As Black History Month winds down for 2013, I’ve invited my father, retired F.B.I. special agent Curtis Crawford, to share his reflections on what the month means to him. In his guest blog post, he provides a multigenerational perspective from the vantage point of someone who remembers segregation and the civil rights struggle vividly having grown up in Birmingham, Alabama. Knowing that I grew up with a parent who remembers separate water fountains and back of the bus seating for “coloreds” keeps me both grounded and committed to making this world better with my choices and actions. And now, without further ado, my daddy and his “reflections.”
What is Black History Month, really?
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| The author visiting his hometown of Birmingham |
Is it a day, a week or a year? This is a rhetorical question, which I want the reader to “ponder” in the context of who you are as a person, your knowledge, your life experiences and of course your family and friends. My first reflections are a product of my early childhood growing up in Birmingham Alabama, which my friends and I appropriately called “Bombingham.” The racial divide was tremendous during this time in this southern city. Those times were bad, yet my reflections of black history were not motivated by those injustices, but by the lack of public knowledge concerning the many unrecognized contributions that black people have made to this country and the world.
Why do we have a designated period of time to observe black history?
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| The author’s wife at the 16th Street Baptist Church |
This is another question to “ponder”. My reflections suggest that so much of black achievements and accomplishments in many disciplines in this country have been stolen, minimized, or not recognized. In this regard, black people have been theoretically written out of the history books for their substantial achievements until the truth was discovered and in some way corrected. There were so many people during my childhood that did not know the many contributions that black Americans made to this country because the dominant power base did not appreciate the impact and fairness of sharing their achievements.
Who and what were those power bases that engaged in this deception? Again I will leave that for you to “ponder”.
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| The author at the Civil Rights Memorial |
In my teenage years, my reflection of black history was enlightened somewhat through the local newspapers, radio stations, television and by what was “not” taught in the segregated schools I attended. This enlightenment was mostly of a negative nature, but it made me question why there were not more positive things about black people in Birmingham? I guess I was not alone in my thinking because things started to change, albeit at a snail’s pace. During this period of time, I remember that there was a de facto day of black history in the segregated schools, but there was not that much publicity.
In my later teenage and early adult years, I noticed a boost by the major local newspaper, which carried a section in the Sunday edition called “What Negros Are Doing.” This small article provided information about positive things that black people were doing in the city, which was mainly about church activities and some personal accomplishments. In response to this, there is an old adage that says, “Something is better than nothing.” However, given what I knew about what was going on in my community, I think that we deserved better.
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| Crawford Family Home in Birmingham |
In my later adult years, my reflections of black history recognition have grown, matured and have become more insightful to be truly able to recognize the importance of black people’s accomplishments and achievements. The Black History month designation is only a point in time to remind us that black history should be celebrated everyday in order to prevent what happened in the past, so it will not be repeated in the future. Our young people and our old people should share their knowledge with each other so that the power bases will not have the might to hide and cheat our wondrous past, present and future again.
So, let us not forget the article in the newspaper entitled, “What Negroes Are Doing” and the power of good news.
Forward!!
EmKDee
Love this. Thank you, Mr. Crawford. I think the last exclamation in this post is most poignant, “Forward!” After all, it’s what we must do. It’s our only option. And we must acknowledge we can do better; at promoting, highlighting, telling the stories of successful black Americans and beyond. However I can, I join you in that crusade, Crawfords!
Christina Crawford Steed
Thank you so much for your feedback EmKDee! We all can definitely be a part of moving the conversation and movement Forward! That’s how we all win. 😉