We would be proud of our history, if we knew it

Contributed By:Dorothy Nevils

A couple of years ago a couple’s little boy was killed by someone who was supposed to love him for the rest of his life, not some random stranger or hatemonger, but his parents.

A few years back, a phrase was coined, “baby daddy,” or “baby mama.” I don’t know which came first, but I surely have not taken a liking to it. It’s too “loose.” There’s not enough “ownership” there, if you get where I’m coming from. Heck, there’s not even an apostrophe, the clearest sign of ownership! Parents should “own” that position, and the relationship should go further than being “mama” or “daddy.” No matter how the phrase begins, it should end with “father” or “mother.”

As I have lamented before, one’s bond to a child should be strong. That should happen with all children. That’s how children learn to value themselves and others. That’s how they learn to love, respect, and value each other. That’s how they learn to care.

This month, we continue to look at what and who have taught us to care, to value ourselves and others. In the classrooms, many teachers are helping their students discover their value by looking at their past, at the people who differ from them primarily in time. There are so many whose lives brightened ours, whose light shone a way for us long before we were born. One of these was a woman.

Woman is not a word that stirs an abundance of reverence for many people. We have long been, and continue to be, an adornment, a bangle, a dash of wine or slice of cheesecake after the real meal is done. I think we’ve done our girls and our boys an injustice when we cover so quickly women and their contribution to our history. There are a whole bunch of women we ought to introduce to, or emphasize for, our boys and our girls. One of them is Harriet Tubman.

You may recall that Tubman, dubbed “Moses,” will be on the $20 bill, replacing slave owner, Andrew Jackson. There are people who disagree, of course, but if you revisit your history, you’ll quickly see why, for in your revisit, you’ll see that her contribution was enormous!

Tubman is credited with leading over 300 slaves to freedom via the “underground railroad,” and, in her words, “never lost a single passenger.”

What many people may not remember, or have not known from the “gitgo,” in addition to leading several groups of slaves to freedom via the Underground Railroad, Tubman served as a spy for the North and even led a battalion of soldiers. She served as a nurse to the troops. She also championed women’s suffrage.

Harriet Tubman is a woman it would be good to tell our young about. Our girls aspire to be models, to look like the models they see on TV.

However, we already have models, plenty of them! With her bravery, commitment, skill, and empathy, Harriet ranks right up there at the top! Tell them!

Follow the links below to learn more, and to plan a trip for your students, Sunday School, children, and/or grandchildren. Take them to Cincinnati to experience this part of their history.

visit http://freedomcenter.org/; http://www.biography.com/people/harriet-tubman-9511430

Story Posted:02/17/2017