Standing on their shoulders

Last week, I had the opportunity to attend a conference in Charleston, SC.  You know that Charleston was one of the most lucrative states involved in the enslavement of my ancestors.  We visited Magnolia plantation.

First we entered the “big house” and saw all of the beautiful antiques and family pictures and heirlooms on the wall.  We were told that we couldn’t take pictures for insurance purposes.

Then they took us on a little tram ride and we came to another part of the land, which housed 4 broken down slave houses, one of which was last inhabited in 1992 (descendants of slaves).  There was nothing of value (to the natural eye) but I knew the spirits of my people were hovering over us.

We traveled on foot, through the wooded area, which was surrounded by a swamp filled with alligators, only to end the tour in the African American cemetery.  We walked through the cemetery solemnly.  Some graves had headstones and some were unmarked with just a brick lying in front.

Some of our sisters cried and some just shook their heads as they thought about those who were enslaved.  One of the ladies whose father is from Barbados (The Draytons came to the US with slaves from Barbados) and whose mother was from South Carolina) saw a headstone with her family name and she broke down. 

At the end of the tour, as we were preparing to leave the cemetery, we all joined hands and began praying.  We started out by thanking God for blessing us and keeping our ancestors through all of their hardships. Then we shifted and began praying to the spirits of our ancestors.

·      Thank you for not slitting your throat.

·      Thank you for not throwing in the towel.

·      Thank you for enduring the nights when the slave master came in to rape you.

·      Thank you for not giving up on your children, even after they emasculated your husband and separated him from the family.

·      Thank you for praying that your children, grand children, great grandchildren and generations yet unborn, would have a better life than you.

·      Thank you for taking the remnants from master’s table and cooking a hearty meal that would sustain your people for years to come.

·      Thank you!  Thank you! Thank you!

We stand on the shoulders of great women that have gone before us.

We stand on the shoulders of Sojouner Truth.

We stand on the shoulders of Harriet Tubman.

We stand on the shoulders of Mary McCleod Bethune.

We stand on the shoulders of Josephine Baker: dancer extraordinaire.

We stand on the shoulders of Daisy Bates: civil rights activist.

We stand on the shoulders of:

We stand on the shoulders of Ruby Dee: actress, activist.

We stand on the shoulders of Angela Davis: activist.

We stand on the shoulders of Alice Dunbar-Nelson: writer, teacher; Harlem Renaissance.

We stand on the shoulders of Elizabeth ("Old Elizabeth"): preacher, emancipated slave, and autobiographer.

We stand on the shoulders of Althea Gibson: tennis player.

We stand on the shoulders of Fannie Lou Hamer: activist, sharecropper

We stand on the shoulders of Lena Horne: singer, actress.

We stand on the shoulders of Rosa Parks: civil rights activist, social reformer, and racial justice advocate.

I’m reminded of the words of Dr. Maya Angelou from the poem, “Still I rise".

You may write me down in history


With your bitter, twisted lies,


You may tread me in the very dirt


But still, like dust, I'll rise…

.... Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,


I am the dream and the hope of the slave.

I rise. I rise. I rise.

Embrace all of your past and appreciate the journey as you catapult yourself into your future.

Now walk it out....