Doreen Stewart

I was so blessed to partake in the Women's March. My grandmother taught me the importance of standing up for civil and equal rights. She lived in a one room log cabin in Tennessee. She would way other people's laundry to make a few extra dollars to help her family. Sometimes, white people would send her their Klu Klux Klan outfits to wash. I asked her what she did when this happened and she said she just washed them, ironed them and gave them back to their owners. She would not be a victim of their hate. What they didn't know was she helped feed the Freedom Riders on their way to join Dr. Martin Luther King on the infamous March on Washington where he spoke to thousands about his I Have A Dream speech. Because of segregation many African Americans did not have a safe place to sleep or dine on their travels. She was poor but she did what she could to aid on the movement. She would fry some of her barnyard chickens, bake sweet potato pies and gather fresh water to drink from the spring. She instilled in me a passion for activision. Her great grandmother was Melvinia Shields, born a slave. She and my grandmother where not alive to see one of their defendants would become one of our nation's First Lady of the United States of America, Michelle Obama. They would have been so proud!