Civil rights WARRIOR Priscilla Stephens Kruize is in failing health and needs to move into an Assisted Living Facility (ALF), which she cannot afford. Due to spinal stenosis at age 87, she is suddenly unable to properly care for herself or live on her own. During the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, Kruize and her sister, Patricia Stephens Due, led the first Jail-In of the nation as part of the Student Sit-In Movement, refusing to pay their fines and spending 49 days in jail with other students from Florida A&M University in Tallahassee. Their efforts as student leaders of their chapter of CORE (the Congress of Racial Equality) helped topple segregation in Florida. In 1961, she was kicked in the stomach by a police officer while she showed support for the Freedom Riders.
Like most activists, she did not gain wealth and instead dedicated her life to teaching and her Black Heritage Museum (which is now amassing large fees in storage). She has worked tirelessly to inspire young people and help keep Black History alive. But as a result, she has been living on only Social Security and a small pension from teaching. Her family is navigating the bureaucracy to get her the financial assistance she needs, but the process takes weeks, or months – so this is a short-term fundraiser to make sure she can live safely until her ongoing financial aid is in place. These funds would help cover her monthly housing and care as well as storage fees so her belongings are not lost. Family members have also been assisting her, but the costs are very high and will continue to accrue.
Priscilla Stephens Kruize is a living civil rights legend. When she and her sister were in jail in the 1960s, they received a telegram of support from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as well as diaries from baseball great Jackie Robinson. The two sisters later toured the nation to spread the word about the horrors of Jim Crow and racial discrimination. (Their civil rights story is detailed in the book FREEDOM IN THE FAMILY: A MOTHER-DAUGHTER MEMOIR OF THE FIGHT FOR CIVIL RIGHTS and fictionalized in the short story “The Rider” by Tananarive Due in the Jordan Peele anthology OUT THERE SCREAMING.) Please give whatever you can to help Priscilla Stephens Kruize during her time of need after she has given so much to others in her quest to make this a better country for all.
Like most activists, she did not gain wealth and instead dedicated her life to teaching and her Black Heritage Museum (which is now amassing large fees in storage). She has worked tirelessly to inspire young people and help keep Black History alive. But as a result, she has been living on only Social Security and a small pension from teaching. Her family is navigating the bureaucracy to get her the financial assistance she needs, but the process takes weeks, or months – so this is a short-term fundraiser to make sure she can live safely until her ongoing financial aid is in place. These funds would help cover her monthly housing and care as well as storage fees so her belongings are not lost. Family members have also been assisting her, but the costs are very high and will continue to accrue.
Priscilla Stephens Kruize is a living civil rights legend. When she and her sister were in jail in the 1960s, they received a telegram of support from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as well as diaries from baseball great Jackie Robinson. The two sisters later toured the nation to spread the word about the horrors of Jim Crow and racial discrimination. (Their civil rights story is detailed in the book FREEDOM IN THE FAMILY: A MOTHER-DAUGHTER MEMOIR OF THE FIGHT FOR CIVIL RIGHTS and fictionalized in the short story “The Rider” by Tananarive Due in the Jordan Peele anthology OUT THERE SCREAMING.) Please give whatever you can to help Priscilla Stephens Kruize during her time of need after she has given so much to others in her quest to make this a better country for all.
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