My mother Betty Peters (1926-2004) had a really nice red scrapbook that she put together in her Communicants Class; that included church programs, little booklets of various gospel books of the Bible, news article clippings and things that interested her or were her favorite things.
Every Sunday I will post pages from my mother’s scrapbook & as the pages are falling apart and disintegrating. The red scrapbook is over 70 years old and she put it together when she was attending St. James Presbyterian Church in Harlem. It was 1940 and my mother was 14 years old.
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Young People’s Day 1940
Presbyterian Church in the United States of America
Front Page |
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| Page 2 & 3 of Program |
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Young People’s Day
Presbyterian Church in the United States of America
Front Page |
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| Page 2 & 3 of Program |
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Marian Anderson
My Grandmother Agnes was her Designer for 20 years. |
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Articles featuring:
Gertrude Elise Ayer &
Justice Jane M. Bolin |
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| Raymond Pace Alexander |
Raymond Pace Alexander heads one of the most skillful, best-trained, and successful law firms in America housed in its own office building in the nation’s third city.
[Transcribed]
ETHEL WATERS IN “MAMBA’S DAUGHTERS” creates, with passion and great artistry, a character that is almost Greek in its capacity for tragedy. As Hagar, the daughter of Mamba,pursued by the twin Furies of bad luck and wild temper, Miss Waters portrays a woman whose greatest crime is stupidity, whose love for her child runs like a crimson thread through the dark fabric of her life. Mis Waters’ voice has long delighted Broadway, but in this, her first “straight” part, the wide scope of her acting ability is revealed. “Mamba’s Daughters,” written by DuBose Heyward and published as a novel in 1929, is dramatized by Mr. Heyward and his wife, Dorothy. Here, as in all their writing, they explore the gaiety and the despair of the American Negro. In the dusty country of the Deep South, this pitiful drama of a violent, uncomprehending creature, caught between her instincts and the law, marches to a classic end.
My mother attended this featured program featuring Katherine Dunham. I remember my mother telling me that she took dance lessons at the Katherine Dunham School of Dance when she was in college.
Katherine was born June 22, 1909 and died May 21, 2006. She was an innovator in African American Modern Dance. She was a choreographer, educator, activist, song writer, author and she was an anthropologist. She combined her love of dance and anthropology throughout her life.
To learn more about Katherine Dunham click on her name.
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| Back of Flyer |
My mother always took pride in her own people. When I saw this page of her scrapbook, I had to smile because she always instilled in my brother and I to be proud of who we are, and to know something about the people that paved the way for us.
Black History month in our household growing up was very important. It really was important all year round. My parents had us children enrolled in classes to learn about our culture on Saturdays. We also went through a Rights of Passage with other
African American youth, and we had a ceremony with African dances, poetry, Swahili lessons, and we also learned about various Blacks that made an impact in the lives of our people and to the country.
I also remember my parents holding a Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration in our home every year and we would sit around the living room with neighbors, community members, and family listening to the recording of the March on Washington. This was always a powerful and uplifting event.
My mother Betty loved Winter Sports. She loved to Ice Skate and she liked any sport that had anything to do with snow. When I was growing up, my mother signed my brother Marshall and me up for ice-skating lessons. It was so much fun and we took lessons for a couple of years, and then it was on to something else.
Whenever the Olympics Winter Sports came on TV or any other time during the year, she would turn to the station and we would watch for hours.
Living in San Diego, I still have had the opportunity as a child to go to the mountains and ski. So even in our Sunny side of the country, my mother ensured that my brother and I enjoyed and experienced what she did.
MY FAVORITE WINTER
FRICK AND FRACK FROM SWITZERLAND
Frick and Frack were two Swiss skaters who came to the United States in 1937 and joined the original Ice Follies show as comedy ice skaters.
Digging Roots: My Family History 