Standing Witness commemorates the 150^TH anniversary of the ending of the American Civil War, abolition of slavery and assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. The weekend events begin with a symposium in the new Student Union Theater at San Jose State University. The program traces advances and struggles in civil rights and civil liberties of Californian pioneers of color from Emancipation to the turn of the 20^th century, from San Francisco Bay to San Jose.

The Standing Witness Symposium will include Keynote presenter Professor Herbert Ruffin, Syracuse University Department of African American Studies, a San Jose State University alumnus and author of Uninvited Neighbors: African Americans in Silicon Valley 1769-1990 (University of Oklahoma Press). With Prof. Ruffin will be a presenter from the Muwekma tribe, Stan Yogi of the ACLU, an expert on the actions of activists in California during the Civil War, Fr. Jerry Drino, who will describe the work of Rev. Cassey, Bonnie Montgomery on anti-Chinese racism in California, Jean Libby presenting the story of John Brown’s family who settled in Saratoga, and discussion of prejudice against Latinos in the state from the end of the Civil War into the 20th Century.

The symposium is  sponsored by Canterbury-Bridge student organization, the Rev. Kathleen Crowe, Chaplain.