Having spent the last four decades exploring the intersection of spirituality and psychology in his role as a UQ researcher; Richard Hutch looks back fondly on the college summer break that changed his life, and American history.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
It was 50 years ago this year when a 19 year old Richard Hutch, then a student at Pennsylvania's Gettysburg University, heeded the call of Martin Luther King Jr to join in the struggle against racial segregation in the American Deep South.
Recruited among a group of white northern college students trained in non violent community organising, Dr Hutch volunteered to make the journey to Barbour County, Alabama, the home town of state governor, George Wallace; infamously known as the 'poster boy of Southern racism.'
"Daily we would go as volunteers out to the cotton fields, down the dusty dirt roads, knocking on the doors of very poor black people trying to mobilise them to register to vote," says Dr Hutch
"We would all march down to the courthouse and protest the barring of black voters... our aim was to bring national attention to what was essentially understood as just a 'black problem' in the South."
For a young student the decision to join African American countrymen in protest at the appalling treatment of Southern blacks was one that came easily, despite the very real risks it entailed.
Recalling his time in Alabama, Dr Hutch remembers an extremely hostile, even violent white community.
Referred to as 'outside agitators' and 'communist scum', Dr Hutch and his fellow activists were punched, kicked, run off the road and shot at by locals who resented them and all they represented, but they were not deterred.
"My father was a union man in northern New Jersey... always this guy who was working for people who were not as fortunate as others," explains Dr Hutch
"When I said I was going south he didn't say all that much, but in retrospect I think there was some deep appreciation that I was more like him than he ever imagined I would turn out to be."
Another great man that inspired the young Mr Hutch to do his part for social justice was Dr Martin Luther King Jr, a man whose mere presence was awe inspiring.
"We trained for a week in June 1965 at a black college in Atlanta Georgia... He (Dr King) would schmooze with us, he would wander from group to group chatting and he would do this every night for a week," recalls Dr Hutch
"When we were assigned our counties he came up to me and said 'all the best to you, thank you for doing this, Dick."
Fifty years on, Dr Hutch is keen to share his memories of the civil rights movement with a new generation with a public lecture set for later this month.
When his thoughts return to the present and the state of his adopted home of Australia, Dr Hutch shares his concern for the younger generations, who he believes lack leaders of courage and conviction.
"We're now taught that only the hip pocket counts and that's a woeful shame I'm afraid to say," he said.
When met with the proposition that social media is the tool of choice for a new generation of social justice activists, Dr Hutch suggests that nothing can replace the power of men and woman on the streets.
"Twitter and Facebook are just the warm-up for people going out and putting their bodies and money on the line on behalf of freedom and justice." he explains
"I still sound like quite the idealist" he says with a sigh.
Associate Professor Richard Hutch will present his public lecture 'Marching to the Courthouse for Freedom' on May 29.
For more information visit http://www.hass.uq.edu.au/event/public-lecture-marching-courthouse-freedom
