On Thursday, Jan. 23, Longwood University continued its week-long celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Wednesday’s event was originally supposed to consist of a march outside around campus, and then move inside to the ballroom so that attendees could reflect on the event. With weather that was too cold, though, the march outside was cancelled, and the whole event was moved inside to the ballroom. The theme for this year’s MLK week was “Bridging the Dream: From Civil Rights to Human Rights.”
Jonathan Page, lecturer in English and Modern Languages, said, “That is what I think is so important about this idea about ‘bridging’ the dream. It’s not so much about remembering the marches, but thinking about what it means to us as we move forward in the future.”
The event started out with an introduction from Page, and then students Tristan Cunningham, Cainan Townsend, Sara Kendle and Associate Professor of Biology Consuelo Alvarez read a speech from Malala Yousafzai that was delivered to the United Nations.
During Yousafzai’s speech, she talks about the importance of previous civil rights and human rights leaders and how they pushed for change nationally and internationally. The speech also gave a background about Yousafzai being shot by the Taliban in October 2012 and how she and her colleagues used this act to empower themselves and others.
Kendle read, “Poverty, ignorance, injustice, racism and the deprivation of basic rights are the main problems faced by both men and women.”
Although her speech included fighting for the rights of all, she mainly focused on women’s rights and girls’ education because these are the people she believes are suffering the most.
Then, after the speech was finished, the guest speaker for the event, Reverend Williams of Levi Baptist Church, was introduced by Justin Reid, associate director of the Moton Museum.
Williams was an instrumental part in the Civil Rights Movement in Farmville and came to speak about those times when he fought so hard for equal rights. Williams was also an intricate part of the Brown v. Board of Education case, and was one of the students who took part in the strike.
Williams also pointed out that, during Brown v. Board of Education, there were five test cases all around the south, and the only one in Prince Edward County was led by students.
He said, “It took a lot of courage for us to do that, and there were white people in the community that anti everything, but there were white people in the community who were business people, who were pro what we were doing.”
Later, he attended Shaw University and led more civil rights protests while being a student there.
During the reflection, students were informed that schools in Farmville were closed from 1959 until 1964 and 4,000 kids were denied the right to a public education.
While he was speaking, Williams told students about three racial movements that happened in Prince Edward County. He spoke about the lack of sports equipment students had when he played football in high school, the overcrowded conditions, the restrictions and the small teaching spaces in Prince Edward County black schools.
Williams also spoke on the times when he would strike and get arrested, and encouraged students to attend the Moton Museum in order to see deeper into the strikes and the struggle.
According to Reid, “The events that took place at Moton changed the entire country.”
Williams said, “It’s amazing how words change and give us different meanings at times. Now diversity, now inclusion, which mean fundamentally the same thing. It means [the] coming together [of] races and working for the betterment of all humankind.”
At the end of the event, Williams took questions and offered to talk to other students and classes if they wanted to know more about the history of civil rights in Farmville.
Page said, “We are descendants of an activist country, but we have often become complacent and a little too comfortable in the way things are. But Longwood has changed you all with becoming active citizen leaders. So as we go forth today, as we go back to class, as we go on with our lives, let us not forget where we come from, and let us try to bridge that legacy from Dr. King, from civil rights to human rights, and so when you see that there is a need, it is your responsibility, it is your duty to act.”
