1. Parmele From Childtimes: A three generation memoir by
Eloise Greenfield and Lessie Jones Little

2. Vocabulary Collards- green leafy vegetable – like lettuce
Patchwork quilts- blankets made from scraps of material sewn together
Sharecropper- a farmer who gives part of his crops as rent to the owner of the farmland
Commence- begin
Hovering- hanging low above something as if floating on air

3. Spelling Words Glisten Wrench Gnarled Cleats Steeple Clover Carve
Popcorn
Carpet
Waffle
Angle
Civil
Crouch
Shower
Countless
Ankles
Porches
Stroke
Thumb
Around

4. We would visit home
Every year we would visit down home in a town named Parmele
Daddy and Mama would get everything ready for the trip in the car and then we would commence with the journey
There would 6 of us in that car, and the kids would sit in the back, on top of the suitcases
This all happened before cars had air-conditioning, radios, trunks or heaters
The roads were small and the speed
limit was low at only 45 miles per hour

5. First we would go to Norfolk, Virginia
There we would visit with Grandma and Grandpa Jones for about a week
To pass the time on the road, we would play games and say rhymes with the Burma shaving cream billboard ads on the sides of the road
We also saw on the sides of the roads something that made me scared- Chain Gangs- which were lines of black men in jail suits, repairing the roads, and were watched over by white men with guns- The idea of a chain gang frightened me
The sight and the sounds of the chain gangs
made me nervous and scared

6. In Parmele, there were few trains
Parmele was a quiet town
People spoke differently- saying “hey-ey” instead of “hi”- it sounded kind of like singing
When I was really little, I would run around the town with the chickens, play with the cousins, and take long walks
What I really liked and remembered about visiting Parmele was seeing my Pa and
Granny and all my relatives

7. Pa and Granny were my Daddy’s parents
Others in town called them Mr. Mack and Miss Williamann or Uncle Mack and Ain’ Williamann
Granny was thin and white haired, and wore aprons over her dresses
She would sew patchwork quilts and make apple jelly and pickles, and garden her collard greens
Both Pa and Granny wanted so
much to give their grandchildren
whatever they wanted

8. Pa was a sharecropper
He worked in the farm fields but didn’t own the land
He got paid in a share of the crops he raised
He also had other business’s to run- a meat market, an ice house, cleaners
Pa was a member of the Marcus Garvey Group who would meet on Sunday afternoons
There were many groups like this of the United Negro Improvement Association, and they would talk about being proud of being black skinned and of someday returning to Africa

9. Pa wasn’t afraid of anything
Except the frogs on the farm- those he hated
He had part of his thumb cut off in a farm accident and he kept the piece that got cut off in a jar on the mantle- I was fascinated by it.
Pa would tell stories and all the kids loved them- especially the ghost and scary stories- he said the ghosts were hovering in the fields still

10. Pa hated it when we left
He always said he might not be around the next summer when we came back
Eventually he would stop making Daddy feel guilty about leaving and help him pack the car up with peanuts, and fresh corn
We would hug and kiss everyone good-bye and then be on our way down the dirt road, back to Washington

11. Pa would never visit us
He would make excuses and sometimes Granny would come by herself
One year, he had a stroke and got sick and part of his memory was lost
Mama and Daddy brought him to be with us in Washington so they could take care of him
He would ask people on the street how to get back to Parmele, but he never did get to go back
Pa died 18 months later at the age of 78
I still miss him and those wonderful times we had together in Parmele years ago.