I have never seen the movie “Gone With the Wind”; and I never will. My first exposure to the movie was a poster board in a high school English class. Two Cats. One extremely plump, and a black one with a white scarf and maid skirt fixing the hairs of a cream colored skinny cat. I had to sit next to this poster almost every day, which I hated. I assumed my teacher managed to find beauty and solace in the film. I do not have the privilege. The cat was depicting a mammy. My apologies, Mammy, was her name in the movie.

 Recently, I was at William Faulkner’s house for an Undergraduate writers conference in Mississippi, and at least she had a name. There was a picture of Faulkner’s daughter, Jill, and “Mammy Callie” in 1937, with the caption, “went to work for the Faulkner’s as a nurse for the children in 1902 and lived to nurse the second generation. I, finding the only other black person in the room with me, wished I could have freed her. Her headstone was paid for by Faulkner on the edge of the “colored section” of St. Peter's Cemetery in Oxford, reading CALLIE BARR/ CLARK / 1840 -1940, “MAMMY,” with the quote “Her white children/ bless her”. 

In America, racism is of the past. You can celebrate the work of any artist…no matter how racist. It is about the ART not how it affects or defines you. Especially if you are black. Accept it, you were not seen as human until…so you MUST…

One year after the picture of “Mammy Callie” was taken in 1938, Lena Horne starred in a movie called “The Duke is Tops”. She plays no one’s mother figure or a nurse for the rest of her life. Instead, a talented black singer with an offer to perform in New York. Her co-star Ralph Cooper, producer and writer of the movie,  is also best known for founding amateur night at the Apollo Theater in 1935 Harlem, New York City. Too many names on that stage I know. The film is considered a “race film” in the industry; maybe that is why I had to learn about it on my own. 

Unfortunately, you will have to view the movie poster for yourself as well. 

I first saw Mrs. Horne in the 1978 musical, The Wiz, as a fairy godmother; she remains. 

I did not want to be there. In Mississippi. It was flat and long. No hills, just the sun shining with not much to break up its rays, except long hanging trees, with leaves and twigs dancing near your ears, flat-extended porches, and the popular porcelain-white paint on a little more than half of every building. Too reminiscent of a life I know too much about. I looked around to find some inspiration. I decided to flip through a photography book about Faulkner’s life and lucky me. A cartoon depicting an African American blues band. The chaperon on the trip reiterated if I had to filter racism in literature I would have nothing to read. Thank you for your brilliant writing Faulkner, you are a man of your time and a talented artist. 

William Faulkner (1897 - 1962)drawings during the Jazz age published in Early Prose and Poetry Hardcover – January 1, 1963

 I don't have to watch that, read that, or admire…although it can be hard. Isn’t this such a beautiful line? The first time I heard it, in class of course, it was indeed. I thought about getting it tattooed on me.

British Literature.  

The lover all as frantic,

Sees Helen's beauty in a brow of Egypt.

The poet's eye, in fine frenzy rolling,

Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven.

A Midsummer’s Night Dream Act 5, Scene 1 

Shakespeare is so magnificent. The lover is so in love they are crazy. The Poet is so magical, immortal-like that they have the ability to travel between heaven and earth. Can you believe it? The lover is so crazed it can find beauty in the ugliest things, such as an Egyptian gypsy girl; a brown woman. WOW.

I thank you for that Shakespeare. Even someone who looks like me can be considered beautiful. I am going to have to pass on the tattoo. 

OR 

American Literature.

Reading “Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman". I had the same feeling. 

The beards of the young men glisten'd with wet, it ran from their long hair,

Little streams pass'd over their bodies.

An unseen hand also pass'd over their bodies,

It descended trembling from their temples and ribs.

The young men float on their backs, their white bellies bulge to the sun, they do not ask who seizes fast to them,

They do not know who puffs and declines with the pendant and bending arch,

They do not think about whom they use with spray.

Song of Myself, Section 11, 1892 

So gay, so beautiful. It was obvious. My belly is not white and I even enjoyed the breakdown and admiration of their bodies. It is absolute freedom; to not think of those who may disagree with your entire existence. To be of nature, not in it. Whitman was described as a progressive man. He wrote about black people in his writing too. 

The negro holds firmly the reins of his four horses, the block swags underneath on its tied-over chain,

The negro that drives the long dray of the stone-yard, steady and tall he stands pois'd on one leg on the string-piece,

His blue shirt exposes his ample neck and breast and loosens over his hip-band,

His glance is calm and commanding, he tosses the slouch of his hat away from his forehead,

The sun falls on his crispy hair and mustache, falls on the black of his polished and perfect limbs. 

Song of Myself, Section 13, 1892 

Published in 1855. That is Real Progressive. A black body that is the subject, not the setting or a prop to reveal the setting. A real person is even described as perfect. Ironically, famous for his piece  “Song of Democracy” Whitman stated, “As if we had not strained the voting and digestive caliber of American Democracy to the utmost for the last fifty years with the millions of ignorant foreigners, we have now infused a powerful percentage of blacks, with about as much intellect and calibre (in the mass) as so many baboons.”, directly from one of his early essays. My body is beautiful but, and I accept it was the normal of the time, a person who looks like me has the intellect of a baboon. Leaves of Grass is such a sensual title. 

Thank you for that, your work was so in touch.

A year earlier in 1854, Mark Twain used the N-word 219 times in “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” It shows the true authentic account of people at that time. The use of dialogue illustrates the region, economic status, and setting of the character. For that I appreciate it, knowing what truly characterizes the South. I could have visited a deep neck of woods…nvm. 

 Thank you for that, I have been told, including black people, to show the regional characteristics are worthy to be praised; it makes good writing. 

Two years before that in 1852 “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” by Harriet Beecher Stowe was written. I heard this contributed to the start of the Civil War. Brilliant. It is an American classic. Langston Hughes describes 

s the book as a “moral cry”. This sentiment can be relayed by a slave with a Christ-like death. Understandable. He endures racism up until his last breath continuing to suffer; for the sake of white people realizing they are wrong.

 Thank you for that, I am the martyr for the sins of others.

In the same decade, in 1859, John Brown was sentenced to death against the State of Virginia for treason, murder, and slave insurrection. Brown was described as a “staunch abolitionist”  as he led a short-lived revolution taking hostage of prominent citizens and the federal arsenals. He encouraged slaves to join as well arming them with weapons along with his own supporters. Sadly, he was captured by US marines under the rule of Robert E. Lee was sentenced to death by hanging; a white man. 

Thank you for being Revolutionary (for his AND your time) , hanging from a Virginia tree. 

John Brown, Abolitionist  (May 9, 1800 – December 2, 1859)

James Baldwin, American Writer and Civil Rights Activist in his essay, “Everybody’s Protest Novel” he describes Harriet B. Stowe as an “impassioned pamphelter”. LOL. Further on he explains himself writing, “Her book was not intended to do anything more than prove that slavery was wrong, was, in fact, perfectly horrible. This makes material for a pamphlet but it is hardly enough for a novel; and the only question to ask is why are we still bound to the same constrictions.” (Baldwin 14). 

Thank you, that is a great question. Why are we? 

America’s History.

I visited Andrew Jackson’s house in middle school. The Hermitage. I certainly did not want to be there. The mansion was built after his initial success in law and immediately following, purchasing slaves. At the time he appealed to the  image of a “common man” because of his upbringing.  

There was a brief rundown of the havoc the president caused. He was an owner of 161 slaves split between The Hermitage, and a Mississippi Plantation. On the hermitage there are 13 slave cabins and I saw each one. Where they lived and were exploited for their entire existence, to whatever benefit they brought to their owners. 

https://thehermitage.com/enslaved-stories#list

A link learning about every slave who lived on the plantation. Betty was once noted for making  maple syrup. 

 In 1830, Jackson signed, The Indian Removal Act, which “established a process whereby the President could grant land west of the Mississippi River to Indian tribes that agreed to give up their homelands.” Essentially, this encouraged them to sell their own selves; being, culture, and native land. Autonomy. 

Last month, I walked in Chattanooga and saw a sign that said, “Trail of Tears: Original Route”. The most Native Americans I have seen here are on statues. 

Thanks

Oh, Virginia.

How could I forget? George Washington. The integral hand in American democracy. A Founding Father. He famously crafted the lines, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” (Declaration of Independence 1776), with a feather pen. He is credited for his hopes in private that slavery would be abolished and of course being our first president. Ten years later he stated, “There is not a man living who wishes more sincerely than I do, to see a plan adopted for this abolition of [slavery] but there is only one proper and effectual mode by which it can be accomplished, and that is by Legislative authority.” (1786). He was ahead of his time. Even stating himself, “I am principled against this kind of traffic in the human species.” (1799). Upon his death 317 enslaved people lived on his home, Mt. Vernon. All the slaves he owned were emancipated after his death. 

Speaking of presidents. Another face of Mount Rushmore is Thomas Jefferson. The third President. Look up the name Sally Hemmings. 

U.S. presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln, A direct violation of the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868. The treaty language stated that the lands should be reserved for the "absolute and undisturbed use and occupation of the Indians.”

Thank you I will celebrate war heroes, America would not be what it is today. 

 I do not have to visit many places. It lives in Southern trees and in a lot of English classes. 

P.S. Let's admire Lena Horne one more time.