Growing Up a Mississippi Woman During the Civil Rights Movement
“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr made it clear that there was no question all men are created equal, and that it was the content of their heart and their character on which one should be judged on, not by the color of their skin nor features. Thanks to the Civil Rights Movement and his place in its history, this message is heard and followed today. Linda Parker was born in Water Valley, Mississippi. She was a student in one of the first integrated class to attend The University of Mississippi and lived in the south until both her husband and herself relocated to Tulsa, Oklahoma. Linda’s experiences and recollections showcase that the life and sentiments from African Americans throughout the south in the Civil Rights Movement and era were unthinkable and ultimately ingrained and that the emergence of black political leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. gave citizens hope on creating a united front in gaining civil rights.
From the mid 1950’s to late 1960s, the Civil Rights Movement was an ongoing struggle for African Americans to achieve right equal to those of white people, such as equal employment, education, voting rights, the abolishment of segregation and the overall freedom of racial discrimination. There has been no movement, socially or politically larger in the twentieth century that has affected the legality of the United States of America. This movement sought to restore to African Americans the rights of citizenship guaranteed by the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments, which had been eroded by the Jim Crow laws in the South. The relationship and strain between the state and federal governments were tested as the federal government was forced one too many times to overrule and enforce laws to protect African Americans against the state. Many pinnacle moments of the movement took place in 1960. The start of lunch counter sit-ins from North Carolina A&T students in Greensboro, North Carolina helped force the desegregation of public eating areas and also helped with the creation of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. The following year the Congress of Racial Equality began attempts to remove segregation on interstate buses in the states of Alabama and Mississippi through the “freedom rides”.
As a preschooler in the mid 1960’s, Parkers earliest memories of racial differences was being taught to always be respectful of whites, explaining, “It was part of my upbringing to be respectful of all adults but when it came to whites we were to always think of them as our superiors; even children the same age as I”. Water Valley, Mississippi was a small town where everything was separate. She attended an all-Black church and an all-black school. The town was segregated to the point where there was actually a white park and a black park. The school system integrated the year she started 6th grade, but that didn’t make things equal, she recalls that “when books were distributed to students, the whites got the new books or those that were in good condition and the blacks received the books that were ragged. The whites would laugh and call us names and so did the white teacher and we couldn’t retaliate”. Unfortunately, the progression made by the passing of many legislations and acts was overshadowed by the violence and terror that continued to occurred throughout the south. One would imagine the success in Brown vs. Board of Education in 1954 would be enough to fulfil the faith of African Americans that the country would soon be unified, but the atrocious murder of 14-year-old Emmet Till and the resistance of whites through Southern Manifesto put black citizens and communities on high alert for their safety. 4 years old when the incident occurred, Parker described Emmet Tills murder as “a stringent reminder of your place in the world,” and the reminder to not look into the eyes of white and to always be mindful of how you acted because you could be the next one resonated throughout the south. To murder an innocent child and find the party involved “not guilty” exemplified which side of the fence the government resided on. Mississippi was the burning core of segregation, aggressively denying integration and any group that tried to take on integration in Mississippi were greeted by brutality and racial discrimination. The unsuccessful attempts to desegregate the south and in particular the state of Mississippi can be seen as the ownership of the lack of support from the state governments and the minimal efforts made to enforce at the federal level. With the lack of support or justice being enforced by the government, many individual and minority leaders made a mission for their voices to be heard.
In the midst of the movement, Parker agreed that the emergence of African American political leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. gave citizens hope on creating a united front in gaining civil rights. With that, the March on Washington in 1963, alongside with Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech played pivotal roles in passing the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the 1965 Montgomery March would lead the way for the Voting Rights Act also passed in 1965. Linda Parker says she remembers the March on Washington, the assassination of Malcom X and vaguely remembered the aftermath of Dr. King’s assassination. Although it was not to till many years after she had graduated high school and moved away that her small town of Water Valley was able to make changes to any laws and regulations, with the first high school prom not being integrated until the late 1980’s. The deliverance of Martin Luther King’s speech proved not to be only core foundation in the march, but a clear testimony to the life changing influence of a single individual and the impact of his words. The March on Washington wasn’t just for the people, but a silent shot to the white American and the Kennedy administration who up until that point had done little to secure black rights and equality. King came at a time when the people needed guidance and change. With notable civil rights activist Rosa Parks summarizing the movement as, “more a matter of trying to challenge the powers that be, and to let it be known that we did not wish to continue being second-class citizens”. African Americans didn’t want to be seen as lesser than the white. Through the emergence of black political leaders, in particular Martin Luther King Jr, the chilling realization that in the past, black African American’s were expected to surrender to the racial slurs and propaganda being broadcasted across the nation could be broken down. This man knew that the black community needed to be united. Parker said, “The community seemed to have walked taller with confidence due to what King accomplished”. And here in 2017, we are able to firsthand experience the impact of that. His efforts, accomplishments and speech at the March on Washington pull on heartstrings and possess the power to bring some to tears. Half a century later and the words “I have a dream” are a symbol of his pursuit of racial equality and nonviolence.
There are no doubts that minorities in the United States have had a horrendous past and racial discrimination still stands as the biggest worldwide injustices. A conclusion drawn by Cedric Muhammad in an article about slavery corresponds directly with how African Americans were treated as a whole throughout the movement and time period, stating that “the bottom line is that nothing can be done by any government on this earth to restore the health, heart, mind and souls of Blacks that were damaged and destroyed”. (Muhammad, 2001) Linda Parkers experience as an African American growing up in the midst of the Civil Rights movement presented a firsthand view of sentiments and life experiences of being African Americans throughout the south in the Civil Rights Movement and just how unfair and astounding daily tasks and lack thereof human rights. It is a past that can’t be changed, but a past that has shaped the culture of African Americans today.