Juneteenth! Okay, I'm going to be earnest. I started recording my mom's memories this month. The goal is one memory every day for a year...doesn't have to be in order, doesn't have to be about any particular theme, just whatever comes to mind. It's more like a memory haiku. The contents may be used for a play, tv, a movie, or just to keep this rich oral history going in a document. No set goals. I asked her what was the memory today....
"I taught at Drew Middle School (in Miami) for a year. I’m teaching science and I’m 4’11 and these junior high kids...they grow. And there was a fight in my class...two big boys. And I’m not going to get into the middle of a fight. So here I am the little teacher and it’s disturbing the other classes. So I don't know where I got this in my mind... I picked up a desk and threw it on top of them. And that startled them. They stopped. I didn't even know I could pick up one of those big desks, but I did. And that was my first year and last year teaching. Later on that year, a student came in and shot up the school. Shot a teacher and shot a student. He had a disagreement. It was the first type of school shooting that had ever happened.That was 1968. I got out of the school system. Another teacher said ‘go now before more shootings start.’ That was the first year I met your Dad who was working for a pharmaceutical company. He said ‘there’s a job fair downtown’ so I went and met FPL and Eastern Airlines. FPL wanted me as a programmer but I didn’t know anything about the computers so they said ‘if you know math and science’ you’ll be able to catch on. 1968. So I started working at FPL."
NOTE: my mom was the first black computer programmer at FPL. These were back in the days when computers took up an entire floor and had to be run with giant punch cards. She had no prior experience in working with computers. She worked at FPL for 40 years as a computer programmer creating systems that served millions of people and setting the standard for other black women in the company for several generations.
That is my 'get free' Juneteenth story. Thank you, Mom.
"I taught at Drew Middle School (in Miami) for a year. I’m teaching science and I’m 4’11 and these junior high kids...they grow. And there was a fight in my class...two big boys. And I’m not going to get into the middle of a fight. So here I am the little teacher and it’s disturbing the other classes. So I don't know where I got this in my mind... I picked up a desk and threw it on top of them. And that startled them. They stopped. I didn't even know I could pick up one of those big desks, but I did. And that was my first year and last year teaching. Later on that year, a student came in and shot up the school. Shot a teacher and shot a student. He had a disagreement. It was the first type of school shooting that had ever happened.That was 1968. I got out of the school system. Another teacher said ‘go now before more shootings start.’ That was the first year I met your Dad who was working for a pharmaceutical company. He said ‘there’s a job fair downtown’ so I went and met FPL and Eastern Airlines. FPL wanted me as a programmer but I didn’t know anything about the computers so they said ‘if you know math and science’ you’ll be able to catch on. 1968. So I started working at FPL."
NOTE: my mom was the first black computer programmer at FPL. These were back in the days when computers took up an entire floor and had to be run with giant punch cards. She had no prior experience in working with computers. She worked at FPL for 40 years as a computer programmer creating systems that served millions of people and setting the standard for other black women in the company for several generations.
That is my 'get free' Juneteenth story. Thank you, Mom.
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