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Martin Luther King Jr. Special Edition_____
(Ehe ÏJu rth u ïi (©hserucr
C A LL
January /», 2000
TO
A C T IO N
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II
JANUARY FREEDOM DAYS
M O M ENTS IN CIVIL RIGHTS HISTORY
B y J anus A dams
Even before the official U.S. en
trance into the war, blacks could see
the same old World War I monster raise
its ugly head: the expectation that blacks
should sacrifice their lives in a segre
gated Army for freedoms they could
not call theirown. On January 14,1941,
a federal suit stood poised to force a
desegregated military.
BHBBIEI—
“Plant a tree, a shrub, or a bush!”
Lady Bird Johnson urged. As First
Lady, she had launched a campaign to
beautify America. But, thrust against a
backdrop ofcities enflamed by riot and
V ietnamese rice paddies fertilized with
napalm, her program had become fod
der for bad jokes. In a new initiative,
Mrs. Johnson hosted a White House
luncheon on January 18,1968,atwhich
she sought to enlist women in the fight
against urban crime. Johnson planted
a seed for as she spoke, what took root
in one o f her guests - singer-actress
Eartha Kitt - were seeds o f rebellion.
W ar was igniting in the streets,
charged Kitt. “You send the best o f
this country o ff to be shot and maimed.
They rebel in the stre e t.. .because
they’re going to be snatched off the
their mothers to be shot in Vietnam.”
Stunned, the first lady countered, “Be
cause there is a war o n...that still
doesn’t give us a free ticket not to try
to work for better things such as against
crime in the streets, better education
and better health for our people.” But
Kitt was on a different plane. “ I have
lived in the gutters,” said poverty’s
child and high achiever. “The children
o f America are not rebelling for no
reason.”
Kitt’s remarks were not received
well. A poor player in a high-stakes
political drama, she had misjudged
her role. Blacklisted in a residential
backlash, sheself-exiled in Europe. The
W hite H ouse squandered another
chance to work with its critics.
On January 2 0 ,1970, Dr. Benjamin E.
Mays was elected president o f the
Atlanta Board o f Education. As con
gratulations arrived by the barrel load,
one lone rotten apple could not spoil
the bunch: “Dear nigger: How does it
feel to get elected to a job strictly on
your color?” This, to the president
emeritus o f Morehouse College, an
elder statesman o f theology and edu
cation, an adviser to President John F.
Kennedy, a mentor-eulogizer to Dr.
King, and the recipient o f 28 honorary
doctorates.
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Bravo! O n Jan u ary 27, 1961,
Leontyne Price made her long-awaited
debut at the Metropolitan Opera House
in New York. With her performance
as Leonora in El Travatore, shejoined
a very short list o f African Americans
who had walked that stage, and be
came the first black woman to achieve
international recognition as “prima
donna assoluta.”
Now this is what all o f this means.
That historic night, the curtains were
slowly reined down, a woman of ex
traordinary ability and grace walked
center stage to receive her well-de
served adulation, and an audience o f
thousands o f sophissticated opera afi
cionados applauded and cheered her
nonstop for forty-two minutes!
Jn Sunday, January 31,1960, four
North Carolina A&T College fresh
men sat in a Greensboro dormitory
stewing over an incident that had hap
pened earlier that day. Returning to
ca m p u s from a w e e k e n d in
Wilmington, Joe McNeil couldn’t get
anything to eat at the segregated bus
terminal. Angered by the racism con
fronting them each day and energized
by the courage displayed by so many
other Civil Rights demonstrators, the
four friends wanted to do something.
But what? Together, they cooked up
the plan they would act on the very next
+
. «
Ta
January 31,1960. Sit-ins, organized protests against racial discrimination, became a powerful tactic in the battle against segregated
lunch counters.
could be serv ed at one counter and not
day.
another. Theircool logic was too much
On Monday, February 1,1960, Ezell
to handle. Employee confusion turned
Blair Jr., Franklin McCain, Joseph
from hostility toconlusionagain.There
McNeil, and David Richmond headed
was simply no protocol for the situa
downtown. In W oolworth’s they pur
tion. In taking seats at that lunch
chased school supplies and patiently
counter, the four young men made an
waited for a receipt. Then, they sat
___________________
enduring place for them selves in the
down at the lunch counter and did a
perfectly normal thing - they ordered , Jijsto ry o t the hum an rights struggle
coffee and doughnuts. When they were ' world-wide.
told to leave, they asked why they
In tact, sit-ins did not begin in
" This growing self-respect has
inspired the negro with a new
determination to struggle and
sacrifice until first class
citizenship becomes a reality."
by Martin Luther King Jr.
Greensboro. In 1942, Civil Rights sit-
ins had been w aged by the Congress
o f Racial Equality (CORE) at Stoner’s
R estaurant in Chicago. But w hat
seized the im agination and headl ines
in G reensboro was the initiative o f
the four A & T students acting com
pletely on their own. N ever before
had segregationists been faced with
this dilem m a - their money or their
way o f life. I f sit-in protesters weren ’t
served, they would block the counter.
W hen they were dragged o ff and
arrested, the com m otion deterred
otherpatrons. By mid-February 1960,
the sit-in m ovement had spread to 15
cities in five states. And by mid-
October, things had begun to change.
This timeline is from the book
"Freedom Days". Permission for
reprint was given by John Wiley and
Sons, Inc.
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