My History

I did not want to let the whole month pass without paying tribute to African-American history.  But I feel like you may be well versed in your Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglas facts.  Certainly not taking anything away from the contributions they made to our world, but today I wanted to share with you MY African-American historical moments.  I think when we consider history, we think of before our time -  you know pre-us.  But this is the history that was made during my lifetime.  I witnessed this history. It's super special to me because it's about my dad.

Here's a little background about my dad.

He was born in Yantley, AL in 1940.  He was from a family of 12 siblings.  He was a hard worker and walked or hitchhiked to the next major town to get to and from his job.

He graduated from Alabama A&M University with a B.S. in Secondary Education with a concentration in Biology with a minor in History and later obtained a masters in Educational Administration and Supervision.

He met my mom in college and we'll pause here to be thankful for that.

Now to the making history part....

My dad was the first African-American in administration (post integration) in Limestone County.  He served as the principal of Mooresville Bell Mina Elementary School and later at Tanner High School. As you can imagine, he was not warmly welcomed in such positions by many during this time.  Yet he put on his shirt and tie every morning, showed up and did an outstanding job.

My dad was also the first African-American to serve on the Athens City Council.  His heart was in service and he went on to serve on the
                     Clean Community Committee
                     911 Emergency System Board
              Athens-Limestone Public Library Board
            Limestone County Property Tax Committee

While I was studying for spelling bees, practicing my cheerleader jumps and taking math exams my dad was quietly, diligently, heroically making history.

He passed away on October 15, 2011.  We miss him, but we are proud to have walked through history with him.  He left my brother and me a legacy of serving others, doing the right things and not having idle hands.

This is a picture of my handsome dad.

One of the memories that really stands out to me is my crying when he, rather than my mom, would pick me up from preschool - not because I didn't love him or didn't want to see him.  No, it was because I knew it would never be a simple ride home.  You see my dad would stop to help every person who ran out of gas, ran out of money, had car trouble, didn't have a car, needed a job, couldn't pay their rent, needed help with groceries.....you name it!

               If the situation was in his path, he felt obligated to help fix it.

At the time I didn't get what an extraordinary character trait this was. But now it is often my whispered prayer that God put a Harvey Craig in my path - couldn't we all use someone like that in our day.