Bookmarked Peace
Because our country’s current troubles remind me of very scary childhood challenges, I searched my Great Migration Library to review inspirational people and times.
“When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.” – Jimi Hendrix
1960s Milestones
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is signed into law, ending segregation in public places and schools.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his I Have a Dream speech at the 1963 March on Washington.
Growing up as the first generation of my parent’s courageous Great Migration move from the Gulf Coast to a midwestern college town, Mom and Dad lovingly referred to their four children as “little soldiers of integration.”
Spending my formative years negotiating life in classrooms, playgrounds, clubs, libraries and retail stores dominated by white people, was a challenge that didn’t go unnoticed by our dad, a Tuskegee grad (and senior class president) who had studied under George Washington Carver before WWII.
Looking back, I’m certain my dad, a high school guidance counselor, purposely integrated two non-negotiable daily readings for his children.
1st Reading:
“How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in your life you will have been all of these.” -George Washington Carver
Desiderata
(desirable/essential actions)
Actor Morgan Freeman described Max Ehrmann’s poem, Desiderata, as personally life changing during a 2012 Oprah Winfrey Master Class interview for subscribers: “I had never heard of it, but…I will never forget.…You really should go and read it. Trust me—it will be worth it.”
I remember appreciating Desiderata as a first grader. I still do—you will understand if you read it aloud now.
2nd Reading:
Desiderata
Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexations to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment, it is as perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be. And whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.
This Week’s Great Migration Library Q & A:
This week’s Question: After passage by Congress, which American president signed the historic (and long overdue) Civil Rights Act of 1964?
Answer to last week’s Question: Based on the novel by Fanny Flagg, what is the name of the cafe associated with the 1991 film, Fried Green Tomatoes? Answer: The Whistle Stop Cafe.
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The Great Migration Library’s highlighted links often connect you to more information, books at AbeBooks, or other independent booksellers, available at the time of our posting. Note: Before selecting from a link, sort through available offerings for desired condition; new or used.
Bookmarks
The African American Century: How Black Americans Have Shaped Our Country by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Cornel West (The Free Press, 2000).
Woodstock FAQ: All That’s Left to Know About the Fabled Garden by Thomas Edward Harkin (Backbeat, 2019).
Exploring America in the 1960s: Our Voices Will Be Heard (Grades 6-8) by Molly Sandling & Kimberley Chandler (Routledge, 2014).
The 60s: The Story of a Decade by The New Yorker Magazine (Modern Living, 2017).
Jimi Hendrix (Johnny Allen Hendrix) (1942-1970) Birthday: November 27 Photo source: Hendrix in Stockholm, Sweden, Wikimedia commons, 1967.
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Please note: I often reference Wikipedia.com as a second source for dates, locations and other information.
Join the Book Search
Please join in my continued search for information regarding From the Plantation to the Doctor’s Office by Dr. H. Roger Williams, published in the mid-1920s. Contact this great-granddaughter with any tips (from libraries, media archives, elders and more — including psychic readers).
© 2026 Donna Battle Pierce and Great-Migrations.com. All photo rights reserved by Battle Family Archives.