“Two things fill the mind with ever-increasing wonder and awe. The more often and the more intensely the mind of thought is drawn to them: the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me.”

—Immanuel Kant



E pluribus unum is a motto found on the Great Seal of the United States. E pluribus unum is Latin for “Out of Many, One.”

This motto adopted by the United States in 1782 is still a work in progress. We as a nation have not always lived up to this ideal but it is truly American to try.

This past Saturday, my wife, Susan, and I were invited to the 90th birthday celebration for Mrs. Beatrice Green. Anyone who knows Mrs. Green is aware that she is an inspirational woman. She and her husband, Reverent O.W. Green, were the pillars of the Civil Rights Movement in Pell City and St. Clair County. Mrs. Green has given her life to the betterment of the people of this area. As an educator and civil rights leader, her legacy can be found in the progress of our county.

It is perhaps unfathomable for young people today to realize that only a few short years ago, by law, there where two Americas. Under the United States Supreme Court decision known as Plessy v. Ferguson, the court upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation even in public accommodations under the doctrine of “separate but equal.”

This irrational law was overturned in 1954 with the Supreme Court’s ruling in Brown v. Board of Education. In this landmark decision, the United States Supreme Court overturned its earlier rulings going back to Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896, by declaring that state laws that established separate public schools for black and white students denied black children equal educational opportunities. Handed down on May 17, 1954, the Court’s unanimous (9-0) decision stated, “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.” As a result, de jure racial segregation was ruled a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. This victory was a part of a moral momentum that led the way for integration and the civil rights movement.

With enough force, moral imperatives, like water, will overcome all obstacles. The great lesson in water is that it will always find a way to conquer all barriers. Water will go over, go around or wear down all impediments.

People like Mrs. Green are like that, they are the over comers. They are the ones who with selfless determination change the course of other’s lives.

My mother owned a restaurant back in days of Brown v Board of Education. There is a family story of how her restaurant became integrated. It seems a group of men came to my mother and warned her against serving African-American’s in her café. She politely listened to what they had to say and then, after a few moments, she asked the men to sit down and have some pie and coffee. After the men had finished their desert and coffee my mom asked them how they enjoyed it?

They all agreed that is was very good. At that she said, “That pie you just ate was cooked by a very fine black lady. She made it with her two hands. I can assure you that none of you will die from her cooking. So, in reply to your warning, I have to tell you if she is good enough to cook here, she is good enough to eat her. If people come in the front door with money or the back door I will not turn a single one away. I want to thank you all for helping me to see this thing clearly. Color does matter and from now on I will see only the color green and if they have money that is green, they can sit and be served.”

Our county has struggled with race relations perhaps more than any other single issue. While we have come a long way since the days of “separate but equal” we still have a distance of grace to go.

If as a whole we could remember the goodness of Mrs. Green, let her example guide our thoughts and action then we will as a county draw closer to our founding ideals of E pluribus unum.