A Chain of Events: A Black Woman's Perspective on Our Rise to Prominence from Slavery to the White House

In October 2011, a ceremony was held at the Washington, DC mall to unveil a granite statue of our slain Civil Rights leader, Rev. MLK, Jr. The large piece of granite was 30 feet high and a light reddish-brown in color. It looked majestic in the sunlight. The King family members participating in the ceremony were his sister and three of his children. They were all very dynamic speakers and that makes me think that public speaking was a family trait. Some of the other speakers that day were also present during the early days of the Civil Rights movement. They were Andrew Young, Julian Bond and Rev. Joseph Lowery. Rev. Lowery was 90 years old and the tears flowed freely as he spoke. It was overwhelming for him and me to witness the final moments of a movement that had started in 1955 in Montgomery, AL. For the Black man, the road had been long and definitely rough, but we had stayed on our course. Also at times, our footsteps toward Freedom were slow, but by God's Grace we were able to reach our goal. For years, we could not say that America was our country or proudly call America our 'Home, Sweet Home'. But after seeing a statue of a Black man with a flat nose and thick lips standing among the memorials of past U.S. Presidents in the DC mall made us realize that only a loving and caring God could have orchestrated such a feat. Now, I will use the phrase that the Evangelist, Joel Osteen uses--'Put your trust in God and He will take you places that you NEVER dreamed of'.

Ruthie Green is a single senior citizen who recently relocated from an urban setting to the country. She has three children and three grandchildren.