My Skyline High school teacher, Mrs. Lane, said that a formal education came for the people who raised you and your informal education came from the education system. If you knew grandmother, then you would be able to confirm Mrs. Lane’s wisdom.
If you had the gift of visiting with her, then you knew what a formal education was. Mrs. Lane’s advisory was on point. My grandmother, Lucille “Big Mama” Allen made everyday living her classroom. She benefited her three sons and three daughters, 16 grandchildren, 50 great-grandchildren, 38 great-great grandchildren, seven great-great-great grandchildren and a host of nieces, nephews and bonus family members with everyday logic all throughout our lives.
One of her greatest lessons taught became a universal rule in the family. Whenever one of us felt we deserved more than another or whenever we tried belittling another family, her universal rule came out very loud. “Chile, you better check your negro at the door!”
She steadfastly believed that no one in her household would ever start thinking they were better off than another. Big Mama would stop you dead in your place to remind whose shoulders you stood on. If one of us starts “feeling our cheerios”, she would stop us all, and we had to gather around to get that formal education.
Big Mama would share the struggles our uncles, aunts and “cousins” had just to be able to live. I did not know at the time, but she was teaching us things. When Miss Lucille shared, she taught us about how the enslaved ancestors were set up to
destroy each other for crumbs and throwaways. It was a formal lesson in self-hatred. The other lesson she taught us, we would not take down each other because it pleased the oppressor, not God. That was her formal lesson in being obedient to a high unseen power.
She gave us scripture: “Joshua 1:9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”
She then told me about that “James boy” and his fight to be equal. Upon arrival at SMU, her formal education led me to find, read and report on James Bald-win. Thanks to Director Raoul Peck, Baldwin’s work came to life. I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO is a searing indictment of America’s failure to rectify its shameful history of racial inequality. Baldwin’s personal account of the civil rights movement and its trio of outspoken icons on the vulnerable vanguard remind us that there is still much work to be done. Baldwin spoke in Big Mama terms when he said, “It is not a racial problem. It is a problem of whether or not you’re willing to look at your life and be responsible for it, and then begin to change it.”
-James Baldwin, I Am Not Your Negro.
Big Mama’s formal education taught me to embrace Simone Biles and Naomi Osaka as the media and mainstream America poured out negative attacks on their choice to self-care. Big Mama’s lesson taught us to check our Negro at the door, and I recall this quote from Baldwin, “History is not the past. It is the present. We carry our history with us. We are our history.
“Talk to me about your Negro, email me at terryallenpr@gmail.com.
Terry Allen is an award-winning media professional, journalist, and entrepreneur. He is also the founder of City Men Cook and 1016 Media. Reach him at terryalllenpr@gmail.com
