Nationally renowned journalist Vernon Jarrett spoke at the Carl Sandburg Auditorium Monday about the triumphs of the ordinary black person.

Jarrett’s presentation focused on the ordinary human being. He referred to the period when blacks were slaves, and he tried to convey to the audience the thoughts that were going through blacks’ minds during that time.

He described what white people thought of blacks at that time. “Black children were referred to as litters,” he said. Many slaves were branded for identification purposes or for punishment.

Jarrett said slavemasters controlled slaves through Christianity. “There was always a white minister preaching to the slaves saying, ‘God wanted you to be slaves,'” he said. Ministers would tell the slaves that God was watching them, and if the slaves wanted to run away, God would see them and that was bad.

“In the (United States) Constitution, there was a clause saying that blacks were considered three-fifths of a person,” Jarrett said.

He called all the things that white people were doing to slaves a “mind game.”

He quoted abolitionist Frederick Douglass by saying, “If you can determine a man’s thinking, you don’t have to worry about his actions.”

Jarrett recollected his memories of his childhood in which he frequently encountered racism. He said he worked in a home as a waiter and house cleaner, and the lady of the house expected blacks to act in a certain way.

He said the lady of the house would leave cash around the house on purpose to see if he would steal it. When he found the money and returned it to her, she became highly upset. When a black maid working in the house stole the money, it reinforced the lady’s prejudices of black people.

Jarrett said told the audience they all have the potential to be scholars, and he urged them to try their best to achieve this goal. He said that their ancestors gave up too much for them not to do their best.

Jarrett said, “Some of our ancestors in our own families could not read or write but still were able to advance their children.”

Jarrett works at the Chicago Sun-Times.

Eric Griggs, assistant commissioner of Chicago aviation, was scheduled to speak with Jarrett, but was unable to attend due to bad weather.