Our history is a family heirloom

Most families have a box somewhere: old photos, a Bible with names written inside the cover, a deed, a funeral program. Those things matter. But the most valuable heirloom is the story that goes with them.

Carter G. Woodson understood this a century ago. He started Negro History Week in 1926 because he knew a people who don't know their history can be told anything about themselves.

So tell the stories. Write down what your elders remember while they can still tell you. Learn the names of the people who came before you, and teach them to the people coming after. A story told at the kitchen table can outlive a house.