Dead Woman Pickney by Yvonne Shorter Brown

Author:Yvonne Shorter Brown [Brown, Yvonne Shorter]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wilfrid Laurier University Press
Published: 2022-02-17T20:00:00+00:00

If it were not for the generosity and ingenuity of Auntie Black I may never have made it to secondary school. She saw the gravity of the situation, swallowed hard, and decided to do what she had to do. Perhaps she was acting out of gratitude to my mother, Lucy May Reid, and her father, Charles Archibald Reid. I say this because when I was researching my mother’s family background, as part of this project, Auntie Black reluctantly revealed that the Honourable Charles Archibald Reid had given her the civil service job with the Trade Board, which became the Ministry of Trade and Industry. She therefore had a secure job with a pension until her retirement. He even paid for her to go to learn Pitman’s shorthand and typing. This was an important educational gift for any woman who did not go to secondary school or earned a pupil-teacher certificate. These skills obviously allowed Auntie Black to escape from earning her living as a dressmaker, which is not to take away from the very hard work that was necessary to maintain her position, especially in the late 1950s. It was a time when young black people with degrees from the University College of the West Indies began to displace coloured and white people who held patronage appointments, based on colour and family background in the landed gentry or the merchant class. These were people who had very little education and were not entitled to the positions that they held. Maas Charlie’s largesse also extended to my father whom Auntie said had been provided with accommodation. Auntie said that my father was such an abusive and disrespectful drunkard that Maas Charlie had to put him out. In disgust, she once said: “That man should be whipped, you know!”

Auntie Black never hesitated to take me in, a second time, and to make preparations right away for me to be ready in January for Clarendon College. I believe this was around late November or early December 1959. Auntie was so proud of my achievements, especially since she had cooperated with Mr. Lampart to give me my chance at secondary education. She was the person who had had to pay for my birth certificate and to get all of my papers in order for me to qualify to take the over-age scholarship. This had not been easy, as it would seem.

Auntie Black always gave me a view of my mother that was opposite from the one given me by Aunt Joyce. She held my mother in very high esteem. When I lived with her earlier, she would remark whenever I did something disappointing: “Your mother would be so disappointed that you did that.” Auntie told me that she and my mother were good friends and that my mother was the finest seamstress and milliner. She said when they were young they had had a dressmaking business together in Kingston. They went out of business when the big stores in Kingston started selling ready-made clothes, which had resulted in less demand for custom-made clothing.

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