Many attended the Sixth Annual Elders' Reception for the closing ceremony of Black History Month on Thursday at the Bronco Student Center to honor the elders who made a difference in their lives.
The highlight of the evening was the keynote speaker Sarah O' Neal Rush, the great granddaughter of Booker T. Washington.
She was very honored and excited to be part of the closing ceremony and in honoring influential elders who made a tremendous impact on their lives.
"When I think of our wonderful examples of achievement, of black achievement, I think of whispers of wisdom from our elders who paved the way in love and sacrifice and who challenged us, challenged us to reach our full potential," said Rush. "You are definitely the wind beneath our wings."
As Rush quoted her mother's saying, she showed the audience the value of remembering and honoring elders while there is still time.
She believes that even if the influence of an elder can go unnoticed it still makes a huge difference in one's life.
"Our elders, past and present, have an influence that is so powerful that even when we don't know it, it can have a positive impact on our life if we allow it to. It can trickle through the generations," said Rush.
She used her great grandfather as an example of this.
"Booker T. Washington had influence on my life that was so powerful it turned my life around even though he died long before I was born."
She noted the issue of today's generation lacking the knowledge of an elder's powerful influence on their lives and the efforts made to create a better future for them.
"Recently, from all of the turmoil in our communities today, it appears that unlike the students here, many seem to have forgotten or have chosen to ignore or they really just don't know about the contributions and sacrifices of our elders and our ancestors and how they made tremendous strides so that we could lead better lives," said Rush.
She concentrated on four principles she believed they lived by. These included maintaining a positive attitude even when times are difficult, looking to the past at their history and its teachings for inner strength, taking personal responsibility to create change, and by being role models who were dedicated to helping others.
"[The principles] I believe got them through their most difficult times without cell phones, fax machines, Internet or microwaves," said Rush. "When we also live by these principles today, not only will we create our own extraordinary legacy, but we will have less to worry about for the coming generations."
Rush used Booker T. Washington as a prime example of how an individual can keep a positive outlook even through the worst of times.
"Although he experienced the worst forms of hate and racism that this country has ever seen he was able to say 'I will allow no man to drag me down so low as to make me hate him,'" said Rush. "He understood that hate just gets in the way of progress […] Because of his positive attitude not a person, not a policy, not a system, nothing could stand in his way."
Living only 59 years and having spent the first nine enslaved, Booker T. Washington astonishingly triumphed over his oppressed situation to "become the most influential Black-American leader of his time, a famous educator, and the founder of Tuskegee Institute, today know as Tuskegee University," said Rush.
He also managed to build a following of more than 10 million and author his best-selling autobiography about his slavery, which is translated into more than 17 different languages.
Rush goes on to note how looking into history at all the accomplishments over obstacles and failures will make an individual stronger.
"If our youth and young adults are instilled with stories from their incredible history early on in life, I believe we would have a huge decline in the level of self-destruction that is occurring in academic levels around the country today."
She can personally relate to this. Even though, her mother was the granddaughter of Booker T. Washington, she never told Rush about him since she was a single parent struggling to provide for them and it was also partly her humble character.
"Not knowing where I came from created a huge void in my life," said Rush.
Even though her father always proudly declared to strangers of his children's relation to Booker T. Washington, he never explained to Rush why he was so thrilled.
As her father left town, so did her only source to her past and history.
"Where did that leave me? The same place so many of our children are today," said Rush. "I had two very important male icons and pieces of my lineage and my history missing from my life and that was the beginning of a downward spiral to my self-esteem."
As a teenager, she was left unsupervised and looked for affection in all the wrong places leading her to give birth to her son when she was only 16. From that day forth the number 16 represented negative connotations as everyone persecuted her and she developed guilt as her mother was diagnosed with diabetes.
She explained how possessing shame, guilt, anger and frustration could be critical, but how having all is deadly. She believes this is what today's distressed youth is experiencing. As a solution, she reinforced the power of hope and its importance early on in a child's life. She thinks hope will give the youth strength from living positively.
At the age of 17 she lived on her own with her son in high crime, poverty stricken, drug ridden east Oakland. However, she was able to rise above these insurmountable odds by not only graduating six months ahead of her class, but with good grades.
"I still don't completely understand how I accomplished all that I did without anyone urging me on or even encouraging me, but I do know that I was driven and determined to have a better life for myself and my son and I took personal responsibility to make that happen and it probably didn't hurt that I had Book T. Washington's blood running through my veins," said Rush.
At the time she did not know her great-grandfather had to travel 500 miles, mostly by foot, to receive a formal education at the age of 16 and was able to graduate from Hampton with honors three years later.
"Like our elders and ancestors we have to keep our eyes on the prize," said Rush.
As she discussed the last principle of becoming role models with a dedication to helping others, she shared one of her most admired traits of her great-grandfather.
"One of the traits I most admire about my great-grandfather is that in order to improve the lives of the masses of the poor blacks in the South, who everyone else had ridden off, he didn't judge them. Instead he was willing to step into their shoes to get a view of their world from their perspective," said Rush.
Booker T. Washington was in shock as he entered rural Alabama where conditions were so awful that most children were in the streets, naked. Many of them were illiterate and did not know how to use a toothbrush. He spent the night with some of these families, even though they barely had enough room for themselves.
"They were excited that he was there because they knew that this was their chance to get an education and improve their lives," said Rush.
Still, he felt encouraged by them as they realized their weaknesses and strived to better their circumstances. Rush explained how this realization and effort to grow are important factors for change and how important of modeling a change can be.
At 25 and sixteen years after the end of slavery, Booker T. Washington opened Tuskegee University with the hard work and dedication of his students, who not only built the buildings, but also built the bricks that built those buildings.
In 1905 Tuskegee produced more self-made millionaires than many of the Ivy League schools combined. This achievement was the definition of freedom to Washington because the first students were unable to write when they entered the institute.
It was finally in 1996 when Rush arrived at Tuskegee University for her first family re-union, when she realized how unique she and her family legacy was to everyone.
"It was at this reunion I began to understand and my interest and enthusiasm about my great-grand father ignited. It was here that I learned how important his work was," said Rush. "And after I returned home I set out to learn all that I could about my family, my ancestry."
Looking at her family tree, she realized she was the 16th of 16.
"Suddenly the number 16 took on a whole new meaning in my life. It represents my birthday, my son's birthday, the age Washington was when he traveled to Hampton, the years that had pasted between the end of slavery and the beginning of Tuskegee, and it represents my place in the birth order, and the completion of the fourth generation of Booker T. Washington," said Rush. "I realized then that this was not an accident of birth God doesn't make mistakes."
She gave today's youth words of encouragement to achieve higher standards.
"Our DNA is powerful and when we make up our mind to reach higher heights not a person, not a system, not a policy, nothing can stand in our way," said Rush.
Rush said she would not change the events in her life if she had the chance.
"Not too long ago, my 15-year-old asked me if I can go back again would I change my life and I told her no I am who I am today because of it," said Rush.
As she concluded her presentation, she noted how it's up to today's generation to continue their ancestor's path which, "will be the greatest honor we can ever give them," said Rush.
Jaqueline Tatlyan can be reached by e-mail at arts@thepolypost.com or by phone at (909) 869-3744.
Be the first to comment on this article!