Richard and Mary Alice
Samhain is approaching RAPIDLY.
My family that is beyond us now has been reaching to me through the thinning veil. They're reminding me of who I am, what they instilled in me and giving me all their love and support like always.
In honor of them, throughout the rest of the month I'm going to use pics of them as my avatar. And tell you a little bit about them as well.
Today I'll start at, well my beginning, and present my parents. My father passed away 2 years ago. My mother is still alive. But this is a picture of them in 1955 just before they got married. It's my very very very very favorite picture of them together. They look DAP! Daddy is ROCKIN that suit and mom is all about that hat and gloves. That man wore a suit every single day of his life until he died.
Yes, they were married at a fucked up time. Yes, they had problems being an interracial couple but neither one of them gave a shit. They ran with a very progressive crowd, full of artists, musicians, academics and techno geeks. Yes, techno geeks - they both worked for the Navy and my father was a computer programmer. Of course computers back then were the size of a room, but that's what he did.
They were also members of an interracial couples group in Cleveland and all of them were considered the "smart set". I remember lots of dinner parties, group picnics and backyard bbq's. I grew up with a lot of other biracial kids whose parents were part of that group. In fact, my first serious boyfriend (who took my virginity) and I had played together as babies back then.
My mother's family all lived in Cleveland (by way of Alabama) so we spent a lot of time with them as well. My mother's cousins and my parents always got together to play bid whist and drink and dance. My cousins and I would run around like knuckleheads and all fall asleep on the bed with all the coats while the adults partied late into the night.
My father's family all lived in Fulton, MO and we didn't see them often. My dad had 11 brothers and sisters (good IRISH CATHOLIC family that!) Almost all of them accepted my mother and me. At least my grandparents did. I can remember driving down there a few times and due to the laws in some of the states we passed through, my parents weren't legally married. My mom and I had a hotel room (for colored), my dad had another (for whites). My very first memory of racism directed at me was on one of those trips. Once we got to Missouri one of my uncles came over the house and told my paternal grandmother "I can't believe you let that little nigger in here. I'm not staying here with that." To which my grandmother replied, "Then I guess you're gonna have to leave because this is my grandbaby who will always be welcome. And when you leave, don't bother coming back." Until her death 10 yrs later he never set foot in her house again. I was about 5 then.
My parents divorced several years later. My mother never remarried, my father had a common law wife and they had 2 kids together. I was never close to them, but until the day he died I was always Daddy's little girl. I still am.
My family that is beyond us now has been reaching to me through the thinning veil. They're reminding me of who I am, what they instilled in me and giving me all their love and support like always.
In honor of them, throughout the rest of the month I'm going to use pics of them as my avatar. And tell you a little bit about them as well.
Today I'll start at, well my beginning, and present my parents. My father passed away 2 years ago. My mother is still alive. But this is a picture of them in 1955 just before they got married. It's my very very very very favorite picture of them together. They look DAP! Daddy is ROCKIN that suit and mom is all about that hat and gloves. That man wore a suit every single day of his life until he died.
Yes, they were married at a fucked up time. Yes, they had problems being an interracial couple but neither one of them gave a shit. They ran with a very progressive crowd, full of artists, musicians, academics and techno geeks. Yes, techno geeks - they both worked for the Navy and my father was a computer programmer. Of course computers back then were the size of a room, but that's what he did.
They were also members of an interracial couples group in Cleveland and all of them were considered the "smart set". I remember lots of dinner parties, group picnics and backyard bbq's. I grew up with a lot of other biracial kids whose parents were part of that group. In fact, my first serious boyfriend (who took my virginity) and I had played together as babies back then.
My mother's family all lived in Cleveland (by way of Alabama) so we spent a lot of time with them as well. My mother's cousins and my parents always got together to play bid whist and drink and dance. My cousins and I would run around like knuckleheads and all fall asleep on the bed with all the coats while the adults partied late into the night.
My father's family all lived in Fulton, MO and we didn't see them often. My dad had 11 brothers and sisters (good IRISH CATHOLIC family that!) Almost all of them accepted my mother and me. At least my grandparents did. I can remember driving down there a few times and due to the laws in some of the states we passed through, my parents weren't legally married. My mom and I had a hotel room (for colored), my dad had another (for whites). My very first memory of racism directed at me was on one of those trips. Once we got to Missouri one of my uncles came over the house and told my paternal grandmother "I can't believe you let that little nigger in here. I'm not staying here with that." To which my grandmother replied, "Then I guess you're gonna have to leave because this is my grandbaby who will always be welcome. And when you leave, don't bother coming back." Until her death 10 yrs later he never set foot in her house again. I was about 5 then.
My parents divorced several years later. My mother never remarried, my father had a common law wife and they had 2 kids together. I was never close to them, but until the day he died I was always Daddy's little girl. I still am.
posted by greer at
5:26 PM
2 Comments:
BTW, I found out about your Blog after reading the comments on the Black snob. I couldn't really see waht was going ion in your avatar, so I had to click for a closer look. Your parents look really happy together. I just wanted to say that I found this story about your parents intriguing. Keep up the blogging:
#1 it's therapeutic and
#2 because you're good at it.
Hey Tiff, thanks.
It's nice going through all these OLD pics. I found one of my Great, great, great grandmother who was born in 1851. Both she and her mother had several children by the man that owned them as well as having legal husbands. Funny how my mother's side has been here far longer than my father's..and yet..only in my lifetime have blacks had equal rights.
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