One Book sparks discussion
Local speakers talk with students about the civil rights era, the March on Washington and the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
Students across the city and county can get a first-hand account of life in the civil rights era thanks to speakers working in collaboration with One Book, Many Voices.
Esther Vaughn spoke to several groups of fifth-graders at West End Elementary last week and has more presentations scheduled at Main Elementary on Monday.
The presentations are part of the writing contest for this year’s One Book, Many Voices selection, “Voices from the March” by George Ella Lyon. The novel, written in verse about the March on Washington when the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, is told from the perspective of six characters who talk about their experiences of the march.
Lyon will speak to the community Oct. 22 at 7 p.m. at Anna K. Davie Elementary School. The steering committee plans to announce more details soon about ticket sales for the event.
For the annual writing contest the One Book, Many Voices committee sponsors, students were asked to interview someone who remembers the march. They were given the choice of using that interview to write an essay about the march and its legacy or to share their interviewee’s story with readers. The committee asked several locals who remembered the march and lived during the Civil Rights era to share their stories with area students.
Vaughn, one of the speakers and interviewees, shared pictures contributed
by local activist Lavada Dillard and a sit-in video shared by the Atlanta Civil Rights Museum from the 1960s with students and spoke about growing up in Rome.
“Things were happening all over the south, then,” she said. “Things you cannot imagine.”
Vaughn explained to the students about the segregated schools, water fountains and bathrooms and showed photos to the classes.
“I remember, when I was a little girl and I went shopping with my mom, we had to stand in the corner of the restaurant if we wanted to get food,” she said. “Then, we had to pay for it and take it with us to eat somewhere else. I never really thought about it, because that was all I knew.”
She spoke to the students about a sit-in protest at Murphy’s on Broad Street in March of 1963 when she was a sophomore in high school. She showed the students a video taken of the sit-in and newspaper articles written about the demonstration.
“I wasn’t allowed to participate,” Vaughn said. “But I knew people that did. They sat at the counter and refused to move. The store closed the snack bar rather than serve them. Sixty-two people were jailed in that demonstration.”
She also told students about
when she was in college at Clark Atlanta University and heard about King being shot.
“There was a lot of anger and sadness then,” she said. “I wanted nothing more than to come home to be with my family, but I was in Atlanta and I was scared to call a taxi to take me to the station because I was afraid if a white cabbie came, he would be in danger.”
She spoke of the true purpose of that march and the struggle.
“As I look out at this room of students, I see diversity and that was the reason behind this,” she said. “Was I bitter? No. Was I angry? No. You can’t be hotheaded.”
After speaking to the students and answering their questions, Vaughn said as she looks back, she feels grateful.
“I feel like I am fortunate to have lived through that period,” Vaughn said. “When I see all these memories come together and share them with the children, I feel like we’ve come full circle. I see that we all really have more in common than not.”
Schools interested in participating in the writing contest can contact One Book, Many Voices on their Facebook page and request a list of available speakers and a writing prompt packet.