dreamin4freedom

I must give a “shout out” to Suzzanne Lacey, Executive Director of Museum Without Walls, group leader extraordinaire, and organizer of the March on Washington trip.  She is an awesome woman of God and has found her ministry in planning historical trips like this. When Suzzanne visited our church several months ago and gave a brief description of the March on Washington trip, I knew immediately this was an experience I did not want to miss.  Suzzanne created an itinerary that included major tourists sites, without it being too much or causing us to lose focus on the real reason we were in Washington.  Thanks to her planning, the group was able to visit the Martin Luther King, Jr. and FDR memorials, the White House, The Ford Theater, The Library of Congress, the historical U street neighborhood (where Duke Ellington lived), Ben’s Chili Bowl (where Bill Cosby has a chili dog named for him), the African American Civil War Museum and the American History Museum, where we honored to see “African American History 1863 – 1963”.  Suzzanne along with her assistant leader Bertram, were wonderful travel guides.  Suzzanne is the “walking queen”, and she will walk your feet off (she did make sure there was a Metro option for those who could not take the walking).  She and Bertram stayed calm while dealing with folks who sometimes were late, strayed from the group, or got off track from the original plans.  Suzzanne and Bertram did their best to keep us on schedule so we had the best D.C. experience possible. Thank you Suzzanne and Bertram!

About Museum Without Walls:

Museum Without Walls introduces participants of all ages to historical instances of intolerance and racism through the voices of individuals who experienced these events.

Educators can choose for their classes to participate in pre-scheduled tours or to work with Museum Without Walls staff to craft customized tour packages that meet their specific educational goals.

Educational tours take participants to significant historical sites of World War II and the Holocaust in Europe, and of the Civil Rights movement in the American South.

Regional tours educate participants on history specific to their area. For example, in Seattle, Civil Rights, the Central District Jazz Scene and Asian American history programs are featured in multiple programs. Future endeavors will include California and Museum Without Walls’ continued focus on stories around Japanese Internment and the immigration history on Angel Island.

Additional national and international locations and time periods can be scheduled by educators with Museum Without Walls staff.

As the cornerstone of all Museum Without Walls educational tours, people who lived the events share their personal stories.

On Sunday, August 25th, we went to church at the Metropolitan Baptist Church for a lively service that included praise and worship, fellowship and a sermon that touched all of our hearts. The sermon was from Galatians 6:9: “faint not, for if you endure to the end, you will reap a harvest of blessings”.  The minister encouraged us and boldly proclaimed, “weary can’t win”.  We all proclaimed it for ourselves.  All week long, we couldn’t stop talking about “that sermon”! Church was followed by a wonderful Gospel brunch at the Hamilton hotel.  The menu included shrimp and grits, eggs, bacon, sausage, potatoes, dirty rice, greens, gumbo, catfish, fried chicken, French toast, pecan pie, fresh fruit, cornbread and salad. Not for the faint of heart.  That is the shortlist of food items that were available.  Umm, umm, good!! We enjoyed ourselves to THE MAX! We were especially tickled when they asked for background singers to come up on “I Love to Praise His Holy Name”, and Pastor Harvey encouraged me to go up on stage with him to sing.  Bert soon joined us, plus three other young ladies… and then we became stars for one song. We had so much fun!  We left the Gospel Brunch and headed to the American History Museum where an exhibit called African American History 1883 to 1963 was on display.  It was amazing!  There was an actual lace collar and handkerchief that belonged to Harriet Tubman. I stared in amazement at the personal belongings of a woman who was indeed one of the bravest women in all history. She risked her life for the freedom of her people! Bless her soul! There were also plenty of history items related to the civil rights struggle and to the March on Washington. It was a lot to process in just a couple of hours!

Follow this link for more information about Metropolitan Baptist Church:

http://www.metropolitanbaptist.org/

Follow this link to learn more about the Hamilton’s Gospel Brunch:
http://www.thehamiltondc.com/live/event/1230pm-gospel-brunch-3

Theme: A Day Like No Other

On August 28, 2013 I marched on Washington. Fifty years after Martin Luther King, Jr. and 250,000 people marched for jobs and freedom.  It was a wonderful, exhilarating, overwhelming, tearful, joyful, celebratory, miraculous, unifying and peaceful experience. I marched with some of the brave souls who marched in 1963, Blacks, Whites, Latinos, children and young adults,  elderly, disabled, Christians and Muslims all marching for justice, jobs and peace.  The people were united in their hearts to see a change in the way America treats the marginalized.  The energy was palpable. The heat, the humidity, not even the rain could turn us around. We were determined as they were fifty years ago to reach our end goal and to reach it together.  One of the highlights of the march for me was when they observed a moment of silence for those who had been there in 1963, and were no longer with us.  I bowed my head and thought of my aunt Hellyne and how much she would have loved to be here today. Well, she was definitely with me in spirit. Uh oh, I can’t even type this without getting teary eyed.  That is what the good part of this day was like. Goodbye D.C. Thanks for the wonderful March on Washington 2013 memories.

Me and my son, Jerrell at the airport.

Gregory and me at the airport on Friday 8/23/2013.

I am finally on my way to D.C.  Gregory and Jerrell took me to the airport. It was a red eye flight at 11:25 p.m.  Bless their hearts, they even parked, and came into the airport to see me off.  I had a very turbulent flight to Dallas-Fort Worth airport, but a very smooth and peaceful plane ride from DFW to Baltimore, thanks to Gregory’s prayers.  I arrived at my hotel in D.C. about 1:00 p.m. D.C. time and I was exhausted. The city was packed with people who were there for the first march, which took place on Saturday, August 24, 2013.  I did not participate in that march, but will march on Wednesday, August 28, 2013.  Others in my group, including my pastor, Harvey Drake, did walk today in the first march.  They saw Al Sharpton and Danny Glover.