I recently read a blog by Heather Cox Richardson that explains Julia Ward Howe’s Battle Hymn of the Republic, the Union anthem during the Civil War.

In her article, Richardson describes how this hymn defines the Civil War as the Holy War for Human Freedom. Three years later, President Lincoln signed the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution. This clause, except for punishment of crime, was the first amendment to give power to the federal government, unlike the others that explicitly defined individual rights or reserved certain powers to the states.

Although the 14th Amendment was intended to protect the rights of formerly enslaved people, it included the “equal protection” clause that applies to various areas of law, which limits the federal government’s ability to discriminate based on race, gender, sexuality, etc.

Let’s think about the number of times, one hundred years after our country had been oppressing individuals differently, students from Bennett College, a women’s college in Greensboro, North Carolina, set out to bring Hope and Love back.

Richardson explains in her blog that they organized to protest the F.W. Woolworth Company’s willingness to sell products to Black people but refused to serve them food.

On February 1, 1960, their male colleagues from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University sat on stools at Woolworth’s department store lunch counter in Greensboro.

David Richmond, Franklin McCain, Ezell A. Blair Jr. and Joseph McNeil were first-year students who wanted to find a way to combat the segregation under which Black Americans had lived since the 1880s.  So, the men forced the issue by sitting down and ordering coffee and doughnuts. They sat quietly as the white waitress refused to serve them, and the store manager ignored them. They came back the next day with a larger group. This time, television cameras covered the story. 

By February 3, 60 men and women were sitting.

By February 5, there were 50 white male counterprotesters.

By March, the sit-in movement had spread to bus routes, museums, art galleries, and swimming pools across the South.

In July, after profits had dropped dramatically, the store manager of the Greensboro Woolworths asked four Black employees to put on street clothes and order food at the counter. They did, and they were served. Desegregation in public spaces had begun.

In 1976, President Gerald Ford officially recognized February 1 as the first day of Black History Month, asking the public to “Seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.”

In 2025, the U.S. government under President Donald Trump revoked a 60-year-old executive order that protected equal employment opportunities and called for an end to all diversity, equity, and
inclusion programs.

As of 2025, neither the Pentagon nor the State Department will recognize Black History Month.

Mine eyes have seen the glory.

We need to unite, be heard, and, most of all, be kind.

 

One More Thing

“Writing a book and laying bare my feelings and actions, good and bad, was not easy, but so worth it. Along with the raw journey of not only processing my childhood wounds, I was able to share my struggles as a young woman dealing with a violent ex-boyfriend, racism within my family and community, motherhood, addiction, and infidelity to those who may find comfort and familiarity in my words.” Melissa McDaniel, author of Loved Just As I Am.

This book is available on Amazon, Kindle, and business website.