January 16, 2023

Daily Diary, Day 867:

For those of you outside of the US, this is Dr. Martin Luther King's Birthday, which is a national holiday. And, while I worked, as usual (already have 1100 words written) I did think about how much the civil rights movement in America, and King's leadership, including his pacifism, shaped my values and my life.

When I was in my teens in Pittsburgh PA, my church's minister was actively involved in the Civil Rights movement, marching in various demonstrations. He often preached on social justice issues, and involved our congregation in an exchange with inner-city Black churches. As a result, my family spent a year attending one of those churches. The family who attended our congregation in exchange, eventually, with the help of members of the congregation, moved to our suburb, starting the slow process of desegregation.

I later would chose to go to Oberlin College, the first college in the nation to open its doors to women and African-Americans. And in the summer of 1969 I took summer school classes at Howard University, one of the premier, historically Black colleges.

Later my choice to specialize in what was called "social history" as my major focus in my history doctorate, which included both the history of women, immigrants, and African-Americans in the United States, continued to demonstrate my interest in examining the history of nativism and racism in our country, particularly as it affected women.

In addition, those of you who have read either my Victorian San Francisco mystery series or my science fiction series, will know that I try whenever possible to weave into my stories the effects of prejudice against minorities as a theme. This has included looking at the discrimination against the Chinese and African-Americans living in San Francisco in the 19th century, as well as the treatment of the people called Ddaerans who were native to New Eden, the planet in the Andromeda Galaxy colonized by the people escaping from a dying Earth.

However, on this particular day, I like to remember that I once had the privilege to hear Dr. King speak in person. It was in November of 1966, my senior year, and he was speaking at the University of Pittsburgh. When my friends and I heard about this, we went to our high school principal and asked to be excused from classes for the day so we could attend. He said we couldn't. He also said that if we didn't come to school that day, it would go on our record and it could damage our chances at getting into college!!!

With the support of our parents, a couple of us did go, and while we were in an overflow room, we did get to hear and see Dr. King. Needless to say the principal didn't carry out his threat, but thinking back it continues to remind me of how much has changed...and sadly how much hasn't.

Anyway, a good day to remember the courage of those who came before.