The Quiet Activist

"Prejudices, it is well known, are most difficult to eradicate from the heart whose soil has never been loosened or fertilised by education: they grow there, firm as weeds among stones."

- Charlotte Brontë -

Most of us can remember where we were or what we were doing when a major historical event happened. I remember huddling around a flat screen t.v. with others on my college campus the day the first African American was inaugurated as president of the United States. Regardless of your political affiliation (Democrat, Republican, or somewhere in-between), it is truly amazing to think that a little over 40 years prior to that inauguration day in January of 2009, a man named Martin Luther King, Jr., the leader of a movement trying eradicate the discrimination of African Americans in our country, was assassinated. That day was April 4, 1968 and my grandpa, Gene Fasbinder, clearly remembers where he was and what he was doing.

My grandpa had earned a degree in electrical engineering and was working as a supervisor at Philco Ford in Houston, Texas during this time frame. Inspired by the urging of a guest pastor, Rev. Earl Allen, at church one Sunday to help under-served minorities in the community, my grandpa decided to contribute by sharing his knowledge of computers.

My grandpa (bottom right) featured in an article

On the day of MLK's assassination, my grandpa was with Rev. Earl Allen in downtown Houston developing computer classes designed to help the under-served minorities in his community obtain meaningful jobs. The instructors would include my grandpa as well as his co-workers from Philco Ford who volunteered as well. The courses included computer coding and keypunch. A job fair was later held which allowed the graduates of these classes to be interviewed by prospective employers in the area.

My grandpa (left) with Rev. Earl Allen to his left

My grandpa later received a community service award from his company for his contribution as it reflected the goal set by Henry Ford II who stated, "Our goal is to do all we realistically can to give people who have been held back by prejudice and poverty a chance to earn a decent life." I've always joked with my grandpa that it never made sense that I was his granddaughter because he's an engineer and I always used to cry over my math and science homework. However, this story of my grandpa during the civil rights movement has shown me where I must have inherited my interest in social work!

Receiving a community service award by the director of Philco Ford of Houston