After traveling approximately 200 miles from Memphis along Interstate 40 East, Vie, her husband and I arrived at historic predominately black Tennessee State University in Nashville, Tennessee. The school was affectionately known as TSU. I was surprised that there were no cotton fields in Nashville. The terrain changed. Instead of flat land with rich soil for crop production, there were beautiful rolling hills. I breathed a sigh of relief!
There were numerous organizations on campus for students to join. The world renowned women’s track team called the Tigerbelles had sent track stars to the Olympics. This team of women won many Olympic medals. The talented football and basketball athletes were supported by high flying and back flipping cheerleaders. We danced to the music of the lively high stepping and renowned band, led by the dancing drum majors and majorettes. Like most bands at black universities, the band marched in perfect precision and was also famous for “The Death March.” The crowd of students roared in excitement when we saw the band and majorettes line up for this high stepping march. When the band and majorettes practiced, we lined up on the sidelines and danced along with them. If a student wanted to get involved, there were many opportunities.
Read more in my memoir. It’s available for purchase in the book section of this blog.
My new book, The Footlocker, A family’s journey out of poverty will be available soon. It will be available for purchase at www.franciemaewrites.com
I learned to be a responsible young adult. There would be failures in life but I had to learn from my failures. I was on the long road to empowerment. I was pulling myself up from the poverty of my past but couldn’t do it without the help of others. Because of the actions of brave adults before me, laws were created or changed to help level the playing field. It was now my responsibility to never forget the struggle, empower myself and help empower others. Empowerment is being aware and hopefully changes a negative mindset. Some of the answers to racial and poverty dilemmas should be in changing negative behaviors and attitudes of all people. The greatness of America depends upon it!
“If it is to be, it is up to me.”-William H. Johnsen, famed African-American painter.
References
“Kerner Commission.” Wikipedia. Accessed January 30, 2020.
“Southern Strategy.” Wikipedia. Accessed January 24, 2020.