Week 1- MIA Mass Meeting at Holt Street Baptist Church file

This speech was very powerful and crucial to problems during the nineteen fifties in Montgomery, Alabama. Martin Luther King and other colored folks are good Christian people who follow the Christian religion. They are not gathering to support or begin violence. They have no desire to hurt others. This is supported when the speaker says, “the only weapon that we have in our hands this evening is the weapon of protest.” They are tired of the unfair treatment and brutality that is being pushed onto them simply because of color differences.

Secondly, they want to keep the peace as well as get their rights heard. They do not feel that what was done to Rosa Parks was right. This example is shown in the sixth paragraph, “Mrs. Parks is a fine Christian person, unassuming, and yet there is integrity and character there. And just because she refused to get up, she was arrested.” They discuss how Rosa Parks is a good woman and that they are glad that the situation happened to a good soul like her, so that she is not looked at in a negative way. They also discuss how none of them can doubt her sense of character or her devotion to the Christian faith. The Negro folks have a very good sense of unity and they will unite and stand by her in support of her brave protest.

They come together as citizens of a community, but not only as Montgomery citizens but as Negro citizens of the Black community. “And as we stand and sit here this evening and as we prepare ourselves for what lies ahead, let us go out with a grim and bold determination that we are going to stick together.” Many or all of the folks who support Martin Luther King have been treated unfairly or mistreated because of color differences. The speaker says, “We are here because we are determined to get the situation corrected. This situation is not at all new. The problem has existed over endless years. I don't have time this evening to go into the history of these numerous cases, but at least one stands before us now with glaring dimensions.” This was the introduction given to describe what happened to Rosa Parks.