Wednesday, February 1, 2012


Its Black History Month! I love the month of February because our history is the main focus of the month. Right now history is being made all around us. We have our first African American president who will hopefully be going for his second term in office. (MAKE SURE YOU VOTE!!)He has made so many great strides while he has been in office, and I would like to see his efforts to clean up the state our country is in continue. However this is Black HISTORY month. It all started from some where. Our history as a people is what makes us so strong. We come from hard economies and unfair work benefits, senseless violence and being treated as if we were less than human beings. Through the strength and determination, prayer and passion of our ancestors we survived. Decade after decade we survived and made it.

Without the strong leadership of husbands and fathers like Martin Luther King Jr, Malcolm X, George Washington Carver, Granville T. Woods, and Thurgood Marshall there would be no Barack Obama. Without the humble but strong presence of women who stood on the front line behind these men keeping them uplifted in prayer and fighting with them like, Mrs. Coretta Scott King, Harriett Tubman, Madam C.J Walker, Rosa Parks, and Angela Davis, there would be no Michelle Obama. And without the strength and courage of former slaves like Jourdon Anderson, who requested that he be paid back wages for the time that he and his family spent as slaves from his former master; there would be no me. Once he moved and became a free slave his owner wrote to him requesting that he come back to work for him. This was a great example of not only courage but strength because even though he was a free man, black people still had little to no rights. You can read the letter here. http://twentytwowords.com/2012/01/31/a-former-slave-writes-to-his-former-owner-requesting-his-backpay/ I recently was promoted at work, but they didn't want to pay me anymore money. As an employee I felt slighted because I was taking on more responsibility, spending more time working longer hours (away from my children) but I wasn't going to be compensated for it. So because of this letter that was written years before I was even thought of I had the courage to go and ask that I be compensated for my hard work. I stood firm on the fact that I was hard working enough to be given more responsibility and I should be paid as such.

Don't let our history be lost. Our ancestors sacrificed too much for the rights that we have for them to be taken lightly. Its important that we pass these stories to our children and teach them the value and beauty of being an African American.

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