Two Who Marched With King Share Stories From the Past, Thoughts for the Future with Students

North High School played host to distinguished guests, students and members of the community in Monday morning's Second Annual Celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

A combined effort of North's Carter G. Woodson Society and Tartan High School's Black Student Union, the celebration welcomed Dr. Josie Johnson and Mr. Matthew Little—both of whom marched with King in Washington, D.C., in 1963 and witnessed his "I Have a Dream" speech.

Born in 1921 in North Carolina, Matthew Little is a former president of the Minnesota chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and an organizer of King's 1963 March on Washington.

Little recalled with nostalgia the importance of King's timeless words. “Dr. King's speech was the turning point of the whole civil rights movement in America. Rosa Parks' refusal to give up her seat and that speech were integral. It became not just a battle of the South, but a battle of America.”

Little said he also understood that the message of the movement went far beyond the words used by its leaders.

“As we were preparing for (the march) we had to sign a pledge of nonviolence regardless of provocation,” Little said in his address to those in attendance.

“The people in Washington, D.C., were sincere in their insistence on nonviolence. We actually had to eliminate one of our staunchest supporters in Minnesota because he refused to sign the pledge not to retaliate,” Little added.

A child of Southern upbringing, Dr. Josie Johnson was born and raised in Texas in the 1930s. She participated in the march on Washington under Little's supervision and led her own delegation of Minnesota women to Mississippi in 1964 so they could witness firsthand the civil rights movement in action.

Dr. Johnson co-founded the Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights and was the first African American woman to serve on the Board of Regents of the University of Minnesota. The university established the Josie R. Johnson Human Rights and Social Justice Award in her honor in 1998.

Johnson spoke with great conviction about the importance of youth involvement during the 1960s civil rights movement and today.

“Young people today will never understand what it meant to have our young people involved back then. Our people—our ancestors—fought and died for the right to an education. That wasn't a game,” Johnson said to the ethnically diverse crowd. “Those who struggled back then knew that if you were intelligent and educated you could do anything in the world.”

Johnson continued: “(Young people) are facing a society today that rewards injustice and competitive advantage at all costs. You have to rise above that. You are my history; you are Matthew's history. Dr. King believed in the power of young people. We believe in you too.”

Tartan High School principal, John Bezek, lauded the efforts of the student committees and promised further growth of the civil rights initiative in district schools.

“I look forward to working with the students to ensure the growth of these types of events in the coming years,” Bezek said. “I am really encouraged by the turnout today. Rather than being an afterthought or simply another day off from school, the Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration has become a part of the culture of who we are.”