The core of African American History and other great people
There are several venues in and around the City of Detroit celebrating African American History Month. Recitals, storytelling, and instrumental selections are being featured at Wayne State University, the Detroit Zoological Society, the Southfield Public Library, Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, and many local churches. African American History Month reminds us of the heroic deeds of many great people such as Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, W.E. B. Dubois, and Booker T. Washington. We are also reminded of the accomplishments of Harriet Tubman as she blazed a trail of freedom across the Underground Railroad while reporting that she never lost a passenger. http://www.harriettubman.com/contact2.html Tubman escaped from slavery after thirty years of bondage, but returned to the plantations to help other slaves find freedom—she was truly an example of giving back to the community.
At the core
Naming names is always a risky proposition, as there are countless other famous African Americans who are worthy of praise. Many of these heroes and “sheroes” have their roots in the entertainment and sports industry, and paved the way for African Americans to play professional sports as well as grace the silver screen. Likewise, one cannot forget the proficiency of competition characteristic of Jesse Owens or the intellectual prowess of Supreme Court Judge Thurgood Marshall. Nevertheless, there were ordinary folks who endured racism and the man-made entrapments of having a darker hue in this country; and they too dared to take a stand. These ordinary folks were the core of history-makers for persons living today in America with an African heritage.
Sis’s story
In 1925 Bessemer, Alabama was a hot bed of racism and legally sanctioned discrimination. However, there were blacks living in the south during the early 20’s that had prospered to a degree and understood that equality would have to come with a price. Sis was seven years old at the time and she recalls playing in the back of a store owned by her parents. The store sat on the same land as their house. She would often crawl in the back door of the store to listen to the adult gossip which was absolutely forbidden for children’s ears. Sis recalls hearing talk about family members who requested that other family members not speak to them on the streets of Bessemer because they were passing for white. Sis would look at her own skin and wonder why she was brown and not white, and how could some of her own kin folk be light enough to pass for white. As she grew older she understood the comingling of the races where white men would use black women for sexual exploitation. Sis was the middle child; she had an older sister and younger brother. Sis reminisces about how fair her sister was and how her own hair would never lay straight like her sisters.
The confrontation
One evening a white man entered the store and called Sis’s mother “auntie.” Sis’s mother explained that she did not mind being called by her first name, “Ethel” but she would not answer to auntie. The white customer exclaimed that all colored women are called auntie and that she was no better than the rest. Ethel turned away ignoring him, representing that he would get no service from her. Ethel also understood that she could not get too “uppity” with a white man even if he was insulting her in her own business. The unsuspecting customer did not see Ethel’s husband, Smith, in the back of the store. He had been listening to the entire conversation and emerged from the back with the anger of a raging bull. He told the white man to leave at which time the white man spit on the floor. Smith jumped over the counter, brushing pass his wife like a charging panther and grabbed the white man by the throat and told him that if he ever came back in his store he would shoot him.
The wait
That same evening Smith packed up his wife and three children and sent them to stay with relatives for a few days. Ethel begged Smith to come with them and stated that, “If they burn the house, they burn the house. We can build somewhere else.” Sis knew that her father was going to be killed and she cried all the way to their destination. Smith sat up all night on his front porch with a shot gun across his lap, waiting, and waiting, and waiting. Close to sunrise he heard some commotion in the back of the house. With shot gun raised and a steady aim, he slowly tip toed towards the back of the house. He lowered his gun when he saw paper burning around the edges lying on the back steps. He stepped on the papers to salvage what he could. The writing was plain and clear, as it had not been burned. “Nigger get out.”
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