CASADY SERVICE LEARNING MLK DAY
@ THE FOOD BANK
In memory of Mr. Arlen Gill, Dr. Robert Woolsey, Beloved Cyclone Servant Leaders
Mrs. Jeannine Rainbolt, Dr. Robbie Johnson, Anthony Shadid, and Colby Sartin
WHEN & WHY?
Schedule for Casady MLK Day @ Food Bank http://www.regionalfoodbank.org/
9am-11am Volunteer Morning Shift 1
11am-12pm Tour and Hunger Simulation 1
12:00pm-1:00pm Pizza Lunch for full day volunteers @ Volunteer Center
A pizza dialog with history: Ayanna
1:00pm-3:00pm Volunteer Afternoon Shift 2
3:00pm-4:00pm Tour and Hunger Simulation 2
WHERE?
Volunteer Center @ the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma
3355 S. Purdue Avenue, Oklahoma City, OK 73137-0968 | (405) 972-1111
Directions to the Food Bank
https://maps.google.com/maps?q=3355+S.+Purdue+Ave.+Oklahoma+City,+OK+73137
Driving directions from I-40 and MacArthur: Come south on MacArthur to SW 36th. Turn left (east) onto 36th and then take your second left onto Purdue (going north). You will see the Regional Food Bank building ahead of you on the left.
Careful! Some navigation applications send you to North Purdue, instead of South! 3355 S. Purdue Ave. Oklahoma City, OK 73137
WHO?
YOU
Volunteers can be as young as 8 years old.
Wear closed-toe shoes, comfortable clothing, consider wearing a t-shirt of your personal design honoring the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the work of the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma. Some volunteers also bring working gloves to protect their hands.
Registration with the Food Bank REQUIRED for people over 18 years of age at http://www.regionalfoodbank.org/cervis.php?a=event. Write Casady as the reservation code. Minors need to bring signed parental permission available at http://www.regionalfoodbank.org/assets/ParentGuardian%20Permission%20Form.pdf. No form, no service opportunity
Contact at Casady Service-Learning: Carmen Clay @ clayc@casady.org, 405-749-3103 (office) 405-520-1325 (cell)
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CHAPEL SPEAKER 1/14 AT UD, MD, & LD
AYANNA NAYUMA
A milestone in the civil rights movement took place in OKC 55 years ago this week with the drugstore sit-ins.
BY DAWN WATSON Oklahoma Gazzette
Fifty-five years ago this month, Ayanna Najuma took a seat and helped start a movement that transformed Oklahoma City and the country.
The 7-year-old sat beside 12 other members of the NAACP Youth Council at the lunch counter of a downtown Katz Drug Store, 200 W. Main St. and Robinson Ave., on Aug. 20, 1958.
They waited to be served. “A lot of kids’ parents wouldn’t let them go. When I look back on it, it was a pretty courageous thing to do, not necessarily for me as a little kid, but for my parents,” Najuma recalled. “It was an interesting time. I really value my life experiences. I look back and I’m glad I was part of history.”
After two days of sit-ins, Katz management relented and served the black students, but the protesters weren’t done. They continued under the leadership of their director, Clara Luper, to conduct nonviolent demonstrations across Oklahoma City. In 1959, the youth council reported its progress at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People annual conference.
“When they did, it ignited the whole country. We know that because we have the minutes of that meeting,” said Bruce Fisher, administrative program officer for the Oklahoma Historical Society.
‘To make a change’
Before long, more joined the group’s efforts, which continued throughout the 1960s. The students endured insults and being spit upon. A heckler even let a trained monkey loose on the young people. Joyce A. Henderson, one of Luper’s students at Dunjee High School, became the song leader for the protesters.
“It was probably more part of the norm for her (Luper’s) students to be involved than not,” Henderson said.
“She developed you. To be a failure was not an option. As a result of being under her tutelage, the sky was the limit for me.”
Each Saturday, the group gathered to prepare at Calvary Baptist Church in the Deep Deuce area.
“That would set the tone for the sit-in. We would get instructions on how to conduct ourselves because the one thing we couldn’t be was violent. We would walk from Cavalry singing freedom songs,” Henderson said. “I believe we led the way for showing others how to do it. We were leaders and didn’t know it at the time.”
I look back and I’m glad I was part of history.
—Ayanna Najuma
Bill Clifford was the first white man to protest with the NAACP after Calvin Luper, Clara’s son, spoke to his church youth group. Clifford, who was 23 at the time, said he felt that joining was the right thing to do.
“They were so warm and welcoming that I went down with them that day,” Clifford said. “I feel that it was a necessary change.”
Julia Clifford first learned of her father’s involvement in the sit-in movement when she asked him about his most significant moments in life.
“He started talking about sit-ins,” Julia Clifford said. “Dad didn’t talk about it very much. He’s a doer. He said it shaped his life. The more I learned about it, the more I realized it was a bigger story than I thought.”
That conversation prompted Julia Clifford to start working in 2007 on a documentary with the working title The Face of the Change, telling the story of children in the civil rights movement. The independent film is now being edited.
“It was kids who wanted to make a change. People were less likely to get violent with a child,” she said. “Even in the Deep South, the children were very involved.”
Preserving history
Those children and others in the state’s civil rights movement will be featured in a reworking of the lunch counter sit-in exhibit at the Oklahoma History Center. In addition to showcasing the civil rights work of Luper, the exhibit — set to open in December — will tell the story of Ada Lois Sipuel Fisher, the first black woman to attend law school at the University of Oklahoma.
Henderson and Najuma said they don’t want others to forget the courage, tenacity and commitment exemplified by the sit-ins and the civil rights movement.
“I tell people all the time that we cannot take anything for granted,” Henderson said.
Najuma said the country has made a lot of progress but issues have changed. She doesn’t want young people to become complacent.
“I don’t think young people know how important their voice can be,” she said.
MLK Week
Monday: Celeste
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| Photo slideshow generated with Smilebox |
Tuesday, Ms. Ayanna Najuma @ Chapels
Wednesday, Retirement Breakfast with our beloved organist
Thank you for wonderful memories of beautiful music shared together
Thursday and Friday, Muslin Voices and Children Hospital project needs assessment teams on campus
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| Muslim Voices Facilitation Team and Community Partners |
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| Children's Hospital Needs Assessment Meeting, New Project Proposal |
OPPORTUNITIES TO OBSERVE MLK DAY 2014 IN OKC
FOOD BANK SERVICE DAY WITH INTERFAITH ALLIANCE OF OKLAHOMA
Date and Time : Saturday, January 18, 9am-12pm and 1-4pm (two separate shifts)
Location: Regional Food Bank Volunteer Center, 3355 South Purdue Avenue, Oklahoma City
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