School Daze

For the past few weeks i have been pondering many thoughts about what to write. Their have been so many thoughts racing in my head but one that really stood out.  What was life like where my ancestors where raised? What was going on in Lowndes, Birmingham, or surrounding areas in certain time?

This is what i was taught during school in regards to history...
Harriet Tubman-Slavery and Underground Railroad.
Eli Whitney-invented cottin gin.
Rosa Parks- refused to give up seat for white person.
Frederick Douglass-abolitionist.
WEB DuBois-Souls of Black Folk
Phyllis Wheatley-poet
Martin Luther King-Already Know :-)
Emancipation Proclamation-Freed confederate slaves.
13th Amendment-abolished slavery.
14th Amendment-Defined who where "so called" citizens.
15th Amendment- Gave blacks right to vote.

This is what i learned by reading, family or watching media...

Dred Scott case-Slaves are not citizens.
Scotsboro Boys-9 black boys charged for raping 2 white women.
Emmett Till-killed for allegedly whistling @ white girl.
Tuskegee Syphillis Experiment-used black men to determine how long it would take for disease to kill a person.
Amistad-slave ship where slaves revolted
Clothilde-last known slave ship
16th Street Church bombing-death of Four little black girls in Alabama. Including two boys after community upset. Johnny Robinson n Virgil Ware while riding their bicycles
Freedom Riders-Civil rights activists traveled throughout the South to try and put end to segregation in interstate traveling.

Bloody Sunday/Lowndes:
March in 1965 from Selma to Montgomery in support of voter registration and killing of Jimmy Jackson. Occurence on Edmund Pettus Bridge where they where met by violent beating with batons, guns, spray, and tear gas.

This highly televised event led the to two more marches and President Johnson to the Voting Act of 1965........

I can truly say that im very appreciative of what my ancestors fought for beyond what i thought i knew......Equal Housing rights and the right to vote. End of segregation in airports, restaurants, courthouses, sports activities,recreational areas, the workplace. Wheew, long list....need i add more?

Conclusion:

We have come a very long way and i never thought i would see the day that a black man became President!!! God has been so good and i can accept the good with the bad in moving forward. There is strength in numbers, AAGSAR facebook bloggers i look forward to hearing your stories.  Nothing is impossible!!