Georgia teen to visit her red dress at CMHR

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 24/09/2014 (4402 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Her dress is already at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights and now Mareshia Rucker of Abbeville, Georgia will be joining it next month.

Rucker, 19, wore the dress at the Integrated Prom 2013 for graduating students of Wilcox County High School in the United States.

Up until last year, prom night had been a racially segregated event with white students and black students each having their own. In 2013, Rucker and a group of friends provided the leadership to raise the funds and organize a prom that was open to all. Rucker wore the red gown that is now on exhibit in the “Inspiring Change” gallery at the CMHR in Winnipeg.

The dress represents the courageous story of the student-led initiative to close a racial divide.

Through a crowd-funding initiative on the internet, donors have raised enough money for Rucker, her mom, grandmother and at least two, and hopefully all three of the other prom organizers to travel to Winnipeg. They’ll attend a special event on Nov. 24 for those featured in the museum’s top 10 stories.

“Oh my goodness, I am just so excited about this and so grateful,” said Rucker, 19, in a telephone interview. She is now a student at Fort Valley State University where she is studying mass communications, public relations and broadcasting, while maintaining a 3.5 grade-point average.

“I’m just completely blown away. I just appreciate so much all the support and the donations that people have given. I’m just so happy and my heart is just full right about now.”

The motivation behind the Integrated Prom 2013 was simply love, friendship and the desire to see everyone treated the same regardless of skin colour — concepts that clearly have a long way to go to gain acceptance, not just in Georgia but in many places in the world.

The students were friends and classmates who simply wanted to celebrate their high school graduation together.

“It is a really good feeling knowing that other people care about the fact that you did something that you felt was right. So therefore everything ended going very well for us,” Rucker said.

The other prom organizers included Rucker’s best friend Quanesha Wallace, who is also black, and two of their white friends Stephanie Sinnott and Brandon Davis.

Rucker said it feels right that the red dress is now being shared with the world in the human rights museum because the dress was shared with her by someone.

“It actually came from promgirl.com, it was donated,” Rucker said.

Matthew McRae, the former researcher/curator-turned-communications advisor who brought Rucker’s story to the CMHR, said the museum is thrilled that Rucker will be able to attend the Nov. 24 event.

“One of the questions we wanted to answer in the Inspiring Change gallery is what does change look like? Well, change can look like a prom dress,” McRae said, noting his mom was one of the more than 75 donors who contributed to the Provision for the Vision fund to bring Rucker to Winnipeg.

Rucker said an integrated prom was held again in 2014 and she hopes there is enough support from community leaders to go forward with just one prom that is open to everyone.

“I talked to some students that went to it and they said that it was good but everyone is still comparing that prom to the prom that we had,” she said. “Hopefully it just gets better each year.”

On her Integrated Prom 2013 Facebook page, she shares her inspirational view of the road ahead.

“I have always known that in life, there is a curve called failure, a loop called confusion, speed bumps called friends, and flat tires called jobs,” Rucker stated. “Nevertheless, I also have come to the realization that if you have a spare tire called determination, an engine called perseverance, insurance called faith, and a driver called passion, you will make it to a place called success.”

 

ashley.prest@freepress.mb.ca