Michael S. Van Leesten: Bridge Builder

Activism in Providence, 1965 to Present Day
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A Life Rooted In Activism

Michael S. Van Leesten was born on July 29th, 1939, in Providence, Rhode Island. He was a graduate of Hope High School, Rhode Island College, and was a veteran of the United States Air Force. Van Leesten was active in the Civil Rights movement and as part of the Freedom Rider movement he participated in voter registration efforts in rural Alabama, before returning home to Providence, Rhode Island. He would later point to his early activism experiences as defining moments in his life.

Freedom Riders

As a student at Rhode Island College, Michael S. Van Leesten formed the aptly named Rhode Island Students for Equality (RISE), exemplary of his climb as a civil rights leader in the community. As a co-chair of the group, Van Leesten brought over John E. Maddox (president of the Providence branch of NAACP) and Irving J. Fain (co-chairman of Citizens United for a Fair Housing Law) and gathered a crowd over 200 strong.

Days later Van Leesten headed a march throughout the city in support of fair housing and anti-discrimination legislation, converging at the Rhode Island State house.

Voter Registration

Michael S. Van Leesten joined the Freedom Riders in Choctaw County, Alabama as a part of SCLC SCOPE to register black southerners to vote, in defiance of the absurd obstructionist rules in towns in Alabama dictating that black citizens could only register to vote on the first Monday of the month, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Ku Klux Klan attempted to terrorize and intimidate Van Leesten and his colleagues, and segregationists assaulted them verbally, physically, attacking him and his colleagues with pepper spray in response to their fight against voter suppression. That summer, by Van Leesten’s count, they registered over 1,000 people to vote. Michael S. Van Leesten and the many others he travelled with planted the seeds for the continued activism of an unfinished fight against voter discrimination and suppression in the South.

Workforce Development

Michael S. Van Leesten was one of four founders of the Opportunities Industrialization Center (OIC).  It began with a vision borne of the civil rights work on Alabama’s streets registering voters to participate in the democratic process. Returning home to Providence, Van Leesten realized the energy of the civil rights movement in anti-poverty efforts, being appointed to the executive board of the largest anti-poverty project in the city, Progress for Providence Inc.. Within months of this appointment Michael Van Leesten joined with Clifford R. Montiero, Rev. Arthur L Hardge, and Charles “Moe” Adams to form the city’s first center dedicated to the career training of underemployed and unemployed minorities, based off of the original Rev. Leon Sullivan Philadelphia OIC.

Present Day

Michael S. Van Leesten passed away on August 23rd, 2019.  His infallible dedication to justice and patronage serves as a model for all who want to create change in their communities.

In these difficult times, a new generation of leaders has come up, ready to face the battles ahead. Those who advocated for Rhode Island’s long overdue name change, the Rhode Islanders who marched in the peaceful protests honoring victims of police brutality such as George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, and all who exercised their right to vote in an unprecedented election — all have honored the memory of Mr. Van Leesten by following the same playbook laid out by him and other prominent Black leaders of his time. As our nation reckons with the realities of racial injustice that still exist today, let us take time to remember the men and women like Mr. Van Leesten who came before us; the men and women who built the bridges that we have walked across.

In the Summer of 2020, the Providence City Council voted to rename the Providence Pedestrian Bridge in honor of Michael S. Van Leesten. This landmark in the City of Providence will now pay homage to a man who spent is life building bridges towards justice and equality.

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If you would like to be notified when the full documentary “Michael Van Leesten: Bridge Builder” is released, please complete the form below.

To send photos, videos, and/or audio to be included in the documentary, please email MGiles@providenceri.gov.

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