July 1958 – Wordless Wednesday
Category Archives: Photographs
Swimming Through the Years
My family enjoyed seeing themselves reading and cooking so much that they asked me to do another. What better topic for a monster collage than swim suits? Here we have my mother, my sister, several cousins, my husband, children and grandchildren swimming in lakes, pools and the Ocean.
For other collage extravaganza’s you might try these:
We Read, We Write, We Print and We Publish
Summer 1949
Father and sons – Atkinson 1952
Here is a photograph that has quite a bit of damage but still, it is one of my favorite pictures of my father. It was taken on the front porch of my grandparents house at 2270 Atkinson. Today would have been my father’s 101 birthday. He has been gone for 12 years.
2270 Atkinson
Celia Rice Cleage Sherman 1855-1930
This post is a combination of information I found through records and memories of my aunts and uncles about their grandmother Celia. She died before I was born so I never had the chance to meet her.
Celia Rice was born in Virginia about 1855. Her father was a member of the Rice family and her mother was enslaved on the Rice plantation. She was brought to Tennessee when she was small. By the time I asked, nobody remembered her mother’s name. She was about ten when freedom came.
My aunt Gladys said that when Celia was a child, she had to walk around in the sun. The masters wife did not want her to be confused with the white children of the family, who she resembled.
On April 23, 1872 Celia Rice and Louis Cleage were married in Athens, McMinn County Tennessee. They moved to Louden County, TN where their five children were born over the next 11 years. Josephine “Josie” was born in 1873. Jacob was born in 1875. Henry was born in 1877. Charles Edward was born in 1879. My grandfather, Albert, was born in 1883. Louis did farm work and Celia did house work. She was unable to read or write.
My uncle Louis said that Lewis C. worked all day for 50 cents. Celia worked all week for 50 cents. He often spent his on good times before he got home. Many nights he spent in jail – drunk – playing the guitar and singing!
The marriage doesn’t seem to have been a happy one and by 1899 they had split up and Celia married Roger William Sherman, a carpenter, in Athens, Tennessee. She was 45 years old. By 1900 oldest daughter, Josie, was married to James Cleage (Different Cleage family, not related but off of the same plantation.), a teacher and they had several children. Jacob was not at home in the 1900 census. Edward, Henry and Albert were at home and all students. Celia could read. She had birthed five children and all five were living and doing well.
After her husband died, Celia lived with her son Edward and his family in Athens, TN for some years and then she moved to Detroit where her other three sons lived.
My uncle Henry said she used to give him an apple every once in awhile and slip him a nickel. He was her favorite. My aunt Gladys says they used to stop by her room sometimes and she would try to show them how to tat and crochet and it was kind of interesting, sitting on her bed, watching.
My Aunt Anna says, Grandma Celia was in Detroit for a while…making the rounds between uncle Henry, uncle Jake and ours….She would get tired of one house and occupants…complain and move to another... there was a Rev. Rice… he was a big shot in the Presbyterian Church… he came to town in a blaze of notoriety….to speak at some church… Granma [Celia] wanted to go…but Daddy wouldn’t hear of it! His name and picture were in the paper…Anna said she saw the paper and that he looked just like Granma.
My uncle Henry remembers one time his Grandma Celia wanted to go back to Athens. “….and Daddy said he could not send her to Athens. And they went on for about ten years and then, pretty soon she said, well, I’m going to Athens if I have to go up and down the street and beg. He was fussing and hollering and she said ‘I am going to go to Athens. I am going to go home.’ And finally he had to give her the money to go. I guess it just gets in you sometimes. You know, living with us was no picnic. She had to go and he didn’t have the money.”
I have been unable to find a death record, certificate or burial information for my great grandmother. She was living with my Grandfather Albert Cleage in the 1930 census. Going by the Memories of my Aunt Anna, she must have died soon after.
My Aunt Anna remembers being about 5 and in the kitchen when Granma Celia had a stroke. She was sick for quite awhile before she died. She remembers when Celia died they laid her out in the living room…Henry was a broken man! She places Henry at about 13 years old.
A Sunday Morning in 1953 merges with a day in 2011.
In the fall of 2011, my friend, Ben, went down to old 12th Street in Detroit and took some photographs so that I could combine them with old photographs from 1953. I finally got around to doing it.
1978 – Mississippi Shoes and Film 5036
These are my feet in my work boots. I wore them to milk the goats and work in the garden when it was muddy. It must have been muddy because I have my jeans tucked into my socks. I don’t remember any stripped socks but there I am wearing some. The rocking chair used to rock on Nanny and Poppy’s back porch.
In 1978 we lived in rural Simpson County, Mississippi with our 4 children, some chickens and some goats. While looking for a photograph of my feet in my work shoes I came across this batch of negatives which included a photo of my shoes.
In row one, we have my friend Teresa’s son, Palo, holding his baby sister. The baby’s father is holding her in the next. I cannot remember their names right now. Picture three is my family plus Palo. Last are baby and father again.
In row two, I’m outside with my three oldest daughters, Jilo, Ife and Ayanna. Next two photos are of our friend Robert with his and Ruth’s two children. Robert got us started with milk goats and rabbits. He had a very good herd of milk goats himself. Last is the photo of my shoes.
In row three, we start with Robert and children again. The ghost photo has their two and our three oldest. Next, my midwife, Ruth, is reading to my daughter, Ayanna, who she helped to deliver. Last, I’m reading while holding baby Tulani.
The three older girls are in the side strip with the baby crib my mother and her siblings used and all of my children used. Except for Ife who slept in a dresser drawer. You can see baby Tulani best in the bottom row dribbling milk. The house was built on stilts and was about 10 feet up in the air. I do not know why they built it like that because it was in tornado country with no water to flood anywhere nearby.
For more photographs click below. Some will be shoe related and some will not.
My Father’s Album – Camp Atwater – Nov. 1945
“Camp Atwater is a cultural, educational, and recreational camp designed for the children of African American professionals. The camp, founded in 1921 by Dr. William De Berry, was located in North Brookfield, Massachusetts. Initially named St. John’s Camp, in 1926 the name was officially changed to Camp Atwater when Ms. Mary Atwater donated $25,000 with the stipulation that the camp’s name honor her late father, Dr. David Fisher, a well-known and distinguished physician in the town. The camp is the oldest American Camp Association (ACA) accredited African American owned and operated camp in the nation.”
Mystery Photograph Identified
Today I received a call from my cousin Jacqui to tell me that the mystery photograph is her mother, Naomi Tulane Vincent with her two oldest children, Hubert and Sylvia Vincent. Hubert was born in 1923 and Sylvia was born in 1929 so this photo would be from the early 1930s.