“I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we have come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.” But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check — a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.

As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, “When will you be satisfied?” We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied, as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating “For Whites Only”. We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.

I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.”

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

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.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with a new meaning, “My country, ‘tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.”

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, ‘Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!’ ”

-Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
August 28, 1963

"Divided We Fall" by R. Darryl Foxworth

When maneuvering through Baltimore you often feel as though you’re traveling between two worlds. One world sparks tourists to compliment the city’s beauty. The other world provides the empirical evidence behind the city’s sixth-place finishes in national rankings of the country’s poorest and most dangerous cities. In this world you find working families, mostly black, desperately trying to make ends meet despite the incredible forces working against them. You find an unrelenting drug trade, havens for homicide, extreme poverty, and nihilism exacerbated by unemployment and a public school system in disarray. That the city resides in the third-wealthiest state in the country might feel contradictory, if not for that pesky word we try in earnest to avoid: inequality.

If you're interested to read the full article, please click here.

Dr. Walter A. Gill on Segregation in BCPS

"I believe segregation in Baltimore is a built-in type of discrimination based on students who do well on tests and students who don't AND segregation which is a reflection of the economic conditions/status of the various neighborhoods.

An example are the four prestigious schools (City, Poly, Western and the School of the Arts), which have a high success rate of sending students to 4-year universities and colleges; and the other schools which have a high dropout rate.

Solution: Schools must provide a curriculum whereby students can succeed, that is have a career or profession, without attending a 4-year college or university. Many of the students from "poor" homes and neighborhoods could succeed if their skills, interest and talents were developed via alternative curriculums. Schools must advocate for students (what is best for each individual student) and compete less among them self (testing, reaching "benchmarks," for federal, state and city dollars)."

If you have the opportunity to check out Dr. Gill's book, we highly recommend it!
Teaching in Urban America: A Formula for Change

Help us save URBAN AMERICA!

A few facts about Dr. Gill, which are stated in the back of his book...

1. He was born in the slave state of Mississippi, Greenville in 1937.
2. Dr. Gill was raised in Baltimore, Maryland.
3. He attended six public schools; five of the six were schools in Baltimore.
4. Gill was the first African American to graduate from Baltimore City College in 1955.
5. He received a B.A. in art from Morgan State College and later received a Masters and Ph.D in Educational Communications from Syracuse University.
6. Dr. Walter A. Gill is a teacher, artist, author, actor and former university professor.

Dr. Walter A. Gill has made an amazing impact on students and has touched our lives as students at Towson University.

To follow more on Dr. Gill you can contact him
by email at urbanprofessor@aol.com
or through his website if you click here.

BCPS alumni, staff and students:

Collectively, we were influenced by the true story of Erin Gruell and the students of Freedom Writers (and the Freedom Writers Diary) to start somewhere. The impact of one patient and encouraging woman changed a world of ideas and solutions for many students.

We are highly interested to hear your stories and influences, opinions and thoughts.

Do you believe segregation is evident, inevitable, and/or present in Baltimore City Public Schools?
How has possible segregation or the desegregation process effected your life? Your studies? Your future? Yourself?

We want to hear from you!!!

"Dire Education" By Michael Corbin

"When you walk into a classroom of almost any Baltimore City public school this fall you immediately face the facts of 21st-century educational apartheid. The white children are absent. They left a while ago and won’t be coming back.

Standing in these classrooms you might think that you stumbled upon some remnant of white supremacy, some exemplar of American democratic, public institutions before 1954. What is striking is not the fact of segregation in America, but rather that we no longer care that segregation in public education matters to our democracy. In Baltimore, for instance, the generations-long struggle to integrate public education no longer has a place in public discourse. We complain mightily about the school system’s many woes, but we no longer remark that going to the city’s dysfunctional schools is almost exclusively a black thing.

“Why Segregation Matters: Poverty and Educational Inequality,” a 2002 report (reaffirmed in 2005) from Harvard University’s Civil Rights Project, ranked Baltimore City schools No. 1 in “black isolation.” That is, it found that students who attend Baltimore City schools have the “lowest exposure to whites” in the 239 school districts in the U.S. with a total enrollment greater than 25,000. The white children who still attend a Baltimore City public school are huddled in a diminishing number of schools and are often isolated within specific classrooms in those particular schools."

If you're interested in reading further, click here.

History of Desegregation

In 1954, Brown v. Board of Education declared segregation in education unconstitutional. The schools of the city of Baltimore enforced this immediately after the Supreme Court decision.

However, due to the location of the state of Maryland being below the Mason Dixon line but considered a Northern state, the population of African Americans in Baltimore was exceedingly high even prior to 1954.

In result of the movement, the numbers of African Americans rose and the schools became over crowded. This overpopulation called for structured districting amongst the school system. Meaning students could not enroll at a school in a district where they do not reside. The problem with the districts is the already segregated neighborhoods. Caucasians and African Americans lived in different neighborhoods therefore went to different schools.

There is recorded history of accusations that the Baltimore City School System is “race conscious” in their districting decisions.

Questions to Consider:

1. How should the city of Baltimore have handled the segregation problem post Brown v. Board?
2. May the immediacy of their enforcing been the downfall of today's issue?
3. Do you consider Baltimore City segregated? Do you consider Baltimore City Public schools segregated?
4. Do you think re-districting the neighborhoods of Baltimore City will prove a positive effect on the social issues amongst the races?

BCPS Improvement of Segregation

Great improvement takes time.

With the help from growing organizations and open-minds, Baltimore City has been attempting to surpass this societal issue brought into their schools.

A recent organization, New Leaders for New Schools, partnered up with Baltimore City and Prince Georges County Public schools to "recruit, train and support" future administration and teachers. Throughout this program since 2005, leaders have displayed high level achievement in comparison to previous years.

To learn more, check out: NLNS.org
Also, presented by BCPS:
Meeting the Challenges of Baltimore City Public Education, 1925-1956

"Without contraries is no progression. Attraction and repulsion, reason and energy, love and hate, are necessary to human existence." - William Blake