In many ways, the ending of the institution of slavery in this country, that is celebrated with the Juneteenth Day Celebration was replaced by the institution of racism. After the Civil War southern legislators who were welcomed back into Washington DC to once more participate in governing the union of states, north, and south. Almost immediately southern lawmakers began designing laws that would legally separate the races in the south. Based on the notion of separate-but-equal, lawmakers came up with a long list of laws that would segregate all of the public places in the south and make it illegal for a white person to sell a property to a black person, illegal for blacks and whites to be married, and more.
Many of those laws would stay in place until the 1960's when they were challenges by Civil Rights Heroes like Rosa Parks, Martain Luther King Jr., and so many others whose activist actions would cast a public spotlight on the struggle of American Black people in the south, and show the rest of the nation and the world that separate, did not mean equal, when it came to the way segregation laws restricted some American people. Desegregation of schools and other public institutions would follow.
Martin Luther King Jr. is the iconic leader of the Civil Rights movement, a Baptist minister by trade Dr. King led civil rights marches, demonstrations and worked with religious organizations, and entertainers to promote civil rights causes. One of my favorite Dr. King moments came when he spoke to Nichelle Nichols, the actress who played Lt. Uhura in the Original Star Trek Scifi television program. During a chance meeting, Nichelle let Dr. King know that she was seriously thinking about leaving the television series.
Like me, Dr. King was a Star Trek fan so, I will forever be grateful that he was able to convince Nichelle Nichols to stay with the Original Star Trek cast at the time by sharing with her what he had learned during his travels and from his own personal experiences. Dr. King told her that because of the positive role model and inspiration, her character was too young girls interested in space science, and space travel she should reconsider her decision. According to Nichelle, she did decide to stay with the show because of that meeting.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s other accomplishments up to and including his I Have a Dream Speech are perhaps way better remembered than his off-chance meeting with a member of the Star Trek original series cast but it was one of the little bits about his life's history that stuck with me. His commitment to the community, and building strong communities through the encouragement of dedicated active participation in the community is something that has also stuck with me through the years.
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