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Southern Belles
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I am from small towns in rural Alabama and
Mississippi. Where beauty lived on the front
porch and prejudice flourished in the backyard.
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I am from a time when women had double names and
hope chests full of monogrammed linen.
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When hemlines were modest and eyes were downcast.
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I am from women who covered their heads in church
and agreed with their President. Who drove only
to Garden Club and the market.
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I am from women who could tell you the convoluted
family trees and dirty secrets of everyone in
town.
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Who sat through temperance sermons and served
toddies over canasta games played while the men
were at work.
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I am from women who were taught to measure their
worth through the accomplishments of brothers,
husbands, and children. Who were never taught
that there was a world beyond the home.
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These women didnt do the 1960s.
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I am from women who have built families and
educations where people said they shouldnt
exist. Who embraced fatherless children and
gained them places on the family tree.
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Who voraciously read what schools would not teach
them.
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I am from women who decided generations ago that
the South fought against them but would not win.
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Who clawed their way from magnolia shadowed
verandas into music conservatories and ivy
covered universities. Who earned degrees without
touching family money set aside for their
brothers.
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I am from women who learned how to stand for
themselves when the world wouldnt stand for
them. Who stockpiled credentials and dared men
not to hire them.
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I am from women who walked next to their
husbands, even when Society said they should walk
a little behind.
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Who treated all men as equal without staging a
sit-in.
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Maybe these women did do the 1960s. They just
did them before the demonstrations ever happened.
And they just didnt talk about it.