The Love of Self and Inheritance

The lecture for this past week’s freshman seminar class was delivered by Dr. Alton Pollard, III who is the dean of the Howard University School of Divinity. Dr. Pollard stressed how it is imperative for the younger generation to continue to make our voices be heard about equality. We can’t just stop with what our ancestors done for our future because we also have a next generation to help set that road for. Ancestors such as Howard Thurman, Sojourner Truth, and Jarena Lee were able to set that path for our generation by fighting for the opportunities, for what we have now. By keeping their faith and perseverance they were able to succeed in winning our Civil Rights. Dr. Pollard shared with us how he keeps cotton on his dresser to remind himself of how well he is doing and the standards he need to meet. The cotton is reflection of the period of slavery and trials and tribulations past ancestors had to go through for us to be where we are today. He played a song by the O’Jays, Ship Ahoy, which was about the enslavement of our ancestors. For some reason, many people of our generations seemed to be embarrassed by our ancestor’s struggles. As individuals, we do not show the appreciation of our ancestors or the love of ourselves. Even though we have artists such as Common, Alicia Keys, and Wyclef Jean who may make their voices be heard through the lyrics from their songs or the humanitarian work done, there are still not enough of us who are willing to do that. As mention earlier, many of us are ashamed to talk about slavery and what our ancestors went through but the knowledge of this information is not meant to hurt us, it’s meant to make us stronger. It’s supposed to be the motivation for our future successes. Dr. Pollard closed by saying “always know thyself” and he also told us to ask ourselves what we mean to this world. If we are able to do those two things and just believe that the God of our ancestors made it possible, our generations can too, pass on the legacy of our voices being heard.

-Ramona Williams