BY: Terry Allen
George Santayana once said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Big Mama would’ve leaned back in her chair on that Garland, Texas porch, fanning herself with the church program and saying, “Baby, that’s the truth I’ve been tellin’ y’all for years!” Because that back porch wasn’t just a place for lemonade, watermelon and laughter—it was a living Master space. Every session, the air was thick with storytelling, wisdom, and soul. What our ancestors know as griots and we know as griot circles,” Big Mama had been hosting long before the word was popular. Lucille “Big Mama” Allen’s porch in Garland, Texas raised a generation of storytellers, thinkers, and doers.
Today, that same kind of storytelling is what we’re losing. Across this country, there’s a deliberate effort to erase, rewrite, or silence our history. The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture is under pressure to “adjust narratives.” Black military leaders—men and women who broke barriers—are being quietly moved aside. And DEI policies meant to ensure fairness and inclusion are being stripped away, labeled as unnecessary or divisive. Big Mama would’ve called it what it is: a slow-motion erasure of truth. Check out my friend, actress, and ally , Regina Taylor’s Black album Mixtape and you will see what griot is in the modern day!
On that Garland porch, she made sure over forty family members and friends learned our history—not as dates and names, but as survival stories. She taught that remembering wasn’t optional; it was protection. “If you don’t know where you come from,” she’d say, “you won’t know when someone’s trying to send you back.” Every story she shared—about sacrifice, struggle, and victory—was an anchor in rough waters.
We must pick up where Big Mama left off. We must become modern griots, keepers of our truth in classrooms, boardrooms, and on social media. When history is under attack, storytelling becomes our strongest defense.
So, remember: history forgotten is history repeated. And that’s exactly why you need to be at An Evening with A’Lelia Bundles this movember in Dallas —because preserving our story isn’t just about pride, it’s about power.
— Big Mama Said
Photo credits Terry Allen
Terry Allen is an NABJ award-winning Journalist, DEI expert, PR professional, and founder of the charity – Vice President at Focus- PR, Founder of City Men Cook, and Dallas Chapter President of NBPRS.org
