Donation in Honor of Rugenia Moore Henry, Civil Rights Activist

Mia Henry

Mia Henry has an extensive career in youth development, community organizing, and civic and history education. She directs the Freedom Lifted Tours that provide opportunities for immersion in social movement history through Alabama, Mississippi, North Carolina, and other sites of civil rights significance. Her own civil rights education began at home, being the daughter of a civil rights activist in Alabama, whom she honored with a recent donation to the Zinn Education Project.

Rugenia Moore Henry in high school and today.

Mia wrote, “My mother, Rugenia Moore Henry, was one of the first seven students to desegregate Litchfield High School* in Gadsden, Ala. in 1966. She participated in many other marches and demonstrations while a high school student and in college at Alabama State University. I feel very lucky to have been raised by my own hero.”

Mia’s life is rooted in civil rights activism, having learned from her parents and extended family in the south. Through her work and with contributions to the Zinn Education Project as a sustaining donor, her impact is exponential.

Mia noted, “As we fight for justice in the present and for the future, the Zinn Education Project arms us all with the truth about the past.”

Join Mia Henry by making a donation today. Click here to find out how.

*There is no online description of the desegregation of Litchfield High School. Mia Henry has committed to address that soon. In the meantime, here are a few of the many other stories about the Civil Rights Movement in Gadsden: “I’ll Never Forget Alabama Law” by CORE and SCLC activist William Douthard; memorial for activist William Moore; and Gadsden teens’ journey to March on Washington.