A Right Worthy Woman by Ruth P. Watson

Author:Ruth P. Watson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Atria Books
Published: 2023-06-13T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

Mr. John Branch, the president of the bank downtown, was known as a segregationist, yet against all odds, he and I had become friends. I included him in my business decisions, and he was a part of my plan, no matter how much he pretended to hate colored people.

“You care too much for them damn folks,” he’d tell me, forgetting that they were my people. He knew I was mixed, and I never tried to pass as a white person. So, when he allowed his rhetoric and racism to spill from his lips, I muted myself from any thoughts that would prevent me from doing my job.

While the streetcar boycotts carried on, I had been meeting with Mayor McCarthy and other businessmen downtown. I sensed that Mayor McCarthy had developed a begrudging respect for me, though I knew admitting it would be a sign of weakness to him.

“Maggie, whether we agree with you or not, I know you’re going to do it anyway,” Mayor McCarthy said. “The question remains to be seen whether the emporium will stay open.”

“Yes, sir, we are hard at work on it now. I would like to invite you to the grand opening.” I handed him an invitation printed on the finest paper. He looked at it and promptly put it in the wooden wastebasket beside his desk.

“Now why would I attend the ‘grand’ opening of a colored store? There are plenty of quality department stores right here in downtown Richmond. What could your store offer that theirs don’t already have? It’ll be a cold day in hell when you catch me in a colored store!” He raised his voice toward the end, with his unusual southern drawl, more like that of someone from Georgia.

“I just wanted to extend the invitation,” I reiterated to him. “To see for yourself what our conversations and my plans have led to.”

When I asked him to come by, I knew he would perceive it as an insult. By involving him, I hoped he would call off the lynch mob who was totally against the advancement of colored folk. The threats were growing by the day. And some of the people in the colored community were afraid at the idea of shopping in the emporium.

“Mrs. Maggie, I’m sure you believe that you’re doing a great thing for coloreds by opening this store, but I cannot be seen endorsing it. White folks are going to get mad and shut you down at the first opportunity, and they’ll punish me for supporting you in this little experiment. I can’t have that.”

I smiled politely at him and held my tongue, confident in my faith that we would no longer accept being treated like second-class citizens. Boycotting the Passenger and Power Company’s streetcars had created a more ruthless and crueler group of racists lashing out against colored folks, even though they were in the wrong.

But when anyone is afraid for their safety, they will attack more viciously, and I’d had my share of words with colored folks who’d turned on me as evilly as any white person.

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