By Dr. Betty Holley, Contributing Writer
Not only are we experiencing a health crisis brought on by COVID-19, but also there is a fight to end democracy as we know it. As African Americans and people of color, our right to vote is being threatened at this very moment. As we remember that horrible day, January 6, 2021, the day that thousands of domestic terrorists descended on the nation’s capitol building and violently disrupted the Electoral College count. We cannot ignore members of Congress who are presently fueling false information to undermine the election results of the presential election in favor of President Joe Biden. Our democracy, at this moment, is hanging in the balance. Who will help save our democracy?
During the Civil War, pioneering African Americans stepped forth to help save the Union. These Black heroes of the Civil War are often overlooked for their contributions. For example, Alexander Augusta, a Virginia native, educated as a physician in Canada, wrote President Lincoln in 1863 offering his expertise. He was the first Black commissioned medic to serve in the Union Army and the highest-ranking Black officer. In 1869, Augusta joined Howard University as the nation’s first Black professor of medicine. Susie King Taylor, as a child in Georgia, learned to read and write in secrecy before escaping from slavery in 1862 with the help of her uncle. At 14, she joined one of the Union Army’s first Black regiments and served as a nurse, cook, and launderer. She taught formerly enslaved soldiers to read. After the war, she opened a school for formerly enslaved Black people’s children. Born in bondage in North Carolina, Abraham Galloway escaped at 19 in the cargo hold of a northbound ship but returned to the South se
