World Beginnings

Why do I tidy up my house before the house cleaner comes? Guilt? Embarrassment? I have always thought if I procrastinate about cleaning the cat box or emptying trash cans, why should they face them? Besides, I want them to clean the big stuff, like moving furniture and getting all of the dust bunnies hiding under my bed. Before I realized it, I was remembering Cairo and Whaby. Each school had a secret communication system the maids, nannies, drivers and gardeners utilized.   When new staff arrived in August, candidates would magically appear at our doors. After a long day of new staff orientation, I arrived at my apartment and a lady waiting outside the door;  but when I told her I needed full-time she said she couldn’t,  but she would send her husband to meet me. I questioned her about why her husband would clean my house and care for my pets and she replied with a wry smile “I am his second wife and he needs to work!” The next day there was a very ...

Winona, Mississippi   is a sleepy little town nestled between I55 north and Highway 82 about 120 miles south of Memphis. No one would have ever imagined that beacons of equality lived among the roughly 5,000 black and white residents in the late 1960’s MS racial tensions were as hot as the relentless sun, when the Mule Train, or Poor People’s March, set out from Marks, MS   bound for Washington DC in June, 1968. This was the brainchild of Robert Kennedy and put into action by Martin Luther King who had visited Marks earlier in the spring. Dr. King chose the town as the starting point for this historical march; famously stating “because it was the poorest town in the poorest state”, and symbolic of the Civil Rights struggle. The route was jam packed with the National Press and hundreds of law enforcement officers. At every town the marchers were met with angry whites and proud blacks. This was still the era of “White” only drinking fountains and public toil...