As a Bowie State University student in the 1950s, Joanne Benson belonged to a small group of student civil rights activists who learned about nonviolent protests by working with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
Benson, now the Democratic delegate for Prince George?s County, attended King?s speech in Baltimore City in the summer of 1959.
“Baltimore was the only place he could come and be invited,” she said.
Benson met with King after his speech and found out about the series of workshops he conducted in Washington, D.C., to teach young people about nonviolent resistance to segregation and discrimination.
For three days in July, King instructed Benson and other young civil rights activists as they sat on a few rows of hard, backless benches outside behind the YWCA at the corner of 7th Street and Rhode Island Avenue in the District.
At one point, Benson asked King why they couldn?t hold the workshop indoors, away from the heat.
“He looked at me, and said, ?Daughter, there?s a reason for us meeting out here. I don?t want you to ever be comfortable with the status quo,?” Benson said. “And the way he said it was in the most motivational and inspiring way. His words were electrifying.”
After that summer, Benson participated in nonviolent civil rights demonstrations in other parts of Maryland, including a demonstration to integrate a movie theater in Hagerstown. Benson, who served as a Prince George?s County teacher for more than 40 years, said the lessons she learned from King combined with her experiences in the March on Washington, gave special meaning to her instruction on the civil rights movement.
“To this day, I don?t get in line because the line is forming, I get in line because it?s the right thing to do,” she said. “We?re not where we were but Lord knows we?re not where we ought to be.”
