Martin showed people all over the world the power of words, not fists. In 1964, Martin was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. This award is given almost every year to the person or group who has done something important in the cause of world peace.
Martin was very grateful for this award. But he knew it wasn’t his alone—it belonged to the thousands of brave people who had taken part in the nonviolent fight for equal rights. Martin gave away all the prize money—fifty-four thousand dollars—to civil rights groups.
NOBEL PEACE PRIZE
ALFRED B. NOBEL WAS A SWEDISH CHEMIST AND ENGINEER WHO INVENTED DYNAMITE. WHEN NOBEL DIED In 1896, HE LEFT NINE MILLION DOLLARS In HIS WILL TO ESTABLISH THE NOBEL PRIZE. THE PRIZES ARE AWARDED ALMOST EVERY YEAR In SIX CATEGORIES: PEACE, LITERATURE, PHYSICS, CHEMISTRY, PHYSIOLOGY OR MEDICINE, AND ECONOMICS. MANY DIFFERENT PEOPLE--FROM TEACHERS TO JUDGES TO POLITICIANS—CAN BE NOMINATED FOR An AWARD. In SOME YEARS, AS MANY AS TWO HUNDRED NOMINATIONS ARE RECEIVED.
THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE HAS BEEN AWARDED TO NINETY-FOUR PEOPLE AND NINETEEN ORGANIZATIONS SINCE 1901. SOME PAST WINNERS INCLUDE:
• PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER--2002
• NELSON MANDELA—1993
• ELIE WIESEL--1986
• MOTHER TERESA—1979
Martin Luther King, Jr., had won the Nobel Peace Prize, but he knew he had not reached his goal: equality for all people. He thought about the defeat in Albany and the success in Birmingham. Surely there were other cities where Martin could help end segregation.
Martin’s eyes turned toward Selma, Alabama. Although half of Selma’s residents were black, only 1 percent was registered to vote. The voting office was only open a few days a month, which made it difficult for people to register. In addition, the literacy test was so hard, Martin said that even the chief justice of the Supreme Court might not know some answers.
For weeks Martin led groups to the courthouse to register to vote. But it was not legal to hold marches in Selma. So the groups were arrested. Thousands of black people were sent to jail just because they wanted the right to vote.
On February 1, 1965, Martin Luther King, Jr., was arrested during one of the marches. While Martin was in jail, a group called the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee invited a man named Malcolm X to Selma to speak.
Malcolm X was a young black leader who disagreed with Martin’s peaceful protests. Malcolm X did not believe in fighting with words alone. He thought it was okay to use your fists, and more. Malcolm X also spoke about “black pride”—how blacks should respect themselves, and be proud of their race.
While Martin Luther King, Jr., was in jail, he wrote a letter that was published in The New York Times. In the letter, Martin said, “There are more Negroes in jail with me than there are on the voting rolls.”
Marches spread to many counties in Alabama. One night, a black marcher, Jimmie Lee Jackson, was shot during the voter registration drive. He was twenty-six years old. Before he died, Jimmie Lee said that a state trooper had gunned him down. The black community in Selma was outraged. But Martin still did not want people to fight back with more violence. He thought Malcolm X was wrong. So Martin organized a march from Selma to Montgomery, the capital of Alabama, to demand voting rights for black people.
At the time, the governor of Alabama was George Wallace. He did not want the march to take place. He put a ban on it. Did this stop Martin? No. On March 7, six hundred and fifty marchers set out for Montgomery. Since this was a Sunday, Martin stayed back at his church in Atlanta to preach. He planned to take a plane to Montgomery later that day to meet up with the marchers.
As usual, the protesters were marching in peace. But soon, state troopers, armed with nightsticks and tear gas, appeared. They attacked the group. Some state troopers on horseback trampled the marchers. About seventy people were injured. The violence was captured by television cameras. People all over the country were so angry about what had happened that they protested in their own cities.
Martin, too, was horrified at the news. He also felt guilty about not being with the marchers. So he planned another march two days later.
On March 9, Martin led a group of fifteen hundred from Selma toward Montgomery. Beforehand, Martin told people to leave the line if they had any doubts about remaining. He had to be sure that they wouldn’t fight back even if they were beaten up. As they crossed a bridge, the marchers faced a wall of state troopers. Martin saw that many would be hurt, even killed. Marching was one thing. Getting murdered was another. So he turned the group around.
Then good news arrived. Very good news. President Johnson said the protesters had the right to march. He promised to send in troops to protect the marchers.
Suddenly, people from all over the country wanted to join in. On March 21, the group set out—Protestants, Catholics, Jews, blacks, and whites, all marching together.
To Martin, it was a beautiful sight. People walked through quiet valleys and over steep hills. They walked along the highways, stopping only to rest for a minute or two. Their bodies ached. Their feet were sore. But their hearts were light.
By the time they reached Montgomery, they were twenty-five thousand strong. At the state capitol building, they handed a petition to
Governor George Wallace, demanding voting rights for black Americans.
On August 6, 1965, President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act. President Johnson said, “Every American citizen must have an equal right to vote. Yet the harsh fact is that in many places in this country, men and women are kept from voting simply because they are Negroes.”
Now there would be no more literacy tests. And United States government workers would be in charge of registering voters. The Selma freedom marchers had won!
CIVIL RIGHTS LEADERS WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES FOR THEIR CAUSE
MEDGAR EVERS WAS FROM MISSISSIPPI. GROWING UP, HE ALWAYS QUESTIONED THE JIM CROW LAWS. BY THE TIME HE WAS In COLLEGE, HE STARTED LOCAL CHAPTERS OF THE NAACP. AND, AFTER BEING TURNED DOWN BY THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI LAW SCHOOL, HE FOUGHT FOR THE DESEGREGATION OF THE SCHOOL. On JUNE 12, 1963, EVERS WAS KILLED. HE WAS THIRTY-SEVEN YEARS OLD.
A WHITE MAN NAMED BYRON DE LA BECKWITH WAS ACCUSED OF THE MURDER. HE STOOD TRIAL TWICE In THE 1960S. BUT THE ALL-WHITE JURIES In BOTH CASES COULD NOT DECIDE IF HE WAS GUILTY OR INNOCENT.
FINALLY, In A THIRD TRIAL, In 1994—THIRTY-ONE YEARS AFTER EVERS’S DEATH--BECKWITH WAS FOUND GUILTY. HE WAS SENTENCED TO LIFE In PRISON.
ANDREW GOODMAN WAS FROM NEW YORK CITY. In 1964, GOODMAN, AND MICKEY SCHWERNER, WHO WAS FROM PHILADELPHIA, WENT TO MISSISSIPPI TO REGISTER BLACKS TO VOTE. (BOTH ANDREW GOODMAN AND MICKEY SCHWERNER WERE WHITE.) On THE NIGHT OF JUNE 20, 1964, THE TWO REACHED MERIDIAN, MISSISSIPPI. THERE, A BLACK MAN NAMED JAMES CHANEY JOINED THE GROUP. THE THREE CIVIL RIGHTS WORKERS WERE ARRESTED FOR SPEEDING AND TOLD TO LEAVE TOWN. BUT MEMBERS OF A VIOLENT RACIST GROUP CALLED THE KU KLUX KLAN TRACKED THEM DOWN AND KILLED THEM. THEY WERE ALL YOUNG MEN WHEN THEY DIED--GOODMAN WAS TWENTY-ONE, SCHWERNER WAS TWENTY-FIVE, AND CHANEY WAS TWENTY-ONE.
In 1967, NINETEEN WHITE MEN WERE ARRESTED FOR THE DEATHS OF THE THREE CIVIL RIGHTS WORKERS. SEVEN OF THE MEN WERE FOUND GUILTY. TWO MEN, E. G. BARNETT, WHO WAS RUNNING FOR SHERIFF OF MERIDIAN, AND EDGAR RAY KILLEN, A LOCAL MINISTER, WERE SET FREE BECAUSE THE JURY COULD NOT REACH A DECISION. IT WASN’T UNTIL ALMOST FORTY YEARS LATER, In 2005, THAT KILLEN WAS ALSO FOUND GUILTY OF THE MURDERS. |