A recent PBS documentary on President Andrew Jackson fascinated me. Jackson was a strong president who shaped this youth nation. We know his views on slavery and his actions toward Native Americans make my head drop. Who knew that his final words on his deathbed were “Oh do not cry. Be good children, and we shall all meet in Heaven..I want to meet you all, White and Black, in Heaven.”
A slave who was at Jackson bedside asked another slave if she thought he made it into heaven. The slave responded that she could not imagine them keeping him out. I wonder what position or role Jackson thought Blacks would play in heaven. My homeboys would joke that Jackson assumed Blacks would be there since servants would be needed. There is a song from my childhood called “If Heaven ain’t A lot Like Dixie..Then I Don’t Want To Go.” Hank Williams Jr. got me thinking but I better leave that alone.
On his deathbed, General Stonewall Jackson’s last words were “Let us cross over the river, and rest under the shade of the trees.” After the battles of this life, rest can be sweet relief.
One more Jackson comes to mind, Mrs. Mahalia Jackson’s classic “Trouble of the World” from the film Imitation of Life. Mrs. Jackson is the Queen of Gospel music but some people don’t know that she prompted Dr. Martin Luther King to end his March on Washington speech with parts of a speech she had heard him give in the past. She said, “Tell them about the dream, Martin” and the rest is history.
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