Never Alone: Living in the Real World

By Marian Olivia Heath Griffin

OUR CREATOR IS BESIDE US ALWAYS AND WE ARE NEVER ALONE. WE CAN WALK AND BELIEVE IN SOMEONE OTHER THAN MANKIND. IT IS PROMISING TO SEE YOUNG PEOPLE, OUR GRANDCHILDREN, DIRECTING OTHER PEOPLE AND DEVELOPING A SENSE OF HUMILITY AND DISCERNMENT WITH A GIVING SPIRIT.

THERE IS SOMETHING INHERENT IN ALL OF US THAT SHOULD NEVER BE EXTINGUISHED. THE GENERATIONS TO COME SHOULD BE GIVEN AN OPPORTUNITY TO BE WHAT THEY CAN BE, AS WE ARE ALL PUT ON EARTH FOR A SPECIFIC PURPOSE.

WE LOOK AT WHAT IS HAPPENING AND SEE SIGNS OF CIRCUMSTANCES THAT ARE YET TO COME. THIS IS THE BEST OF TIMES AND THE WORSE OF TIMES, WRITTEN BY CHARLES DICKENS. YET THERE IS A PRESENCE OF LIGHT THAT CAN ONLY BE GIVEN BY THE ONE WHO CREATED ALL THAT WE ARE AND HAVE.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Sep 8, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669845867

Marian Olivia Heath Griffin

Marian Olivia Heath Griffin lives in Baton Rouge, Louisiana with her husband of fifty-eight years. She is a Licensed Professional Counselor and College Administrator (retired) for thirty-six years, the last seven years as Director of International Student Affairs. After she retired from Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, she decided to utilize her degree in Mass Communication and Photography to tell her people’s stories and history. Griffin graduated from Delaware State University with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Sociology and Psychology, a Master’s Degree program in Atlanta University School of Social Work, a Master’s Degree program at Gammon Theological Seminary of the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta. She received her Master’s Degree from the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary in Psychological Counseling and Social Work. She received a Master’s Degree in Educational Supervision and Mass Communication and Photography from Southern University. She did further study at Louisiana State University and Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. She studied Genealogy at the East Baton Rouge Parish Library in Baton Rouge. She has traveled over the fifty states of the U.S. and six of the seven continents. She has written eighteen books in two years, published them with XLIBRIS and compiled and published two photo books with MYCANVAS BY ALEXANDER. She is proud of her three children: Rev. Bertrand, II (Rev. Kotosha Seals Griffin), Karen G. Phenix, (Keith Phenix) and Dr. Michael (Tracie Haydel Griffin). She adores her eight grandchildren: Nia, Kiara, Christian-Paris, Michael, II. Amelia-Grai, Victoria, Olivia and Sophia – all Griffins and one god-child, Whitney White, one great grandchild – Keomi Phenix, one great- godchild, Amelia Pleasant and her brother, Warren, six great- nieces, Whitney Foucheaux, Amoree Sanders, and Danee Heath, Tikia and Lentia Brown, and great nephews: Bobbie, Jr., Enrique and Alberto Garcia, Tyler Heath, Lauren and Kee Kee Dennis, Arshawon Brown (recently deceased), Willie, Jermaine. Brown, Michael Martin and sons, and Devonte Walker.

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Rev. date: 09/02/2022

Xlibris

844-714-8691

www.Xlibris.com

842704

OTHER BOOKS BY

MARIAN OLIVIA HEATH GRIFFIN

CULTURAL GUMBO, OUR ROOTS, OUR STORIES

BORN IN A SHACK DID NOT HOLD ME BACK

A DIARY OF LETTIE’S DAUGHTER

THEN THERE WAS NIA

CHATS WITH MY THREE OLIVIAS

MAMA FANNIE

ENCHANTMENT IN ATL

WATCH YOUR STEP, YOU ARE SOMEONE’S HERO

EACH DAY A NEW HIGH

A LOAF OF BREAD AND A CUP OF TEA,

KEEPING YOUR MARRIAGE ALIVE

A BLIND HEART AS I SEE IT

THE DAY I MET NANO

A VOICE CALLS IN THE NIGHT, FIND

MY PEOPLE, SAVE MY PEOPLE

ACHIEVEMENTS AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS

OF AFRICAN AMERICANS

BEFORE AND AFTER THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

LOOK TO THE LIGHT, SISTERS

TALK TO MY HANDS

I KNOW ME

MEETING AT THE FIRES: MYSTERIES AND

MIRACLES OF RELATIONSHIPS

SUFFER THE INNOCENT CHILDREN

IN HIS OWN IMAGE: HOW I GOT OVER

STRAIGHTEN UP, AMERICA

NEVER SETTLE FOR LESS, ALWAYS THE BEST

IF BLACK IS A COLOR, WHAT IS MELANIN?

PHOTOGRAPHY BOOKS

THE FAMILY OF HATTIE WISE HEATH

THE FAMILY OF MARIAN HEATH GRIFFIN

FIFTIETH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY

DEDICATION

THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO MY HUGE FAMILY WHICH IS A SEQUEL TO CULTURAL GUMBO, OUR ROOTS,

OUR STORIES, A DIARY OF LETTIE’S DAUGHTER, AND BORN IN A SHACK DID NOT HOLD ME BACK.

CONTENTS

DEDICATION

PREFACE

VISITING GRANDPARENTS

SAVING EACH OTHER

MY MISSION

MY FAVORITE AUTHOR

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

AUTHOR’S NOTES

WHAT IS MY MISSION?

OUR ADVENTURES

INTRODUCTION – HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

HARRIET TUBMAN AND FREDERICK DOUGLASS

UNDERGROUND RAILROAD

A WOMAN CALLED MOSES

NEVER ALONE IN HER FAITH

CAPTAIN FOUNTAIN, MY SLAVE FAMILY’S ANCESTOR

EDUCATION IN EVERY AGE

STORIES ABOUT FREED SLAVES

MY GRANDMOTHERS’ ORAL HISTORY

THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD CONTINUES

PART 1 – EARLY IN LIFE

CHAPTER 1     A GLIMPSE OF HEAVEN: THE MOMENT I DIED

THE MOMENT I WAS BORN, I DIED

GENERATIONAL FAMILY

THE CARD GAME

7 LESSONS FROM HEAVEN

HEAVEN IS REAL

CHARLES DICKEN’S A TALE OF TWO CITIES

MY BIRTH

MOTHER’S DAY

CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN ON MOTHER’S DAY

MOTHER’S DAY FESTIVITIES

MY STORY

TWO GRANDMOTHERS -MID-WIVES

MY ANGEL AND I

THE REVELATION OF THE DIVINE TRUTH

MOTHER’S PRAYER GARDEN

CHAPTER 2     MOTHER’S WOES

THE REVEALED STORY

MY PARENTS BELIEVED ME

THE BUILDERS

SIMILARIES BETWEEN MY FATHER AND MY SON, MICHAEL

MOTHER’S ANGEL

GRANDMOM HATTIE PRAYED

AN ENCOUNTER WITH MY SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER

ALLEN ESTABLISHES AME CHURCH

CHAPTER 3     BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE

MY GHOSTS

ANOTHER ERA IN TIME

DIVERSITY IN FAMILIES

CHAPTER 4     ALONE, BUT SAFE

CHAPTER 5     THE PERILS AND VICTORIES OF CHILDHOOD

OUR FIRST GRANDSON

CHRISTIAN-PARIS’ FIRST STEPS

CHRISTIAN-PARIS WITH GRANDPA BERT

CHAPTER 6     CHRISTIAN-PARIS’ OUT OF BODY EXPERIENCE

AUNT NANCY’S EXPERIENCE

CHRISTIAN, THE STORY TELLER

‘PRESENCE’

CHRISTIAN-PARIS’ BOY SCOUT EXPERIENCES

COMPARISONS OF A YOUNG MAN TO AN OLD MAN

INSPIRATION FROM SOMEONE

THOMAS EDISON’S INSPIRATION

PART 2 – MY HOPE FOR A GOOD LIFE

CHAPTER 7     SEEKING APPROVAL FROM OTHERS

CHAPTER 8     THE DAY THE AIRPLANE SWOOPED DOWN

THE CROP -DUSTING AIRPLANE

CHAPTER 9     THE KITCHEN FIRE

MY STORYTIME

CHAPTER 10   TESTIFYING AT SPEAKING MEETINGS

SPEAKING MEETINGS

DIFFERENT CAREERS, SAME SPIRITS

MISS ANNIE EASLEY’S CAREER

KINDRED SPIRITS

CHAPTER 11   MY OWN WATERMELON PATCH

GLOSS OVERS

CHAPTER 12   DON’T TANGLE WITH A BULL

WHICH WAY?

PART 3 – AS I LIVE AND BREATH

CHAPTER 13   THE LOVE OF LEARNING

ELEMENTATY AND HIGH SCHOOL

GRANDMOTHERS WISDOM

A SERVANT

WIDSOM FROM A-FAR

AFTER HIGH SCHOOL, MY GRADUATION PARTY

WELL-WISHING TIME

MY FRIEND’S STORY ABOUT ME

THE BUS TRIP TO BALTIMORE

THE GANG FIGHT

NIA’S STORY

CHAPTER 14   COLLEGE WAS FOR ME

NURSING SCHOOL

UPON RACIAL CONTEXT

A CHANGE OF HEART

NIA’S COLLEGE DAYS

MY COLLEGE DAYS

CHAPTER 15   AN ERA IN MY LIFE

MONEY FOR COLLEGE WAS AN ISSUE

FIRST DAY AT COLLEGE

PUT OUT OF CLASS

THE PERILS OF FRUSTRATION

MY BEST DAYS WERE AHEAD OF ME

DAVID’S POEM-SONGS/DIALOGUE WITH GOD

A CONTINUING EPISODE

BACK TO COLLEGE

CHAPTER 16   OLDEST SISTER PHYLLIS’ EMANCIPATION FROM THE FAMILY

CHAPTER 17   GEORGE’S DECISION TO JOIN THE UNITED STATES NAVY

GEORGE’S NEXT GENERATION

MOTHER’S HOPES FOR HER CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN

A MEANINGFUL EDUCATION

HOW IMPORTANT IS EDUCATION?

EDUCATION! EDUCATION!

THE IMPORTANCE OF A COLLEGE EDUCATION

AFRICAN AMERICAN SELF-CONCEPT

TWO MAJOR SETBACKS

RETURNED TO COLLEGE

CHAPTER 18   INTERRUPTIONS IN LIFE

A NEW DAY IN MY LIFE

PEACE CORPS INTERRUPTION

LIVING IN NEW YORK WITH THE KURTZ FAMILY

QUESTIONING GOD

COMMUNICATION -A PRIVILEGE

AFTER THE SUMMER ENDED IN NEW YORK

CHAPTER 19   LOOKING TOWARD ATLANTA

CHAPTER 20   SOMETIMES UP, SOMETIMES DOWN

BACK-TRACKING

SCIENCE AND EDUCATION GO TOGETHER, BUT!

CHAPTER 21   I LEFT MY HEART BEHIND

FAMILY STRUGGLES IN COLLEGE

THE STATUE OF LIBERTY

MY STUDIES

MY TERM AT CINCINATTI GIRL’S INN AND SOCIAL AGENCY

CHAPTER 22   MARRIED INSTEAD

THE IMPOSSIBLE HAPPENED

HOW ABOUT SCHOLARSHIPS?

CHAPTER 23   CONTINUING MY SEMINARY DEGREE

INTERVIEW WITH DR. H. LEO EDDLEMAN

ACCEPTING MY CREDITS FROM THREE BLACK SCHOOLS

DR. H. LEO EDDLEMAN’S DEFENCE

DR. EDDLEMAN’S RESIGNATION AND NEW POSITION

DIFFERENT OBSTRUCTIONS

STOP PRETENDING

SUE FED ME

FRIGHTENED AND BEWILDERED

CLARA’S INVOLVEMENT

MY NEW ADVISOR

I STAYED IN SEMINARY

REVELATION AFTER A HURRICANE IN NEW ORLEANS

CHAPTER 24   THE WORLD AROUND US

THE BEST AND THE WORSE OF ALL POSSIBLE WORLDS

SIMILAR PATHS OR PARALLELISMS

AT NEW ORLEANS BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

HOW DID I GET TO THIS POINT?

ENROLLING IN SEMINARY

A JAZZ CONCERT IN NEW ORLEANS

CHAPTER 25   LIFE, SEMINARY STUDIES AND THE OUTSIDE WORLD

MAKING THE RIGHT CHOICES

WHY FREEDOM IS NOT ENOUGH

GRADUATION FROM NEW ORLEANS BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

PRESIDENT JOHNSON’S COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS AT HOWARD UNIVERSITY

MY NEW POSITION

MY NEW POSITION AS MOM

CHAPTER 26   DANIEL’S SLANT ON LIFE

DANIEL WAS COLLEGE BOUND

MANY STRIDES AT GOODNESS

CHAPTER 27   JOSEPH’S STANCE ON LIFE

JOSEPH STARTED ELEMENTARY SCHOOL EARLY

JOSEPH ENJOYED ORGANIZATIONS

KEEP GOING!

THIS LEADS TO ELABERATE SCHEMES FOR SELF-IMPROEVEMENT

CHAPTER 28   NANCY’S QUIETNESS

NANCY LOVED TREES

NANCY LOVED ANIMALS

NANCY GROWING UP

NANCY WAS BULLIED

4-H CLUB ACHIEVEMENTS AND SCHOLARSHIP

NANCY AS AN ARTIST

SEPERATED BY DISTANCE

FAMILY HELP

NANCY’S POSITION IN LIFE

ACHIEVEMENTS AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS

GRADUATE DEGREE IN SPECIAL EDUCATION

TRAINING OTHERS

THIS WAS A THIRTY-TWO YEAR ADVENTURE FOR NANCY.

TRAVELS

CHURCH AND COMMUNITY ACHIEVEMENTS

CHAPTER 29   HATTIE E’ STRONG WILL

THE ROOSTER

HATTIE E’S ELEMENTARY SCHOOL YEARS

4-H CLUB ACHIEVEMENTS AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS

THE BEGINNING OF HIGH SCHOOL AT AN ALL-WHITE SCHOOL

PAY ATTENTION TO THE LORD’S INSTRUCTIONS

ACHIEVEMENT AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS

CHAPTER 30   YEARS LATER: EVERY DAY A NEW DEAL

THE DAY THE WILD HORSES RAN

THE EIGHTEEN-WHEELER STORY

FACING MYSELF

PERSONALITY AND CHARACTER

READING IS PRECIOUS

RAISING A YOUNG GRANDSON

THE PERILS AND VICTORIES OF INFANCY

ANOTHER CHANCE

THE CHANCE OF A LIFE TIME

WHO ARE WE?

THE LARGE BOOKMOBILE

PART 4 – MY BOOK HEROES

CHAPTER 31   DR. ERNESTO CHE GUEVARA

CHAPTER 32   DR. CHARLES DREW

DREW’S EARNED DOCTORATE

FORCES OF PREJUDICE UNDERCUT DREW’S EFFORTS

DREW’S MOMENT OF TRIUMPH

HISTORICAL MEMORIES

THE DREW LEGEND

CHAPTER 33   BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

SUFFICIENT GRACE

MODERN DAYS

CONCLUSION

BIBLIOGRAPHY

REFERENCE BOOKS

SELECTED RESOURCES

PREFACE

It was around Easter time, Resurrection Day. Easter Sunday is one of the most blessed days of the year. We thank God each year for our Easter Sunday, because no matter what happened the day before, or the days before that, we find hope and peace on Easter Sunday.

In this world, we all have sorrow, hurt and pain. But we also have the capacity to have empathy which can make a difference in others’ lives. God needs our hands to feed the world and we have the capacity to assist persons who are victims of crimes, cruelty and natural disasters throughout the world.

From hurricanes and tornadoes, to other cruel events, we must work tirelessly with others, such as Emergency First Responders, Food Bank personnel and Welfare authorities to provide essential needs in an effort to rehabilitate our people.

My mother read to us many times: She told us stories about her childhood and her own grandparents by sitting at the knee of her blind grandfather, John Henry Fountain, who had been a slave and worked on a farm in Trinity, Delaware until he became blind. He received his freedom through his mother, Mary Elizabeth Fountain and grandfather, Captain William Fountain. Then he was moved to Philadelphia to a Blind Camp so he could get better.

Once in a while, he was sent back home to a small town in Delaware to be with his family.

He married Amanda, called Mandy by adults and Nanna by children. Her last name was the same as her mother’s last name -Collins. They had several children and raised six to adulthood.

John Henry Fountain knew his mother who was Mary Elizabeth Fountain. She married John Smith. They were both slaves under Captains Charles and William Fountain. The Fountains owned many ships, acres of land and many slaves.

The Fountains freed their descendants and gave them acres of land in Sussex County. Recognizing themselves as freed slaves, they had become legitimate. The freed slaves became upright citizens and helped free other slaves with the help of certain whites such as the white Fountains and the Thomas Jefferson family (who were cousins).

Although vulnerable, John Henry Fountain and his family built on the strengths that enriched the next generations of black people.

The Fountain family had moved from France and Africa and became residents of the thirteen colonies. Both the White Fountains and the Black Fountains became a part of the Underground Railroad.

Their voices came from a place of solo identity, of begrudged and premature independence and uncertainty into a trade-off of a lifetime.

The first and most important option was that they were allowed the possibility of individuality and self-creation and the second was the prospect of neutrality. The third option is something we are all still seeking - PEACE. (p. 13-14).

(Source: Carroll, SUGAR IN THE RAW).

I once was young, but now I am old and I’ve never seen the righteous forsaken, Mother used to say these words all the time. She had her favorite scriptures and famous sayings and we as her children heard them a lot. Now that I am older, I know why she said those things.

As Rev. Dr. Leslie P. Norris, District Superintendent of the Louisiana Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, said to me yesterday, "You may not have riches in coins and dollar bills, but if you have good knowledge and reasoning ability, you are rich.

If you have good friends, you are rich, if you have a good family life, you are rich.

If you have a good education, can read and write, you are rich; and you are never alone."

VISITING GRANDPARENTS

When we were children, my siblings and I used to visit our mother’s parents, Sadie Fountain Harper and Herbert Sidney Harper once or twice each week as they lived ten miles away from our house in Seaford, Delaware. We visited our father’s parents, Hattie Wise Heath and William Will Heath, Jr. once a month because they lived one hundred miles from our house in Painter, Virginia. There were seven children in the household, Phyllis, George, Jr., Marian (me), Daniel, Joseph, Nancy and Hattie.

Mother and Daddy had seven other children, but they didn’t survive childhood.

Both sets of grandparents knew the value of good wholesome family relationships, but they were not afraid to spank their children when they misbehaved.

Both grandmothers, who were Mid-Wives, had been smack dab in the middle of all our births. They said constantly, We may not be rich in things, but we have each other, and that’s rich enough.

They both lived in rural communities near railroad tracks. We used to walk along the tracks and explore the area. Both of our grandmothers as Mid-Wives had helped each other in giving my mother the best of care when she was giving birth to my siblings and me. They also helped birth thousands of babies and each were given land by their white families and/or friends.

SAVING EACH OTHER

Even though there were whites and black slaves living together in the same space, many slaves and slave master families got along well. They helped their children to get along as brothers and sisters -black and white.

My uncle Clarence Harper (Mother’s younger brother and only sibling) told me one day that he played with two white brothers when they were children and got along well together. The two white brothers looked out for each other and looked out for him as well. The two brothers went to a different school than Uncle Clarence, but when they came home, they played either in Uncle Clarence’s yard or the White brothers’ yard. They were around the same age.

They had the same grandfather, William Fountain and were cousins. The white kids knew they were cousins but Uncle Clarence didn’t know they were related until he was eighty years old. They loved each other and went to World War II together around the same time as teenagers, but in different camps – one black and one white.

I am reminded of a story I read, told by Ken Claar, in the UPPER ROOM. He said, "One day, when I was six years old, I heard a strange noise and went over in the thicket of bushes and blackberry vines to investigate. The sound was coming from a hornet’s nest. In my panic to get away, I became trapped in the spiny vines.

My brother, who was twelve, rushed in and untangled me from the vines, ignoring all the stings he was getting. He freed me and took me to our grandmother’s house, where I was treated for the stings. After I had been cared for, we discovered that my brother had ended up with twice as many stings as I had and still had hornets in his jacket attacking his arm."

Though my brother has since passed on, I am reminded that I always had a protector who was my brother. said Claar. (p. 48).

Uncle Clarence had protectors, too – his white cousins.

I realize that I too had a protector who was my older brother, George, Jr. and I have always had a protector in Christ. Jesus freely went to his death to save us. And he still helps us whenever we get into a nest of Hornets that we can’t seem to escape.

Psalm 37: 23-24 is God’s promise and our hope for those black-berry-vine days.

If the Lord delights in a man’s ways, He makes his steps firm.

Though he stumbles, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with His hand. (NIV).

God has brought me thus far. I am a creation in the making. I am a call to action.

MY MISSION

There are words and passages that I have written in this narrative that I am writing at this time as a revolutionary, as an author with a voice, a biographical researcher who can afford to do what I am doing not just as a multicultural being or a diverse person but as a passionate and intellectual, social being.

I was raised in a family of good will and creativity. Words I have written in the past; I value. What I do, and how I write is individualistic. I try to include stories that best give a sense of love and faith to the stories of my people. I feel that these people’s stories matter.

Michael De Montaigne in the 15th century, (1533-1592) said, There are some defeats more triumphant than victories.

There are worse things than losing, among those things is not learning.

MY FAVORITE AUTHOR

One of my favorite authors, Ernest Gaines, stated, In summer, they would sit out on the porch, the gallery –the garry, we called it – and they would talk for hours.

Gaines said, I did not know then that twenty or twenty-five year later, I would try to put some of their talk in a book which I would title, THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MISS JANE PITTMAN.

Gaines saw himself as a storyteller, a writer of others’ stories. He lived on a plantation where his ancestors lived for generations. His people told stories by the fireplace at night, they told stories on the ditch bank, they told stories on the porch.

Then I would get in a little room someplace and try to write their stories down, he said.

I think in my immediate family there were tremendous storytellers or liars. I like to listen to the way people talk. They talked because the old people could not write, Patricia Rickels stated in "AN INTERVIEW WITH ERNEST GAINES.

(Source: Rickels, SOUTHWESTERN REVIEW X, p. 3)

Marcia Gaudet, co-authored a book titled, PORCH TALK WITH ERNEST GAINES. She inquired of him, In your work, you’ve taken this oral tradition of storytelling and transformed it into literature?

Right, said Gaines. That’s one of the hardest things in the world to do. You find people who can tell some stories. But if you give them a pen and a piece of paper and tell them to write their story, they’ll run. It’s a tough thing to try to recapture other’s stories, but I try to do that. (p. 8).

Out of necessity, Minority groups in America, as in other cultures, have long passed their history down through oral traditions.

As English historian, Paul Thompson, notes, "The strongest communal memories are those of beleaguered out-groups. For much of the twentieth century, the custom of many professional historians has been to dismiss oral lore as a collection of insignificant falsehoods – a kind of child’s play.

However, this custom is changing as historians come to understand better the great degree to which American history has largely been shaped and severely limited in its scope by the elite groups who wield the most power in American society.

(Source: Love, ONE BLOOD. p. 6).

Many times, I have been at a crossroad. I wonder, after reading such authors as Gaines and Hemingway: Can I lift my voice? Can I use my words to say a few things about racism, about solidarity, about devastation, about restoration, about faith and grace?

What has been done in the past is still being done in the 21th century to Indigenous peoples, to African Americans and other minorities. After all, most of our history has been told through oral history and oral tradition.

In fact, it has been reported that any slave who was taught to read and write may be put to death and the person who taught them was severely punished.

I recall hearing my husband’s cousin, Rose Kelly, say, that their great grandmother was taught to read by her slave master’s wife. Even after Fannie learned to read and write, the slave master, punished his wife for teaching her and put Fannie out of the Big House.

Fannie, from the age of twelve, had three children by the slave master and he was fond of her, but he did not want her to learn to read and write.

She was born of a Black girl, named Martha Tessier, conceived from a White man on a slave ship. When the ship arrived in New Orleans, Fannie’s mother, a pregnant fourteen -year-old slave girl was sold to a slave owner in Melrose Plantation, in a country town in Central Louisiana.

(Source: Griffin, MAMA FANNIE).

The main point here is that it was illegal to teach slaves to read and write. Fannie had learned enough to want more learning and wanted her children to learn to read and write. She taught them herself by reading to them, telling them stories about her life and putting a pencil and paper in their hands when they were little.

Mama Fannie lived on the same plantation all her life where she was taken as a two -year- old child. She lived there for 74 years as a seamstress and a wash-woman. However, she sent her children to another parish in Louisiana to get an education. This was my husband’s ancestor. She was in the 1900 United States Census Report with one of her children.

Suffice it to say, all of her children and grandchildren received a formal education. She taught one grandchild – Roby Griffin – herself, as he would not leave her until he was grown. Roby Griffin was my husband, Bertrand Griffin’s father.

When I was young, and now I’m old. I’ve never seen the righteous forsaken, was my mother’s daily saying.

I learned early that learning to read and write was significant. Not only did our mother, Lettie Heath, read to us, but our elementary teacher, Miss Mary Daniels, did so as well. She took the time to read us fables and stories each day just before we went home from school.

I just loved to hear Miss Daniels read and we gained so much knowledge from the stories. This taught the real meaning of reading. Books took us places we may never see and showed us life’s features through other’s eyes. I would dream about some of the stories read and want to learn more.

This was all a part of my childhood’s joys. I didn’t know I was learning to read and write, but I was. My ancestors were not allowed to learn, but I am allowed and my children and grandchildren are allowed to read, write and tell stories. That means we are never alone. We know how to relate to others and other’s situations through learning.

I also didn’t know that I was gaining knowledge through oral and traditional history. I began to wonder why some of these stories about my family were not in history books just as Harriet Tubman and Booker T. Washington and George Washington Carvers’ stories were.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

A labor of love has gone into the writing of this book which was made all the sweeter by the many hands that helped make it a reality. Neither time nor space allows me to acknowledge and thank all the persons for the countless acts of support and encouragement (as well as criticism) I received from individuals who walked with me and talked with me throughout my days.

I have written twenty-three books and put together three photography books in three years and I am proud of the people mentioned in these books because it feels as if their hands were on the pen and computer along with mine.

I am indebted to God and everyone who has shared their life with me. The actions, thoughts, observations and feelings of these grand-spirited people cannot not be overstated. Among these many persons, whose names may have been forgotten or even unknown, I must single out a few who have been a part of this journey almost as long as I have been on it.

First and foremost, let me acknowledge my God-given mother, Lettie Harper Heath and father, George Wesley Heath, Sr. who with the help of God, gave me life. I was blessed to have grandparents who survived many adversities in their lives until they passed away. They taught us as children to get over ourselves and be true to our own lives.

I owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to my grandparents, Sadie Fountain Harper and Herbert Sidney Harper and Hattie Wise Heath and William Will Heath, Jr. They shared many experiences with us by interacting with my six siblings and me. We all have lived through many situations, both good and bad. We have lived through hard times and good times, knowing of dangers and pitfalls of life. But it was worth it.

Our grandparents and parents encouraged us to choose hope and faith instead of fear and dismay. I am thankful for my siblings: Phyllis Heath Pepper, (Willie, Sr.- both deceased), George Wesley Heath, Jr. (Corine-deceased) Daniel L. Heath (Lois- both deceased), Joseph Heath (1. Mammie, 2. Barbara), Nancy Heath Kellam, (Albert, Jr.), and Hattie Heath Purnell, (Gerald Purnell- both deceased.) These are the siblings and peers who offered me much love, support and challenges.

Our three children, Bertrand Griffin, II (Kotosha Seals Griffin), Karen Griffin Phenix (Keith B. Phenix) and Michael Gerard Griffin, I (Tracie Haydel Griffin), and Edward Jason Massenberg, Michael’s best friend) have always been our pride and joy even when they were young and required much attention.

I cannot leave out my eight beautiful grandchildren: Nia, Kiara, Christian-Paris, Michael, II, Amelia-Grai, Victoria,