Women have always played a major role in the Civil Rights Movement, working tirelessly in the background — whether by choice or simple fealty. Many of their names are familiar: Coretta Scott King, Betty Shabazz, Myrlie Evers and Rosa Parks, who were the most visible in this extraordinary journey toward justice.
Carrying out Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream, the GM Foundation and Chevrolet have partnered with The Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Foundation to help raise awareness around their corporate philanthropy and citizenship by creating the “Table of Brotherhood” tour, which kicked off at King’s alma mater, Morehouse College, in Atlanta.
This tour marks the first stop along the road to the unveiling of the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 28. Other tour stops include Memphis and Chicago. The final destination is Washington, D.C., during the week of the dedication events.
Here we have five remarkable women, sisters at the table, who take a look back and forward and realize Dr. King’s phenomenal dream. They share their hopes, dreams and talents. –yvette caslin
Vivian Pickard, GM’s director of Corporate Relations and president of the GM Foundation
“We are so honored. We, along with the MLK foundation leaders, are responsible for bringing the Martin Luther King Memorial Project to fruition. We started this [journey] 10 years ago … Rev. Dr. Andrew Young, started that journey with us. He serves on the leadership board of the Martin Luther King Memorial Project Foundation. We are so excited about Aug. 28 and the Table of Brotherhood Project Tours planned around the country and we thought that it was very appropriate that we would start the very first one in Atlanta.”
Ayana Jordan, diversity ad manager, Chevrolet
“Take your seat at the table of brotherhood and to awaken Dr. King’s spirit inside of you. I am excited to host one of four events that honors, speaks to and encourages conversation around Dr. King’s message and his legacy. All of our advertising teams have worked effortlessly to build what have seen around your community and on your TV with the Table of Brotherhood project creator. We are hosting discussions that encourages true conversations, coming together with the community. We know that Dr. King clearly had a very specific dream that one day we would come together as a nation and find common ground and understanding … young, old, black, white would come together for our children and for our future.”
Lisa Nichols, best-selling author
“It’s easy for us to understand the role that the government and corporation play, but I want to know what role do we play? My grandmother taught me that can’t nobody save you but you. What I [realize], having been born right after the Civil Rights Movement, is there was a collective, key word, collective voice. Now, we have individual voices. We have to lock arm in arms.” [She references the poster that we captured in an image below].
Xernona Clayton, an SCLC event organizer for Dr. King and the founder, president and CEO of the Trumpet Awards Foundation, Inc.
“As we prepare to put Dr. King on the Mall, we are all excited. Martin Luther King has been dead longer than he lived. And now, everybody wants to be identified with MLK. At this table, Dr. Otis Moss and Congressman [John] Lewis worked with him everyday and saw him. Now everybody craves him. We are not following his teachings, his examples. That’s what bothers me … we are talking about his dream. When you are dreaming, you are usually asleep. MLK was not asleep, he was not a dreamer. He was wide awake, all of the time, with the commitment to change the morality of this country. Dr. King believed very strongly and passionately that you have to change a man’s heart before you can change his behavior. We’ve got to be about that. People are always asking, ‘when is the next MLK coming?’ Why are you waiting? … He didn’t wait. MLK led. Each of us can do something. We can be the agent of change.” [Martin Luther King was shortened to MLK for editorial space.]
Alisha Thomas Morgan, Georgia state representative
“The ‘Letter from the Birmingham Jail’ is I believe is one of the richest pieces of literature in American history. … We have to talk about how our destinies are tied to one another. We have a responsibility and our moral obligation is to do what is in the best interest of all people. We have to work on the diversity within the black community: politically, socially and socioeconomically. If we don’t agree on the same thing, then we ostracize and talk about one another; we allow ourselves to be divided. You have to have hope. Vivian Pickard, who helped organize this tour, our president and so many individuals, so many powerful black, brown, straight, gay, female, males around this country are doing phenomenal things. We have to think about the future we want and the destiny that connects all of us, without focusing on those things — what we are not and who we can’t be.”
