The origin of Memorial Day trace back to 1865 when freed slaves started a tradition to honor fallen Union soldiers and to celebrate emancipation and commemorate those who died for that cause. ❤️🖤💚🫶🏼 In 1865, black people in Charleston, South Carolina, held a series of memorials & rituals to honor unnamed fallen Union soldiers and celebrate the struggle against slavery. One of the largest memorial took place on May 1st 1865. ❤️🖤💚🫶🏼 As the civil war ended, confederates had converted the city’s Washington Race Course & Jockey Club into an outdoor prison. Union captives were kept in horrid conditions and at least 257 died of disease and were quickly buried in a mass grave behind the grandstand. ❤️🖤💚🫶🏼 After the Confederate evacuation of Charleston, black workmen went to the mass grave site, reburied the Union dead properly & built a high fence around the cemetery. ❤️🖤💚🫶🏼 The freed black people, who then, in cooperation with white missionaries and teachers, staged a parade of 10,000 on the track. The procession was led by 3,000 black schoolchildren carrying armloads of roses and singing the Union marching song “John Brown’s Body.” ❤️🖤💚🫶🏼 Several hundreds of black women followed with baskets of flowers, wreaths & crosses. Then came black men marching in, followed by contingents of Union infantrymen. Within the cemetery black children’s choir sang before a series of black ministers read from the Bible. ❤️🖤💚🫶🏼 After the dedication, the crowd dispersed into the infield and did what many of us do on Memorial Day: enjoyed picnics, listened to speeches and watched soldiers drill ❤️🖤💚🫶🏼 Among the full brigade of Union infantrymen participating were the famous 54th Massachusetts and the 34th and 104th United States Colored Troops, who performed a special double-columned march around the gravesite. #blackexcellence ❤️🖤💚🫶🏼 #MemorialDay
In 2001, I received my BSW degree from Ramapo College of New Jersey with a double minor in Public Policy and African American Studies afterwards I entered the MSW program with Advanced Standing at Yeshiva University. In 2004, I received my Master's in Social Work degree and my PhD in Social Welfare in 2022 from Yeshiva University-Wurzweiler School of Social Work. The research study topic was "The Phenomenological Exploration of Academic Re-engagement for High School Completion" The qualitative method was used to examine students who leave high school before graduation and choose service-learning for high school completion.
Professionally, I have credentials as a School Social Worker, Supervision in Field Instruction (SIFI), Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW), Licensed Clinical Alcohol and Drug Counselor (LCADC), Master Addiction Counselor (MAC) and Approved Clinical Supervisor (ACS).
My practice experience has been in the areas of substance abuse with/without medication assistance, mental health, and education/special education. Currently, I am a Program Coordinator, Adjunct Professor, and Community Advocate, Activist, and Organizer, Founder/Executive Director of Balm In Gilead Community Services, Inc, a non-profit organization in the City of Newark, and Chief Executive Officer of Making Connections Professional Services LLC.
My professional goal is to formulate and implement policy to address the systemic issues related to racism, poverty, education, violence, and health care. Also, advocate and articulate the negative effect of those issues to decision-makers for providing a better understanding of the impact/outcome of those decisions upon individuals, families, and communities that are underserved, under-resourced, marginalized, and disenfranchised. I am a member of the finest organization, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.
#advocate #activist #organizer who talks about #love #wellness #antiviolence #wellbeing #socialwork #mentalhealth #education #health #antiracism #poverty
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