CITY LIGHT

  50 Years of Thankfulness "When grace is joined with wrinkles, it is adorable. There is an unspeakable dawn in happy old age." - Victor Hugo  Paraphrasing Shakespeare, " All I can do is say thanks, thanks and ever thanks!" As I close in on my 50th birthday. I am clearly focused on God's grace. Every blessing and good thing has come from Him. In reaching this milestone I know I would not be here without the people God strategically placed in my life. Each person was vital in molding me into a man. At the top of that list are my mother and father, Grandmomma, Uncle Eddie, Aunt Rose, Aunt Lou Bee, Aunt Sheila, Aunt Pam and Godmother Barbara Oxner. Their love encouragement and challenges made me think and pushed me beyond mediocrity. They are the defining influences of my 50 years.  I am forever grateful to Zion/New Jerusalem Churches and Pastors T.T. Thomas, Bishop Edward T. Cook, Pastor Willie Mitchell and Pastor ...

My Black History Journey:  Mississippi and the Mott Branch Library Emerging from the backdrop of home and "The Shop" was the coalescing of different factors as I entered school at Martin Luther King School for kindergarten and later Nativity/Pickett Elementary. As the Civil Rights movement was ending my teachers in our urban community were motivated to adapt the curriculum to teach the predominantly black students about themselves. Ms. Ricketts, Ms Sutfield, Ms. Gibson, Ms. Coleman, Ms. Gaines, and Ms. Clark all excelled in introducing me and my classmates to our culture . Also, we traveled to the Sepia Theater in our community to watch the movie Sounder and took a field trip to the Mott Branch Library to get our first library cards in the second grade. Mott Branch Library located on Door Street in the heart of the black community in Toledo was a sanctuary to me. There were books to address almost every question my curious mind could consider.  It happen...

Black History Beginning: Home and Woodley Auto Repair When you control a man's thinking you don't have to worry about his actions. You don't have to tell him to stand here or go yonder. He will find his "proper place" an stay in it. You do not need to send him to the back. Miseducation of the Negro 1933 Dr. Carter G. Woodson, Father of Black History In this sense the Negro problem is not only America's greatest failure but also America's incomparably great opportunity for the future. If America should follow its own deepest convictions, its well-being at home would be increased directly. At the same time America's prestige and power abroad would rise immensely. The American Dilemma 1944 Gunnar Myrdal My Black History journey started at home in Toledo Ohio (The Glass City), the home of jazz innovators Art Tatum and Jon Hendricks along with pioneering black lawyer Albertus Brown. The home of WKLR with, "Pau...