History is not limited to any book or article published centuries ago. History incorporates your own experiences – your disappointments, joys, and successes. Your history began with your initial existence, your first footprint in the sand – it is your identity. To disregard or forget that history, in essence, is erasing the memories of your existence. This erasure is similar to erasing others from our memories.
  
For instance, consider the overwhelming number of Americans who may know that John F. Kennedy was President of the United States, yet they have no knowledge of anything he said.  Further, most young people recognize the name of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. However, most often, when asked to talk about this great prophet, their response is usually limited to the statement, “He had a dream!”

Each of you have beginnings, stories, and a history worthy of being told again and again. They are stories of your birth, your dreams and aspirations – the people and events that touched your life and played a role in your own journey. The stories of Rev. Shuttlesworth and Bishop Brown are not just their stories – they are your stories, and worthy of being told again and again.

As you consider your history, and how the individual and/or collective stories shaped your life, please also consider the words of Langston Hughes, “When a man starts out with nothing, when a man starts out with hands empty, but clean. When a man starts out to build a world, he starts first with himself.”  The stories of Rev. Shuttlesworth and Bishop Brown remind us to use our history not to just satisfy our intellectual desires, but to inspire others into action in responding to the many problems and challenges of today’s society.

Blessings….

Rev. L.D. Ervin