William H. Johnson

William H. Johnson was a painter from South Carolina. He was born in 1901 in Florence, S.C. I discovered his life and work at the Greenville County Museum of Art. His paintings of farm life for African Americans in S.C. during the pre-Civil Rights Movement days and windows into the life and hearts of the characters in my story. It was a serendipity for me to find him.

You can find out about William H. Johnson by clicking on his name above. You can also visit the excellent Smithsonian Institute American Art website and type in his name - http://www.americanart.si.edu

William H. Johnson - "Abraham Lincoln"

School (conclusion)

Our farm is a classroom for Carver and me. Our school, to tell you the truth, is not. In many ways, these two places that are so instrumental to Carver and me are on opposite ends of the spectrum from each other.

Our farm is 160 acres of fields, meadows, trees, and streams to walk over, crawl through, climb up, and swim in. It is there for us to explore and investigate and we spend as much of our free time as we can exploring and investigating it.

Our school is a ramshackle shanty, not built of brick and stucco and filled with teaching supplies like the white schools but pieced together with rotting wood and tar paper, empty of desks and textbooks. Carver has 47 students in his 2nd grade class and I have the same number in my 5th grade class. We are shoulder to shoulder and back to knee in our classrooms!

Our farm has a stream that runs along the back side of our property line. Carver and I like to stand in it barefooted on summer afternoons and feel the smooth rocks against our heels and the wet sand between our toes. We stand as still as we can and look at the life living just below the surface of the water. We talk about all the things we feel, see, and think about.

Our school doesn't have indoor plumbing, so we don't have water fountains and flush toilets like the students at the white schools have. We drink water from dippers in open buckets and pee and poop in an outhouse at the back corner of the schoolgrounds. Sometimes we can't play outside on hot, humid days because we have to stop and gag when we breathe in the putrid air. We help our teachers clean up our school each day because we don't have janitors to help us.

Our farm gives us all the space in the world to run freely until the calves of our legs throb achingly and the cheeks on our faces glow brightly. When we want to see how the little world around us is living or passing on, changing or staying the same, growing or fading away, it gives us all the room we need to walk at our pace asking questions, researching ideas, making hypotheses, doing experiments, and talking about our findings. Yes, it gives us our own space, our own room, to be us, to be Carver and Carter.

Our school is a long way from our farm so when we get there in the mornings and back here in the afternoons our calves are throbbing and our cheeks are glowing but it's not from running freely or walking leisurely. It's from marching dilligently the nine miles to school and the nine miles home. Yes, we walk eighteen miles each day to school and back home. And that is how my story begins.

School (Part 2)

- What 'bout dis one?

- Which one?

- Dis one right here.

- Oh, dat one. I could barely see it. It was hidin'.

- Well, dat's how nature he'ps dis little one. It can hide so de bird an' de wasps cain't hurt it.

- I hav' a question fo' you.

- 'Kay. Go 'head.

- Well, you told me all de ways nature he'ps protect de caterpillars from de birds an' de wasps. But what 'bout shoes? 'Member, you said Daddy's boot might accident'ly crush de life out o' one o' dem.

- Dat's a good question, Carter. De answer is de way nature he'ps dese little ones mos' o' all. Come over here an' look a' dis wit' your eyes.

I stood beside Carver and we looked at one of the most wondrous things in the world - the caterpillar wrapped in a chyrsalis waiting to become a butterfly. Yes, the chrysalis. Did you know the word chrysalis comes from the Greek word 'chrysolos', which means 'gold' in English? Most chrysalides have a gold tint in their color, a tint that tells the world something important is happening inside of it, a change is taking place, a metamorphosis is occuring, something completely different will come out from what went in.

Remember I told you that 7 out of 10 folks in Clarendon County were black folks? As you will learn, life could be dangerous for black folks. But we were a community and we wrapped ourselves around each other and in March of 1948 told our county, state, country, and world that something important was happening inside of us, a change was taking place, a metamorphosis was occurring, and something completely different would come out from what went in.

School

In some ways the lives of black folks here in Clarendon County, where seven out of every ten folks are black folks, are like the lives of caterpillars Carver and I see in the early part of spring. Life can be full of wonder for caterpillars. It can also be full of danger.

Carver taught me all about caterpillars. Late one spring afternoon we were sitting together under the oak tree in our back yard, a tree we called "Ol' Giant" because it was humongous with two limbs that looked like a giant's arms branching out of a knobby trunk that looked like a giant's knee. It was one of the many places that became a laboratory or a classroom that my little brother used for researching and for teaching.

On this particular afternoon there were caterpillars everywhere, inching their way over and around "Ol' Giant" and us.

- Look at all dese cat'pillers, Carver. Dey's no end to 'em.

- Well, it might look like dere's no end to 'em but dey hav' to be careful 'cause dey hav' pred'tors dat are out to hurt 'em an' ev'n kill 'em. See dat bird a settin' on "Ol Giants" arm? It's ready to swoop down on one o' dese little ones and use it fo' its ev'nin' meal. Hear dose wasps a buzzin' round de nest at de porch door? Dey'd like to use one o' dese little ones fo' food, too. When Daddy comes in from the field, his mud cakes boots might accidentally step on one dese little ones and crush de life outta it. So dey's many tings day could put a end to 'em.

But dey's some ways dese little ones can protect demselves. Dese ways are 'mazin', wonderful ways nature gave to dem to he'p dem. Look at dis little one. What is de first ting you notice 'bout it?

- Its got bright colors all around it.

- Well, dis little one is a Monarch. Dose bright colors tell dat bird and dose wasps dat it has been a eatin' pois'nous plants an' so is pois'nous to eat. Nature makes it tough on de inside so it can be safe on de outside.

How 'bout dis one? What you notice 'bout it?

- Hey, dat is a cat'pillar larva. At first I thought it was bird droppins'.

- Well, dese little ones will be Tiger Swallowtails. Nature he'ps dem camoflauge demselves so dey can stay safe.

What 'bout dis one?

- It has two big circles dat look like eyes.

- Well, dose are called eyespots an' make dis little one look bigger an' scarier dan it really is. Nature he'pd it look like a snake so dat bird an' dat wasp will leave it 'lone.

School

Being Born Again (Conclusion)

"Grandmommas an' Granddaddys...Mommas an' Daddys...Chil'ren...Brothers an' Sisters in Christ...You kindly gave 'lots o' "amens" durin' this sermon. An' "amen" means "let it be so". Fo' some time now I've axed you to look into yo' hearts an' b'lieve de right tings. An right b'lief is impo'tant. But now, in dese times, I'm a' axin' you to look into yo' hearts an' do de right ting, too. Right action is impo'tant jus' as right b'lief is impo'tant. Right b'lief is de root an' right action is de plant. De root sits safely in de ground an' de plant comes out into de world an' is exposed to de harsh wind an' de hard rain, to de burnin' sun an' de 'ccasional freezin' night, to de hungry insects and to an unseein' foot. Fo' much time now we have been rooted in dis church, a' sittin' safely in our pews, b'lievin' de right tings. An fo' much time now black folks been rooted in deir churches all 'cross de Jim Crow South, a' sittin' safely in deir pews, b'lievin' de right tings. But now, at dis time, I'm a' callin' you to come out into de world. I'm a' callin' someone to come out and tell our school board, "Let our chil'ren have buses like white chil'ren have to get 'em to school and back home again. Let our schools be equal. We are human be'ins and we are a' standin' up for our human rights now!" Moses came out into de world, Jesus came out into de world, and God is callin' us to come out into de world. I'm a callin' you to expose yo' heart, yo' life, to de harsh, hard, burnin', freezin', starvin', unseein' world o' Jim Crow an' wit' right action call out to de white folks 'round us, "I am yo' equal, I am a human be'in". I need to speak plain to you. Dis right action will bring white retaliation. Folks wit' power, wit' social, economic, an' political power, won't share it without fightin'. Pharoh an' de 'gyptians didn't treat de Hebrew people as equals an' didn't treat dem as human be'ins without retaliation an' without a fight. De Romans an' de people wit' power didn't treat Jesus as an equal and didn't treat him as a human be'in. De Pharohs an' de Romans an de people wit' power an de Jim Crow laws o' de future won't treat people as equals an' as human be'ins without retaliation an' without a fight. But God led de Hebrew people into de promised land and God raised Jesus from de dead. An' right now, if we expose ourselves to de retaliation, if we stand tall durin' de fight, if we keep on sayin' an' livin' dat we are equal to de white folks in Clarendon County, in South Carolina, in de South, in de United States, in de world an' if we keep on sayin' an' livin' dat we are human be'ins', den dere is hope dat God's heart can use our hearts to bring white folks' hearts to life an' we will see a world full o' wonder fo' ourselves, fo' our chil'ren, fo' our chil'rens chil'ren an' dat world will be a more human world fo' us all. Amen. Let it be so."