Fishing on the Net

By Bonnie Nelson

Civil Rights

On the 1st of December 1955, Rosa Parks, an African-American seamstress, was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama for not standing and letting a white bus rider take her seat.

At that time it was an “established rule” in the American south that African-American riders must sit at the back of the bus. They were also expected to surrender their seat to a white bus rider if it was needed.   When asked to move, Mrs. Parks refused. She did not argue and she did not move, and she was arrested for this “crime.” The interesting fact was Ms Parks was well known in the Montgomery African-American community.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery. He and other African-American community leaders lead a protest on December 5. African-American residents did not use the buses. Most walked, a few with cars arranged rides for friends and strangers; some even rode mules (http://www.holidays.net/mlk/).

On August 28, 1963, the “March on Washington included more than 250,000 people.  They supported the passing of laws that guaranteed every American equal civil rights. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was at the front and on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial that day, Dr. King delivered a speech that was later entitled “I Have a Dream.” The March was one of the largest gatherings of black and white people that the nation’s capital had ever seen... and no violence occurred.

A year later, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed. The act guaranteed equal rights in housing, public facilities, voting and public schools. Everyone was to have impartial hearings and jury trials. A civil rights commission would ensure that these laws were enforced. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and thousands of others now knew that they had not struggled in vain. In the same year Dr. King won the Nobel Peace Prize for leading non-violent demonstrations.

All through the 1980’s, controversy surrounded the proposal of having a Martin Luther King Day. Congressmen and citizens petitioned the President to make January 15, a federal holiday.  This was Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday. Others wanted to make the holiday on the day he died, while some people did not want to have any holiday at all. January 15 had been observed as a public holiday for many years in 27 states and Washington, D.C. Finally, in 1986, President Ronald Reagan declared the third Monday in January a federal legal holiday commemorating Dr. Martin Luther King Junior’s birthday (http://stockholm.usembassy.gov/Holidays/celebrate/mlk.html).

To reach this columnist,  email her at waltbon@comcast.net.

CONTACT THE WRITER • WALTBON@COMCAST.nET

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