UMW Celebrates Life, Legacy Of Civil Rights Giant James Farmer

FREDERICKSBURG, VA — The University of Mary Washington on Monday kicked off a yearlong celebration of the life of the late civil rights pioneer Dr. James L. Farmer Jr., who taught history at UMW from 1985 until his retirement from teaching in 1998. The celebration, called "Farmer Legacy 2020," will honor Farmer on the centennial of his birth by examing the historical context of his life and the ways in which U.S. society currently acts on principles important to him, including civic engagement, access and inclusion.

At Monday's event, students and university administrators spoke about about what Farmer's work means to UMW and the advancement of civil rights. Farmer served as the primary driver of the 1961 Freedom Rides to desegregate buses and other types of interstate travel in the South.

With a turnout of nearly 500 people, speakers at Monday's event at the James Farmer Multicultural Center included Student Government Association President Jason Ford, UMW junior Courtney Flowers and UMW President Troy D. Paino.

Through UMW's Social Justice Trips in 2018 and 2019, Ford has followed in the footsteps of Farmer and Rep. John Lewis of Georgia, a civil rights icon, and retraced the route of the Freedom Riders, experiences he shared with Lewis when he was a member of a UMW group that met with the congressman in Washington last fall.

Ford, a senior from Culpeper, shared with the audience on Monday a question he asked Lewis: "How do people of my generation continue the fight today, especially with such institutionalized oppression?"

Lewis responded: "You cannot forget the fight that has already been fought so far."

Both Farmer and Lewis were among the original 13 participants in the 1961 Freedom Rides, organized by Farmer's Congress of Racial Equality (CORE).

A California native, Flowers, who spoke at Monday's event prior to Ford, was so compelled by what she learned about Farmer during a high school project that she decided to enroll at UMW to take part in the James Farmer Multicultural Center.

In his remarks, UMW President Troy Paino said that he is confident that there will be a "revival of democracy" in the United States and hopes that everyone who attended Monday's event will be inspired by Farmer and Lewis' hope and optimism.

As part of the celebration of the centennial of Farmer's birth, "What would Dr. Farmer fight for today?" is one of the questions the UMW community will be asking throughout 2020.

Lewis, who was named honorary chair of UMW's "Farmer Legacy 2020: A Centennial Celebration and Commitment to Action," was unable to attend the event after the diagnosis last month that he has stage 4 pancreatic cancer. During his fight against cancer, Lewis has said he might miss a few votes in Congress as he undergoes treatment but plans to run for re-election to his Georgia seat this fall.

Born in Texas in 1920, Farmer co-founded CORE at the age of 22. The group organized several protests of segregated facilities in the 1940s and 1950s. Farmer, together with CORE, led the 1961 Freedom Rides into several Southern states to test Supreme Court rulings that outlawed segregation in interstate transportation and bus terminals.

On Monday, Del. Joshua Cole of Fredericksburg introduced a motion in the Virginia state Capitol in honor of the centennial of Farmer's birth that stated when the House stands adjourned at the end of the day, it will stand in honor of Farmer. The motion was approved by the House of Delegates.

Farmer retired from his teaching position at UMW in 1998. He died on July 9, 1999, of complications from diabetes in Fredericksburg.