Juliette Holmes - My Father's Green Chevrolet

 

 

Well, I guess you all can tell that I had two men walk me on the stage. [audience laughter] [audience cheers and applause] 

 

In other words, ladies, you are never too old to have two men. [audience laughter] Not one, but two. [audience laughter] And I'm going to tell my age tonight, so that you all can say, “Huh?” [audience laughter] I still have it going on at 84. [audience cheers and applause] 

 

I'm not going to talk trash tonight. [audience laughter] I'm going to get to the business of telling my story. 

 

I grew up in Savannah, Georgia, in the low country. Savannah was all segregated apartheids cities in the south. And what an experience. But I really didn't know that I was living in a segregated world, because my mama and my daddy took such care of me, and my sister and the community. We lived in the village. 

 

Savannah is a beautiful city with a lot of other islands around the mainland in Savannah, like White Bluff, Pin Point, Skidaway Island, so many other islands. But one of my favorite places to go was to Tybee Beach. Tybee beach was 28 miles from the city of Savannah. And on Sunday afternoon after church, my daddy and mama would take us on rides or drives in our green Chevrolet. My daddy loved that green Chevrolet, and so did we. 

 

My sister and I would sit in the back. And each one of us would have a window. My mama would sit in the front, and my daddy would drive. And my baby brother many times would sit in my mama's lap or either crawl in the back and sit between us. And on our drive to Tybee-- Oh, it was wonderful, because the Savannah. You could see the grass. So, even not one blade trying to outgrow the other, but was like a carpet. And the marshland and the sea life and to smell the ocean, to smell the Atlantic Ocean. 

 

And on our drive, we would talk because we couldn't wait to get to Tybee Island. When we would get on the island, my daddy would say to us, “Now, look, look, look to your left. Look, look, look, I'm going to pull over.” We knew what that meant. The amusement park, all with the merry go round, and the Ferris wheel and all of the excitement. You could hear the children, and the people laughing and having so much fun. We wanted the same thing, but we sat in the green Chevrolet, watching and just having fun too, and laughing. 

 

As my daddy would slowly go down the main street, we would look out the window and we saw women walking with their bathing suits and shorts and sunback dresses and hats. And the men, the same thing, walking with their bathing suits, and just having so much fun. And the little children going in and out of stores and restaurants and the ice cream parlors. 

 

After a while, someone would hit on the car, “Where you going, boy?” My daddy wouldn't say anything. “Did you bring her down here to work, or are you working in one of the restaurants? Are you playing in one of the vans?” There was silence. And every time we would go, we'd go through the same thing. My daddy didn't answer. We don't want any trouble down here this day. So, I would say to you, “Turn that car around, boy, and you go back. Go back to Savannah.” Everything would be quiet. 

 

As we were leaving Tybee, my mama would say, “One day, one day, it's going to be different. That is God's Atlantic Ocean and that's God's sand and we have to abide by someone else's rules.” She would start to hum. [humming] 

 

God's gonna trouble the waters 

 

Wade 

 

In the water 

 

Wade 

 

In the water 

 

Lord

 

Wade 

 

In the water. 

 

God's gonna trouble the water 

 

“And one day, one day, my girls will be able, my son would be able to go on Tybee Beach. My grandchildren and my great grandchildren and people who look like me, who look like us, everything would be quiet.” And then, Daddy would turn on the radio to listen to the gospel music. And we would sing and hum. And the closer we got to Savannah, my daddy would say, “We're going to stop and get some ice cream. We'll lighten up this mood in the car.” 

 

After I finished college, I moved to New York City. But the movement was on, the civil rights movement. I would call home to find out what was going on in the movement. And one of those times I called, my daddy said, “I got a telephone call from one of the members of the NAACP, and they know that I have a good car, a fast car and I could drive. And they want to know if I would take some of the young members of the NAACP to the wade-in down at Tybee Beach.” I said, well, daddy, what are you going to do? He said, “What do you think I'm going to do? I'm going to take them.”

 

Every now and then, I would call back to find out how was the waiting going. And he would tell me exactly how it was going on. And many times, they would try to go to swim in the Atlantic Ocean, but the policemen would stop them. There was a lady who owned a restaurant and a rooming house, and she told the members of the NAACP that some of the people could come and change into their swimming outfits to go swim in the waters. 

 

When the powers that we found out about it, they told her, “If you permit, if you let them come and use your house, we will chase you off of the island.” So, she didn't permit the children to come. But the children started to wear their bathing suits under their clothing. Some of them would wade with their clothing on. And sure enough, Tybee became integrated. 

 

If you go or visit Savannah and go to Mark Gilbert's black museum, you will see a picture of the front of the green Chevrolet and a plaque with my daddy's name where he helped to integrate Tybee Beach. Now, as a grandmother, first a mama, then a grandmama, one time that we went down to visit, and my mama was still living. The grandchildren, the great grandchildren who are my granddaughters, and all of us, the family, was able to go and sit on the sand at Tybee Beach, and to wade and swim in the Atlantic Ocean. [audience cheers and applause] 

 

And that is how it was growing up in Savannah, Georgia. Thank you.