Martin Luther King

Last year Naomi Tutu and I met on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to keep vigil on the 40th anniversary of the martyrdom of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Friends joined us from around the country. We asked the visitors gathered there: "What keeps us from living the Dream?" Most folks spoke of fear. Some spoke of ignorance.

John Hope Franklin lived through most of the twentieth century. He was a gentle man, a scholar, an activist, and a truth-teller. He studied history and he helped to make it.

I have been studying the civil rights movement for over a decade, and continue to be amazed by the stories of courage and sacrifice that marked that heroic era in United States history.

I'm 52, and I've had a great first half-century of life (and am looking forward to the next). But this inaugural week I feel an extraordinary happiness. Younger people can understand it to a great degree, but I think many folks my age and older

Sunday afternoon, I sat in front of the TV with a box of tissues and watched every second of the "We Are One" concert at the Lincoln Memorial live on HBO.