I often think about how Black grandparents rarely discuss their lives growing up in the south. I then realize it is so difficult because many - If not all - still have PTSD about growing up in the Jim Crow Era.

As a public historian, I’ve seen this up close and have gotten visceral reactions from Black elders when I’ve broached topics they’ve deemed too sensitive. Even as up to as 1992 during the Rodney King Uprisings.

I think about this often because I’m not optimistic that we are actively preserving their stories, not because of an unwillingness to hear them, but due to the traumatic barriers that exist between our elders and their lived experiences.

“When an old man dies, a library burns to the ground. ”

— African proverb

May we all spend time with our elders and learn about their stories so we may combine them and share them with our children someday.

Thanks for engaging me on this, y’all.