Pioneer

Issue date: 1/28/10 Section: Campus

Media Credit: Jessica McDaniels Dr. Terrence Roberts spoke to students on campus on Jan. 20 in remembrance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Guest speaker Dr. Terrence Roberts spoke to Pierce College students on Jan. 20 in remembrance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

He reflected on his involvement in the Little Rock Nine, a group of black students chosen in 1957 to be the first to integrate Central High School in Little Rock, Ark.

Roberts spoke of the mental and physical harassment they endured on a daily basis, both from their peers and from members of the community.

"Even though I knew from growing up in Little Rock there would be opposition, these folks came intent to stay until they completed their mission to remove us from the school," Roberts said.

At one point, relentless persecution forced the black students out of school for several weeks because it was simply too dangerous for them to attend.

"We were assigned the 101st Airborne Division to ensure our safety," Roberts said. "If it were not for the them, none of us would have survived."

Despite the hardships Roberts endured during the heart of the Civil Rights movement, he went on to graduate high school. Roberts went even further, receiving a bachelor's degree in sociology, a master's in social welfare and eventually a Ph.D. in psychology.

It was the suffering of many men and women that made it possible for others to "live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but the content of their character," King said in his "I Have a Dream" speech on Aug. 28, 1963.

Roberts and his inspirational message serve as a living reminder that much hate and intolerance existed not so long ago.

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