The Greatest Story Ever Told

In thinking about the times in which we’ve lived I can say without a doubt our history ‘is the greatest story ever told’. I am always reminded of the ghosts of the greats who blazed a might trail for us to walk. Black History Month, as short as it is, should be celebrated and taught all year long! It is our responsibility. I was blessed to have had the good privilege to live during the civil rights era to witness groups and individuals fight to end racial segregation and the unequal treatment of black people, which we should never have had to fight in the first place.

Of all the things I am grateful for; is to have lived long enough to witness something ‘no one living or dead’ ever thought would happen. Which was to witness a Black Man elected to be President of these United States of America! To see him and his lovely family exhibit the style and grace representing black people in an extra exemplary way making us proud.

It would be my hope that all of us take this opportunity during Black History Month to reach one – teach one. Share the stories of our struggle with the children. I have added a few of the many significant events and some of the brave and courageous soldiers in the army that changed America or dare I say the world.

Events in the Civil Rights Movement

• Civil Rights Movement
• Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954)
• Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955)
• Integration of Central High School (1957)
• Greensboro Sit-In and the Sit-In Movement (1960)
• Freedom Rides (1961)
• Integration of Ole Miss (1962)
• March on Washington (1963)
• Birmingham Church Bombing (1963)
• Freedom Summer (1964)
• Civil Rights Act (1964)
• Selma to Montgomery March (1965)
• Voting Rights Act (1965)
• Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. (1968)

Solders of the Civil Rights Movement

• Martin Luther King Jr.
• Rosa Parks
• Malcolm X
• Stokely Carmichael
• Thurgood Marshall
• Medgar Evars
• Jesse Jackson
• Fannie Lou Hamer
• Emmett Till
• Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)
• Studen Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
• National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)

I am reminded of Malcolm X who used to say “Make It Plain” which meant in essence to bring forth the knowledge. And that’s my Thought Provoking Perspective…