We Shall Overcome

On January 20th, LaGrange College and Lewis Library will be closed in observance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a holiday in which we remember the life and accomplishments of a our nation's greatest civil rights leader. Atlanta is home to the Martin Luther King Jr. Historic Site as well as Dr. King's birthplace, final resting place, and alma mater, Morehouse College. A wealth of history sits just in our backyard, and we encourage to take a trip up to Atlanta to learn just what this great civil rights leader meant to the people of our city and our country.

Martin Luther King's childhood home, Auburn Avenue, Atlanta, GA

On January 8th, the New York Times published an article in the Books section entitled "Part of Something Big: 'The Cart that Carried Martin' and 'We Shall Overcome.'" The article by Sarah Harrison Smith introduces the new children's book The Cart that Carried Martin by the very prolific Eve Bunting. Bunting tells the story of Dr. Martin Luther King's funeral and the mule-drawn cart that carried him through the streets of Atlanta to his final resting place on that sad day in 1968. Smith notes that as onlookers watched the cart roll past Ebenezer Baptist Church, the state capitol, and on to Morehouse College, the hymn "We Shall Overcome" could be heard from the people lining the streets. Debbie Levy writes on the history of this song in her book of the same name, and Smith highlights how Levy has emphasized the powerful message of the song that can be traced all the way back to a song slaves would sing in the face of suffering and in the name of freedom and human rights.

The Cart that Carried Martin is a brand new part of our juvenile collection on the 3rd floor of Lewis Library, and we have a wealth of other books on Dr. King waiting to be checked out.

323.09 Bunting
Located on the 3rd floor

Also, don't miss the CE event on January 21st (in the Dickson Assembly room) featuring the Reverend Otis Moss, Jr., a LaGrange native and civil rights leader who attended Morehouse College and was a close, personal friend of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Reverend Moss is highly revered as a civil rights leader and continues to fight for equality and justice as well as many other causes. This is an opportunity not to miss.

Look for a new blog post about Reverend Moss's visit after January 21st!



References
Harrison-Smith, Sarah. "Part of Something Big: 'The Cart that Carried Martin' and 'We Shall Overcome.'" New York Times, 8 Jan 2014. Retrieved from: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/08/books/the-cart-that-carried-martin-and-we-shall-overcome.html?_r=0

* Photo of MLK childhood home retrieved from Wikimedia Commons under Creative Commons License. Owner: Jeff Clemmons.  http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MLK%27s_Boyhood_home.jpg

*This article was written by Lindsey Lowry