Located on the bridge leading to G-Building next to the Eastfield College Library, this display is significant to understanding the Civil Rights Movement that happened during the years 1954 to 1968 and Martin Luther King's involvement in it. Through its use of images and quotes, the viewer can begin to understand what each important historical event meant for the African American community and also how it helped them gain better rights. Not only does the viewer learn about this aspect of African American lives, but they also manage to understand how Martin Luther King helped shape the movement into a nonviolent campaign through his use of inspirational speeches. One of his most prominent speeches that helped influence the movement was his “I Have a Dream” speech. This speech was important in defining this movement because it allowed the people to connect with King's idea of having a dream of a future free of segregation.
Martin Luther King was born on January 15, 1929, and after graduating high school and attending college he started becoming more involved in civil rights and began advocating for racial equality (Biography.com). “Always a strong worker for civil rights for members of his race, King was, by this time, a member of the executive committee of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the leading organization of its kind in the nation” (Nobel Peace Prize). His involvement in this chapter helped include him in the Montgomery Bus Boycott. This boycott involved one of the greatest feats of nonviolent demonstration the African American community had exhibited at that time and according to the Encyclopedia of Alabama it was 13 months of continuous harassment towards the black race for refusing to use the Montgomery Busses, but this was not the only thing that MLK did to help the Civil Rights Movement. He involved himself in many other protests by encouraging children and adults to continue to use nonviolent methods of protest and by often organizing these events.
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On August 28, 1963, about a quarter-million people participated in the historic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom gathering near the Lincoln Memorial (NAACP). Martin Luther King was invited by the march’s planner A. Phillip Randolph, to “breathe new life into the march” and “to capitalize on King’s appeal and harness the organizing power of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People” (History.com 2009). King agreed to be the last speaker and, although it was expected he would have the least amount of people attending, he had obtained a large crowd. His speech was supposed to be 4 minutes long but it ended up extending to 16 minutes and though it has become known as the “I Have a Dream” speech, the famous line wasn’t actually part of King’s planned remarks that day. He was actually prompted to speak about this topic by gospel star Mahalia Jackson, who called out to him to “Tell ’em about the ‘Dream,’ Martin, tell ’em about the ‘Dream’!” (Kakutani 2013). The people who were attending the march reacted with a positive attitude to what Martin Luther King believed his dream to be, they called out, “Amen,” and, “Preach, Dr. King, preach,” offering, in the words of his adviser Clarence B. Jones, “every version of the encouragements you would hear in a Baptist church multiplied by tens of thousands” (Kakutani 2013).
Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech impacted the lives of many African-American families and their views on how the country should really look. It not only impacted the people who were present during his speech but it also impacted the people who were watching this speech from home and the future generations that would watch it. Journalist Michiko Kakutani explains the impact of MLK's speech perfectly by saying that “fifty years later, it is a speech that can still move people to tears. Fifty years later, its most famous lines are recited by schoolchildren and sampled by musicians. Fifty years later, the four words “I have a dream” have become shorthand for Dr. King’s commitment to freedom, social justice, and nonviolence, inspiring activists all over the world.”
This display is something that all Eastfield students and the community should visit, because not only does it explain the importance of the Civil Rights Movement and MLK’s involvement but it also provides its viewers a summary of what the Civil Rights Movement looked to the people living during this time. It provides a place for students to learn more about why this movement was so important while also allowing the students to come to their own conclusions about why the movement's use of nonviolent protest was beneficial to the outcome of it.
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