Bamberg native Ericka Ransom joined thousands of people in Washington this past Saturday to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the March on Washington and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech.

For Ransom, 32, it was a time to reflect and honor the obligation of "to whom much is given, much is required."

"I had to go," she said.

Organized by a coalition of about 100 organizations, Saturday's activities were focused on education; economic justice and jobs; and voter registration and empowerment.

Without the marches, the sit-ins and the sacrifices of people like King and grassroots activists like Jim Sulton of Orangeburg, Ransom and other blacks recognize they wouldn't have opportunities available today.

"Attending the march was important to me because the activism and ministry of Dr. King is the reason why I have been able to have and take advantage of various opportunities," said Ransom, who now resides in Washington.

A program manager at Calvary Women's Services in Washington, Ransom is a graduate of Clemson University, a state institution integrated 40 years ago by Charleston native Harvey Gantt.

As the nation pauses today to commemorate the march, the dream and the dreamer, it is a time to reflect on the past, the present and the future of civil rights in America.

Aug. 28, 1963

Sulton, now 80, stood about 100 feet away from the Lincoln Memorial to hear King share his dream that would become a prescription for society's ills. Sulton, who traveled with his 12-year-old son and a priest from the local Catholic church, said he attended the original march because it was something that had to be done.

In King's speech, which lasted 16 minutes and 38 seconds, he said: "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."

Although the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in 1954 that the states did not have the right to separate black and white students, education in the South was still separate and anything but equal.

"We signed a petition to integrate the schools, and vendors cut us off," said Sulton, who opened a business in Orangeburg with his brother in 1948. "The petition was public. They put pressure on us. Some people lost their jobs, and most had their credit cut off. All of this was done to harass people who signed the petition. I got threats and phone calls. It wasn't easy, but I have no regrets," he said.

It was these kinds of threats and infringements on civil liberties that led Sulton and more than 250,000 people to converge on Washington, D.C. By bus, car and train, blacks and whites met to let their demands be known. Reports suggest that more than 2,000 "freedom buses" and 30 "freedom trains" transported the marchers. About 60,000 of the marchers were white, according to historians.

Not everyone concerned about the struggle could attend the march. Retired teacher Thurman Shuler, 69, said he and other teachers at his Calhoun County school visited the teachers' lounge throughout the day to watch the televised events.

"We wanted to see and hear what the speech was all about," Shuler said. "There are some of us who have become lackadaisical and have forgotten about the dream."

Although King's "I Have a Dream" is the most famous feature of the 1963 march, there were other planners and speakers. Organizers included: A. Philip Randolph of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters; Roy Wilkins of the NAACP; Whitney Young of the National Urban League; James Farmer of the Congress of Racial Equality; and John Lewis of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. The National Council of Churches, the United Auto Workers (UAW) and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) also assisted in the organization of the march.

Segregation

Many Southerners hoped that King's words were prophetic since life was anything but equal. For blacks like Pearline Brandenburg-Jefferson, moving north may have been one of the only ways to advance in the '50s and '60s. Jefferson, now 69, grew up in Orangeburg, graduated from the all-black Wilkinson High School and immediately left for Brooklyn, N.Y., in hopes of finding work. In New York, she studied nursing at a trade school and eventually became a dental assistant.

"(Segregation) wasn't too bad in New York, but it was bad here," said Jefferson, who stayed in New York for 44 years before moving back to Orangeburg in 1989.

Although she was able to get work in the north, she said racism against black Southerners still existed. One day while talking with a coworker about their hometowns, one of the doctors she worked with was washing his hands and overheard the conversation.

"Pearl, I didn't know you were a Southerner," the doctor told her. "He thought I was a West Indian. If he knew I was a Southerner, he would have never hired me. He told me that, and I had worked for him about seven years at that time," she said. "He never treated me different. I wound up being his office manager."

Brandenburg-Jefferson watched the March on Washington on television and said she "believed in what Martin Luther King stood for."

For black Northerners like the Rev. Virginia A.M. Stith, racism was present in Philadelphia but "it wasn't as blatant or as violent" as it was in the South.

"They never wanted you to know that they were racist," said Stith, the pastor of Haynes Chapel AME who also teaches at Claflin.

While she viewed the media's coverage of the happenings in the South, it wasn't until she visited North Carolina as an adult that she saw the "Whites Only" signs.

"It was a total shock for me. It was frightening to ride on the bus and see those signs," Stith said. "You could feel the tension and the hatred. The signs are not here. The blatancy is not here, but the prejudice is here. What hurts me so is that there is prejudice internally."

The next generation

Most people have either heard or read the "I Have a Dream" speech, but very few know about the life of King and the events that led to what Professor Patricia H. Koger calls "the King Experience."

Koger, an assistant professor of history at Claflin University, establishes the framework by lecturing on voting rights, Jim Crow laws and the significance of Malcolm X.

"We discuss how (King) was perceived in America. Many of (the students) know he was perceived as a troublemaker. Sometimes he was labeled as a Communist," Koger said. "We look at all of the problems surrounding the movement and then at the man himself and his role."

As the students analyze King's dream, issues like affirmative action and racial profiling find their way into the discussion.

"They feel that if the dream had been fully realized we wouldn't have a problem with racial profiling. Black men are the target of this profiling," Koger said.

Many of the students feel they have been stopped by police for "driving while black," a phrase used to describe race-based traffic stops.

When Koger stands before students in her African-American history class at Claflin, she doesn't need to memorize an unknown author's account of segregation. A native of North Carolina, she participated in marches and sit-ins as a student at North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro. In February 1960, a group of students from her alma mater refused to leave a Woolworth's lunch counter in the city when denied service. After that incident, college students across the South began using the tactic.

Recognizing the legacy of student activism, the student government leaders at both Claflin and South Carolina State University plan to use their terms of office to educate students about the political process. Voter registration efforts will take place throughout the year at both universities.

"Some students just don't know about the process," said Johnnie Miller Jr., 21, president of Claflin's Student Government Association. "We need to get more active in the political arena."

In preparation for the 2004 election, Miller said Claflin's SGA will educate students about the process, the candidates and the issues that are up for debate. In addition, SGA plans on working with election offices around the state to get students access to absentee ballots.

This year, Claflin's SGA theme is "Going Beyond the Call of Duty: Taking Claflin to Another Level."

Miller said issues like the recent ruling on affirmative action are "hitting close to home" and students must stay abreast of such issues. "We're not going to be college students forever," he said.

"We have to realize that there is still a fight for equality. Even if we achieve equality, there is still some group, somewhere, being discriminated against or being mentally enslaved," said Jared DeWese, 21, SCSU's SGA president.

"Renaissance: Revival of the Bulldog Spirit" is the theme for State's SGA. When it comes to the word "spirit," DeWese said it's not in reference to the cheering done to promote its athletic teams, but it suggests having "an activist spirit."

DeWese and Miller agreed that apathy and self-centeredness are issues plaguing their generation.

"We were born in the 'me' decade -- the '80s," DeWese said. "We're about getting what we need for ourselves. Everything you do is not for yourself, but for those who come behind you."

T&D Correspondent Arlecia D. Simmons can be reached by e-mail at arleciasimmons@hotmail.com.

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