Black History Month represents a time to pause and reflect on the significant and substantial contributions of African Americans in medicine, science, engineering, mathematics, education, politics, law, civil rights, media, the arts, agriculture, astronomy, literature, psychology, theology, technology, athletics, and as inventors. In its honor, members of the DEI committee were asked to share a few sentences outlining who or what inspires them during this time.
Stacey Thomas – Operations Manager, DEI Committee Chair
Brown Skin Girl – Song by Beyonce
Brown skin girl, your skin just like pearls
The best thing in the world
I never trade you for anybody else.
For me, this song specifically highlights the beauty of not only brown skin in general but dark brown skin. What makes “Brown Skin Girl” so meaningful to dark-skinned Black women such as me, is that it challenges the idea that dark brown skin is less beautiful than lighter skin tones. We know that representation matters and that it is important for young girls and women to not only see people that look like them succeed, but also to hear that they have worth and value. I play this song for my nine-year-old daughter with the hope that it will give her the confidence she will need to battle those who may want to make her feel less than. For once, a piece of media celebrating our unique beauty exists.
Emillie Martello – Strategic Customer Success Manager, DEI Committee Co-Chair
Katherine Johnson
As I reflect on Black History Month, I am truly inspired by so many individuals, organizations, and events that changed the course of history in the United States. One of those individuals that I found truly inspiring is Katherine Johnson. Katherine is most well known for the 30+ years that she spent as an employee at NASA. In 1969, the United States used Katherine’s studies of geometry for space travel to determine the path from Earth to the moon, and back. Without Katherine’s calculations, this monumental event in history may not have been possible.
Kris Schorno – Manager, Sales Operations
Lawrence, Kansas is the home of Langston Hughes, an African American poet, playwright, and social critic. During his childhood, Langston lived with his grandmother. Mary Sampson Patterson Leary Langston, who was prominent in Lawrence. Her first husband had died at Harper’s Ferry fighting with John Brown; her second husband, Langston Hughes’s grandfather, was a prominent Kansas politician during Reconstruction.
Langston was best known in his later years for pushing people to come together and challenging America to live up to its ideals.
Coming together seems as essential today as it was when Langston Hughes was alive.
Dinesh Taunk – Customer Success Support
On the occasion of Black History Month, which is observed each February to honor and celebrate Black people’s achievements and contributions and their role in U.S. history, activists in India said that, unlike Black people in the United States, Dalits are more powerless and are still fighting for social justice.
Dalit is a term used for those who were formerly known as “untouchables.” At the lowest rung of the Hindu caste system, Dalits are still subjected to untouchability. According to the 2011 Indian census, Dalits number 200 million, making up around 16.6% of the country’s total 1.3 billion population.
According to a report by Human Rights Watch (HRW), the treatment of Dalits has been like a “hidden apartheid” and they “endure segregation in housing, schools, and access to public services”. Dalits are also very often exposed to violence. The report by National Crime Records Bureau reports 25,455 crimes against Dalits every year.
Even though race prejudice in the West and the caste “hierarchy” in the Indian subcontinent have a different basis, there are obvious similarities. India’s systemic discrimination against Dalits and other minorities, its extreme economic inequality, and the police’s violent and often illegal repression of those already at the receiving end of the caste-class order, seem to mirror the racial atrocities in Western countries. In fact, this is why the Black Lives Matter movement in America spoke to many Indians.
And therefore Dalit History Month, celebrated in India in April every year since 2015, was originally inspired by Black History Month celebrated in the United States. The need for Dalit History Month was felt the same way as the need historian Carter G Woodson felt for the Negro History Week in 1926: to reclaim the agency of a mass of people who have historically remained peripheral in the consciousness of the academia and the state and to bring forth their stories of resistance, resilience, and heroism.
Sources:
https://indiversecompany.com/dalit-history-month-why-we-must-talk-about-it/
Britta Adams – Quality Assurance Specialist
Lift Every Voice and Sing
I wasn’t born in the United States. I came to this country in 1998 as a college student. I have always heard about “Black History Month”, – as in I knew of its existence, but I never really learned about the meaning of it, be it for lack of exposure (I did not learn about it as a kid in school), or lack of initiative to investigate as an adult.
This moment of exposure and understanding came to me this year.
I sing in a choir, and as a part of the service, my choir performs an anthem every week. My choir director provides the musical score ahead of time, sends us the track to listen to, and then on Sunday we rehearse and sing.
For the Sunday of January 15, the piece selected was “Lift Every Voice and Sing” in recognition of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
I was unfamiliar with the piece altogether and had never heard of it. Since I learn by repetition, I made myself a Spotify playlist – and LISTENED.
“Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
Let us march on till victory is won.”
And WOW! A story is being told – one of past, present, and future. It is a story of struggle and suffering; of endurance and overcoming. There is a light shining in the tune and lyrics throughout that do not die. The mood is not dark, but there is optimism and hope throughout.
“Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
Let us march on till victory is won.”
It clicked. Suddenly. This piece of music is not just a song like every other. It is a narrative of overcoming the darkness of the past, a struggle for justice, perseverance, and lastly of freedom.
It is important to keep this song close to our hearts, since, as we all know, history tends to repeat itself. The struggle continues, and we must never forget. Eventually, “Lift Every Voice and Sing” came to be recognized as the “Black National Anthem” describing the “never-ending battle for equality and human rights”.
“May we forever stand.
True to our God,
True to our native land.”
Alicia Keys – Lift Every Voice and Sing: https://youtu.be/rWDnoBKgi88
Cara Boggs – Patient Access
Ida B. Wells – The Princess of The Press
Educator, Activist, and Journalist – born to enslaved parents, Ida B. Wells overcame adversity to become one of America’s first Black woman journalists. She wrote pieces on the mistreatment of Black Americans, which was very controversial at the time, and never stopped fighting for racial justice even becoming one of the founders of the NAACP. She once famously said, “One had better die fighting injustice than die like a dog or a rat in a trap.” I feel this perfectly represents her bravery.
Justin Sturgill – Outreach Specialist
“Never be limited by other people’s limited imaginations.” – Dr. Mae Jemison, First African American Female Astronaut.
Jamison was covered as “the first black woman astronaut” in 1987. Based on her accomplishments, I feel that her words help encourage people, even today, to think outside the box and never hold back on your personal goals. As we celebrate Black History Month, we need to remember that the individuals that played a pivotal role in shaping black history lived by the words spoken by Jemison and lived by their own visions to succeed.
Carla Lott – Fulfillment Specialist
Rosa Parks was an American Activist in the civil rights movement best known for her pivotal role in the Montgomery Bus Boycott. On December 1, 1955, Rosa was commuting after a long day of work by bus and refused to surrender her seat because of her race, which was required by law at the time. Because this was the law in Montgomery, Rosa was briefly jailed in addition to paying a fine of ten dollars. However, it didn’t end there. Sparked by the arrest of Rosa the Montgomery Bus Boycott was a 13-month mass protest that ended with the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that segregation on a public bus is unconstitutional. Rosa Parks started a movement that essentially made history with one simple word- “No!”. Therefore, we all can sit wherever we choose while on the bus. Thank you, Rosa Parks, your bravery hasn’t gone unnoticed.