Thanksgiving

Giving thanks.

I am grateful for so much this year and am mindful to deliver my appreciation in real time. An extra special thanks is warranted, however, for  20 women and men, aged 83 to 100, who shared with me their time and memories of their Wilson County childhoods. I spoke with seven of my father’s Darden High School classmates; with attendees of at least seven different Rosenwald schools; with folks who stayed in Wilson their entire lives and others who joined the Great Migration out. I recorded their stories and returned transcripts for them to linger over and share with their families. I jotted notes on fascinating tidbits to research further, some of which have already made it into Black Wide-Awake.

I still have a long list of people I’d love to interview, and hope you’ll refer any elders who might want to talk. As importantly, I encourage you to capture your family’s history. Holiday gatherings are the perfect time to pull out your phone and start recording, whether video or audio. Ask. And listen.

Baking with Grandma.

The day after Thanksgiving, my PMs were jumping with links to this luscious minute of love, starring Alexis Taylor, her beautiful grandmother, a 7-Up cake, and Wayne Shorter’s “Footprints.”

Alexis and her grandmother are from Wilson. I have never met them, but I know them.  and I am deeply grateful to Alexis for allowing me to share her work here. Happy holidays, y’all.

Follow Alexis on IG @cleeothegreat.

Thanksgiving groceries.

Pender’s Store was a small grocery operating at 129 South Goldsboro Street in the early 1920s. It likely employed an African-American porter or two, but probably had few African-American customers. Nonetheless, its Thanksgiving 1921 ad sheds light on the types of foods that would have appeared on the holiday table of a prosperous East Wilson family of the era.

Wilson Daily Times, 18 November 1921.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Among the many things I am grateful for this Thanksgiving are

the science of ground-penetrating radar and North Carolina’s public records laws. For the first time, we know, if not who, then how many, lie in Vick Cemetery;

all who gathered on a steamy August morning to recognize and celebrate sacred Vick Cemetery;

all who stand shoulder to shoulder to demand justice for Vick and those who cloak us in prayer;

all who have worked to clear Odd Fellows of decades of overgrowth and debris, and all who intend to do so in Season 4;

all who support Lane Street Project in any way, shape, or form;

all who read Black Wide-Awake and like, comment, or contribute ideas, feedback, and photos;

sound body, strong mind!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Though I disavow the false narrative that has been passed down to us about the first Thanksgiving, I embrace the setting aside of a day to give thanks. In these times more than ever, I’m grateful for the overwhelming bounty of my life. In all my years, I have never wanted for family, health, shelter, or wealth, and I understand the privilege that bestows upon me. Black Wide-Awake and Lane Street Project are ways I honor the people and place that nourished and encouraged and shaped me. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

My aunt married into a big family, and my parents, sister, and I were often absorbed into the Barneses’ big holiday gatherings. Especially Thanksgiving. I’m not sure why I remember this one exactly, but I was about 9 or 10, I think, and Aunt Pet was hostess. At the time she was living in this house at 1112 Carolina Street, down the street from our old house. Coats heaped on a bed, folding tables pressed end to end from one room into the next, pots steaming, plates groaning. 

2020 has been terrible in so many ways, but though there will be no big family gathering, I am mindful of the grace extended to me even in this year. I am thankful for my life and all in it, and grateful to the ancestors who guide my steps.