Chapter 29- A New Start
Emma thought about her first few weeks in Riverside. She had moved into the house with Missy and while it needed work, it was home. She at least had a front yard and a back yard. Emma looked forward to having a small garden where she could grow some tomatoes and green pepper. She had not been able to have a garden while living in the city so that made her happy. She had found a job in the cleaners downtown. In fact it surprised her that she was able to find a job so quickly. She had met with Tom to discuss the Will and some other matters and she told him of the three or four places where she had applied for a job.
Emma also remembered how she felt the first time she and Missy went to the Church. While there were several smaller Churches in Riverside, she knew that she could only attend the church where her family had attended for so many years. She made sure that Missy found her Sunday School class and then she found the class for people her age. The Church had not changed in all those years. Sunday school began at 9:30 and regular church service began at 11AM sharp. The choir came marching in from the rear of the Church singing a Praise hymn on their way to the choir stand. The Deacons were sitting in their places with matching ties. One of the deacons then got up and led the Church in several songs. Emma had forgotten how the Deacons had led the songs by calling out the words and then the congregation repeated the words. These were called Dr Watts songs. Each deacon had to learn how to lead those songs from the small black book before becoming a deacon. Then following the songs was a long prayer. She had forgotten how the Deacons prayed those long but melodic prayers. The songs bought back memories of long ago.
Emma then took the time to look around the Church. She saw a few people that she remembered at the funeral and a few people that she actually remembered when she was a child. However most of the people were complete strangers to her except for one person. She looked in the pulpit and saw the face that she had tried to forget so many years ago. She knew that it would only be minutes when she would see him standing in the pulpit delivering the Sunday sermon and she wondered how she would actually feel. The father of her daughter standing there preaching and she could not help but wonder if he even knew. She wondered what he would say if he knew that the young girl sitting next to her was his granddaughter. For a fleeting moment she tried to see if there were any similar facial features. Then just as quickly the thoughts went away. She knew that she could not and would not allow those thoughts to enter her mind.
The Pastor announced that the following Sunday would be an all day service Sunday. There would be the regular Sunday morning service followed by the annual Church Picnic and then another service in the afternoon. As in the past each Church member was expected to cook their specialty and share with everyone else. This had long been an annual event and looked forward to by all. The Church would be filled with people from the surrounding towns as people came for the lively message, special singing and of course the food. Emma decided that she would bring several dishes being that she had just returned back to Riverside and she wanted to show the other Church members that she could cook. Emma remembered cooking baked macaroni and cheese, candied yams and red potato salad. Candied yams were her best. She cooked the yams slowly with brown sugar, honey and cinnamon and then she added marshmallows on top lightly browned. Back in Washington DC, she often served that for company and it was liked by all. She also wanted to make a good impression for Missy.
On the next Sunday, Emma remembered going to Church early since she knew that there would be few seats open because this was the one time other than Easter when the Church was always full. Visiting Churches would come with their choirs and of course all came looking forward to the meals following the Sunday morning service. Emma had especially made sure that Missy had on a new dress and her hair was curled. While Emma did not have a lot of money she always made sure that Missy had the best that she could afford and again she wanted to make sure that Missy would be well received by the other families in the Church since they had just recently moved back to Riverside.
The sermon was always special as the minister knew the importance of the day and prepared a message that was sure to get a lot amens from the congregation. On that day Reverend Mims preached a sure fire sermon. The Deacons set on each side of the Church in front of the pulpit. Each time that Rev Mims said a sentence one deacon would say “weeell” And then Rev Mims would complete the next sentence and the second deacon would say “yeees” and then the whole church would say AMEN. This almost melodic tone carried throughout the entire sermon. As Rev Mims was completing his sermon, one of the sisters began to shout and then another started dancing in the aisle this followed with a great more shouting and dancing and the choir began to sing a song and the whole Church moved to the rhythm of the song.
Emma then remembered how after the sermon was completed that Tom then stepped up and made the special announcement. Tom then told the Church that ten youth from the Church would be chosen to be the first Negroes to attend the White school. He took his time to explain the importance of this and that the Church needed to be unified in making sure that the experiment worked. He then began to call out the names of the youth who were selected as the first group of ten. They were instructed to come up front and be recognized by the Church. As he called out the names each name was received by a large clapping of everyone. He had called the first nine and they stood up front waiting on the tenth youth. He then called out the tenth name—Missy. Missy did not hear her name as she was sure that she would not be included in the list since she had just come to Riversid and really did not know anyone. Emma heard the name but also did not believe what she heard. Tom then called her name again and finally Emma pushed Missy forward to join the group. While most in the Church did not know either Emma or Missy and in some other place may have questioned the decision but this was Church and this was Tom and no one would risk questioning him or his mother.
Emma did not question the selection of Missy to enter the White school. She knew that Missy was ready for the challenge. The only question in her mind was how was Missy going to be treated in the school because Missy had only gone to school for one year with Whites. She never had a White teacher and of course Church was also all Negroes. Emma also realized that she did not have any White friends or even had ever worked with Whites other than to work in their homes cleaning and cooking. She had lived in a completely separate world. Emma remembered how Tom took the time to explain to each the student the importance of their selection and that they were not just representing themselves but also they were representing the entire Negro race and the Church. They had to go and be the best. He reminded them of the story of Daniel and the three Hebrew boys in the Bible. They became the best and brightest because they kept the faith and those youth had to do the same. Everyone in the congregation then stood and sang with a loud voice “ Free at last free at last Thank God Almighty we are free at last”.