IT'S A HARD KNOCK

 For most Americans of African decent, it is a hard knock going into the past when you are doing genealogy. We realize some very important things. First, we realize that we don't have all of the information on family members that we thought we had. We may not even know family members past our grandparents. We have lost the sense of community. 

When my parents were young, community life was all that they had, it was as I said, a way of life. Everyone knew everyone else and sharing with others, family members and friends was a necessity. Children were raised by everyone. Parents took care of their parents. When one of the community children made it to College, it was a big deal, and everyone celebrated their success. And guess what? The child would come back to the community because they knew that their degree would help everyone in the community. And guess what? Most of the times the child got a degree in Education. YES, I said the curse word. ED-U-CA-TION. When my parents were growing up, a school teacher was a highly respectable job. Teachers poured knowledge into children that had been denied to them when we were brought here as slaves. Remember one way to keep a group of people down is to not educate them.  IT'S A HARD KNOCK.