When you think of pioneers in African American history, who comes to mind? For most of us, it’s leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, Maya Angelou, and James Baldwin – and rightfully so. But, if names like Bayard Rustin, Bessie Coleman, and Jane Bolin don’t ring a bell, you’re not alone. In honor of Black History Month, here’s an opportunity to learn about lesser-known activists, adventurers, and educators who enriched the American culture by following their calling – often breaking barriers for those who rose to fame in more recent history.
1. Bayard Rustin, a Minority Within a Minority. Dr. King is usually credited for the March on Washington in August 1963. But it was Rustin who organized and strategized in the shadows. As a gay man who had controversial ties to communism, he was considered too much of a liability to be on the front lines of the movement. Nonetheless, he was one of the most brilliant minds, and served his community tirelessly while pushing for more jobs and better wages.
We are all one – and if we don’t know it, we will learn it the hard way.
2. Bessie Coleman, First African American Licensed Pilot. Despite being the first licensed Black pilot in the world, Coleman wasn’t recognized as a pioneer in aviation until after her death. Though history has favored Amelia Earhart or the Wright brothers, Coleman—who went to flight school in France in 1919—paved the way for a new generation of diverse fliers like the Tuskegee airmen, Blackbirds, and Flying Hobos.
It’s when we forget ourselves that we accomplish tasks that are most likely to be remembered.
3. Gordon Parks, One of the Greatest Photographers of the 20th Century and Deeply Committed Humanitarian. Parks was the first African American on the staff of LIFE magazine, and later he would be responsible for some of the most beautiful imagery in the pages of Vogue. He also was the first Black director of a major film,Shaft, helping to shape the blaxploitation era in the 1970s.
I saw that the camera could be a weapon against poverty, against racism, against all sorts of social wrongs. I knew at that point I had to have a camera.
4. Judge Jane Bolin, First Black Woman to Attend Yale Law School and Outspoken Public Figure before the Civil Rights Movement. A pioneer in law, Jane Bolin was the first Black woman to attend Yale Law School in 1931. In 1939, she became the first Black female judge in the United States, where she served for 10 years. One of her significant contributions was working with private employers to hire people based on their skills, as opposed to discriminating against them because of their race. She also served on the boards of the NAACP, Child Welfare League of America, and the Neighborhood Children’s Center.
I am always impatient with those who say, ‘You women have come a long way.’ Since I am no gradualist I think to myself that 150 years is too long a time to come ‘a long way’ in that those gains we have made were never graciously and generously granted.
5. Marsha P. Johnson, Trans Activist and Pioneer Who Was a Force Behind the Stonewall Riots. Marsha (Pay It No Mind) Johnson was an activist, a sex worker, a drag performer, and a model for Andy Warhol. She was at the forefront of pivotal moments in modern history. She established one of America’s first safe spaces for transgender and homeless youth, Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR). She tirelessly advocated on behalf of sex workers, prisoners, and people with HIV/AIDS.
How many years has it taken people to realize that we are all brothers and sisters and human beings in the human race?
If you’d like to hear more stories to celebrate Black History Month, listen to this beautiful StoryCorps collection featuring Black voices in conversation.
Question: What stories would you want to see elevated in the narrative of American history?
Driven by the premise that excellence is the result of aligning people, purpose and performance, Center for Executive Excellence facilitates training in leading self, leading teams and leading organizations. To learn more, subscribe to receive CEE News!
It’s been nearly eight months since George Floyd called out for his mother as his life was callously drained away by a white police officer in broad daylight on a Minneapolis street. Mr. Floyd’s death ignited a powder keg in America that spread around the world. Images of his murder, followed by buildings in flames, followed by national guard troops positioned on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial show the worst of what can happen when we lack the kind of leadership that helps us navigate the path between chaos and control.
Before sitting down to write this dispatch, I picked up my copy of Leadership in Turbulent Times, to find inspiration and historical perspective. In the book, author Doris Kearns Goodwin profiles Presidents Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, and Lyndon Johnson.
Goodwin compared and contrasted the four presidents, and noted how their lives were marked by crucibles that shaped their leadership style. This time, I opened the book to Chapter 9, Transformational Leadership. The chapter opens on March 4, 1861, the first day Abraham Lincoln took office.
Goodwin writes, “the house was not merely divided; the house was on fire. Seven southern states had passed resolutions to secede from the Union in the four months between Lincoln’s election and his inauguration.”
It was against this backdrop that Lincoln helped the nation navigate the path between chaos and control. “His temperament was stamped with melancholy,” Goodwin writes, “but devoid of pessimism and brightened by wit.”
Here are 15 steps that Lincoln took to lead our divided country:
1. Acknowledge when failed policies demand a change in direction
2. Gather firsthand information, ask questions
3. Find time and space in which to think
4. Exhaust all possibility of compromise before imposing unilateral executive power
5. Anticipate contending viewpoints
6. Assume full responsibility for a pivotal decision
7. Understand the emotional needs of each member of the team
8. Refuse to let past resentments fester; transcend personal vendettas
9. Set a standard of mutual respect and dignity; control anger
10. Shield colleagues from blame
11. Maintain perspective in the face of both accolades and abuse
12. Find ways to cope with pressure, maintain balance, replenish energy
13. Keep your word
14. Know when to hold back, when to move forward
15. Combine transactional and transformational leadership
My temperament since the death of George Floyd, too, has been marked by melancholy. But, I find inspiration anew each day as I see people at all levels in our society guiding the way through leadership that seeks to unify.
Question: Which of these 15 leadership skills from Lincoln’s playbook can you use today?
Driven by the premise that excellence is the result of aligning people, purpose and performance, Center for Executive Excellence facilitates training in leading self, leading teams and leading organizations. To learn more, subscribe to receive CEE News!
On Bloody Sunday, John Lewis wore a backpack. In it, he carried fruit, a toothbrush, and two books. Lewis had expected to spend the night reading in jail. Instead, he spent it in the hospital after his skull was fractured from a police beating. He would carry the scars from that beating at age 25 for the rest of his life. He’d also carry out the rest of his life guided by the principles in the two books in his backpack that Sunday, March 7, 1965.
One book was The American Political Tradition, a reappraisal of this history of the United States written by Richard Hofstadter in 1948. The other book, also first published in 1948, was The Seven Storey Mountain, the autobiography of Catholic monk Thomas Merton and his journey to a life in Christ. It was Christ’s instruction to love thy neighbor that drew Lewis to Martin Luther King’s nonviolent message which they used to speak up against racial injustice in America.
How does a young man find the courage to sit before open hatred at lunch counters and face police lines protected only by an ideal? In a word – love. The monk, Thomas Merton wrote,
Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy. That is not our business and, in fact, it is nobody’s business. What we are asked to do is to love, and this love itself will render both ourselves and our neighbors worthy.
John Lewis left a legacy of love. Not a pollyannaish love, but a durable, tempered conviction that a belief in common humanity and the pursuit of equality will win in the end. “If we get it right here, in America, maybe, just maybe we can be the model for the rest of the world,” Lewis often said.
It’s hard not to judge others in America’s recent history triple underscored by racial, social, and political division. But doing so is what makes love so powerful. Its value increased every time leaders like John Lewis endured physical blows and sacrifice in the name of equality. Lewis believed that America was worth the pain and sacrifice.
Lewis’ love filled him with irrepressible happiness despite all that he’d been through. His life is a monument to love. Now that his journey is over, his life is testimony to the power of love that speaks to us all. The political book in that backpack starts with a quote from the writer John Dos Passos:
In times of change and danger when there is a quicksand of fear under man’s reasoning, a sense of continuity with generations gone before can stretch like a lifeline across the scary present.
John Robert Lewis was that lifeline. His body was put to rest, but his legacy of showing up, speaking out, and moving forward until, as Lewis said, “the revolution of 1776 is complete,” must carry on.
“If not us, then who? If not now, then when?” – John Lewis
Question: How can you use your platform to complete the revolution of 1776?
Driven by the premise that excellence is the result of aligning people, purpose and performance, Center for Executive Excellence facilitates training in leading self, leading teams and leading organizations. To learn more, subscribe to receive CEE News!
At Center for Executive Excellence, our mission is to take you from what is to what is possible. Whether we’re helping leaders implement culture transformation, helping teams build trust, or coaching individual executives to accelerate professional growth, our goal is to offer our expertise to effect positive change. That’s our wheelhouse. That’s our safe space.
Last year, we stepped out of our safe space because the collective what is (if you will) was broken. To move from what is to what is possible, we must stand up for one another as members of the human race.
We must stop ignoring the fact that the human race has devolved into a competition for domination. We can no longer see something like the senseless killing of George Floyd, offer thoughts and prayers to the family, and retreat to our circle of safety.
We’ve written about the neuroscience of bias, we discuss bias in the workplace at our leadership conferences, and we share resources to invite our followers to build their bias awareness library. But we must do more.
And so, we committed to continuing to educate ourselves about the disproportionate socio-economic harm imposed on members of the human race who are disadvantaged. We committed to using our platform to push progress forward on inclusion and diversity. And we committed to partner with organizations to move from protest to policy to redress these injustices.
Last week, we held our second in a series of free panel discussions on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). The panel was moderated by Arthur Benjamin and included CEOs from diverse industries who discussed how they are ensuring that DEI is not relegated to a committee or a hear-today-gone-tomorrow task force.
If you were unable to join us, you can watch the replay of the panel discussion here. Registration is open for our next DEI panel discussion – DEI in Action – which will kick off our Re:Imagine Leadership Summit on April 28, 2021.
We hope that you, too, will remain committed to continuing to take part in these critical discussions this year and help us move from protest to policy.
Question: What are some steps you plan to take in 2021 to push progress forward on diversity and inclusion?
At Center for Executive Excellence, our mission is to take you from what is to what is possible. Whether we’re helping leaders implement culture transformation, helping teams build trust, or coaching individual executives to accelerate professional growth, our goal is to offer our expertise to effect positive change. That’s our wheelhouse. That’s our safe space.
Last year, we stepped out of our safe space because the collective what is (if you will) was broken. To move from what is to what is possible, we must stand up for one another as members of the human race.
