This Just In – If you’re reading this in Florida, I hope you’re under a blanket in a darkened room. I’m going to talk about Black History for a moment and don’t want anyone to get arrested.
When I was finishing high school, the nation was preparing for its bicentennial celebration. President Gerald Ford proclaimed the month of February (which had 29 days in it that year) to be “Black History Month.” It’s fair to point out that (even in leap years) this is our shortest month and often the coldest. Tricky for parades and festivals, unlike Independence Day and Labor Day.
Still, here we are, after 45 years of acknowledging that Black Americans, coming to this country by way of kidnapping, have made incredible contributions to our politics, culture, the arts, sciences and sports.
Just taking this day – February 9 – across American History, we can mark these important events with American pride:
Alice Walker, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “The Color Purple” was born on this day in 1944. “The Color Purple“ has been banned repeatedly.
In 1952 on this day Ralph Ellison’s “Invisible Man” won the National Book Award. In 2013, it was banned in Randolph County, North Carolina.
On this day in 1971 Satchel Paige was inducted into major league baseball’s hall of fame and on this day in 1995 Bernard A. Harris, Jr. did an impressive thing.
Harris had already been plenty impressive. Following an upbringing that included lots of books and science fairs, Harris earned a B.S. degree in Biology from the University of Houston. He went on to become a medical doctor. He also trained as a flight surgeon at the Aerospace School of Medicine at Brooks Air Force Base in San Antonio in 1988. He earned a master’s degree in biomedical science from The University of Texas Medical Branch in 1996, as well as an MBA from the University of Houston (1999). He became a licensed private pilot and certified scuba diver.
The more conspicuous accomplishment came on February 9, 1995 during his second flight on the space shuttle. He participated in an EVA (“Extra-Vehicular Activity”), becoming the first Black person to “walk” in space.
I don’t know how to write the comparison between a Black man exiting the space shuttle for a historic walk and a black man in Memphis who couldn’t exit his vehicle without being beaten to death, but the two are side by side in my mind. How far we’ve come, but still have so very far to go. It brings me to the close of one of my favorite anthems of hope – “Sympathy” from Paul Laurence Dunbar, who died on this day in 1906:
I know why the caged bird sings, ah me,
When his wing is bruised and his bosom sore,—
When he beats his bars and he would be free;
It is not a carol of joy or glee,
But a prayer that he sends from his heart’s deep core,
But a plea, that upward to Heaven he flings—
I know why the caged bird sings!
Jean Bolduc is a freelance writer and the host of the Weekend Watercooler on 97.9 The Hill. She is the author of “African Americans of Durham & Orange Counties: An Oral History” (History Press, 2016) and has served on Orange County’s Human Relations Commission, The Alliance of AIDS Services-Carolina, the Orange County Housing Authority Board of Commissioners, and the Orange County Schools’ Equity Task Force. She was a featured columnist and reporter for the Chapel Hill Herald and the News & Observer.
Readers can reach Jean via email – jean@penandinc.com and via Twitter @JeanBolduc
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