A Way Out

By Freddie Elliott

This is for the woman who stood by her moral convictions and values and kept her family together after going through so many downfalls in life and raised six children during difficult times. We call it the rough side of the mountaintop. We came a mighty long way through ups and downs. However, with faith, never quitting, and believing in change, our mother provided us, her children, a way out. This was the motto for our family. For that, this is for our mother, Alice, to whom this book is dedicated.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Aug 8, 2016
• ISBN: 9781524530709

Book preview

Copyright © 2016 by Freddie Elliott. 741211

ISBN:       Softcover     978-1-5245-3071-6

                 Hardcover   978-1-5245-3072-3

                 EBook         978-1-5245-3070-9

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

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Rev. date: 08/24/2017

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DEDICATION

T o a woman who stood by her moral convictions and values and kept her family together despite going through so many downturns in life and raising six children during difficult times. We call it the rough side of the mountaintop. We came a mighty long way through those ups and downs, but with faith, tenacity, and belief in change, our mother provided us, her children, a way out—which became our family’s motto. For that, it is to our mother, Alice, that this book is dedicated.

CONTENTS

DEDICATION

The Biography of Alice’s First Born

Biography of Alice’s Second Born Child

The Biography of Alice’s Third Born Child

Quick Recap

The Biography of Alice’s Fifth-Born Child

The Biography of Alice’s Granddaughter, Michele

Never Give Up

Acknowledgments

About the Book

A Way Out

T o all the teachers: you make a difference in every child’s life, doing what you do for our youth.

To the Military Veterans and the Police Department: you have served our country well; now it’s time for us to serve you. Thank you.

To our Active-Duty Military: thank you, most of all, for protecting us from day to day around the world.

To God: thank you for the gift of allowing me to dream the impossible dream, because without you in my life, I am nothing.

F. E.

T his story s

tarts in Manning, South Carolina, winds through Smithfield, North Carolina, and then comes back to Manning.

Alice’s parents, John and Susan Pendergrass, lived their entire lives in Manning, in Clarendon County, South Carolina. John was born March 26, 1893, and died April 19, 1974; Susan was born May 10, 1896, and died August 9, 1965. John and Susan reared a very large family—seven sons and two daughters. Their children were Theodore Pendergrass, John Pendergrass Jr., Willie Pendergrass, Isaiah Pendergrass, Alice Pendergrass, Warren Pendergrass, Susie Pendergrass, V. D. Pendergrass, and General Pendergrass. Alice, the fifth born child, sacrificed her life by staying at home and taking care of her parents in their later years until their passing.

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Alice Pendergrass

Alice Pendergrass was born in Manning in 1926. She lived with her family on a small farm nine miles away from Manning, the nearest town, in a house that her parents purchased back in the 1800s. The house was not large enough for three people, but ten people lived there—can you imagine? Their air-conditioning was a fan, and their heat came from firewood in a potbellied stove. Water came from an outdoor pump. The bathroom was outside, and the family bathed in a claw-foot tub. Their clothes had to be hand washed and hung on a clothesline for drying.

The local doctor’s office had signs up for a colored side and a white only side. Colored people were not allowed in the coffee shop, unless they were cooking or serving in the kitchen.

The only jobs for colored people were that of house cleaning, elderly care, working in the tobacco and cotton fields. Other jobs, were given to the white people.

Alice, started working during the summer at a Summer release Program, in the town of Manning. This center was set up so that the elderly people could be taken care of. After the Summer Program was completed, Alice, would go back to keeping house. She found the will and had the energy to do jobs that paid less so she could provide for her family. Alice never gave up, or quit trying to find a way to clothe and feed her family. This is what mattered to Alice the most. Her family came first…

The family, couldn’t afford to have a telephone for communication or emergencies or family contact. When the children were in school, the teachers kept in contact with their parents by sending a written note home with the children. It was not until one of Alice’s brothers, John (Bubba), who lived in Florida, said to her, I am going to get you something for your birthday that you will never forget, and every time you look at it, you will think of me, and gave the family a telephone.

Bubba made Alice promise that she would never let the phone be turned off or abused, she said okay. Bubba was a man of his word, and he installed the home’s first and only telephone. Alice kept that telephone for many, many years; the phone was never turned off or abused. She always reminded everyone that her brother had given it to her for a birthday gift. Of the many gifts that Alice have received, she cherished this one the most. Because Alice, didn’t have to wait anymore to talk, she could call family and friends anytime she wanted.

That phone stayed on until Alice left South Carolina and moved to Virginia. Just as Alice was leaving for Virginia, she learned that her hero was coming to her hometown of Manning, South Carolina, in his campaign for President of these United States.

Word spread fast across the state of South Carolina that a little-known African American senator from Chicago was coming to Manning; Barack Obama would be campaigning there in front of the historic Clarendon County Courthouse steps. During the community gathering on Friday, November 2, 2007, Senator Obama called for a revitalized civil rights movement. The senator referenced the fact that the Clarendon County Courthouse in Manning was where the lawsuit Briggs v. Elliott was filed to desegregate the county’s public schools in the 1950s.

Senator Obama also noted that Clarendon County had one of the highest dropout rates in the nation; he said parents must take a critical interest in their children’s education. He then asked the community of Manning if America was ready for an African American President. He said that he was not interested in second place, and that if he were not sure he was going to win, he would not have been running for President of the United States of America. After Senator Obama uttered those famous words No such thing as can’t and Yes, we can in historic Manning. Senator Obama’s campaign took