by TChris

Another story of one person taking a stand and making a difference: Kenneth Lavon Johnson sat at a "whites only" lunch counter in 1960. He stayed at the counter after being refused service, was arrested, convicted, sentenced to jail, and expelled from Southern University School of Law. A unanimous Supreme Court reversed his conviction in 1961. In Johnson's words: "The civil rights movement was on the move."

Johnson entered Howard University School of Law, graduated, and eventually became a judge in Baltimore. Now he's returning to Southern University. The school that expelled him is awarding him an honorary juris doctrate degree.

It is a sweet honor because I lived through it; I thought I was going to get killed when we sat at that counter. It's sweet also because, I hope, it will teach young people they can take stands in life for a cause greater than themselves. They probably will lose today, but if they are patient and persevere and endure as we did, they probably will win tomorrow. And the world will be better for their efforts.