As we participated in protest after protest, sit-in after sit-in, where crowds of uncontrollable angry people swarmed around us yelling and jeering, where we were beaten with billy clubs, lead pipes, trampled by horses, and attacked by dogs, our faith was not dampened, as many people today, looking back on the history, often wonder.

It actually grew in power and strength. We felt that society had done its worst to us… It almost seemed the more the unjust resisted, the more impassioned the call for change.

After the initial fear, each protest became an exercise in freedom instead of a cause for alarm.

from Across that Bridge