From the HeART

Find Hope and Inspiration in History

Posted

As we remember the events that led to a national holiday honoring the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., let’s look to some 20th-century history and see if we can find some inspiration and hope for the days ahead.

I recently watched both the documentary and the movie about this legendary all-Black women's battalion. “The Six Triple Eight” is a film by Tyler Perry about a company of more than 800 Black women called the Central Postal Directory Battalion in World War II. The accomplishments of these women are legendary but are just now being celebrated. They were sent to Britain in Feb. 1945 to clear several years’ worth of mail and packages to and from soldiers. They were given six months to complete a task no one believed they could accomplish. The women faced war on multiple fronts because of the racism​ and sexism rampant inside and outside of the service. Overcoming great odds, the women cleared 17 million pieces of mail within three months by working smart and with sheer grit.

When they finished that task sooner than expected, they were sent to Rouen, France to take care of another backlog of mail. Some correspondence piled there was three years old! When the war was over, they marched victoriously through Paris. They were honorably discharged but received no public recognition for their accomplishments.

The women were eligible for the GI Bill, which allowed them to go to college or purchase homes. They were able to lift their families into the middle class. However, they experienced what male Black​ soldiers experienced upon their return. The country was not ready or willing to treat them equally despite their honorable military service.

Social unrest​ over racial and economic inequality grew in the 1950s and ‘60s and gave rise to the Civil Rights Movement. One of the movement’s leaders, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., is celebrated this weekend. He was martyred for this cause at the age of only 39. His sermons and writings live on, guiding those who would accomplish social change by nonviolent means.

His path of leadership was tumultuous and difficult. As inspiring and powerful as he was publicly, he was human, too. He feared for himself and for his wife and four children. They were threatened many times. They lived in the parsonage of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, where he was the pastor​. Dr. King met with his most trusted advisers around the kitchen table. He would also sit at that table to read and think and pray long into the night.

He recounted in his 1958 work, “Stride Toward Freedom,” a moment of profound spiritual experience:

“With my head in my hands, I bowed over the kitchen table and prayed aloud. The words I spoke to God that midnight​ are still vivid in my memory.

 “I am here taking a stand for what I believe is right. But now I am afraid. The people are looking to me for leadership, and if I stand before them without strength and courage, they too will falter. I am at the end of my powers. I have nothing left. I’ve come to the point where I can’t face it alone.”

As he prayed in his despair, Dr. King was surprised to feel a great peace and calm wash over him, even more than he had ever experienced. He gained the confidence he needed to move forward and lead the movement, come what may.

As our town commemorates Dr. King’s legacy with a traditional breakfast and parade on Monday, there will be celebrations of a different nature in other parts of the country. No matter where we find ourselves on a political spectrum, there is a great deal of uncertainty as to how the future will play out in both the national and international arenas. We wonder if we are up to the challenges that may lie​ ahead.

I suggest that we look to the legacies of the women of the Six Triple Eight and to Dr. King, who, in times of great peril, dug deep into their souls, roused their courage, and developed strengths and skills they didn’t even know they possessed.

Author Anne Lamott​ puts it this way:

“All we can do is the next right thing. I often remind myself of something the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. said that helps me focus: ‘Don’t let them get you to hate them.’ When they do, I lose me, I lose my center and my goodness, which will be needed for the hard work ahead.