The U.S. Justice Department recently released on July 21 files regarding the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., despite some members of the King family opposing the release, though one family member supports it. The release contains 230,000 pages of documents and comes following President Donald J. Trump’s Executive Order 14176, said U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi. Dr. King was assassinated on April 4th, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee, while staying at the Lorraine Motel. He was shot by James Earl Ray, a petty criminal. Ray was arrested in London, but not everyone is convinced that he was the assassin. Before he died of prostate cancer, Dexter Scott King, Dr. King’s youngest son, met with Ray in prison, shook his hand, and concluded that Ray did not kill his father. Dexter King died on January 22. He was 62 years old, J. Edgar Hoover hated Dr. King, believing that he would become a Black messiah. Organized crime figures also may have had a hand in his assassination. There are also suggestions that Carlos Marcello, the mob boss of New Orleans, was involved in the killing of Dr. King because he was challenging the way things had been done in the past. The FBI tapped Dr. King’s phone calls and even had people working for Dr. King who reported to the FBI. The FBI showed photographs to President Lyndon B. Johnson and other government officials of Dr. King having sex with other women, not his wife, Coretta Scott King. The release by the Trump administration is controversial. It comes after AG Bondi refused to release the Epstein files. Some observers feel this document release is part of efforts to divert public attention from the Epstein files. “We recognize that the release of documents concerning the assassination of our father, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., has long been a subject of interest, captivating public curiosity for decades,” the family said in a statement. But “the release of these files must be viewed within their full historical context. During our father’s lifetime, he was relentlessly targeted by an invasive, predatory, and deeply disturbing disinformation and surveillance campaign orchestrated by J. Edgar Hoover through the Federal Bureau of Investigation.” The recent disclosure is the product of months of collaboration between the Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). DOJ attorneys spent hundreds of hours preparing and digitizing these documents for release. “The American people deserve answers decades after the horrific assassination of one of our nation’s great leaders,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “The Department of Justice is proud to partner with Director Gabbard and the ODNI at President Trump’s direction for this latest disclosure.”
Praise dancers in front of First African Baptist Church
Special to the Democrat by John Zippert, Co-Publisher
On Sunday, June 9, 2024, the sanctuary of First African Baptist Church in Tuscaloosa, Alabama was packed with people to celebrate the 60th anniversary of ‘Bloody Tuesday’.
On June 9, 1964, over 500 people gathered at the same church, in a mass meeting to prepare a non-violent march to the Tuscaloosa County Courthouse, four blocks away, to integrate the facility’s rest rooms, drinking fountains and offices which were segregated by race. The march and the Tuscaloosa movement were led by Rev. T. Y. Rogers, a close associate of Dr. Martin Luther King and part of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). Rogers was a native of Sumter County in the Alabama Black Belt.
As the marchers were leaving the church, they were met by Tuscaloosa Police, Sheriff’s deputies, Alabama State Troopers, and Klu Klux Klansmen who beat them violently with clubs, batons and baseball bats. The marchers retreated into the church. The police turned on fire hoses, smashing the churches-stained glass windows and then fired tear gas into the church. As the marchers fled the church they were again beaten, and some were jailed.
In all, some forty people were injured and hospitalized, 95 were jailed and others were physically and psychologically bruised in the largest and most violent attack on a church during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s. This occurred 8 months before the “Bloody Sunday’ march in Selma and laid the basis for that voting rights campaign.
The 1964 Civil Rights Act was passed by Congress a month after “Bloody Tuesday’ opening public accommodations to Black people in the South. Rev. T. Y. Rogers continued the marches until facilities in Tuscaloosa were desegregated and open to all. The news coverage of the events of June 9, 1964, have been limited. Most followed the Tuscaloosa News’ lead, which labeled the confrontation at the church as a “Black riot”. Soon other developments like the Mississippi Freedom Summer, overshadowed the June 1964 events at the First African Baptist Church in Tuscaloosa.
About 20 years ago, the veteran foot soldiers created the Bloody Tuesday Committee to remember and commemorate the events of ‘Bloody Tuesday’. Sunday’s program honored the 60th anniversary of the violent attack on the church and the movement in Tuscaloosa. It honored twenty surviving foot soldiers, who stood at the church to be recognized as part of the program. Many were teenagers and young people sixty years ago on ‘Bloody Sunday ‘. The leaders of the movement including Rev. T. Y. Rogers, Rev. Linton and others have already passed on.
The program at the church featured singing of church and freedom songs, led by the church choir and joined by the full congregation. There was a liturgical dance by the Friendship Baptist Church Praise Team. Young ladies with Black t-shirts and white skirts performed the dance. Their shirts each had a single word, related to the freedom struggle: Stand Up, Oppression, Equality, Overcome, Injustice, Freedom, Resilience and Peace. The dancers received a standing ovation at the end of their presentation.
Tiedre Owens, Tuscaloosa staff member for Congresswoman Terri Sewell, made remarks supporting the foot soldiers and the work of the Tuscaloosa Bloody Tuesday Committee. She showed a video of Congresswoman Sewell making remarks on the floor of the U. S. House of Representatives on last Friday, about the events of ‘Bloody Tuesday’ to insure they were inscribed in the Congressional Record.
Walt Maddox, Mayor of Tuscaloosa, made remarks, saying ‘Bloody Tuesday’ helped change the city for the better and contributed to making the nation a ‘more perfect union’. He said, “We cannot wash away the sins of the past. We must remember the past and have a stronger resolve to change the conditions of injustice that remain.”
Irene Byrd presented a tribute to the foot soldiers of ‘Bloody Tuesday’, who were asked to stand. “We have no tangible gifts for you today only our thanks and gratitude for what you did for us that day,” said Byrd.
Rev. Ramsey O’Daniel, Pastor of Christ Baptist Church in Tuscaloosa was the guest speaker. He spoke on the theme for the occasion, ‘where do we go from here’. First, we need to vote in all elections and use our vote to elect people who will make policy changes to support our interests. Second, we must develop a direct-action economic development plan in the Black community, as part of a local and national effort. We must execute this plan. Third, we must run back to Jesus, instead of running away from Jesus, because Jesus is our friend.
The program ended with about half the people gathered there, re-enacting the four block march to the Tuscaloosa County Courthouse, on Greensboro Avenue. This time, the march was escorted by Tuscaloosa Police and Sheriff’s deputies to accent the difference that sixty years of change and progress makes.
At the Courthouse rally, leaders of the Bloody Tuesday Committee made remarks. Tuscaloosa County Sheriff Ron Abernathy gave words of reconciliation, saying, “I was one year old on Bloody Tuesday. I have a hard time relating to the laws and policies of the past. We must learn from the past so we can do better in the present and the future.” Some members of the Committee, were looking for a formal apology from the Sheriff and other political officials, but Abernathy’s statement was the closest they heard to an official apology.
The crowd marched back to the church for a reception and book signing by University of Alabama history professor, Dr. John M. Giggie, of his newly published book entitled “Bloody Tuesday- The untold story of the struggle for civil rights in Tuscaloosa”. This book is the result of research and interviewing survivors of Bloody Tuesday, including many foot soldiers, police and Klansmen over the past ten years.
Through the dedicated leadership of Elder Spiver Gordon, Greene County has continued the annual tradition of commemorating the mission and works of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In recognition of King’s birthday, Gordon schedules programs to lift youth and adult leaders known as foot soldiers and warriors who contributed to the ongoing struggle for civil and human rights. A more detail account of the various 2024 King programs held in Eutaw will be in next week’s edition of the Democrat.
Top photo shows Gus Richardson leading the march, Monday, Jan.15, from the Unity Breakfast held at Eutaw Activity Center to the William M. Branch Courthouse for the Religious Women Freedom Rally.
Bottom Photo shows Eutaw Mayor Latasha Johnson bringing greetings.
(TriceEdneyWire.com) – “We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment.” – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Rev. Martin Luther King, at Atlanta Univ. for SCLC-sponsored student conf. (Photo by Howard Sochurek//Time Life Pictures/Getty Images)
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
TriceEdneyWire.com) – In 1970, only two years after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., his widow Coretta Scott King received the horrific news that haters had shot into her husband’s crypt in Atlanta, using it for target practice. Though grieved by the news, she conceded it was an omen that even in his grave the assassination of Dr. King would continue by fabrications and vile assaults on her husband’s character. To her, the words, “you can kill the dream, but not the dreamer,” were not just a catchy mantra. She used them to brace her for the backlash she feared would come. The recent trove of salacious and ill-reported old rumors being bandied about by Pulitzer Prize winner David Garrow falls seamlessly into that anticipated outcome. Mrs. King who died in 2006 had often shared with me her distrust of Garrow because of his close ties to the F.B.I., an agency that has historically schemed to nullify Black leaders and according to former FBI agent Donald Wilson, agents cheered in the Atlanta bureau upon news of his death.. The controversial information was obtained from F.B.I. bugging of hotel visits as Dr. King traveled across the country. The newest scandalous claims, according to an FBI agent, place Dr. King in a hotel room when a minister friend of his, now deceased, raped a woman, and King “looked on, laughed and offered advice” and that he also fathered a child with a mistress. The information Garrow reportedly uncovered was recently reported in Standpoint, a conservative British magazine along with an article labeling King a “sexual predator” and “the Harvey Weinstein of the civil rights movement.” As the news reverberated in London, Keith Magee, a senior scholar at the University College London(UCL) expressed his outrage. “This is part of the right wing’s offensive to dismantle and destroy everything revered by people of color. As President Trump visited London, certain people couldn’t bear to see a Black man being more respected than Trump, so there was a move to destroy Dr. King’s image.” Meanwhile, several right-wing news outlets are blowing up the fabricated scandal; in one instance calling for the dismantling of Dr. King’s statue on the mall in the nation’s capital. Clayborne Carson is King’s biography and oversees the Dr. King records headquartered at Stanford University. He says he has seen the same information Garrow has but reached a different conclusion. “None of this is new. Garrow is talking about a recently added summary of a transcript of a 1964 recording from the Willard Hotel that others, including Mrs. King, have said they did not hear Martin’s voice on in. The added summary was four layers removed from the actual recording. This supposedly new information comes from an anonymous source in a single paragraph in an F.B.I. report. You have to ask how could anyone conclude King looked at a rape from an audio recording in a room where he was not present.” In my Coretta King memoir, “My Life, My Love, My Legacy, “ she talked about this material mailed to her home on Nov. 2, 1964, that her sources later confirmed were dispatched by the F.B I. “I set up our reel-to-reel recorder and listened. I have read scores of reports talking about the scurrilous activities of my husband but once again, there was nothing at all incriminating on the tape. It was a social event with people laughing and telling dirty jokes. But I did not hear Martin’s voice on it, and there was nothing about sex or anything else resembling the lies J. Edgar and the F.B.I. were spreading.” Although she and other aides dismissed the tape, she could not dismiss the poorly typed letter in the package, suggesting the information to be released to the press was so damaging King should commit suicide. It read: “King we’ve found you out… You are done for there is only one way out.. You have thirty- four days before you are exposed and publicly defamed.” What should be made clear is the letter was sent 34 days before Martin was to receive the Nobel Peace Prize but was not opened until the couple returned from the Nobel ceremonies in Norway. Mrs. King said that Hoover hated Dr. King and was outraged that King was receiving the honor he felt he deserved. “Our source told us Hoover had ordered the doctored tape to be sent to me in the hopes I would divorce Martin, which would bring him down. Despite all the rumors, Martin and I did not take the bait.” Believing the FBI is a friend of Black people would require amnesia as the agency has historically worked to nullify and destroy Black leaders, author Anthony Summers says in his Hoover biography entitled “Official and Confidential.” The long list includes orchestrating the jailing and deportation of the fiery Jamaican leader Marcus Garvey, bugging and blackballing the great singer Paul Robeson, the ruthless assault on the Black Panthers and the well-documented COINTELPRO, the FBI program waged in the 1960’s to prevent the rise of a Black Messiah, generally thought to be Dr. King. Over the years, Mrs. King has defended her husband’s reputation attesting he was faithful to his marriage. Others, however, such as Carson, a historian, do not put King in a category of perfection. “There are no perfect men, but it is still wrong to use undocumented, tainted evidence to smear a man when history shows that many men with documented sordid private lives, still remain heroes.” While the scandal is brewing, the words of Mrs. King are worth remembering: They may kill the dreamer, but Dr. King’s dream of diversity and justice will outlive his enemies. Dr. Barbara Reynolds a former editorial writer and columnist for USA TODAY, has written for numerous publications, such as The Washington Post, Essence Magazine, Playboy Magazine, and the Trice Edney News Wire. She is an author of seven books. The latest is Coretta Scott King, My Life, My Love, My Legacy.
Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. and Rev. Dr. William Barber II
(TriceEdneyWire.com) – This week in Washington, the powers that be are hearing from a vital
new democratic force in this country.
For three days, the Poor People’s Campaign will bring poor and low-wage Americans to the nation’s capital to call for a moral renewal in this nation. They will question many of those who are seeking the Democratic nomination for president. Congressional hearings will showcase their Poor People’s Moral Budget.
Their actions should be above the fold of every newspaper in America; they should lead the news shows and fill the talk shows. A movement for common sense and social justice is building, putting every politician on notice: lead or get out of the way, a new moral majority is building and demanding change.
As the co-chairs of the Poor People’s Campaign, the Rev. Dr. William Barber II and Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, write in their forward, this movement is not partisan. It calls not for liberal or conservative reforms, but for a moral renewal. It is not a deep-pocket lobby. It is mobilizing the 144 million Americans who are poor or one crisis away from poverty into a “new and unsettling force” to “revive the heart of democracy in America.”
This movement launched on Mother’s Day in May 2018. In 40 days, it triggered 200 actions across many states with 5,000 nonviolent demonstrators committing civil disobedience, and millions following the protests online. Forty states now have coordinating committees build a coalition of poor people and people of faith and conscience across lines of race, religion, region and other lines of division.
They are morally outraged that the richest nation in the world would in a “willful act of policy violence” condemn 140 million — more than 40 percent of the population — to live in poverty or near poverty. This includes 39 million children, 60 percent — 26 million — of African Americans, 64 percent — 38 million — of Latinos, more than one-third — 66 million — of white Americans.
These realities — and the extreme inequality that scars this society — pre-date the Trump administration, but now Trump is fanning increasing policy violence against the poor. In response, the Poor People’s Campaign is doing deep organizing and power building among the poor, turning them from victims to subject actors in history.
This week, the campaign releases their Poor People’s Moral Budget. It details authoritatively that the cost of our current inequality, the cost of mass poverty is far greater than what it would cost to invest in people, put them to work at a living wage and guarantee basic economic and political rights. It costs society big time to not provide health care or quality education or clean water and air, to suppress voting rights and to keep wages low.
The moral budget is detailed and authoritatively sourced. The numbers are clear, as is the conclusion.
As the document concludes, “We have been investing in killing people; we most now invest in life. We have been investing in systemic racism and voter suppression; we must now invest in expanding democracy. We have been investing in punishing the poor; we must now invest in the welfare of all. We have been investing in the wealthy and corporations; we must now invest in the people who build this country.”
This is not a time for incremental change, but for fundamental transformation of our priorities and our direction. The budget details large reforms — from automatic voter registration, a living wage, health care for all, quality education from pre-k through college, investment in clean energy and modern infrastructure. It details how these and other reforms can be easily afforded by fair taxes on the wealthy and corporations and by ending our effort to police the world.
The Poor People’s Campaign picks up the unfinished work of Dr. Martin Luther King. It realizes that ending the policy of violence on the poor at home cannot be achieved without challenging the costly endless wars and constant arms buildup that only make us less secure. It understands that change will come not from the top down, not from our corrupted big money politics, but from the poor, the worker, people of conscience coming together to revive our democracy and to change our course.
In these troubled times, the promise of this new force is powerful. Across the country, working and poor people are beginning to move. If this movement can continue to grow, it will transform our politics. And it is the only force that can.
Civil Rights Activists, NFL Players react to new policy
By Lauren Victoria Burke (NNPA Newswire Contributor)
Civil rights activist Tamika Mallory speaking at demonstration against new NFL national anthem policy
Protesters held a rally in front of the National Football League’s New York City headquarters on May 25 after the league announced new rules that punish players who don’t stand for the national anthem.
Tamika Mallory said that the NFL owners were acting as a “proxy for a fascist president” and that the new policy was an attempt to “resurrect slavery in the 21st century” and punish Black players. The kneeling protests started when former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick began sitting during the anthem and then kneeling as a protest against police brutality.
“ What is being said is that the n–gas don’t have basic rights,” Mallory said. “And I want to say today that Ida B. Wells, Dr. Martin Luther King, Marcus Garvey, the four little girls in Birmingham are turning over in their graves right now about the disrespect, the disgrace, that is happening in this country.”
Mallory continued: “If we, as Black people, lay down and allow this system to continue to oppress us, we are the ones to be held responsible.”
Civil rights activist and author of “The Revolt of the Black Athlete” Harry Edwards told USA TODAY that the NFL’s new national anthem policy was “the dumbest move possible.” “They put the protest movement on blast,” Edwards said. “They just created a bigger stage than ever.”
In a recent commentary for Vox.com, Harvard Law School labor professor Benjamin wrote: “This new league policy is meant to enforce a particular vision of patriotism, one that involves compliance rather than freedom of expression.”
Sachs wrote that the new anthem policy was illegal—for a host of reasons.“The clearest illegality derives from the fact that the league adopted its new policy without bargaining with the players union,” Sachs wrote. “When employees, including football players, are represented by a union, the employer—including a football league—can’t change the terms of employment without discussing the change with the union. Doing so is a flagrant violation of the employer’s duty to bargain in good faith.”
ESPN.com reported that President Donald Trump supported the NFL’s policy that requires players to stand for the national anthem or remain in the locker room, during an interview with Fox News. “I think that’s good,” Trump said. “I don’t think people should be staying in locker rooms, but still I think it’s good. You have to stand proudly for the national anthem or you shouldn’t be playing, you shouldn’t be there. Maybe you shouldn’t be in the country.”
Many players have already indicated that they are not happy with the new rule.
In a statement released on Twitter, Philadelphia Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins wrote: “While I disagree with this decision, I will not let it silence me or stop me from fighting. The national conversation around race in America that NFL players forced over the past 2 years will persist as we continue to use our voices, our time and our money to create a more fair and just criminal justice system, end police brutality and foster better educational and economic opportunities for communities of color and those struggling in this country.”
In an interview with ESPN, Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Doug Baldwin called the president “an idiot…plain and simple.”
“I respect the man because he’s a human being, first and foremost. But he’s just being more divisive, which is not surprising. It is what it is,” Baldwin said. “For him to say that anyone who doesn’t follow his viewpoints or his constituents’ viewpoints should be kicked out of the country, it’s not very empathetic, it’s not very American-like, actually to me. It’s not very patriotic. It’s not what this country was founded upon.”
Baldwin continued: “It’s kind of ironic to me that the president of the United States is contradicting what our country is really built on.”
In his Vox.com commentary about the NFL’s new national anthem policy, Sachs wrote that now that the owners have made it a workplace rule to stand during the anthem or stay in the locker room, any player who takes the field and takes a knee is protesting an employer rule. That protest, Sachs said, “is unquestionably protected by federal labor law.”
The NFL pre-season begins in August.
Image of church and truck in commercial that uses the voice of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from the St. Louis American and Victoria Burke of NNPA
(TriceEdneyWire.com) – A Ram Truck Super Bowl LI commercial sparked outrage by using a recording of a Martin Luther King Jr. speech to push car sales, In the 30-second ad, a recording of Dr. King’s 1968 a speech serves as the soundtrack for snapshots of everyday Americans engaged in community service.,“In the spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Ram truck owners also believe in a life of serving others,” the ad’s description said.
The reaction was swift and harsh. An overwhelming consensus concluded that the ad was a tactless attempt to capitalize on Dr. King’s legacy. Among those offering backlash was the King Center .A tweet from the King Center read: “Neither @TheKingCenter nor @BerniceKing is the entity that approves the use of #MLK’s words or imagery for use in merchandise, entertainment (movies, music, artwork, etc) or advertisement, including tonight’s @Dodge #SuperBowl commercial.”
Although the center carries on King’s teachings, a separate entity controls King’s speeches and image — Intellectual Properties Management Inc. Eric D. Tidwell, managing director of the organization, which is run by King’s son Dexter, said in a statement early Monday: “We found that the overall message of the ad embodied Dr. King’s philosophy that true greatness is achieved by serving others. Thus we decided to be a part of Ram’s ‘Built To Serve’ Super Bowl program.”Tidwell’s response came after an endless evening of criticism. When writer Michael Arceneaux wrote on Twitter, “So that means the King children allowed Dr. King’s voice to be used to sell me a Dodge truck,” Bernice King replied with a single word: “No.”
April 4, 2018 will be the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Memphis, Tennessee, at the hands of James Earl Ray.
“The worst commercials are those that use icons like Martin Luther King Jr to sell things like a Dodge Ram truck,” tweeted Boston Globe Deputy Bureau Chief Matt Viser. He wasn’t the only one who noticed.
“So, Ram Truck appropriated Martin Luther King Jr. and used an all white cast + one token black to sell trucks to Trump supporters as if we’re back in the 1950s. #SuperBowl,” stated Lucy Amato on Twitter.
“Using a “Martin Luther King” speech and completely taking it OUT OF CONTEXT for a truck commercial is a disgrace,” another Twitter user reacted in a typical statement.
Super Bowl advertisements have become an annual obsession as the expensive and targeted marketing to a huge audience has become a place where products are debuted for the first time. Super Bowl ads have also become an annual time to analyze and study the many marketing strategy, as well as the “hits and misses” of the ads seen during the game.
It’s likely that the ad featuring King’s voice and words will likely be the source of analysis over the coming days. The ad might also reignite discussion on some of the decisions being made by Dexter King and Martin Luther King III regarding the use of their father’s image and words.
Partnership includes Pre-K to College Curriculum on the African Diaspora
By: Malik Russell/ mrussell@naacpnet.org
Derrick Johnson, NAACP President
PASEDENA, CA (January 15, 2018)—On Monday, January 15, 2018, the holiday marking the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the NAACP and the Africa-America Institute announced a groundbreaking partnership during the 49th NAACP Image Awards.
The NAACP will work with the AAI on the development and distribution of a curriculum designed to highlight the accomplishments, achievements and history of Africa and its Diaspora.
“It’s appropriate that on a day that we honor Dr. King as well as promote positive images of people of color, we announce to the world a partnership that includes a curriculum, learning exchange and a network for advocacy and activism on behalf of those of African descent in the United States and abroad, “said Derrick Johnson, President and CEO of the NAACP.
“AAI has a long history of academic exchange and educational meetings between Africa and America. Now is an extraordinary time and opportunity to partner with the NAACP and together connect the more than 42 million Afro-descendants with the brilliance of the African history and its contribution to modern civilization,” added Kofi Appenteng, President of the Africa-America Institute.
The curriculum from the NAACP/AAI Alliance will include content such as Africa’s Great Civilizations, the critically acclaimed series by Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Partners and NAACP chapters will benefit from organized screenings and lessons with an early education focus on positive identity formation and a more advanced curriculum that includes studies in social sciences.
A campaign kick-off will take place in February of 2018 as a part of Black History Month. ABOUT THE AFRICA-AMERICA INSTITUTE (AAI) The Africa-America Institute is the premier U.S.-based international organization that works to increase the capacity of African individuals and institutions through higher education initiatives, leadership development, professional workforce training, convening activities, program implementation and management.
ABOUT THE NAACP Founded in 1909, the NAACP is the nation’s oldest and largest nonpartisan civil rights organization. Its members throughout the United States and the world are the premier advocates for civil rights in their communities. You can read more about the NAACP’s work and our six “Game Changer” issue areas here.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King, at march in Selma, with children of Rev. Ralph Abernathy
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s influence on the Civil Rights Movement is indisputable, but his fight for equity in education remains a mystery to some. That fight began with his own education.
“He clearly had an advanced, refined educational foundation from Booker T. Washington High School, Morehouse College, Crozer Theological Seminary, and Boston University,” said Reverend Jesse Jackson, Sr., the founder of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition. “His education in his speeches and sermons and writings were apparent and he wanted us all to have that type of education.”
King completed high school at 15, college at 19, seminary school at 22 and earned a doctorate at 26.
“Dr. King laid down the case for affordable education for all Americans, including Polish children—from the ghetto and the barrios, to the Appalachian mountains and the reservations—he was a proponent for education for all and he believed that strong minds break strong chains and once you learn your lesson well, the oppressor could not unlearn you.”
Rev. Al Sharpton, the founder and president of the National Action Network (NAN), said that NAN works with Education for a Better America to partner with school districts, universities, community colleges, churches, and community organizations around the country to conduct educational programming for students and parents.
“The mission of the organization has been to build bridges between policymakers and the classrooms by supporting innovations in education and creating a dialogue between policymakers, community leaders, educators, parents, and students,” Sharpton said. “We’re promoting student health, financial literacy, and college readiness in our communities, just like Dr. King did.”
King was a figure to look up to in both civil rights and academia, Sharpton told the NNPA Newswire.
“Then, when you look at his values, he always saw education, especially in the Black community, as a tool to uplift and inspire to action,” Sharpton said. “It’s definitely no coincidence that a number of prominent civil rights groups that emerged during Dr. King’s time, were based on college campuses.”
Sharpton added that King routinely pushed for equality to access to education.
“Just as importantly, he always made a point to refer education back to character—that we shouldn’t sacrifice efficiency and speed for morals,” Sharpton said. “A great student not only has the reason and education, but a moral compass to do what’s right with his or her gifts. It’s not just important to be smart, you have to know what’s right and what’s wrong.”
Dr. Wornie Reed, the director of Race and Social Policy Research Center at Virginia Tech who marched with King, said when he thinks of King and education, he immediately considers the late civil rights leader’s advocating that “we should be the best that we could be.”
“King certainly prepared himself educationally…early on he saw that education played a crucial role in society, but perceived it as often being misused,” Reed said. “In a famous essay that he wrote for the student newspaper at Morehouse in 1947, he argued against a strictly utilitarian approach to education, one that advanced the individual and not society.”
Maryland Democratic Congressman Elijah Cummings, who remembers running home from church on Sundays to listen to King’s speeches on radio, said King had a tremendous impact on education in the Black community.
“Dr. King worked tirelessly to ensure that African Americans would gain the rights they had long been denied, including the right to a quality education,” said Cummings. “His fight for equality in educational opportunities helped to tear down walls of segregation in our nation’s schools.”
Cummings continued: “He instilled hope in us that we can achieve our dreams no matter the color of our skin. He instilled in us the notion that everyone can be great, because everyone can serve and there are so many great advocates, who embody this lesson.”
In support of education equality, civil rights leaders across the country are still working to ensure all students, regardless of color, receive access to experienced teachers, equitable classroom resources and quality education, Cummings noted further.
For example, the NAACP has done a tremendous amount, across the country, to increase retention rates, ensure students have the resources they need, and prepare students for success after graduation—whether it be for college or a specific career path, Cummings said.
During his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech in Oslo, Norway, King said: “I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality, and freedom for their spirits.”
The need for high quality education in the Black community is universal and the route to get there may be different, but education does matter, Jackson said.
“Dr. King told me he read a fiction and a non-fiction book once a week. He was an avid reader and, in the spirit of Dr. King, today we fight for equal, high-quality education,” said Jackson. “We fight for skilled trade training, affordable college education and beyond.”
