The Warmth of Other Suns

THE WARMTH OF OTHER SUNS

Why did 100 years elapse between the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 and the American Civil Rights Act in 1964?  Pulitzer Prize winner Isabel Wilkerson’s book, The Warmth of Other Suns, sheds much light on this question.  Although black slaves were freed during the Civil War, it took another century for attitudes in the Deep South to change.  After a brief respite for blacks during Reconstruction, they were subjected to a more subtle form of slavery with the adoption of the Jim Crow laws.  “Separate, but equal” became the motto:  blacks ate in different restaurants, drank from different water fountains, borrowed books from different libraries, lived in different neighbourhoods, attended different schools, rode in separate railway cars, sat in a separate section of busses, were paid different (lower) wages, etc. 

Although blacks were no longer “owned” by whites, they still had to answer to them in the South, sometimes paying with their life:  lynchings were a dangerously common occurrence for decades.  Whites dictated the wages blacks received as they performed the back-breaking work of cotton picking on the large plantations.  Any attempt to organize to demand higher wages was met with hostility by the sharecroppers.  Any attempt to speak out against Jim Crow laws was met with resistance:  one newspaper writer was locked up in an insane asylum; a man who belonged to the NAACP had a bomb go off under his bed on Christmas Day.  Any attempt to “mix” with white society, even a young black boy speaking to a white girl, could result in dire consequences:  one boy was tortured mercilessly. 

Blacks finally sought refuge in the North and West of the United States:  it was called The Great Migration and would last from 1917 until 1970.  Refugees purchased train tickets and, with a box full of chicken and sweet potatoes for the journey, said goodbye to their loved ones at railroad stations across the south, making their way to destinations like Washington D.C., New York City, Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland, etc.  In the later decades, some left by car, travelling across the Arizona desert to the ‘promised land” of California, settling in cities like San Diego, Oakland and Los Angeles. 

Those blacks who feared repercussions left in sneakier ways.  One man was stuffed in a box in the fetal position, put on a train and turned upside down, a position he held for 26 hours as he headed north to Washington DC where he was met at the station by a member of the NAACP.  The black newspaper reporter who was deemed insane and locked away in an asylum, managed to escape, with the help of Northerners, and was hustled away in a car, joined by a caravan of other cars; once the motorcade crossed the state line, the reporter found his way to a railroad station and purchased a ticket to freedom in the North. 

While the North and the West provided freedoms for blacks that they did not have in the South, it was not always the promised land that they had hoped for.  One farmer from Florida, who moved to New York City and became a railroad porter, remembers changing the cars at Washington D.C., as the train changed from an integrated to a segregated one.  Another central figure in the book leaves Mississippi for California, attempting to find a hotel in the desert, only to see VACANCY signs be turned off the second he arrived and requested a room.  One black couple moved to Chicago where they tried to get into the neighbourhood of Cicero, only to have their new apartment ransacked, and to see a riot ensue.  Cicero, a neighbourhood that had made room for immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe, sadly had no room for black migrants.  One black boy accidentally crossed the invisible colour line in the water at a Lake Michigan beach and was drowned by whites.

While blacks in the Southern towns risked lynchings, black migrants to the Northern cities faced the vices of the streets like drugs, prostitution, etc.  Children of migrants sometimes succumbed to these temptations.  Furthermore, the South held two centuries of history for many black families, roots that were lost once they moved to the North.  Some blacks chose not to dwell on their pasts, hoping to make a new history for their children, but in essence leaving them rootless.  

Even so, many blacks found work in the Northern factories at wages they never could have earned in the South.  Many migrants were able to send their children to integrated elementary and high schools and even to Ivy League Universities where they trained for professions that they would likely not have learned in the South.  Some migrants saw their children win sports scholarships to colleges and later find jobs in the NBA or the NFL.  One young runner named JC, the son of a migrant, went on to win a gold medal at the Berlin Olympics in 1936; we know him as Jesse Owens.

The Great Migration is a fascinating topic to explore.  Isabel Wilkerson’s book is packed full of American History.  What a great read!

Image courtesy http://nationalpostarts.files.wordpress.com/.

Elfriede's Easter Egg Hunt

Elfriede darted in between the pines in the forest that sat only 100 metres from their farmhouse.   Her basket was overflowing with Easter eggs she had discovered that were neatly hidden by the Easter bunny.  Elfriede had woken up early that morning.  Following a family custom of the eldest waking up the younger children, and because she and her sister were the first ones awake, they had climbed a ladder to the second story of their house, unhooked the window, entered the bedroom, and spanked their brother, Friedrich, as well as two cousins visiting from the nearby city of Koenigsberg.  East Prussian children, mainly Lutheran, were given two full weeks off of school at Easter to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  They had all quickly dressed and headed outside for their annual Easter egg hunt.  When they returned, Frau Adebahr told them that she was certain there was still one  more egg left in the woods.  However, Elfriede wondered why her mother knew where the Easter bunny had planted all of the eggs.  Later that day, Elfriede and her siblings collected real eggs from the hen house and helped their mother boil them and paint them, a popular tradition in the Baltic region.  “Frohe Ostern!”  

Dedicated to my husband Rob's Oma, Elfriede Neumann, who grew up in East Prussia in the 1910's and 1920's. 

Man Jumps into River Thames

I googled the headlines for April 7, 2012 and saw the line "man jumps into the River Thames".  While the swimmer was not going for a morning dip, he was protesting The Boat Race, an historic race between Oxford University Boat Club and Cambridge University Boat Club.  The race dates back to Charles Wordsworth (nephew of the poet William Wordsworth) who was a student at Oxford, and his friend Charles Merrivale who was a student at Cambridge.  In 1829, one challenged the other to a race on the Easter vacation.  The first race was one by Oxford, but the following year it was won by Cambridge.  Some years were missed, but then the race became a yearly event starting in 1856.  In 1912, strong winds caused both boats to sink.  During both World War I and World War II, the official race was cancelled, but then resumed after the conflicts.  The race, which stretched 4 miles and 374 yards along the River Thames from Putney to Mortlake, consisted of two  rowboats of the Cornish Gig design, with eight rowers each and with one cox to steer.  The gruelling training lasted six days a week for six months and later included future Olympians.  Races today are viewed live by a quarter of a million viewers while millions of others watch on television.  To date, the dark blue Cambridge team has won 81 races compared to the light blue Oxford team's total of 76 races.   It will be interesting to see if any of the competitors on the River Thames today will compete at this year's Summer Olympics, also held in London.

Photo courtesy www.expressandstar.com.

La Via Dolorosa

Down the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem that day
The soldiers tried to clear the narrow street
But the crowd pressed in to see
The Man condemned to die on Calvary

He was bleeding from a beating, there were stripes upon His back
And He wore a crown of thorns upon His head
And He bore with every step
The scorn of those who cried out for His death

Down the Via Dolorosa called the way of suffering
Like a lamb came the Messiah, Christ the King,
But He chose to walk that road out of
His love for you and me.
Down the Via Dolorosa, all the way to Calvary.

Por la Via Dolorosa, triste dia en Jerusalem
Los saldados le abrian paso a Jesus
Mas la gente se acercaba
Para ver al que llevaba aquella cruz

Por la Via Dolorosa, que es la via del dolor
Como oveja vino Cristo, Rey, Senor
Y fue El quien quiso ir por su amor por ti y por mi
Por la Via Dolorosa al Calvario y a morir

The blood that would cleanse the souls of all men
Made its way to the heart of Jerusalem.

Down the Via Dolorosa called the way of suffering
Like a lamb came the Messiah, Christ the King
But He chose to walk that road out of His love for you and me
Down the Via Dolorosa, all the way to Calvary.

Song written by Sandi Patti.

[ From: http://www.elyrics.net/read/l/leeland-lyrics/via-dolorosa-lyrics.html ]

Painting courtesy http://2.bp.blogspot.com.

Miss Fannie's Hat

One of Jacqueline's favourite books to borrow from our church library is called Miss Fannie's Hat by Jan Karon.  Based on the author's grandmother, Miss Fannie is a 99-year-old woman who loves to collect hats.  Peeking at her hat collection will give you a history of her life:  her green velour hat reminds her of the flood of 1916 when she saw a house floating down the river; her wide-brimmed felt hat reminds her of the time she caught a hawk that was trying to kill her hens; and her pink straw hat with silk roses reminds her of attending church every Easter (for the past 35 years to be exact). 

Miss Fannie's handsome young pastor approaches her about donating something for the church auction and she deliberates over which hat to donate.  It would be hard to part with any of her hats.  She finally decides to give up her most cherished chapeau, the pink straw hat with the silk roses.  She says that it "makes her feel brand new like Easter itself".  In the end Miss Fannie's hat fetches a tidy sum with which the church members are able to make improvements on the building and the grounds.  They dig a garden and fill it with roses; it looks just like Miss Fannie's Easter hat! 

Image courtesy http://images.borders.com.

Macaroni & Cheese

Here is the macaroni & cheese recipe that my brother learned how to make in Grade 8 Family Studies.  Bill used to make it for us when we lived at home.  He has never forgotten his cooking skills and now uses them to make meals for his own family.   I make this recipe every year for my family for Easter.

MACARONI & CHEESE

 (Bill Tufts)

375 ml elbow macaroni

45 ml butter

45 ml flour

500 ml sharp cheddar cheese (grated)

550 ml milk

4 ml salt

dash of pepper

1.      Cook macaroni following package directions.  Drain.  Set aside until later.

2.      In a medium sized saucepan, melt the butter.  Stir in the flour.

3.      Add the milk and stir over medium heat until thick.

4.      Add salt, pepper and grated cheese.

5.      Stir until cheese melts.  You have made a cheese sauce.

6.      Mix the sauce with the macaroni that you have already cooked.

7.      Place in a casserole dish that has been greased.

8.      Bake at 375 F for about 45 minutes.

9.      Serve with a salad.  Makes a delicious, inexpensive dinner.

Note:  1 cup = 237 ml

           

Is Marriage History?

"According to a Pew Research Center report on the latest census data released this week, marriage rates in the United States have dropped to an all-time low. Only 51 percent of people over age 18 are married today—a significant dip from 57 percent in 2000, and a shocking drop from 72 percent in 1960. If these trends continue, married couples will soon be in the minority for the first time in history." (www.history.com/news/2011/12/16/is-marriage-history)

Since April usually marks the beginning of wedding season, I thought it would be a good time to talk about marriage.  I was raised to believe that marriage is sacred.  My maternal grandparents were married for 30 years (until my Grandpa Stroud passed away) and my paternal grandparents were married for 62 years (until my Grandma Tufts passed away).  My parents have been married for 51 years.  My husband and I will be married 20 years this July.  That is the rule rather than the exception in my family.

While marriage is not something to be entered into lightly or rashly, it is also something that should take priority and not be put on the back burner.  I dreamed all of my life of my wedding day.  It was always at the top of my "bucket list".  When Rob and I were engaged we attended the wedding of one of his friends.  The groom had been dating the bride for ten years -- I thought it was a joke!  However, it was true and sadly the couple split up within the first 7 or 8 years of marriage. 

Nowadays, a couple like this would be common:  people who live together with either no intention of getting married or at least not in the near future.  It seems like they put everything first but marriage; they buy a house, they purchase furniture together, they move in together, they even have children together, and yet they won't make the commitment to walk down the aisle together. 

I was raised in a Christian household where marriage was considered to be a covenant that you and your spouse made in front of God.  I am happy to see that many people at our current church hold marriage dear; we see lots of young couples getting married rather than living together.  They also make children a priority and it is not uncommon to see families with three, four or five children. 

However, as my husband says, even if you look at marriage from a practical rather than moral point of view, it makes total sense.  Statistics show that couples who live together first before they get married or live together and never get married are more likely to split up than couples who never "play house".  I think that couples who live together first tend to sweep any problems under the rug, thinking in the back of their minds that they really don't need to deal with them since they're not actually married.  Then, of course, their problems don't go away -- they multiply.  Rob always says that we probably had our biggest fights in the first year of our marriage, when we were ironing out the wrinkles. 

Furthermore, resentment often builds because one of the two, usually the woman, would like to marry and resents the other one, usually the man, who does not want to get married.  It is not a firm foundation to build a relationship on.  I can think of a couple who was living common law for at least 16 years.  They moved in together and they had a child.  Then they had a second child.  Then they had a third child.  One day Rob asked the father if he was ever going to marry the mother.  He said he wasn't ready for marriage!  Rob pointed out to me that he already had all of the responsibilities of a married husband and father, whether he realized it or not.  Sadly, about three years ago, the couple split up. 

So, I hope that marriage makes a comeback in the general population.  Fifty-one percent is an awfully low figure.  It would be nice if we returned to the 72% figure posted the year my parents wed.  While marriage is not necessarily easy, I think that the rewards far outweigh the drawbacks.  And there's nothing more exciting than going to a wedding.  Let the wedding bells ring!


Photo courtesy www.peellephotography.com.