WEST BETHESDA, Md. –
Black migration was the theme for Black History Month in 2019, specifically the continuous movement of African-Americans from the South to the industrialized North and beyond. According to Dr. Stephanie Hampton Credle, director of Naval Sea Systems Command’s Equal Employment Opportunity Office, migrating is not only about moving from one physical place to another, but also about changing a mindset. Credle was the guest speaker at Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division in West Bethesda, Maryland, on Feb. 26 during the Black History Month and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. combined observance.
Beginning in the early 20th century, industrial leaders and entrepreneurs relocated from the farm to the city. This was not simply a move to a place of comfort; they moved for opportunity and they moved for freedom, guided by the idea that something existed somewhere that was better for them than where they were.
Credle’s family has their own story of migration. She credits one of her cousins with the beginning of her family’s migration from rural North Carolina to Baltimore. That cousin got off the train in Maryland, got married and bought a three-story house. Credle said that she and that house served as the “North Star” for her family.
“I attribute where I am now to that cousin. Our family members caught hope. If she could make it, they could make it, too. Migrations happen, I am a child of migration. Human migration is the movement in which people decide that they are willing to risk, that they are willing to step out into the unknown in hopes of a better future,” Credle said.
The ultimate goal of migration is growth: “Your beginnings are not what define you. What defines you is what you do after you decide that where I am is not really where I want to be,” Credle said. “I just want to honor the resilience of the people who made the migration and inspired others to.”
Credle said that migrations are for everybody, that there is something that everyone can learn from the history of the courageous black migration. She encouraged people to not stay in jobs that aren’t challenging, to keep progression at the forefront and to always strive for the best.
In his fourth and final book, “Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?” Nobel Peace Prize laureate and social justice campaigner Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. questioned what needed to happen after the civil rights movement and the Voting Rights Act was passed: “Where do we go from here? Is it going to be chaos or is it going to be community?” He did not give any choices in between.
“I believe that there is inherent in every human life that there are seeds of greatness,” Credle said. “It is our responsibility to mine that out. First of all, for ourselves, that we will not allow ourselves to get the best. We have to pursue that. Dr. King had great visions but he was also willing to make great sacrifices. Migration is not easy. It requires courage, but it is necessary. We have to be ever-learning and we have the obligation that once you have arrived, it is your duty to reach back and pave the way for someone else.”
“Unless we wholly participate, unless we wholly migrate together, unless we lose the tendency to be separate, unless we lose the tendency to not come together, then we will not be successful. Every one of us needs to migrate: migrating your thinking, migrating your openness to inclusion, migrating your ability to understand what levels you can aspire to. Don’t just settle to where you are, but migrate to that next level,” Credle said.