The Anniversary of Uplifting Leadership: Look Back and Learn

It was six and a half years ago that I featured a book with the title associated with this date, August 28, 1963. 

"I HAVE A DREAM..."

Those iconic words are irrevocably associated with a leader who inspired a nation to become "woke" about truths long ignored. Click on the start of Martin Luther King's quote above for a link that lets you hear a recording of his speech and provides other useful background sources. 

I'm old enough to remember the day of the march well. I wasn't there, but I was active in the movement locally and that day, that public response, that speech, shifted the air around us as a nation. I felt it.

Did it change every mind? 

No.

Did laws change overnight?

Of course not.

But laws did change, eventually, and that changed MY life. For those to whom all of this is ancient history, I invite you to read one of my earliest posts about why working for racial justice also served my own needs, goals, and future, HERE. I tend to limit my begging to serving kids or charitable needs, but if you have no clue about why a white, middle class teen girl in the sixties would have reasons to care about Civil Rights, I'm begging you to PLEASE read that post.

To learn more about the many years of struggle and suffering (and unsuccessful attempts) that preceded the amazing march fifty-six years ago, you should check out a book I reviewed on my own website, HERE.  It's a biography of Bayard Rustin, TROUBLEMAKER FOR JUSTICE. 

School resumes and teachers of every age are actively addressing "No bullying" rules, stressing the power of standing up rather than standing by. Kids today witness attacks and bullying displayed by their president on a daily basis. They sense that even our laws (and rules) can support bullying of a social sort. They are aware of protests about many worthy causes (and other causes far from worthy). They've lived every year of their lives and taken every breath in their lives in a  world of pollution and warming climate, protests echoing in their ears, with no evidence of positive change. They can't be blamed if they've become jaded, convinced that a protest is no more than an "activity" or flashmob, a social event that will make no changes. 

But they also live in a time in which they can take for granted integrated schools, workplaces, buses, and restaurants. They see candidates and elected officials (even a president!) of every ethnicity and gender. The many years in which that was not true are unknown or forgotten. 

They can't be blamed if this nation went straight from slavery to Civil Rights. They need to learn that story.

History.

Our story. 

THEIR story.

In this post I am not sharing a new title, but urging readers to check out past posts I've linked, check the pages tab on the right margin of this page for other MLK titles, and otherwise bring the past to life- for yourselves, for young people, and for all our sakes. Kids are always my beacon of hope for the future, but it is our responsibility to light a few lamps that clarify our past, providing evidence that even slow change is change worth pursuing.

Help the next generations DREAM, and work to make dreams come true.

Where Were You When...?

Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon.        JFK was assassinated.     
The Twin Towers came down in New York City. 

There are iconic events, sometimes even slivers of time, which impress themselves indelibly on the minds of everyone who was alive to experience them. Even when that experience is indirect, filtered through media (especially Moon landings), it's easy to recall where you were and what you were doing at the time. 

Photo from archives: http://www.history.com/topics/march-on-washington 

For anyone alive in August, 1963, the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom was such an event.

Throughout the past fifty years (and long before that memorable day in Washington, D.C.) Martin Luther King, Jr. was in the spotlight in this country and around the world. The Time Magazine archives of cover articles demonstrates that fact. I've shared some stories of civil rights leaders in a previous post  of some of Kadir Nelson's biography titles. There are many picture books depicting specific events and full biographies about the history and struggles of civil rights. 
Martin often finds his way into my thoughts when leadership and inspiration are the theme of a post.

Little, Brown Books for Young readers, 2013

This week that's more true than ever. MARTIN AND MAHALIA- His Words, Her Song, by Andrea Davis Pinkney and Brian Pinkney is a perfect book for this week, and forever. With a release timed to celebrate this 50th Anniversary year, the Pinkneys reveal ways in which the leadership and inspiration of Martin and Mahalia were intertwined throughout their lives. This was never more true than on that remarkable day on the Washington mall fifty years ago, August 28, 1963. With so much at stake, each scheduled speaker prepared text well in advance, then vetted it and filtered it through numerous advisors. Martin did the same, despite his infamous capacity for extemporaneous speaking. As the final speaker that day, Martin's prepared speech was nearing its end when Mahalia, sitting nearby, exhorted him to "Tell them about your dream, Martin." That call, like a call to prayer, led him away from his script and deep into his heart to finish with the words that are now as much a part of the fiber of America as the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.

Top Shelf Productions, 2013

One of those speakers was the very young John Lewis. As the last surviving speaker from that day, now-Congressman John Lewis partnered with Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell at Top Shelf Productions to produce MARCH: BOOK ONE. It's a graphic history of the past and recent present, a story within a story, tracing Lewis's personal history, on to the point at which he stood on that stage fifty years ago to speak, and into the near-present when he sat in the audience in 2009 as a congressman,  witnessing the inauguration of Barach Obama. There he was within sight of the original gathering. (Click here for a School Library Journal review.)

For those who lived at the time, regardless of their politics or perspective, images and memories of that day in Washington and many other Civil Rights protest moments are indelible. For those who came later, as is true for any other momentous event, the visceral impact of history is lost. 

In a recent syndicated column Leonard Pitts of the Miami Herald discussed the unusual audience he observed at a viewing of the movie, THE BUTLER. He noted the multi-generational nature of the audience, young children and teens in tow with grandparents who had lived through times now changed, at least to a degree. A movie has the capacity to bring history to life, to simulate experiences in ways that transmit some of the emotional and empathetic reactions of those who lived it.

Not unlike movies, and in some ways better, these titles offer readers a portal to the past. They also serve as a vivid reminder to those who experienced history to share our own stories, to extend our experiences into future generations.

Archives are readily available, but History.com has a wealth of photos, videos, and other documentation.