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Civil rights hero moves students with her story
Faulkner students were honored with a visit from a local Civil Rights activist. Mrs. Annie Giles of Montgomery was the keynote speaker for the Feb. 3 chapel as part of Black History month. Giles inspired and touched students with her story of the trials and turmoil of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the impetus for the Civil Rights Movement during the in the 1950s and '60s.
Giles was a 34-year-old wife, mother, and housekeeper for a family at Maxwell Air Force Base during the height of the Montgomery Bus Boycott that erupted when Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white man on a city bus. Giles, a friend of both Parks and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., relayed her eye-witness account of the arrest of King for a minor traffic incident during a carpool she shared with King and others during the boycott. A young King was the minister of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery and led the boycott. Giles was refused the opportunity to testify on his behalf at the trial.
Giles also relayed to students accounts of the Selma-to-Montgomery March in which she participated as a marcher, a cook for the marchers and hostess to freedom riders. Recounting the horrors of the water hoses and dogs set on the protestors and being spit upon, Giles impressed upon her young audience that the protestors were undaunted by the attacks because "we kept on marching in Jesus' name." "We did this so y'all could go where you wanted," Giles told her audience in reference to the days when black Americans were forced to use back doors, drink from separate water fountains and relinquish their seats or places in line to white citizens.
A visibly moved student body showed their appreciation to the 87-year old with hugs, kisses and photo opportunities. Giles admonished the students to work hard in school and complete their education. "God will make a way for you," she said, "because he made a way for me."
Giles was a 34-year-old wife, mother, and housekeeper for a family at Maxwell Air Force Base during the height of the Montgomery Bus Boycott that erupted when Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white man on a city bus. Giles, a friend of both Parks and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., relayed her eye-witness account of the arrest of King for a minor traffic incident during a carpool she shared with King and others during the boycott. A young King was the minister of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery and led the boycott. Giles was refused the opportunity to testify on his behalf at the trial.
Giles also relayed to students accounts of the Selma-to-Montgomery March in which she participated as a marcher, a cook for the marchers and hostess to freedom riders. Recounting the horrors of the water hoses and dogs set on the protestors and being spit upon, Giles impressed upon her young audience that the protestors were undaunted by the attacks because "we kept on marching in Jesus' name." "We did this so y'all could go where you wanted," Giles told her audience in reference to the days when black Americans were forced to use back doors, drink from separate water fountains and relinquish their seats or places in line to white citizens.
A visibly moved student body showed their appreciation to the 87-year old with hugs, kisses and photo opportunities. Giles admonished the students to work hard in school and complete their education. "God will make a way for you," she said, "because he made a way for me."
