The idea for the topic of my column today, in all actuality, did not originate without the influence of others.
First, the influence came after having a conversation with my wife about some of my achievements and successes.
She felt that I was saying or at least insinuating that I had accomplished them on my own and that I did not get to where I am by myself.
Her words got me to thinking on the matter. I will say more about my personal journey and a few of the key people, along with her, and of course my parents, who were instrumental in the little achievements I have experienced, at the end of this column.
The second and perhaps most compelling inspiration for this material today came from StoryCorps on the radio. The story was about Dr. William Lynn Weaver, a prominent surgeon and professor, who was born and raised in Knoxville, Tennessee during the Jim Crow and segregation era.
In 1964, at the age of 14, Dr. Weaver and twelve other African-American students were assigned the challenging task of being the first black students to integrate an all-white high school in the Knoxville area. Dr. Weaver was a sophomore at the time and had been a good, if not an outstanding student athlete at the black school where he had previously attended.
From the first day of school and throughout his graduating year, he had to grapple with racial slurs and insults from both the white student body and most of the faculty. Even the principal was a part of the racial opposition when on the first day of school, he referred to him as Bill. When Dr. Weaver corrected him by saying, “My name is William,” the principal’s racist response and remarks were, “I see that I am dealing with a smart n…” Dr. Weaver went from being an outstanding student to making all F’s.
He just knew that he was failing and falling through the cracks. Something amazing happened that would get him off the path of academic ruin that he was trodding on. Mr. Hill, who had been his seventh grade science teacher at the all black school and a few other black teachers agreed to meet him after school and on Saturday mornings to tutor him. Their heroic and sacrificial effort turned things around for Dr. Weaver.
Though he would not be cited or commended by the principal and faculty for his athletic and academic achievements, the records proved him to be in the top percentage of his graduating class. Having to struggle against the hostility of a racist, academic environment along with the fact that none of the faculty members or guidance counselors made any effort to help him about going to college, Dr. Weaver had accepted the certain inevitability that going to college was out of the question for him until he got a letter from Howard University in the Washington, D.C. area that he had been accepted. How can this be, he wondered in amazement and with much delight.
After all, he knew that he had not sent in an application to Howard University that rated at the top of accredited black colleges and universities along with schools like Morehouse, Meharry and a few others. It would be 37 years later, at his older brother’s funeral, when the mystery would be solved. In a conversation with Mr. Hill, he discovered that it had been he who had completed the application and sent it in to Howard University.
This account of Dr. William Lynn Weaver, who has had a stellar career in the medical profession, serving as the first surgeon to hold the office of president of both the Georgia Surgical Society and the Georgia Chapter of the American College of Surgeons simultaneously, as well as the first African-American to be president of the above organizations, is impressive and inspiring. Nevertheless none of the things that he has been able to achieve would have been possible without the timely help of someone else. Like him, there are many others who we are more familiar with from our locale who would have never succeeded to their present plateau of prominence and success without the timely aid and intervention of someone else.
People like former Federal Chairman Ben Bernanke, he would have never attended the right university to be prepared for his position of being the chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank had it not been (by his own acknowledgement) for people like Mrs. Ruby Carter and Dr. Kenneth Manning. Mrs. Carter, who was instrumental in Dr. Manning’s formative years that equipped him to matriculate at Harvard University for both his undergraduate and graduate degrees.
Through Dr. Manning, she indirectly influenced Ben Bernanke’s destiny when he convinced his parents that their son was too smart to attend the University of South Carolina. Several others can attest to the impact and influence that people like Mrs. Ruby Carter has had on their lives. Furthermore, they will tell you that had it not been for certain pivotal people who came into their lives at the right time, they would have never succeeded.
Apart from our spouses and parents, there have been others who served as mentors, counselors, and encouragers to us as we traveled the road less traveled and ultimately landed us to our aspired goals. Some were schoolteachers, some were Sunday school teachers, some were Boy and Girl Scout leaders, and some were grandparents, aunts, uncles, and older siblings. Invariably, what they all had in common was a concern and desire to see us succeed to the best of our abilities and potentials. How can I ever forget people like Fred Martin, my lifelong best friend and cousin, who seemed to have always been there for me since we were little boys around eight years old? Then there was my first pastor, Mother Katie Sanders, who made a tremendous impact on my life when I was growing up and attending the little Pentecostal Church on Dargan Street in Newtown; my third grade and seventh grade teachers respectively, Mrs. McBride and Mrs. Jones, who were foundational in my life at an early stage.
Also, there was the late Bishop John W. Barber, who was a major influence in my young adult life and preparation for ministry. For the better part of seven years, he was the man that God used to shape and mold me for the work that I am presently doing. So regardless of your success, achievements, or accolades in life, you did not get there without somebody giving you a helping hand.
Now that you have arrived in your pursuit of success, do not forget to help others along the way as help was given to you.
