Congrats to Shoilee Rahman and her teacher Mr. Nobiling!
Shoilee is the freshman daughter of Shafiqur and Rafia Rahman.
(I attached a copy of Shoilee's essay below)
(I attached a copy of Shoilee's essay below)
Congratulations to the following students and teachers who have been named the winners of the 14th Annual Law Day Essay Contest, sponsored by the Nebraska State Bar Foundation and the Nebraska Supreme Court!
Grade
|
Student Name
|
Teacher Name
|
School Name
|
City
|
9
|
Shoilee Rahman
|
Craig Nobiling
|
Chadron High School
|
Chadron
|
10
|
Daniel Reynoso
|
Melanie Chesley
|
Lexington High School
|
Lexington
|
11
|
Bryn Carriker
|
Richard Smock
|
McCook High School
|
McCook
|
12
|
Linsey Armstrong
|
Nick Hegge
|
Logan View High School
|
Hooper
|
Many of the contest judges commented that they especially enjoyed reading this year’s student essays. Thank you so much for taking the time to encourage your students to participate in this law-related education activity. We hope you are looking forward to next year’s contest and that you will participate in the 15th Annual Law Day Essay Contest.
Cindy Lilleoien
Law-Related Education Consultant
Nebraska State Bar Foundation
PO Box 95103 · 635 S. 14th St., #120
Lincoln, NE 68509
402-475-1042 · 402-475-7106 Fax
MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. DAY
“Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable….Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals,” said Martin Luther King, Jr. The words sacrifice, suffering, and struggle, and dedication truly define the civil rights movement in the United States. America saw sacrifice as fifty thousand African Americans gave up riding the buses in Montgomery, Alabama. It saw suffering and struggle when schoolchildren were attacked with dogs and hoses in the streets of Birmingham. And finally, it was a witness to dedication when civil rights activists marched from Selma to Montgomery in pursuit of protecting voting rights for African Americans in 1965. However, at the center of this era of obtaining civil rights for African Americans, was a leader named Martin Luther King, Jr. It is crucial that American citizens remember this leader and his contributions to racial equality in the United States. Held on the third Monday of January, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is perhaps one of the most important holidays observed in the United States.
Images of the civil rights era in the United States show that large masses of people gathered, not with weapons, but with the idea that if they all shared one common belief and chose not to abide by what authorities told them, they could obtain anything. This was the core mechanism of the movement Martin Luther King, Jr. was leading; nonviolent noncooperation. He drew inspiration from civil rights activists, such as Gandhi, and philosophers such as Henry David Thoreau. Dr. King and his method of nonviolent noncooperation can be viewed as an example for Americans today. What Martin Luther King, Jr. strived for was equality for African Americans. Issues regarding equality still remain, whether it is racial equality or gender equality. Today, Dr. King’s leadership and activism during the civil rights era can act as a guide when people deal with issues regarding equality. Not only do his contributions act as a guide, but they also act as a source of inspiration for those wanting to start a movement geared toward social change.
Human progress is a continuous process. In Dr. King’s famous speech “I Have a Dream,” he spoke of how even after Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, which was a sign of progression, African Americans in the 1960s still didn’t enjoy the same rights as everyone else, which was a sign of digression. That was what Martin Luther King, Jr. built and progressed upon; obtaining equality for all races. Celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr. Day helps citizens understand the effectiveness of nonviolent noncooperation, remember Dr. King’s achievements, and it symbolizes progress of Americans in the past, the present, and the future.
Shoilee Rahman
9th Grade
Mr. Craig Nobiling
Chadron High School
308.432.0707REFERENCES
Primary Sources:
Carson, Claybourne. “The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr.” New York: Warner
Books, 1998. Google Books. Web. 24 March 2013. <http://books.google.com/books?
id=pynSnGuC964C&pg=PT10&lpg=PT9&ots=ufy2uIEQ7S&dq=martin+luther+king+jr+speech&lr>
Jr., Martin Luther King, “I Have a Dream.” Ben Franske, 28 August 1963, Audio. Internet Archive. Web.
24 March 2013.<http://archive.org/details/MLKDream>
Secondary Sources:
“A Brief History of the Civil Rights Movement.” Cyberlearning World. Web. 24 March 2013. <http://
www.cyberlearning-world.com/nhhs/project/2000/views/histcivilrights.htm>
Brainy Quote. Brainy Quote, 2001-2013. Web. 24 March 2013. <http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/
quotes/m/martinluth164280.html>
PBS. PBS Online, 1997-2006. Web. 24 March 2013. <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/eyesontheprize/
story/07_c.html>
“The Civil Rights Movement.” CNN Interactive. Cable News Network, Inc., 1997. Web.
24 March 2013.<http://www.cnn.com/EVENTS/1997/mlk/links.html>
