The Culture Corner and the Humanities Division of Minnesota West CTC, along with Southwest State University at Marshall are sponsoring the National Endowment of the Humanities Civil Rights speaker, Hollis Watkins, who will speak at a public college forum at 12:00 noon on, February 3 in the Fine Arts Theater on the Worthington Campus of Minnesota West.  Hollis Watkins has spent his life serving others for the cause of civil rights. A native of Summit, MS, he joined the NAACP youth group in 1959, when he was just 17. In 1961, at age 19, he joined the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) as a voting rights activist. During the civil rights era, he educated and registered African Americans to vote, even though his life was threatened daily by those who didn’t want African Americans to participate in the electoral process. Like most members of SNCC, Watkins was jailed several times for his activities, which included attempts to integrate lunch counters in the South. In 1964, Watkins helped organize Freedom Summer in Mississippi, and he traveled with the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party to the Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, NJ, to attempt to unseat Mississippi’s segregationist Democratic delegation.  Watkins continues his activism to the present day, and he maintains a rigorous schedule of speaking engagements around the country. “The battle is not over," he said. "I grew up knowing something was wrong. We're all children of God" (qtd in Mott). Mott, Ronnie. “Hollis Watkins.” Jackson Free Press. 12/3/12.   At the conclusion of Watkins’ presentation, he will entertain questions from the audience.  The event is free and open to the public.   If you are planning to bring an entire class, please contact me for group seating at:  le.lucht@mnwest.edu or at 507-372-3423.