Many times we fail to pause to understand the contributions that morph together into a seminal moment in history. Our natural fixation is on the moment, the actors in the moment, the impact of the actions.
Often overlooked are those acts that chiseled and shaped the foundations upon which a marquee action or cause is built. The subplots are often many and it's difficult to know how to weigh the value of each. Yet in some cases, one can clearly see that without certain subplots, key actors would have never been in place to mobilize those upon whom the spotlight rests.
To take away from the courage Rosa Parks showed December 1, 1955, when she refused to give up her seat on the Montgomery, Alabama, bus, would be a travesty of justice. To think that her courage happened without “a village” behind her, however, is equally wrong.
In her reflections on the decision to stay seated, she references a speech on Emmett Till she heard only a few days prior at the church pastored by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as the motivation for her action. Few pause to notice who gave that speech, and why.
Very early in the civil rights awakening, T.R.M. Howard, a physician practicing in the Mississippi Delta area, had been a strong advocate for the rights of those of his color. In addition to being a prominent physician, he was a highly successful businessman, creating a wide range of opportunities for goods and services, high-quality healthcare, and financial well being for those of color to be available outside the arena in which economic racism could manifest. One example of his leadership was when Medgar Evers, under Howard’s mentorship, organized a gas station boycott wherein the blacks of the region would only purchase petrol from stations where they could use the restroom. The economic impact of the boycott resulted in change, a case study not lost on those to follow.
A chilling quote by Howard that is shared by Dr. David Beito, professor emeritus of history at the University of Alabama and foremost expert on the life and influence of TRM Howard, states that the punishment of a white man killing a black man in Mississippi at that time was somewhat akin to the killing of a deer out of season. Beito would assert such a white-washing, if you will, of the white on black murder would very likely have been the outcome in the case of the death of Emmett Till, if not for Dr. Howard. When others were ready to move on, Howard refused to let justice go unserved. While others may have held the spotlight, Howard was the foundation, the motivation, the driving force to continue on, even to the point of taking on the powerful J. Edgar Hoover.
To that end and to that cause, Dr. Howard began to speak across the nation about not only the Till case but more fully to the injustice of racism and the blind eye being turned to actions of evil in Mississippi and across the nation. That speaking tour included a presentation in Montgomery, Alabama, to an audience that included Rosa Parks who would draw motivation from that speech to stay seated, an action that catapulted Dr. King into the headlines and which many credit as “starting the Civil Rights Movement.”
It was no sheer happenstance that Dr. Howard would be in that position. Dr. Beito in his book T.R.M Howard: Doctor, Entrepreneur, Civil Rights Pioneer chronicles a life journey that began in a deeply racist world and where the young Howard would witness a “without consequences” lynching. By age 12, Howard had already exhibited a specialness about him that caught the attention of a local physician and, as a result, his life took an important turn. William Herbert Mason, leader of the local hospital and an alumnus of Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska, asked Howard if he would like to be a doctor. Howard’s affirmation and Mason’s financial support began a journey that one could argue “changed the world.” Howard at some point adopted Mason’s Seventh-day Adventist religion which would be central to his education pathway through Oakwood College (then a junior college), Union College for his pre-med bachelor’s degree, and what is now Loma Linda University for his medical degree.
On that journey, Howard would meet Professor Joseph Tucker, president of Oakwood and Union College alumnus, who would serve as his “coach” as he navigated somewhat hostile waters as the only black student at Union College (Beito asserts that with both Mason and Tucker as Union College alumni and with Mason footing the bill, there was little discussion as to where Howard would get his bachelor’s degree). While Howard may have felt that Union was less than embracing of him, that was not the case of the emotions he felt from his participation and success in an Anti-Saloon League oratorical contest while a student at Union and living in College View/Lincoln. Howard not only reigned in Nebraska – speaking to “more people in the State of Nebraska than any other colored man in the United States” – but also won the national championship in Detroit. This experience, which he outlines in a letter to Professor Tucker, caused an awakening within Howard of being an ambassador for his race and of being called to a “higher purpose” beyond that of “just medicine.” He would begin to more fully explore, express, and develop this calling in the greater Los Angeles area while a student at Loma Linda and go on to live his calling powerfully at every stop of his life journey.
No one can say what role each building block of the TRM Howard story played, but it is clear that without those early Union College connected foundation stones – Dr. Mason’s investment in him, Professor Tucker’s guidance, the Union College experiences that awakened a life calling – that Howard was never at Dr. King’s Montgomery Church and that Rosa Parks never heard the oration that motivated her to remain seated. What we can see is the importance of never underestimating the expansive potential of small investments in others.
“It’s always the right time to do the right thing.” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.