This article was originally published in Scholastic
Newstime.
The crowd was hushed as it listened to the man speak.
"I
have a dream," he cried from the steps of the
Lincoln
Memorial. "One day this nation will rise up, live
out the
true meaning of its creed...that all men are created
equal."
The man — Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. — was speaking
to a
crowd of 250,000 black and white Americans. They shared
his dream of equality. They had gone to Washington,
D.C.,
to hear this message: It was time all Americans were
treated equally. The year was 1963.
Many of the people in the crowd had, like Dr. King,
not
been treated as equals by other Americans. Some blacks
had
been forced to use separate all-black schools, restaurants,
and stores. They entered hospitals at different entrances,
and used separate water fountains. In some parts of
the
nation blacks were denied the right to vote.
In 1963, blacks were rapidly gaining more equality in
their
rights. In most places in the U.S., schools, restaurants
and stores were integrated. But even in these places,
many
black Americans could not buy homes where they pleased,
or
get good jobs.
Laws were needed to change these conditions. People
had to
be made aware that such a need existed. So the civil
rights movement had begun. There were many leaders
in the
movement. Dr. King was among them. They led marches.
They held boycotts. They held sit-ins. They helped
register black citizens to vote.
What were the problems the civil rights movement faced?
How could they be solved? What will happen in the future?
Here are comments made by Dr. King in the years before
he
was killed in 1968.
ON THE PROBLEM
"Only 7.8 percent of the Negro students in the
South are
attending integrated schools this year, a hundred years
after our emancipation from slavery. At this pace it
will
take 92 more years to integrate the public schools of
the
South." — 1960
"I am mindful that only yesterday in Birmingham,
Alabama,
our children, crying out for brotherhood, were answered
with fire hoses, snarling dogs, and even death. I am
mindful that only yesterday in Philadelphia, Mississippi,
young people seeking to secure the right to vote were
brutalized and murdered." — 1964, on receiving
the Nobel
Peace Prize
"We must have our freedom now. We must have the
right to
vote. We must have equal protection of the law."
— 1965,
after march on Alabama state capital
"I could never adjust to the separate waiting rooms,
separate eating places, separate rest rooms, partly
because
the separate was always unequal, and partly because
the
very idea of separation did something to my sense of
dignity and self-respect." — 1958
"Segregation...not only harms one physically but
injures
one spiritually...It scars the soul...It is a system
which
forever stares the segregated in the face, saying 'You
are
less than...''You are not equal to...'"
ON THE SOLUTIONS
"We believe in law and order. We are not advocating
violence. We want to love our enemies. If I am stopped,
our
work will not stop, for what we are doing is right."
—
1956, in Montgomery, Alabama
"Three simple words can describe the nature of
the social
revolution that is talking place and what Negroes really
want. They are the words "all," "now,"
and "here."
"Green power — that's the kind of power we need."
"You can't win against a political structure where
you
don't have the votes. But you can win against an economic
power structure when you have the...power to make the
difference between a merchant's profit and loss." — 1962,
after demonstrations in Albany, Georgia
"Equality means dignity. And dignity demands a
job and a
paycheck that lasts through the week." — 1963
ON THE FUTURE
"We've broken loose from...slavery and we have
moved
through the wilderness of legal segregation. Now we
stand
on the border of the promised land of integration."
"Hate begets hate; violence begets violence; toughness
begets a greater toughness. We must meet the forces
of
hate with the power of love...Our aim must never be
to
defeat or humiliate the white man, but to win his
friendship and understanding." — 1958
"...We must continue to resist the system of
segregation...We must work constructively to improve
the
standards themselves...This is a great hour for the
Negro.
The challenge is here...".