Book Review: Your Bridge to History

 Your Bridge to History: A Black Votes Matter "Face to Face with Black History Tour" Children's Book by Portia Love and Preston Love Jr., illustrated by Regina Jeanpierre, Preston Publishing, www.BlackVotesMatterUSA.com, 2019.

These is a short book about a tour taken by youth to the south, where they can experience first hand the history of Black America.  It starts in Memphis where Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered and where he gave his last speech.  Then to the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham which was bombed and several young women killed who were there with the parents working for Civil Rights.  In Birmingham was a struggle for voting rights and the Selma (Edmund Pettus) Bridge march, which took place three times.  Finally in 1965 the Voting Fights Act was passed.  

In Montgomery they were taught about Rosa Parks and the bus boycott.  The boycott lead to harship but eventually the bus company had to give in.  Also in Montgomery is a muserum that documents lynchings.

In Atlanta is the King Center where Martin Luther King Jr. is buried.  There is a depiction of his life.  

Who Is In the Statues Outside of the Illinois State Capital

 

President Abraham Lincoln

John M Palmer !5th governor of Illinois, Civil War general and presidential candidate. 1817-1900

Richard Yates Sr. 13th governor of Illinois, congressman and senator.  Governor during Civil War, 1815-1873

Everett Dirksen U.S. representive 12 years and senator 18 years. Senate minority leader 1859-1869.  Instrumental in pssage of Civil Rights Acts 1964 and 1968.  1898-1969.

Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King

Book Review: Let's Read About...Martin Luther King, Jr.

Let's Read About martin Luther King, Jr. by Courtney Baker, Illustrated by Cornelius Van Wright and Ying-Hwa Hu, Scholistic, New York, 2001.
This is a very good book about the childhood of Martin Luther King, and the things that would effect him in later life.  It explains the circumstances of his developing a dream that children would be able to live together, no matter the color of their skin.

Movie Biography: Martin Luther King Jr., The Man and the Dream

Martin Luther King 

This movie does not present martin Luther King as the perfect man.  However it does paint a very good picture of the things he was able to do for human rights.  Martin Luther King entered a dangerous business; that of advocating for change and rights and dignity.  It seems the human rights movie picked him, rather than him picking it.  However, after it picked him, Martin Luther King was able to rise to the occasion.  He was jailed for his views and his work.  For a while it seemed he would not get out, but he did get the Kennedys to intervene in his behalf.  This is part of the reason the Black populace switched from the Republican party to the Democrat. 

There are two memorable speeches that stand out more than some of his others.  This first is “I have a Dream.”  Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.

And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."²

This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.

With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning:

My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.

Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride,

From every mountainside, let freedom ring!

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.

And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.

Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.

Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.

Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.

But not only that:

Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.

From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:

                Free at last! Free at last!

                Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!³

And the speech given the day before he was shot:

Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!

And so I'm happy, tonight.

I'm not worried about anything.

I'm not fearing any man.

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.

 Martin Luther King Jr. was killed April 4 at the age of 39.  He was shot by a sniper. 

Book Review: Martin’s Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Martin’s Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., by Doreen Rappaport, illustrated by Bryan Collier, Jump at the Sun, New York, 2001.

This is a children’s picture book.  This illustrator used collage and water colors and the pictures are very effective.  It also uses Martin Luther King’s words in telling the story of his life.  Of particular note, “Hate cannot drive out hate.  Only love can do that.”   “When the history books are written, someone will say there lived black people who had the courage to stand up for their rights.”  “Love is the key to the problems of the world.”  And “I have a dream that one day in Alabama little black boys and black girls will join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.”

The book ends with telling the story of Martin Luther King’s death, but not before letting us know that King said even if he were taken down, the movement would go on. 

Documentary Review: Crossing the Bridge: Selma, Alabama

This documentary tells the story of the Selma to Montgomery March which lead to the Voting Rights Act of 1965.  The story starts with Black citizens going to the court house to petition for the right to vote.  In Dallas County, of 15,000 Blacks, only 130 were registered to vote.  Intimidation, literacy tests and other tactics were used to not register people to vote.  The local sheriff did not allow them to register.  They decided to cross the bridge in Selma, and march to Montgomery, the State Capitol, to address their grievances to Governor George Wallace.  The marchers were attacked with billy clubs and tear gas and forced to turn around.  One marcher escaped to a diner, and while protecting his mother was shot dead by a police officer. 
Martin Luther King joined the effort, and encouraged them to maintain a non violent attitude.  They tried again, and this time there was no violence, but they were turned back.  However that night, three white ministers of the Unitarian Church were attacked by the Klu Klux Klan with clubs, and one of them was killed. 
President Lyndon Johnson entered the conflict.  Governor Wallace even came to Washington.  However in the end Wallace made it clear that the State of Alabama would not pay for the protection of the marchers.  President Johnson took control of the State National Guard and ordered them to defend the marchers.  The March finally took place March 17, 1965, ten days after the first march. 
President Johnson made sure that it was the actions in Alabama that lead him to call for legislation for voting rights.  President Johnson spoke before congress on Mrch 15, introducing the bill: 

Open your polling places to all your people.

Allow men and women to register and vote whatever the color of their skin.

Extend the rights of citizenship to every citizen of this land.

There is no constitutional issue here. The command of the Constitution is plain.

There is no moral issue. It is wrong—deadly wrong—to deny any of your fellow Americans the right to vote in this country.

There is no issue of States rights or national rights. There is only the struggle for human rights.

The Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965.