Movin' On With Nellie

A walk with Martin Luther King, Jr.

By NELDA CURTISS 
Posted 1/24/25

I was in 6th grade in 1965 when I first heard of Martin Luther King, Jr. As a U.S. Air Force Brat, I wondered what the movement was all about. 

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Movin' On With Nellie

A walk with Martin Luther King, Jr.

Posted

I was in 6th grade in 1965 when I first heard of Martin Luther King, Jr. As a U.S. Air Force Brat, I wondered what the movement was all about. 

Signs calling King a communist were plastered all over Selma, Alabama. My parents were not as informed as I wished they were because they rattled off the rumors and disinformation of the anti-progressive movements of the 60s. The Air Force Base commander issued strict orders that no personnel or families were allowed to participate in the march nor to align themselves in any way with the civil rights leader.  

The notion was circulated that he and the people who came for the march were not from Selma or Alabama but were northerners assigned to cause trouble. I didn't understand because King was called Reverend; and I wondered why he was disrupting society and what was he doing? 

Later, in high school, the same rumors were passed regarding the escalating civil rights movement and Malcolm X.  My dad warned me, "Under no circumstances are you to join any student group especially not "Students for a Democratic Society."  That was the year that students were jumped getting off school buses – even buses in base housing. But in classes at Atwater High School, with Mr. Silvera's English and Mrs. Snow's business, I learned that King was trying to change the prejudices we still had even 100 years after the emancipation and Civil War. I learned that King advocated non-violent protests to change how we thought about each other. He was standing up for the working class and equal pay. 

I wanted to walk with King from Selma to Montgomery in March, but I could only stand on the car's running board to see the commotion through the trees and businesses. I cried like I wept for JFK when King was assassinated. By then, I had learned that he was like Gandhi in his movement to help people have equal rights. I was so sad that we lost King because he was making a difference in our lives, and Americans were changing their values and embracing diversity. 

As a result of his work, we all have the right to vote. Galveston finally removed the segregated public water fountains and bathrooms. In college and high school, we finally have integrated studies where we learn about Native American, Black, Latino, and women's literature—not just dead white men's writing. Gloria Steinem took cues for the women's rights movement from King. Even Tennis was touting women's freedom with Billy Jean King's match with Bobby Riggs.  

There was dancing in the streets like the Mamas and Papas sang, burning of girdles and bras, and hair being let down and grown long. The whole iconic 40s and 50s lifestyle morphed into the freedom of the 60s and remade the nation.   

I have long been thankful for the freedom we found with Martin Luther King, Jr., and I wish that I could have met him in person. The world's walk with King was fleeting because of a shortsighted assassin, but King's lessons are long-lasting blessings and reminders to keep building the dream of a color-blind society. 

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." – Martin Luther King, Jr. (from I Have a Dream speech).

Nelda Curtiss is a retired college educator and long-time local columnist. Reach her at columnsbynellie.com or email her at columnsbynellie@gmail.com.