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Dorothy Copus Brush Progress has been made,
On this last day of February 2001, I am amazed
at the many remembrances that are honored in the shortest month
of the year. There is Groundhog Day for the weather and Valentine's
Day for love and Presidents Day for heroes. Many years ago it
was the month when brotherhood celebrations were held. In recent
years Women's History has been a focus. Dr. Carter G. Woodson, son of slaves, was
educated at Harvard, and in his life as a scholar he found little
knowledge of the contributions of blacks to this nation. In 1926
he introduced Negro History Week, which many Americans ignored,
but the black community understood its importance. Eventually
the week was expanded and became Black History Month. It took the civil rights struggle for so many
white Americans to realize and face up to the many injustices
those of color endured. During the early 1960s our family lived
near Oxford, OH, home of Miami University. In those years the
town also had a companion school, the Western College for Women,
which is now part of Miami University. This small college was one of the chosen institutions
to train the hundreds of young college volunteers before they
set out to register black voters in Mississippi. Often we would
see groups of these young people visiting and shopping in our
city of Hamilton. Few of us knew what this movement was all
about. It became known as Freedom Summer, but in that first influx
of students were many free spirits in dress and actions. They
were viewed with suspicion by some and their motives were misunderstood.
In that first wave of volunteers were three students whose names
would forever live in history -- Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner. This year a dream was realized in Oxford when
a Freedom Summer memorial was dedicated near the dormitory where
so many of those volunteers lived and trained before they left
on their difficult mission. Built into a hillside the memorial
forms an outdoor amphitheater classroom. Marble slabs for seating
are arranged in a semi-circle and etched on each one are reminders
of the ideals and dedication which brought so many to this project. Yes, progress has been made since that Freedom
Summer, but there is a long way left. Recently there was a picture
of Muhammad Ali whispering into the ear of a sportscaster. Ali
has been called probably the best boxer of all time and one of
the top people of the century. What had he whispered? "I'm
still just a nigger." The late, great tennis star Arthur Ashe died of AIDS which he contracted through blood transfusions. He was quoted, "Being a black man in America is more of a struggle than having AIDS." |