Remembering the importance of African American History Month

  • Published
  • By Lt. Col. Dale Andrews
  • 301st Airlift Squadron commander
I was casting about for subjects to include in this article, and I was having a hard time thinking of something. So, during a layover in Baltimore in 2006, I hopped on a bus and headed down to Fort McHenry.

As I entered the fort, I noticed that the flag was flying at half-staff. I then remembered the reason, the passing of Coretta Scott King, the widow of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I also remembered that this was African American History Month. Somehow, it brought the events of the civil rights struggle which occurred forty or more years ago into sharp focus.

In the summer of 1967, my parents explained to me the meaning of the term 'race riot' as I watched a pillar of smoke rise above the skyline of Detroit. That city was feeling the wrath of a rioting African American population, frustrated by the indignities of second class citizenship.

In 1968, I sat with my father in the living room of our old wood-frame house and listened to the radio portion of the 'hi-fi' hearing news that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., had been killed in Memphis. My father then attempted to explain to me the significance of this event.

I'm not so sure I immediately understood all that Dr. King had done or had meant to African Americans, or all Americans, but like my earliest memories of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy five years before, I instinctively new that this was not good.

Like the previous event, the next few days around the house witnessed muffled voices attached to faces that stared at grainy black and white television sets as solemn memorial services were broadcast.

Once again some cities rioted in protest. I remembered watching my grandfather, a deputy sheriff with the Wayne County Sheriff's Department, once again prepare for the worst. This scene would repeat itself again in a few months with the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy.

And then suddenly it was all over. The sixties came to an end. The seventies arrived, the war in Vietnam ended and Jim Crow had been dismantled.

For the first time in U.S. history, there was no law in America which could deny any African American anything due any other U.S. citizen. I can remember that my grandparents and parents no longer whispered about places that 'we' could not go or live.

It was now our choice to do so. For the first time in our lives my father packed me and my three siblings into the Buick and we headed south to visit my grandmother in Atlanta.

A few days ago, my wife was searching for and found a CD recording of Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech which he delivered from the steps of the Lincoln monument. She did so because my six year old daughter was curious as to what the whole African American History Month and celebration of Dr. King was all about.

I've always thought Dr. King's speech to be one of the greatest delivered in the twentieth century. Therefore, I immediately copied it onto my IPod. Consequently, I found myself sitting on the ramparts of Fort McHenry, the very same ramparts mentioned in the Star Spangled Banner, penned by Francis Scott Key in September 1814, with my IPod playing Dr. King's "I Have a Dream Speech," and the words of the Star Spangled Banner running through my head.

All of this on the day, Feb. 7, 2006, Mrs. King was being laid to rest. Folks, not even I can make this stuff up. Some higher force must have known that I was at a loss for this article and lent me purpose.

At the end of all three verses of Mr. Key's poem, he mentions the home of the "free and the brave." Throughout Dr. King's speech he mentions "freedom." Because of his actions, and the actions many Americans of all races, a great many of the attributes and desires of both the poem and the speech have come to fruition in this great land of ours.

Our quest for "a more perfect union," and "justice for all" continues unabated, but it continues abetted by all of the citizenry, not just the privileged.

I immediately headed back to the Fort McHenry gift shop, purchased a flag, and inquired as to whether or not one of the Park Rangers would be willing to fly it over the fort for me.

As it was a slow day he happily complied, and later presented me with a certificate to prove it. Therefore, with certificate in hand, I'll be able to tell my daughter about this day and the history of the civil rights movement in America, because to her it's just another one of 'Daddy's Stories."

Ladies and gentlemen, fellow Americans, her outlook is reason enough for all Americans, regardless of race, to celebrate this African American Heritage Month.