A Little Known Fact….
“Mom,” as I affectionately called her, embodied everything that I desired to be. She was always my Mentor, my go-to person and my friend. Our lives have always been intertwined. I met “Mom” in the early 60’s at my house. She would visit every 2 or 3 months during the 60’s, 70’s and early 80’s. If you were Black and wanted to be a writer, you either met with or joined the group, “The Perspectivists.”
The core group consisted of “Mom,” Charlie, Gwendolyn Brooks, Henry Blakely, Frank H. Parker, Sr., Warren Holmes, Kamile, Rocky and Eloise Messiah. At any given time while meeting at my house, there would be anywhere from 28 to 42 people present. Sometimes it was so crowded, they had to eat in shifts. They loved my Father and Mother’s “one-pot” meal. Before and after eating, individuals would read excerpts from their unpublished novels, poems or manuscripts.
The meetings started at 3pm, on Sunday, and lasted many times until 8:30pm. During the “breaks,” I would talk to “Mom.” She was always interested in my artwork. And because of her, I entered my first Art Fair in the 60’s, The Lake Meadows Art Fair. “Mom” didn’t stop there, she always encouraged me to do more and go farther. In 1978, she encouraged me to create a metal sculpture entitled, “The Spirit of DuSable.” I was speechless! Me, create a metal sculpture, something I’ve never done before?? Is she serious??? Oh, yes, she was !!!! “Mom” envisioned a “Sculpture Garden” in front of the DuSable Museum, just like all the other Big Name Museums; what a Trailblazer!!
Now, I eat, talk, dream and live to do Art. What a Mentor! Thanks to “Mom” and “The Perspectivists,” my family, I wrote a poem of my own, “Quiet Peace,” in the late 80’s.
Thanks, “Mom”,
from your “little Margaret Wanna be,”
Jill
See my original handwritten copy of this letter below.