"I HAVE A DREAM" MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. AND THE IMPACT OF HIS SPEECH AT THE 1963 MARCH ON WASHINGTON. -AN ORAL HISTORY WITH THE REVEREND CRAIG EDUARD EDER~ ALICE MARY VICTORIA GREMMINGER INSTRUCTED BY: GLENN WHITMAN FEBRUARY 4, 2002 OH ORE 2002 Gremminger Alice Gremminger, 2 -TABLE OF CONTENTS- I. CONTRACT PAGE THREE II. STATEMENT OF PURPOSE PAGE FOUR III. BIOGRAPHY OF REVEREND CRAIG EDER PAGE FIVE IV. A HISTORICAL CONTEXTUALIZATION, "THE IMPACT OF MARTIN LUTHER KING ON THE AMERICAN CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT" PAGE SEVEN V. INTERVIEW OF REVEREND CRAIG EDER PAGE SIXTEEN VI. INTERVIEW ANALYSIS PAGE TWENTY-FIVE VII. APPENDICES PAGE THIRTY-ONE vni. WORKS CONSULTED PAGE FORTY- SEVEN ST. ANDREW'S EPISCOPAL SCHOOL INTERVIEWEE RELEASE FORM; Tapes and Transcripts I, QrC^C^ ^.cA,^^ , do hereby give to tlie Saint Andrew's Episcopal name of interviewee School all right, title or interest in the tape-recorded interviews conducted by A.UC^^rg:rty(Nvr»Q^r on QCXn, "di 2.QOI. I understand that these name of interviewer date(s) interviews will be protected by copyright and deposited in Saint Andrew's Library and Archives for the use of future students, educators and scholars. I also understand that the tapes and transcripts may be used in public presentations including, but not limited to, audio or video documentaries, slide-tape presentations, exhibits, articles or the world wide web at the projects web site ^\^v^v.doingoralhistory.org. This gift does not preclude any use tlial I myself \\ ant to make of the infonnation in these transcripts or recordings. The interviewee acknowledges that he/she will receive no remuneration or compensation for either his/her participation in the interview or for the rights assigned hereunder. CHECK ONE: Tapes and transcripts may be used without restriction Tapes and transcripts are subject to the attached restrictions (Typed) RVIEWEE: INTERVrEWER: /Ut .(faM Signalnr^of Interviewee Signature Typed Name Typed Name ^l^-h L/nfft-} >K Address Address W^^koirlr-fi^J^C'7-^Oo&-' Dale f Date 8804 Postoak Road • Potomac, Maryland 20854 • (301) 983-5200 • Fax: (301) 983-4710 • http:/Avww.saes.org Gremminger, 4 -STATEMENT OF PURPOSE- The 1963 March on Washington, where Martin Luther King Jr. presented his revolutionary "I Have a Dream" speech, was a pivotal moment in the civil rights movement in the United States of America. Both the event and the legacy of Martin Luther King are examined in this oral history with the Reverend Craig Eder, who attended the March on Washington on August 28, 1963. The pm-pose of this interview is to discover a personal account of one individual who attended the March on Washington and lived through the American civil rights movement. Gremminger, 5 -BIOGRAPHY OF THE REVEREND CRAIG EDUARD EDER- Craig Eduard Eder was bom in Ridley Park, Pennsylvania, September 6, 1919. He grew up with his sister Shirley and his parents Charles Eduard Eder and Whilhimina "Minnie" Fredricka Schweikhart. He attended The William Penn Charter School and graduated in 1938, to go on to Harvard University. After graduating from Harvard in 1942, with previous intentions of becoming a physician, he enrolled in The Virginia Seminary, Alexandria, Virginia, following in the footsteps of his father by becoming an Episcopal Minister. In 1944, he became the Assistant Curate at All Saints Church, Chevy Chase, Washington D.C. until 1947, when he served at the Greenbrier Episcopal Churches, West Virginia. In 1953, Reverend Eder returned to Washington D.C. to become the Chaplin at Saint Albans School until 1973. While at Saint Albans, he became interested in Civil Rights and in 1963, attended the March on Washington. Afterl973, he held many positions such as interim priest at Saint Albans Parish, Priest at All Souls Church, Washington D.C, and in 1975 became a priest at Saint Columba's Church, Washington D.C. until 1976, when he became head priest at Saint Mary's Church, Saint Mary's, Maryland. In 1980, he went on to Saint Francis Parish, Potomac, Maryland and then returned to Saint Columba's from 1981-1988. Gremmmger, 6 After forty-six years of service. The Reverend Craig Eder "retired" in 1990 but he still took on many jobs. In 1990, he was a volunteer priest at Saint Columba's and priest at the Washington Cathedral. In 1994 he became head priest at Saint Columba's and is presently the Associate Rector Emeritus. When people meet Craig Eder they are instantly aware of his kind nature and true humanitarian essence. Now at age eighty-two, Eder resides on a house on Cathedral Avenue with liis wife, Edith and their dog. Gremminger, 7 THE IMPACT OF MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. ON THE AMERICAN CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT A HISTORICAL CONTEXTUALIZATION In 1936, Mohandas K. Gahandi wrote, "It may be through the [American] Negroes that the unadulterated message of nonviolence will be delivered to the world." (Phillips 127) Gahandi's philosopliies of non-violent tactics as well as Jesus Christ's "Sermon on the Mount," were the major inspirations for Martin Luther King Jr. to become the most prominent American civil rights leader in history. King had faith in America, the American Dream and the American People. He believed strongly in Freedom. In King's autobiography he states that "Freedom is contagious," and King tmly proved himself correct, as he inspired millions ofpeople across the world, and will continue to in the future. (King 220) King could not have altered the mystique of American thought without the support of millions of Americans, of all races. King's most influential action was his "I Have A Dream" speech at the March on Washington D.C. on August 28, 1963, during the height ofthe American civil rights movement. King stated, "Even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed-—we hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal..." (King 225) America was forever altered by these words that would become essential teachings in the contemporary American philosophy. Martin Luther King Jr. was a vital figure in the American civil rights Gremminger, 8 movement and by his teachings, "injected a new meaning into the veins of history and of civilization."' (King 61) Early Black rights advocate and author of The Souls of Black Folk, W.E.B. Dubois, stated, "the problem ofthe twentieth centxiry is the color line." (Ansbro 200) Dubois was one ofthe first of African American leaders in the struggle for racial equality in the twentieth century United States. In 1865, under the presidency of Abraham Lincoln, America concluded its Civil War, As a result, enslaved black Americans were free under the Thirteenth Amendment, guaranteeing that, "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude... shall exist within the United States." In 1868 and 1870, amendments Fourteen and Fifteen instated citizenship for blacks, with all ofthe rights previously given only to whites, including the right to vote. However, in 1896, the Supreme Court case, Plessy vs. Ferguson, legalized racial segregation, stating that "separate but equal is equal." (King 12) The Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., would later describe this segregation as "separate but always unequal." America, the nation that was to be a "city upon a hill,"'^ had ultimately failed itself Thus, while America entered the Twentieth Century as a world power, it also was a segregated and racist nation. Historian Studs Terkel calls the Twentieth Century, "the American Century.'* In many regards, this statement can be justified because at the opening ofthe Twentieth Century, after a period of industrialization and what historian John Garraty calls, "non- colonial imperialism," America had emerged as the leading industrial and most economically sound nation in the world. Furthermore, we proved to be true world leaders ' Dl Martin Luther King's Autobiography, he concludes his speech, given on December 5, 1955, the day of Rosa Parks' trial, by stating these words. These are his hopes for "a race ofpeople, a black people." (King, 61) ^ John Winthrop, Governor ofthe 1630, Massachusetts Bay Colony, in his sermon, "A Modelle of Christian Charity." Gremminger, 9 after American involvement in WWI and our role at the post-war peace conference. After WWI, the "Roaring Twenties" in America was a prosperous time in regards to culture, economics and imiovations. However, in addition to a fanner's depression and half of the nation living in poverty, African Americans were extremely disenfranchised in America. The Ku Klux Klan (KKK), who reemerged and lynched African Americans across the South, was extremely active. In 1929, the Stock Market Crash marked the beginning ofthe Great Depression in America. Franklin Roosevelt's two "New Deals" created many programs that would relieve, reform and recover the nation and the "fear economy." Afiican Amen'cans were excluded or only partially aided by many of these programs, though they switched to support ofthe Democratic Party. In 1941, FDR called for the first peacetime draft in American history and on December 7, 1941, America entered WWII after the bombing of Pear! Harbor. African Americans as well as wiiites were sent to Europe or the Pacific essentially to "make the world safe for democracy." Just as Jim Crow laws segregated the South, the United States National Armed Forces were segregated as well. This caused much anger among African Americans. In 1954, the Supreme Court case. Brown vs. Board of Education, mandated an end to public school segregation, but just as the Declaration of Independence ironically states, "all men are created equal," Brown vs.