David and Toko Ackerman - MOTM

New Visions, New Voices

It seems almost natural that a movement with an aim of racial equity would include the young and the old, men and women, Northerners and Southerners, as well as various races. The husband and wife team of David and Toko Ackerman were true representations of this diversity. David, a self-proclaimed product of a lily-white community in Illinois, and his Japanese-born wife also reflect the various reasons that people were drawn to fight for change. The egregious racial violence in Selma, Ala., was Toko’s impetus to turn her attention toward race relations, while David’s involvement in the movement would occur almost by accident.