Cheyenne Martin Luther King Event: Not Burn Baby Burn, But Learn Baby Learn

Education was the theme of an event honoring the memory and legacy of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. at the Cheyenne Depot on Monday.

Speakers included long-time Cheyenne Juvenile Court Judge Ronn Jeffrey, and Reverend Catherine Fitzhugh of Unity Missionary Baptist Church. You can hear comments from Jeffrey and Fitzhugh in the audio file attached to the article.

Rev. Fitzhugh: King Believed In Education To Unlock Potential

Rev. Fitzhugh told the several hundred people in the audience that Martin Luther King always stressed the importance of education, adding that King said ''intelligence plus character is the true goal of education," and that "he saw education as the key to unlocking all of the potential of an individual."

She noted that at one time, it was illegal to teach Black people to read or write. Later, they had schools, but they were segregated schools that received less money and inferior materials.

Fitzhugh recalled attending segregated schools in Louisiana prior to her family moving to Cheyenne when she was in grade school. She said that although she had done well in school in Louisiana, she found she was way behind when she arrived here. But she worked hard, attended summer school, and graduated from Central High School before moving on to the University of Wyoming, where she decided to major in English with the goal of becoming a teacher. She says there were people who tried to encourage her to become a physical education or home economics teacher.

She recalled taking an English class at UW in 1969, the time of the 'Black 14'' controversy. Her English teacher came to class wanting to discuss the Black 14.

Fitzhugh, the only African American in the class, said she didn't want to discuss that.

As a result, the instructor gave her an F, despite the fact she had done well on all of the tests and course work. She said it was the only F she ever received. But despite that setback, she went on to teach English "not for 15 years. Well, I didn't teach English for 20 years. I didn't teach English 30 years. 38 years! That's right, 38 years.