Charles Black, History in the Making
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By Mariah Hill
he Atlanta Student Movement, formed in 1960 in Atlanta by students of the campuses of Spelman, Morehouse and other Atlanta University (AUC) students has changed drastically during the years from fighting for inequality and the civil rights movement. For generations students and leaders have walked the brick promenade to get their education or become the next African American scholar to make a difference in our society. From the regentrification buildings in the late 2000’s to creating new healthy resources for students around the area.
The actor, activist and previous president of the AUC’s Committee on the Appeal for Human Rights, Charles Black played a huge part in history by taking a class at Morehouse led by Martin Luther King himself. The class consisted of philosophy and democracy. Black came out of that class creating Atlanta’s first civil rights movement with Lonnie King. The idea came to mind from the four men who hosted a series of nonviolent protests/sit-ins in Greensboro, North Carolina. Considering his recent learned insights from MLK Jr, Black, the activist, was prepared
to take a stand for human rights. “We were already mad and wanted to change things. When we saw what the boys in Greensboro have done, that gave us a way of dealing with these situations,” Black said. The process began with a meeting held on Morehouse College campus where King fully warned the prospective participants “if you’re not ready to do this, this nonviolent protest, then you can go about your business and don’t talk about it.” Soon after, the respective HBCU college presidents were agonizingly aware of the upcoming event. This created potential concerns with the Atlanta University Center AUC executive leadership. “They called us in and initially tried to talk us out of it.” Although Black was certainly determined to get his point across. “If we’re going to do this thing, we have to let
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S C LC Na tional Magaz ine / Spring 2 02 1 Is s ue
