Do You Remember Birmingham?
Most every adult in America has heard of Dr. King's "I have a dream" speech. Granted, most have never hear more than that line and don't really know much else about the speech, the ministry, or the man. Dr. King gave a lot of great speeches, and they were not just an eloquent group of words. When he spoke, he spoke for purpose and with meaning. Consider this excerpt:
"They are the martyred heroines of a holy crusade for freedom and human dignity. And so this afternoon in a real sense they have something to say to each of us in their death... They say to us that we must be concerned not merely about who murdered them, but about the system, the way of life, the philosophy which produced the murderers. Their death says to …show more content…
Many people have not only forgotten them but the people for whom they were written and spoken. On September 15, 1963, a bomb exploded during Sunday morning service at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. Four young girls were killed and many others were injured. It was later discovered that 15 sticks of dynamite were placed in the church basement under what would later turn out to be the girls' bathroom. At 10:19 am, it exploded killing 14-year old Cynthia Wesley, 14-year old Carole Robertson, 14-year old Addie Mae Collins, and 11-year old Denise McNair.
Rev. Ruth Hawley-Lowry writes in the Huffington Post, "This bombing happened only a few weeks after the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The fear around the March closed down the city of Washington, D.C. because white leadership incorrectly presumed that a majority black gathering would not be peaceful. Even now, five decades later, people so easily quote Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" -- but we fail to remember Dr. King's words earlier in his homiletical speech when he said, "America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked 'insufficient
Most every adult in America has heard of Dr. King's "I have a dream" speech. Granted, most have never hear more than that line and don't really know much else about the speech, the ministry, or the man. Dr. King gave a lot of great speeches, and they were not just an eloquent group of words. When he spoke, he spoke for purpose and with meaning. Consider this excerpt:
"They are the martyred heroines of a holy crusade for freedom and human dignity. And so this afternoon in a real sense they have something to say to each of us in their death... They say to us that we must be concerned not merely about who murdered them, but about the system, the way of life, the philosophy which produced the murderers. Their death says to …show more content…
Many people have not only forgotten them but the people for whom they were written and spoken. On September 15, 1963, a bomb exploded during Sunday morning service at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. Four young girls were killed and many others were injured. It was later discovered that 15 sticks of dynamite were placed in the church basement under what would later turn out to be the girls' bathroom. At 10:19 am, it exploded killing 14-year old Cynthia Wesley, 14-year old Carole Robertson, 14-year old Addie Mae Collins, and 11-year old Denise McNair.
Rev. Ruth Hawley-Lowry writes in the Huffington Post, "This bombing happened only a few weeks after the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The fear around the March closed down the city of Washington, D.C. because white leadership incorrectly presumed that a majority black gathering would not be peaceful. Even now, five decades later, people so easily quote Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" -- but we fail to remember Dr. King's words earlier in his homiletical speech when he said, "America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked 'insufficient