This month brought a lot of easter moments for me as I discovered the true meaning of Woody Guthrie's song, “This Land is Your Land.” I have toured many fine establishments and many fine cities over the past forty years. Earlier this month I had the great honor of touring the Historic London Town and Gardens in Edgewater, Maryland with my daughters, during Maryland Weekend. Maryland Weekend is an annual open house event where you can tour historic homes for free or for $1.
On my own, I have tried to tour Maryland's Historic London Town and Gardens for the past two years. But the timing, the funds, and the weather was never quite right. I even managed to snag a free pass at the library almost a year ago, but it didn't work out. But blessed be to the Father on Maryland Weekend everything fell into place for me and my girls, so with a bagged lunch in hand we were off to do some exploring in our own state. You see before the pandemic I never had the time to explore my own state. I would travel with friends and family up and down the eastern seaboard of the United States to see the amazing sights. I would drive for days with my extended family to visit other family and friends in the upper, middle, and lower midwest and Buffalo. I would travel with various faith communities on missions trip to Toronto, Montana, and to Washington, D.C. I would travel with my work communities to participate in union trips to Ocean city, Minnapolis, and beyond. I was constantly in motion traveling to places like West Virginia, Alabama, Texas, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, London, Nairobi, and the Bahamas. I even drove my little sister from Maryland to California with my mom during a holiday weekend in January one year in order to make sure she made it to her first day on a screen writing gig.
But no matter where I wander I would pray, eat, sing, dance, take photographs of historic places, listen to great music, pick up brochures, buy souvenirs, listen to stories, write in my journals, bring along others, or meet up with friends and family members. I may have lost many important artifacts as I moved from one place to another over the years but what I never lost was my enthusiasm for American History; because for me it is real because I have seen it, touched it, walked it, and experienced it.
Recently I read some reviews about a famous historic presidential home in Virginia and people were upset about the woke moment. They were upset that African American History had now interrupted American History. The history of enslaved African Americans was showing our great presidents in a negative light.
A week ago I had my own epiphany when I was taking my daughters on a homeschooling field trip to tour Annapolis. I was taking them on a historic sightseeing tour of our state capital. I was enthusiastically pointing out the similarities to other important historic cities in our country. I was making connections to Martha's Vineyard, Boston, Charleston, and Key West. Since I had recently toured the Historic London Town and Gardens and was led on a personal tour with my little girls, I finally got the songs, "This Land is Your Land and America the Beautiful." It was like Easter Sunday had happened again. Praise Be to God I finally saw the light. You see on my personal tour my caucasian tour guide made sure to show me where the slaves lived below the house in the cellar. It was beautifully designed and crafted, it was cool and semi dark. I explained to my daughters that this house reminded me of the planation homes in South Carolina and in Lousiana. You see wherever my family travels we always seem to run into historical places that have direct tie-ins with American and African American enslaved ancestors. My patient tour guide kept saying, "enslaved people built this country and then He would show me something new."
This week I finally got it as I taught my daughters the complete history of Annapolis. You see right next to all the beautiful crafted stores, awesome historic government buildings, and amazing harbor in Annapolis there are hidden gems of African American history sprinkle among them. If you look close enough you can see these hidden gems everywhere. What does it mean for me and you? It means that African American history is American history and American history is African history because we are one nation under God. Therefore, all our ancestor stories have been interweaved in the fabric of our American culture; and to get a full complete and accurate picture of it, we must take the time to learn the histories of all of our brothers and sisters and honor their stories and their experiences. We may be one tree but there are as many branches as there are stories. We can make our country great by stopping to acknowledge the difficult road that some cultures, peoples, and nations have had to face in order to survive.
May God continue to bless our nation and all who dwell beneath the Stars and Stripes. Amen.
From the desk of Esther Kamoche Robinson 04.23.23. 3:30EST.
References
Blessed the Broken Road
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