Childhood Stories and Perspectives: A Memoir

By William L. Alston

Walter and Julia Alston were two parents with two different upbringings—one was from a family of means, and the other was from a family with very little. One was about trying to have success and wealth, and the other was about having nothing, spending and splurging and wasting more than could be grasped. Both Walter and his spouse, Julia, had major flaws. Both were all about him and herself. They had no plans to effectively share between themselves or among their ten children. They were all in it for themselves and not for each other and certainly not for their offspring. Despite their selfishness, they left their children with more than they realized; they left their children a treasure trove of stories—stories that were handed down through several generations from their parents and their parents’ parents. For generations, this had transpired by word of mouth that revealed family history, culture, entertainment, and family accomplishments. These stories brought pride, pleasure, and a sense of direction and well-being to the Alston family. These stories brought assured tangibles that would encourage, empower, teach, and would point the way forward.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Dec 2, 2021
• ISBN: 9781662435287

Book preview

The Sharecroppers’ Son—a Perspective, An Opinion

One story…

The Civil War

The Civil War was fought to preserve the Union and for that reason only. President Abraham Lincoln, Honest Abe, knew very little about Blacks, nor did he seem to be more involved than the securing of that stated aim. His main mission was to achieve the United States. In his inaugural address, which was delivered on March 4, 1861, Lincoln proclaimed that it was his duty to maintain the Union. He also stated that he had no plans to end slavery in the States, where slavery presently existed. This horrified African Americans and their White allies. African Americans rushed to enlist in the armed forces but were turned away. Several schools of thought came into play that enabled the White legislators to say no to their service. There was a perceived inability of a Black man to fight, and the thought of a Black man killing a White man was not palatable in our early history.

At a time when only about half the population bothered to vote and many Americans held their elected representatives in contempt, the American Civil War offered a reminder of the power of democratic ideals not simply to Northerners in the era of the Civil War but also to people in other nations, who celebrated the Union victory as an effort toward greater rights for themselves. The Civil War helped two neglected groups, notably the exclusion from participation of non-Whites and women. I believe as many Civil War scholars believe, the importance of slavery in the conflict and the contribution of Black soldiers to Union victory is not exaggerated.

Frederick Douglass—a diplomat, abolitionist, and champion of the people—had the firm conviction that free men should have the right to defend their freedom. Douglass convinced Lincoln of the wisdom of enlisting Negro troops in the Union armies. He himself helped organize the Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts Regiment of Fort Wagner and enlisted two of his sons. Their story is told in the movie Glory.

Many scholars have argued that the war brought into being a new conception of American nationhood. A struggle for a different kind of Union emerged. Yes, you are correct that racism survived the war. Yet the surge of egalitarian sentiment that inspired the rewriting of the laws and Constitution to create, for the first time, a national citizenship enjoying equal rights not limited by race but not gender. Both Black and White women had to wait. I will discuss that aspect later. Black men, on paper, got the right to vote before women did. The Constitution said that they have the right; many of the Whites said no, especially in the South. We all know that our Southern friends believe in abiding by the Constitution of the United States. Don’t you think about taking their rights away. They are a group of me boys. You can’t tax me. Government is too big for me. Give to me all the rights. They believe in that document that those White boys wrote. I assure you, when that document was written, they never considered the Negro man or women would ever get any rights.

Before the war, slavery powerfully affected the idea of self-government. Large numbers of Americans identified democratic citizenship as a privilege of Whites alone. This position was embraced by the Supreme Court in the Dred Scott decision of 1857. This was why the transformation wrought by the Civil War was so remarkable. George William Curtis, the editor of Harper’s Weekly, observed in 1865, the war transformed a government for White men into one for humanity. That was something worth fighting for. One good thing about slavery, it got me out of Africa. For that, I am thankful. I am pleased with my acquired home. I am a true American. My family and I built this country. I was peeved when the chief sold my family to the White man. Oh! I am certain the White man stole me from my native home, Africa. I am here, and I bet some of you regret that. I never got my forty acres and that broken-down mule that Sherman promised my great-grandpa and my grandpa.

Thank you John Robert Lewis; Ruth Bader Ginsburg; Harriet Tubman; Dred Scott; John Brown; Nat Turner; Harriet Beecher Stowe; Frederick Douglass; Robert Gould Shaw; Francis Shaw and Sarah Shaw, the parents of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw; the Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts Infantry; Quakers; Francis Daniel Pastorius; William Lloyd Garrison; Levi Coffin; Sojourner Truth; underground railroad locations; Caesar Alston; United States colored troops of the Thirty-Third Infantry; the Pennsylvania German; and many others that included Martin Luther King; Julia Mae Stancil and her dynamic contributions at North Carolina Central University during the marches; our President Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ), a true American hero. We thank President LBJ for his effectiveness pertaining to legislation and his superior political savvy. He was a true American hero. From his heart, he did as much or perhaps more than President Abraham Lincoln. LBJ was my hero! I suppose Lincoln did as much as he could do then and the many others who gave their all.

Mark Twain wrote, There are many humorous things in the world, among them, the White man’s notion that he is less savage than the other savages.

Battery Wagner, 1863

The Union’s Major General Quincy A. Gilmore was determined to capture the city of Charleston, South Carolina, and decided the first step was to capture Morris Island at the mouth of Charleston Harbor. Morris Island was protected by a small but strategically located Confederate fort called Battery Wagner that was then occupied by 1,300 men under the command of General William B. Taliaferro. Gilmore believed that the shot-torn beach in front of Battery Wagner could be crossed and taken.

Gilmore spent a week positioning 41 cannons to fire on the fort. At noon on July 18, the Union cannon on Morris Island and seven nearby Union ships began a bombardment of Battery Wagner that lasted for more than seven hours. At about 7:30 p.m., 6,000 Union soldiers in two brigades commanded by General G. C. Strong and Colonel H. S. Putnam started forward across two-hundred-yard-wide beach toward Battery Wagner. The rebel defenders, safely weathering the bombardment in their shelters, occupied their guns and quickly laid down sheets of musket fire. At the forefront of the Union assault was the Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts Infantry, the first Black regiment recruited in the North. Its White commander, twenty-six-year-old Colonel Robert G. Shaw, led the attack that carried his regiment onto the parapet of the fort, where he was killed by a bullet through the heart. The 600 soldiers of the Fifty-Fourth suffered 272 casualties. The Confederate soldiers were aided by battery fire from Fort Sumter. After repeated attacks by the Union soldiers who were beaten off by the rebels, the Union soldiers gave up and returned to their trenches. General Strong was mortally wounded, and Colonel Putnam was killed. The Union’s loses totaled 1,515 against only 174 Confederate casualties. Gilmore spent the next six weeks subjecting the fort to his battery fire while digging zigzag trenches up to it. On September 6, the rebels were driven out.

The capture of Morris Island did little to change the stalemated situation in Charleston Harbor. One Union soldier called the attempts to take Battery Wagner the most fatal and fruitless campaign of the war.

President Abraham Lincoln recruited colored soldiers during the summer of 1863. When the colored and White soldiers served in the Union Army, colored troops were paid ten dollars per month, while the White troops were paid thirteen dollars. Fredric Douglass met with Lincoln and urged equal pay. They got equal pay that was retroactive.

The Sharecroppers’ Son—a Perspective, An Honor

A Salute to the Colored Troops and Those Who Have Served and Are Serving Our Country

The poem The Charge of the Light Brigade by Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809–1892) was written to memorialize a suicidal charge by the light cavalry over open terrain by British forces in the Battle of Balaclava (Ukraine) in the Crimean War (1854–1856); 247 men of the 637 in the charge were killed or wounded. I will take some liberties with this poem. I believe this poem was written to recognize all warriors who fight for the right causes. This is an appropriate salute to our present-day heroes who are presently serving and those who have served our wonderful country. We owe lots to those men and women. When you see them, say thanks and mean it. I salute. I wave, and I love old glory.

Here now is a salute to our heroes by Alfred Lord Tennyson

The Charge of the Light Brigade

Half a league, half a league,

Half a league onward,

All in the valley of Death

Rode the six hundred.

"Forward, the Light Brigade!

Charge for the guns!" he said.

Into the valley of Death

Rode the six hundred.

Forward, the Light Brigade!

Was there a man dismayed?

Not though the soldier knew

Someone had blundered.

Theirs not to make reply,

Theirs not to reason why,

Theirs but to do and die.

Into the valley of Death

Rode the six hundred.

Cannon to the right of them,

Cannon to the left of them,

Cannon in front of them

Volleyed and thundered;

Stormed at with shot and shell,

Boldly they rode and well,

Into the jaws of Death,

Into the mouth of hell

Rode the six hundred.

Flashed all their sabers bare,

Flashed as they turned in air

Sabering the gunners there,

Charging an army, while

All the world wondered.

Plunged in the battery-smoke

Right through the line they broke;

Reeled from the saber stroke

Shattered and sundered.

Then they rode back, but not

Not the six hundred.

Cannon to the right of them,

Cannon to the left of them,

Cannon behind them

Volleyed and thundered;

Stormed at with shot and shell,

While horse and hero fell.

They that had fought so well

Came through the jaws of Death,

Back from the mouth of hell,

All that was left of them,

Left of six hundred.

When can their glory fade?

O the wild charge the made!

All the world wondered.

Honor the charge they made!

Honor the Brigade,

Noble six hundred!

An Inclusive Work of Mastery

The Constitution of the United States

The Preamble

We the people,

To form a more perfect union,

Establish justice, insure domestic tranquility,

Provide for the common defense,

Promote the general welfare and

Secure the blessings of liberty

To ourselves and our posterity Do ordain

and establish this Constitution for the United States of

America.

*****

In 1787, I’m told, our founding fathers all sat down and wrote a list of principles that is known around the world. The USA was just starting out—a whole brand-new country. So our people described it. The things that we should be. They put those principles down on paper, and they called it the Constitution, and it has been helping us run our country ever since. The first part of the Constitution is called the Preamble. It tells what those founding fathers set out to do.

On July 4, 1776, Congress adopted the unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America, but they did not live up to their creed. They used these words to free and to rid themselves from the bondage of England but did not unhand the Black slaves from their bondage to them. This beautiful document should have incited freedom for all. The people must see to it. The Constitution was on the right track; many of the citizens were not. Please understand that those White founding father never had us in mind. We were considered less than worthy, less than human, less than a man. We were Niggers.

During the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to resolve the political bonds that have connected them with another and to assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which laws of nature and of nature’s God entitle them. A decent respect to the opinions of humanity requires that they should declare the cause that impels them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident—that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. However, the Blacks were left out. They were not human enough to merit this. This was the belief of some, including some Negros.

I feel that the Declaration of Independence has outlived its present-day use. Too many conservatives are stuck on it. They hide behind what it means and perhaps what it does not mean. Did the framers expect this document would last forever? Thank God this document can be amended. The ratification process is helpful. The check and balance method is good. The main purpose of our Constitution was to keep out tyrants. In that regard, it has worked. It has worked since until now—the age of Donald Trump.

Trump is scheming to be the leader forever and then some. He would love to have one of his children take over after he is gone. He would prefer Ivanka Trump Kushner to take over. She is his favorite child by his admissions. Trump is like the monkey who is not worthy and can’t be trusted. He will continue to show his ass. We know who he is. He has told us; he has shown us; he constantly tell us. He is a monkey that shows his ass when he goes up a tree, and he shows his ass when he comes down the tree. Trust him? No way! Trump is not commensurate with what we need at this time. He missed his chance. Trump should have run as the vice president in 1968 with George Wallace. Make America Great Again—Trump’s campaign slogan—has this true meaning: I would love to take America back to way back when. George Wallace said, No Niggers today, no Niggers tomorrow, no rights for Niggers never. Wallace did seem to see the light when he was shot; he eventually apologized.

I ask, What about the Negro slaves? Come, come now. Do the Negro slaves have to wait another one hundred years for their freedom? The answer is yes! America should have been charged with aggravated assault and kidnapping. Where is my compensation? I need it now. The gift of our first Black president to us and to the world is not enough. He deserves to be our leader. His competitors felt he was untested and was too unstable and was too unpredictable for those trying times. What they really believed was this: he is a Black; he must stay silent; and he should not be our president. Did Mitch McConnell succeed in making President Obama a one-term president? No, he did not. Did that fool who yelled out loudly at the State of the Union Address, You lie! hurt President Obama? No, he did not. Joe Wilson only embarrassed himself. Would he do that to number 45? John McCain is my hero. He was the best of the best. Whites let Trump go too far when they refused to check him on the birth issue. Donald Trump has done major damage to the USA that will take years to repair. Blacks are also to blame when they refused to vote for Hillary Clinton. I gave Hillary my money and my vote.

Only history will give us this answer. An answer that may not come for decades. The economy will take a bounce but will take us back to the old tactics and status. Only a good and smart Clinton or Obama or Hillary can save us now. Where is Bill? We need him now! Hillary for president. She deserves being the first woman president. Run Hillary… Hillary, I am so sorry we let you down. We would not be in this situation if you had become our first female president. Bill would have been an excellent First Gentleman. Trump is in over his head. Did Trump finish college? If he did finish, tell me how he accomplish that? He seems to have the ability of a moron. God, please continue to help us. Trump has no ability to listen. He seems to be tone-deaf. He is existing in the early forties. Trump is out of date. He has f—— all of us. He has sold USA out to Putin and to the Russians. Trump is a transactional guy. I will do for you if you do for me. Joe Biden has my blessings. Joe will make a great president. He will build back better. Joe has my vote and my money. I have contributed over $500 to the Biden-Harris ticket. Yes, I am a liberal Democrat. Socialist—all of us are to an extent. I gladly pay more than my share on income tax.

What Are the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments?

The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution officially abolished and continues to prohibit slavery and involuntary servitude, except only as punishment for a crime. It was adopted on December 6, 1865, and was declared in a proclamation of Secretary of State William H. Seward on December 18. The Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution specifies who are the legal citizens of the United States and their protections under the law. The Fifteenth Amendment, in1869 that was passed after the Civil War, guaranteed Black men the right to vote. That was a joke. The Ku Klux Klan (KKK), White supremacists, and Trump are still working to destroy that constitutional right. This amendment affected not only freed slaves in the South but also Blacks living in the North, who generally had not been allowed to vote. In 1964, the Civil Rights Act bans racial discrimination in public places, and it strengthens voting rights. Then along comes Trump. History will not judge Trump kindly. Joe Biden will heal our nation; Dr. Jill Biden will make a fine First Woman.

Black women got the right to vote in the US along with other women with the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment. Women had to wait another half century before getting the same rights to vote as Black and White men. Voting rights for Blacks were not always honored in the South or at times in the North.

The Nineteenth Amendment…

The contributions of Susan B. Anthony and Fanny Lou Hamer.

Susan B. Anthony was remanded to court, was tried and was convicted for seeking the right to vote. White men forced their will, demanding that they spoke for everyone who was not a man and who was not White. Susan B. Anthony did not stand for their tactics. In 1872, activist Susan B. Anthony cast an illegal ballot in the presidential election. She was recognized, caught, and arrested and was put on trial and was convicted. She was found guilty and was fined $100. She refused to pay the fine. She spent the remainder of her life protesting the sentence and the law that deprived her of having the right to vote. She died in 1906 fourteen years before the United States government amended the constitution to give women the privilege to vote.

Susan B. Anthony never got to vote legally. The Voting Rights Act was signed into law on August 6, 1965, by President Lyndon Johnson. It outlawed the discriminatory voting practices adopted in many southern states after the Civil War including literacy tests as a prerequisite to voting.

The nineteenth amendment did not get the job done. LBJ got the voting job done. What do you think, did he?

Fanny Lou Hamer the Civil Rights Heroine may disagree. She said, I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired. She was a leader in the sixties. She made it clear that she was just existing in Ruleville, Mississippi. She was pissed because she and the Blacks in her city were excluded from everything there.

In 1962, when she and eighteen of the citizens there traveled twenty-six miles to the courthouse in Indianola, Mississippi, to try to register to vote. She and others were fired from their jobs. They were met by White men, the city policemen, and the state highway patrolmen.

After taking a literacy test, they had twenty-one questions to answer that began with. Write the date on this application.

What is your full name? By whom are you employed? This question was asked so they could be fired. The police played a major role in destroying, disrupting, and blocking the rights of Blacks. Do Black lives matter? Can you understand why many Blacks don’t trust police?

The Sharecroppers’ Son—A Perspective

The My Perspective

It was the best of times, for some of us; it was the worst of times, for some of us; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, for some of us; it was the epoch of disbelief, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, for all of us; it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct to the other way; in short, the period was so far like the present period. These are some of the words of Charles Dickens from A Tale of Two