The Pantagraph from Bloomington, Illinois • A6

1 A6 Monday, May 21, 2018 The JAY REEVES Associated Press MONTGOMERY, Ala. Yellowing court records from the arr ests of Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr. and others at the dawn of the modern civil rights era are being preserved and digitized after being discovered, folded and wrapped in rubber bands, in a courthouse box. Archivists at historically black Alabama State University are cataloging and flattening dozens of documents found at the Montgomery County Courthouse, and Circuit Clerk Tiffany McCord hopes electronic versions will be available for viewing as early as late June. Once the records are added to online court system, historians and others will be able to read the original pleadings filed by attorneys following her refusal to give her seat to a white man on a Montgomery city bus on Dec.

1, 1955. arrest led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which launched a young King to prominence as a civil rights leader while the Atlanta-born pastor was working at his first church in downtown Montgomery. The records being preserved include a bail document signed in black ink by King, who was arrested in March 1956 with Parks and more than 100 others on charges of boycotting the city bus system in protest of treatment. think the public ought to be able to see said McCord. exciting that Alabama State archivist Howard Robinson said the records are important because they provide texture and depth to the story of the early days of the movement.

Rather than just containing the familiar names of Parks and King, Robinson said, the records include the names of lesser-known people like witnesses who saw arrest; bus boycott participants; attorneys; and those who put up bond to free people from jail. papers allow us to understand who those folks said Robinson. Parks was convicted of violating the segregation laws; a federal court deciding another case outlawed segregation on public buses while her case was being appealed. That same ruling effectively ended appeal after he was convicted with others of violating an anti-boycott law. McCord said she found documents from the cases, which include ecords from trial and appeals courts, after taking office in 2013.

were in an envelope box. They were all bent and folded with rubber bands on them probably dating back to the 1950s. The bands were sort of disintegrating into she said. After looking at options, including feeding the papers thr ough a scanner that sometimes jams, McCord said she decided provide them on a 10-year loan for scanning and research by Alabama State, where fliers announcing the boycott were made more than 60 years ago. Some records and photos relating to arrest already are on display at Montgomery City Hall, and school cials sounded skeptical when first contacted about the boxful of court records, McCord said.

they came over and saw what it was their mouths dropped she said. Robinson said he hopes to locate some of the people mentioned in the documents. order to understand the past and all the events that have occurred, particularly as part of the modern civil rights movement, we reduce the bus boycott to Rosa Parks refusing to relinquish her seat and Martin Luther King leading the bus he said. these records sort of indicate that it was much more than that, that there were far more people involved and that the city of Montgomery and the state of Alabama mounted a pitched battle to maintain Arrest records of Parks, MLK preserved GENE HERRICK ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE Rosa Parks is fingerprinted by police Lt. Lack ey in Montgomery, a on Feb.

22, 1956, after refusing to give up her seat on a bus for a white passenger on ec. 1, 1955. MITCH STACY Associated Press REYNOLDSBURG, Ohio Eva Evans is 10 years old and desperately needs a new kidney to live a normal life. Mrs. Thomas, a smiling fourth-grade teacher at school, wants to give her one.

They barely knew each other before. Eva was in a different fourth- grade room down the hall. Tanya Thomas, 48, had spent half her life in the classroom, most of the time right there at Slate Ridge Elementary in the Columbus suburb of Reynoldsburg. After the usually vivacious Eva started missing school last fall, word got around that been sick for months and probably would need a kidney transplant. A plea for a donor went out on Face book after no one in her family was viable.

Thomas jumped in without hesitation, and an arduous, months- long screening process determined she was a perfect match. The surgery will happen sometime late summer at Nationwide Hospital in Columbus. Giving a part of herself to a ran dom kid at her school turned out to be one of the easiest choices Thomas has ever made. At her church just seen donors step forward to help two people in need of kidney transplants, and she wondered if that was a path also meant for her. never really even said Thomas, who is married to a teacher and has two children in college and one in high school.

just felt like that door had been opened, and I was supposed to walk through After Thomas was approved as a donor, mom, Alana Brown, and Thomas staged a in April at which donor and recipient exchanged hugs, cards and flowers. Later, Thomas was invited over for a tea party. And before long, they will be linked for the rest of their lives. Eva said. Doctors know exactly why both of kidneys failed so early in her life.

calling it a genetic (Just like the her mom tells her.) Eva has had an extraordinarily difficult year. She went from being a normal kid early in 2017 to eeling sick and having dialysis 10 hours a day to stay alive. Her 38-year-old single mom, a digital and social-media specialist, been able to work because Eva requires constant care. They live with mother, and any extra money is long gone. Brown said she know a teacher at the school was the donor until Thomas was well into the screening process.

She still believe that someone who even classroom teacher would be so selfless. is an angel on Brown said. think the kind of thing you think about but that you actually end up said Micca Conley, the principal at Slate Ridge. talk about how family here and how moms first before teachers. She took that to the next step, for Eva plans to make a YouTube video chronicling her journey that can help comfort other children going through the process and encourage other people to donate.

Teacher to donate kidney to student A recent letter to The Pan tagraph by an Army veteran who served from August 1955 to May 1957 with duty in South Korea brings up a good question. Why does the American Legion exclude veterans from membership who served in Korea but whose duty falls outside the June 25, 1950, to January 31, 1955, time frame? The Korean War has not ended as evidenced by the recent news about a possible war-ending treaty in the near future. A I will not specifically respond to the issue of eligibility dates for membership in the American Legion. Contact the Illinois American Legion State Headquarters in Bloomington for a more direct and official response. The current enrollment eligibility window is the longest in the history of the American Legion and requires at least one day of active federal military service from Aug.

2, 1990, with no ending date. The American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, AMVETS, Disabled American Veterans and many other national veterans organizations are chartered under federal law. As such, Congress determines the criteria for determining membership eligibility. Additionally, all veterans organizations have different goals, pr ograms and bylaws to guide the organization. Wikipedia has a very good source of information to find out the eligibility, history, programs and goals of the various veterans groups.

I encourage you to review the various veterans organizations and identify which of the veterans organizations listed best fit both our eligibility and interests. Belonging to a major veterans organization, especially those that provide monthly magazines, is the only way that a veteran can keep abreast of changes in veterans benefits. Remember the fallen Gen. George Patton, speaking about soldiers he led in World War II in a June 7, 1945, speech in Boston, stated: is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God such men Let us all take a moment on this Memorial Day to celebrate those who gave the ultimate sacrifice in defense of all of us, our country and our way of life.

Those veterans who died in battle or survived and later passed on would want to be remembered not only for what they did, but also for who they were: our fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, uncles, aunts, neighbors and friends. They will live on as long as their story is remembered and passed on to the next generation. Make remembering a personal thing this Memorial Day. Try to attend one of many Memorial Day activities this year and keep the faith with those who passed the torch of freedom to the next generation. The annual parade and ceremony at Miller Park would be an excellent way to celebrate, honor and remember.

The parade will step off at Front and Center streets at 9 a.m. and head west to the park, where the ceremony will be at 10 a.m. at the bandstand. Did you know? The Vet Center, 8305 N. Allen Road in Peoria, provides counseling services for combat zone eterans who are experiencing issues with anxiety, depression post-traumatic stress disorder.

Services also include family counseling for military-related issues, bereavement counseling for families who experience an active-duty death, military sexual tr auma counseling and referral, and explanations of veteran benefits and referral. This program is separate from VA Health Care at the Bob Michel VA Community Based Outpatient Clinic in Peoria. Readjustment counselor C. W. Speight has established counseling hours at the Veterans Assistance Commission office at 200 W.

Front Suite 400D, Bloomington. His hours there are 8 a.m. to 4 Wednesdays. Contact Speight at 309-689-9708. The Department of Veterans Affairs will offer a behind-the- scenes, real-time Facebook Live virtual tour of a Vet Center and a question-and-answer session, all starting at 6 CDT Monday.

Access this event on Facebook at https://explore.va.gov/events. You must preregister to join this event. Veterans Corner publishes Monday. It is written by the McLean County Veterans a ssistance Commission, 200 W. Front Bloomington, IL 61701; call 309-888-5140.

VETERANS CORNER COREY WILLIAMS Associated Press DETROIT A nearly 80-year- old statue depicting a European settler with a weapon in his hand towering over a Native American that some say celebrates white supremacy has been dismantled by crews in southwestern Kalamazoo. And at the University of Michigan, regents have voted to strip a former school name from a campus science building because he lent his scientific expertise to groups that were in favor of selective reproduction, also known as eugenics. Vestiges of racism and intolerance are slowly being moved and emoved in Michigan and other northern states. In some cases, the efforts are being led by students and faculty at prestigious universities, community leaders and elected officials taking harder looks at their history and potentially divisive issues while being spurred by more widespread efforts in the South to erase the slave past. think very much in line with the things seeing happen across the said Josh Hasler, a recent University of Michigan graduate who worked as a student with some faculty members to have Clarence Cook name scraped off the building on the Ann Arbor campus.

Little was the president from 1925 to 1929. He supported sterilization of what eugenics referred to as the and also acked immigration restrictions and laws against the mixing of racial groups, including in marriage. He was scientific director of a tobacco research advisory board in the 1950s and was accused of sowing doubt about smoking and cancer. The vote to take down name came in March along with one by regents to remove late science professor Alexander name from a residence hall wing. Winchell wrote a book that is cited by white supremacist groups.

one is trying to erase Hasler said. goes to show that remembering and commemorating the same Monuments honoring Confederate soldiers have been targeted for removal from courthouses, statehouses, schools and public parks since the racially motivated killings of nine African-American parishioners in 2015 at a church in Charleston, S.C., and after last violent protests at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va. Charlottesville leaders have voted to remove statues of Confederate Gens. Robert E. Lee and Thomas Jackson.

Earlier this year, Tulsa Public Schools removed a monument dedicated to Lee and rescinded the name. Meanwhile, the North Carolina Historical Commission is considering a formal request from late last year by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper to move three monuments from the Capitol grounds to a historic battlefield site. But such statues and monuments just being mothballed down South. Last year, Helena, Montana, removed a memorial to Confederate soldiers that had been in a public park since 1916.

And in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn, a statue of former Mayor Orville Hubbard who spent decades trying to keep the city all white was socked away for more than a year after leaders decided it belong outside a new City Hall. The Hubbard statue now stands beside a small museum. Fountain of the Pioneers is expected to be stored away until officials decide on a new home for the monument. Some residents say the piece is racist toward Native Americans. Others argue that it is art and can teach people about history.

Only time will tell if calls to remove monuments will continue to grow, according to Paul Brest, professor emeritus and former law school dean at Stanford University. think it has more to do with a moment in history when there is a lot of consciousness of conduct a period where people are socially conscious about this behavior in the Brest said. Civil War monuments are a particular example of that. things that may seem innocuous today may 100 years from now seem like bad deeds. It calls for a degree of Vestiges of racism taken down in Mich.

CARLOS OSORIO ASSOCIATED PRESS a statue of former Mayor rville Hubbar who spent decades trying to keep the city all white, is displayed in earborn, on a pril 27. The statue was stocked away for more than a year after leaders decided it belong outside a new City Hall..