With the Might of Angels Read Online Free PDF Page B

Throws: Right
    I want to add one more fact about Jackie:
    * Bravest player on the field.
Saturday, June 26, 1954
Diary Book,
    Today I told Yolanda about my dream of being a doctor. Why in the world did I do that? I might as well have been telling her that hogs can dance the Hokey Pokey.
    Yolanda laughed so hard.
    She asked me, “Have you ever seen a colored doctor in Hadley?”
    Well, no, I have never seen a colored doctor. Or a colored nurse, either. I’ve seen plenty of colored teachers and preachers, but no Negroes working in medicine.
    Before I could answer, Yolanda told me, “My pa says there are only colored doctors in places like New York City, and not many of them.”
    What I didn’t tell Yolanda was that I saw a colored lawyer once — I actually saw three colored lawyers.
    I didn’t see them for real, in person, walking around and talking. I saw their picture in the New York paper, along with the article about integration. I have un-pasted and re-pasted the picture part of that article here. The words under the picture say:
    LEADERS IN SEGREGATION FIGHT:
    Lawyers who led battle before U. S. Supreme Court for abolition of segregation in public schools congratulate one another as they leave court after announcement of decision. Left to right: George E. C. Hayes, Thurgood Marshall and James M. Nabrit.
    Those lawyers are sure smiling. They look real happy.
    If there are Negro lawyers, there must be colored doctors and nurses, too.
Tuesday, June 29, 1954
Diary Book,
    I just
had
to write two letters today, one to Jackie Robinson, and one to some other people I probably won’t ever meet, but who I admire.
    LETTER NUMBER 1
Dear Mr. Jackie Robinson,
    My friend Yolanda squashed my dream of becoming a doctor before the dream even had a chance to grow. Her words hit me hard. Real hard.
    Mr. Jackie Robinson, what did your best friend say when you told him you wanted to play baseball in the major leagues? Did he laugh hard and ask, “Have you ever seen a colored baseball player in the major leagues?”
    I bet you’re laughing now.
    Signed,
Wanting to be Dr. Dawnie Rae Johnson
    LETTER NUMBER 2
    Dear George E. C. Hayes, Thurgood Marshall, and James M. Nabrit,
    If you’ve ever seen a heel stomping on a wildflower, that’s what it was like when I told my best friend that I wanted to be a doctor. Yolanda just smushed my wish. It hurt when she did that.
    Dear lawyers, now that I have seen your picture and read about you, I know what’s possible. But I have to ask—What did your friends say when you said you were going to be a lawyer? Did they smush your dream? Did it hurt?
    Now that you’ve shown them what having a dream can mean, are they smiling as much as you are in that New York newspaper photograph?
Sunday, July 4, 1954
Diary Book,
    Everybody and their brother comes to Linden Park for a picnic on the Fourth of July.
    I don’t know who decided to call Linden a
park.
The
park
is really just the back lot of Clem Linden’s Barbershop, a place rusty cars and dandelions call home. It’s home to us, too, one of the places in Hadley where white people won’t go. We can be free to do whatever we want, how we want. Clem’s got a small patch of collards growing next to his tomato plants, and a mess of pole beans coming out of the land like the legs of a giant.
    Reverend Collier and his wife showed up at the same time we did. The reverend has the biggest car in all of Lee County. It’s a Pontiac, with fenders so shiny, you can look into them and clean the corn kernels from your teeth.
    Somebody had already set up tables of food. There were heaps of coleslaw and mac-and-cheese. And I had to wonder if there was a chicken left alive within twenty miles of Hadley. The tableswere covered with drumsticks and thighs.
    Yolanda’s pa and Daddy played horseshoes with Clem Linden and Reverend Collier. All they talked about was this integration business.
    Daddy said, “It’s about time. But this is not going to be an easy