The First African American First Family.
I can't wait until Monday to congratulate Senator Obama. History has been made with his electon. Although we disagree on many issues, I pray and believe that he and I share the desire to give a good Country to our chidren.
Tuesday I was working at the polls for my candidates and had an interesting conversation with Hal, my Democrat counterpart. Hal expressed a desire that political debate would become civil again. I bit my lip, thinking of the unfair treatment of Sarah Palin and her family by so-called 'compassionate' people, and instead expressed agreement. But I went on to say that there were some issues that I could not 'compromise' in the name of politeness. I'm pro-life, I said and that one is non-negotiable.
I opined that we could argue strong positions and when it was over shake hands and have lunch together, but the discussion of issues was essential to the process.
So today's Milestone Monday will take us back in time to one person who had a vision, long before Martin Luther King had a dream. It is this vision that has come to reality.
Meta Warrick Fuller
Sculptor and Visionary
Meta Warrick Fuller envisioned a better world for African-Americans.
The year was 1907. The place was Jamestown, Virginia. Virginia's first [and only] World's Fair took place and featured a pavilion dedicated to the African-American people. Meta Fuller was a sculptor who had studied in Philadelphia and Paris. She created a series of dioramas for the pavilion that examined the past and held out hope for the future.
Beginning with a depiction of the first twenty-four slaves arriving in Jamestown in 1619, Fuller depicted other history such as a fugitive slave's journey.
But then Fuller looked into the future. She envisioned a future where education and literacy created opportunity and her final diorama showed the modern black family enjoying the fruits of literacy and labor.
The World's Fair Pavilion, complete with classical columns!
The new President-elect will ride down Pennsylvania Avenue, laid out by Benjamin Banneker, a free black man who learned surveying in the employment of the Ellicott Brothers. Yes, I know Pierre Charles L'Enfant laid it out based on the hunting gardens at Versailles, but Banneker's photographic memory and design skills were put to the test when the tempermental L'Enfant rolled up his drawings and walked off the job.
The inauguration will celebrate the vision of many heroes, some well known and some obscure, who worked to bring this moment to be. How many people remember when In 1952 Billy Graham Desegregated All His Crusades?
Some Sobering Thoughts
We Forget History at Our Own Peril
"I would be willing to speculate that a person who feels the need to write an autobiography in their mid-thirties might be entertaining an exaggerated sense of self-importance." -- Matthew Edward Roberts
Mr Roberts Gives an Interesting Analysis in this Article. Thanks again to Sarah for America. If you could get your hands on a football team's playbook, the final sections discussing other team's play is sometimes called "Tendencies." Some of us 'back of the book' readers have been somewhat concerned with recent developments. Unfortunately Mr. Roberts thinks there is reason for our concern -- and he's not focusing his analysis on US!
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