“Coffee with Rose - During Black History Month, remembering that African-American heroes donât need to be public figures” |
| Posted: 28 Feb 2011 02:43 PM PST We talk a lot about people who have done extraordinary things. Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Rosa Parks and others are astounding African-American heroes whose groundbreaking actions made them public figures. Unfortunately, we often forget to discuss those who do extraordinary things and do not receive such public accolades. This brand of hero is far more prevalent than, and just as important as, the public one. Thinking about Black History Month this year made me think of one important hero that had an impact in my life. One of my post-high school jobs was as a driver for a local bottled water company. I delivered water to businesses and individuals on a weekly basis. My favorite customer was Rose, an African-American woman from Texas who lived in one of the local assisted living homes for seniors. Every week I would bring a three-gallon bottle of water for her multi-colored horizontally striped ceramic pot. The square three-gallon jugs I delivered were just too heavy for Rose to replace herself, so I would come in and replace the new jug with the old one—and she always insisted that I stay for a cup of coffee. Those cups of coffee were some of the most memorable of my life. Don't get me wrong, the coffee was a generic brand made in a coffeemaker far past its prime and generally tasted burnt; the conversation, however, was absolutely priceless. One day I asked Rose how she ended up in Alaska. It's a question I often ask people I meet because it can lead into a conversation about their history. She came to Anchorage in 1941 for a two-week stint as a traveling nurse—and she never left. Clearly, I came from a much different background than Rose. I came from lower middle-class beginnings and grew up with an average middle-class lifestyle. I thought I knew what life was like for an African American growing up in the '20s and '30s from what I had learned in my history classes, but no class could ever prepare me for the impact that one retired nurse would have on how I looked at the world.I asked Rose why she chose Alaska and she told me that it was her sense of adventure that drove her north. Alaska was a mystery to most in those days. Visitors had no idea what they would encounter, what adventure lay ahead. What Rose found were welcoming and caring people with a truly independent nature. "Oh, I experienced my fair share of racism, but I was used to that, and I found it far less intrusive in my life here than back home," she told me. Rose, a 22-year-old African American nurse who left her entire family thousands of miles awa,y made her home in an underdeveloped state with extreme weather. She did so because she said she enjoyed the change of pace and could no longer stand the heat in Texas. When I asked her when the last time she saw her family was, she answered, "When I left. I talk to them on the phone all the time and they ask me when I'm coming down to visit. I tell them, I'm too old and it's too hot down there, you can come here to visit." I left that job after about a year to start college; however, I still made my weekly visits to drink coffee with Rose. Almost two years after we met I tried her buzzer and received no answer. It was the first time I had ever rang her buzzer without hearing her voice respond with that gritty southern twang of a woman that has seen it all. Rose rarely, if ever, left the center and was generally in her room reading or knitting for her friends at the center. I inquired at the front desk, and was informed that she had passed quietly in her sleep earlier that week. I stood there at the desk for a minute. Even though she was in her '70s I suppose it had never occurred to me that this would eventually happen. With tears welling in my eyes and a little uncertainty as to where I was going, I quietly said thank you and headed back towards my car. It is hard to know how many peoples' lives Rose impacted. To this day I think of her often. I wish I had visited more often, gotten to know her better and tapped her wealth of knowledge more than I had. Mostly, I just miss her. These types of heroes exist in everyday life, everywhere around us. They do not change the world with the dramatic impact that other, more visible, leaders do; however, they do their part to change the world, one person at a time. Rose influenced my perspective on many different issues and when formulating my opinions on things today, I often think of things she told me, about what life was like for her growing up, and the struggles she faced as a young African-American woman on her own in a strange place. Rest in peace Rose, and thank you for the coffee. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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