Who is Pulling Your Strings? Words of Wisdom from Howard Thurman
I’m honored to share this article I wrote for Christians for Biblical Equality (CBE International). Please share with your circle as we amplify the voices of black leaders during Black History Month. https://www.cbeinternational.org/resource/article/mutuality-blog-magazine/who-pulling-your-strings-wisdom-women-clergy-and-leaders?fbclid=IwAR30mLj7m4Tsg-MSerzx_mVzz3WVWCgO7-25r–DxlU72jnNy7BF7K6VSyI
BHM2021 Black Poets: Countee Cullen (1903-1946)
Heritage BY COUNTEE CULLEN (For Harold Jackman) What is Africa to me:Copper sun or scarlet sea,Jungle star or jungle track,Strong bronzed men, or regal blackWomen from whose loins I sprangWhen the birds of Eden sang?One three centuries removedFrom the scenes his fathers loved,Spicy grove, cinnamon tree,What is Africa to me? So I lie, who all day longWant no sound except the songSung by wild barbaric birdsGoading massive jungle herds,Juggernauts of flesh that passTrampling tall defiant grassWhere young forest lovers lie,Plighting troth beneath the sky.So I lie, who always hear,Though I cram against my earBoth my thumbs, and keep them there,Great drums throbbing through the air.So I lie, whose fount of pride,Dear…
The Remarkable Women of Azusa Street
I’m honored to share this article I wrote for Christians for Biblical Equality (CBE International). Please share with your circle as we amplify the voices of black women in ministry. https://www.cbeinternational.org/resource/article/mutuality-blog-magazine/why-we-cant-forget-women-leaders-azusa-street?platform=hootsuite
BHM2021: Black Poets – Gwendolyn Brooks (1917- 2000)
truth BY GWENDOLYN BROOKS And if sun comesHow shall we greet him?Shall we not dread him,Shall we not fear himAfter so lengthy aSession with shade? Though we have wept for him,Though we have prayedAll through the night-years—What if we wake one shimmering morning toHear the fierce hammeringOf his firm knucklesHard on the door? Shall we not shudder?—Shall we not fleeInto the shelter, the dear thick shelterOf the familiarPropitious haze? Sweet is it, sweet is itTo sleep in the coolnessOf snug unawareness. The dark hangs heavilyOver the eyes. Gwendolyn Brooks, “truth” from Blacks. Copyright © 1987 by Gwendolyn Brooks.
Black History Month Series: Living Legends
I was sixteen years old when my parents divorced. My mother packed up her four children and we moved to Dayton, Ohio. It was my Sophmore year in high school. I was thrust into a new environment. I was worried about my mom and my siblings. I was heartbroken that my seemingly perfect life wasn’t so perfect anymore. But, most of all I was ANGRY at my father. One man stepped in and filled the immense void that was left when my father fell from the pedestal of my heart. This month I honor my spiritual father, Bishop Truman L. Martin. He took us out to MCL, inspected our report…
Black History Month Series: Living Legends
I met Dr. Brenda Salter McNeil at one of the most challenging times in my career. She was called in as a diversity consultant to help us in the aftermath of a series of racial incidents on campus. I’ll never forget picking her up from the airport in my red Ford F-150 truck. She and I shared a laugh about this bougie black woman driving a pick up truck (there is a sentimental story attached to my truck that I’ll share at a later time). I am eternally grateful for that first visit. She came in and cast a vision that compelled our diversity team to dig deeper and examine…
Black History Month Series: Living Legends
As a Diversity Professional, February was always an incredibly busy month. So much so that when I transitioned out of positions where programming for this month was included in my job description, I breathed a sigh of relief. It was refreshing to not worry about creating educational programming for other people. It was beginning to feel like a repetitive, white-washed chore that was designed to PROVE to majority culture that black people contributed to American history. EXHAUSTING!! These days I intentionally seek to educate myself about the history of the people who originated from Africa and “settled” (please notice the subtext in using that term) in these United States. There…
