Continuing the Legacy

There are many things going on in Columbia/HoCo today, but this one has my heart.

Harriet Tubman Cultural Center to open this weekend in Columbia at site of former all-Black high school, Ethan Ehrenhaft, Baltimore Sun

I first became aware of the significance of the Harriet Tubman School in 2017 when I attended a Columbia storytellers event at the Owen Brown Interfaith Center. Bessie Bordenave spoke of her experiences as a student at the Harriet Tubman school. She stressed how teachers and administrators went above and beyond to care for and lift up their students. I learned so much that I had not known in just that one talk.

It created in me a personal connection to the lives and stories of the students and teachers of Harriet Tubman.

Ms. Bordenave’s talk that evening made a big impression on me. The love and pride she felt for her school helped me enter into a time and place I had never known or experienced. We shouldn’t be afraid of these stories. We should be far more afraid of being ignorant or lacking the empathy to enter into the worlds of people not like us. “The Big Bad and the Very Small Good” Village Green/Town² March 23, 2022

The road from the building’s post-school existence as an hcpss maintenance facility to today, when it opens as the Harriet Tubman Cultural Center, has been both far too long and unnecessarily arduous. The facility was originally set to open in 2021 but was sidelined by a break-in and acts of vicious destruction. The activists and advocates who labored bring the stories of the Harriet Tubman school to the public must have felt disheartened many times over the years.

We are extremely fortunate that they did not give up. Our history is incomplete without a rich and truthful telling of segregation in Howard County and the real human beings who lived that experience.

The Harriet Tubman Foundation was established in 2002 to “address the future of the (former school) building and…to keep the spirit of Harriet Tubman High School alive.” Bessie Bordenave, whose storytelling in 2017 brought the life of the school alive to me, has been a constant and driving force.

Here is the schedule for today’s festivities.

Grand Opening Celebration - - Harriet Tubman Cultural Center, Saturday Sept 17th, 2022

10:30 AM Ribbon Cutting Ceremony

11 AM - 4 PM,

Harriet Tubman Day Celebration

Image from Howard County NAACP, Facebook

The Harriet Tubman Cultural Center is located at 8045 Harriet Tubman Lane in Columbia, Maryland, 21044.

Comments

Teacher Gifts

Today is the last day of school before the Winter Break. It’s a good time to remember the far-reaching nature of our public school system. You may not have children. You may have sent your children to independent schools. It matters not. You will be impacted one way or another. Yesterday I read a long thread on Facebook about several waves of illness in the schools right now. There’s influenza A and norovirus, I believe. And of course there’s COVID. Apparently in some individual schools the rate of illness is high enough for school admin to notify parents. When I was little the acceptable holiday gift for a teacher was one of those lovely floral handkerchief squares. (I don’t know what it was for male teachers. They were rare in my elementary years.) These days the range of teacher gifts is wider and I have fond memories of Target gift cards which I have written about before. I think it’s safe to say that giving one’s teacher Influenza, norovirus, or COVID is not the ideal holiday...

They Can Wait

This is not a typical Saturday post. That’s because, in my community, it’s not a typical Saturday. Oakland Mills High School, after years of deferred repair, needs massive renovation. It’s pretty simple: when you don’t fix a problem it gets bigger. The school system itself said the the OMHS school building was "no longer conducive to learning" back in 2018. 2018 . But Thursday the Boad of Education voted to push it out of the lineup of important projects which will be given the go-ahead to proceed soonest. In my opinion it’s a terrible decision and sets a dangerous precedent. To explain, here’s the advocacy letter I sent in support of Oakland Mills High School. I was rather proud of it. I am writing to ask you to proceed with needed renovation at Oakland Mills High School in the most timely and comprehensive manner humanly possible. I have read the letter sent to you by the Oakland Mills Community Association and I am in complete agreement. You are extremel...

Columbia Chance Connection

Last night, as my husband and I were about to sit down to dinner, our front door swung open and a cheery voice announced, “I’m ba—ack!” We weren’t expecting anyone. Clearly the only people who’d walk right in to our house would be one of our offspring. I had my reading glasses on so I wasn’t seeing too clearly. It seemed too tall for our youngest, but we knew our eldest was at work. I took off my glasses to see a friendly but confused face scanning our living room. When her gaze landed on us we all had a sudden realization. We didn’t know eachother. “Oh I’m so sorry! I’m in the wrong house! My daughter just moved in and she needed hooks for the kitchen so I ran out to get them.” She waved the package. “All these houses look the same and I don’t know the neighborhood yet. I thought this was my daughter’s house.” We were all getting a bit giggly. “That’s okay. For a quick second we thought you were our daughter,” said my husband. I told her our names and said she should defin...

Village Green/Town²

Search This Blog