Durham VA Health Care System
Black History Month Program
Navy Veteran Deborah Daye was the keynote speaker at Durham VA Medical Center Black History Month Program.
Navy Veteran Deborah Daye was the keynote speaker at Durham VA Medical Center Black History Month Program held Feb. 14 in the medical center chapel. The event was open to employees and Veterans.
Prefacing her remarks by saying Black History Month means celebrating diversity and recognizing the accomplishments of all Americans who helped create and sustain our great nation, guest speaker Daye told the audience, “You don’t have to be famous to be part of history – any history. The people we live, work, and play with deserve homage and that becomes our unique history and shapes our perspective every day. Everyone has a story!”
She then shared her story, beginning with an anecdote about being one of a handful of black children chosen to desegregate previously all-white schools in her hometown in Gaston County, N.C. in the spring of 1965. She then shared some examples of how African Americans have been making their mark on the fabric of North Carolina, and indeed the nation’s history, since the 16th century. She told the audience about Fayetteville’s Hiram Revels, the first black member of the U.S. Congress, Raleigh’s Shaw University, the first Historically Black College or University in the South and Durham’s North Carolina Mutual Insurance Company, one of the oldest black owned businesses in the country.
“From slavery to freedom, African American have been making an impact on the state as well as the nation’s politics, education, businesses, armed forces, arts and sports,” the benefits specialist in Duke Human Resources said.
A longtime member of the Navy Reserve following four years active duty from 1983-1987, Daye then spoke about her “legacy of service to our country,” something she said began long before she was born when her 19-year-old uncle joined the Army on Dec. 7, 1941. Since that time her family members have served in the U.S. armed forces for about 70 years, spanning conflicts from World War II to Vietnam to present day. As a reservist, she completed two tours in the Middle East during Operation Enduring Freedom.
Daye said her mother’s greatest claim was that three of her four children served in the military and she would not have had it any other way.
“Throughout the month of February people will gather to celebrate Black History Month, to remember, to honor and to pay homage to all the people, famous and not so famous, who have had a part in making our history what is today,” Daye said. “It is important to remember because without a past you have no future. “ I share with you a quote of Dr. King, ‘You only need a heart full of grace, and a soul generated by love, to accept and share your heritage.’”
