by Dr Monica D Lamar
“Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.”
— James Baldwin
As our nation prepares to celebrate 250 years of the United States of America, I am reminded that understanding the history of the Civil Rights Movement is not optional—it is necessary.
American history is filled with moments when fear, division, and exclusion were used to stop movements seeking justice for all. Yet, it is also filled with ordinary people who chose courage over comfort. They protested by refusing. They organized by showing up. They challenged injustice by saying “no.” Their actions remind us that progress has never been given freely; it has always been demanded by people willing to create what Congressman John Lewis called “good trouble.”
As I participate in this seminar, I found myself reflecting on the importance of remembering. We cannot celebrate where we are without acknowledging those who helped move this nation closer to its Constitution ideals. We cannot teach future generations without telling the truth about the sacrifices made on their behalf.
So today, I say their names.
I say Martin Luther King Jr., Coretta Scott King, Rosa Parks, Claudette Colvin, Medgar Evers, Myrlie Evers, Malcolm X, Betty Shabazz, John Lewis, C.T. Vivian, Julian Bond, James Bevel, Jesse Jackson, Hosea Williams, Reverend Frederick Shuttlesworth, Rabbi Jacob Rothschild, Amelia Boynton Robinson, Joanne Bland, Barbara Singleton, Sara Evans, and Reverend L.L. Anderson.
I say the names of the four girls whose lives were stolen in the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church: Addie Mae Collins, Carol Denise McNair, Carole Rosamond Robertson, and Cynthia Dionne Wesley.
I say the names of Emmett Till and Jimmie Lee Jackson, whose deaths awakened the conscience of a nation.
I say the names of Anarcha, Lucy, and Betsey, whose stories remind us to confront difficult truths about the medical treatment of Black Women and honor those whose contributions have too often been ignored.
I say the names of the Freedom Riders: James Farmer, John Lewis, Charles Person, Hank Thomas, Genevieve Hughes, Mae Frances Moultrie, Ivor Moore, Albert Bigelow, Edward Blankenheim, Walter and Frances Bergman, Joseph Perkins, and Jimmy McDonald. They boarded buses knowing that violence awaited them because they believed America should live up to its promises.
I say the names of the Courageous Eight of Selma: Marie Foster, Henry Willis Shannon Sr., John Davidson Hunter, James Edward Gildersleeve, Frederick Douglass Reese, Amelia Boynton Robinson, Ernest Doyle, and Ulysses S. Grant Blackmon Sr. Their local leadership helped build a movement that changed voting rights in America.
I say the names of those who stood in courtrooms, churches, classrooms, and communities, including Selma attorney Dale Chestnut, who defended Dr. King, and countless others whose names may not appear in textbooks but whose contributions matter just the same.
I say their names because remembrance matters.
I say their names because history is more than dates and events—it is people.
I say their names because the struggle for justice did not begin with us and it will not end with us.
As we celebrate 250 years of America, may we do more than remember. May we learn. May we teach. May we tell the truth. May we all vote. And may we continue the work so that future generations will know not only the names of those who came before them, but also the responsibility they inherited.
I say their names so we all will not forget.
