There once was a girl named Weslee who accepted the fact that she had a boy’s name, except when others teased her for it. She didn’t think it was fair and their comments were sometimes too mean and they affected her self esteem. The weather was nice out one day during a track meet, so she decided to enter a sprinting contest as a boy, and it was a sight to see. She thought there was no way she could lose whether she was a girl or not, unless her shoe lace was loose which actually happened two days before. While she was waiting stationary for the race to start, she thought she might alter her strategy. It’s not right that a girl had to race with boys in order to prove herself. But she had to do something; it was the principle of the matter. Instead of racing, she decided to write to her principal on her new stationery, and effectively fix her problem. The letter went a little something like this:
Dear Principal Fasko,
You’re very good school administrator, but I believe that your job is also to keep bullying out of the school system. It seems these days woman are meant for only one thing, and it’s to go to the altar and get married, then become a housewife. It’s a sort of rite of passage. But I don’t want to be that kind of girl. I am okay with having a boy’s name, and I want to be able to do everything that a boy can do. I hope that this letter will affect the thoughts of other girls as well. Please stop the bullying in our school, because they’re hurting people’s feelings. It could leave people with lasting effects later in life.
Sincerely, Weslee
Who’s to say this letter wouldn’t help? She needed to go directly to the site of the problem, and that is what she did. She wanted to help someone else whose life was like hers, and one day, maybe be cited for her work, even if she had to trek across the country to get it. But then again, that might cost her a large bus fare.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Coretta Scott King
The wife of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was no stranger to the hardships of African Americans in the mid 1900s. She was born April 27, 1927, in Heiberger, Alabama. She was quickly exposed to the horrible effcets of segregation. She had to walk for five miles everyday to a one room school house, while her whites peers road buses to a bigger, much nicer school that was even closer in distance. Despite her obstacles, Corretta managed to succeed in the world of academia and graduated as valedictorian of Lincoln High School. She then went on to study music in Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio. There she received a BA in music and education. She was then offered a scholarship to attend The New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, MA. There she studied concert singing. This is where she met Martin Luther King, Jr. for the first time, as he was attending theology school. They fell in love and were married on June 18, 1953. Martin Luther King, Sr. married them.
Mrs. King then finished school and followed her husband to Alabama. There she was found side by side with her husband as an active memeber in the Civil Rights Movement. She and her first born child barely escaped death when their home was bombed in 1956. Because she had a degree in singing, Mrs. King put on what was called Freedom Concerts to raise awareness for the Civil Rights Movement, and this put her in the spot light. She was then ask to speak publicly all the time. She was the first woman to deliver the Class Day Address at Harvard and the first woman to preach at the St. Paul's Cathedral in London, England.
After her husband's tragic death she was determined more then ever to keep his dream, that he spoke so passionately about, alive. She created the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change. She also began writing a book titled My Life with Martin Luther King, Jr. Mrs. King maintained her husband's commitment to the cause of economic justice. In 1974 she formed the Full Employment Action Council, a broad coalition of over 100 religious, labor, business, civil and women's rights organizations dedicated to a national policy of full employment and equal economic opportunity.
Mrs. King led the successful campaign to establish Dr. King's birthday, January 15, as a national holiday in the United States. By an Act of Congress, the first national observance of the holiday took place in 1986. In 1985 Mrs. King and three of her children were arrested at the South African embassy in Washington, D.C., for protesting against that country's apartheid system of racial segregation and disenfranchisement. Ten years later, she stood with Nelson Mandela in Johannesburg when he was sworn in as President of South Africa.
She kept MLK's dream alive and continued to inspire other people just as he had in the past.
"Coretta Scott King." Academy of Achievement. 2 May 2007 http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/kin1bio-1.
Mrs. King then finished school and followed her husband to Alabama. There she was found side by side with her husband as an active memeber in the Civil Rights Movement. She and her first born child barely escaped death when their home was bombed in 1956. Because she had a degree in singing, Mrs. King put on what was called Freedom Concerts to raise awareness for the Civil Rights Movement, and this put her in the spot light. She was then ask to speak publicly all the time. She was the first woman to deliver the Class Day Address at Harvard and the first woman to preach at the St. Paul's Cathedral in London, England.
After her husband's tragic death she was determined more then ever to keep his dream, that he spoke so passionately about, alive. She created the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change. She also began writing a book titled My Life with Martin Luther King, Jr. Mrs. King maintained her husband's commitment to the cause of economic justice. In 1974 she formed the Full Employment Action Council, a broad coalition of over 100 religious, labor, business, civil and women's rights organizations dedicated to a national policy of full employment and equal economic opportunity.
Mrs. King led the successful campaign to establish Dr. King's birthday, January 15, as a national holiday in the United States. By an Act of Congress, the first national observance of the holiday took place in 1986. In 1985 Mrs. King and three of her children were arrested at the South African embassy in Washington, D.C., for protesting against that country's apartheid system of racial segregation and disenfranchisement. Ten years later, she stood with Nelson Mandela in Johannesburg when he was sworn in as President of South Africa.
She kept MLK's dream alive and continued to inspire other people just as he had in the past.
"Coretta Scott King." Academy of Achievement. 2 May 2007 http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/kin1bio-1.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
What? How?
The Civil Rights Movement was sparked by many events that left the African American people of our country angry and pained. There were many acts of violence against their community that were completely wrong anf uncalled for. They were ready for a change. Here is a time line of events that were either a cause of the movement, or steps in the right direction.
1954-(May 17) Brown v. Board of Education: This case decided that segregation was unconstitutional, and it over turned the Plessy vs. Fergeson case that allowed segregation with a "seperate but equal" law.
1955-(Aug.) Emmett Till: A fourteen year old who was beaten and shot, then left for dead in the Tallahatchie River after being kidnapped in Mississippi. He was excused of whistling at a white woman, and the men who kidnapped him thought that death would be the best punishment.
(Dec. 1) Rosa Parks: Refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white person, which was custom at the time in the South. Her arrest started the boycott of the bus line in Montgomery AL, by the black community. This was one of Martin Luther King's first civil rights movement participation. Buses were desegregated Dec. 21, 1956.
1957- (Sept.) The Little Rock Nine: Central High School attempted to desegregate their all-white school, but the nine African American students were blocked from entering. President Eisenhower had to call in troops to get the students into the school. Integration wasn't going to be as simple as once believed.
1960- (Feb. 1) Greensboro, N.C.: Four black students North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College are refused service at a Woolworth's lunch counter. They begin a sit- in protest which sparks many other non-violent protests through out the South. They are finally served lunch at the same spot six months later.
1961- (May 4) "Freedom Riders": Student volunteers begin taking bus trips through the South to test out new laws that prohibit segregation in interstate travel facilities. They are harassed by angry mobs all along the way.
1954-(May 17) Brown v. Board of Education: This case decided that segregation was unconstitutional, and it over turned the Plessy vs. Fergeson case that allowed segregation with a "seperate but equal" law.
1955-(Aug.) Emmett Till: A fourteen year old who was beaten and shot, then left for dead in the Tallahatchie River after being kidnapped in Mississippi. He was excused of whistling at a white woman, and the men who kidnapped him thought that death would be the best punishment.
(Dec. 1) Rosa Parks: Refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white person, which was custom at the time in the South. Her arrest started the boycott of the bus line in Montgomery AL, by the black community. This was one of Martin Luther King's first civil rights movement participation. Buses were desegregated Dec. 21, 1956.
1957- (Sept.) The Little Rock Nine: Central High School attempted to desegregate their all-white school, but the nine African American students were blocked from entering. President Eisenhower had to call in troops to get the students into the school. Integration wasn't going to be as simple as once believed.
1960- (Feb. 1) Greensboro, N.C.: Four black students North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College are refused service at a Woolworth's lunch counter. They begin a sit- in protest which sparks many other non-violent protests through out the South. They are finally served lunch at the same spot six months later.
1961- (May 4) "Freedom Riders": Student volunteers begin taking bus trips through the South to test out new laws that prohibit segregation in interstate travel facilities. They are harassed by angry mobs all along the way.
Time Line Continued...
1962- (Oct. 1) James Meredith: The first black student to enroll at the University of Mississippi. Violence and riots surrounding the incident cause President Kennedy to send 5,000 federal troops.
1963- (April 16) MLK: Wrote Letter from Birmingham Jail after being arrested during an anti- segregation protest in Birmingham, Alabama.
(June 12) Medgar Evers: NAACP field secretary is murdered and Byron De La Beckwith is tried twice in 1964, both times resulted in hung juries. He is finally convicted of murder thirty years later.
(Aug. 28) "I have a dream" Speech: MLK deilvers his famous speech to over 200,000 people during the March on Washthington protest at the Lincoln Memorial.
(Sept. 15) Sixteenth Street Baptist Church: Four girls are murdered are murdered when attending Sunday school when a car explodes outside of the church. This incident is followed by riots which result in more young deaths.
1964- (Aug. 4) Neshoba Country, Miss.: The bodies of three civil-rights workers—two white, one black—are found in an earthen dam. They were arrested by the police on speeding charges, incarcerated for several hours, and then released into the hands of the Ku Klux Klan, who then murdered them.
1965- (Feb. 21) Malcolm X: Black nationalist and founder of the Organization of Afro-American Unity, is shot to death.
(March 7) "Bloody Sunday": Blacks begin a march to Montgomery in support of voting rights but are stopped at the Pettus Bridge by a blockade. Fifty protesters are hospitalized due to police tear gas, whips, and clubs.
(Sept. 24, 1965) Affirmative Action: President Johnson issues Executive Order 11246, and enforces affirmative action for the first time.
1968- (April 4) Memphis, Tenn: Martin Luther King, just shy of 40, is shot on the balcony of his hotel room. Escaped convict and committed racist James Earl Ray is convicted of the crime.
"Civil Rights Timeline." Infoplease. 8 Apr. 2007 http://www.infoplease.com/spot/civilrightstimeline1.html.
1963- (April 16) MLK: Wrote Letter from Birmingham Jail after being arrested during an anti- segregation protest in Birmingham, Alabama.
(June 12) Medgar Evers: NAACP field secretary is murdered and Byron De La Beckwith is tried twice in 1964, both times resulted in hung juries. He is finally convicted of murder thirty years later.
(Aug. 28) "I have a dream" Speech: MLK deilvers his famous speech to over 200,000 people during the March on Washthington protest at the Lincoln Memorial.
(Sept. 15) Sixteenth Street Baptist Church: Four girls are murdered are murdered when attending Sunday school when a car explodes outside of the church. This incident is followed by riots which result in more young deaths.
1964- (Aug. 4) Neshoba Country, Miss.: The bodies of three civil-rights workers—two white, one black—are found in an earthen dam. They were arrested by the police on speeding charges, incarcerated for several hours, and then released into the hands of the Ku Klux Klan, who then murdered them.
1965- (Feb. 21) Malcolm X: Black nationalist and founder of the Organization of Afro-American Unity, is shot to death.
(March 7) "Bloody Sunday": Blacks begin a march to Montgomery in support of voting rights but are stopped at the Pettus Bridge by a blockade. Fifty protesters are hospitalized due to police tear gas, whips, and clubs.
(Sept. 24, 1965) Affirmative Action: President Johnson issues Executive Order 11246, and enforces affirmative action for the first time.
1968- (April 4) Memphis, Tenn: Martin Luther King, just shy of 40, is shot on the balcony of his hotel room. Escaped convict and committed racist James Earl Ray is convicted of the crime.
"Civil Rights Timeline." Infoplease. 8 Apr. 2007 http://www.infoplease.com/spot/civilrightstimeline1.html.
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
When? Where?
After becoming the pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, King became a member of of the executive committee of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (Bowling, 116). He mobilized the black community during a 382-day boycott of the city's bus lines. He overcame arrest and violent harassment (the thing he was trying so hard to stop. His work paid off however, when the US Supreme Court decided that the segregation of public buses was unconstitutional. In 1957 King was elected president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which provided leadership for the civil rights movement.
For the next eleven years King was speaking anywhere that injustice or protest occurred relating to the civil rights movement. He traveled over six million miles and spoke over twenty-five hundred times all across the country. He also managed to finish five books and many other articles on the subject. He tooks his ideals for leadership from his strong Christian background, and operated in his organizations using the Gandhi’s techniques. His famous “I Have a Dream” speech took place in Washington, DC, where he led a peacful march that some 250,000 people participated in (Martin).
Bowling, Lawson. Shapers of the Great Debate on the Great Society; A Biographical Dictionary. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2005.
"Martin Luther King." NobelPrize.Org. 6 Feb. 2007.
For the next eleven years King was speaking anywhere that injustice or protest occurred relating to the civil rights movement. He traveled over six million miles and spoke over twenty-five hundred times all across the country. He also managed to finish five books and many other articles on the subject. He tooks his ideals for leadership from his strong Christian background, and operated in his organizations using the Gandhi’s techniques. His famous “I Have a Dream” speech took place in Washington, DC, where he led a peacful march that some 250,000 people participated in (Martin).
Bowling, Lawson. Shapers of the Great Debate on the Great Society; A Biographical Dictionary. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2005.
"Martin Luther King." NobelPrize.Org. 6 Feb. 2007
Monday, March 19, 2007
Who?
Martin Luther King Jr. was born in Atlanta, Georgia. When he was just two years old, Martin Luther King Sr. took the pastor position at the Ebenezer Baptist Church, replacing his father-in-law (Martin).This is when King’s strong Christian background began to emerge. His family, church, and school were the most important thing in King’s life as a child. King was quoted saying
There were also several instances that occurred when King was young that influenced his way of thinking in a negative way. For example starting at the age of five, King was influenced by witnessing soup lines during the Great Depression. At the age of six he felt what it was like to be subjected to racism. The father of one of his white friends banned his son from playing with King because he was a child of color (Moses, 10). Despite these negative events in King’s young life, when he first entered public school, he proved to be an excellent young student (Bowling, 116).
Gandhi was one of the major influences on King’s operational philosophies. Gandhi believed on solving problems, big and small, with out using violence. Gandhi’s philosophy and technique of Satyagraha is the resistance to tyranny through truth and nonviolence (Misra 21). Truth, nonviolence, and Ahimsa, or love, are the bases of Satyagraha. Truth is the fullest possible concordance of one’s experience of a fact or and event or a thought by one’s senses and reason which one believes with one’s whole being as a witness (Misra, 32). Nonviolence is non-injury to any living creature by thought, word and deed in its negative aspect, and love or identity of interest with the ‘others’ in its positive aspect. All life is one (Misra, 32).
Gandhi believed that if injustice blocked the path of individuals or a community from living normal, free from fear lives, then they should adopt Satyagraha as a weapon. They should insist on truth being established and resist all authority or source of evil with nonviolence. He felt that conflict of interests are inevitable, but he believed that the ultimate interests of all are one and therefore, one should strive hard to see that no violence occurs, no destruction takes place, no bitterness is generated, and a solution is found which is just to both sides (Misra, 35). Gandhi’s moral law applies equally to all people, whether you are a common citizen, merchant, lawyer, politician, or a solider (Misra 24). He felt that until people can see that all human life is an integrated whole, there could be no peace in the world (Misra, 24).
"Martin Luther King." NobelPrize.Org. 6 Feb. 2007 http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1964/king-bio.html.
Bowling, Lawson. Shapers of the Great Debate on the Great Society; A Biographical Dictionary. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2005.
Misra, K.P., S.C. Gangal. Gandhi and the Contemporary World. Delhi: Chanakya Publications, 1981.
There were also several instances that occurred when King was young that influenced his way of thinking in a negative way. For example starting at the age of five, King was influenced by witnessing soup lines during the Great Depression. At the age of six he felt what it was like to be subjected to racism. The father of one of his white friends banned his son from playing with King because he was a child of color (Moses, 10). Despite these negative events in King’s young life, when he first entered public school, he proved to be an excellent young student (Bowling, 116).
Gandhi was one of the major influences on King’s operational philosophies. Gandhi believed on solving problems, big and small, with out using violence. Gandhi’s philosophy and technique of Satyagraha is the resistance to tyranny through truth and nonviolence (Misra 21). Truth, nonviolence, and Ahimsa, or love, are the bases of Satyagraha. Truth is the fullest possible concordance of one’s experience of a fact or and event or a thought by one’s senses and reason which one believes with one’s whole being as a witness (Misra, 32). Nonviolence is non-injury to any living creature by thought, word and deed in its negative aspect, and love or identity of interest with the ‘others’ in its positive aspect. All life is one (Misra, 32).
Gandhi believed that if injustice blocked the path of individuals or a community from living normal, free from fear lives, then they should adopt Satyagraha as a weapon. They should insist on truth being established and resist all authority or source of evil with nonviolence. He felt that conflict of interests are inevitable, but he believed that the ultimate interests of all are one and therefore, one should strive hard to see that no violence occurs, no destruction takes place, no bitterness is generated, and a solution is found which is just to both sides (Misra, 35). Gandhi’s moral law applies equally to all people, whether you are a common citizen, merchant, lawyer, politician, or a solider (Misra 24). He felt that until people can see that all human life is an integrated whole, there could be no peace in the world (Misra, 24).
"Martin Luther King." NobelPrize.Org. 6 Feb. 2007 http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1964/king-bio.html.
Bowling, Lawson. Shapers of the Great Debate on the Great Society; A Biographical Dictionary. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2005.
Misra, K.P., S.C. Gangal. Gandhi and the Contemporary World. Delhi: Chanakya Publications, 1981.
Is the evidence there?
When talking about Martin Luther King Jr., I think many would agree that there is definately no lack of information out there. He was one of the most influencial people in the history of the United States. Not only is Dr. King famous as a person, but the issues he addressed were also such a large part of our history, that it wont be soon forgetten.
The Civil Rights Movement was huge. It effected everyone in the nation, where they were for or against the rights of American Americans. Once the laws were passed and Dr. King's dream came true, our nation was never the same. There was no more legal segregation, and people were legally created equal.
Today there is still a lot of racism problems out there, and I think the best way to get past it all, would be to learn from our history, and not make the same mistakes over and over again. There are books, movies, websites, journals, speeches, parades, strikes, and many other things that show the part of our history that we need to always remember, otherwise, our country could become divided once again.
The Civil Rights Movement was huge. It effected everyone in the nation, where they were for or against the rights of American Americans. Once the laws were passed and Dr. King's dream came true, our nation was never the same. There was no more legal segregation, and people were legally created equal.
Today there is still a lot of racism problems out there, and I think the best way to get past it all, would be to learn from our history, and not make the same mistakes over and over again. There are books, movies, websites, journals, speeches, parades, strikes, and many other things that show the part of our history that we need to always remember, otherwise, our country could become divided once again.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)