Dear Fredrick Douglass,

I first learned about Black History when my mom sat me down on a dreary Sunday afternoon after church and told me my position in this world. I was a Black girl, who would become a Black woman–and the world was never going to let me forget that. I was six. I learned that despite the black pioneers that came before demanding change, I would always Black first, and that hate, and discrimination would often come second.

With Love,

LaBria Alston