Martin Luther King Jr. Special Edition
Che fjortlanb (©baertier
January 19, 2000
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"A
MAY FREEDOM DAYS
MOMENTS IN CIVIL
RIGHTS HISTORY
CALL
TO
A C T IO N
Il
C16
The Oregon Air National
Guard Salutes
The Freedom Riders ’ bus was mobbed in An hist
speed on with fifty Kian cars storming behind. M
windows, blocked exits and firebombed the bus
UPl/Bettman Photos
B y J anvs A d a m s ------------ g
On May 1, 1950, Gwendolyn
Brooks was awarded the Pulitzer
Prize for Poetry. She was the first
African American writer so hon­
ored. The book that so distinguished
her was Annie Allen, the story o f a
young black woman coming o f age.
The story o f the book is also the
literary coming-of-age of a poet and
hei work.
On May 5, 1941, Ethiopia’s Em­
peror Haile Selassie triumphantly re­
entered the capital city o f Addis Abab,
liberating his ancient land, reassum­
ing his throne, and fully overthrow­
ing his Italian invaders.
In 1884, four hundred years after
the papal encyclical that granted
Europe’s kings and queens “title” to
lands that were not theirs, the de­
scendants of those same marauders
held the Berline Conference to par­
tition Africa. Their reign o f terror
had crested in the rape o f every part
of the continent but one-Abyssinia,
later renamed Ethiopia. In 1896, by
winning the Battle o f Adua, Ethiopia
forced the retreat of Italian troops,
retaining its sovereignty. In 1935,
Italy was back, this time victorious.
Selassie had fled to London with his
family, and for seven years Ethiopia
was under foreign rule, the papal
mission fulfilled at last.
Binmngnam Alabama was in tur­
moil. After four weeks o f protests and
one week ofnegotiations, a “Birming­
ham Truce” between protest leaders
(the SCLC and its Birmingham affili­
ate, the Alabama Christian Move­
ment for Human Rights) and thebusi-
Washington.
ness community was signed on May
10,1963. Within three daysafterclose
o f demonstrations, fitting rooms
would be desegregated. And, once
the city government was established
by court order, within 30 days signs
on wash rooms and drinking foun­
tains would be removed; within 60
days a program of lunchroom counter
desegregation would begin; and em­
ployment o f blacks would be up­
graded and further steps considered.
It seemed so little progress for so
much sacrifice by demonstrators who
had each pledged to uphold the Ten
Commandments on their signed Com-
mitmentCards:
1. MEDIT ATE daily on the teach­
ings and life o f Jesus.
2. REM EM BER always that the
nonviolent movement in Birming­
ham seeks justice and reconcilia­
tion - not victory.
3. W ALK and TALK in the man­
ner of love, for God is love.
4. PRAY daily to be used by God
in order that all men might be free.
5.SA CRIFICE personal wishes
in order that all men might be free.
6.OBSER VE with both friend and
foe the ordinary rules o f courtesy.
7.SEEK to perform regular ser­
vice for others and for the world.
8.REFRAIN from violence of
fist, tongue, or heart.
9.STRIVE to be in good spiritual
and bodily health.
10.FOLLOW the directions of
the movement and of the captain on
a demonstration.
With word o f truce, violence
broke out. Bombs struck at Dr. King
and his brother. Reverend A.D. King.
They had forced a dialogue and
forced a president and a governor
into the showdown that desegregated
the U niversity o f A labama and
brought scores to the March on
On M ay 12, 1969, W innie
Mandela was detained in a raid on
black South African townships. She
would spend 491 days in detention -
many wedged between solitary con­
finement and a revolving door. In
February 1970, the state withdrew
all charges against her. But as she
turned to leave the courtroom, she
was redetained. Finally-the follow-
ing June, with world opinion mount­
ing, charges were brought against
her. In September, she was agaih
acquitted. Two weeks later, as she
left home to visit with the husband
she had not seen in two years, a new
banning order restricted her travel
and placed her under house arrest
each night after work. As she be­
came a cause célébré in her own
right, her days were studded by death
threats. For years, while her hus­
band remained locked at Robben Is­
land for life, this was how she lived.
A happier May 12 finally came
in 1984, when she, her daughter
Zeni, and her youngest grandchild
were escorted into the office o f the
prison warder. Sergeant Gregory,
for their first “contact visit” in
twenty-two years. “Can you imag­
ine! We last touched his hand in
1962,’ said Mrs. Mandela. “We
kissed Nelson and held him a long
time. It is an experience one just
can’t put into words. It was fantas­
tic and hurting at the same time. He
clung to the child through the visit.
Gregory, his warden, was so moved,
he looked the other way.”
FweZ ypurFuture
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Air National Guard
1-800-392-1801
1
This is an excerpt from the book
"Freedom Days. " Permission for
reprint was given by John Wiley
and Sons, Inc.
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