The Mississippi Byrd

Shedrick Byrd

Description

The Mississippi Byrd: From Rural to Urban to Suburban and Beyond was written at the encouragement of many of his relatives and friends to motivate a larger audience. It is filled with challenges, excitement, and scintillation as it chronicles some of his adventure and misadventures. The book describes the tracks of Byrd’s life from rural Mississippi to urban Gary, Indiana to suburban Ann Arbor, Michigan and beyond including twenty years of service and travel in the U.S. Navy.
Join Byrd in the experiences, the travel and the transformation of his life as well as the summation of Lessons learned.

Sujets

• Rural
• Misisipi
• Biography
• Rural area
• Autobiography
• Urban
• Campagne
• Mississippi

Informations

• Publié par: Xlibris US
• Date de parution: 18 mars 2008
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781450069847
• Langue: English

Extrait

THE MISSISSIPPI BYRD


From Rur.al To Urban To Suburban and Beyond









SHEDRICK BYRD



Copyright © 2008 by Shedrick Byrd.
ISBN:
Hardcover
978-1-4257-8588-8
Softcover
978-1-4257-8578-9
eBook
978-1-4500-6984-7

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 09/28/2022




Xlibris 844-714-8691 www.Xlibris.com 561702



CONTENTS
Acknowledgements
PART I
The Rural Experience
One The Byrd Enters
Two Socialization and Improvisation in the Rural Delta
PART II
The Urban Experience
Three Adapting to City Life
Four Taking on the Responsibilities of a Man
PART III
The Suburban Experience
Five Moving Up to the Middle Class
PART IV
The Military as a Way Out
Six Joining the Navy
Seven Winding Through Work Experiences
Eight Bringing about Social and Racial Justice in the Navy
PART V
Life Lessons Well Learned
Nine Reentering Civilian Life
Ten Lessons from Living











DEDICATION
I dedicate this book to my deceased mother,

Ruth Byrd Minor Lee,

who spent most of her life raising and instilling her morals and values into me and my seven siblings.

I thank her for the time she spent mostly alone in making sure we had the mental tools to become up-standing American citizens.

I thank her for teaching us how to have fun and enjoy life with what we had.

I thank her for the sometimes stern face and strict discipline she exerted to ensure that we did not cross the invisible line of “the wrong side of life”.

Finally, I thank her for the times she would make us laugh and understand that, in spite of life’s challenges, life is to be lived and loved.



ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
T here are many people whose interest and support inspired me to write this book. As I have talked about my life experiences, individuals have said to me time and time again, “You ought to write a book!” Along the way, I came to believe that writing my experiences from birth through childhood, migration to the Midwest, military and civil service career would be a good idea. I am grateful for all who encouraged me and whose lives inspired me as well as those whose lives are a part of this book.
I especially thank my wife, Helen, who found enough interest in my story to encourage me to write this book. She read drafts, asked questions, and continued to support me throughout the process. To my children, Robbin, Shedrick Tyrone, Doral and John, and my grandchildren, Sherice, Terrell, Margeaux, and Norman for yielding time with me and time at the computer. I remember posthumously my oldest sister, Clara Minor Fritz, and brothers, Willie Minor, Earl Minor, John Lee and Levi Jenkins, Jr. I express gratitude to my surviving siblings with whom I have enjoyed the recollection of life experiences: Dorothy Minor Harris, Charles Lee, Karen Lee, Earlene Jenkins Washington, Thelma Jenkins Kersh, and Barbara Jenkins Bridges. I also am grateful to my many in-laws, nieces, nephews, great-nieces, great-nephews, cousins, and other relatives.
I thank my many friends who encouraged me to tell my story. My gratitude is expressed to buddies who are “regulars” at local night spots who have listened to my stories and nagged me to complete the book. And lastly, I thank Rev. Ronnie Peace for an initial contact for a book editor.
There are several persons I wish to cite whose input helped to make the production of the book a reality. I thank my friend, Dr. Carole Morris, for sharing her expertise by review of the book for its readability. I appreciate the work of Velma Naylor who did the word processing of the first complete draft and the final camera-ready copy of the book. All of these persons, and more, have assisted me in the production of this book for which, I am solely responsible. May all readers find as much delight in reading it as I found in writing this tome.

Shedrick Byrd
August, 2007



PART I
The Rural Experience



ONE
The Byrd Enters
J ust imagine a young woman, the mother of three children a divorcee living in rural Mississippi in the 1930’s. The last news she wanted to receive is to expect another baby. But that was the case of Ruth Byrd Minor in 1938.
December of 1938 was the dawning of my birth. I was born in a small rural Mississippi town called Brandon. Today, Brandon is about seven miles northeast of Jackson, Mississippi which is much better known than Brandon.
I was given the family name of Shed Byrd to carry the legacy of my Uncle, grandfather, and great grandfather. I lived with my mother, and four other siblings. My oldest brother, Willie Lee Minor, Jr. was six years my senior; the second eldest was my brother Earl Clifton Minor. Earl who was five years my senior. And my sister Clara Elizabeth Minor was four years older than I was. Three years after my birth, another sister, Dorothy Beatrice Minor was born into the family. Dorothy and I were born between my mother’s two marriages. I have vague memories about my life experiences in Brandon; however, I do remember that my brothers and sisters played a pivotal role in my life in Mississippi. They helped me to survive the rural experience.
In Brandon, we lived in a big wood shingled house set on top of a big red hill on the south end of town. Uncle Shed, one of my mother’s brothers and his wife Lanie, also lived in Brandon. Uncle Shed was a fair skinned tall man about six feet and Lanie was a dark skinned woman about five feet four inches tall with several gold teeth in her mouth. They lived in a little white house that was divided from our house by a field of sugar cane and corn. As a child, their house seemed like it was miles away from ours, however, after visiting Brandon as an adult, I discovered that their house was only a short distance away.
I, along with my brothers and oldest sister, often walked to Uncle Shed’s house to play in his yard. It was fun to go to Uncle Shed’s house because we could play with the chickens, hogs, and cows that he raised. Uncle Shed would let us help him feed the chickens, slop the hogs, and milk the cows. I really got a kick out of that. He sometimes paid us to help him with the chores. Most of the times, our pay was in the form of food or milk for our family. On a few occasions, we would get money.
Uncle Shed had an old tom turkey among his chickens. That turkey was the meanest old bird I had ever seen. He seemed to always be mad at me and every time I tried to get close to him, he would chase me across the cane and corn fields to my house—pecking me with his beak and whipping me with his flapping wings. I was scared of “Old Tom,” but every chance I would get, I would pick at him to make him angry.
Living in Brandon left me with some impressive memories. My mother like my uncle Shed was fair skinned with straight long black hair.
My mother was the main breadwinner for our household after she had separated from her husband, Willie Lee Minor Sr., who was in the army. Fortunately, she did receive some assistance and support from three of her brothers, Uncles Shed, Henry and Albert.
My mother made her living by washing and ironing clothes for white folks. They would bring their dirty laundry to our house two or three times a week. My mother would wash, iron, and fold the clothes and the white folks would pick up the newly washed and ironed clothes and drop off a new load of dirty ones.
My older brothers and sister would help my mother with the washing and ironing—mostly in protest. I was too little to be of much help. My contribution was cheering them on with encouragement or teasing them as they worked.
My fondest memory about Brandon, Mississippi was how well the community came together to support one another. I gained a sense of what it meant to care for others. I was extremely impressed by how the families in the community came together each year for what I called a “wintering-over” gathering.
The “wintering-over” event occurred around September or October of each year. I chose the name “wintering-over” for this event because it was held in the fall of the year to prepare for the winter. The gathering usually lasted for a period of two to three days. Each family who participated brought something to the event. Families would bring canned goods, quilts for the bed, or other goods to trade or give away to make sure that another family had enough food, bedding, and other necessities to last through the winter. At the end of the “wintering-over” gathering, each family had plenty of food and other items to last them through the winter.
The “wintering-over” gathering was truly a rural experience because I have never seen that type of expression of care displayed anywhere else in my entire life. Therefore, I concluded that this kind of love and stewardship could only be found in a rural environment.
In addition to the food and other items shared in the “wintering-over” season, men would go into the woods to chop down trees so that each family had enough firewood to keep the