Rubin, Martin and Mahalia

"You may be the heavyweight champion of the world..."

Rubin "Hurricane" Carter

"Face to face, Carter has a penetrating intensity. His rich baritone has a gospel cadence, Southern warmth and the wisdom of a man
who has had more time than most to reflect on his fate. He seems to have inherited the silver tongue of his Georgia-born father, who is a preacher.
As Rubin talks, his stories are like polished stone, as well worn as a jailhouse floor."

Highlights:

~ Author of The 16th Round: From Number 1 Contender to Number 45472
~ Immortalized in the Bob Dylan song Hurricane and the critically-acclaimed film The Hurricane starring Denzel Washington
~ Guest lecturer at Harvard Law School and Yale Law School
~ Member of the Board of Directors of the Southern Center for Human Rights (Atlanta), the Alliance for Prison Justice (Boston), and the Association in Defence of the Wrongfully Convicted (Toronto)
~ Testified before the United States Congress on the need for preserving federal review of state court convictions
~ Awarded the WBC World Championship Belt by the World Boxing Council at its 30th annual convention in Las Vegas

"Hurricane" by Bob Dylan

Visiting Rubin...

"The Story Of The Hurricane" (Renaldo & Clara)

Story Of Hurricane

The Miraculous Journey Of Rubin "Hurricane" Carter

a few links

"What I see in this film, this portrayal of me, I like very much."

(In his own words)
After two decades in prison for murders he didn't commit, Rubin Carter finally won his freedom.
Here is an excerpt from the speech he made upon his release:
"The question invariably arises, it has before and it will again: 'Rubin, are you bitter?'
"And in answer to that I will say: After all that's been said and done — the fact that the most productive years of my life,
between the ages of twenty-nine and fifty, have been stolen; the fact that I was deprived of seeing my children grow up —
wouldn't you think I would have a right to be bitter? Wouldn't anyone under those circumstances have a right to be bitter?
In fact, it would be very easy to be bitter. But it has never been my nature, or my lot, to do things the easy way.
If I have learned nothing else in my life, I've learned that bitterness only consumes the vessel that contains it.
And for me to permit bitterness to control or infect my life in any way whatsoever would be to allow those who imprisoned me
to take even more than the twenty-two years they've already taken. Now, that would make me an accomplice to their crime."

"A great story. What can be seen on the outside is marvelous, but it is only a hint of the magnificence within."
— Denzel Washington

Trials Without Justice

Justice Denied

Civil Rights Rally Greenwood 1963

"And they talk about Negroes, and they talk about black and white. And they talk about colors of red and blue and yellow. Man, I just don't see any colors at all when I look out. I don't see any colors at all..."
(Bob Dylan, 1963)

Martin Luther King
(1929 - 1968)

Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. speaks during his visit to Seattle in November 1961.

Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. speaks during his visit to Seattle in November 1961.

"I decided early to give my life to something eternal and absolute. Not to these little gods that are here today and gone tomorrow,
but to God who is the same yesterday, today, and forever."
- From "Rediscovering Lost Values," Feb. 28, 1954

The King family in 1967

"Another man from Atlanta, Georgia, Name of Martin Luther King..."

"If you will protest courageously, and yet with dignity and Christian love, when the history books are written in future generations,
the historians will have to pause and say, "There lived a great people—a black people—who
injected new meaning and dignity into the veins of civilization."
- From an address given in Montgomery, Ala., Dec. 31, 1955

Leaders marching, August 28, '63

"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 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."
- From the "I Have a Dream" speech, Aug. 28, 1963

I have a dream...

On August 28, 1963, Mahalia Jackson, Bob Dylan and Joan Baez play as Martin Luther King delivers his

'I Have a Dream' speech in Washington

Dylan played "With God On Our Side", "Only A Pawn In Their Game", "Keep Your Eyes On The Prize" (Len Chandler)

40 years later - witnesses remember the March on Washington

'I Just Knew We Were Free' 40 years ago, a quiet roar for racial equality

Performing on August 28, '63

Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. speaks at a Montgomery voter rally held in a church. Feb. 9, 1965.

"The question is not whether we will be extremist but what kind of extremist will we be."
From "Letter from Birmingham Jail," April 16, 1963

"We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people,
but for the appalling silence of the good people."
From "Letter from Birmingham Jail," April 16, 1963

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta on April 30, 1967, as he urges America to repent and abandon its

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta on April 30, 1967, as he urges America to repent and abandon its

Major Events:
Birthdate, 15 January 1929
Marriage to Coretta Scott, 18 June 1953
Montgomery Bus Boycott, 1955-1956
Birmingham Protests and the "Letter from a Birmingham Jail," April 1963
"I Have a Dream" Speech and the March on Washington, August 1963
Nobel Prize, December 1964
Death by Assassination, 4 April 1968

Links to some M L King sites:

The King Center

Martin L. King - Seattle Times

More M. L. King web sites

She Has a Dream, Too (interview with Bernice King)

Martin Luther King, Jr.: A History

Martin L. King, Jr.

Letter to Martin Luther King Jr. and other

"Abraham, Martin And John"

"I just want to do God's will. And he’s allowed me to go to the mountain. And I've looked over, and I've seen the promised land!
I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the promised land."
- From an address given in Memphis the night before his assassination, April 3, 1968

"If physical death is the price that I must pay to free my white brothers and sisters
from a permanent death of the spirit, then nothing can be more redemptive."
- On learning of threats on his life, June 5, 1964

Civil Rights Rally Greenwood 1963

Mahalia Jackson ~ "The Queen Of Gospel"

"During the sixties, Mahalia was a loyal friend and supporter of Dr. Martin Luther King... He loved her music...
She began featuring 'We Shall Overcome' at concerts. At King's funeral Mahalia sang his last request, "Precious Lord" (103)."

A few facts about Mahalia

Born:
on 26 October 1911

Birthplace:
in New Orleans, Louisiana

Died on 27 January 1972
(of heart failure)

Best Known As:
Gospel singing legend !

"Mahalia was the first to bring the blues into gospel."

"She was the epitome of Soul and love. When she sang, her voice would set your soul on fire. ...
I will never forget that wonderful experience as long as I live, nor shall I forget this Great Lady,
who was my mentor, my teacher, my friend, the Queen Of Gospel, ..."
~ Mavis Staples, speaking about performing with Mahalia Jackson

Mavis Staples Tribute to Mahalia Jackson

Review: Mavis praises Mahalia with stories, spirit and sass (Star Tribune, January 17, 2005

Thomas Dorsey (1899 - 1993)"Father of Gospel Music"

"Bessie Smith" by Bob Dylan

Bessie Smith Biography

some related links

Mahalia Jackson In The Rock Hall Of Fame
Mahalia Jackson, The world's greatest Gospel singer
HOW I GOT OVER (APOLLO SESSIONS 1946-1954)
Women's history month
a site of other links
Gospel Hall Of Fame
GOSPEL ~ Tell it! Sing it! Shout it!
A Gospel Historical Chart

Emmett Till

"Twas down in Mississippi not so long ago,
When a young boy from Chicago town stepped through a Southern door.
This boy's dreadful tragedy I can still remember well,
The color of his skin was black and his name was Emmett Till."

The Death of Emmett Till" by Bob Dylan

The Death of Emmett Till web site

The unfinished story of Emmett Till

Mother of '55 lynching victim Emmett Till dies at 81

Mother's Hunger for Justice at Heart of 'Emmett Till'

Film addresses murder of Emmett Till

Lynching victim's mom dies on eve of Atlanta visit

U.S. reopens 1955 case of racial killing of teen

'The Murder of Emmett Till' Airs Monday

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