Martin Luther King Jr

Jan 18 2011

"Working together, we can make the dream come true."

LOS ANGELES, Calif.—Thousands of people lined the streets of South Los Angeles for the 26th annual Kingdom Day Parade, themed "Working together, we can make the dream come true.''

More than 3,000 participants, including marching bands, drill teams, dance groups and equestrian units, took part in Southern California's largest King Day observance.

Terri Schichenmeyer  |   OW Contributor
Jan 13 2011

Author: Rebecca Burns

In days of old, when someone messed with a king, the challenger was usually thrown into a dungeon without trial or jury. Justice was swift and mercy was rare.

That’s because, oftentimes, the king held things together. Loved or hated, he was a force to be reckoned with. He had power and powerful friends, and messing with him wasn’t advised.
On that subject, little has changed through the centuries, as you’ll see in “Burial for a King” (c.2011, Scribner, $24 / $28.99 Canada, 256 pages, includes notes) by Rebecca Burns.

David L. Horne, Ph.D.  |   OW Contributing Columnist
Jan 6 2011

Practical Politics

The Martin Luther King holiday is 25 years old this month. Not bad for a true product of American democracy at its ugliest and its best.

Remembering the loud, raucous, and sometimes racially vicious political war fought to get the holiday established, one is doubly honored to watch one of Dr. King’s movement progeny work his POTUS magic through a relentlessly dangerous minefield of negativity.

Dec 9 2010

Civil Rights activist

Ella Baker, born Dec. 13, 1903, in Norfolk, Va., was a prominent, behind-the-scenes figure in the Civil Rights Movement. Known most for her work alongside more famous leaders like W.E.B. Du Bois, Thurgood Marshall, and Martin Luther King Jr., Baker inspired, mentored, and groomed some of the most up-front civil rights leaders and liberationists of the 20th century.

Her journey to leadership began as a child, when she listened to the stories her formerly-enslaved grandmother told her about slave revolts and the need to fight for justice.

Jan 13 2005

Two weeks before the annual Martin Luther King Jr. national holiday fest

Two weeks before the annual Martin Luther King Jr. national holiday fest, Mississippi prosecutors dragged aging, frail Edgar Ray Killen into court and charged him in the murder of three civil rights workers in 1964. Their murders shook the nation and shamed and embarrassed the government. That gave King, and the civil rights leaders, the conscience-stirring act they badly needed to batter down the last barriers of segregation.

Across Black America

Here’s a look at African American people and issues making headlines throughout the country.
 

Alabama
Freeman A. Hrabowski, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, will address the annual African American Business Council luncheon on June 28. Hrabowski, who is chairman of President Barack Obama’s Advisory Commission on Education Excellence for African Americans, has a national reputation for his work studying the performance of minority students in math and science. Hrabowski, named one of the 10 best college presidents in the country by Time magazine, was a child leader in the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham in the 1960s.
 

Arkansas
The Liberty Counsel filed a motion and a brief in United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas seeking to intervene on behalf of a Concepts of Life crisis pregnancy center to defend against a suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Reproductive Rights. The groups seek to impose a permanent injunction before the Human Heartbeat Protection Act goes into effect July 18. Liberty Counsel also filed a brief opposing the ACLU’s request for an injunction. The “Heartbeat” bill states that when a woman seeks an abortion at or after the 12th week, doctors must test for a fetal heartbeat before an abortion is performed and inform the pregnant mother that the child in her womb has a heartbeat. If a heartbeat is detected, a woman cannot have an abortion, except in cases of rape, incest, and if a mother’s life is in danger. “As we promised when the legislation was introduced, Liberty Counsel will defend this law without reservation for the people of Arkansas, born and pre-born,” said Matt Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel. “No right is more foundational than the right to life. Without life, all other rights are irrelevant,” concluded Staver.