The names many people know but not enough. The pattern Black Americans recognize and carry with us. They come with us on our journey. We do not leave
The names many people know but not enough. The pattern Black Americans recognize and carry with us. They come with us on our journey. We do not leave them behind.
These become OUR children and our warning lights.
When we speak certain names, we are not saying these are the only children.
We are saying these are the ones history forced the world to see.
Below are children whose lives were taken, whose cases shook public consciousness as they were going about their lives innocently and joyfully, and whose legacies still ask something of us.
1. Emmett Till (1955)
A child’s laughter should never be turned into hatred.
Emmett Till
Fourteen years old.
Accused. Abducted. Murdered.
An all-white jury acquitted his killers.
Lyric that still feels like testimony:
Mississippi Goddam
“Alabama’s gotten me so upset…” the mighty and courageous…..Nina Simone
2. Addie Mae Collins (1963)
Delay does not soften loss. Not at all.
Addie Mae Collins
Killed at fourteen in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing.
3. Denise McNair (1963)
Children deserve futures, not memorials.
Denise McNair
Eleven years old.
Sunday morning. Church basement.
4. Carole Robertson (1963)
Carole Robertson
Four young Black girls.
One act of terror.
5. Cynthia Wesley (1963)
Cynthia Wesley
Their names belong together.
Affirmation:
Black girlhood is sacred.
6. Sarah Collins Rudolph
A Survivor of the church bombing that Sunday morning. I have written about this story for years and even I forget to mention her name.
She deserves to be remembered.