"I Have A Dream"

Our beautiful "Heart of the Ozarks" was not always the laid back, friendly, peaceful place that it is today. During the Civil War (or the War of Northern Aggression... depending on what side of the Mason-Dixon you were on) our area of the Ozarks was basically deserted. It became a violent battleground of Union and Southern sympathizers, with brother against brother, neighbor against neighbor and family against family. This resulted in guerrilla bands burning the courthouse and most of the buildings in West Plains and causing the residents to pack and flee north or south, depending on their ideological leanings. I have heard the arguments that this war "was not about freeing the slaves!" And I would agree, that it was not fought totally over that issue. But the Emancipation Proclamation and the slaves being freed at the end of the conflict tell me, that it was not an insignificant, little happenstance at the end of a bloody five-year war.

I was born four months after Dr. Martin Luther King gave his famous "I Have a Dream" speech at the "March on Washington" on August 23rd, 1963. I was a child during the civil rights upheaval of the sixties and early seventies and it seemed far away and unimportant in my "world." Most of the black people in our town were well respected, hard working people like the white folks... with a few bad apples... just like the white folks. However, the people of color all lived on the "Hill", had their own church and their own cemetery.

I do remember the "N" word being used in jokes in my elementary and high school - although there were no black children in my elementary school and only two in my high school. I am deeply ashamed to admit that I also joined in on some of this talk but I couldn't have told you the names of more than than three or four black people.

When I consider the presence of racial prejudice in the West Plains of today, I am really clueless. I still do not have a lot of contact with the people of color in our town. I have a couple of friends I swap howdys with when I meet them but no close relationship with them. Our West Plains college campus has increased the number of African Americans and other people of color in our city, but again, I have no real contact with them. Maybe I should work on that?!?

This brings me to the real purpose of my post. When Dr. King gave his "I Have A Dream" speech; I'm sure, in a small way, he had this in mind... An annual tradition of my great niece, Claire Riggs.

Every Memorial Day for years, even decades, our family has went to the family cemetery plots and decorated the graves of our ancestors. For many years, (at least the years she has been aware of the significance of it), Claire has decorated the grave of Aunt Mime, in Ledbetter Cemetery near Crider, Missouri.

Aunt Mime's Gravestone

Why is this so significant?

Aunt Mime was a former colored slave.

Sometime around the 1850's, Turpin Goode Scoggin* moved from North Carolina, into the Ozarks near the settlement of South Fork. In addition to his family, he brought with him, two female slaves. In the years that followed, according to certain accounts, one of the slaves "became unruly" so he set her free. This left her homeless so she had to find someone that would take her in. Scoggin had family near Crider, Missouri, so one of these kind-hearted souls took her in. She established her place in the household and became "Aunt Mime". From my recollection of comments of people that knew her, (such as my Grandma Fox) she was a kind, sweet lady and not "unruly" at all. 

Considering that Aunt Mime passed away in 1921 and was set free in the late 1850's, she lived quite a long life! Even in death though, she never gained the status of "all men are created equal". They buried Aunt Mime in the southwest corner of Ledbetter Cemetery, away from all the "white folks", and marked her grave with a large rock. An unceremonious end for a life of labor, heartache and trouble. In later years, a small granite stone replaced the rock with the words, "Aunt Mime - Died August 1921

This story of "Aunt Mime", I have heard since my childhood. This was the story, in the fine oral tradition, that was repeated to Claire. It touched her heart and made her want to "do something" for Aunt Mime. So every year, at Memorial Day, Aunt Mime gets flowers on her grave. Some ninety-odd years after her death, she is remembered and mourned by a "white" young lady.

It just may be that Dr. King's "Dream" is coming to pass. Not with marches, protests and riots. But with the telling of a story that touches the tender heart of the younger generation...

Claire Riggs at Aunt Mime's grave

Claire Riggs and "Pawpaw" Ralph Riggs decorating Aunt Mime's grave. You can see how isolated it is, in the far corner of the cemetery (although there is a new grave nearby)

*As an aside - Turpin Goode Scoggin was appointed the first County Surveyor of Howell County in 1859.