What does Black History Month Mean to Me?

My name is Shantelle Williams Johnson, and I am a native Chicagoan, born and raised which is special because I was the first generation born in “the North”, with my Tennessee (maternal) and Mississippi (paternal) roots always showing. Black History Month for me is a special time of the year to share my story and my family’s journey in celebration of what we have achieved, with the obstacles being catapults to make us stronger to establish our family’s generational wealth.

While not wealthy, our family takes great pride in celebrating our descendance from slaves that worked hard in the fields as sharecroppers, and to this very day, my sister and I own our home and land in Pulaski, Tennessee. We overcame the reality that the Ku Klux Klan was founded in our family’s hometown, Pulaski, Tennessee, on December 24, 1865. Our great-grandfather, Ezra Clack, worked to buy our land and pass it on, as we were descendants from slaves with Scottish roots, African roots, and Portuguese roots - a rich culture with many stories to tell.  Black History Month allows me to celebrate the richness of my culture with family, friends, and colleagues so that they can learn more about me, and my family’s journey from slavery to freedom.

My personal and professional business is to share my appreciation for my culture, heritage, my food, my music, and my spirit. I also recognize that in February 2021, my mother succumbed to COVID-19 and became an ancestor to watch over me. She was an educator, historian, and entrepreneur. She created a Black History curriculum for the Chicago Public Schools to supplement the existing lesson plans. The Board of Education was so impressed with her curricula that they used her program to partner with local travel agencies to create African American Underground Railroad Tours from Chicago to New York, and New York through Canada. It is no surprise that I am an instructional designer and consultant to the core because it is a part of my legacy. My father was a Navy veteran and Chicago Police officer. His sister, Mary Williams Proctor, was the owner of Mary’s Soul Food restaurant on the South Side of Chicago. This was a family business, and Aunt Mary fed the souls of so many for years until she retired and returned home to Mississippi to live on our family’s one hundred acres with her children and grandchildren. There are three generations currently living on our family land in Mississippi. There is one generation, mine, maintaining our home and ten acres of land in Pulaski, Tennessee.

What does Black History Month mean to me? It is a special time of self-reflection of who I am, what I do, and how I do it. It is a time of respect, remembrance, recognition, and celebration of the challenges that my people have overcome, and most importantly the significant contributions and rich legacy that African American and African people have made in my country, the United States of America.