knowledge equals black power: Did You Know
They didn’t have any laws saying that chickens couldn’t read and write, but they had laws saying that Black people couldn’t read and write. This was a system of oppression. It’s important to know what slavery means in our lives not just historically, but how it affects us as…
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![knowledgeequalsblackpower:
specialnights:
Danella Bryant praying during a demonstration outside the traffic engineering building, Birmingham, May 5, 1963.
Danella Bryant was a seventeen-year-old Parker High School senior active in the movement:“I was really, really involved. And the reason I could be involved, unlike some of my peers, was that my father owned his own business. He wasnt easily intimidated… I didnt realize at the time how dangerous the situation was. The only thing I was concerned with was that I wanted my freedom, I wanted to be able to go where I wanted, like everybody else did… I couldnt understand why everybody didnt leave [school to demonstrate]. But as I look back now, I realize that they were really afraid. Their parents had jobs and they were afraid that they would lose their jobs, and they were afraid, especially the seniors, that they wouldnt graduate. In fact, I thought maybe I wouldnt graduate, but I did… A few teachers—I said they were Uncle Toms at the time—they were afraid and felt like we shouldnt be doing what we were doing, that things would happen in time. And I told them that we ought to speed those things up, we got to let the whole world know whats happening in Birmingham… The world needed to know. The world did know
A lot of times, they teach the Civil Rights Movement like all Black people were involved. But my professor once told me it was only something like 15% of Black people were actually active in the movement. He said that when MLK came to Louisville, he couldn’t even find anywhere to speak. No one wanted him at their church “causing trouble,” you know?
And it just irks me so much when people try to romanticize that time period. They make it so unrealistic.](http://24.media.tumblr.com/9f5853512f4bd33f6d22dd4125c884f2/tumblr_mmju06cGYf1qa0scro1_250.jpg)
