Tomorrow is February 1st, the first day of Black Heritage Month. February is the only month we can show our African American culture. In schools, they taught us the history that they learned. We learned the basics. We learned about other cultures more than African culture, especially white culture. Now they want to take history out of schools. They took cursive and handwriting from us. Are we going back to the slave days when our ancestors couldn't read or write? Our masters wanted our ancestors to be servants; in modern days, they're called maids, and in the 20th century, they were coworkers. We have a culture where blacks don't know. We think we're poor because we see it on TV in commercials and movies. We are rich. We should travel to Africa, visit different places, and other countries.
I've been on ancestry for years. I was connected to another family tree. Where a relative reaches out to me and she notices we have the same descendants. To make a long story short we are going to keep in touch with our family and have a reunion to reunite. She told me we do have history an African American in our family Member. Her name is Bertha Rodgers Looney.
Bertha Rodgers is an educator. She is in her 80s and still in Memphis. She is writing her autobiography.
Last year I read her article in church for Black Heritage Month. Didn't nobody know she was only my Bishop?
It is an honor to our on Rodgers family member graduate of Hamilton High School, Bertha Rogers Looney enrolled in then Memphis State University in September 1959. Mrs. Looney and the seven other African Americans who desegregated Memphis State University (now the University of Memphis) in 1959 became known as the Memphis State Eight.
HERE IS AN ARTICLE BELOW
The Memphis State 8
Eleanor Gandy, Sammie Burnett Johnson, Marvis Kneeland Jones, Bertha Rogers Looney, Rose Blakney Love, Luther McClellan, Ralph Prater and John Simpson
BLACK HISTORY MONTH: THE MEMPHIS STATE EIGHT
Mrs. Looney stated, I’m a professor at the University of Memphis (formerly called “Memphis State”). In the center of campus there is a placard telling the story of the “Memphis State Eight” – the eight African American students who enrolled in Memphis State in 1959 and were the first to integrate campus. The placard tells that they came to campus at 8am and were asked to leave by 12pm daily, but beyond that does not give many details about what life was like on a regular basis for them.
Last week, for a special Black History Month program at my daughter’s middle school (her middle school is a lab school that’s on the university campus), one of the Memphis State Eight, Bertha Rogers Looney, came to speak. Though I’d read the placard, and googled a little more about the Memphis State Eight, hearing her speak brought the story to life.
When she was a senior in high school, she had been accepted to a Historically Black College/University (HBCU). She was excited about the college experience and looking forward to it – just like so many seniors in high school do. But the adults in her life started encouraging her to take a required test to see if she could be admitted to Memphis State. She told her parents, her teachers, and her pastor that she wanted to go to the HBCU and wasn’t interested in trying Memphis State. They kept suggesting she just take the test and eventually she complied, figuring she would probably not pass it anyway and the discussion could be closed. Instead, however, she received a perfect score on the test and suddenly she had to make the choice. Would she enroll at Memphis State in order to start paving the way for full integration? Or would she enjoy a traditional college experience at an HBCU?
She eventually decided to enroll at Memphis State. On her first day, she was told that she wasn’t allowed in the library, the gym, the cafeteria, or any other shared spaces on campus. She was to come at 8am and leave by noon every day. She was to sit in the back of her classes with a police officer next to her. She soon learned that no matter how many times she raised her hand, the professors would never call on her.
There was nothing traditional about her college experience, instead she was living a hard fought protest every day for 4 years. Since she couldn’t go to the library and professors wouldn’t help her, she said her high school teachers helped when she needed it and the NAACP hired tutors when necessary. Even still, she was one of only 2 of the Memphis State Eight to stick it out till graduation.
The University of Memphis student population is now 39% Black – something that Bertha Rogers Looney seemed so thrilled by. She said something like, “We still have work to do, but it’s amazing seeing so many African Americans here on campus. And y’all don’t have to worry about your teachers calling on you anymore. We’ve come a long way.”
I’m not a Black woman. I’m not living in 1959. I will never know what Bertha Rogers Looney’s experience really truly felt like. But I have been inspired by her. Sometimes I feel like the state of the world is beyond repair. The racism and the sexism that I see can feel palpable. Sometimes I want to throw in the towel with the work I’m doing. But Bertha Rogers Looney’s decision to skip out on the college experience was a first step toward a movement of meaningful change. Back then, she never could have imagined how the university would look today. I’m so glad she didn’t throw in the towel.
