a3Genealogy: The Invisible Staircase: Martin Luther King

Monday, January 20, 2025

The Invisible Staircase: Martin Luther King

Quote Martin Luther King, Jr.

The Invisible Staircase
Let's honor Martin Luther King! Have you thought about the impact Martin Luther King has on family research? In his writings he actually gives us a great view of the social impact of our ancestors living in America.

Be A Pioneer
Let it be known that as an ex-executive in corporate America, my interest in Martin Luther King was not so much his “I Had A Dream” speech, but was engulfed in his use of the “Invisible Staircase.” It is here that I stress a basic mantra: the problem is people confuse what is hard with what is impossible. I can’t count the times I have had to bat down perceived obstacles. Just recently I wrote an eye-opening piece about about how I have chosen to share the impact of America's past.

Read this: So I Will Share

The Invisible Staircase MLK Quote?
“Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.” It is from the resistance for change that The Invisible Staircase: Know Thyself” presentation was created as well as the So, I Will Share piece above. Maybe if we make it personal, and peek at our own ancestors' invisible staircase we will be able to conjure up the courage to make change.

What does this have to do with genealogy? Oh, so much! Our paths today share the same struggles, fears, and triumphs of our ancestors. It is through every first step struggle, not know the end result, that we move the needle. This applies to our life, our businesses, or any new endeavors; not just genealogy research. It also applies to our ancestors' life - those first steps, as we saw even in the early 1960's were brutal. The first steps we saw pre 1860 were brutal. But our ancestors took the first step.

I purposely weave The Invisible Staircase: Know Thyself with examples of Martin Luther King’s quotes and the courage of our ancestors:

Did your ancestors leave the cotton fields to explore the industrial northeast or Midwest?
Did your ancestors choose to fight for a country in hopes for freedom? Or, naturalization? Or, to defend a country that questioned their ability of constitutional rights, or the legality of their right to citizenship?
Did your ancestors follow a path to settle unexplored lands in the west of a vast country?

And this is not just about one continent. Think about it.

Did your ancestors willingly leave family and friends behind in a country across great waters?

The list is endless. My ancestors sold their land in North Carolina and Tennessee to settle in the middle of Kansas on unimproved lands. A new start, leaving family and friends behind in hopes of the American Dream. They traveled with a group of 52 members of their extended family. But,they had no assurance of what western Kansas would offer them in the 1880s? This had to be a leap of faith…just take the first step - MLK would say decades later. Most Kansans don’t know where Comanche and Harper counties lie now!

Ancestors Who Worked Outside of the Box

You Are A Pioneer, Kathleen Brandt

This is the working outside of the box theory in Corporate America. It is the spirit of the USA entrepreneur; the newly settled immigrant; the uncomfortable change of a political party every four or eight years; the acceptance of a new job, a new location, or the reevaluation of “old comforts.” Let's ask ourselves "Does the old way still serve your purpose?" Our ancestors asked that question.

Based on America's settlements, migratory patterns, and social growth, we must think that the majority of our ancestors were willing to take that first step.

Regardless of the circumstance, like our ancestors, we must walk boldly toward new endeavors, or through uninvited experiences. And, Martin Luther King gave us the first step in the quote itself: “Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.”

Like our ancestors, we must forge along through the steps of a winding staircase before us. For me it’s simple. Where faith begins, the staircase holds at least the following components: