Lessons learned

By Brent Killackey

Thursday, February 9, 2006 2:09 AM CST

Hymethia Lofton marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Today, she teaches students at Park High School, instructing them in public speaking, English and mass media.

Her students often receive recognition in local essay contests, which she incorporates into lessons. In recent years, her students have dominated the University of Wisconsin-Parkside's Martin Luther King Jr. essay contest.

The Journal Times recently sat down with this energetic 57-year-old teacher to talk about her experiences with the civil rights movement and what she brings to the classroom.

How did you get involved with the civil rights movement? I got involved with it actually because of my parents. My parents didn't support the idea of segregation. My mother was a nurse's assistant for a Cherokee Indian, a Native American. My father worked for the federal government � so neither was in jeopardy of losing his or her job and we were totally involved with the civil rights movement.

When did you march with Dr. King? In '63 when he came through. I guess I was about 14. There were other times when he came. (A local black college) was the headquarters in that area. ... It was a private college, so Dr. King and others would go there as their headquarters because the policemen could not come on that campus without a warrant. So the biggest march, there were three all-black high schools in Jackson (in Mississippi) and I was in about 11th grade. The big march was scheduled in '64 or '65 all over Jackson at the same time. (Students walked out of their classes.

The march was during the school day? Yes, during the school day. Of course, the principal was yelling. But it was planned. Even the teachers knew it. So we were put in the fairgrounds, barricaded. My brother and I and cousins, we were put in barricades. Our parents had to come and get us. Parents were asked to sign forms that their children would never participate in civil rights activities anymore ... My mother went down and she never signed the form. The ones who were 18 or older were held a lot longer. Being underage, my brother and I got to leave.

Did you participate in other marches with King? The last time was when King marched in Canton, Miss., in July '66. I graduated high school that year. ... I was driving my little black Corvair. ... They said, `We need somebody to bring the marchers water.' I was just driving around as a fresh high school graduate, in my little car with no license, but I had my registration. My great-grandmother had just bought the car. My cousin, who is now a principal at a middle school in Milwaukee, was with me. ... We went up and down, which was Highway 51 then and now it's North State Street, offering water to the marchers.

Were you planning on marching that day? I was going to march, but I had my car. I couldn't just leave it anywhere. So they stopped me, the marchers, the leaders, asked if we could supply water. (Lofton said she didn't have her license, but her cousin told her to take hers. She was stopped by an officer during the march. But despite the license not matching her description and a different name on the registration, she wasn't cited or arrested. Other marchers guessed the officer probably couldn't read.) Were you worried? At that time, we didn't have a sense of fear because whatever we were doing , we believed it was for a cause. As young people, we were involved because we had to pass an all-white school to get to our school. We had to sit in the balcony to go to a movie and certain movie theaters didn't have balconies for blacks. ... All of these things were instilled with us. Even when my mother worked at the doctor's office, black people went in the back door ... and white people sat in the front until the civil rights movement. All kinds of ways I experienced being discriminated against. It was never a fear in me, it was a desire to say I know I have a right to do and be offered something better than this.

How do you bring the lessons of the civil rights movement to the classrooms? We were encouraged to do our best in spite of, and I always remember the quote that Dr. King would say to us in different meetings, he would say even if you're going to be a street sweeper, be the best street sweeper you can be. That was instilled in me and when I bring it to the classroom I set high standards for my students because that was what was set for me.

What keeps you in the

classroom? The joy of teaching. I personally believe that teaching for me is a gift from God. (She technically retired as a teacher from Jackson, Miss., in 1996. "I like to say this is my second career," she said of her past 10 years in RUSD. Her husband came to Racine to be at pastor at a church and she couldn't resist getting back into

teaching.)

What are your thoughts on the passing of Coretta Scott King? She was not just a woman in her husband's shadow ... She was a pastor's wife, but she was not just a woman who sat in the corner and wore a big pretty hat. She had her own talents and her own gifts. Although she supported his movement, she had a legacy for herself.

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