I'm actually racking my brain, trying to remember if I might have met her as a child. I've met Coretta Scott King, among others, and there is a picture of my sister, as an infant, in Dr. King's arms, which I adore.
My family knew the Kings from school (one of the advantages of there only being one black high school in Atlanta in the 40s). I think I'd met her before when I was younger but I remember being pointedly introduced to her at a luncheon of some sort in my teens. I have a funny theatre piece about my Auntie Sis getting her first kiss from Martin.
There's a little more to it than that - she wasn't just too tired, she was already active in the NAACP, for example. More good information here: http://www.slate.com/id/2128752/
On the one hand, there's something appealing about the idea of history turning on almost accidental events, but I think I like the real story better, if only because furthering the accidental narrative seems disempowering. She was an active, knowledgeable woman, not a pawn of fate or greater forces.
Thanks for adding that. :-) I never at all thought she was unaware of the weight of her decision there...it's just that she was a "normal" person who made a choice that ended up having huge consequences, and not some kind of great community leader or whatever at the time, and that's what I like about her. It took _something_ to spark her willingness to do what she did, instead of her just going, "well, I belong to these organizations and all, but there's nothing I can really do to change anything", which is how a lot of other people would have thought. And I can easily see that activist bent mixed with the feelings of a tired (on many levels) person who was not going to give up her well-deserved bus seat.
People refer to Corazon Aquino as having been "just a homemaker" before running for President, but I'm very sure she was an intelligent, informed, educated person as well. I don't know enough about her to know what catalyzed her willingness to act, but I'm sure there was something.
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I'm burning sage in her memory tonight
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Really? That's too cool. And how did you meet Mrs. King?
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A tired woman who was just too bull headed to let a stupid male tell her where she could or couldnt sit..
you go girl..
Wolfie
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On the one hand, there's something appealing about the idea of history turning on almost accidental events, but I think I like the real story better, if only because furthering the accidental narrative seems disempowering. She was an active, knowledgeable woman, not a pawn of fate or greater forces.
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weight of her decision there...it's just that she was a "normal" person
who made a choice that ended up having huge consequences, and not some
kind of great community leader or whatever at the time, and that's what I
like about her. It took _something_ to spark her willingness to do what she did, instead of her just going, "well, I belong to these organizations and all, but there's nothing I can really do to change anything", which is how a lot of other people would have thought. And I can easily see that activist bent mixed with the feelings of a tired (on many levels) person who was not going to give up her well-deserved bus seat.
People refer to Corazon Aquino as having been "just a homemaker" before
running for President, but I'm very sure she was an intelligent,
informed, educated person as well. I don't know enough about her to know what catalyzed her willingness to act, but I'm sure there was something.
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