When thinking of the Civil Rights Movement, Gainesville doesn't immediately come to mind.
But "Freedom Ride 2008," a 25-minute documentary that surveys Alachua County's Civil Rights Movement, proves that Gainesville played an important role.
The documentary will air three times per day on Alachua County's Community 12 Television through mid-March. The documentary aired in early February for Black History Month.
Community 12 TV producer Alan Yeatter said the station has done special programming for Black History Month since 2005. Yeatter said he saw the re-dedication of the Gainesville bus depot in Rosa Parks' honor as the perfect opportunity for this year's filming.
"It's important to understand our history so we have a better understanding of our present," he said.
The film opens with Alachua residents singing and clapping to the word "freedom" as they ride a Regional Transit System bus with same word flashing on a display at the front of the bus.
Leslie Cosby, Gainesville High School's first African American teacher, said it's important for younger generations to understand what happened during the '50s and'60s.
"If you have no idea what's going on, then you don't realize the opportunities you have because of what someone else sacrificed," she said.
"It's nice to know both sides of the coin," she said.
Yeatter said that because Gainesville has a large student population and sees a lot of people coming and going, the area's history may not be widely known.
"People might think of the civil rights movement in more national terms without really thinking about what things were like within our own community," he said.
According to Cosby, experiencing the Civil Rights Movement in Gainesville was different than it would have been in a big city because of the tight-knit community developed by UF.
"Gainesville is a unique town," she said. "Always has been, always will be."
