Martin Luther King Jr. Special Edition______ *VJ "A
(Tlje ^ to r tla n b GDbaeruer
January 19, 2000
CALL
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C27
C T I 0 N
DECEMBER FREEDOM DAYS
M OM ENTS IN CIVIL RIGHTS
HISTORY
B y J anus A dams :
On December 2, 1952, in tes
tim ony before the Suprem e
Court, Secretary of State Dean
Acheson made the following
statement: “The continuation of
racial discrim in atio n in the
United States remains a source
o f constant embarrassment to
this government in the day-to-
day conduct of its foreign rela
tions, and it jeopardizes the ef
fective maintenance of our moral
leadership of the free and demo
cratic nations of the world.” At
last, a government official had
said the right thing, albeit for the
wrong reasons.
Using strategic legal attacks
on segregation to undermine its
foundations in “separate but
equal” law, Charles H. Houston
had become one of major archi
tects restructuring a nonracist
America. His 1944 appointment
to the Fair Employment Practice
Committee (FEPC) was hailed
as a major step forward. Then
things began to crumble. “Aside
from the emasculation of the Full
Employment Bill,” wrote Herbert
Aptheker, a noted historian and
Du Bois protégé, “the most dra
matic occurrence in the fight for
fair em ploym ent” came with
Houston’s intense public criti
cism of President Truman’s wob
bly stance and a letter of resigna
tion dated December 3, 1945.
Just four momentous days ear
lier, a seam stress boarded a
M ontgom ery, A labam a, bus
bound for history. Taking the last
available seat in the “colored”
sectiton, she relaxed for the trip
home and thought of Christmas.
When the white seats were filled,
the driver told the blacks in her
row to get up so that a white
passenger could be seated in a
row with no blacks. Three of the
black passengers moved; one did
not. “You’d better make it light
on yourselves and let me have
those seats,” the driver warned.
“If you don’t stand up, I’m going
to have you arrested.” The woman
who held on to her seat and her
self-respect even as she was re
moved from the bus, arrested,
jailed, and fingerprinted was
Rosa Parks. Would she allow
hers to be the test case that could
bring the degrading system of
segregated bus seating to an end?
Yes.
Parks had not planned her pro
test. But Montgomery’s blacks
spent the weekend planning a re
sponse. Fliers were posted and
blacks spent the weekend plan
ning a response. Fliers were mim-
students to distribute, a local
newspaper headlined the story,
ministers took to pulpits in sup
port: a one-day bus boycott
would begin Monday morning as
Mrs. Parks went to court.
Just after 6 a m. on December
5, 1955, as the first bus prowled
the dim morning street in search
of former victims, Coretta Scott
King called her husband, Martin,
to the window. “Darling, it’s
empty!” she exclaimed. By af
ternoon, Martin Luther King Jr.,
the new minister in Montgom
ery, would be elected to lead the
newly formed Montgomery Im
provem ent A ssociation. By
evening a one-day protest be
came a movement: the Montgom
ery Bus Boycott. A historic mass
meeting was held at Holt Street
Baptist Church that night. Martin
Luther King Jr. gave his first Civil
Rights movement speech.
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January 15. 1929
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IMG CITY PRODUCE
December 8, 1964, found Dr.
and Mrs. King, their family, and
their friends landing in Oslo, Nor
way, for the Nobel Prize cer
emonies. As they gathered for a
private dinner party two days be
fore the event. Rev. Martin Luther
King Sr. rose in tribute to his son
and the moment. “I want to say
something to all of you now, and
I want you to listen,” said Daddy
King in a manner befitting the
patrimony for which he had be
come so respected and loved. As
he spoke, invoking the spirit of
the ancestors watching over them,
tears welled in the eyes of the
faithful.
Radiant glow of his family’s
pride, he concluded, “When my
head is cold and my bones are
bleached, the King family will go
/
"Continue The Dream"
of Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr.’s 71
Birthdav
Photo credit: U.S. World and News Report
.
Following Dr. King's death, a contest of leadershrffbetween
Ralph Abernathy and Jesse Jackson begary&trnmdhng at SCLC.
On December 18. 1971. it boiled overrffio Jackson's resignation
arid his founding of PUSH (People United to Save Humanity).
Rev. Ralph Abernathy (second left) is shown with Rev. Andrew
Young. Rev. Joseph E. Lowery and Stoney Cooks at SCLQ
headquarters in Atlanta.
down not only in American his
tory but in world history as well,
because Martin King is a Nobel
Prize winner.” Two days later, he
would see those words fulfilled...
Following Dr. King’s death, a
contest of leadership between
Ralph Abernathy and Jesse Jack-
Ralph Abernathy and Jesse Jack-
son began simmering at SCLC. On
December 18,1971, it boiled over
into Jackson’s resignation and his
founding of PUSH (People United
to Save Humanity).
This is an excerpt from the book
"Freedom Days ”, Permission fo r
reprint was given by John Wiley
and Sons, Inc.
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