All posts by Kristin

Surprise Birthday Party – Dec. 29, 1991

Advent Calendar, Christmas,
 
ruff draft dec birthday
SURPRISE!
By Tulani Williams
 
On December 29, 1990, Jim Williams and Warren Evans were in for a surprise!  Nikki Evans (Warren’s daughter) and I (Tulani Williams, Jim’s Daughter) planned, with the help of our cousin Jann Shreve and her mother Jan, (Warren’s sister) a surprise birthday party.  We got permission to have it at Hugh and Louis’ house.  They are our great uncles.  Then we began to get ready for the party. First we went into town to buy a few last minute things.  On our way in we passed Warren on his way home. He saw us and stopped to ask where we were going.

 Jan who was driving, answered, “We’re on our way to the store to get some eggs and hamburger buns.”

Warren then said, “Well, could you get me some ‘Stay alive food’.  Some hamburger, fries or chips….you know?” He handed Jan some money and we were on our way.
 
Now we had to go out of our way to get Warrens “stay alive food”.  At Ben Franklin’s (a dime store), we got a few presents and Jann looked at the cards and picked out one that said, “I was going to get you an expensive watch for your birthday:…Then you open it and it said “But at your age time doesn’t matter”. She showed it to her mother and they bought it.
 

After going to the grocery store for Warren, we headed home.  Nikki, Jann and I started mixing up the cake.  When we put the cake into the oven Jann, Nikki and I sat down with Kriss (Jan’s brother) and James (my brother) and started playing Seaga.  We hadn’t got very far when the cake was done and we started the icing.  After we iced the cake, we were going to get Jan to drive us over to Louis’.  I went over to tell my mother (Kristin) and she suggested that we put the cake into a box and drag it over on the sled since the roads were iced over.  So we decided to pull it over on the sled. When we got to Hugh and Louis’ we started decorating the house with balloons, and crepe paper.  We even had a sign that said “HAPPY BIRTHDAY JIM AND WARREN!” that James and Kriss had printed up on the computer.  When we finished decorating, people started to arrive.  We were all brainstorming on how to get Warren to come over.  Louis said that we should tell him that we were having a surprise party for Jim and then…the fire siren went off.  Jim is a volunteer fireman so that meant he had to go to the fire.  But lucky for us it was a false alarm.  Jim arrived a few moments later with Kristin, who knew about the party and brought him over.  We all hid and had the lights out and yelled “SURPRISE!” when he came in.

Gladys called Warren and told him that the washing machine was clogged up.  When Warren finally got there we were in a dimly lit house.  He came in talking about “With all these strong backs why… ” but then we yelled “SURPRISE!” and we sat down to have cake.
 
See Happy Birthday to All! and Happy Birthday Poppy! for last years birthday stories
 

Fruitcake – 2011

Advent Calendar, Christmas

I have been making fruitcake using the recipe in my mother’s “Woman’s Home Companion Cook Book” for decades. I like my homemade fruitcake but can’t say the same for the blah stuff from the grocery store. This year’s fruitcakes are still soaking up the brandy.  I will finish making them as soon as I get over this horrible cough I’ve come down with.  To see last year’s photo of me up to my elbows in candied fruit and nuts, go to Yay For Fruitcake!

Orange and lemon peels after being candied.
Orange and lemon peels after being candied.
Fruit and nuts aging with brandy.
Fruit and nuts aging with brandy.
 

Christmas Memories by Juanita Cleage Martin

Advent Calendar, Christmas,

juanitaonporch

Christmas and Early  Childhood
by Juanita Cleage Martin
From the book “Memories to Memoirs”

Our Christmas trees were cedar instead of pine.  A bunch of kids would go together a few days before Christmas looking for Christmas trees.  We would sometimes find them along the roadsides, but our special place was at Keith’s, across from Community Hospital before Community Hospital.   We always found a good shapely tree in that section.  I guess we didn’t realize we should ask someone.  Nobody bothered, as we never seen anyone to ask.  Our decoration was ropes of tinsel, and we often strung popcorn and cotton.

My favorite toy was a big doll.  In our day, dolls were stuffed with sawdust, and their heads and arms were made of plastic, not like plastic of today.   I remember I left it outside and the rain ruined it and  made puffed splotches like blisters.   I cried, as I dearly loved this doll.  My sister Bea was the doctor.  She gathered wild purple poke berries and covered the places.  I continued to carry and play with it until it finally tore to pieces.


*********************
Juanita Cleage Martin was the daughter of my grandfather, Albert Cleage’s brother, Charles Edward Cleage.  They lived in Athens Tennessee.  Juanita was born February 11, 1922. I don’t know how old she was when she got the doll for Christmas but This Cuddles doll was made from 1926 through 1928 to 1940 and sold through the Sears Catalog.  Maybe this was the doll she got for Christmas. The body was cloth while the face and limbs were “composition” which was made by mixing sawdust and glue and compressing them in a mold. Composition does not react well to water.  I remember a doll sort of like this that was left over from my mother and her sister’s childhood. I wonder what happened to them. 

1928-1940 Cuddles or Sally-kins, 14-27″ tall, composition head, arms, legs (some limbs are rubber), cloth kapok stuffed body, molded hair, tin flirty sleep eyes, with lashes, open mouth with upper & lower teeth, tongue, mama crier, wore an organdy dress, bonnet and rubber panties, (Little Sister has flannel diapers).  Made by Ideal.


 For more about Juanita and her family – Mattie and children and Memories to Memoir, Chapter Two.

 

Pearl Reed Cleage with baby Henry

Cleages, sepia saturday,

Here is my Uncle Henry Cleage with his adoring mother, Pearl. Henry was born March 22, 1916, the third of my grandparents 7 children.  He always told us his nickname was “Happy”.  He looks pretty happy here. Henry grew up to be an attorney, a printer, an editor, a writer, a farmer and a philosopher.  Not in that particular order.  He lived until 1996, when he died from cancer.

Click  the logo for more photographs of mother’s and children and other exciting subjects. –>

Blog Caroling – We Three Kings

Christmas
This year I once again offer We Three Kings as my contribution to footnoteMaven’s Blog Caroling Event 2011. This year I chose a rap version done by dc talk in 1994. This carol was written by John Henry Hopkins in 1857 and first preformed in 1863 in New York City.  To hear last years Hang Drum version click HERE.


We Three Kings 
Lyrics from dc talk’s version

Frankincense to offer, have i 
And incense owned, a deity nigh 
Prayer and praising, all men raising 
You can hear it pealing through the river and sky 


(chorus) 
We three kings of orient are 
Bearing gifts we traveled so far 
Field and fountain, moor and mountain 
Following yonder star 


Born a king on bethlehem’s plain 
Gold I bring to crown him again 
King forever, ceasing never 
Over us all to reign 


Ooh, star of wonder 
Star of night 
Star with royal beauty bright 
Westward leading, still proceeding 
Guide us to thy perfect light 


Guide us to the light, father 
Guide us to the light [repeat 2x] 


(repeat verse 1) 


(repeat chorus) 


Now we step to a star in the sky 
Gloria, now the whole earth cries 
Allelu, allelu, the people cried 
And brought gifts as a sacrifice 
Three kings and a dream that they had 
We’re three brothers born of different dads 
But together we ride because of that child 
Until the day that we die 


(repeat chorus)

Celebrating Kwanzaa

Advent Calendar, Christmas, ,
"Kwanzaa Table"

The Kwanzaa Table

When I was elementary school age our neighborhood was majority Jewish for several years.  We never celebrated the Jewish holidays but we learned about them.  I remember singing the dreidel song in school and learning about the menorah.

 

We have celebrated Kwanzaa in various ways over the years.  Once again I bring you a reprint from Ruff Draft 1991.  We didn’t celebrate it when I was growing up since it didn’t begin until the late 1960’s.  Our children grew up celebrating either at home or in community celebrations.  At one point we didn’t celebrate Christmas, only Kwanzaa but after the kids started school we gradually added Christmas back into the celebrations.

Kwanzaa

By Ayanna Williams
 

Kwanzaa is an African American holiday started in the U.S.A. in the 1960s.

This year on the last day of Kwanzaa, which was New Years Day, we had a big to-do and invited Henry over.  We dressed up.  Tulani and I in sarongs.  That is material draped around your body and hung over your shoulder.  James and Cabral wore baggy pants and African print shirts.  Jilo and Ife, who were home on winter break, wore long skirts.  All the girls but Jilo, wore geles (head wraps).  Jilo didn’t want to cover her dreadlocks.

When Henry got there we were downstairs in our regular clothes so we ran upstairs and after much losing of skirts and falling off of wraps, we finally went down.  As we went Tulani played the drum, James used the shakare, Cabral strummed the ukelele and I had to use two blocks.  We chanted “Kwanzaa, First Fruits!” as we came. We giggled a little as we went through the kitchen.  Black eye peas, sweet potatoes and rice were simmering on the stove for us to eat directly after the ritual.  When we got to the living room, all the lights were off except one.  By that light we, in turn, read the seven principles in Swahili and their meanings in English.  The introduction was read by Daddy.  Nia/Purpose was read by Henry. Umoja/Unity was read by Tulani.  Kujichagulia/Self determination was read by Ayanna, Ujima/Collective Work and Responsibility by James.  Ujamaa/Cooperative economics by Ife, Kuumba/Creativity by Mommy for Cabral and Imani/Faith by Jilo.

Then we read the meanings explained in plain English that Jilo had written.  After we read the principles and lit all seven candles, Jilo read a story she had written about Kwanzaa with all of the principles included.  We then ushered everybody into the dining room while chanting the principles and their meanings.  Well, that was the plan, but nobody but us kids knew so the adults just sat there and watched us.  So we finally just got up and told them to come to the table.

After dinner Henry told tales about when he was a kid and about his uncles and cousins.  Some how the conversation went from reminiscing to the state of the world today. He and Jilo had quite a discussion that lasted for hours.  At the end Henry went home and we all went to bed.

Ready for a Christmas Party?

Advent Calendar, Cleages,

We didn’t have Christmas parties.  We didn’t have any parties of the kind where you invite people over to socialize. We did gather on holidays and for birthdays but those were family affairs.  However, I did come up with this photograph of my sister Pearl all dressed up for some sort of formal party. We can see it’s Christmas because of the card display on the mantel.  It was the winter of 1966. I wonder what my mother is talking to her about. She looks rather dressed up too. I still have that chair and it’s mate. Today is Pearl’s birthday so I thought it was appropriate to post this photo on several levels. Perhaps Pearl will see this and remember what party she was going to.

My sister wrote this to me about the picture:
“I think this was actually my prom dress. I bought it at Christmas to catch a sale cuz I don’t think the prom was until later. but I do remember this was a pink dress and I LOVED it.”

Remembering 1963

52 weeks of personal history, ,
Week 49.  Historical Events.  Describe a memorable national historical event from your childhood.  How old were you and how did you process this event?  How did it affect your family? 
Me in the upper left corner. News photos from 1963.
In 1963 I was 16 and a junior at Northwestern High School in Detroit.  In the news were pictures of dogs  attacking people who were peacefully demonstrating, high pressure hoses being used on people who were peacefully demonstrating, bombings of homes and churches, people being abused while sitting at lunch counters, people  being arrested. Governor George Wallace of Alabama, stood in the door to block the integration of the University of Alabama. Women were dragged from demonstrations to the paddy wagon. Medgar Evers was murdered in Jackson, MS in front of his home. Four girls were blown up while attending Sunday school in Birmingham, Alabama.   Two teenage boys were killed during the rioting afterwards.  There were two gigantic demonstrations that year, the Detroit Walk to Freedom followed by the March on Washington. Both drew over 100,000. President Kennedy was assassinated. Lee Harvey Oswald was killed, Cassius Clay who had not yet become Muhammad Ali was winning fight after fight. Malcolm X was speaking out and Martin Luther King, Jr was arrested in Birmingham, AL.  Here and there people began to wear their hair in  afros. In Detroit, the Freedom Now Party was seeking petitions to get on the ballot for the 1964 election and  Malcolm X spoke at the Grassroots Conference.
How did all of this affect me and my family?  I was angry but I also felt I was part of the struggle of the black community. I wondered why the federal government didn’t send troops down south to protect people who wanted to vote. I wrote revolutionary poetry. It wasn’t very good poetry. My family talked about everything that was happening. They were publishing the Illustrated News during that time and wrote about changes that had to come and the movement of the struggle from the south to the north and what the differences would be as this happened.

Thanksgiving – 1991, Idlewild, Michigan – Part 2

52 weeks of personal history, Cleages, memories, Williams,

"Idlewild house in winter."
Our Idlewild House

After I wrote my Thanksgiving 1991 post several days ago, I talked to several people about what they remembered. Some remembered nothing. Several others remembered the snow, Zaron with his head wrapped in a towel and the status discussion. Someone remembered it was Christmas but I was lucky enough to have the Ruff Draft article saying it was Thanksgiving.  A reason to keep a journal or a family newsletter.

Yesterday I was reading the post “Had to Walk Home in the Snow” on the blog A Hundred Years Ago. The blog is set up so that it always begins with a diary entry by Helena Muffy in 1911 and is followed by information her granddaughter, Sheryl, has found that relates to the entry.  This entry was about Helena Muffy walking home from church in the snow. Sheryl followed with a weather service report about conditions in that area on just that day!  Sheyl was nice enough to explain to me how I could find the information for Thanksgiving, 1991 in Lake County, Michigan.  I highly recommend this blog.

According to the chart from the National Climatic Data Center it started snowing on Nov. 24 and left us 4 inches. We got another inch on Nov. 25.  By Thanksgiving there were still 3 inches on the ground. By the following Monday the snow had changed to rain and the snow was all gone.

And for my daughter, Jilo, I add these photographs of Pearl in her yellow shirt and Zeke with his head wrapped in a towel.