"MARTIN, TELL THEM ABOUT THE DREAM!"
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) Fifty-two years ago today, August 28, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. asked the Queen of Gospel Music to sing "I've Been Buked and I've Been Scorned" before he spoke at the March on Washington, but before she sang, Mahalia Jackson said to Dr. King...
"Martin, tell them about the dream".
Dr. King had included the "I have a dream" theme in previous speeches and sermons but it was not included in the text of his March on Washington address. He followed Mahalia's advice and added "I have a dream" to his closing his remarks.
Mahalia Jackson
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) Fifty-two years ago today, August 28, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. asked the Queen of Gospel Music to sing "I've Been Buked and I've Been Scorned" before he spoke at the March on Washington, but before she sang, Mahalia Jackson said to Dr. King...
"Martin, tell them about the dream".
Dr. King had included the "I have a dream" theme in previous speeches and sermons but it was not included in the text of his March on Washington address. He followed Mahalia's advice and added "I have a dream" to his closing his remarks.
Mahalia Jackson
Queen of Gospel Music
Photo by Carl Van Vechten (1962)
AMELIA BOYNTON ROBINSON DIES AT 104
Montgomery, Alabama (JFK+50) The New York Times reports that last Wednesday, August 26, 2015, "a pivotal figure at the Selma march," Amelia Boynton Robinson* passed away here in Montgomery at age 104.
Ms. Robinson became known as "the matriarch of the voting rights movement." On March 7, 1965, she was "beaten, gassed and left for dead" in the Selma, Alabama march for voting rights. She had been one of the organizers of the march which was to go from Selma to Montgomery in demand for "the right to register to vote."
Responding to the news of her death, President Barack Obama said...
"She was as strong, as hopeful and as indomitable of spirit--as quintessentially American--as I'm sure she was that day 50 years ago. To honor the legacy of an American hero like Amelia....requires only that we follow her example--that all of us fight to protect everyone's right to vote."
The Times quotes Ms. Robinson's reflection on her role in Bloody Sunday...
"I wasn't looking for notoriety, but if that's what it took I didn't care how many licks I got. It just made me even more determined to fight for our cause."
*Amelia Boynton Robinson (1911-2015) was born in Savannah, Georgia, one of 10 children of George and Anna Platts. ABR earned a degree in Home Economics at Tuskegee Institute and worked with the Department of Agriculture in Selma. ABR worked in voter registration, and retired in 2009.
SOURCE
"Amelia Boynton Robinson, 104, Dies; A Pivotal Figure at the Selma March," by Margalit Fox, The New York Times, Obituaries, August 27, 2015.
Selma to Montgomery Marches' Road Sign
Photo by Markuskun (2008)
