1961

Looking for Mother – The day before yesterday, my little sister called me…I haven’t spoken to her in years. Usually she calls me when someone passes away or to complain. Why doesn’t she call me with good news? Why doesn’t she call me when she is doing well? You tell me….

Anyway, I tried to tell her about our Mother. As I am the oldest girl this generation, it falls to me to keep all the stories of the family. My memory is very long and I remember the older ones who have passed on so I relay those stories to the next generation. Let me say here that I am very proud of the next generation and the next one after that already. They aren’t perfect but they are amazing to me just the same.

This is what I want them to be aware of as they go on along their journey…We are in the process of studying Reparations for the descendants of Black Slaves…For me everything begins with Momma. She is amazing to me and far from perfect which makes her perfectly unique.

Her life is so complex one blog post could NEVER tell her story, but I want to focus on one year of high school for her and what was going on…Let me pause here to tell you that in Texas many residents Black or White only went to the 6th grade. Both my Mother and Father graduated high school and lettered in their extracurricular activities. My Mom won state in Girl’s Basketball and My Dad won state in Track & Field. Following are a couple of headlines from 1961:

• The Supremes signed with Motown Records.

• Hurricane Carla hit Galveston – The worse hurricane in Texas History

• The First Six Flags over Texas opened

What was in the background? Racism. All that my Momma accomplished, how many times do you think she was called a racial slur? Probably a lot. Do you think she was bullied by mean girls at school? Probably a lot because she was built like a runway model and very beautiful with smooth mocha chocolate skin. She was the oldest girl in her family. Do you think she had chores and lots of responsibilities? Probably did… and she had to know the rules like get your food from the back door… That’s all I got because that’s all my Mother ever told me. I have to say, I did not get the impression that my Mother minded though.

Well, why would she? My Great Grandmother was quite the Lady…she owned land. She raised and smoked pigs. She owned several rental properties and ran a pub that was always full of customers. Now you must remember my Mother was born in the 1940’s, my Grand Mothers was born in the 1920’s, and my Great Grandmother was born in the 1890’s. When did slavery officially end? In 1865 in the United States, however, Black Slaves in Galveston, Texas got the news TWO YEARS LATER in 1867 on June the 19th. Reconstruction happened over the next 12 years and then Jim Crow and Black Codes went into effect. So, you see it was very close to me as I arrived in the 1960’s, that is less than 100 years after the end of slavery! Do you realize that? My Great, Great Grandparents were born when slavery was still legal. June 19, 1967 was the centennial of the ending of slavery in the state of Texas.

So you see, whereas my younger siblings may criticize my Mother and even my Father, I don’t. I admire them and I respect them VERY MUCH. Why? I admire them because our family lived through Jim Crow, they lived through the Great Depression, they lived through World War I, they lived through World War II, they lived through the Korean War, they went to school, they completed their homework, they endured bullying, they survived injustice, they lettered in sports and graduated when few others did and they fell in love.

They married and made a family despite all this. Was it all perfect? No way but they soldiered on anyway…they deserve reparations and all the respect this country can muster and then some.

This has been a post from Coletha Albert! Please Like, Share and Follow! Please let your State Representatives know that you support HR 40 today! Thank you for listening to my Podcast today! Good bye for now!