Civil rights through the eyes of a child
Civil rights activist Valda Harris Montgomery spoke at Friday’s Lunch and Learn in the Hughes-Trigg Student Chamber.
Montgomery’s father, Richard Harris, was a pharmacist at the oldest Black-owned drug store in Montgomery, Alabama. Montgomery was 6-years-old when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. moved into the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church Parsonage House two doors down from her family home.
In 1961, her family hosted the Freedom Riders for four days. King, Ralph Abernathy, Diane Nash, John Lewis and other civil rights heavyweights strategized with her father on the top floor of her house. Montgomery, however, was more interested in the cute college boys eating breakfast in her kitchen than she was in the history happening upstairs.
“It was like nothing to us, not knowing that these people would have bridges and signs and statues named after them,” Montgomery said.
Montgomery offered a new perspective of the Civil Rights Movement, one of a teenage girl. She was 13 when the Freedom Riders stayed at her house and only 17 when she participated in the march from Selma to Montgomery.
She prepared for the march as part of the Freedom Army Recruits, attending training sessions to learn how to react nonviolently to the harassment she would face. It was incredibly organized, she said.
“It was as if you joined the cheer squad or a team or an after school program,” Montgomery said.
Montgomery hosts tours of her family home, and often is asked for advice by students about how to combat the treatment of marginalized communities in America.
“Some of the young guys would say, ‘I just feel so much anger and I don’t know what I’m supposed to do with it,’” she recounts. “And I said, ‘Don’t change. Don’t lose that feeling. Just change the word to passion.’”
The Lunch and Learn was part of Dream Week, an annual celebration of the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. hosted by the Social Change and Intercultural Engagement office.
Montgomery has a long relationship with SMU, dating back to the early 2000s. Michael Waters, the founding director of the SMU Civil Rights Pilgrimage, saw Montgomery on a nearby lawn after bringing students to King’s house and asked her about the Black pharmacist who helped with the Civil Rights Movement.
“I said, ‘Yeah, that was my dad,’” Montgomery said.
Waters called over the group of SMU students, and that was the first first student group Montgomery shared her story with. Year after year, SMU students returned to the Harris house, inspiring Montgomery to chronicle her story in her book, “Just A Neighbor: A Child’s Memoir Of The Civil Rights Movement.”
Brandon Kitchin, Assistant Director of SCIE and an event organizer, was pleased to see the chamber filled for Montgomery’s appearance.
“This encourages me,” he said. “I think there’s a lot of questions regarding what she experienced and her parents experienced, and also an overlap of what we’re going through today. Multiple people in the room asked, ‘How do we seek unity, bridging divide and hatred and overcome that with love and justice? And I think she put a lot of stuff in perspective for us today.’”
Attendees ranged from students and alums to SMU faculty and local members of the National Pan-Hellenic Council, composed of nine historically African-American sororities and fraternities.
Emma Hernandez, a fall 2024 initiate of Delta Sigma Theta, came to see Montgomery, a fellow Delta.
“She has inspired me so much, along with the countless people in the room, to continue our advocacy and hard work, especially within underrepresented communities,” Hernandez said.
Gwendolyn LaCroix, who works in the Pre-Health Advising Center, attended multiple Dream Week events. She connected to Montgomery’s story because she is a similar age.
“The rich history that she shared with us today is just so wonderful for all of the youth to hear,” LaCroix said.
For many attendees, Montgomery offered more than a window into the past. She offered a road map for the future.
“Coming to these events allows us to understand that the past can repeat itself if we don’t learn from it,” said Pamela McNulty, Director of the Office of Pre-Health Advising.
Montgomery offered one final reminder to the students: “Organization is key. Unity is key, solidarity is key.”
SMU’s Big Event closes Dream Week with a tango
At noon this past Sunday, a long line of SMU student volunteers crowded the Hughes-Trigg Ballroom in anticipation of Dream Week’s final event. SMU’s Big Event partnered with Tango Charities to pack meals for the Dallas community. As part of Tango Charities’ “Feed the City” initiative, volunteers made sandwiches to be delivered to local food organizations that day.
The Big Event’s Executive Director, Grant Offner, explained their organization aims to host one of their meal packing events surrounding Dream Week because it inspires students to give back to their community.
“You can see the legacy of Dream Week, and the impact in real time that furthers contributions to communities everywhere,” Offner said.
While volunteers washed their hands and put on protective gloves, Royal American Miss Texas 2025 Angelica Jasmine Bates prepared to get involved with the meal packing. An SMU alumna, Bates was thrilled to come back to campus and volunteer.
“I’m excited to work with Tango Charities today because of their involvement within the Dallas community specifically,” Bates said. “I was a member of Mustang Heroes during my time at SMU and just knew that I had to join this event.”
After a few team-bonding activities, Tango Charities’ Volunteer Executive Director Nick Marino spoke to the volunteers about the meal packing process. While explaining the ratios of ham and cheese to mustard to each slice of bread, he gave memorable insight to the crowd.
“No one wants a soggy sandwich,” Marino said.
The volunteers laughed while also understanding their responsibility to make these sandwiches with care as they would ease a child’s hunger that very day. Marino honed in on the impact of Tango Charities’ work, highlighting times when children are more in need of quick meals.
“We focus on anchor times where hunger gets a spike,” Marino said. “For childhood hunger, that’s Thanksgiving, summer, weeks where we know kids are off school. We’re able to use our funds to help other partner organizations enhance their food supply.”
Marino enjoys working with the Big Event because of their positive environment and shared experience working together toward a common goal. Offner explained that each member of the executive board had been part of the Big Event since their freshman year, establishing close relationships that allow for enjoyable, collaborative work and smooth planning.
“Everyone on the executive board is really passionate about service,” said the Big Event’s Logistics Director Ashley Wolters. “This role has been a really good experience for me. Everyone is upbeat and very easy to work with.”
When the volunteers began making sandwiches, a DJ played upbeat music and attendees danced alongside each other while packing meals. Marino explained that Tango Charities’ events are a unique experience, one that promotes an energetic, positive environment for the volunteers.
“We started noticing over the years that volunteers’ lives changed,” Marino said.
He explained that one of his volunteers, Orion Jean, was like a mentee to him. Jean was inspired by Tango Charities’ work and raised 500,000 books for children in underserved communities. Jean was named TIME Magazine’s “Kid of the Year” in 2021 because of his contributions to his community.
As more packed lunches were placed on tables outside of the ballroom, volunteers skipped and danced about while taking in the impact of their work to fighting food insecurity in Dallas. The Big Event’s Director of Recruitment Elle Skelsey discussed why their organization focuses on the issue of food insecurity.
“We started this meal packing event five years ago because of our collective passion for fighting food scarcity,” Skelsey said. “We’ve continued it on because food insecurity is a constant battle and the impact of our work inspires us to keep fighting together.”
