Okay, so when my Professor assigned this book, I was about
to lose it. I thought, “really? You want me to read 950 pages? Boo.” Nevertheless, I should have trusted her judgment because she is my
favorite professor at Spelman.
We are reading a book called, “Gone with the Wind”. I know
you probably heard about it – filled with lots of
racist undertones and distorted depictions of history. That’s beside the point; I encourage all of
you to read it.
Back to my point that I never reached:
I was reflecting on the novel
(based in Georgia) and my matriculation throughout Spelman. The AUC and Howard
are known to be the cream of the Historically Black College and University
crop. Historically, the locations of these two institutions have contributed so
much to who I am as a black woman.
Georgia was not the “golden state”- full of
luxurious architecture and promised opportunities. In Georgia, the streets were
paved with blood. “Hang em’ up Georgia” was a place full of lynchings, sit-ins,
shootings, burning bodies, protests, hooded ghosts, rapists and “tragic”
mulatto girls. Georgia is not glamorous – it is a place seeping with a past
that should not be forgotten. Martin Luther King Jr. sat in the classrooms of
Morehouse. His dead body was brought to Spelman’s chapel for folks to pay
respect. The AUC is a constant reminder of the sacrifices of my ancestors. My
family is from Georgia. My grandmother is still sensitive about certain places
in her hometown. It was real. It still
is- confederate flags still hang and black men are killed just because. The
south is a place that nourishes the mind with a consciousness of where it has
come and how far we have to go.
Howard University, placed in the
most beautiful and ugly city in America- Washington D.C. It’s like a huge
symbol of progression for black people. From the back roads of Alabama to the
White House, we have pushed and pushed- Legislation and conceptualization of
justice in the air. My friends and I drove up to D.C. for a football game and I
was honestly taken aback. I felt like I placed myself in the skin of a Zora
Neale Hurston or Dubois. I imagined what it could have been like to
travel up north. I imagined what it must’ve been like to consider a new tomorrow-
a new, loud voice. I considered the late night meetings with Langston Hughes and Ralph
Ellison, shaping the culture that we have today in literature, poetry, music,
and overall expression.
Dont forget Tuskegee! lol
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