Equal Justice by William Bernhardt

Author:William Bernhardt
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: childrens book, children books, young readers, equal rights, civil rights, oklahoma history, american civil rights, children biography, young biography, young reader dbio
Publisher: Babylon Books

The first thing Ada learned about lawsuits was that they attracted a lot of attention. The second thing she learned was that they cost a lot of money. The NAACP was supporting her, but they could not solely fund a suit they expected to take years and go all the way to Washington, D.C. If she were going to continue the suit, they would have to raise some money.

“Ada,” Mr. Dunjee said one day at her home, “since you’re not going to be able to go to school for a while, how would you like to go on a little road trip?”

Ada was intrigued. “Where would we go?”

A smile played on his lips. “Everyplace where people have money.”

As it turned out, Mr. Dunjee’s little road trip was a speaking tour that took Ada to more than a dozen cities in Oklahoma, then several other states. They spoke in schools and churches and community centers. Sometimes they spoke outside in tents. Usually, Mr. Dunjee would speak first. He talked about the important work the NAACP was doing. He reminded everyone how important it was to bring equality to all people.

Then he would talk about Ada’s case. He would explain why it was important, not just to Ada, but to all black Americans who wanted to educate themselves or work in a profession. When he was finished, he would introduce Ada.

At first, Ada hated the idea of speaking in front of other people. She had always been shy. Her knees would wobble as she walked to the podium. Her voice would become so dry she could barely speak. She might be a “smart mouth” when she was with people she knew, but speaking to large groups of strangers made her nervous.

As always, Ada forced herself to do what she knew was right. Over time, she became a more polished speaker. She chose to let Mr. Dunjee do most of the talking about the legal battle. She talked about her family and what she had learned from them. She talked about the support she had received from her hometown community. She always ended with her father’s words. “If it’s worth having,” she would tell them, “it’s worth fighting for.”

In 1946, the NAACP held their state convention in Chickasha. Ada was the guest of honor and the keynote speaker. She was surprised to find a large group of young white people in the audience. After she finished speaking, one of them came up to meet her.

“My name is Ben Blackstock,” he said, extending his hand. “I go to school at OU. So do my friends. My brother is in law school there.”

“Very pleased to meet you,” Ada said, shaking his hand. “We just want you to know that we would be honored to have you at our school,” Ben said. His friends shook their heads in agreement. “We are solidly behind you. We believe you could be a great asset to OU.”

Ada felt as if someone had taken her breath away. She was touched that these students had come so far to lend their support.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.