America has a multitude of best-kept secrets. The Albany Georgia Civil Rights Movement is one of them. It started in the fall of 1961. I was seven years old, and my late sister, Betty, was just shy of twelve.To my knowledge our late parents—like most of the more than 20,000 blacks in Albany at the time—were not active in the Movement. Quite the contrary, they sheltered us from it, for obvious reasons: extreme southern white bigotry was nothing to mess with. Yet that is exactly what a few brave souls chose to do, mess with the racial status quo in order to force change. You will meet many of those heroes in future posts.
I have many vivid memories of my parallel life growing up on Hazard Drive while this crucial part of American history unfolded around me. These memories were the bud for my work-in-progress novel, PEACH SEED MONKEY, where I have placed a host of fictional characters inside the very real present-day Albany, with flashbacks to the highly charged 1960s.
I invite you to visit here often (and subscribe!) to learn how important the Albany Movement was ~ and still is ~ as an instrument of change and a model for the Women’s Movement, Vietnam protests and subsequent non-violent struggles for human rights throughout the world. Although the Movement is crucial to this story, PEACH SEED MONKEY is a work of fiction and will set out to do what novels do best ~ present the author’s exploration of a certain truth.
Leave comments, join the conversation as I’ll be sharing snippets from my process and travels—both mythic and actual—as they pertain to and inform the story; sometimes going back to 1960s Albany and my childhood house on Hazard (now a parking lot, for real); sometimes looking around my present-day life in northern California and even projecting ahead to the world our teenage daughter is headed for. I will let you in on why this is a story I am powerless to resist.
I’m so glad you are writing this blog. I like reading about the why behind the book! And I like seeing the pictures of the places your are talking about. Keep up the good work!
I am already enthralled by your posts and cannot wait to read the next. It is a bit haunting to learn that your home is located on a street called “Hazard”, and I imagine that the hazards will certainly unfold ahead. Thank you for putting your mind and your time to telling your story in this way. It is obviously a labor of love, and it is inspiring in every way.
I love hearing the backstory and about some of your process. I can’t wait to read more. As always, you are an inspiration!
I love sharing in your life, Anita, both in the present, as well as in your past as you describe it in your writings. I’m looking forward to your blog. Hazard Drive is such a sign of the times, not just the 60’s but today. Thank you for this gift.
Hello Anita, I am elated to see you are on your way to revelations of the past, in a fictional novel, but yet in a “real way” that we as a people need to embrace! I am glad that we share visions of the past, present, and future together! Keep up the good works, and Faith! Love, your cousin, Sand
Anita, Very good readiing. You should connect with some other native Albanians to see what they have hidden away as part of Albany’s history. I will be the first to get this book. Keep up the good work! Debra Blaylock Hill
Awesome Anita. As a product of Albany and specifically the Albany Movement, I can relate to this. Waiting for the release of your book. My son lives in San Francisco as I told you when we last met. I told him about your and your upcoming book. Best of luck and God Speed.
Coney
Great start. I am eager to see the finished product.
Great start. I am eager to read more.
In August of 1961, I hopped on a train in Seattle with hundreds of other teenagers bound for a Luther League convention at Miami Beach, Florida. We had no knowledge of the more perilous journeys being made during the same time period by the Freedom Riders.
Fifty years ago, de facto segregation existed in Seattle, but not in a way that was very apparent to we naive teenagers. So when I saw “Whites Only” and “Colored” signs next to the restrooms and drinking fountains in a train station in either Georgia or South Carolina where we made a brief, early-morning stop for breakfast during an overnight trip from Washington, D.C. to Miami, I was stunned by how overt the racial divide was in the South.
You know I love bites—first, zombie, vampire, and so on. Dead-lighted with the blog, Anita. Pushed to comment by Peter’s talk. Come play with the lively undead as well: http://www.deadlovebook.com
Wierd and very interesting. I was there then but missed so much because all of my energies were focused on the Albany Movement. Tell me more.
I love your synopsis & personal eye on history. Assuming your blog continues as you’ve begun, you’re writing the follow-up MS to Peach Seed Monkey and a great book for history classes as well. I love your writing!
Congratulations Anita! And how timely that I learn of your project on MLK’s Birthday!
Thanks! And yes, very fitting that you landed here on Dr. King’s birthday. I hope you’ll subscribe and come visit often.
I lived the Albany Movement, too! It is a story that MUST be told! Thanks Gail for giving it to the world!!
I met you tonight at Rodef Shalom and you invited me to contact you as you have a inspiring video that you thought I’d be interested in seeing.
It was a pleasure to stand in line with you and meet you.
Wow Linda, the ink isn’t dry on that invitation! Thanks for following though. I’ll get that link to you by tomorrow .