Ogan: A Century of Black Life, History, and Culture
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. helped change life for African Americans. He helped them get rights that they hadn’t had before. He believed in nonviolent protest. King didn’t want violence, he just wanted fairness for his four children. He wanted fairness for all of the other parents and their children. He hosted protests that were just walking in a large group and people still got hurt for walking. They were not being violent, or being disruptive, or doing anything bad. But the white people still beat them and hurt them. It’s not fair. It’s not good. Just because somebody doesn’t look like you does not give you the right to hurt them.
Black life, history and culture have had major accomplishments in the last century. In 1964 a new federal law was passed so that all men could vote no matter their race or religion. In the 1960s four students at the diner sat at the counter reserved for whites. When the waitress asked them to leave they politely said no. They were not arrested, to their surprise. The next day about two dozen students went to the diner and did the same thing. By the end of February more than 50,000 students had participated in the sit-ins at more than 30 locations in seven states. Life has changed since Martin Luther King Jr. He made it so blacks could go even in the same bathroom as whites.
I think that there are many possibilities for the next century for black life. I think that we might start getting more black Supreme Court members and presidents. I think that it is a good idea to have African Americans in our political system because most of them will be fair to everyone. They could see things from a point of view that whites couldn’t. I think it should be a goal of ours to have more African Americans in our political system. It would show that we are not a racist country as a whole and that we will accept all races.
It was not a great life for blacks before King. They couldn’t do things like whites could. They had different bathrooms for colored people. They had different water fountains for them, almost like they had a disease that you didn’t want to get. In the buses if a white person came onto the bus and there were no seats then a colored person would have to give up their seat and stand. Eventually the bus boycott was formed, so no blacks rode the bus for a long time. The buses started to lose money. The colored people had to carpool, but eventually the bus boycott worked and the blacks didn’t have to give up their seats anymore.
Thurgood Marshall once said that segregating children based on their race was against the Constitution. The Supreme Court agreed with him. In 1944 he argued that not letting African Americans vote was unconstitutional. Thurgood helped change black life a lot.
Black life has changed for the better since MLK Jr. I hope that life continues to go well for centuries to come.
Wyatt Helm is one of three SPS students who won an annual essay contest in partnership with NAACP Springfield to honor Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
About the MLK essay contest
The annual essay contest to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is sponsored by the NAACP Springfield for all middle school students in Springfield Public Schools. A committee of university students and faculty judged more than 100 essays to select the three top submissions. Winners were each awarded $50. This year’s focus: “2015: A Century of Black Life, History and Culture.”