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Whites Who Made Black History

By Andrea Brown
Black College Wire

Graphic by Eleanor Konzman

Eighty-year-old Philip Walker sat solemnly, sipping his coffee at a coffee stand at Union Station in Washington, D.C.

He appeared to be looking back in time as he reflected on whites who had contributed to black history.

"Roosevelt," he said.

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s name struck a special chord with Walker. Growing up in the 1930s, Walker witnessed the nation's fall into near-poverty as unemployment rose. Roosevelt sought to turn around the weakening economy and became a hero to many Americans.

"He put on a lot of programs to help the poor and get them back to work," Walker said.

Others have similar memories of fellowship that crossed racial lines.

Computer systems programmer Gregory Owens, also of Washington, admired President Lyndon B. Johnson for his contributions to blacks' struggle for equality.

"He had to make some tough decisions," said Owens. He recalled two of Johnson's main policy goals, the Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and 1964, which, once passed, gave blacks equality at the polls, at the lunch counters and at all other public accommodations.

Some remember not a person, but a group. "The authors and approvers of the Bill of Rights," recalled Clarence Williams. As a standard by which to determine injustice, Williams, of Washington, considered the white framers who crafted this document to be concerned with the rights of all men. He speculated that later in history, upholding the provisions of the Bill of Rights helped verify blacks’ inalienable rights as Americans.

"To start a university for blacks at the time like that, following slavery, was a great contribution," said Howard University graduate student Lakresha Grahan as she explained her admiration for Gen. Oliver Otis Howard, a founder of Howard and its third president.

Howard was appointed by President Lincoln as commissioner of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands. Men like Howard helped blacks advance through education. Other institutions spearheaded by whites include Fisk University and St. Augustine College.

President Bill Clinton stands out with D.C. guidance counselor Shirley Shannon. She smiled as she recalled the abundance of black advisers and officials who were part of his administration and how openly Clinton reached out to the black community. He hired African American colleagues as consultants and cabinet members. "He pulled from some of our brightest blacks," Shannon said.

A Democrat, Clinton represented black people, who are overwhelmingly Democrats, and unlike many white politicians, did not shy away from combating racial issues, she said. Michelle Lewis, a professor of psychology at Villa Junior College in Stevenson, Md., expressed reservations about the Clinton administration’s effectiveness in helping black progress, but said that his finding a political home in New York’s Harlem was a testament to his connection with African Americans.

Nonetheless, many remember the bad with the good. D.C. resident Shariffa Wilson recalls a long list of hindrances to black progress for which whites were responsible.

"The whole institution of slavery demolished our whole family structure," Wilson said. "Now we’re still feeling the repercussions from 150 years ago."

Wilson also resented what she considered the poor chronicling of black history today. "They try to downplay the struggle in the history books," she said. "We don't hear about what blacks really stood for."

Andrea Brown is a student at Howard University who writes for the District Chronicles. She can be reached at .