Letter 73 - A Refined Lady of Rebellion Who Raised Hell!
Hello Bregdan Woman!
Ginny here…
Every person born is a creation of the times they live in.
Where they were born. When they were born.
Every time and location have their challenges, but some more so than others.
If you were born black in America in 1902, you were ushered into a world full of prejudice and segregation. Reconstruction (the years after the Civil War that were meant to create equality for the freed slaves) had ended twenty-four years earlier – tossed aside as an experiment that was never going to be accepted by most Southerners.
Jim Crow laws in the South had stripped African Americans of the hard-fought rights they had earned in the years immediately following the Civil War.
Life in America was a constant challenge if you were African American. More so if you were also a woman.
Now add to the list of challenges, the fact that this Bregdan Woman was born in South Carolina. South Carolina had led the way into the Civil War. They were just as virulent and violent in wresting control of their state from any African American leaders once Reconstruction had ended. Thousands died. Thousands more were beaten and terrorized.
The North may have won the Civil War, but South Carolina had taken back control - creating a racist, prejudiced state.
Ruby Pendergrass was born into this world in 1902. It’s true she had advantages most female African American’s didn’t have at that time. Her father was a minister. Her mother was a teacher (one day she will have her own newsletter!).
Ruby received education, eventually graduating from Talladega College in Alabama, going on to study vocal performance in New York.
When she returned to Charleston, she married a dentist, became Ruby Pendergrass Cornwell, and then taught English in an area high school for decades. She certainly touched thousands of lives as a teacher, but her passion was fighting for racial equality.
If you could have been a fly on the wall around Ruby, you would have heard conversations like this:
"Go to the back of the house!" The homeowner angrily commanded.
"No thank you. I make my deliveries to the front door only," came Ruby's firm reply.
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"No, you can't try on clothes here!" The shop owner instructed Ruby on her policy.
"Okay, then if I can't try on here, I can't buy here." Ruby instructed the shop owner on her policy.
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"You can't sit there!" The movie theater manager informed Ruby.
"That's fine, then, I won't come back." Ruby tossed that remark as she left, never to return.
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Most of this pre-dated the American Civil Rights Movement. In Ruby’s own words, “I wasn’t a product of the Civil Rights movement, I pre-dated it . . . raising quiet, refined hell.”
I’d love to have known Ruby!
In 1963 (in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement), at the age of 61, she attempted to enter the prestigious “whites only” Fort Sumter Hotel’s restaurant. Donned in a rich silk dress with pearls, a matching hat and gloves, the conversation is said to have gone something like this:
“'We don’t serve Negroes,' the maître d’ told her.
'We don’t intend to order any,” she replied firmly.
Her marvelous sense of humor was not appreciated. Her stance created such an impression that the local police were called in and she was arrested. She wore her pearls around her neck as she went to jail.
Ruby never intended to be the point lady of the local racial movement in Charleston. It happened because she simply wouldn’t accept injustice and intolerance.
She fought for equality, but she accepted and believed in all people. She was a visionary and a leader in the Arts, serving on many boards and performing many vocal solos for benefit concerts. She was given several awards.
She helped start the first Black Arts Festival that grew into MOJA – a celebration of all that is African American and Caribbean. It’s still happening!
MOJA is Swahili for “One” – reflecting the harmony of all people in that community.
Like MOJA, Ruby was just one woman.
One woman who lived a life of quiet, gracious rebellion, until she died at 101.
Her influence will ripple down through every generation to come. Her actions will be felt throughout history.
I want to live like Ruby. I want to firmly refuse to accept wrong treatment but do it with dignity and poise. I want to accept others and give back to my community with grace.
While I challenge policies of ignorance, I intend to live with open arms and an open heart.
We, YOU included, are all just “ONE”, but when we come together to join hands and hearts, we are many.
Bregdan Women have the power to make a difference – no matter where you were born… or when you were born.
How do you want to be remembered?
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What will you do to be a Bregdan Woman?
What will you do today to impact history??
We’re on this journey with you… (and have 2 FREE Gifts for you below…)
Ginny & Suess
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Again, I would like to thank your for these letters. Women are the binding that keeps the world together. We bind our children to (hopefully) to the right path, we can guide and teach our husbands kindness and compassion and the right to cry, we can lead our friends on a path of strength, learning that together, women are the strength in our families, with our friends, within our towns and cities and like you say...to the world. Keep the letters coming so all of us who receive them can pass them on to other women who need to hear how great we are! Thank you
"We don't intend to order any" Best response ever!