Sharing our history; finding the Pioneers among us

Happy Black History Month! It's no time like the present for you to learn your history. During 2020, the Telegram News had a series entitled, 'Pioneers of African American History' written by Renee Summers. The section focused on sharing information about unfamiliar African Americans. Most people know about Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Rosa Parks and Madame C. J. Walker, but there are so many others that helped to shape our country and our lives.

This year we are highlighting the last speech that Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave in Memphis Tennessee. It has been titled, 'I have been to the mountain top'. He gave that speech on the evening of April 3, 1968 and on April 4, 1968, he was assassinated. His words were very powerful that night. On the activity page in each issue this year, we will list one of the words from his speech and challenge you to come up with as many words as you can from the letters of the word from the speech. I want you to see the power of words and of course, I want you to listen to the speech or at least read it. You can find the speech on YouTube or through Google. Together we will learn about Dr. King and I hope you will share some of what you learn with your family.

Speaking of sharing with your family, I also want you to share your family history with your other family members. So many people are going on to be with our ancestors without passing on the rich history of our people. We are probably living with some Pioneers of African American History, right here in our communities or better yet in our family. How will we know unless we share our history? Our grandchildren should know our history; our successes and our failures; our accomplishments and our shortcomings. Let's begin or continue the conversations as we discover the Pioneers right in our families.

If you discover a Pioneer in your family, please let us know at the Telegram News. We would love to share that information with the world. The Telegram News has been the community Storyteller for almost 80 years. Let's continue to share our history, one pioneer at a time.