Teach One Reach One
Black History • Sermon • Submitted
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Transcript
Scripture
Scripture
Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the Lord your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go to possess it: That thou mightest fear the Lord thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son’s son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged. Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey. Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.
Intro
Intro
The month of February is designated as Black History month and even though for some it’s just another month, there is a reason that we should pause and reflect on the historical contributions blacks have made not only in America but around the world. From a historical perspective, the precursor to Black History Month was created in 1926 in the United States, when historian Carter G. Woodson and the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History announced the second week of February to be "Negro History Week." This week was chosen because it coincided with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln (February 12) and Frederick Douglass (February 14) both of which dates Black communities had celebrated together since the late 19th century.
This morning I want to impress upon you the importance of understanding your history – whether you are black, white, Native American, Hispanic, etc., you need to know. Why? Because when you understand the history you can better understand your approach to the future. When you understand your past others cannot define it for you and tell you what you should or not know, accept and ultimately believe based on “their” understanding of “your” past. When we know our past and can teach others who share a similar history, teach one, reach one, the past is not forgotten and we have evidence and fuel for the future.
Sermon Points
Sermon Points
Raise your hands if you know or have heard of Bass Reeves. How many of you are familiar with the legendary figure the Lone Ranger? Maybe you saw the TV series or you read about him in books. In the TV series the Lone Ranger was portrayed by Clayton Moore, a white male. Tonto, was played by Jay Silverheels, a Canadian of the Mohawk Aboriginal people. In the TV series, the Lone Ranger wore a black mask so that his enemies could not recognize him. In reality this character was modeled after the “real” lone ranger, a black lawman named Bass Reeves. Many aspects of his life were written out of the story, including his ethnicity. The basics however remained the same: a lawman hunting bad guys, accompanied by a Native American, riding on a white horse, and with a silver trademark. Historians of the American West have also, until recently, ignored the fact that this man was African American, a free black man who headed West to find himself less subject to the racist structure of the established Eastern and Southern states. He was credited with arresting more than 3000 felons.
What about Lewis Latimer, how many of you are familiar with Him? How many of you have heard of Thomas Edison? Are you seeing a pattern? In 1874, Lewis Latimer, co-patented (with Charles W. Brown) an improved toilet system for railroad cars called the Water Closet for Railroad Cars (U.S. Patent 147,363). In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell employed Latimer, then a draftsman at Bell's patent law firm, to draft the necessary drawings required to receive a patent for Bell's telephone. Latimer received a patent in January 1881 for the "Process of Manufacturing Carbons", an improved method for the production of carbon filaments used in lightbulbs. The Edison Electric Light Company in New York City hired Latimer in 1884, as a draftsman and an expert witness in patent litigation on electric lights. Latimer is credited with an improved process for creating a carbon filament at this time, which was an improvement on Thomas Edison's original paper filament, which would burn out quickly. While Edison is credited for inventing the lightbulb, it was actually Latimer invention that got it to work the way Edison envisioned and yet you seldom hear his name. At the time of his death in 1928 he held seven U.S. patents.
How many of you have heard of Simon of Cyrene? He was a man of color whom the Roman soldiers tasked with carrying the cross of Jesus when Jesus was too weak to carry it (Matthew 27:32). It is interesting that he is sometimes left out of the lists of black people in the Bible
REFERENCE THE SCRIPTURE
Moses told the Children of Israel to Teach and Remember! They were not just to learn it for themselves, they had to teach them to their sons and daughters and their grandsons and grand-daughters. Each generation was to teach the next so that nothing was lost with each subsequent generation. Moses was not telling them to passively teach their children, there was a sense of urgency and importance that was to accompany it. This was about life and death – mainly theirs!
Closings
Closings
Black history month is not just about famous black Americans who have done something great. Everyone sitting under the sound of my voice has a history. Black history month does not capture your specific history, but focuses on the history of members of our race. But this is where it stops and where our jobs begin. Black history does not capture the story of the single mother who worked three jobs to educate her children to be successful. It does not capture that father who was not educated but provided for his family and ensured that his children were well taken care of. It does not cover the teachers, both black and white, who encouraged us in school to go further than society would ever have thought we could go. It does not cover the lowly school janitor who always had an encouraging word on Sunday morning because he was also the pastor of a local Church. It does not cover the many small acts of kindness that many have done because people did not seek recognition for it. This is the history that we must tell our children. We must tell them our stories. We must tell them of our struggles and how we made it through. We must instill upon them a sense of self that is not based on how others define them, but on how they define themselves based on what they can do. We must teach them our history!