My mom was just interviewed for an article about the Freedom Schools set up in Mississippi in the summer of 1964. Sometimes I forget that my mom was part of history in the making, being one of the first Black teenagers in town to try to get a library card. Appropriate that she grew up to run a bookshop and work in a library. This article reminded of some of the reasons I am proud to be my mother's daughter. I don't know if I believe her desciption of herself as a timid child, though.
When I was nine years old, my mom took me to New York for the first time. While there, we went to visit Sandy Adickes, my mom's teacher during Freedom Summer. I am sad to say that, at that age, I was not focused on this woman who came to Mississippi to support the process of integration, and helped shape my mother's future. Instead, the things I remember of that visit are her apartment building, which reminded me of those shown in Free to Be You and Me, and the light switch in her teenage daughter's bedroom. It was the kind that's connected to the outlets, so she could turn on her stereo with the flip of a switch. Very common now, but the ultimate in cool to my 9-year-old self.
Twenty years later, I realize that the coolness was the women in the living room.
Posted by Shokufeh at July 22, 2003 05:32 PMWhat a cool article. I knew the bare bones of the story, but not all of the details. Your mom was (and still is) way cool. I sent the link to my mom.
Posted by: Julia at July 23, 2003 08:30 AM