More Than a Word: What My Great-Great-Grandmother Taught Me About Identity

On my paternal side, my great-great-grandmother lived to be 105 years old. One of our last conversations, when she was around 100, still makes me smile.

We were talking about something related to being black, and she stopped me mid-sentence and said, “Honey, we’re not Black. We’re colored.”

Colored people, as she always said.

At the time, it sounded old-fashioned and I debated it with her yet as I got older, I understood exactly what she meant. Colored was how Black Americans of American Descendants of Slavery identified themselves, those brought here on slave ships and born in this country and declared citizens.

She later received the Key to the City of Wellsburg, West Virginia, and that memory has stayed with me ever since.

I think about her often when I attend NAACP events. As a chapter member, it’s important that we continue advocating for all Americans yet, I believe, it’s just as important that we remember the foundation that was laid, the people for whom this organization was first created, and the history that shaped it.

My husband and I attended the MLK Breakfast this morning, and the youth speaker did an incredible job reminding us of that legacy.

As we move forward, may we stay encouraged, stay inspired, and continue doing the work, right where we are, to make a meaningful difference in our communities.

Let’s keep building a better McDonough, together. 🇺🇸🌺

Montina Young Fraiser
Community Advocate | McDonough