Article June 18, 2001 Issue

Racial activism slightly ahead of its time

It brought a family together.

By Ethel Baker

A COUPLE OF YEARS ago, I was going through some of my mother's things. And I came across a clutch of papers that were in the form of letters she had written to herself, in trying to think through various issues. And one of these happened to be race relations.

She was probably in her late teens or early 20s when she wrote that. And she just kind of reasoned with herself about race relations and the fact that people should be able to exist harmoniously together. That there shouldn't be a sense of division. This would have been probably the early 1940s.

She talked specifically about interracial marriage, and obviously that was so much of a no-no at that time that it was probably not discussed, let alone done. And yet, she reasoned with herself that there shouldn't be any occasion where that should be a wrong thing, provided that the two people involved were genuinely in love and cared about one another—even if their families didn't support them.

Enjoy 1 free Sentinel article or audio program each month, including content from 1898 to today.

Send a comment to the editors
NEXT IN THIS ISSUE
Article
Who's the enemy?
June 18, 2001
Contents

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit