Harriet Tubman's Lantern

[Laurels]

((Emeka "Meka" Gibson continued from Room 702: I Hope The Breakfasts Are Free))

"Thank you," Meka shouted back to the waitress as he walked out of the restaurant.

He hummed a bit to himself as he stepped back into the street. That had been quite a good dinner. It had taken him the whole week, but he managed to get to the famous Ben's Chili Bowl. He had spent most of his last day in DC walking around the Howard University area of town. It was actually pretty cool. It had a lot of African-American history and culture, as well as being one of the more LGBT-friendly parts of town. He may not have gotten into Howard, but he could always try to go there to graduate school. Not that he was upset getting into Duke, but he could see himself getting into the Howard scene easily, so he'd have to consider it a possibility someday.

Still, while he was walking around, he came across Ben's Chili Bowl. The restaurant was supposed to be a DC staple that would be turning 60 years old in 2018. That was pretty impressive, and even though Meka wasn't the biggest fan of chili, he figured it was worth it to try some at what was supposed to be one of the best chili places in the country. Sure enough, it was really good chili, and the atmosphere was exactly what Meka had hoped for with such a famed establishment.

The sun was starting to go down, so he'd have to get back to the hotel soon. The metro station was across the street, so he could easily cross over and hop on the next train heading the way of the hotel. Meka looked around. The restaurant was located in the middle of the block, so he'd have to pick a direction and head for the corner, cause like hell was he going to jaywalk in a major city. He decided to walk to the corner past the old theatre next to the restaurant. The theatre looked pretty cool too, even if it looked like it had a creepy large replica of Abe Lincoln's head in one of the windows.

Meka began to walk towards the theatre when he saw some people taking pictures of the restaurant. He looked over his shoulder, wondering if there was a good angle to take pictures of the sign or something. It was then he saw the beautiful afro'd glory of Prince on the wall. Meka raised an eyebrow and paused.

"Wait, what?"

He turned around and looked. He didn't see it before since he came from the other direction, but painted on the wall along Ben's was a large, colorful mural. He could see Prince pointing back at him while wearing one of his stylish purple suits. Meka chuckled a bit. He peered down the alley and could see the mural was covered in portraits of famous African Americans.

"Oh, awesome."

Meka took out his phone and quickly began taking pictures. He moved down the alley trying to get portrait shots of each person on the wall. He could see Dave Chapelle holding a microphone, Roberta Flack singing one of her classics, and Taraji P. Henson in her best Cookie Lyon fur. They all looked so cool painted on the wall, so Meka made sure to get as many pictures as he could. He was sure his parents would appreciate them. Some of the figures looked to be local personalities, so he'd have to look them up later to see who they are and why they'd be on the wall.

As he walked back to the street, he then realized that he missed one person. Above Prince was a woman holding a lantern, her shawl billowing in the wind. He was so distracted by Prince he almost missed her. He stared at her for a few extra seconds. Sure enough, it had to be Harriet Tubman. Meka always admired Tubman; how could anyone not? Her story and her actions were some of the bravest and most humanitarian in American history. Of course she'd have to be on the wall.

Meka smiled and made sure to take extra pictures of Miss Tubman.

"Thanks," he said to her picture.

He turned away and made his way back towards the metro station. Something about seeing all those famous people on the wall got him stirred. He'd have to get some words down as quickly as possible. This trip reminded him so much of how proud he was to be a black man in America, even if America didn't really like black men that much. From the African American History Museum to Howard University to Ben's Chili Bowl, there was a lot of words and thoughts brought out from this trip that were now mixing around in his mind that he'd have to put to paper. Starting with the image of Harriet Tubman he just saw.

"Harriet Tubman raises her lantern. Harriet Tubman holds a lantern. Harriet raises a lantern," he began to mutter to himself as he crossed the street corner and headed down into the metro. He'd have plenty of time to work this out.

((Emeka "Meka" Gibson continued in V7))