This month is Black History month. I find black history truly is incredible, and much of the history is truly unknown. I have heard it said that the history of African Americans is not unlike that of God's chosen people the Jews. Taken from their homeland their were forced into slavery for centuries until God delivered them. African Americans triumphed and prospered, overcoming their tragic beginnings. I think of the words of Joseph "You meant evil against me, but God turned it into good".
 |
Rev. Henry Highland Garnet, the first African
American to deliver a sermon in congress |
"Let no rancor or ill-will lodge in your [heart] for any bad treatment you may have received from any. If you do, you transgress against God, Who will not hold you guiltless. He would not suffer it even in His beloved people Israel; and you think He will allow it unto us? . . . I am sorry to say that too many think more of the evil than of the good they have received." -Rev. Richard Allen (a former slave)
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| Martin Luther King Jr. |
"I have decided to love. If you are seeking the highest good, I think you can find it through love. And the beautiful thing is that we are moving against wrong when we do it, because John was right, God is love. He who hates does not know God, but he who has love has the key that unlocks the door to the meaning of ultimate reality." Martin Luther King Jr., clergyman, activist, writer, and leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement.
"Each person must live their life as a model for others." - Rosa Parks, known as "the first lady of civil rights" and "the mother of the freedom movement", African-American civil rights activist
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| Booker T. Washington |
"Character, not circumstances, makes the man." -
Booker T. Washington, founder and president of Tuskegee, as well an educator, former slave, author, orator, and advisor to Republican presidents
"One and God make a majority." - Frederick Douglass, the first African-American to be appointed to office in four different presidential administrations, also a social reformer, orator, writer, statesman and former slave
"When I was young, I said to God, God, tell me the mystery of the universe. But God answered, that knowledge is for Me alone. So I said, God, tell me the mystery of the peanut. Then God said, well, George, that's more nearly your size." - George Washington Carver, former slave, scientist, botanist, educator, and inventor
I encourage you to dig deeper into the true history of some amazing men and women of African descent this month (and every month). Here are a few resources you may find helpful.
Webistes:
African American Perspectives
Freedmen's Bureau Online
Harper's Weekly
Neglected Voices
(Biographies and Speeches of the first African American Congressmen)
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| Olaudah Equiano |
Books:
(You can read these books for free at
gutenberg.org)
Up from Slavery: an autobiography by Booker T. Washington
The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano
and
The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
to name a few.
I've really enjoyed
American History in Black and White, but I haven't found that free, it must be purcharsed.
