By Raymont Hawkins – Jones

While I was looking for something else, I ran across this article which was written in Page 4 of Eatonton Messenger, published in Eatonton, Georgia on Saturday, March 22nd, 1902, more than a year before my great grandfather Richard Griffin was born in Eatonton. The author of this article was in extreme opposition to the North’s support of Booker T. Washington’s mission for educating black people in the South because he felt that mission would be futile as Blacks were best suited in agriculture – the leading economy in the South. He also had some other thoughts that today will be considered racist but at that time were opinions that some people thought were fact (not just white people). The author’s position might be comparable to someone on the right today calling it another WOKE “diversity”, “equity” and, “inclusion” agenda of the Left’s and claiming that it causes more division between the races.

From what my grandmother told me, her father had to drop out of school to work on farm(s) but he always wished he had received an education of his own. Given the time and the location, we can safely assume that the writer’s opinion was the common thought of that day and location and the notion of a black man in the rural south in the early 1900s receiving an education would have been a great challenge. In addition to being required to support his family by working as a laborer as a teen, he still would have confronted numerous challenges due to the prevailing discriminatory mindset, which devalued the educational aspirations of black individuals, particularly in the South. His own family, specifically his father, may even have been a holder of that mindset. Remarkably, I found in my research, that he did have a couple of females first cousins who were younger than him who were not only able to finish high school but were able to graduate from college as well.

According to my grandmother, her father always insisted that she and her siblings get an education and also according to her, he would get disappointed when his own children did not take their education as serious. He thought of it as an opportunity wasted. Despite the challenges he faced, my great grandfather’s determination to instill the value of education in his children reflects a resilience that transcends the limitations imposed by the racial prejudices of the era.   With that being said, I am happy that he was able to see some of his children graduate from high school before he passed away, but I am very happy to know that he was able to see his eldest daughter graduate from college years before he died. I can only imagine what kind of joy and pride he may have felt.  I hope that by now, he knows that another one of his daughters received her college degree since he has been gone and that was my grandmother. The success of his daughters in attaining higher education stands as a testament to his enduring impact and the unwavering belief that education is a powerful tool for breaking down barriers and creating a brighter future, specifically for Black people like him.