Martin Luther King isn't February's only hero

Most of us spend Black History Month talking about well known figures like Martin Luther King, Jr., and Rosa Parks, who were very important -- don't get me wrong. But have you ever wondered who inspired them? I always try to learn about historical figures I have heard little about, and once I ran across the name Teddy Roosevelt Mason Howard, I became extremely intrigued by the man and what he did for Mississippi and America.

In my opinion, he was the match that lit the fuse of Civil Rights.

On History News Network, I found out Howard was born in Kentucky in 1908 by the name Teddy Roosevelt Howard, to a mother who worked for a white doctor named Monroe. Early in Howard's life, the doctor saw the boy was extremely smart and let him work in his office. Monroe went on to pay for all of Howard's education, including medical school where he became a surgeon. Howard was so grateful for the doctor's generosity that he added Mason to his name.

He moved to Mound Bayou, an all-black city in Northern Mississippi, and became the richest African-American in Mississippi. He used his money to build zoos, parks, medical centers, and the first black public pool in the state. He also organized the Regional Council of Negro Leadership in 1954.

But Howard set himself apart further... He played a key role in the Emmett Till Case. He provided a place to stay for Emmett Till's mother and key witnesses for the prosecution during the trial. He received death threats and harassment for this, as did many during the time. The atrocious murder of a fourteen year old boy affected Howard in a profound philosophical way, as did the not-guilty verdict the all-white jury handed the two defendants.

Two months after the end of the trial, Howard gave a speech in Montgomery, Ala., at the famous Dexter Baptist Church. Two key Cvil Rights Movement catalysts were in attendance that night--Martin Luther King, Jr., and Rosa Parks.

Parks often stated that Howard's speech that night implanted in her the necessary courage for her famous bus sit-in only two weeks after the speech.

A Mississippi man gave the speech that launched a movement, that changed a nation forever, and yet the average Mississippian has probably never heard of him until reading this column. Important Mississippians like Howard should not be lost in the pages of history books. I encourage the students of Southern Miss to learn more about influential people from our great state and see how they influenced our hometowns, states and nation as a whole. We would not be where we are today without people like Howard; he at least deserves to be acknowledged by our generation.