Nan Freeman, 18, was a student from Massachusetts at New College in Sarasota when she gave her life picketing with striking sugar cane workers at 3:15 a.m. on Jan. 25, 1972, at Talisman Sugar Plant in rural Florida. A double tractor-trailer rig with 70,000 pounds of struck sugar cane raced into the plant entrance, crushing her to death. “To us she is a sister who picketed with farm workers in the middle of the night because of her love for justice,” Cesar Chavez wrote.
Making the hard choice of having your life count for something meaningful can have life-changing consequences—life-ending consequences for Nan Freeman. She is little known today, but her death—and the moral courage she showed in life—is universally compelling and as important today as when she died 48 years ago.
The sacrifice of this young Jewish woman will be recalled during a panel discussion and memorial service at 2 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 24, 2020, with her family and friends, the United Farm Workers, Coalition of Immokalee Workers, National Farm Worker Ministry and Young American Dreamers in the CEO Lounge of the Jane Bancroft Cook Library at New College of Florida, 5800 Bay Shore Rd., Sarasota, Florida 34243.
UFW Event page at: https://www.facebook.com/events/1457784427712736/
For location of events:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Jane+Bancroft+Cook+Library/@27.3856274,-82.5600085,18z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0xc9e754516a0e1898!8m2!3d27.3849558!4d-82.5586781 (Parking is in the lot south of College Dr. on the west side of campus.)
For more about Nan Freeman: https://ufw.org/nanfreeman/