Cover Photo: The Lorraine Hotel.
I treasure the experience of growing up in a family that appreciated people of all colors and faiths.
In late 2025, a cyberhacker who had all of my passwords stole hunks of text from my blogs, precious photos, digital artwork, and more. This article, originally published on February 18, 2019, has been reconstructed.
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I moved back to my hometown in the deep south after living in Los Angeles for 10 years. On the West Coast, I made many lifelong friends, some of whom have now moved back to their home countries. Savannah, Georgia, is not nearly as diverse as LA. Now, five and a half years later, I’m still adjusting to the culture shock of coming back. The “Jewel Of The South” is possibly the most visually beautiful place I’ve ever seen. But East Coast racism hurts my heart. For a while, I served as Chairman for the Savannah Board of Realtors’ Global Unity and Cultural Diversity Committee. Sadly, that experience and many others caused me to realize that Southern culture will never be color blind in my lifetime.
“Mama Love” has proudly told me that, when your dad was a teacher at Armstrong College, he didn’t always get enough summer classes, so one year he went over to Savannah State to pick up extra teaching hours. Savannah State was an all-black college, and Armstrong was all-white. Your Daddy was a deeply good man who stood up for human beings of all colors. But there was almost no mixing of the two colors at these two schools back then.
The newspaper actually ran a front-page story with a photo of your father on the first Sunday after he started his new job at Savannah State. I can remember attending church that day. None of the parishioners would look us in the eye. Not one person in that sanctuary spoke to us.
Years later, Martin Luther King became famous. But at the start, when your father was teaching, I’m telling you, white and black people didn’t even sit in the same restaurant together.
We were all really proud of your “Aunt Merry Joys” and Uncle Goodloe, too, when they marched together for civil rights in Selma, Alabama.
Honey, don’t ever forget that you come from a family that believes in treating others with respect. Like Martin Luther King said,” Let no man pull you so low as to hate him.”
I will never forget touring the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee. A visit to the Lorraine Hotel also haunts me. (Pictured). — Martin Luther King was shot and killed on the balcony, by the red and white wreath.
Elvis Presley sang “If I Can Dream” to convey his longing for compassion and a brighter future after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.:
If I can dream of a better land
Where all my brothers walk hand in hand
Tell me why, oh why can’t my dream come true?
This article is lovingly dedicated to the eternal optimists who envision a world transformed by love and hope.
~ From Author-Artist, Suzana Ward
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