Black History Month Special Post:

Why Don’t I Know You? (Part One)

As a college graduate, and a person who has always been academically inclined, I thought I was educated. I thought I knew basic American history. However, even in middle and high school, I noticed that we were always taught about the same black Americans in history class: Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, and Martin Luther King. Even then, it seemed strange to me that we learned about the same three people every year. As an adult, I learned a bit more about black history, but I suspect what I know is still just one water droplet in a very full bucket. The massive racial reckoning that our nation has experienced these last two years should remind educators everywhere that teaching the concept of America as a patchwork quilt of cultures must be more than a single-sentence slogan. Why haven’t I heard these names before? Why haven’t I heard these stories before?

The next generation deserves to know about all the cultures, ethnicities, and faiths that comprise our precious society. Walking out of the Civil Rights Institute in Birmingham, Alabama the lump in my throat represented all the frustration I carried for my lack of knowledge. I am not in school anymore. It is no one’s responsibility but my own to seek out and to educate myself. The buck stops with me, and I wanted to commit new names and new stories to memory. This is why I made it a priority to visit the Civil Rights Institute while I was in the Birmingham area. In touring the Institute, I was astounded at all the names and stories of the Civil Rights Movement that I did not know. While I acknowledge that the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s is just one tiny piece of black history in America, I also know that I had to start somewhere. So, for all Americans who want to make a new start, here are a few new names.

Reverend Fred L. Shuttlesworth

Reverend Shuttlesworth is the most significant civil rights figure in Birmingham’s history. Shuttlesworth attended Selma University and Alabama State College and earned both a B.S. and a B.A. He was the pastor of Birmingham’s Bethel Baptist Church, and was already participating in the Civil Rights Movement, when, in 1954, the Brown vs. Board of Education ruling inspired him to become more heavily involved. When the government shut down the NAACP in Alabama, he responded by founding the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights in 1956. He co-founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference as well. He even attempted to integrate Birmingham’s schools with his own children. On April 12, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King marched in Birmingham with Reverend Shuttlesworth and Reverend Ralph Abernathy.

Oliver Hill

Mr. Hill was an attorney who dedicated most of his professional life to the Civil Rights Movement. He argued cases about employment protection, equal pay, and voting rights. He is best known for his role in the court case Davis vs. County School Board of Prince Edward County. This case took place in Virginia and was a pre-cursor to Brown vs. Board of Education. Mr. Hill was the lead counsel. He was also a good friend of Thurgood Marshall and they worked together on cases more than once.

Aurelia Browder

Mrs. Browder held a B.A. in Science from Alabama State University, was a seamstress, and the mother of six children. In April 1955, she refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white patron and was arrested. This was seven months before the historic arrest of Rosa Parks for the same infraction. Browder and several other women joined forces and sued the Mayor of Montgomery, W. A. Gayle. The case, Browder vs. Gayle, went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court and in 1956, the court ruled that segregated busing was unconstitutional. Later that year, a court order ended bus segregation and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his supporters agreed to end their boycott of the buses in Montgomery. Mrs. Browder deserves a place in history next to the already-illustrious Rosa Parks.

Father James E. Coyle

Of course, there have been many supporters of human equality from all faiths and ethnicities throughout America’s history. Father Coyle was a white, Irish Catholic priest. He led a Catholic congregation in Birmingham for 17 years. His unwavering belief in human rights and human equality led him to perform a marriage ceremony for a white woman and a “dark-skinned” Puerto Rican man in 1921. Two hours after the ceremony, the bride’s father shot and killed Father Coyle while he sat on the porch swing in front of the rectory in downtown Birmingham. He was 48 years old.

I am sorry that I did not know you, but today I know your names. While I am under no delusions that it is possible to learn every notable figure from every culture throughout history, I do know that it is never a waste of time to learn more about any subject. The fascinating by-product of educating myself about the names and stories of the Civil Rights Movement is that I am prouder than ever of the people in our shared history who fought for what is right and true.

These Americans stood up. These Americans said, “I am a frustrated American. I am a sad and angry American, but I am an American and I remain determined and hopeful. I will help my nation to remember its promise.”