spotlight of attention can make it easy to forget countless individuals that have worked tirelessly to support those figures.
Jack O’Dell, one of history’s unsung heroes, will visit UFV this Thursday to speak with students about his experience in the U.S. civil rights, anti-poverty and peace movements of the 20th century and its relevance to today’s progressive causes.
The 89-year-old colleague of Martin Luther King, Jr., Jesse Jackson and Andrew Young has spent a lifetime committed to promoting equality and social justice through his leadership in organizations as varied as Dr. King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Freedomways magazine, Pacifica Radio and the PUSH/Rainbow Coalition.
His uncompromising beliefs and early connections to the Communist Party of America have pushed him out of the spotlight, but that hasn’t stopped O’Dell from helping realize significant reforms in American society.
Thursday’s talk will focus on 1965, a year that held key successes for the American civil rights movement, including the signing of the Voting Rights Act, which outlawed practices used to prevent African-American citizens from voting. O’Dell will examine this moment of legislative change in the context of the two decades leading up to and following it.
“Dr. King used to say that it’s important to collect facts, but you don’t get the truth until you get the relatedness of facts,” O’Dell said. “I want to relate those four decades to the present situation.”
Since retiring to Vancouver in the 1990s, O’Dell has focused on speaking with young activists and passing on his knowledge to a new generation. This is how Ian Rocksborough-Smith, the sessional UFV history instructor responsible for bringing O’Dell to campus, first met the activist as an SFU student.
“I’ve known Mr. O’Dell for quite a long time because I had the chance to get to know him and write part of my master’s thesis about his activism and some of the organizations he was involved in,” he said.
Rocksborough-Smith asked O’Dell to come speak to his second-year American history class but decided that other students could benefit from the first-hand account.
“I think Mr. O’Dell provides a really valuable perspective to young people going to school today,” he said. “We’re really privileged to have someone like Mr. O’Dell to make time to come and speak to students here on campus.”
Jack O’Dell will be speaking at UFV from 2:30 to 4:00 p.m. this Thursday, March 14, in room B121 on the Abbotsford campus.
