Mary explains
that her grandfather Benjamin moved to New York City to be near
his brother and to be close to the financial and business hub of
the United States. In addition, Benjamin had tired of the racial
hatred flung at his Republican populist party by Southern Democrats
during political campaigns in 1898 and 1900. Her grandmother, however,
did not want to leave the ties she had in Durham, as Mary describes.
In 1903,
a professor at Trinity College named John Bassett published a scholarly
article in which he said that "Negroes" would one day gain equality
with whites, and that Booker T. Washington was the greatest man
in the South "save Robert. E. Lee." The N&O printed a strong
column calling for Bassett's resignation, but the trustees of Trinity,
of whom Benjamin was the critical member, voted to back Bassett,
in defense of free speech. Mary recalls how proud she was of her
grandfather's stand on the issue.
After
her father left, Mary's mother went into a serious depression. In
fact, her state was so precarious that the family sent Mary back
to Durham to live with her grandparents.. Mary tells about her own
feelings during this time.
|
