One of the most interesting and inspiring areas of African American History is the reaction and involvement of children. When learning about African American history, the children are often ignored or spoken about minimally. The stories from adults are commonly told, and while they are inspiring as well, it is the children that show the most bravery.
African American children growing up in slavery have a very unique experience. From the time they are born, they are constantly looking to their elders for answers or explanations as to why things are happening in certain ways. Most of the time, they accept the situation not really understanding or knowing how to react.
In the Jim Crow book, there is a passage on a young girl named Brenda Davillier. Brenda lived in a predominately black community where she attended church weekly. She remembered that she was allowed to sit in any seat because there were never any white people in attendance. Moreover, she had read a letter from the archbishop explaining that there could no longer be segregation in Catholic churches. It was not until Brenda went to church with her grandmother that she encountered a problem. When she entered the church with her younger cousins, they were the first people to arrive. Brenda knew that white people regularly attended mass at the same church; nonetheless, she still chose to sit in the front seat of the church. It was time to make a point. When white people started filling the church, they sat on the opposite side refusing to sit behind the young girls. The girls continued to sit in the front of the church week after week until eventually people began to sit behind them.
It is small stories like this one that show the bravery of children. Whether it is their naïve thoughts or just plain desire to stir up trouble, children in this time period made an impact on slavery. While Brenda’s grandmother did not have the guts to make a stand, Brenda used the small forces she could gather in order to prove her point. In my US history class, we talked a lot about the people that ended up standing up to white folk. Generally, it was young adults who had minimal ties to family and had not yet created a relationship with their owners. This group of people had less to lose should their revolt fail.
There is a lot to be learned from children. Their innocence can provide brutally honest truths during an extremely rough time.
I agree with the theme of this post because most times, the stories and experiences of the children are overlooked, and these are some of the most important stories that helped to shape their lives and history. Children are the purest and most innocent forms of life. They are soft clay that can be molded into a lot of things, and when they are subjected to lives of such disgrace and negativity, it is really sad. But because many of them still harbor a sense of wanting a better life with equal rights, they take small actions like little Brenda did, and make big differences.
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