by Patricia Britt
This year's authors for the MSU Slavery to Freedom lecture series presented by Dr. Anderson included Edwin Black New York Times award winning author. Cornel West social commentator, academic, and author, and Ernest Green public employee, private investor, and author.
It was my privilege to hear Mr. Ernest Green's powerful lecture to the testament of fearlessness, and reaching across barriers to form lasting bonds with his own ethnicity, and others in the midst of getting an education, making history, and building a career that was well worth absorbing.
He said, "Fearlessness is inside each, and every one of you," concentrating on the MSU students in attendance who will go on to shape this world upon graduation. The audience was filled with a variety of alumni also.
He said, "Fearlessness is inside each, and every one of you," concentrating on the MSU students in attendance who will go on to shape this world upon graduation. The audience was filled with a variety of alumni also.
He said Central High School was a test case for the NAACP, because they believed the Governor at that time, Governor Orval Faubus had progressive views about integration, but they found they were mistaken, and President Dwight D. Eisenhower had to step in to assure their right to an education at Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas. When the mob tried to prevent them from entering school the first day he said, "They were a cursing, spitting, banging pit of angry snakes." He said, love and faith got him through many tough moments. He said, the wildfire of hatred was fueled by fear of the change that would come if his peers received an equal education so they might compete, and even become president one day.
He told the audience about how the fearless WWII 101st Airborne Division, the Screaming Eagles who liberated the Jewish people from Hitler helped get the Little Rock Nine into school. The lesson his ordeal exemplified is captured in the quote by Dr. Martin Luther King. "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice."
He graduated from Little Rock Central High School May 1958. He received a Bachelor of Arts in 1962, and a Master's degree in sociology in 1964. He, and his peers made it through challenging times with the supportive backbone of their families.
When he met Nelson Mandela, Mandela he told him his strength thru his 27 years of incarceration on Robben Island was, "If those nine children could make it, why not I."
In his unassuming stance he alluded to the truth that history makers, or anyone else can't rest on their laurels. You have to create a miracle in your life every day. He closed with this thought, "As we let our own light shine, we give others permission to do the same. Go green (MSU sports catch phrase)!," and the audience responded "Go White."
Green protested various issues in his college years not finding out until many years later when he was asked to be the commencement keynote speaker that MSU President John Hannah was his anonymous benefactor giving him a scholarship to attend MSU upon graduation from Little Rock Central High.
Green protested various issues in his college years not finding out until many years later when he was asked to be the commencement keynote speaker that MSU President John Hannah was his anonymous benefactor giving him a scholarship to attend MSU upon graduation from Little Rock Central High.
Mr. Green is a proud Omega Psi Phi member. www.oppf.org (Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. is the first international fraternal organization founded on the campus of a historically black college. Howard University.) College Fraternity's pride themselves on service to the community. You can donate to the Flint water crisis on their web site.
The quest for an education is universal. The quest for the African-American is historic. HBCU's educated thousands in a single generation opening the door to attend majority universities. The Southern Poverty Law Center designed a teaching reference for children ages 4 - 7. http://www.tolerance.org/activity/little-rock-nine-activities, Disney Company even designed a lesson plan for the deaf to note the significance of the Little Rock Nine's achievements. https://www.dcmp.org/guides/10033.pdf.
Book : The Ernest Green Story; Lesson from Little Rock
2016 Copyright Zimaton Arts & Letters Ink
The Dr. William G. Anderson Lecture Series: Slavery to Freedom, is designed to give members of the mid-Michigan community opportunities for interaction with multicultural leaders from education, business, industry, entertainment and government. This series has featured living icons of the American Civil Rights Movement. The MSU College of Osteopathic Medicine is extremely pleased to host these notable individuals during their presentations at Michigan State University annually.
Ernest Green as one of the Little Rock Nine, he and eight classmates were the first to integrate Little Rock Arkansas’s Central High School in 1954, for which they later received the Congressional Gold Medal from President Clinton. He went on to earn his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at MSU and has held a career in both the public and private sectors, working to address inequities in labor and education.
www.msu.edu
Ernest Green From 1968 to 1976, he served as Director of the A. Philip Randolph Education Fund. From 1977 to 1981, he served as an Assistant Secretary of Labor during Jimmy Carter's administration (wikipedia), and has been an investment financier in recent years.
www.thehistorymakers.com
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_G._Anderson
