The Rally History

Bullock's desire to promote youth leadership turned into annual MLK rally

By MARGARET REIST / Lincoln Journal Star Originally ran January 16, 2011

Leola Bullock, who marched through the civil rights era toward a different world, then spent the rest of her life speaking up and speaking out, knew something about the future.

She knew she wouldn't always be in it, nor would other leaders of her generation.

Bullock, who died in October, knew the future depended on the young.

Thus the phone calls 18 years ago to a group of adults who worked with students, to ask for their help in fleshing out an idea: that Martin Luther King Jr. Day should be celebrated by young people.

Bullock was determined that whatever the group came up with had to be youth-driven, the adults in the back seat, navigating but not steering.

"I think what she knew from the 1960s is that youth were very much a part of the Civil Rights movement," said Ann Stokes, a longtime friend. "And if change was going to happen, then our youth had to be a major part of it. If Dr. King's dream was to be realized it had to be youth, through the years."

The result of those first meetings was a small march in 1994: a handful of students who met on the steps of the County-City Building and walked to the state Capitol. One read King's "I have a dream" speech.

Stokes went to the march and knew she wanted to be involved.

"I can still envision them coming up the street and thinking, ‘Oh my goodness, this is good,'" she said.

For the next several years, Stokes, Jareldine Mays and Jake Kirkland acted as adult sponsors, recruiting students to be involved, helping them plan and organize what has become an annual event.

Every year but one since then, students have organized the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Youth Rally and March. It has grown from a handful of marchers to a line that stretches several blocks as it heads toward the Capitol.

It moved from the steps of the City-County Building to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus, where a pre-rally program involves various student groups. The rally has grown, too, as students find new ways to illustrate King's dream.

"They've done some really great things," Mays said.

Bullock never missed a rally, and she always wore a T-shirt given to her by previous rally organizers.

This year, chairman Sandy Ngo, a senior at Lincoln High, said they plan to pay tribute to Bullock at Monday's rally.

"Without her we wouldn't have (the rally)," Ngo said. "We know we can still make what she wanted live on."

Though she later left things up to others, students met at her church to plan the rally in the early years and she was there, a quiet leader.

"Her presence probably said more than she (did)," Stokes said. "She was the pulse in the room in those early years."

Bullock saw the need to promote leadership in young people, to inspire them, gently nudge them into a life of service and positive social activism.

The early organizers worked to involve a diverse group of students, because that was part of King's dream, Kirkland said. They also made sure students learned about King and that time in history.

"Many young people ... really don't know the kind of things that happened and why he did it," said Mays, a retired teacher.

About 10 years ago, Pete Ferguson, who now works for Lincoln Public Schools, became the adult sponsor.

He made sure Bullock spoke to the students each year. It was important, he said, to make sure students not only knew who she was, but what she was about.

At each rally, there always was a seat reserved for her up front, not only so she could see the students but to make sure they could see her, Ferguson said.

They won't see her Monday, but they'll feel her influence.

She'll be the pulse in the room.

Reach Margaret Reist at 402-473-7226 or mreist@journalstar.com