Connie Stowers, my uncle Hugh Cleage and my mother Doris Graham Detroit, 1940.
My uncle Hugh is sitting on my mother’s parent’s couch being hugged by my mother and her best friend, Connie. I remember that ash tray. It was red. The couch was dark green and over it hung a tapestry with a garden scene that included… wait, here is a photograph that includes the bottom of the tapestry. I wonder where it came from and where it went.
My aunt Mary V, holding her grandson Frank with my grandfather Mershell Graham aka Poppy.
By 1966, we had the old couch at our house and my grandparents were using my great grandmother Jennie’s furniture. At the time I thought it was strange they changed to that hard wooden furniture but as my knees give out, I appreciate that it was higher, easier to sit down on and get up from. Plus there must have been a lot of memories for my grandmother. My mother sold it to an antique store after her parents died.
Eddie Evans, Gladys Cleage Evans, Pearl Cleage.Eddie Evans, Gladys Cleage Evans, Pearl Cleage, Henry Cleage.
I found these photographs today while looking for another. Gladys and Pearl are eating watermelon while Eddie and Henry are not. This was at the house on Old Plank near Milford, MI, in 1960.
I remember several cookouts in my grandmother Cleage’s backyard. There was the one where the tables were set up right in front of the gate that looked out on the street. There was some sort of minor argument about this. Afterwards, my sister and I called any sort of family argument a “cookout.” On that occasion Grace Lee Boggs dropped by, not for the cookout, but for some political reason, dating it in the 1960s.
You can just see Hugh’s head behind Louis, my mother, Henry.
The cookout pictured below took place during the summer of 1958. My uncle Louis bought a big blue plastic swimming pool that took up most of the cement part of the yard. I don’t remember it being there any other summer. Once, my sister Pearl was drowning when my uncle Henry noticed her on the bottom of the pool, reached down and pulled her out. I don’t know why she didn’t stand up. She was 9 and I turned 12 that August. The bushes on the fence were full of tiny, pink roses during the season. Those are still my favorite roses.
Pearl remembers: I am still mystified as to why I didn’t just put my feet down. I don’t remember being at the bottom of the pool. I remember going down and splashing my way back up to the top and not being able to stay with my head above water. and then Henry came over and grabbed me and pulled me up and out. who knows what was going on? and we had those little plastic life preservers, too. how deep was the damn thing anyway?
Pearl, my aunt Gladys, Kris, cousin Ernie in the pool. It was blue plastic with a metal frame.My mother sitting beside the pool.My aunt Barbara standing by the fence between my grandmother’s and the Smith’s.To see more picnics and such, CLICK!
I forgot that I had this picture and article about Mouse (Move Only Under Spring Energy) competition that my daughter, Ife (smiling in the middle of photo 1) participated in as a middle school student. Unfortunately I can’t put my hands on a photo of her contraption but you can see one of them created by Mr. Bigford.
Article from The Lake County Star, 1986.Mrs. Topp reminded me of the woman in the prompt in this photo. Unfortunately she’s not riding in any sort of contraption.
Mrs. Emma Davis Topp roomed with Moses and Jean Walker, after her husband died in 1912. Her husband, John W. Topp was twenty years older than she was. He was an engineer, a black Canadian who arrived in Detroit at age 17 in 1875. My grandparents, Mershell and Fannie Graham were also roomers after their marriage in 1919. Mrs. Topp was born in Mississippi and attended school through the 8th grade. She was working as a dressmaker in 1920. By 1930 she had moved to Los Angeles, CA and was living with her cousin and aunt. She was no longer working and lived the with her cousin until she died in 1948.
My grandfather Mershell Graham and Emma Topp in the Walkers yard. 1919.For more Sepia Saturday posts click!
My grandfather, mother, sister and I were spending several weeks at my Uncle Louis Cleage’s cottage in Idlewild. We made a day trip to Ludington, on Lake Michigan, about 30 miles from Idlewild. We had walked out to the light house, which was no longer in use. 1956 was the year I wore glasses.
Pearl, Poppy and me. Ludington, Michigan 1956.My mother, Pearl, me.
In this picture, taken facing land but on the same pier, you can see how the cement walk slopes down toward the lake. There was a flat part down by the water where fish had washed up and they were flopping around trying to get back to the water. My sister Pearl and I climbed down and were throwing the fish back in the water until our grandfather noticed and told us to come up and stop it before we fell in the water. We did it but we were not happy about it.
Poppy rowing on Lake Idlewild.Patio in front of the 2 cottages. My mother, Pearl and me. Notice the face in the trees to the left. It looks like my grandmother in her younger days. Is it really there?Close up of face in the trees.For more Sepia Saturday posts, click!
My grandmother Fannie with my mother Doris, Howard and Mary V. 1931 In their Detroit East side backyard.Howard Alexander Turner Graham. Born Sept 7, 1928 in Detroit. died – 3-2-1932. Scarlet Fever
Between some pages my grandmother’s Bible are little snippets of hair. It is a well used Bible. The covers are missing. Part of the front cover remains, tucked between pages. On this and on the back pages, corners worn away, she wrote about the births of her children and deaths of her two sons. I don’t know who the hair came from, but I would guess from her children. They were all blond as babies.
Mershell and Doris with their father. 1925.Belle Isle, Detroit.
“Our darling little Mershell Jr. was run over by a truck on Tuesday Nov. 1st – ’27 at 12:45 PM. on his way to school from lunch. skull crushed etc. – Neck broken – shoulder fractured- rushed to St. Joseph’s Mercy Hospital – never regained consciousness – died – same night at 2:10 – Dr Turner at his sid(e) (Fun)eral-Nov 4th … (Lavi)scount offic(iated) sang….”
Mary Virginia born April 3rd 1920 at 5:10 AM on Saturday. Detroit Mich at 1031 St. Jean Ave, 7 #. Dr. Ames & … 2nd baby – Mershell C. Graham, Jr. born June 10th – 1921 at 7:45 PM. On Friday. Detroit, Michigan. Dunbar Hospital. 8 1/2# Dr. Turner. Died 11/1/27 killed by auto. 3rd baby – Doris J. Graham born February – 12th – 1923. 5:10 A.M. – on Monday at Women’s Hospital Beaubien and For(est) Detroit, Michigan 7#
4th baby – Howard Alexander G(raham) born at Woman’s Hospi(tal) Sept 7th ’28 at 5 P.M. 7#10 oz. Dr. Turner
__________________
Our baby Howard was taken ill Nov. 17th 1931 – Dr. turner came + pronounced it Diabetes … cured — Jan 1932… On Feb 20- 1932, he developed Scarlet Fever – was sent to Herman Kiefer Hospital an(d) on acct of his condition died March 4th 1932 and was buried Sat. March 5…Private funeral at Memorial Park Cemetery 3 1/2 years old born 9/7/…
—–#—–
Our loss is truest g… God fills the pla… by our 2 ba…
I now own this book that my father bought when he was a student at the Graduate School of Theology at Oberlin College. When we were growing up, my sister and I spent hours looking at the pictures and reading the excerpts from the Bible. My two favorite pictures are those below. I liked the way that their hair resembled mine.
During my last visit with my father, in December 1999, the month before he died, I asked him if I could borrow the book. I think he started to say no but then changed his mind and said I could. He was 88 years old and had a heart condition. On February 22, 2000 he died of congestive heart failure in South Carolina. We spent more time together and talked more than we ever had, during the last several years of his life. I am very grateful for that.
In 1968 when I was an art student drawing all the time, I often went to the Detroit Institute of Art to sketch in the Entrance Hall where two long rows of knight’s armor stood against the walls. They are now enclosed in glass cases, but at the time they were just out there, standing along the walls.
**************
In 1997, my youngest son Cabral and I took a train trip to Albuquerque, New Mexico from our home in Idlewild, MI. We went to visit another homeschooling family. I had met the mother, Sandra Dodd, online in the AOL Homeschooling forum. Other homeschoolers in our area of Lake County, Idlewild were few and far between. I thought it would be interesting to actually meet in real life one of the people I spent so much time (and money in those days) visiting with online. When unschooler Sandra invited us out, we went. We were there almost a week and saw a inactive volcano, played miniature golf, watched videos and went to a science museum. What stands out in my mind the most is the day we visited a museum that had actual items from New Mexico’s early days, including Spanish armor, and they let people try it on. Above you see my son trying out the various items. He even got to go outside for a photograph and in the New Mexico landscape.
**************
This weeks prompt for Sepia Saturday is Boudica, a freedom fighter for the local British tribes against the Roman invaders, this makes my choice of Robert Williams all the more relevant. Robert Williams died in 1996. He was author of the book “Negro’s With Guns” and an advocate of self defense for black people. He was from North Carolina. He published his newsletter The Crusader for years. The logo was a little figure of a crusading knight.
I remember a letter from my mother describing Robert Williams picketing the local newspaper, The Lake County Star, with a photograph of him wearing his WW I German helmet. Unfortunately, I can’t find it. I did find a description of the picket by Father Joe Fix given at Robert Williams funeral. Father Joe was the Priest at St. Ann’s Catholic Church in Baldwin, MI where Robert’s wife, Mabel, was a member. Below are his remarks. You can see the full transcript of the funeral by clicking the title.
I first met Robert almost nine years ago. I was invited to a party for the priest who had preceded me at St. Ann’s. Father Ray was saying good-bye to his people. I’ll never forget he singled out Robert and he looked at Robert and he said, “Robert, thank you for being the conscience of Lake County.” I never forgot that. It was only last week that Father Ray came by, and he was going to help a celebration and he said, “Robert is the first prophet that I have ever met.” The first prophet. I wanted to add, in my book, he was the first martyr that I ever met, because Robert had a sincere table appetite for news and he would watch all of Rush Limbaugh. Anybody who listens more than two seconds to Rush is definitely a martyr. I remember walking Downtown Baldwin. It’s not very big, and I seen this character on the main street. And he had this funny helmet on, with this red light bulb on top. It was flashing, and he had four-sided sandwich board, not two sided. And I walked up and it was Robert. He was protesting the local rag because it refused to print his letter to the editor. Guess what? The letter was printed the next week. I remember going to one of my first meetings involved with a new superintendent, and Robert was there, voicing his displeasure with the counselors of the high school because they were not reaching the needs of our youth in that county. I remember going to courthouse and sometimes supporting people I knew that were on trial, and Robert was there. He was there much more often than I was, and much more vocal… standing up for victims of an unjust system To me, Robert truly was Prophet. When I was a child, I always thought of Prophet as someone who foretold the future. Robert did that. But the main job of a prophet, as I’m growing up, is to speak out against injustice; whether it was Isiah or Jeremiah called by God to speak to the Jewish people. And he mentioned they were killed, but that was their job. Whether it was Ghandi who answered the call in India, or Nelson Mandela in South Africa. But it was Robert Williams who answered the call in Monroe, NC. He answered the call to speak out against the unjust system and people that would not let children swim in a pool because they happened to be a different color. He spoke out against the injustice that would allow a man to protect his wife, his children, his property. And even though he was exiled, he spoke, from Cuba, and as far away as China, against the injustice of the system that would not allow someone to be free. I believe that God gave us the gift of Robert Williams to challenge us to be Prophet, and if not to be Prophet, to
Robert and Mabel Williams.
support prophets. I really believe that. I believe that we need to answer the call to continue to speak out against racism and sexism… and maybe when we do, people of different cultures and races can get together and share food and laugh together, cry together, but especially learn to dream together. We need to speak out against the injustice of violence and war. An exorbitant amount of our tax money is spent to create the largest military operation in the whole world. And maybe when we speak out against the injustice, there will be money to teach our children to take care of our elderly and to protect our land. We need to speak out against the injustice of greed. There’s a greater chasm now between the rich and the poor.. we’re losing our middle class. And maybe when we continue to reach out and speak against the injustice, all of God’s children will be able to enjoy the gifts from God. We come here today to say thank you for the gift of Robert who answered the call to be Prophet. I will never forget (and I really believe that Mabel is Prophetess, right along with Robert), I will never forget on the day that Robert died. Mabel and I were praying over him, and afterwards, she said these marvelous words, “He really did make a difference.”
For several years after we moved to this house, a scene from my past would come to me every time I was getting ready to brush my teeth. I would see a couple that modeled for my life drawing class. he was white, short with longish, almost white, blond hair. She was black, brown skinned with an afro. We were at a small demonstration on campus. Their two daughters, in my memory they were about 8 and 6 with curly afros, coloring between their parents. The woman and I smile at each other. And then the scene is gone.
As of July 8, 2013 Atlanta has had the rainest year on record. We’ve already had more rain than we had during all of 2012. It’s been raining almost everyday for weeks. And rain is predicted for the rest of this week. The drought is definitely over, for now anyway.
Granddaughter Kylett walking down our driveway in the rain June 2010.
This was written by my daughter Ayanna after our move from rural Mississippi to the small city of Excelsior Springs, MO. She was about 8 and it was 1984. An edited version appears below.
Ayanna Ayanna
I would like it to stop raining. I have to do my route in it.
School shorter and no home work. There’s not enough time in 24 hours for 6 hours of school and homework.
Move back to Mississippi. I know more people there.
get more money on my route a week. I have 43 newspapers and get paid only $10.
have summer longer you can do more, like swimming.
