This Black History Month, we are pleased to highlight Victoria Skinner, a corporate associate in Baltimore. Victoria shares how her grandparents were influential in her life and continue to inspire her.

"A person in Black history who has influenced me and particularly resonates with me is my paternal grandfather, Dr. Daniel T. Henson Skinner. Born in Boston in 1916, my grandfather was one of seven children, one of whom died of polio at a young age. He came of age during the Great Depression in a segregated America. Nevertheless, he was admitted to Harvard, where he graduated magna cum laude in 1938. He later earned a master’s degree from Boston College. He paused his studies to serve as a driver and translator in the segregated military during World War II. He made it back safely and was able to use his GI bill to return to Harvard and complete his Ph.D.

"While working on his Ph.D., he was appointed to the faculty of Morgan State University. He also served as an instructor at other institutions, including at Brandeis University in 1948 — the first 'colored' person to do so. In 1956, he was selected to participate as part of the Fulbright International Exchange Program to teach in Luxembourg for a year, taking my grandmother, father and uncle with him. He taught at Morgan until his retirement in the 1980s and as an adjunct at Coppin State University in the late 1980s.

"I find my grandfather inspirational not because of his degrees or his career but because of his origins. According to him, his grandmother was born into slavery in the 1860s. He would always remind me and my sister that we were the fourth generation since slavery — and I believe this is important because so many people lose sight of just how close slavery is in our history. Despite his family history and in spite of the legal racism that he faced, he was able to press on and accomplish so many things. His history encourages me to keep pushing through adversity and to help others realize their potential and strive for excellence.

"I am also inspired by my maternal grandmother Louise Langston, who was born in Alabama in 1932. I remember sitting with her in 2012 as she proudly told me about how she, at 17, applied for and received a job advertised as 'whites only.' Everyone in her family told her not to do it, but she did it anyway and succeeded. My grandmother may not have had the same academic achievements as my grandfather, but she had the same drive and ambition to challenge the racist status quo and to sustain her family.

"Although legal racism no longer exists in the way that it existed in my grandparents’ lifetime, I understand there are many challenges I may still face as I travel down my current path. But I remain inspired to meet those challenges as they come and to help others as they progress on their journeys."