Joseph Baker, Sr.

 

Three Harrell Descendants Joined the Ancestors Realm

It saddens my heart that my mother joined the ancestor realm on March 30, 2020. Her first cousin Arthur Harrell and second cousin Lottie Harrell joined the ancestors as well. Each of them will forever be in our hearts. All three left a remarkable legacy. My mother was the family griot, and she passed the family oral history to me. Isabel "Bell" Harrell was the daughter of Jasper Harrell, Sr. and Josephine Richardson Harrell. Arthur was the son of Palmer Harrell and Manila McCoy Harrell. Lottie was the granddaughter of Warner Harrell and Velma Warford Harrell.

My mother passed away in Slidell, Louisiana, at the home of my oldest brother and his wife. Cousin Arthur passed away in Tangipahoa Parish, and Cousin Lottie passed away in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Because of COVD-19, my mother has a private service. Mom was eighty-years old. She turned eighty on December 25.  Not a day goes by, and we don't think of them. They are missed by their children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and other relatives. My mother was the first one out of all her siblings to reach the age of eighty years old. She was one of ten children born to her parents. She leaves to cherish her memories, four children. Cousin Arthur and his wife Ruth Avant Harrell were the parents of four children. Cousin Lottie was the mother of two sons. 

Mrs. Vera Buckhalter Womack of Kentwood, Louisiana

Mrs. Vera Womack

Today I met a beautiful woman named Mrs. Vera Buckhalter Womack in Kentwood, Louisiana., She told me that she just celebrated her 99th birthday. All I could do was just look at   her. My eyes couldn't believe that the lady I was looking at just made 99 years old.

We sat and talked for a long time. I went to talk with her about Tangipahoa Parish Training School in Kentwood. She told me about her school days and how she walked one mile to get to school. She recalled how the boys would make a fire in the old pot belly stove to warm up the class. Mrs. Womack left school after she couldn't keep up due to the fact that she had to miss too many days to work in the field picking cotton, strawberries, and other agricultural produce. 

Mrs. Womack has lived to see five generations. She is one of seven children born to the union of her Mr. Fred and Mrs. Emma Buckhalter. After she left school to get married, she and her husband opened the only African American store in the community. She started off by selling snowballs and candy and from there she and her husband added other items to the store. She operated the store up until her 80s. The Womack's are a pillar in the Kentwood community. 

Emma Johnson Buckhalter

I enjoyed looking at all the family photographs on her walls and the many beautiful bouquets of roses and flowers she received from her family and loved ones. We both felt like we knew each other all our lives.

According to Mrs. Womack her mother, Mrs. Emma Buckhalter was the first African American teacher in Kentwood.  She taught at Sweet Home Baptist Church when the school was held in at the church.  Emma was born around 1883 in Tangipahoa Parish. Her father Fred was born in St. Helena Parish in 1886. In 1910 the family was living at  the Amos Kent Lbr & Brick Co Quarters. He is listed as a mulatto according to the 1910 United States Federal Census.

She proudly talked about her late husband's determination to overcome being an amputee and how I remind her of him. "He never gave up, he made all the kitchen cabinets and other woodwork," said Mrs. Vera. 

Mrs. Womack was an entrepreneur at heart. She was a hairdresser by trade as well. She went back to the only African American beauty school in Kentwood and earned her certification to become a licensed cosmetologist in 1964. She proudly displays her diploma on her wall. When she started school she told the owner that she didn't have a certification but she knew how to do hair. The owner told Mrs. Womack that she groomed and styled hair better than some women who were licensed.  She was determined to do what it took to help support her family. 

I really enjoyed sitting and talking with her. I hope to live to see her age and most importantly I would like to be in good health like her. Mrs. Vera out lived all her of her sibling. But the memories of her deceased loved one will forever live in her heart. 

Odile Beauty School
Mrs. Vera B. Womack

The Obsequies of Daisy Stewart Overton

Daisy Overton
1900-1976

Sister Daisy S. Overton joined church and baptized at an early age. Her Christian life was  the fragrance of a beautiful rose and her influence will ever live in whatever place she has resided. She has been faithful and ardent worker in the church. Attended church regularly and saw to it the family group attended with her.

Today we are silent, to pay tribute to then of God's gentle women upon whose head rests a crown studded with sparkling jewels of her golden deeds. Always putting Christ first in whatever she did. She was devoted wife and mother who saw to it that her children were given the best she could provided in loving care, spiritual nourishment, and material comforts. This example she lives daily will ever be a goal for her family to strive to reach.

She invested her many talents into every broadening, good work which she good find. She was active in many auxiliaries, every ready to do what was needed. She was always alert as how she could help, comfort and cheer someone who was more needy than herself. He days were filled with helpful and absorbing work. She visited the sick and the sorrowing, taught Sunday School and won many you hearts for the Master.  Her life was full and happy. She was a lovable character, a person everyone chose to have as a friend and willing to be a friend to all. She left a living example of loving service, worthy of emulation, which tribute should bear some comfort for her loved ones. But when the sun of life reach it zenith, with the brightness of a well-spent life has ended.

Daisy Stewart was born to the union of Mrs. Ada Thomas Stewart and Rev. Ebbie Stewart, date April 8, 1900 in Clinton, LA., In 1918 she was united in Holy Matrimony to the late Fred Overton to this union thirteen children were born.

To mourn her passing she leave; five daughter: Mrs. Lucille Reed and Mrs Doris Johnson, New Orleans, La., Mrs. Bertha Montgomery, Pemberton, N.J., Mrs. Viola Hurst, Greensburg, LA., Mrs, Izola Millican, Oakland, California, and a foster daughter: Mrs. Margurite P. Overton, Greensburg.; four sons: Rev Edward Overton, Ardmore, PA., Mr. Fred Overton Jr., Philadelphia, PA., Mrs. Charlie Overton and Mr. Joe Overton, Jr., Greensburg, LA.; three sisters: Mrs. Bertha Hall, Mrs. Velma Irving, Greensburg, LA., Mrs. Imogene Jones, Houston, TX and four brothers: Mr. J.W. Stewart, Mr. Cleveland Stewart, Mrs. Ebbie Stewart, Greensburg, LA., and Dr. Alfred Stewart, Donaldsonville, LA., 55 grandchildren, 22 great-great grandchildren, a host of in-laws, relatives and friends

Chicken Coop Made from Pallets

Growing up on the old family homestead in Tangipahoa Parish where we grew our own food and raised livestock. My grandmother had a chicken coop for her laying hens. My brothers and I would help her gather the fresh yard eggs. For two years I have been talking about building a chicken coop and now I'm finally getting a chicken coop built thanks to Wallace.

I went online and saw the chicken coops built out of pallets. So Wallace and I decided to build one out of pallets. For the past few weeks Wallace and I have been busy gathering the pallets, removing all the nails and pulling the wood apart. 

I called the local hardware store and asked them if I could have them. They told me to take all I wanted. We spent several weeks preparing the wood. Our plan was to use as much recycle material that we could fine. We did purchase the wire, screws, nails, latches, hinges and wood life cooper coat to treat the wood. 

We spent a lot of time on the internet looking at difference models. After we figured out the model we wanted to used and what would be the best way to build it we got started. Wallace wanted to build six nesting boxes for the laying hens. 

He measured the run for the hens, he thought the old girls sure have some room to run around and to hang out. He wanted to really make it easy for me to move about to clean the coop, he's making it where I can walk into the chicken coop and hose it off rather easy. The manure from the chicken will be used to fertilized the orange trees and garden. 

Wallace is very creative and I can see him building me a greenhouse out of pallets. There only problem, "he didn't want me to take photographs." But of course I had to document from start to finish. Beside it nice to see how it begin and the finish product. 

This summer my grandchildren will get to gather the fresh yard eggs right out the yard. I hope that we can the hens that lay the blue and green eggs. 

 We'll keep you posted as we move along.

Historic Civil Rights Works of Robert "Bob" Hicks of Washington Parish

Mr. Robert " Bob" Hicks is considered a " Lion in the Louisiana Civil Rights Movement whose legal victories helped fight against segregation in Bogalusa, La, and changed discriminatory employment practices throughout the south." Mr. Hicks began his civil rights work as member of the local NAACP, the Bogalusa Voter and Civic League and was also the founder of the Bogalusa Chapter of the Deacons for Defense and Justice. Mr. Hicks conducted daily marches to protest racial discrimination by merchants and local government. Among his many accomplishments in fighting for civil rights. Mr. Hicks filed several landmark lawsuit, on lawsuit obtained a federal court order requiring the police to protect protest marches. 

Photo Credit: Walter C. Black, Sr.

Another suit filed was against the US Department of Housing where prohibition of the construction of public housing in segregated neighborhoods in Bogalusa. During this time Mr. Hicks worked at Crown Zellerbach and was one of the few African American men employed there. After going to court for many years with Crown Zellarbach, he became the company's first African American supervisor. He also served as the president of the Brotherhood of Pulp, Sulphite and Paper Mill Workers. He was a true hero, a kind of grave man. His dedication to justice had an impact on not only Bogalusa and Washington Parish.

On February 1, 1965,  Mr. Hicks learned that the Ku Klux Klan plan to bomb his home, he and his family were told by police that they could not protect the. The Klan was furious that Hicks was housing two white civil rights workers and demanded they leave that night. Aware of the danger, Hicks, said " no" to the demand. Hicks and wife called friends to take their five children to a safe place and asked for protection. Armed black men stood guard during the night. On February 21, the Jonesboro Deacons of Defense and Justice visited Bogalusa to start a chapter citing the second Amendment and carrying funds with the mission of protection against white aggression. Mr. Hicks took the lead starting a Bogalusa chapter. Deacons confrontation with the Klan created history, started a Civil Rights Movement, empowering a people and propelled the U.S. Government to enforce the 1964 Civil Rights Act to neutralize the Klan. The Hick's home was the birth and meeting places for Deacons, foot soldiers, lawyers, civil and human rights advocates and a safe haven for all. Decisions made in this home significantly impacted the future of the community. Louisiana and the nation. Hicks showed courage in defense of justice and equality.

Over the years, the Hicks family opened their home to numerous national renowned individuals, such as entertainer Dick Gregory, and James Farmer, the head of Congress of Racial Equality. The Hicks home was placed on the National Register Listing of Historic Places. 

Photo Credit: Walter C. Black, Sr.

Barbara Hick Collins, Executive Director of the Hicks Foundation. The Foundations sole intention is to preserve the history of the people of the Bogalusa, LA., The Foundation continues to make great strides in their mission to inform, educate, inspire and motivate people for Bogalusa and Washington Parish. 

Tangipahoa Parish 50th Anniversary Desegregation Commemoration