Words in 1954

Words in 1954/ 2016

Africans are my brothers, for we are of one race.  But Africa, the land of my fathers, is not my home.

I am an American  ---- an American by nationality, a citizen of the United States by birth.  I owe my loyalty and my allegiance to but one flag.  I have but one country.

Era Bell Thompson.  Africa: Land of My Fathers.  Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Co., Inc., 1954.

On the other hand, I cannot, as a man of African descent brought up in the West, recommend with good faith the agitated doctrines and promises of the hard-faced men of the West.  Kwame, until they have set their own houses in order with their own restless populations, until they have solved their racial and economic problems, they can never --- no matter what they may say to you at any given moment! ---deal honestly with you.

Richard Wright. Black Power: A Record of Reactions in a Land of Pathos.  New York: Harper & Brothers, 1954.

"We conclude that, in the field of public education, the doctrine of 'separate but equal' has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal."

Chief Justice Earl Warren, Brown v. Board of Topeka, Kansas decision, May 17, 1954

Reading or re-reading the books by Era Bell Thompson and Richard Wright and the full text of the U. S. Supreme Court 's decision, which created great social and political expectations,  may help a few people to make good decisions about something.

Jerry W. Ward, Jr.            April 28, 2016