My response to Episode 4 Many Rivers To Cross: Making A Way Out Of
No Way.
I started off with a small poem I wrote
and then highlighted a few of my ancestors that made a difference in their communities
and in their own personal lives.
Should We Go or Should We Stay?
How can we
make a way out of no way?
Got to buy me
a pick, a shovel, a small plot of land
With the Grace of God, I will do what I can.
Forces are against us, white sheet and hoods
Looking at
every truck that comes through our neck of the woods.
Right and
left in the day go the sway of our head
Praying and
praying we don’t come up dead.
As we lend our
ears to the sounds that say Get up!
Don’t even bother
to dress, they are on their way
Peeking out
the window late at night
Consoling our
kids who are shaking with fright
Peace be
still
Should we go or should we stay?
Can we hold our heads up high as we walk down the street?
Being men why should we shuffle and look down at our
feet
We love our women; yes, we too love deep
Trusting and protecting as we tip toe through the
waters of life
Should we go or should we stay?
Trouble the
water, down in the lower South
In this new day of reconstruction
Or take a
trek where life springs a new beginning
As we wade in
those troubled waters
Regardless of
where we stay
We will make
a way out of no way.
Jimmy The Ugly Crow:
My aunt Ethel's grandfather Richard Chapman family had to endure this awful charge and continue to make a way out of murky water.
Most of my ancestors chose to stay in Texas for whatever
reason. They lived in counties like Galveston, Fayette, Liberty, San Jacinto,
Grimes, and Harrison. However many of their children moved to other cities as they got older.
Texas had numerous teaching jobs that needed to be filled as more and more schools were built.
Uncle Owen Daviss had several teaching and principal positions. Kenedy School was one of the ones he was troubled with towards the end of his career in that town.
This is a letter that my uncle Owen sent to a Mr. Jacquet
telling of his concern about not only him losing his job because of desegregation
but for all the other Negro teachers who would be displaced.
The Bad: This letter below tells of his concern in 1955 of the aproaching storm.
Here is a portion of the letter as he breaks down the stream of unfairness.
The response Uncle Owen received was cloudy and stagnant:
Breaking down the bad came down like a rolling waterfall.
Low and bitter as if he
knew all they went through instead of playing the blame game on that bridge over troubled waters.
After all that was said and done Uncle Owen went on to be one of the best educators in Grimes and Liberty County Texas.
One of my collateral great uncles Wash Lester helped to build
numerous Rosenwald schools in Harrison County.
Relatives went to Bishop and Wiley College. One
uncle Rev L.R. Taylor was a trustee at Bishop for years before they moved the
school to Dallas. He was also a Moderator for the Texas Louisiana Baptist
Association.
My paternal relatives attended Praireview and
Texas Southern and taught at schools like Paul Quinn in Waco.
Harry Daviss went to Texas State University for Negroes
Some went on to
attend Meharry in Tennessee like my great grandfather J D Daviss and came back
to Texas to practice at the Houston Colored Hospital as well as private
practice.
Those who migrated and chose to stay in their perspective states:
A better life was made
for and by them as well as their offspring.
From Pullman Porters, School Principals, and just plain hardworking men
who took care of their families in hard times and good times.
William D. Williams: New York
Lloyd Williams: Washington
Lee Williams: California
R.D. Burks: California
Jerome Burks: California
T.R. Daviss: Colorado
Moses Davis Colorado
Wright C Daviss: Oklahoma
Floyd Mitchell: Oklahoma
Harry Davis: Kansas
