Brenda Walker Beadenkopf remembers holding a stranger’s hand during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on Aug. 28, 1963.A white, 15-year-old girl, Beadenkopf gripped the black man’s trembling hand as he shook with exultation while loudly singing to anthems that championed civil rights: “We Shall Overcome,” “A Change is Gonna Come” and “We Shall not be Moved.”
“We were really singing with the angels,” she said. “We were asked to line up along the street — black, white, black, white.”
Beadenkopf remembers Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his powerful message and speaking ability.
“He was telling these people to be co-workers with God,” she said.
“There was not to be an iota of violence, and there wasn’t.”
Beadenkopf, now a resident of Niles, is the daughter of Quaker activist Charles Walker, who alongside King helped organize the civil rights movement. She is currently writing a book about her father, who was a trainer and recruiter for the Freedom Rides and sit-ins and a staff member of the Mississippi Freedom Summer and Kent State projects.
Beadenkopf spoke at a meeting of the Niles Branch NAACP Tuesday night at Niles District Library. The presentation was part of the group’s recognition of Black History Month.
www.dowagiacnews.com/2011/02/16/beadenkopf-recalls-%E2%80%98singing-with-angels%E2%80%99-hearing-king/
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