Remember King, but do not forget others

Several hundred people gathered in Russellville Monday to celebrate the birthday and memory of Martin Luther King Jr.

King was the most visible activist of the civil rights movement of the 1960s. He won a Nobel Peace Prize and, with his passionate speeches and non-violent demonstrations helped lawmakers in Washington pass sweeping laws to end segregation and provide minorities with truly equal protection under the law.

There is no doubt King deserves his place in history — especially when his accomplishments led to his untimely death at the hands of an assassin — but we also need to remember the other people who sacrificed so much during the civil rights movement.

Without the photos of black men at the mercy of police dogs and fire hoses on the nightly news, it is hard to imagine the strides made during the civil rights movement being made so quickly.

Without Rosa Parks standing up for what was right, the movement might not have had such a strong base. Without the courage of the Freedom Riders to challenge the Jim Crow Laws, segregation could have been around a few more years.

Had nobody shown up on March 1, 1965 to march from Selma to Montgomery, there would not have been news coverage of law enforcement officials beating peaceful protesters and the driving force of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 never would have happened.

It is important to remember King and what he accomplished, but it is also important to remember all of the people who supported him.

While King might have been the man most associated with the civil rights movement, fighting for change was not a one-man job.

Forgetting the help he received would be an injustice to the significance of these monumental events in our past.