“The Civil Rights Kid”: a one man play with Ray Rickman, Stages of Freedom

This brand new, 30 minute, dramatic enactment was developed by Ray Rickman to portray his teenage years in the 1960s as a Civil Rights advocate in Michigan and Mississippi.

The Civil Rights Kid has been workshopped at Bryant University and Bristol Community College and will now be presented on Monday, February 5th at 7 PM at the Weaver Public Library at 41 Grove Avenue, East Providence.

Rickman will depict three major racial incidents in which he was one of thousands of young African Americans in the shadow of James Meredith, Martin Luther King, Jr., and others, as they worked on front lines to fight for Civil Rights legislation. 

This dramatic performance will be followed by a Q&A session.

Rickman has a long 42 year record of Civil Rights involvement in Rhode Island, and currently serves as the Executive Director of Stages of Freedom, an award winning non-profit organization that promotes Black culture for the entire community. He has conducted over 300 diversity and race relations workshops for businesses, colleges and government agencies over the past 30 years. The former executive director of the Providence Human Relations Commission, he was EEO Officer for both Lifespan and the City of Providence. He is also a former president of the American Civil Liberties Union and his work with Stages of Freedom provides swimming lessons for low-income and African American youth for the past nine years through its groundbreaking Swim Empowerment initiative.