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or read his story below:
LONG WALK HOME
I am a mere toddler in 1944, and my older sister, Barbara, is just four years ahead of me.
Today my Mother, Frances Lee McGee Reed, and Barbara and I are riding the bus home from Downtown Tuscaloosa. This is back in the days when the bus company boldly displays a sign up front that reads, COLORED TO REAR, WHITE TO FRONT. It takes me years to figure out what this means.
Anyhow, at one of the stops, a very young, very pregnant African American woman boards the bus, which is filled to overflowing–no seats available.
Mother immediately gets up and offers her seat to the young woman, who is grateful for the chance to sit steady.
The bus comes to a rough halt, the very red-faced driver stomps down the aisle, stares at the woman and demands she get up and allow Mother, the white lady, to sit back down. Mother, suddenly also red-faced, stares him down and exclaims, “This woman is pregnant, and she can have my seat!”
The driver will hear none of it–as long as there are no seats available, the black woman will have to stand up. It’s the law.
Mother fumes. Her solution is simple. She yanks Barbara by the arm and heads toward the exit, leaving the seat empty for legal use by the young woman. Barbara grabs my arm and makes sure the three of us are locked together as we exit the bus.
Then, Mother’s next challenge arises.
What Barbara and I remember is that the day is bitterly cold, we don’t have warm clothing, and Mother is very mad.
But we do warm up quickly as we take the long walk home
© Jim Reed 2016 A.D.