Chapter 20 Still Waiting On A Change
Grandma Taylor set quietly as she head the constant chatter of the other family members as the excitement continued to grow in anticipation. While she was equally excited it was not for her to show that to the others present. She was known for her ability to be as solid as a rock no matter what the circumstances. Let the others in the room laugh and be loud; but, she did not have time for such as she was constantly planning the future of the newest Taylor. She would have been a great chess player because she was always 2 or more moves ahead of everyone else. She had to be for she had been responsible for building a family without a husband who had died too soon. She never had time to really morn her Tom for she had two children to raise alone. Even though her father had tried to offer her help she refused his help for deep down she could never understand how her father would allow the Whites in the town to use him to keep all of the Coloreds in line. She remembered vowing never to be used in that way by anyone.
Grandma Taylor remembered how she felt when her Father died after a long illness. Yes she had visited him while he was in the hospital but it was out of obligation not love. She understood that she could not do anything that would negatively affect the growth of her business and her position in the community. During her father’s illness her brother had assumed the position of minister for the Church. She remembered at the first Church meeting after the funeral, the Church had to select a new Pastor. Her brother presumed it would be him for no one else had been in the pulpit however he could not be certain because he knew that the Church members looked to Grandma Taylor when making decisions. She was the unofficial “mother” of the Church. He and she had never been close and had grown even further apart as they grew older. Grandma Taylor was becoming a successful business women and he was following in his father’s footsteps by going to college to be a preacher. Everything he did was tied directly to his father. He never did anything without first consulting his father. Before the Church meeting she met with her brother and informed him that she would support him as the new pastor with two conditions. The first is that the Church name would be changed to the Thomas Taylor Baptist Church to honor her late husband. The second demand was that he would never make any decisions in the Church without first consulting with her and that included any conversations with the Whites in the town. This was easy for her brother to accept as he had never been one that wanted to be responsible for making any real decisions. Decisions had always been made for him. Even as far back as when he set back and allowed the young girl to be sent to Washington DC carrying his baby and agreed to never mention it to anyone ever.
She had grown her business to be the largest in the entire county for any Negro. Both Whites and Negroes continued to come to her restaurant. The Whites and Negroes never actually set at the same tables but no one questioned the idea that this restaurant was actually the only place in Riverside where Whites and Negroes were in the same room eating at the same time.
During these years, things were beginning to change in other parts of the United States. Maybe not yet in Riverside but in other parts of the country, the Negro was beginning to talk more and more loudly about something called equal rights or civil rights. But then again, Grandma Taylor could see some things changing even in Riverside.
While Grandma Taylor was never very vocal in making waves in Riverside, she had continued to position her family to be the most influential Negro family in the city and county. Her business continued to prosper and both Negroes and Whites respected her role in the town.