It is said you must know where you’ve been in order to know where you’re going. So my question to you is do you know where we came from? This is Black History Month and I would like to shed some light on some little known facts. Most of us know about Martin Luther King Jr, Malcom X, Rosa Parks, and George Washington Carver. But did you know that before there was Rosa Parks there was Claudette Colvin, a 15 year old girl who refused to move from the back of the bus, nine months before Rosas’ stand, which launched the Montgomery Bus Boycott. What about a man named Bass Reeves. Reeves is believed to be the real “Lone Ranger.” Reeves had been born a slave, but escaped to the west during the Civil War. He eventually became a Deputy U.S. Marshal, he was a master of disguise, an expert marksman, had a Native American companion, and rode a silver horse. Ever hear of Esther Jones? A Black jazz singer in Harlem known as “Baby Esther? She was the inspiration for the iconic cartoon character Betty Boop introduced by cartoonist Max Fleischer in the 1930’s. Singer Helen Kane tried to sue Fleischer and Paramount stating that that they were using her image and her style. However during the suit video evidence came to light of Baby Esther performing in a night club and the courts ruled against Kane stating she did not have exclusive rights to the “booping” style or image, and that the style, in fact, pre-dated her, having been done and started at least ten years prior by Baby Esther. I will leave you with one last one, Bessie Coleman the first licensed African American Pilot. Coleman was born in Atlanta Texas in 1892 and moved to France in 1920 to pursue her dream of flying. In June of 1921 after learning to fly she was awarded an international pilots license. She performed at numerous airshows, and refused to perform anywhere Blacks were not admitted. Colemans funeral was presided over by another little known egual rights advocate Ida B. Wells. I could go on and on about the Black Panthers in 1969 starting the first free breakfast program for school children, the Little Rock 9 who braved segration in order to intergrate an all white school, Benjamin Banneker, Marcus Garvey, Mary Mcleod Bethune, Henry Louis Gates, Walter White, just to name a few. It’s important to know your heritage. It is important to know exactly who and where you came from, in order to know where your going. We come from Philosophers, lawyers, educators, historians, scholars, diplomats, politicians and many many great leaders. So hold your head high, you are not just the decendants of slaves you come from a long line of world changers. So don’t just go blindly through your life, find out exactly who you are, and where you came from, get some direction and you too can leave a mark for the next generation, you too can make a mark, a contribution that will change the world.
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