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Every year, Black History Month reminds me of my days at J. L. Mayson Elementary School in Atlanta, Georgia. Black History Month feels like a visit from the elders, the great cloud of witnesses who come to remind me of communal relationships and duties. They come to whisper “Congratulations. But don’t forget.” They say, “Remember the lessons we taught you and remember to share them with those who are coming behind you!”
In elementary school, Black History Month was one of my favorite seasons. All the teachers covered their bulletin boards with captioned pictures telling the stories of great African Americans. They honored the accomplishments of inventors, writers, musicians, preachers, scientists, politicians, kings, and queens. Every year, there was a Black History program in the auditorium. Each grade level presented a story, skit, reading, or other performance honoring someone in Black History.
The program was important to everyone, and we looked forward to it. I remember my brother rehearsing a reading of the poem “Creation” by James Weldon Johnson and hearing my mother coaching him to “read with feeling; don’t just call words.” The program always included the song “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” and we were taught to stand when it began. We were expected to know the words because that song honored the experiences of our people. It connected the experiences of the past with the present and our hopes for the future.
The spirit of Black History Month was celebrated every February, and it was lived throughout the year. Our teachers, parents, and church leaders emphasized the interconnectedness of our community and the reality that our actions as individuals impacted our community for better or worse. For example, when school busing started in Atlanta, the teachers and counselors met with parents to propose which students would be loaded onto buses every day and driven the 20 miles to an affluent Atlanta neighborhood.
There was a spoken and unspoken expectation that our behavior/performance was a reflection on every teacher, student, and administrator connected to our home school and on our parents. Accepting the honor was not just an individual accomplishment, it was a communal promise to go forward and make a difference in the world. The heroes on those bulletin boards were our models and our guides. They were proof of what was possible. Our accomplishments were the reward for those who prepared us, and the promise of a better future for those who would come after us. Our communal commitment was to use our gifts to make a difference and to make a difference by doing our best.
Our principal, Mrs. Ottie Lee Mabry, often quoted Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King in her daily charge to her students:
"If it falls your lot to be a street sweeper, sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures, sweep streets like Beethoven composed music, sweep streets like Leontyne Price sings before the Metropolitan Opera. Sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry. Sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will have to pause and say: Here lived a great street sweeper who swept his job well."
Principal Mabry’s charge was not that we become Nobel Prize winners but that we would make a difference by doing our best and by giving to others what had been given to us. We were encouraged, mentored, and challenged. Our communal responsibility is to do the same for those who come after us. I am grateful for Black History Month when the elders come to visit and remind me of my communal relationships and duties. They come to whisper to my soul “Congratulations. But don’t forget.” They say “Remember the lessons we taught you and remember to share them with those who are coming behind you!”
Rev. Vinnetta Golphin-Wilkerson, a native of Atlanta, Georgia, is an ordained pastor in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). She currently serves as Regional Chair of the Commission on the Order of Ministry in the Central Rocky Mountain Region of the Christian Church DOC. She has coached two new Disciple congregations: First Tongan Christian Church (DOC) and the Samoan Christian Church (DOC). She has mentored three new Disciple pastors. She is an M.Div. graduate of Candler School of Theology, Emory University in Atlanta and is completing a Doctorate in Ministry at Iliff School of Theology in Denver, Colorado. Rev. Golphin-Wilkerson is also an incoming DSF board member this year.
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