"For Africa to me ... is more than a glamorous fact. It is a historical truth. No man can know where he is going unless he knows exactly where he has been and exactly how he arrived at his present place." — Maya Angelou
Black History Month: a 29-day tribute to black excellence, a time when Americans should heed the call to action by President Gerald Ford in 1976 and "seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.” February was chosen as National African-American History Month to coincide with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Fredrick Douglas. Also, the NAACP was founded Feb. 12, 1909, which aided officials in dedicating the month to celebrating black excellence.
President Ford was right. Americans do need to seize the opportunity to learn about black history because black history is without a doubt American history. America was built off the back of the black slave and transformed through generations of black excellence.
I feel that it is only my right to pay honor to those men and women who made it possible for myself and so many others to attain the liberties that we do (even if sometimes those liberties are wrongly stripped from us). The following 12 individuals were slain prior to 1976 because of the color of their skin and are considered martyrs of the Civil Rights Movement. You may have heard of some of these individuals, while some of them you may have not, but it is for them that black excellence should be obtained.
May 7, 1955 * Rev. George Lee * Belzoni, Mississippi
Rev. Lee, was one of the first black people to register to vote in Humphreys County. He used his church to urge others to vote, and he was killed shortly after refusing protection from police.
August 13, 1955 * Lamar Smith* Brookhaven, Mississippi
A white man shot Lamar Smith dead in front of the courthouse while others watched. No one will admit they even saw a white man kill a black man. Lamar Smith had organized blacks to vote in the previous county election.
August 28, 1955 * Emmett Louis Till * Money, Mississippi
Emmett Louis Till was reportedly caught flirting with a white woman at his local grocery store. Three days later, four white men pulled him out of bed, beat him, shot him and dumped him in the Tallahatchie River. The all-white jury found the men innocent.
January 23, 1957* Willie Edwards Jr.* Montgomery, Alabama
Willie Edwards Jr., a truck driver, was on his way to work when four Klansmen who mistook him for another black man who they thought was dating a white woman. The Klansman forced him at gunpoint to jump off a bridge into the Alabama River. He was found three months later.
April 25, 1959 *Mack Charles Parker * Poplarville, Mississippi
Mack Charles Parker was accused of raping a white woman in Poplarville. Three days before his trial, a masked mob stormed the jail, kidnapped, beat and shot him and later threw his body in the Pearl River.
September 25, 1961 * Herbert Lee* Liberty, Mississippi
Herbert Lee, who worked with civil rights leader Bob Moses, registering black people to vote, was killed by a Mississippi legislator who claimed self-defense. He was never arrested.
September 15, 1963 * Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson and Cynthia Wesley * Birmingham, Alabama
Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson and Cynthia Wesley were getting ready for church services when a bomb exploded at the Sixteenth Street Baptist church, killing all four of the girls. The church was being used to host civil rights meetings and marches.
June 10, 1966* Ben Chester White * Natchez, Mississippi
Ben Chester White, a caretaker on a plantation, had no involvement with the Civil Rights Movement. Klansman thought that by killing a black man they could divert attention from a Civil Rights March.
April 4, 1968 * Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. * Memphis, Tennessee
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a Baptist preacher and key architect in the Civil Rights Movement. Dr. King was responsible for non-violent desegregation movements, including those in Montgomery and Birmingham. Dr. King was a Nobel Peace Prize recipient who was assassinated as he prepared to lead a march in Memphis.
Many more have died, undeservingly, because of hate, and we must remember them as well. Prior to 1976, black excellence wasn’t celebrated; it was slain. The men and women I chose to mention gave their lives so unknowingly and undeservingly so we could have the opportunity to celebrate them and their lives and their sacrifices to American history. Every article I post this month will in some way celebrate black history, with the purpose to educate and illustrate how black history is American history.
"Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave, I am the dream and the hope of the slave. I rise. I rise. I rise." — Maya Angelou
With deep regards,
Stephon
