Photo by Christopher Quirk

Therapist and writer Sarah O’Neal Rush spoke Tuesday about how history has influenced her path in life.

Sarah O’Neal Rush, great-granddaughter of Booker T. Washington and alumna of College of Alameda, was the main feature at her alma mater’s first event celebrating Black History Month.

Professor of English Composition Wanda Sabir performed a libation at the beginning of the festivities. In an act meant to invoke the spirits of the dead, Sabir said the name of a deceased person who was influential in her life, poured some water out onto soil and said ashay, meaning, Sabir said, “may the words have power.” Washington’s memory was later invoked in greater detail by Rush’s speech, which focused on her personal history. She spoke of early troubles, including her father leaving her and her mother, giving birth to a son at 16 and being in an emotionally and sometimes physically abusive relationship.

These problems then resulted in an adulthood in which, Rush said, “I held myself captive with my own self-limiting thoughts.”

Discovering the significance of her bloodline connection to Washington, she said, changed her life.

On a visit to Tuskegee University, she was so impressed with the historic facilities and by the reactions of people to her being a descendent of Washington that she decided to change her life.

After that trip, she read Washington’s Up From Slavery for the first time and went back to school to earn two master’s degrees. She began working as a family therapist and later, as an inspirational speaker. She plans on launching a nonprofit, the Booker T. Washington Empowerment Network, within the calendar year.

The inspirational talk was the beginning of a series of events at the College of Alameda focused on the transition from slavery to freedom in historical and contemporary societies. Upcoming events include a lecture by a woman living with AIDS on Feb. 13, a literary salon for African-American writers on Feb. 20 and a performance by a jazz band on Feb. 27. All events will be held at the College of Alameda student center.

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