I tend to write how I talk, so imagine we’re at a coffee shop, and you’ve just asked me what I’m up to this weekend, and I’m really excited about it… 😂
Okay, and scene…
So… April 5th must be a special day because two of my favorite people were born on that day exactly 100 years apart.
Number 3 on my all-time favorite historical figures list is my main man, Rob. I could go on about this man for hours, but to keep it clipped, on May 12th, 1862, 23-year-old Robert Smalls took freedom (literally) into his hands around 3 AM and commandeered the Confederate steamer, The Planter.
That alone is audacious as hell. But of course, to add some swagger and seasoning to the whole thing, using the cover of fog and darkness, Robert Smalls mimicked the white captain’s mannerisms and checkpoint signals so effortlessly that he was able to captain his wife (shout out to Ms. Hannah for that white flag!) and two young kids and 16 others (🤯) into freedom through mine filled, confederate controlled waters.
His escape is considered one of the most daring by an enslaved person in recorded history, and that was just him warming up. Less than a decade had passed since he absconded and became an SC congressman. Please look up Robert Smalls and check out how his family continues his legacy by supporting the work being done by Michael B. Moore in SC.
Now, travel 100 years into the future, and a white kid from Lower Alabama, from The Wrong Side of Murder Creek (that’s the name of his book, which you should read), becomes a member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, one of the most radical freedom groups of the Modern Civil Rights Movement later in life.
When Mrs. Rosa Parks touched Bob Zellner’s left elbow in the basement of Rev. Ralph Abernathy’s First Baptist Church in Montgomery, AL, Bob made a bold decision that shifted the trajectory of his life forever. Born into a staunch Alabama Klan family on his dad’s side, fresh out of college, Bob became the first white field secretary for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).
I have been lucky to build a lasting friendship with him, and I get to call him My Bobbo. I get the magical privilege of hearing him tell stories about the great and more familiar historical names like Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer (Number 1 on my all-time list), Mrs. Ella Jo Baker, John Lewis, and Julian Bond. Even better, the richness is added as he beautifully weaves layered stories about lesser-known folks like the fearless Mrs. Laura McGhee and her sons, whom Bobbo considered the bravest Black family in the Delta.
Bobbo has graciously imparted informal lessons about life, forgiveness, trust, hope, and faith in the greater good while I pepper him with questions on his interpretation of how the past is influencing the present. To be a witness and participant in many of the foundational moments in the last five or more decades essentially means Bobbo is like a walking library.
For the inaugural Conversations With session, we are allowed a glimpse into the moral foundation of one of my favorite troublemakers. This Saturday, March 23rd, at 11 AM PST, join Bob and me for the first of several conversations that will travel a historical timeline familiar and new to us. At the end, you will have the chance to get some of your own questions answered by one of the best storytellers you will ever hear.
(Not bad, huh… 😏🤓)
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