The sanctuary at Sixteenth Street Baptist Church downtown is packed with high school students today ready to take to the streets to commemorate the 1963 Childrens' March and promote a new initiative encouraging educational and social achievement.
Speakers call the current civil rights struggle an issue of eliminating the disproportionate numbers of blacks in jail and dropping out of school. Each speaker during morning preparation sessions declared today a new beginning of achievement. The original Birmingham Childrens' March was 47 years ago, May 2 and 3, 1963.
With black and white images playing on screen in the background, Birmingham Mayor William Bell reminded the crowd of the past and said they have an obligation to honor that past by living up to their own potential.
"I'm embarrassed when I see the dropout rate approaching nearly 50 percent for our African American kids. I'm embarrassed that we haven't taken full advantage of the freedoms that have been offered to us," Bell said. "It is time for each one of us to take an independent stand to say that 'I will keep that legacy alive.'"
Today's event also helps Birmingham launch its participation in the Pen in Pencil National Service Learning Initiative. The program is designed to help youth and adults learn history while addressing juvenile justice problems.
Other speakers included City Councilman Jay Roberson, organizer of the event, Gwen Webb and Shelley Stewart. Ruben Studdard is also a guest and will perform.The commemorative march begins at noon downtown, concluding at Kelly Ingram Park.
Stewart, then a DJ who promoted the movement in the 1960s, said it was the youth that brought momentum in the early days of Birmingham's civil rights movement.
"The adults in this community turned their heads to the mass marches," he said. "They (the children) listened then and they went to the streets which changed the course of history In these United States of America."
Stewart also is an advocate for education and literacy through his Mattie C. Stewart Foundation intended to help reduce drop-out rates in American schools.
"It is so important that you know what your history is," Stewart said. "You have so much to be thankful for. Education is the key. Education will get you there."
| Mayor William Bell speaks to students at 16th Street Baptist Church |
| Childrens March Re-enactment |