Participants in ‘forgotten’ teachers’ march recreate history
Published 9:30 pm Thursday, January 22, 2015
Lawrence Huggins holds a photo taken 50 years ago Thursday showing former Dallas County Sheriff Jim Clark poking him in the stomach with a night stick as 100 teachers tried to register to vote on Jan. 22, 1965. No teachers were able to register that day.
On Jan. 22, 1965, 105 Selma schoolteachers marched from Clark Elementary to the steps of the Dallas County Courthouse to attempt to register to vote.
Fifty years later, some of those same teachers were honored by today’s students and teachers on the same steps of the courthouse where Sheriff Jim Clark and his deputies pushed them back.
The Rev. Frederick D. Reese helped lead the Teacher’s March in 1965. He spoke on the event’s 50th anniversary Thursday.
“It’s exciting to commemorate this march because it’s more or less a forgotten march,” said Lawrence Huggins, who marched with teachers 50 years ago. “They are just commemorating what we did, and teachers always have a lot of influence on their students.”
The march took place six weeks before Bloody Sunday and encouraged others in the community to join the Voting Rights Movement, Huggins said.
“The teachers found out how much influence they had on the community and in the schools because after that many other adults started participating,” Huggins recalled.
Huggins was among the group of teachers that were honored Thursday afternoon, as well as Ben Givan, who once taught at Clark.
“It means a great deal to me because I am able to share it not only with my children but the children I taught,” Givan said. “That’s one of the greatest impacts it’s had on my life because I was a teacher and was able to share with other students.”
Teachers, students and other marchers recreate the events of Jan. 22, 1965, when a group of teachers marched from Clark Elementary School to the Dallas County Courthouse in an attempt to register to vote.
The memories of marching from Clark Elementary School to the Dallas County Courthouse in 1965 are just as vivid as they were 50 years ago for Huggins and Givan.
“Sometimes history is painful, but it is a part of history,” said Givan. “I’m just very fortunate to have been a part of it.”
As the honored teachers stood on the courthouse steps Wednesday, they also called out the names of teachers that marched with them that have passed on.
“We must always remember that history,” said Mayor George Evans as he addressed the crowd filled with schoolchildren and teachers. “We must always remember what happened then and never forget it. Our children should remember it. Our grandchildren should remember it, and the generations to come should remember it.”
As young aspiring students looked on at the teachers that helped make a difference in the world, the Rev. Frederick D. Reese, who organized the 1965 teachers march, shared a word of prayer for them.
“I would hope that you remember to look to the Lord for direction,” Reese prayed. “Ask him to direct you, guide you and give you the opportunity to lead others as you have been led by so many other people.”
