Growing up in Orangeburg, I didn't know that I lived in the 'corridor of shame.' I was the son of a single mom who learned to read from comic books. My grandparents helped raise me.
Every February, we reflect on and honor the achievements, struggles, and icons that comprise Black history. As a proud, Black man running for office and raising two young, Black boys in the South, I am acutely aware that I stand on the shoulders of giants.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the importance of honoring the contributions of Black figures in history while acknowledging personal responsibility as a leader and role model.
In this quote, Jaime Harrison reflects on the significance of Black history, touching upon the challenges and triumphs that have shaped the community. He conveys a deep sense of pride in his heritage, recognizing that his own achievements are built upon the legacy of influential Black leaders and icons. This acknowledgment extends to his role as a father, where he strives to instill the same pride and awareness of their history in his sons, ensuring they understand their roots and the giants whose efforts have paved the way for their future.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be shared during Black History Month celebrations to inspire discussions about heritage.
More from Jaime Harrison
All quotes →Similar quotes
Our generation was born during the turmoil following the First World War. That war marked the dividing line - at least for the Western World - between the comfortable security of the 19th century and the instability and flux of our own time.
Thus ended the great American Civil War, which must upon the whole be considered the noblest and least avoidable of all the great mass conflicts of which till then there was record.
It invites a search for ultimate causes: why were Europeans, rather than Africans or Native Americans, the ones to end up with guns, the nastiest germs, and steel?
The very notion of Great Britain's 'greatness' is bound up with empire. Euro-scepticism and Little Englander nationalism could hardly survive if people understood whose sugar flowed through English blood and rotted English teeth.
The evil of slavery and colonialism was that these oppressions kept their victims out of history, disconnected them from the evolutionary struggle.
In many ways, the North won the Civil War militarily and then lost the peace. You know, a group of writers, included many Confederate generals, began a school of thought called the Lost Cause in which they began to romanticize the Confederacy.