WILKES-BARRE — When Martin Luther King Jr. Day is celebrated on Monday, Jan. 20, those who attended an annual program on Friday afternoon will have a lot to think about. The event, entitled “Martin Luther King Jr. and his Presidents,” was held at the Luzerne County Courthouse.
Martin Luther King Jr. Day was made a federal holiday in 1983 and first observed in 1986. It falls on the third Monday of each January and is meant to honor the life of Civil Rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. For years, NAACP Luzerne County Branch 2306 has held an event in recognition of the King and the holiday that bears his name.
The event’s theme predominantly explored King’s relationships with presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. Chelsea Chamberlain, assistant professor of global cultures at Wilkes University, spoke about how King felt and interacted with each of the three presidents. Per Chamberlain’s academic commentary, the connections between King and the presidents were complicated.
She began by discussing King’s impressions of and brief interactions with Eisenhower, who served from 1953 to 1961.
“Like many white politicians, [Eisenhower] genuinely believed Black activists were demanding too much, too fast, too rowdily,” said Chamberlain.
Despite his fairly removed approach, Chamberlain noted that Eisenhower did make some progress in regard to civil rights. He desegregated the armed forces and federal workforce and used federal authority to make sure the Little Rock Nine were protected by the Arkansas National Guard when they became the first Black students to attend Little Rock Central High.
Kennedy, who served from 1961 to 1963, displayed strong moral leadership when it came to civil rights, according to Chamberlain, but fell short on actual accomplishments. This incongruence between rhetoric and action led Chamberlain to describe Kennedy as a “moving speaker but cautious executive.”
“… [Kennedy] spoke elegantly and passionately about the moral necessity of civil rights during his presidency, but he struggled to assert control…,” said Chamberlain.
Kennedy’s successor, Lyndon B. Johnson, did, in fact, make significant gains on the subject of civil rights. Chamberlain indicated that Johnson and King were aligned on a number of social policies, and shared something resembling a friendship for a time.
“Whereas King had been begging Ike to say something and been begging JFK to do something about civil rights, King praised LBJ’s radical, and his decisive, action…,” Chamberlain said.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 were among the Johnson administration’s civil rights accomplishments. When the Civil Rights Act was signed by Johnson, King was in attendance. In addition, Johnson’s sweeping anti-poverty agenda was broadly aligned with King’s own campaign for economic and social justice.
However, Chamberlain acknowledged the fractured relationship between Johnson and King as the United States’ involvement in Vietnam was expanded. Chamberlain passed out a letter, sent by King to Johnson, to Friday’s attendees. The letter suggested that, in King’s eyes, Johnson’s violent foreign policy had undermined his domestic accomplishments.
Other speakers and performers
As an accompaniment to Chamberlain’s presentation, Kas Williams, associate vice president for mission integration and institutional diversity at Misericordia University, discussed Thurgood Marshall, the first Black person to sit on the Supreme Court of the United States.
Though King and Marshall disagreed on the nuances of fighting segregation, the men shared a mutual respect, and Marshall’s righteous commitment to justice was made clear.
“He fought for justice simply because it was the right thing to do,” Williams said of Marshall.
Williams said — in part by repeating the question “Is there a lawyer in the house?” — that Marshall’s work paved the way for King, Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson to pursue their own angles on the Civil Rights Movement.
Throughout the program, the musical duo of Don Sennett and Don Shappelle performed a number of songs relevant to the Civil Rights Movement. They played the Impressions’ “People Get Ready;” Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind;” the Pete Seeger-penned “Turn! Turn! Turn!;” and the traditional gospel song “We Shall Overcome.” Shappelle’s original song “In this Proud Land” was also included in the setlist.
Additional remarks were given on Friday by Mayor George Brown; Luzerne County Manager Romilda Crocamo; local NAACP vice president and event coordinator David Yonki; and Wilkes-Barre Law & Library Association President Cheryl Sobeski-Reedy.