January 20, 2026 A Dialogue with Freedom Riders: Sharing Stories and Thoughts Relating to the Past and Present

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In the summer of 1961, Lew Zuchman and Luvaghn Brown joined the movement to challenge racial segregation. Lew traveled by bus to Mississippi, and Luvaghn joined the movement as he saw people putting their lives at risk for the cause of racial justice. Together they faced violence and arrest in the struggle for civil rights.

Join us on Tuesday, January 20, 2026 from 7-9 PM, for an evening of learning and conversation as they reflect on the paths to becoming Freedom Riders, the friendship that developed, and the trajectories that followed.

This special program is co-sponsored by Hebrew College’s Miller Center for Interreligious Learning & Leadership,  Facing History & Ourselves, and Temple Beth Zion, Brookline, MA.

More about our speakers

Luvaghn Brown, a native of Jackson, Mississippi, graduated from Lanier High School in June of 1961 at the age of 16. His first arrest came the following month at a Woolworth lunch counter. This was the beginning of his active involvement in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. His second arrest came when he sat on the white side of a courtroom while attending the trial of a fellow Freedom Fighter. He worked in Jackson in direct action and travelled doing voter registration in Mississippi as a Field Secretary for the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). He moved to Chicago where he worked with the Friends of SNCC in local politics, organizing demonstrations, fundraising, and preparing for the March on Washington. He then moved to New York and worked with the local SNCC office and with the New York CORE group in direct action campaigns. He also worked as a remedial reading and math teacher for HARYOU (Harlem Youth Unlimited). Luvaghn went on to earn a Masters Degree in Social Work from SUNY Stony Brook.

He has remained active in his community, having served as president of the local school board and Senior Warden of his church. He served 6 years on the Town of Greenburgh Planning Board and currently serves on the Domestic Violence Council of Westchester County. He co-chairs the Business Skills Olympics program which is designed to help high school students understand business challenges through a competition using Harvard Business cases. He works with a nonprofit that feeds the homeless, provides needed shelter, and provides scholarships to kids from the shelter.

He is a member of the White Plains Juneteenth Committee, and a member of the African American Men of Westchester. He is also a member of the Admissions Committee for New York Medical College.Luvaghn has been a Taiji/Qigong practitioner for 20 years and he loves golf. Several years ago he suffered a stroke, but continues his contributions, when and where he can. He has been happily married to his wife, Anne, for 30 years. Their daughter, Belinda, is received her bachelor’s degree from Carnegie Mellon, and her Masters in business from the University of Illinois. She works with her mother and continues to be a source of family pride.

Lew Zuchman was an ‘original’ 1961 Freedom Rider. The Freedom Rides are considered by historians as a critical opening chapter in America’s Civil Rights Movement. Mr. Zuchman began his Greyhound bus trip to Jackson, Mississippi at the tender age of 19 and was one of the three youngest Freedom Riders to participate in this momentous event. Mr. Zuchman was incarcerated for 40 days in Mississippi’s notorious Parchman State Penitentiary for his ‘Breach of Peace’ violation.

Lew continued his Civil Rights activism from his 1961 Freedom Ride arrest and incarceration through 1966. His activism included the following: (1) Chairperson of the Bridgeport Congress of Racial Equality (CORE); (2) Participant in Mississippi Voter Registration and ‘Southern Sit-in Movement’ (1962- 1965); (3) Participant in the ‘Meredith March Against Fear’ in Mississippi (1966). Mr. Zuchman’s Civil Rights activism has been documented in numerous books, and, documentaries including: “Breach of Peace”; “Freedom Riders”; “Down to the Crossroads”; “Grandpa was a Freedom Rider”; etc. Mr. Zuchman served as Co-Chairperson of Mississippi Freedom 50 in 2011, celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Freedom Rides. Mr. Zuchman served as a Committee Member of Mississippi Freedom Summer, a 2014 ‘fiftieth’ commemoration of the celebrated Mississippi Voter Registration efforts of 1963, and the tragic murder of three civil rights activists. Lew Zuchman recently served as Chairperson of Freedom Sixty, celebrating the 60th Anniversary of the Freedom Rides.

After Mr. Zuchman left the Civil Rights Movement, he graduated from Columbia University School of Social Work. He has worked in the East Harlem, Harlem, and South Bronx communities for the past 55 years. He has served as Executive Director of SCAN-Harbor, Inc. (formerly SCAN New York) for the past thirty-five years. SCAN-Harbor is the largest youth service provider in the communities of East Harlem, Harlem, and the South Bronx. He also has served as a Civil Rights spokesperson for Facing History and Ourselves and is currently an Adjunct Professor at the Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership at the City College of New York.