Kwanzaa – Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics)

Kwanzaa

Yesterday was the 4th day of Kwanzaa.  The principle of the day was Ujamaa (oo-JAH-mah) = Cooperative Economics.  This time last year my husband, my brother-in-law Michael and I decided to use Ujamaa and start a savings program. At that time Michael was sharing our home. We didn’t want to save large amounts of money, just to show that by small, consistent saving together we would have some money on hand at the end of the year. We decided to each put $5 each Friday into the can pictured below. It sat on a table in the living room.  We didn’t have any plans beyond saving a small amount and watching it add up. At the end of the year we had $780 in the can. We divided it up and each had $260.  It isn’t a lot, but it was totally painless to save that amount each week.  Michael has moved to his own place. Jim and I are going to continue the experiment for another year. We are also going to talk about it with during our New Year’s Eve family sleepover. Maybe it’ll catch on.

money can

Kwanzaa – Kujichagulia 1992

Kwanzaa
"Atlanta Kwanzaa Table
Our Kwanzaa table from several years ago.

Today is the second day of Kwanzaa 2013, Kujichagulia, which means self-determination in Kiswahili.  The article below was written in 1992 for a newsletter I published  for several years for homeschoolers of color.  It was written by my daughter Ayanna and describes a home celebration.  My family has celebrated Kwanzaa in various ways through the years since the about 1970. Sometimes we celebrated with just our family but often we participated in community celebrations. When we lived in Idlewild, MI we were part of a small group that started the Lake County celebration that was held for one night in the Baldwin and the Yates Township Senior Centers and sometimes people hosted additional nights in their homes.

Click the pages below to enlarge for easier reading.

kwanzaakwanzaa2

Carol Of The Bells – Blog Caroling 2013

Christmas

"Blog Caroling logo"For the past several years I have done We Three Kings as my carol for the Blog Caroling event hosted annually by footnote Maven. I was looking for something different and found this version of Carol of the Bells.   You can find a short history at Carol of the Bells – Wikipedia.

Carol of the Bells

Christmas is here, bringing good cheer
To young and old, meek and the bold
Ding, dong, ding, dong, that is their song,
With joyful ring, all caroling
One seems to hear words of good cheer
From everywhere, filling the air
Oh!, how they pound, raising the sound
O’er hill and dale, telling their tale

Gaily they ring, while people sing
Songs of good cheer, Christmas is here!
Merry, merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas!
Merry, merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas!

On, on they send, on without end
Their joyful tone to every home
Hark! How the bells, sweet silver bells
All seem to say, “Throw cares away.”
Christmas is here, bringing good cheer
To young and old, meek and the bold
Ding, dong, ding, dong, that is their song
With joyful ring, all caroling.
One seems to hear words of good cheer
From everywhere, filling the air
O, how they pound, raising the sound
O’er hill and dale, telling their tale

Gaily they ring, while people sing
Songs of good cheer, Christmas is here!
Merry, merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas!
Merry, merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas!

On, on they send, on without end
Their joyful tone to every home.
Ding dong ding dong…

 

Merry Christmas – 1920

Christmas, Grahams, sepia saturday

merry_Christmas_1920This is another card from the collection of my maternal grandparents, Mershell and Fannie Graham.  Unfortunately there is no name and no address so I have no way to find out who she is. Because it is dated 1920, the first Christmas after their marriage in 1919, I believe she was an old friend from Montgomery, Alabama sending them a card in their new home in Detroit.  I will echo their unnamed friend by saying “Merry Xmas!”

For more Sepia Merry Christmas', CLICK!
For more Sepia Merry Christmas’, CLICK!

“A Sumptuous Christmas Dinner”

Allen, Christmas
montgomery_jail
Photo from “Montgomery, the Capital City of Alabama”

Edward McCall was the husband of my great grandmother’s oldest sister, Mary Allen McCall.  He worked as cook at the City Jail for 30 years, according to the article below. He was also listed as “turnkey” at the jail in several censuses.  Edward’s wife, Mary was a talented seamstress, a skill she learned from her mother, Eliza (who I named this blog after).

They were the parents of 7 children. Six of them survived to adulthood. One of their sons, James Edward McCall was a blind poet and publisher first in Montgomery and later in Detroit.  Their other children were Annabelle McCall Martin, Leon Roscoe McCall, William Gladstone McCall (who died as an infant), Alma Otilla McCall Howard and Jeanette McCall McEwen.

Edward McCall died in Montgomery, Alabama on February 2, 1920 and is buried there in Lincoln Cemetery. For many years this cemetery was horribly neglected and vandalized. Several years ago the Lincoln Cemetery Rehabilitation Authority was formed and has been working to clean it up and put the graves in order. I hear that it is in much better shape.

Only Fifteen Will Enjoy the Hospitality of the City on Christmas Day

ed mccall xmas dinner for prisoners

Twenty-six city prisoners whose sentences originally ranged from thirty days to six months, and who had a balance of time of from one to thirty days yet to serve, were given their liberty Saturday at noon as a Christmas present, upon an order to Chief Taylor of the Police Department from Mayor W. A. Gunter, Jr., this being, the annual custom in vogue for a number of years in Montgomery with reference to the city’s prisoners.

The release of the twenty-six left a remaining number of twelve, which together with three convictions at the Saturday session of the Recorders Court, who were unable to pay their fines, aggregate fifteen who will be given holiday Monday and a sumptuous Christmas dinner, which is being prepared today by Ed McCall, the negro (sic) who for thirty years has served as chef at police headquarters.

The dinner will be served in the regular dining room at headquarters and will consist in a menu of camp stew, bread, cakes, fruits, coffee and other good and tasty articles of substantial foods.

“The Star and The Stable” Dec. 11, 1966

Christmas, Cleages, Detroit, Sermon Notes,
67-12-17

As Christmas approaches, I remember my father’s sermons from that time of year. Here is the Sunday Bulletin for Sunday, December 11, 1966, the sermon notes, a flyer for an evening program held the same day and one of the songs sung by the Choir that day at Central United Church of Christ, Detroit. And right beneath this paragraph, the audio of the actual sermon. 

The Star and the stable. The sermon preached.
bulletin_inside
bulletin_back
sermon pg 1
sermon pg 2
sermon pg 3
sermon pg 4
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Related Posts

Sermon – Advent 1966
2nd Sermon of Advent 1966
The Star and The Stable – Sermon Notes – Dec. 11, 1966
A Christ to Carol – Christmas Sermon Notes Dec 22 196

Merrie Christmas and Happy New Year

Christmas, Grahams, Investigations, Montgomery Alabama, One Place Study

A Christmas card from my Grandparent’s ( Mershell and Fannie Graham) collection, date unknown.  I read on a post by Pauline on Family History Across the Seas  about the people who sent Christmas Cards. It started me thinking about the cards I had from my grandparents collection with photographs of people I only knew were friends of the family, but nothing else about them. I wondered what I could find out. I picked this one out because, unlike some of the others, it had a name and a street address, although there was no date and no city. My grandparents lived in Montgomery, AL before moving to Detroit in 1919, so I started there.  Here is what I learned from the census and Montgomery Directory about Addie Smith.

Addie Smith "Ma Smith"
Addie Smith  “Ma Smith”  is written on the shingles near her face level.
"Merrie chtsmas and happy New Year. Your Addie Smith 105 Hutchinson St."
“Merrie Christmas and happy New Year. Addie Smith 105 Hutchinson St.”  My mother wrote “Don’t know date- friend”

Addie was born in 1869 in South Carolina to parents also born in South Carolina. In 1888, (the year my grandmother was born), Addie married Fountain Smith, a laborer about 14 years her senior.  This was her first marriage. Fountain may have been married before.  They had no children.

bankrupcy

By 1906 Fountain and Addie were living at 105 Hutchinson Street in Montgomery. She would live in this rented house for the rest of her life.  A Fountain Smith filed for bankruptcy in 1906. Over the years Addie Smith worked as a char woman/janitress in the Post Office. She may have also worked in that capacity in other public buildings.

At 53 years old, on October 26 in 1922, Addie Smith died. She is buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Montgomery.  Fountain lived another 8 years, dying on November 3, 1930.  He would have been about 62. Because Addie died in 1922 and my grandparents moved to Detroit in 1919, I am guessing that this card was sent in 1920.

Fannie and Mershell soon after their marriage in 1919.
My grandparents Fannie and Mershell Graham soon after their marriage in 1919.

Looking at a map of the 4th Ward in Montgomery in I found that Hutchinson street no longer had houses below #800, However, my great Uncle Victor Tulane had a grocery store at Ripley and High street. My grandmother Fannie managed the store for a number of years before her marriage. This store would have been several blocks from Addie and Fountain Smith’s house. I am supposing that this is how they met.

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For more Sepia Saturday Posts, CLICK!