HOLYOKE — For the Rev. Theresa Temple, a pastor at the First Baptist Church in Holyoke, growing up as an African American in the segregated South meant there was also a segregated view of history.

“There were two histories – the history you learned in school and the history you learned around the kitchen table,” said Temple, who grew up in Richmond, Virginia, before moving to Connecticut and then later to Massachusetts. “We must have that kitchen room table talk. We must tell our children, don’t be ashamed of who you are, because God made you as such.” 

Temple provided the benediction and served as a guest speaker at a commemorative breakfast to honor the legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at the Summit View Banquet House in Holyoke on Friday, the first one held after a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The event was hosted by the Council for Human Understanding, a nonprofit organization that promotes interracial and interfaith relations through educational and humanitarian projects throughout the city. The organization has held a breakfast in honor of King’s memory on the Friday before his birthday since its inception in 1983, according to Gina Nelson the organization’s vice president. 

After an invocation by the Rev. Joel Martinez of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, guests viewed a video titled “Ashes to Ashes,” about the work of Dr. Shirley Jackson Whitaker, a nephrologist and artist based in Amherst, and her efforts to hold a funeral service for African American victims of lynching. That funeral service was held at St. John’s Congregational Church in Springfield in 2016.

Natalia Muñoz, who directed the video, spoke about her experiences as a woman of color living in the United States. 

“When I first moved to this country from Puerto Rico for my last year of high school, I had the option to take history of someplace in Europe, or take ‘minority history'. That’s how it was called here,” she said. “My mother told me, we are not a minority. Don’t let anyone call you a minority because in your mind it works to make you less than.” 

Whitaker also served as the event’s guest speaker, and spoke about the importance of not forgetting the country’s troubled racial past. She called on her fellow Black Americans to take pride in themselves and their history. She said it was not only important to remember the work of King, but also of figures like Frederick Douglass, who was born a slave and later became one of the most prominent abolitionists and public speakers in the nation. 

“We have been educated, this country has been educated, to look at me and my people as being inferior, that we have very little to offer,” she said. “Frederick Douglass says, don’t buy that. Don’t accept that. He proved that given the opportunity, he did extremely well.”

In her speech, Whitaker also criticized efforts to remove or restrict the teaching of racial issues in schools. Several states, such as Idaho, New Hampshire and Florida have either passed legislation or have had actions approved by the board of education that puts limits on the teaching of race, according to the Washington Post. 

“Don’t let them destroy history,” Whitaker said. “It may not be tasteful, but it is a pill we all got to swallow.” 

The event ended with all attendees joining hands together to sing the gospel hymn “We Shall Overcome,” a song known for its usage in the civil rights movement. 

Members of the Holyoke community who took part in the breakfast included Holyoke Mayor Joshua Garcia, Holyoke Community College President Christina Royal, and state Rep. Patricia Duffy. For Garcia, who took office in 2021, it was his first time attending the event. 

“I often describe Holyoke as a place of hope for people who are down on their luck or navigating the challenges ahead, and oftentimes those challenges can be social determinants,” Garcia said. “It’s always important to remember the efforts of leaders before us like Dr. Martin Luther King, the work that they’ve done for the very values of what we’re hearing today.” 

Alexander MacDougall can be reached at amacdougall@gazettenet.com.

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