"In 1960 — The downtown lunch counter sit-ins started on a Friday afternoon, Feb. 19, when 12 black honor students from Howard High School took stools at whites-only lunch counters. It was the first sit-in demonstration in Chattanooga. The crowd of protesters grew daily until Wednesday, Feb. 24, when more than 1,000 people gathered downtown. Authorities turned fire hoses on the crowd, both black and white, to disperse them. On Aug. 5, downtown lunch counters served black customers for the first time." ~ Chattanooga Times Free Press
More than 5 generations of my family walked the halls of Howard High. When my cousin gave her valedictory speech a couple years ago, she spoke of how her aunt (my mother) gave her own valedictory speech on the same stage more than 30 years ago. That cousin, who is 10 years younger than me, was taught by people who taught our parents, grandparents and great-grandparents. Both of my grandmothers taught Howard students. In fact, this school is the reason why my 5 year-old heart was set on attending Howard University, a school I thought was the natural next level for Howard High graduating seniors.
So yes, this story holds special meaning to me. And it's part of my maternal family's folklore that has shaped our family culture. It was repeated to me whenever I whined about not being able to achieve something for whatever lame reason. It's stories like this one that makes "Yes we can!" more than a campaign slogan to me. I remember these stories when someone tells me that I'm dreaming too big, expecting too much and giving more to a people than I'll ever receive back from them.
I come from a long line of civic, social and political activists who, in their own small and big ways, have changed the course of black - and American - history for all of us.
Does this sound like an overstatement?
Think about the ripple effects that one small pebble can cause in a giant river.
One of my truths is that we are all connected. My actions (and non-actions) affect you. And vice versa. Even if we don't know the other exists.
At the time, those 12 Howard High students were the youngest in the nation to stage a sit-in to challenge the status quo of this country. Their success gained national attention and inspired other students across the nation to follow suit. Our successful civil rights struggle in America inspired South Africans to fight apartheid, elect Nelson Mandela in its first multi-racial democratic election and form a Constitution that Mandela modeled after the flawed yet necessary and groundbreaking U.S. Constitution. Nelson Mandela has, in turn, inspired millions as a world leader for causes such as AIDS awareness.
In other words, we all have these 12 Howard High School students to thank for the gains that we have made towards world justice for all. Thanks to them, we have the basic freedoms that allow us to pretend that the United States doesn't have second-class citizens.
Because of her earlier political and civic successes, my aunt was encouraged to run for a state congressional seat. She won. Stay tuned for how...
By the way, don't sleep on Chattanooga, Tennessee. It's more than the subject of a world-famous hit song and aquarium. There's something about this city that produces people with a fire in their bellies. Many of them have gone on to become deeply involved in various progressive movements. Even the celebrities that spring from Chatt-town are never too busy to be socially engaged or open-mouthed about their stances on civil rights: Samuel L. Jackson, Usher Raymond (and here) and Reggie White (R.I.P.) to name a few.
All of this and more is why I can't tell people from Chattanooga that their city isn't the center of the world. In many ways, it is. No really. I'm dead serious. Oh the stories I could tell. Maybe one day I will.
Dedicated to my auntie.
Related Articles:
Chattanooga: Howard Graduates Tell Students of Sit-Ins by Kelli Gauthier
An Unquenchable Flame: The Spirit of Protest And the Sit-In Movement in Chattanooga, Tennessee by Samuel R. Jackson
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