“The memory of the righteous will be a blessing, but the name of the wicked will rot.”  Proverbs 10:7

 February is Black History Month, so I thought it was fitting to add a story about a famous American who left his mark on our country.  Booker T. Washington was born into slavery in Virginia in the late 1850s.  He was a man of great faith in God, and he never gave up.  His life illustrates the verse, “The memory of the righteous will be a blessing, but the name of the wicked will rot,” Proverbs 10:7.

Booker was born in a slave hut on a plantation in Franklin County, Virginia, April 5, 1856.  As a small boy, public school was not available to him, so he taught himself to read and write.  “In all his efforts to learn to read, his mother shared fully his ambition and sympathized and aided him in every way she could.”  After the Civil War, Booker got a job and in the evening was able to attend school.

At age 16, Booker walked nearly 500 miles to attend the Hampton Institute, founded by Union General Armstrong.  Booker later wrote:  “He was a type of that Christ-like body of men and women who went into the black schools at the close of the war to assist in lifting up my race.”  Graduating from the Hampton Institute, Booker wrote: “Perhaps the most valuable thing that I got out of my years at school was an understanding of the use and value of the Bible.  I was taught to love the Bible.  I learned to read it for its’ spiritual help.  The lessons taught me took such a hold upon me that at the present time, when I am at home, no matter how busy I am, I always make it a rule to read a chapter or a portion of a chapter in the morning, before beginning the work of the day.”

At the age of 25, Booker founded the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama with 33 students.  Students not only learned academics, but also trade skills.  They grew their own crops and raised livestock.  Booker taught, “No race can prosper till it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem.”  He also wrote, “Few things can help an individual more than to place responsibility on him, and to let him know you trust him.”  Over the years, students made bricks and helped build over 100 campus buildings, constructed classrooms, barns, outbuildings and Tuskegee’s impressive chapel.  “I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has had to overcome while trying to succeed.”

 He added:  “As a rule, a person should get into the habit of reading his Bible.  You never read in history of any great man whose influence has been lasting, who has not been a reader of the Bible.”

One of Booker T. Washington’s more famous quotes was: “I will permit no man to narrow and degrade my soul by making me hate him.”

An even far greater legacy is that of our dear Lord Jesus Christ.  He changed the world during his 33 years on earth.  He revealed God to us through His life, teachings, death and resurrection.  How will people remember us?  Will our children remember us as parents who brought them up to know and love the Lord?  Will our church and community remember us as one who used our gifts to serve others?  Will we be remembered as a good friend of the poor and needy?  “The memory of the righteous will be a blessing…”

Your friend, Jean

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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