Lincoln, Alabama (Old Downtown Lincoln Station By The Railroad Tracks) — Photo-Artistry by kenne
When my brother and I were in elementary school
we lived with my grandparents in Lincoln, Alabama.
My grandparents had sold the farm and moved into town.
Grandfather bought a two-pump gas station out on the Highway.
All the years since the person I remember most was Dacey Bell.
She was a young black woman who would help take care of us.
We loved Dacey Bell, and she loved us, therefore making it difficult
For us to understand why she was not allowed to eat with us.
We would ask why, but never got a clear answer — it just was.
Then one day, Dacey Bell stopped coming to be with us.
Again we would ask why — “Where had Dacey Bell gone?”
We were told Detroit, she had gone to work in Detriot.
Years later when I first read Langston Hughes’s poem, “I Too,”
The line that stood out was, “They send me to eat in the kitchen.”
. . . again I thought of Dacey Bell
— kenne
I, Too, Sing America by Langston Hughes
I, too, sing America.
I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes,
But I laugh,
And eat well, And grow strong.
Tomorrow, I’ll be at the table
When company comes.
Nobody’ll dare Say to me,
“Eat in the kitchen,”
Then.
Besides,
They’ll see how beautiful I am
And be ashamed–
I, too, am America.
Beautiful story, kenne. This topic should have expired long ago.
😢😥
This moved me so much. As a child I spent summers on my grandparents farm. They had farm hands who came to the house for dinner, they always sat out on the back porch. 😢