#342 Ashes to Ashes- Jabari Asim

#342 Ashes to Ashes- Jabari Asim

Friends for life Leo and Octavius, aka "the reverend" and "the rascal" have found themselves tested like many have, living lives under Jim Crow laws.

Violent events in 1928 caused them to flee the south for their lives. Like the millions of others that fled north during the second great migration, they hoped to find a better existence for themselves. Now in 1968, in that “better world” history repeats itself, and violence follows the pair.

There are times in life where a stand has to be taken, and of course a prayer must be said.

Notable Passage: “Sullen and humiliated…rage rose from them as thick and redolent as the smoke that had issued from the barbecue grills not long before. Unlike the smoke, which rode the air over the woods and on to far more pleasant places, their anger had nowhere to go.”

Rating: 9-8-9-9 Total= 35

#116 The Revenge of Hannah Hemhuff- Alice Walker

#116 The Revenge of Hannah Hemhuff- Alice Walker

This story has been dedicated: In grateful  memory of Zora Neale Hurston. This story uses the common curse-prayer that was printed in Hurston’s Mules and Men.

Hannah was a proud woman, and like most proud people that lived through the great depression, her pride, dignity and humanity were challenged greatly. Her children starving and on the brink of death, Hannah went against her strong beliefs and went down to the food line to beg for assistance. Unlike the other black families that wore their worst and dirtiest clothing to garner sympathy, Hannah dressed in her finest dress, albeit still ragity compared to those in the white-only line, and was refused. Not only was she denied assistance, she was laughed at by the “the little moppet” of a woman judging her case.

Her children soon died, her husband left her and her will was steadily worn away.

“My spirit never recovered from that insult, just like my heart never recovered from my husband’s desertion, juts like my body never recovered from being almost starved to death. I started to wither in that winter and each year found me more hacked and worn down that the year before.”

All that was left, was the will for revenge.

Notable Passage: “As for happiness, it is something that deserts you once you know it can be bought and sold.”

Rating: 7-7-8-9 Total= 31

#102 Everyday Use- Alice Walker

#102 Everyday Use- Alice Walker

Change is a struggle. Dee is growing up, leaves home for college, and learns about self-worth, social change, and the oppression of her community. In her sudden evolution, she has a hard times grasping what and where her true heritage lies.

She is embarrassed of her family, her uneducated mother and timid sister living in the poor old part of town. She was happy when the old place burned down and couldn’t get out of there fast enough.  But she has found a bit of knowledge, hooked up with a righteous Muslim man, and despite changing her name, and donning new African clothing, has come back to grab some of her heritage. She takes a polaroid of the house to prove her humble upbringing, she fawns over the hand-made furniture her family made themselves, and she wants her mother to give her grandmother’s (the one she is named after) handmade quilts.

The fight over these quilts is the heart of her struggle. They have been promised to Maggie, her younger sister, but Dee is afraid that they will be ruined in her care because she will use them for everyday use. Of course they will, her mothers says and good thing too, because they haven’t been getting any use lately. Dee doesn’t want to use them, she wants to hang them in her house, to remember and display her heritage.

She warns her sister: “You ought to try to make something of yourself too, Maggie. It’s really a new day for us. But from the way you and mama still live you’d never know it.”

Change is a struggle, but not all change is good for all people. It’s good that Maggie wants to learn and be an evolved individual, but her desires are misplaced and her disrespect for her family and real upbringing is regretful. It’s a mistake made by many young people trying to strike out on their own. Mama is a rock, her patience and love are commendable. She tries to give enough room for growth while turning the other cheek…but the quilts are a step too far.

Notable Passage: “A yard like this is more comfortable than most people know. It is not just a yard. It is an extended living room.”

Rating: 8-8-9-9 Total= 34

#81 A Boll of Roses- Henry Dumas

#81 A Boll of Roses- Henry Dumas

Layton Fields is a young man splitting his time between school and working the cotton fields, although the cotton fields are getting to become a full time. “He felt ashamed of staying out of school just to pick cotton.” But he wants money. Despite his mother telling him:

“Money ain’t worth losing your soul over.”

The time’s are a-changin’ and the freedom riders have been coming around to register people to vote, and help people get back to school. The old folk are all about the changes: “You young-uns oughta get out of this field and get with them rights people. They got the Lord on their side.”

Layton is young, cares mostly about money to buy fancy cloths like the cats from the city have. His interest in the voting people is only about the pretty girls he sees. Themes of change, complacency, and the power of knowledge run throughout this story. What I like most about Dumas, is that no matter where we are, what is going on, at some point he stops and takes note of something beautiful:

Notable Passage: “Suddenly he became conscious of the dying and falling of things. He could hear in his head an echo and he could see where the echo was going without even taking his eyes off the axe and the echo was soft and pretty like a human voice and it flew like a bird flies across the sky, slow and fast but never too fast, and up and down in the wind and all he knew suddenly is that he felt real good and nobody could tell him different.”

Rating: 8-8-7-8 Total= 31

#73 Desiree’s Baby- Kate Chopin

#73 Desiree’s Baby- Kate Chopin

A story such as this about race, slavery, and miscegenation written so plaintively by a woman was certainly ahead of its time. The story itself isn’t a particular fun one to read however. 

Desiree, an orphan foundling marries a proper gentleman Armand Aubignys. They were in love and seemed to have a good marriage. “This was the way that all Aubignys fell in love, as if struck by a pistol shot.”

They were slave owners, and very strict ones at that. When the baby comes, Armand’s demeanor softens until it comes to light that the child is of mixed race, and life turns upside down. He blames her for having an impure bloodline, it turns out to be his family that is less pure. 

Rating: 6-6-6-8 Total= 26

#67 Goodbye, Sweetwater- Henry Dumas

#67 Goodbye, Sweetwater- Henry Dumas

Sulfur Springs and Holly Springs, Arkansas…"The mineral richness below the surface has transformed the once cotton and tobacco lands into little pocket mining communities sticking like hardened sores beneath the white dust.”

As the Second Great Migration of black southerners to the north and western parts of the country was slowing down, the new industrialization left these communities dried up—literally and symbolically.

Families that survived slavery, war, and economic disasters were now being decimated by Jim Crow laws, and systematic upheaval.  Communities like the ones mentioned above were left with only the very old and the very young remaining to fend for themselves as best they could.

Layton is a teenager living with his grandmother. They are tight and cling to the only thing left to them, an intermittent sweet water spring. “The spring played a hide-and-seek pattern going underground and reappearing later.”

But like everything else in that part of the world, the spring will dry up eventually:

“Layton knew that staying was like dying. He could not die. He would go off and take his chances.”

His grandmother, being smart and practical agrees and encourages him to go, to do anything but stay and dry up with the sweetwater: “Go on and finish school. Go in army. Go to college. Get yourself some learnin’. Take care of your mama.”

Layton’s main source of strength and inspiration is his grandmother, it would be hard to leave her behind: “The only thing that gave Layton any real consolation was the fact that his grandmother was indestructible.”  “Somehow his grandmother was bigger and stronger than the land.”

Another beautiful story by Dumas filled with emotion, truth, and soul. There is strong commentary in here about the civil rights activism that is perfectly expressed, straight-forward, not heavy handed, and honest. As I say after each one of these: THIS SHOULD BE REQUIRED READING IN SCHOOL!

Notable Passage: “A mad dog will bite his own mother, son. So I’m sayin, son, be mad but not like a mad dog. Be right first. Be truthful first. And when you get mad at something, you got all that to back you up.”

Rating: 9-9-9-10 Total= 37