Black History Month Keynote Speaker Jesse Epps

Jesse Epps remembers vividly the horror of watching a black man being shot, dragged into the street and run over continuously by a car – all because he refused to step down from the sidewalk to let a white man and his daughters pass.

That was the reality of Jim Crow-segregated Dublin, Miss., where Epps grew up. At age 12, his life had changed forever.

“Because of that experience, I almost became a racist,” Epps told students, faculty and staff at the Black History Month keynote address held on Tuesday, February 10, in the BLC Theater. “I vowed that if I ever became a man, I would kill every white man that I saw.”

However, Epps, a union leader and civil rights activist, urged the audience to remember the words written by the Founding Fathers in the Declaration of Independence and echoed by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. – that “all men are created equal.”

“Why did King come to Memphis and start the process? King used the foundation of the Founding Fathers’ work,” Epps said. “It was the young people, just like you, who King had challenged to go forward and willingly apply the principles of the great republic.”

Epps is well known for his involvement in the Sanitation Workers’ Strike in Memphis, Tenn., in 1968. As an assistant to the International President of AFSCME (American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees), Epps was sent to Memphis to help settle the strike against the city by workers who suffered from low wages, nonexistent benefits and inhumane working conditions. Epps worked closely with King when the minister joined to help in the struggle. The strike ended when King was assassinated, but Epps and AFSCME were able to negotiate a contract for the 1,300 workers.

In his career, Epps also worked for the International Union of Electrical Workers at Local 320 in Syracuse, N.Y., served as Chief Steward and as an Executive Board member on the Educational and Civil Rights Committees.

Don Brown, director of the University’s Center for Multicultural Affairs and Community Service, said this year’s theme Ordinary People Equipped for Extraordinary Leadership of Black History Month, sponsored by the Black Student Union, represents two core values and Rider’s mission to celebrate diversity and to demonstrate that real leadership is derived from service.

“Our keynote speaker exemplifies those two values,” Brown explained. “His presentation allows us to look back and connect to history.”

The day before King was assassinated, he said “(God has) allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land” in his I’ve Been to the Mountaintop speech.

Brown asked Epps if King’s vision came true when Barack Obama became president.

“I don’t think any of us could conceive that a black man – a person with a name like Obama would become president of the United States during our time,” Epps replied. “But it is the beginning of the dream.”

Black History Month continues with Color of Music, a ceremony featuring students in various music performances going through a timeline of black music, from 7 to 10 p.m. on Friday, February 27, in the BLC Theater; A Black Affair from 9 p.m. to midnight on Saturday, February 28, in BLC Fireside Lounge; and Black Student Union Gospel Fest at 5 p.m. on Sunday, March 1, in BLC Theater, with a Soul Food Dinner to follow in the BLC Cavalla Room.