All Carlotta Walls LaNier wanted at age 14 was to become a doctor.
So knowing that Central High School in her Little Rock, Ark., neighborhood had the resources she needed to succeed, she signed up in 1957 to go there.
That day, she became the youngest of a group that famously is known as the Little Rock Nine, the first black students admitted to an all-white, segregated school in Little Rock.
LaNier spoke of growing up in the segregated 1950s to a rapt audience Friday during Denver’s 18th annual Martin Luther King Peace Awards & Breakfast, which recognizes outstanding community leaders. The event was held on the Auraria campus.
LaNier went on to graduate from Central High. She attended Michigan State University and earned a degree from Colorado State College, known today as the University of Northern Colorado.
Despite the U.S. Supreme Court school-desegregation case in 1954 that made legal and civil- rights history, LaNier and her classmates had to be escorted to class on their first day of school by 1,200 soldiers, who were ordered to their aid by President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
LaNier spoke about the suffering and hatred she endured at school, but also spoke of meeting King and watching him eat a barbecue meal long before he became famous. “I just saw a man,” she said. “When we see Dr. King in that way, it gives us fewer excuses.”
She also spoke about how far the country has come since King’s death in 1968 and encouraged others to continue his work.
“Stepping up doesn’t always require a giant step but a courageous one,” LaNier said.
The MLK Peace Awards & Breakfast began in 1992, after Karen Thorpe, then a Metropolitan State College of Denver administrator, and about 50 Auraria campus and community members gathered to celebrate King’s life and legacy on his birthday, Jan. 15.
This year’s peace award recipients were AnnJanette “AJ” Alejano-Steele, a Metro State professor and human-rights activist; Colorado Coalition for the Homeless president John Parvensky; the Rev. Leon Kelly, a gang-conflict mediator; and Metro State students Marziya Kaka and Gloria Burns.
Burns was honorably discharged from the Navy. She is a single mother, grandmother and was once homeless before deciding to return to school. An alum of the Veterans Upward Bound program, she works as a peer adviser at Metro State, helping veterans get into college.
“I’m using tools Dr. King used to help others, and I’m honored,” Burns said.
Annette Espinoza: 303-954-1655 or aespinoza@denverpost.com
