Granddaddy and our family became “First Colored Citizens of Evergreen, Alabama” because of our excellence, as a family, and the title was awarded by the white citizens in Evergreen.
Posted Oct 26, 2016
Annie Shaw-Barnes, Ph.D.
Author and Speaker
Cultural Anthropologist
Family Specialist
Family Education Specialist
Spousal Abuse Specialist
Christian Church Specialist
Racism Specialist
Hi everyone,
As you recall, Granddaddy lived in Cohassett and owned a house and land in Evergreen. He also banked the family's money in Evergreen.
At the end of his twenty-six years of renting, Mr. Wilson caught on to Granddaddy’s business dealings. He told Granddaddy that, unlike all the other renters and sharecroppers on his farm, he could not allow him to rent eighty acres. He had to farm on thirds or quarters. Granddaddy rejected his offer because it required too much work for the money it would yield. Hence, he decided, immediately, to move his family to Uncle Charlie Moore's house he had bought in Evergreen and continued farming.
Granddaddy and my Shaw family became high ranking. In Evergreen, Granddaddy stopped drinking and gambling, became a high leader in his church, and white citizens called him and his family, “First Colored Citizens in Evergreen.” So Granddaddy, Grand Mama, Daddy, and his sisters and brothers earned a high and a continuing social status, “First Colored Citizens,” even, recently, naming a street after our name. White people had “First” families and decided to make us a “First Colored Family.” The title made my family feel good because my family’s hard work, high morality, and mutual family love, had paid off in a good way.
That is what we black folks are asking from white America today. White man and white woman, whatever we earn, please award it to us, assign us jobs, equal to our capability, and pay us equal money you pay white workers for equal work. If you do so, we will gladly thank you, and, in our eyesight, you will be so noble.
Please join the conversation and follow me on:
Website: anniesbarnes.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/annie.barnes.56
Google: plus.google.com
Twitter: twitter.com/AnnieShawBarnes
©
Posted Oct 26, 2016
Annie Shaw-Barnes, Ph.D.
Author and Speaker
Cultural Anthropologist
Family Specialist
Family Education Specialist
Spousal Abuse Specialist
Christian Church Specialist
Racism Specialist
Hi everyone,
As you recall, Granddaddy lived in Cohassett and owned a house and land in Evergreen. He also banked the family's money in Evergreen.
At the end of his twenty-six years of renting, Mr. Wilson caught on to Granddaddy’s business dealings. He told Granddaddy that, unlike all the other renters and sharecroppers on his farm, he could not allow him to rent eighty acres. He had to farm on thirds or quarters. Granddaddy rejected his offer because it required too much work for the money it would yield. Hence, he decided, immediately, to move his family to Uncle Charlie Moore's house he had bought in Evergreen and continued farming.
Granddaddy and my Shaw family became high ranking. In Evergreen, Granddaddy stopped drinking and gambling, became a high leader in his church, and white citizens called him and his family, “First Colored Citizens in Evergreen.” So Granddaddy, Grand Mama, Daddy, and his sisters and brothers earned a high and a continuing social status, “First Colored Citizens,” even, recently, naming a street after our name. White people had “First” families and decided to make us a “First Colored Family.” The title made my family feel good because my family’s hard work, high morality, and mutual family love, had paid off in a good way.
That is what we black folks are asking from white America today. White man and white woman, whatever we earn, please award it to us, assign us jobs, equal to our capability, and pay us equal money you pay white workers for equal work. If you do so, we will gladly thank you, and, in our eyesight, you will be so noble.
Please join the conversation and follow me on:
Website: anniesbarnes.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/annie.barnes.56
Google: plus.google.com
Twitter: twitter.com/AnnieShawBarnes
©