(Teresa
Peake)—After her grandmother’ death, a young girl
discovers a box of love letters that contain a surprising revelation about
her Grandmother and a mysterious lover.
The Law (Robert K.
Jones)—About a young, naive boy and all the humorous things that
happened to him while working in a backwoods still for a good natured
bootlegger.
A Piece of Life
(Debraha Watson)—A humorous story about the birth of a
young girl’s first child amidst a lot of advice from the womenfolk of her
family. A Storyteller’s story.
Requiem For The 24th Infantry Regiment
(Calvin Robinson)—Mr. Robinson recounts his personal exploits and
experiences in a segregated Army while fighting during the Korean War. His
account for the unit’s retreat out of Manchuria is quite different
from that publicized by the Defense Department who branded this famous
Buffalo Soldier Unit as a unit of Cowards. Read it and draw your own
conclusions. Did you know that not one black soldier was awarded The Medal
of Honor at the conclusion of World War I, World War II, or the Korean
War. Wonder why—when black soldiers earned 24 during the Civil War?????
...why the White Folks in our Headquarters never radioed any instructions or
warned us that they were being attacked by a larger Chinese force—not just
leave us like that to die up there with all those Chinese. By the time we
got to the valley, we knew the answer. It was obvious—we were expendable,
and nobody really gave a damn about what happened to us in that situation.
We were like pawns or something else sacrificed so that they could make good
their own escape. How could anyone do that to their own countrymen? I
haven’t found an answer to that one yet. This caused a deluge of raging
anger to pass through our ranks. And once I realized in my own heart
something that I never wanted to acknowledge, I can not describe just how
low I felt. One of the worst feelings I have ever had in my life....
(Note: Just recently, after an investigation by the Dept. of Defense, the
24th Inf. Regiment was exonerated and the record cleared.)
I’m Still Here
(Dianne White Morris)—A heart warming story about a
young woman and an unsuccessful attempt by her and her husband to rescue her
husband’s younger sister from her drug addiction.
...Alex and Sheila stepped through the gaudily-painted door of the
"Shake-It-Down." Music blared from the jukebox in back of the dark,
foul-smelling den. Sheila’s eyes strained trying to make out the images in
the murky blackness. A stream of light split the darkness when the rest room
door opened and a tall shadow emerged, blending quickly back into the
shadows as the door closed. Sheila yanked Alex’s arm, almost tearing it from
his shoulder.
"It’s her, isn’t it?" Sheila asked hopefully....
Locket of Dreams
(Donna L. Clovis)—A modern day African-American folk
tale about a young girl who learns about her heritage through the magic of a
special locket—a kind of Genie and the magic lamp story.
...Around midnight, the Storyteller appeared for the last time. Her Kente
cloth of orange, yellow, and green not nearly as brilliant as it had been on
the previous night.
"Shakeeta...,"
she called, "I am here to grant your last wish."
Shakeeta sat up straight in bed."
"What shall it be? A bicycle? More money? A new doll—I have a very beautiful
little African Doll, I bet you will like. You want that?"
"I
don’t know," Shakeeta hesitated.
"Well, make up your mind. I haven’t got all night."....
Penny (Chris Moore)—The
story of a young girl whose mother & grandmother are mentally ill—how she
meets the challenge while wondering about her own future.
..."My foot gonna foot! My foot gonna foot!" the demon-eyed man repeated.
Each time he spoke, he stared at my small and fragile sister, Booty. She
only glanced at him, tried to avoid his yellowed eyes, and began to bite her
nails.
Coming to the state hospital to see Penny, our Momma, was like going to
church. She hated the hospital, but this was her punishment for trying to
kill herself. As we sat in the visitor’s room waiting, dressed in our Sunday
best, we knew we were "Penny’s Kids." We wore no smiles, had no laughter. We
just sat, waiting for her to appear, and praying for a change to come....
The Walking Stick
(Evelyn Rhodes)—The tragic yet soul-stirring
relationship of two senior citizens.
...Benny smiled as both of them moved toward a long table covered with items
that could have belonged to a conjure woman. Yards of black satin, gold
brocade, and red silk covered the table, as did baskets, colorful beads,
earrings, and bracelets. And interspersed among these items were bits of
fur, rocks, feathers, dried leaves and flowers, as well as cans of marbles,
keys, miniature plastic dolls, and broken pieces of glass and ribbons.
Chaotic, and yet, not without some order.
Benny looked at Fannie, wondering what concoction she was going to make. He
wanted to ask what she was doing, but did not. Instead, he watched silently
as she pinned dried leaves and flowers, and a hand full of glass beads with
some feathers around the brim of her black hat followed by a few miniature
baby dolls and several ribbons of assorted colors.... "You sure know how to
dress up a hat, Fannie," he said....
My Father’s Daughter (Karen
Williams)—An action story about a young girl and the events that led up
to the loss of her father during a riot in Birmingham, Alabama.
...Funny how people can lay their closest relatives to rest: mothers,
fathers, sisters, brothers, children—then forget about them. Go on with
quotidian tasks as if the deceased had never been born. But not me.
Every April 8th, I religiously give my students at Fisk the day off, then
drive down to Birmingham to place a fresh wreath on the grave of my
father....
Massacre At Fort Rosalie
(Herbert R. Metoyer)—Excerpt of a novel in
progress. This portion revolves around a Black runaway slave who has joined
with the Natchez Indians in their war against the French. This story is
historically correct and based on several eye-witness accounts.
...A single guard sat on a stool near the gate dozing, his chin buried deep
into the collar of his long coat, his musket lying limply across his thighs.
Suddenly, the guard leaned and slid silently to the ground. Stupid ass,
Claudette said to herself in amusement. She fully expected the guard to
awaken, jump up, dust his pants, and resume his post. But, he did not. He
never moved one muscle. How odd, she thought.
Then, she saw them. Natchez. Their bodies painted in red, white, and black
harlequin patterns swarming through the gates and over the walls like a pack
of silent ghosts. A single weapon fired suddenly, sounding like a cannon,
and ripping away the quiet of the morning. In the next moment, the air was
filled with loud howls, shouts of battle, and gunfire as the wild savages
descended upon the still half asleep inhabitants. And at the hub of all this
activity was a huge, club-wielding, Black giant, larger than any man she had
ever seen, crushing skulls and breaking bones like kindling....
Lost and Found (Robert
J. Haynes)—An enterprising young man well on his way up the ladder of
success, reaches back to help a young ghetto boy and rediscovers himself in
the process.
...When Russell finished the letter, he sat frozen in stone, his mind numb,
overloaded from the bizarre facts the letter disclosed.
"What’s going on?" Rose asked in a perplexed tone as she took the letter
from Russell’s turned-to-stone hand and read it in silence. "Is it you?" she
asked incredulously.
Russell couldn’t answer. His mind was racing and churning like a runaway
locomotive on the downhill side of a mountain....
Legion of The Lost Order
(Donnie Robinson)—A young boy enjoying his
neighbor’s Virtual Reality computer discovers just how real some things can
really get.
...Nero was overcome with fear. "Wait! Wait...no!" His eyes filled with
tears as Kimball stepped out of the light and returned with a long, thin,
razor sharp sword. "Help me, Percy, please, Bruh. Tell them I was only
kidding with you that day. Tell them, please, Percy!"
"Knock it off, Nero. This is only a game, man. Right, Chase? This is part of
the game to see if I can be frightened by watching someone lose their head,
Right?"
Chase did not reply. Instead, he fixed Percy with his eyes and Percy broke
out into a cold sweat. As Kimball raised the sword into the air, Percy,
thoroughly alarmed, backed out of harm’s way....
The Wedding
(Heather Buchanan)—An account of a
backwoods, Mississippi wedding.
...She had always felt guilty around her father because she was sure that,
secretly, he had wished his eldest to be a boy, someone who could help him
with the farm and inherit it after his death. Because of this, she had spent
her entire life working as hard as any man could around the house, out in
the fields, and at the same time, doing her best to stay out of his way. But
this night, in the subtle glow of the lamps in their front room, Allie saw a
different side of her father....
Orientation (Michael
B. Tolliver)—A young Airman get indoctrinated during his first overseas
assignment during the Vietnam war.
...I drank until I couldn’t drink anymore. When nobody was looking, I tossed
glasses of liquor on the dirt floor. All the while, I sat watching rounded
mini-skirted bottoms shaking their tail feathers on the dance floor, and
thin brownish-yellow legs carelessly crossed and hanging over the edges of
hand-hewn bar stools. I grew more amorous as the evening passed, and soon
the liquor was telling me to make a move....
Rabbi
(Dorothy Jackson Kimble)—An account of her brother’s
suicide.
...Sam came into the bedroom and eased himself into a chair that sat next to
mine. "Dot," he said, trying to talk calmly, "there’s a man on the phone.
He’s calling from the morgue. They have Rabbi down there. He killed himself.
Pick up the phone. He wants to talk to you."
As
Sam told me what happened, my heart raced, beating so hard that I thought it
would jump right out of my chest. And it seemed as if I did not have enough
strength to move the breath in and out of my lungs. With a trembling hand, I
picked up the receiver....
END:
