Learning from the past to ensure a better future

by Gwen Marshall, SPS

Springfield, MO— On Monday January 16th in Springfield, Missouri we celebrated Dr. Martin Luther King’s 94th birthday.

As our young people marched in Springfield’s MLK Day March, I wondered what they were thinking. I wondered if they understood that the main aim of the civil rights movement was to give everybody equal rights regardless of skin color, gender, nationality, religion, disability or age. I wondered if they were aware that young people like themselves had marched in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963. If they knew the names of the many young people that were involved in bringing desegregation and the freedoms we now enjoy to pass in the United States. I wondered if they were aware of the obstacles and dangers they encountered as they stood and fought for freedom. If they knew names like Freeman Hrabowski who was 12 years old when he was inspired to march in the Birmingham Children’s Crusade of 1963. Marilyn Luper Hildreth was 10 years old when she suggested that her NAACP youth group have a sit in at Katz Drug Store. Her protest led to the desegregation of the drug store’s lunch counter in Oklahoma City. Similar reflections about young people in