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Welcome to:
MUTUALITY WORLD
COMMUNITY CHURCH
Uriah J. Fields, Encourager-in-Chief
"The people read it and were glad for its encouraging message."
Acts 15:31) NIV
THE MUTUALITY WORLD COMMUNITY CHURCH (MWCC)
is intercultural, interracial, interreligious, nondenominational,
international, interplanetary, interfaith (including Creator
endowed faith that transcends all acculturated faiths)
Religion par excellence in a world of
religion mediocrity is attainable.
"What is true in any religion is in the religion
because it is true; it is not true
because it is in the religion."
- Howard Thurman
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Table of Contents
A Universal Thank You Litany
The Mutuality Meditation
My Intention in Encounter
We are Children of the Universe
You did it God
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A Universal Thank You God Litany
The Formless One is God of all
or not God at all.
A Declaration of Thanksgiving
To say "I am blessed" is good;
To say "God is good" is better;
To say "Thank You God" is best of all.
The latter transcends the former two by
acknowledging God for no greater
reason than He is God.
O gracious and holy God;
In your presence and with thankful hearts
we offer to You this Sacrament of gratitude.
We acknowledge You as the Giver of
all good things and the bestower
of our manifold blessings,
We are aware that your goodness is great
and your blessings are numerous, too
many for us to enumerate one-by-one.
Yet, O God, in this prayer of thanksgiving,
at this particular time, we want to thank
You for some specific gifts You
have showered upon us:
We begin with life, our lives, we are
still among the living,
The health and strength we possess,
The food, clothing, shelter and safety
we enjoy today and have enjoyed
in days gone by.
For all these we joyfully proclaim,
not just with our mouths but with
our lives, Thank You God.
We are mindful of the compassion
we have known;
Our mothers' tender-loving care
expressed in more ways than
we can say,
The strength and protective eyes
of our fathers,
The knowledge and wisdom we have
received from teachers in school
and beyond the school walls,
The ministers and spiritrual leaders
who proclaimed good news to us
and by their examples let us know
how to be responsible and live
righteous lives,
Our playmates who helped us to
know the beauty of laughter and
how to be spontaneous,
The moving stories we have heard,
sometimes sad but mostly happy ones,
that helped us to better know the
storytellers and understand ourselves,
Those from many walks of life who
revealed to us the power of
faith, prayer and meditation.
The tears we have shed, both tears of joy
and of sorrow,
For the suffering that has empowered
us in ways that only suffering can,
making us strong and able to
endure life's challenges.
For all these we joyfully proclaim,
not just with our mouths but with
our lives, Thank You God.
We have confidence and assurance
that You who have brought us this
far is not going to leave us now or
as long as we exercise faith and
hold fast the gift of salvation.
We know Who You are and Whose
we are; You are our Father,
In your presence we will abide and
with eternal hope claim victory.
For all these we joyfully proclaim,
not just with our mouths but with
our lives, Thank You God.
And so it is.
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The Mutuality Meditation
{Instruction: Before you vebalize this
meditation sit quietly with both feet
on the floor.Take three breaths,
inhaling deeply and exhaling
slowly. Now, say aloud:}
Om... Om... Om...
I am meditating;
It is quiet within me and
all is calm.
My senses are asleep and
I am in the depth of my
subconscious.
I am fully surrendered to the
only Cosmic Power there is.
I am at peace... I am at peace...
I am a peace..
Om... Om... Om... .
{Instruction: Now sit quietly with
your eyes closed for seven
to ten minutes.}
<<<<<<<>>>>>>
My Intention in Encounter
Uriah J. Fields
It
is my
intention
that the lives
of people I relate
with will be impacted
meaningfully as a result of
our togetherness, or they will
remain where they are, but that
nobody will experience harm as a
result of his or her encounter with me.
<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>
We are the Children
of the Universe
We are the children of the Universe.
Our Father has given the earth to us
And we will care for it just as we care
for our souls.
We are the children who are playing and
laughing; We feel free to be ourselves
and live our lives as we choose.
We are the children who are working;
and helping; We are glad to be useful
and able to serve others.
We are the children who are learning
and loving; We are growing each day
we live in knowledge and in wisdom.
We are the children who are singing
and dancing; We are happy as we
can be. Life is a celebration.
We are the children of the Universe.
Our Father has given the Earth to us
And we will care for it just as we care
for our souls.
(This is a song. Music is available upon request.)
Copyright 2010 by Uriah J. Fields
<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>
YOU DID IT GOD
Who Created the earth and the heavens
vegetation, all living
things, including man,
the masterpiece of Creation,
the stars, moon and sun? You did it God.
It's not what I did; It's what you did.
You did it God.
Who saved me and made me whole,
gave me a new name, a new song to
sing, and a life to proclaim
Jesus Christ as my Savior,
my Lord, and my God? You did it God.
It's not what I did; It's what you did.
You did it God
Who showered the earth with rain,
graced it with wind, caused thunder to
row, lightning to flash,
mountains to tremble
and seas overflow? You did it God.
I'ts not what I did; It's what you did.
You did it God.
When I observe nature and the beauty
that surrounds me and feel the
spirit moving within me,
I rejoice and praise Him
as I proudly declare, You did it God.
l: It's not what I did; It's what you did.
You did it God::l (Fade)
(Music for this song is available upon request)
Copyright 2010 by Uriah J. Fields
These texts are for personal use only, and may not be copied
or distributed without the permission of the author.
{{Exception is granted when teaching and/or discussing
these texts are/is done free of any charge,
including receiving a donation.}}
<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>
Contact: Comments and Requests
Mutuality World Community Church
P. O. Box 4770
Charlottesville, VA 22905
Visit often: There is more to come later...
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In the meantime, you are invited to read some of my other writings - articles, essays and discourses featured on this
website www.uriahfields.com. You may want to continue by reading - on this page - "First Day of the Montgomery Bus Boycott." You will see that Uriah J. Fields was with Martin Luther King, Jr., on the first day of the Montgomey Bus Boycott and beyond and much more... .
Next you may want to read, on this website, "Some Call it Et cetera, I Call It God" and "With My Two Hands."
"The people read it and were glad for its encouraging message"
(Acts 15.31) NIV
An article Let me begin with a self-introduction. I am Uriah J. Fields, variously called by these aliases: Saint Troubadour, Mutuality Warrior, and Encourager-in-Chief, in my role as leader of the Mutuality Warrior Corps. A veteran of the Korean War, I was the orginial secretary of the Montgomery Improvement Association that provided organizational leadership for the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a former pastor, author and composer.
At the end of this article there is a list of my books.
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THE FIRST DAY OF THE MONTGOMERY BUS BOYCOTT
By Uriah J. Fields
I was there on December 5, 1955. I was in Montgomery on the "first day" of the Montgomery Bus Boycott was an eyewitness. More than that I was a participant. That day I was in the Montgomery courtroom during Rosa Parks' trial when a Judge issued the "verdict guilty with a fine." That day I was at the Mt Zion AME Zion Church when the Montgomery Impovement Association was founded. That day I was on the dais when more than 3,000 people gathered at the Holt Street Baptist Church for the first bus boycott mass meeting. I was there. That was an awesome day.
This is the story of "the first day of the Montgomery Bus Boycott" as reported by Uriah J. Fields who was there when the bus boycott began and when it ended...and during the 380 days between the first day and the last day of the bus boycott. What role did he play in the bus boycott? Read on and perhaps you will get the answer not only to this question but answers to other questions you have asked or wanted to ask about the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
In a nutshell: The First Day of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. I propose to give a brief report on the first day of the bus boycott but not so brief as to neglect or omit essential facts.
December 5, 1955 was the first day of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. What happened that day? is the matter of this documentary. There were three significant happenings that day: (1) Rosa Parks' trial, (2) birth of the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA, that would be the organization directing the bus boycott, and (3) the first boycott mass meeting.
Before discussing these three events in detail I want to take a fifty-year leap forward to December 5, 2005 when more than a week-long observance of the Fifty Anniversary of the Montgomery Bus Boycott was celebrated in Montgomery, Alabma. People from throughout America and some from abroad participated in the observance. A number of events were featured. I attended at least twelve. Here I want to focus briefly on a single event that was held on Monday, December 5, 2005, exactly fifty years, to the day, when the Montgomery Bus Boycott began on Monday, December 5, 1955.
This event was held at the First Baptist Church where Rev. Ralph D. Abernathy was pastor at the time. Mentioning this brings something else to my mind. I recall that nearly fifty years before this event, on Monday January 30,1956, a little less than two months after the bus boycott began, during a mass meeting when Martin Luther King, Jr., was speaking we received word that King's home had been bombed. The meeting abruptly came to a halt and most of those at the mass meeting rushed to Kings's home. The good news was that his wife, daughter and a friend who was in the house at the time had not been injured. Although prior to this violent act black people had been intimidated and harassed, mostly by policemen, but no violent act of this magnitude had occurred.
Among those pesent for this Fifty Anniversary event were Dick Gregory and Rev. Al Sharpton. Dick Gregory livened up things with a bit of humor just as he is known to do and as his audience expects of him. This is one of the jokes that extracted laughter from the audience, and I quote: "A man's wife said 'Darling, come up stairs and just make love.' After he did not come up stairs, his wife again said, 'Darling, I said come up stairs and just make love.' The husband said, 'Honey, I have told you, I can only do one...come up stairs or make love.'"
Rev. Al Sharpton delivered a powerful and relevant message. He reflecting on the historical significance of the Montgomery Bus Boycott and emphasized how that movement advanced freedom and justice in Amierca. He also gave a list of things African Americans must do in order to create a more just society.
This writer also spoke that evening. Realizing that there have been attempts on the part of some people to write-me-out of the bus boycott, to suggest that I did not have a role in the bus boycott, or, to speak disparagingly of me when my name is associated with the bus boycott, I decided to share my thoughts and feelings with the audience, that was composed of people, many of them not born fifty years ago when the bus boycott took place. I wanted them to know that I played a role in the Montgomery Bus Boycott, despite what they may have heard about me. I wanted them to know the truth. I began with reciting, more correctly, singing, one of Langston Hughes' poems, that I have set to music, titled, "Still Here." This is that poem/song: "I've been scarred and battered, My hopes the wind done scattered. Snow has friz me, sun has baked me; Looks like between 'em they done tried to make me stop laughing, stop loving, stop living. But I don't care, I'm still here." Yes, I'm still here.
Continuing I said William Cullen Bryant spoke truthfully when he said, "Truth crushed to earth shall rise again." My intention for making this observation is not now, nor has it ever been, to get credit or recognition, but rather to make known the truth. That is the reason I wrote the book: "Inside the Montgomery Bus Boycott - My Persoanl Story." People have a right to know the truth.
Now, let me go back and return to December 5, 1955. However, before doing that, it is in order to say a brief word about the four days prior to December 5th - the twilight period, December 1st through December 4th - of the then pending bus boycott.
On Thursday, December 1st, Rosa Parks was arrested for failing to give her bus seat to a white man after she was asked to do so by the bus driver. She was taken to jail. E. D. Nixon paid her bail.
Friday, Jo Ann Robinson, president of the Women's Political Council, called E .D. Nixon and suggested that black people boyoctt buses on Monday, the day of Rosa Parks' trial. Nixon agreed and told her that he would call some of the black ministers and ask them to meet with her Friday evening at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church and support the plan that will be presented to address the arrest of Rosa Parks. Nixon, a railroad Pullman, had to leave on his Pullman train trip to Atlanta and Chicago. At the time, he was the chief black leader in Montgomery.
When Nixon came to Los Angeles in the 1980s where he was honored by Tom Bradley, Mayor of Los Angeles, during the speech he delivered at the Mutuality Center for Creative Living, where I was director, discussing the beginning of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, he said "After the arrest of Rosa Parks and my bailing her out of jail I called the leading ministers of Montgomery and asked them to meet on Friday, a day after Park's arrest, at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church. First, I called Rev. Ralph Abernathy who agreed to support a bus boycott; next I called my pastor, Rev. H. H. Hubbard; then I called Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.; next I called Rev. A.W. Wilson; and the fifth person I called was Rev. Uriah J. Fields." He added, "They all agreed to support a boycott of Montgomery buses on Monday, the day of Rosa Parks' trial.
Before Nixon boarded the Pullman run train he informed Joe Azbell, editor of the "Montgomery Advertiser," who met him at the train station that Negroes will be boycotting all city buses on Monday. He gave him a copy of a leaflet announcing the bus boycott and asked him to carry the story in the "Montogmery Advertiser." Azbell promised him that he would carry that story and added that this will be the hottest story to appear in the "Advertiser" in a long time. In advertising the pending bus boycott Nixon disregarded the thinking of other black leaders who wanted to keep the news of the bus boycott a secret from white folk.
Sixteen people were pesent for the meeting at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church. Jo Ann Robinson, the person most responsible for the meeting, spoke first. She gave a brief history of the mistreatment of black bus riders. Then she called for a boycott of buses on Monday, the day of Rosa Parks' trial, and emphasized that E. D. Nixon had joined with her in calling for boycotting buses on Monday to protest the arrest and jailing of Rosa Parks. She added,"As you probably know, Mr. Nixon had to go on his Pullman train run."
During the discussion there were two persons who were opposed to boycotting the buses. However, the majority of those present thought it to be the right thing to do. It was also agreed upon that we prepare a leaflet and circulate it in the black community... that we urge all black people to not ride buses on Monday and to attend the mass meeting Monday evening that will be held at the Holt Street Baptist Church. Leaders were encouraged to be present for Rosa Parks' trial at 9:00 a.m., Monday and after the trial, at 3:00 p.m., come to the Mt. Zion AME Zion Church for a meeting where we will determine what will be our response to the arrest of Parks and what message we will deliver at the evening mass meeting.
Jo Ann Robinson, a porfessor at Alabama State College, volunteered to help prepare the leaflets that would be circulated in the black commuity. Copies were made on the mimeogaphed machine at Alabaam State College. This message appeared on the leaflets: Another Negro woman has been arrested and put in jail because she refused to give up her bus seat. Don't ride the bus to work, to town, to school, or anywhre on Monday. If you work, take a cab or share a ride or walk. Come to a mass meeting Monday at 7:00 p.m. at the Holt Street Baptist Church for further instructions.
Ms. Robinon said that the leaflets woud be ready early Saturday morning and people were told where they could pick them up. Ministers promised to announce in their churches on Sunday that black people will not ride buses on Monday and urge their members to come to Rosa Parks' trial and the mass meeting at Holt Street Baptist Church.
It was also agreed upon that after Parks's trial black ministers and other leaders will meet 3:00 p.m., at Mt Zion AME Zion Church, where Rev. Roy Bennett was the pastor. The reason for choosing that church for the afternoon meeting was twofold: (1) Rev. Bennett was not in favor of a bus boycott and (2) he was president of the interdenominational ministerial Alliance. Since Baptists outnumbered Methodists and ministers of other denominations in Montgomery there was a feeling on the part of some people that Baptists wanted to dominate the black agenda, so it was the thinking of those present that having this meeting at a Methodist church would help attract non-Baptist ministers to the meeting.
More than anyone, Jo Ann Robinson deserves the most credit for the success of the meeting at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church and, just maybe, starting the bus boycott. The bus boycott was foremost her idea and her efforts helped to influence Nixon and others to adopt her idea that boycotting the buses was the right thing to do.
On Saturday the black community was plastered with leaflets announcing the bus boycott. I personally delivered leaflets to some ministers and barber shops. A bus driver got a leaflet but he did not think much of it.
Black leaders were surprise to learn that the news of their call for boycotting of buses on Monday appeared in Sunday's "Montgomery Advertiser." Editor Azbell had written an article titled, "Negro Groups Ready Bus Boycott of Bus Lines."
When Nixon returned from his Pullman train run on Sunday he discovered that Joe Azbell had writen the article as he had promised that announced black people's plan to boycott buses on tomorrow. Some black people did not think Nixon had done the right thing in letting white people know about their plan for boycotting the buses. Others, including myself, thought it was a good thing.
From their pulpits ministers on Sunday urged their members to not ride buses on tomorrow. In the sermon I preached that Sunday at Bell Street Baptist Church where I was the pastor, I drew a parallel between the trial of Jesus and the trial of Rosa Parks on tomorrow. I wanted people to kow that both trials were about evil people doing injustice to people seeking justice for all and the willingness of some people to oppose injustice at all cost.
After the church service I returned home and read Azbell's article in the "Montgomery Advertiser." I listened to radio commentators speak of black leaders call for boycotting buses tomorrow. Police Commissioner Clyde Sellers, a rabid racists, appearing on TV, criticized black leaders for calling for a bus boycott. He said that it is not going to work and boycotting buses is illegal. He wanted people to know that Montgomery policemen would stand ready tomorrow to assist black citizens who wanted to ride the buses and he promised to deal appropriately with black "goon squads" who he claimed had been organized to intimidate black people who otherwise would keep on riding the buses. Its was Sellers' TV appearance, radio news commentators and Azbell's article in the "Montgomery Advertiser" that informed many black people that they were being urged to boycott buses on Monday and increased the desire of others to be more committed to boycotting the buses. This advertising proved to be a blessing.
Monday December. 5th. This is the day! It has taken me a while to get to this day. However, it was important that I let the reader know what happened between the time of Rosa Parks' arrest and her trial.
I arrived at the Montgomery court house at 8:30 a.m., and the court room where the trial was held was nearly filled. Before the trial began, just minutes after 9:00 a.m., a large crowd had gathered outside the court house who were unable to be seated inside the court room.
Montgomery Court Judge John B. Scott called for the Rosa Parks' case. Prosecutor Eugene Lowe dropped the charge of Parks' violation of Montgomery's segregation ordinance and substituted in its place one based upon a 1945 state law. That law mandated segregation and awarded bus drivers unlimited power to enforce it. Bus driver J. D. Blake was placed on the stand, and asked to describe the incident. He was followed by two white women who supported the driver's account of what happened. Defense Attorney Fred Gray challenged the validity of the segregation laws, but Judge Scott immediately announced his verdict guillty with a $10.00 fine and $4.00 court cost. Attorney Gray stated that he would appeal. The proceedings took seven minutes. It was as if the trial proceedigs had been railroaded. Attorney Gray being an inexperienced lawyer did't help, not that the verdict would have been different if he had been an experienced lawyer. Nixon walked out of the courtroom to post bond for her release.
We left the trial, not so much disappointed as angry, angry that in a court in Montgomery a black person cannot receive justice if he has a case against a white person or the white system.
Seven months earlier on May 6, 1955, I had been in the court room when Judge Eugene Carter found Claudette Colvin, a fifteen-year old student guilty for having occupied a seat in the section of the bus designated for white bus riders. Only three ministers were present for her trial; her pastor, Rev. H. H. Johnson who was also my pastor, Rev. B. D. Lambert and myself. But I noticed that there was something about the attitude of black people at Park's trial that I had not observee seven months earlier at Colvin's trial. Unlike their acceptance of Judge Carter's decision in the Colvin case, black people seemed to have no intention of accepting Judge Scott's decision in the Parks' case. With the Parks' case there was a corporate feeling in the air and a message beyond words in conversations of black folk that declared, Judge Scott's decision was not final, i.e., the matter of the trial had not been settled.
After the trial, other than admitting that there were no surprises, I heard some black leaders saying to other black leaders "I'll see you at the 3:00 p.m. meeting at Mt. Zion AME Zion Church." Others were heard saying "I'll see you at the 7:00 p.m. mass meeting at Holt Street Baptist Church."
I left the court house and drove down Jackson Street to Alabama State College. I picked up two class assignments from a fellow student. I was a second-quarter student working on a master's degree. While at the college I talked to several teachers, including Professor J. E. Pierce who hated segregation with a vengeance but felt unable to do what he wanted to do if he wanted to keep his job. He always urged his students to stand up for justice. He was proud of me becuse I had the courage and the opportunity to speak out and oppose the racist system. Having the G. I. Bill and being a pastor I did not have to be concerned about the white man firing me as Pierce did. This is one of the reasons why I was able to vote in 1954, a decade before the Voting Rights Act became law, at a time when only a few black people in Montgomery County dared to vote and when Lowndes County that adjoined Montgomery County did not have a single black voter even though more than sixty percent of that County's population were black.
At 2:45 p.m. I arrived at Mt Zion AME Zion Church. Nixon and several other people were already at the church. King was the last person to arrive. Upon his arrival he started to offer an apology for being late. Nixon interrupted him and said "We'll forgive you Rev. King; you have a new baby." Everyone began laughing. Yolanda, Rev. King's and his wife's first child, was only three weeks old. But the laughter was short-lived. Everyone there knew that this woud be a serious meeting because we faced a heavy challenge, one that was only equaled by the responsibility we felt that was ours to assume.
Rev. Roy Bennett, President of the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance, called the meeting to order.
Before anything else could happen, people began reporting that they had not seeen black people on the buses. "The buses were empty" as expressed by most people there, including myself. One person said that he saw two black persons riding on a bus.
Next comments were made on the trial of Rosa Parks. Nixon asked the question: "What are we going to do from here?" Rev. Abernathy noted that because some people attending this meeting are not ministers we should form a new organization to deal with the mistreatment of black folk on buses and other problems and concerns we have in Montgomery. Several ministers felt that the Interdenominational Minsterial Alliance was the ideal organization to lead our efforts because it represented all denominations. Like the majority of those present I agreed with Abernathy on forming a new organization. Abernathy made a motion that the name of the new organziation be the Montgomery Improvement Association. He stated that this name indicates our intention. The motion was seconded by Rev. E. N. French and approved.
The next business was the election of officers. Motions were made that elected Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., President, Rev. Uriah J. Fields, Recording secretary, E. N. French, Corresondence Secretary, Erna A. Dungee, Financial Secretary and E. D. Nixon, Treasurer. A motion by Rev. H. H. Johnson was approved to have an Executive Board that will consists of twenty-five members, including sixteen of those attending the meeting, after two persons attending the meeting declined to serve on the Board, with nine additional members to be added later.
Rev. Bennett presented Rev. King to preside over the remainder of the meeting. After thanking the people who elected him to be president of the MIA he asked, "What are we going to do about the mistreatment of black bus riders and what are we going to demand of the city and city bus line officials? And too, what are we going to say to the people attending the 7:00 p.m. mass meeting? These are the things we must address in this meeting.
After a lengthy discussion a decision was reached. The decision was that we recommend to people attending the mass meeting that we continue the bus boycott until we get some consideration from the city officials regarding the treatment of black bus riders. Rev. King appointed Rev. Abernathy to head a committee to draw up the resolution and recommendations that would be announced at the mass meeting. Rev. Abernathy was asked to choose four other persons to serve o that ommitteee. He selected Rev.W. F. Alford, Thomas Gray, E. D. Nixon and Rev. James Glasco. Rev. Abernathy's request was granted to have Attorneys Fred Gray and Charles Langford join with Rev. King and serve as ex-officio members of the Resolution Committee. Members of the committee left the meeting immediately to draw up resolutions and recommendations. It was agreed upon members attending the meeting and members of the committee that the resolutions and reommendations be voted on by people attending the mass meeting to determie if they wanted the bus boycott to continue
A program was drawn up for the mass meeting. The opening song, "Onward Christian Soldier,"prayer by Rev.W. F. Alford and scripture by Rev. Uriah J. Fields. Rev. M. L. King will give the occasion, Rev. E. N. French will present Rosa Parks and Rev. Ralph Abernathy will read the resolution and recommendations.
Eighteen people attended this organizing meeting. This was brought to my attention years later when Clayborne Carson, Senior Editor of "The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr., (Vol. II", requesting my permisison to publish this information sent me a copy of the minute I had taken (in my own handwriting) on December 5, 1955.
The Montgomery Bus boycott mass meeting was held Monday December 5, 1955, at the Holt Street Baptist Church, Rev.A .W. Wilson pastor. When I arrived at the church fifteen minutes before the 7:00 p.m. meeting was scheduled to begin the church auditorium was filled and the overflow of people had congregated outside of the church into the streets.
A few minutes pass 7:00 p.m., the meeting began with the singing of "Onward Christian Soldier." This was followed by Rev. W. F. Alford offering prayer and Rev. U. J. Fields reading the scripture. Rev. King was presented by Rev. A. W. Wilson, host pastor. He said that Rev. King had been chosen at an earlier meeting to lead our efforts to address the problems we, as a people, are facing in Montgomery.
Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., calledf or action. He said "Mrs. Rosa Parks has been arrested and put in jail. She is one of our finest citizens." He gave a rousing speech. Rev. E. N. French presented Rosa Parks. He also presented a young man named Fred Daniel, a student at Alabama State College and a member of First Baptist Church, who earlier in the day a policeman charged with seeking to keep people from riding the bus.
Rev. King asked Rev. Abernathy to read the resolution and recommendatoins. He urged each person to listen carefully and be governed by his or her own conscience. We are going to vote on these recommendations. Again he asked Rev. Abernathy to read the resolution and recommendations.
Abernathy thanked King for his leadership. After mentioned ten or more "whereases" that enumerated a series of injustices black people had expereinced in Montgomery, some that involved mistreatment of black bus riders he said "In light of these observations, be it therefore resolved: "Number one: That citizens of Montgomery are requested that every citizen in Montgomery, regardless of race, color or creed, refrain from riding buses owned and operated in the City of Montgomery by the Montgomery City Lines, Incorporated." He also had a number two and number three that called upon people with automobiles to assist those in need of transportation and for employers to provide transportation for their own emloyees.
The recommendations are: (1) that more courteous treatment of Negro passengers by bus operators be guaranteed, (2 that seating be on a first-come, first-served basis, with Negroes continuing to sit from the rear of the bus and whites from front to rear and that no seat would be designated as solely for white or Negro passengers, (3) that Negro operators be employed on predominately Negro routes." The understanding as reflected in these recommendations, was that black people would continue to boycott buses until these demands were granted by the City of Montgomery and the Montgomery City Lines officials. Finally, Abernathy said that we had no intention of using any unlawful means or any intimidation to persuade a person not to ride the Montgomery City Lines and that "each person's own conscience should be his or her guide." The people applauded a number times while Abernathy read the resolution and recommendations, but at the end of his reading there were extended applause and "all rights," "yeses" and "that's its" exclaimed. Abernathy offfered this motion: "I move that this resolution and these recommendations shall be adopted." King joined with a number of people in seconding the motion that was seconded by many people rather than by any particular person. However, I wrote in my minute that the motion was seconded by Nixon. King then said "It has been moved and seconded that this resolution and these recommendations be accepted and adopted by the citizens of Montgomery. Are you ready for the question? The people exclaimed "Yes. "Continuing he said "All in favor of the motion let it be known by saying yes. An earthquake-like shout proclaimed yes." When he asked for those who opposed there was only laughter that conveyed a dare anyone to oppose the motion. Then King said "The motion has been approved." He informed the people that everything expressed in this meeting is being recorded by our secretary, Rev. U. J. Fields and tape recorded by Rev. James Roseby Glasco."
Acknowleging that preaachers have many engagements, King asked Rev. Bennett to preside over the remainder of the meeting because he would have to leave to go and speak to the fathers and sons of the city. He was referring to the YMCA father and sons banquet where he had been scheduled to speak at the fathers and sons banquet. Before leaving, he emphasized the need for raising money to support our efforts and said an offering will be taken tonight. He promised that the money donated would be well used. King asked Rev. J. W. Bonner to come and take the offering and Nixon and Matthews to assist him with the offering.
I announced that the next meeting will be on Thursday, Decembr 8th at St. John Methodist Church and stressed the importance of the meeting. (I didn't annonce that leaders will be meeting the next day because those who would be meeting were aware of that meeting.) Rev. Bennett pronounced the benediction.
Addendum Let me close with tributes to E. D. Nixon and Martin Luther King, Jr., as presented in my book: "Inside the Montgomery Bus Boycott - My Personal Story." In the beginning of my book, under the caption "Be It Known by All that Nixon is the One!" I write: Edgar Daniel Nixon, more than any other single person, is the one who called the people of Montgomery, not to arms, but to feet to walk, to not ride buses, and inspired them to continue to not ride them until after the Supreme Court's decision declared that segregation of Montgomery buses is unconstitutional. It is true that Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat to a white man, that Martin Luther King, Jr. was unquestionably the chief leader of the Montgomery bus protest, that Ralph Abernathy, Jo Ann Robinson, A. W. Wilson, Fred Gray, S. S. Seay, Robert Gratez, Charles Langford, Rufus Lewis, Uriah J. Fields (mysel), and other leaders performed a yeoman's job, that bus boycotters, black people and a few white people in Montgomery that included Clifford and Virginia Durr, that many people of good will from throughout America contributed admirably, financially and morally, to support the bus boycott, it remains a historical fact that cannot be denied by anyone considering the facts that E. D. Nixon, the unsung hero of the Montogmery Bus Boycott, deserves "credit par excellence" for being the person who rallied the black people in Montgomery to boycott buses and inspired them more than anyone to continue the boycott of buses in Montgomery for 382 days and until they were desegregated.
As the closing statment of my book, under the caption, "The Legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr.," I write: My prayer and charge, and it is a mandate as well, to readers of this voloume and to those they share this message with are: resolve to consciously embrace the "Legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr.," with the awareness that each individual has to work out his own personal salvatin for himself in fear and trembling, but that we can help one another to find meaning, and in doing this become better and help to create a better world. Both we and the world are still in the making. These are things King realized and endeavored to assist others in knowing and knowing to commit to do good and work for the creation of a just society. King is one of the few extraordinarily gifted and distinguished Masters of all human existence who have kept alive the "Paradise Regained" hope that is rooted in the divine promise that we can live in a just society. This is our inheritance. From eternity King speaks to our salient spirits saying, "Claim your inheritance!" Dare we, beneficiaries of his legacy, forget to treasure it and to transmit it to our children and teach them to pass it on to their children so that it will live in perpetuity."
Copyright 2010 by Uriah J. Fields
Books & Song Book By Uraih J. Fields
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1. THE FIELDS SCHOOL: AN AFRICAN AMERICAN SCHOOL WITHOUT FAILURES LOCATED IN RURAL ALABAMA 1933-1949, (Pub. August 2009, paperback, 5.5" x 8.5", ISBN: 978-1-4490-0438-5, 70 pp). Today, when many schools are failing young people and when the drop-out and failure rates of African Americans are nearly twice that of Caucasian, reading this book will give insight into the reasons for this and what can be done to eliminate this inequity and have schools without failures. Over three-quarters of the students who attended the Fields School, some of them for eight years, including this author, completed a bachelor's degree. Of these, over half had completed some graduate work, including nearly a third had master's degrees, one a law degree and one an earned doctorate.
The researcher concluded that "The overwhelming success of the Fields School, despite the limitations of the physical setting, furnishings, and available materials and books, represents a triumph of the unusual family over difficult circumstances.. ... the school was an extension of the commitment to its children."
In the Fields School empathy triumphed over lack.
2. THE SAINT TROUBADOUR, (Pub. October 2007, paperback, 5.5" x 8.5", ISBN: 1-4241-8358-8, 413 pp). This collection of meditations, essays, prose poems, lyrics and commentaries, gathered by the author of his writings extending over a half century, forms a manifesto that summarizes his lifework. In the role of a troubadour with a philosopher's heart, he shares how; infusing the activities of life with reverence, compassion and trust makes them come alive with meaning and purpose. The author illustrates how the emerging values and efficacy of the spirit empower individuals, strengthen relationshps, and change people from being ill-natured to peacemakers and vain philosophy into spiritual philosophy that transforms everyday lives. This book tells the story of the authors own personal evolution and transformation that took a leap of faith when he was a leader of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. He declares that during the last three decades while traveling the path of the Mutuality Warrior, his journey and life have been sweet despite obstacles and challenges faced along the way. This book espouses a way of being that promotes optimum health, individual and socal actualization, and the practice of community. (At the end of this book listing you will see how you can obtain your copy(s) of this book, an autographed copy, if requested.)********************************************************************************************************************************* 3. GRANDPA BENJAMIN, (Pub. April 2006, paperback, 5.5" x 8.5", ISBN: 1-4241-2285-6, PP). A triumph of the imagination of storytelling, "Grandpa Benjamin" is narrated by Grandpa Benjamin himself. He told his grandson this story that he had been told by his mother about their ancestors beginning with the year 1776 when his great-great-great grandparents, Baatsi and Ashanti Nkrumga, were kidnapped by American slavers in Africa, separated from their two small children, and enslaved in America. This is also the story about Grandpa Benjamin and his half brother, Alexander, also born into slavery, and how they established the Zeals Community and the Zeals School in Wildflower, the place of their birth, where for several generations they and their descendants were nurtured. Their legacy continues to inspire their descendants to live productive and dignity-affirmed lives. Grandpa Benjamin, the fist person in his lineage to have the surname Zeals, will likely live in the reader's imagination forever. In "Grandpa Benjamin," Uriah J. Fields has created a legendary figure, a man equipped to stand beside William Faulkner's Dilsey in "The Sound and the Fury." Grandpa Benjamin, like Dilsey has 'endured,' has been almost everything and foretold the rest. For eighty-eight years this saintly patriarch lived a life that is eniviable even in contemporary perspective. This book is part autobiogbraphical and many parts hard-won commonsensibly wisdom.*************************************************************************************************************************** 4. GOD WITH US,(Pub. August 2004, paperback, 5.5" x 8.5", ISBN: 1-4137-2800-6, 131 pp. This book can make an extraordinary difference in the way we perceive God, others, ourselves, and th world. Here is a guide for those who desire to have a meaningful relationship; with God and experience His love. The unique role of the redemptive work of Jesus Christ in God-man reconciliation and the ministry of the Holy Spirit to individuals are discussed simply and with clarity. Also presented is a day-by-day autobioigraphical account of the author's experience of living in the presence of God and the attendant near-perpetual joy that he derives from it. The author declares that, "Anyone can experience the presence of God, not just intermittenly or occasionally, but continuously, no less than he experiences breathing.************************************************************************************************************************* 5. INSIDE THE MONTGOMERY BUS BOYCOTT - MY PERSONAL STORY, (Pub. August 2002, paperback, 5.5" x 8.5", ISBN: 1- 5885-1634-2, 194 pp). I was the original secretary of the Montgomery Improvement Association that directed the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Only an insider who felt the pulse and shared the collective agony of those boycotting buses in Montgomery can give an eye-witness account of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. In this book I have given that account. The 382-day long bus boycott led to the Supreme Court's decision outlawing segregation on Montgomery buses and the return of African Americans to riding buses in Montgomery on a desegregated basis. The Montgmery Bus Boycott contriubted to the passage of civil rights legislation by the Congress that granted African Americans the right to vote, equal employment opportunities and access to open housing. I was there (in Montgomery). Read my first-hand account for the full and true story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. You will see why most books written about the Montgomery Bus Boycott should be considered for the most part fiction. ********************************************************************************************************************************** 6. SPIRIT LIFTING SONGS, (Pub. September, 2001, paperback, 8.5" x 11.0", ISBN: 0-938844-21-0, 96 pp). This is a collection of fifty-seven songs composed by me. Except for the verbatim scripture and two other songs that I composed only the music for I am the composer of both lyrics and music for the remainder of the songs in this songbook. These songs reflect my own experience, the ideas and ideals, thoughts and feelings that have been significant for me and made my life a song. Time and time again, seemingly, ceaselessly, I have been compelled to share my music with other people and with invisible listeners. At times I have sung for only a single person and quite often that person was myself. One of my songs I sing a lot is, "It's Music From Within My Soul," and it more than suggest that I have an irresitible need to give authentic expression to my musical self. This stanza from one of my songs, I"ll Sing the Song," illustrates what I have endavored to say. It says: "I'll sing the song of my life in the key of love. I'll sing the song that says "Give all to Love." And in a world where joy is seldom known I'll sing my song wherever I go for anyone who extends to me his listening ear and open heart. An invitation to be troubadour. Maybe after listening to my melody, he will begin to sing his own love song." Some titles of these songs are: "Come On and Celebrate," "Each Life is Free to Rise or Fall," "Join Hands and Feel the Power," The Romantic Lover's Song," "The Mutuallity Warrior's Song" and "The Presence of God in Me Blesses the Presence of God in You and the Presence of God in You Blesses the Presence of God in Me." I believe this songbook will afford you with many of the delights that music is capable of generating, especally increased awareness, freedom, joy, beauty and peace. All these songs have lead sheet music.************************************************************************************************************************** How to obtain copies of these books. 1. To order "The Saint Troubadour: Speaking and Singing Truth and Love" send $21.95 plus $3.00 shipping charges, check or money order, payable to: Uriah J. Fields, and mail to: P. O. Box 4770, Charlottesville, VA 22905. (I will autograph your book upon request.) This book can also be ordered on-line from www.amazon.com or www.publishamerica.com. 2. To order the other three books and songbook, listed above, purchase them on-line from: www.amazon.com or send me an email to:(ujfields@cstone.net) and I will let you know if I have copies of these books. Reading and Singing contribute to health, happiness and peace.**************************************************************************************************************************** Or order books on these Links: www.amazon.com ****www.publishamerica.com ****bn.com*** www.uriahfields.com.
Copyright 2010 by Uriah J. Fields
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