Remembering the Life of Dr. King: A Talk With Mom

For most of us, as we go through our lives, we tend to think of our day-to-day as anything but historical. It’s only when we look back that we can see the hand of destiny in the events that we’ve lived through.??

?It was clear this was the case for my mother, Beverly Butler Pool, when I asked her over the weekend what it was like to meet Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Mom attended and graduated from Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana with a BA in Education.?She would go on to get 2 master’s degrees from San Francisco State, teach middle and high school, and serve as an educational administrator for 32 years. But when she met Dr. King in 1959, she was a 19-year-old sophomore representing the Southern University Methodist Club at an interdenominational, ecumenical conference at Ohio State University with about 1000 other students from across the country. She was excited to attend the conference not only because it was her first time traveling outside of Louisiana but also because she would get to hear the keynote speaker, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a young pastor in his early 30s who had just received national recognition for a successful bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama.

?Q:?So, Mom, when you met Dr. King what was he like?

Mom:?Well, he was personable, he had no arrogance at all, and when you talked to him, you felt like he was your best friend. He was a charismatic speaker, well respected by people of all races, and whatever he said, people listened to him.?Had he lived, I think he could have been our first Black president.?

?Q: Why was he the keynote speaker at your conference?

Mom: He had just come into national prominence for successfully leading the bus boycott in Montgomery. The national news media did not report on ‘Black news’ at that time. We learned what was going on in the Black community through Black newspapers, Ebony and Jet magazines. So, the boycott had been going on for a year before I heard it on TV. And when I did, I was shocked that the national news media covered it. The city was going broke because Black people stopped riding the buses.?The city didn’t realize how much their economy depended on the Black community. This catapulted Dr. King into the national spotlight.?He had just launched his book, “Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story” and he autographed it for me.

?Q: Really?? Mom, where is the book?

Mom:?Well, I don’t know. Daddy took it (my grandfather).?He wanted to read it and I haven’t seen it since. You know, they did that back then (laughed).??

?Q: You know that book with his autograph is probably worth a lot, right?

Mom: Hmmm, I don’t know (ambivalent).?Maybe so.

?Q:?What was it like when you heard that Dr. King had been shot?

Mom:?I was shocked. It was like someone had punched me in the stomach, like they had knocked the air out of me.?I remember exactly what I was doing when I heard the news. Everyone was shocked. It was like a lightning bolt went right through this nation. Dr. King was well educated, had attended Morehouse (a prestigious college in Atlanta), was the son of a pastor and from a middle-class family whose parents had professional jobs. He was highly regarded by people of all races. We all grieved. It felt like the nation was coming apart.

?Q:?Worse than now?

Mom:?Well, there was a lot going on back then.?There were the assassinations - President Kennedy, Dr. King and Bobby Kennedy. The Vietnam war was going on, there was LSD and the hippies were taking over San Francisco. And then you had other Civil Rights leaders like John Lewis, Jim Clyburn, Malcolm X, Jesse Jackson.?We were all young, marching and protesting.?

?Q:?Were you marching?

Mom:?Heavens yes. That’s what my generation did. My parents didn’t understand it. It was started by the young people. First there were the sit-ins started by high school students and then the college students started marching.?Students from Black colleges and universities from all over the South were protesting and marching. Before participating in the marches, we were taught how to act, what to wear. We wore our Sunday best, dresses, stockings, heels and gloves. It was hard to run in those heels! When the nation saw on us television with the water hoses, dogs and tear gas, it rocked their consciousness. Our parents started out criticizing us but then they joined in too. White protestors joined in. Selma was the march that the national media covered because Dr. King participated, but this was happening all over the South.?

?Q:?Having lived through all of those experiences back then, what do you think his life symbolizes today?

Mom:?They called it the Civil Rights movement in the 60s but the fight for civil rights has always been going on. This is just what my generation did. But people have always done what they thought was needed so that their kids would have better lives, so that the world would be better.?I think his life symbolizes hope, encouragement and gives young people faith for a better future.?You know, you live your life and you don’t think about history. It’s just your life. So, while all the people who mistreated him will be a footnote, Dr. King’s memory and his message of hope will live on forever.?

?On this day commemorating the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., let us be mindful of how we live our lives, how we treat each other and make our decisions. While it’s clear we have a lot more work to do, I’m incredibly grateful for the decisions Mom and so many others made that have moved us beyond 1959 and closer to the dream that Dr. King envisioned for us. I’m keenly aware that their courage and the sacrifices they made that were just day-to-day to them created the opportunities that I and so many others have now to pursue the type of education, careers and lives that we desire for ourselves and our families.?

?It might just be daily life to us, but in fact we’re creating a legacy.?As we remember the life of Dr. King, let us be intentional about the kind of legacy we are leaving for those coming behind us - hopefully one of courage, resilience, kindness, and as Mom said, a legacy that leaves an unshakable faith for a better future.

?MPK