Just as a Reminder: I’m in the First Generation to Have Never Known Legalized Segregation.

A reminder that Jim Crow wasn’t that long ago.

Photo by Beth Tate on Unsplash

I was born in a post-Civil Rights-era in South Alabama. My parents were born in segregated hospitals. Even though I’ve known this fact all my life, it still blows my mind. Because I grew up believing I could achieve anything and be anything. If I was born less than 20 years prior, I would be born in a world that forced people who looked like me to serve whites eternally and be grateful for that opportunity.

But in reality, that’s not so hard to imagine. I was alive during the Apartheid. And I was born in a world where folks were still getting used to the idea of integrated spaces and some openly rejected integration well into the 21st century. I was born in a world where black dolls were still hard to find. I was born in a world populated by adults who remember drinking from separate fountains. I was born in a world where being black and having a college degree was rare. My family went from being property to having advanced and professional degrees in three generations. That’s fairly impressive, but that achievement was only made possible by the passage of time. And ultimately, being within the first post-Jim Crow generation means that no one after my generation will remember how difficult…