Dear Readers,

In July 2020, when I began telling Nancy Kendall's story in a blog on Grandfather's Gift, I had no idea what lay ahead. Her story, while important, seemed easily told. I couldn't see the blog lasting more than a few months at most.

Imagine my surprise to still be publishing posts on Grandfather's Gift a year and a half later. What I didn't realize then was how so many of the topics in her journal still resound today.

People of color are still fighting for a level playing field. Jim Crow attitudes are still alive and well. Politicians still try to push through voting laws that keep people of color, the poor, and others from having a say in their own futures.

When Nancy Kendall wrote down some of her memories from the Underground Railroad days, I think she knew it was a memorable period in history. She wanted her stories told, so she shared them with my grandfather, who then shared them with me.

Nancy Kendall's journal is a gift from which we can learn from our past, and work toward a more equitable future. It is a gift I treasure, and that I'm honored to share.

Thank you all for coming along on this journey with me.

~ Nancy Jean

Guest Post by Kristine Schwartzman

Moments like these don't often come along. But, the election of Kamala Harris as Vice President is full of historic firsts that will forever change the political landscape in the United States.

Vice President-elect Harris will not only be the first woman to serve in that capacity, but also the first Asian American, and first Black Vice President. The significance of her candidacy and election inspired women and girls across the country.
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Five-year-old Andrea Richardson-George watched Kamala Harris, wearing a white Suffragist suit, give her victory speech after the election. According to her mother, Ashley Richardson-George, Andrea ran into her bedroom and came back wearing a white dress and sweater. "So, for her," Ms. Richardson-George said, "she was like, 'I can be president.' So to see that glimmer in her eyes as a parent, it really is powerful to me as her mom." Source: AP News, "Kamala Harris win inspires women and girls nationwide"

It's not just younger women who are inspired. Women of every age, many of whom waited a long time for this moment are moved by Harris's historic win.
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“I never imagined as a child growing up in the ‘50s, that I would see a woman of color as a vice presidential nominee,” 75-year-old New Yorker Judith Komaki explains. “To actually see Kamala, a woman and a person of color, ascend to this position—it opens up a dream that I had never anticipated or aspired to. It just makes my heart sing.” Source: Time Magazine, "The Historic Barriers Kamala Harris Overcame to Become the First Female, First Black and First Asian American Vice-President Elect"

I am so  proud to be a citizen of the United States  of America.
 
This weekend, as many of us breathed a cautious sigh of relief, I heard a wonderful interview with the Honorable James Clyburn on the Lawrence O’Donnell show. It was Representative Clyburn’s endorsement of Joe Biden in his quest for the office of President of the United States that turned the tide in Biden’s campaign.  
 
The Honorable James Clyburn had gone to a small, rural church service that Sunday morning. As he walked in, Mrs. Jones, a beautiful, elderly lady, beckoned to him from her seat in the front pew. She had a question.
 
Listen as Representative Clyburn tells the rest of the story:

What a beautiful, meaningful story.  I love it. And it speaks volumes.
 
Check back soon for my next post: Just as Abraham Lincoln stepped into the presidency on the eve of the most devastating time in the history of our country, so does Joseph Biden courageously take this step, at an unimaginably fraught time in our nation’s history. 

Dear Friends,
 
We made it to the election of 2020.  And of course we know the ride isn’t over.  But at least, Nov. 3 is upon us.
 
How are you, my friends?  Hopeful, I’m sure and exhausted and anxious.  
 
 We didn’t deserve this treatment.  There was a great spot on TV after the virus broke out.  It read something like:
 
“Adversity came to town and asked what we were going to do about it.”  We looked it in the eye and said, “watch us.”
 
We’ll make it.  We are in it together.  Our beacon of hope is our vote.
 
I appreciate all of you, my friends. 

I wanted to share two videos with you, this week, the last week before Election Day.  
 
The "1964: The Fight for Right," American Public Broadcasting documentary, reminded me of some things we went through in previous decades. And, we made it.
 
Frontline's "Whose Vote Counts?" I found important because we have a lot of work to when it comes to voter suppression.
 
And, it reminds me of all the brave people who worked, and lived and died in a fight for voting rights.  My respect and admiration for these brave heroes knows no bounds.
 
Love,
Nancy Jean
 
From Kristine: I share Nancy's heartfelt thoughts about what we're all dealing with at this momentous time in history. The only thing I can add at this point is to please make your voice heard and vote. We can change the course of our nation if we all work together. Let's do this.

During one of her shows, Oprah Winfrey told one of the sweetest stories about a pastor she knows named Otis Moss, Jr. His father, Otis Moss, Sr. was a poor sharecropper. 

When Otis Moss, Sr. learned that black men had won the right to vote, he was thrilled. When voting day rolled around that year, Mr. Moss, elderly by then, got up in the morning, put on his best suit, and walked the 6 miles to the polling place. 

As he got to what he had been told was the proper voting place, they told him he had to go to another polling place. It was another 6 miles down the road. He walked that distance, only to be told again he had to vote at another location. 
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He set out for that polling place, and when he arrived, he found the door closed. Mr. Moss was too late to vote. He walked 19 miles by the time he returned home and was grievously disappointed that he had not been able to vote. When election day came around the next year, Otis Moss Sr. had died.

Whenever I think of this true story, I tear up, and it takes me a while before I can get the image of this dear, conscientious man walking the 19 miles that day to vote. To him, and so many of our wonderful citizens who waited so long for the privilege, making every effort to cast their vote was an honor many thought they would never see. 

I wonder how many of us really feel that level of honor and privilege when we vote. Many, I hope. For it is a privilege, as nobody knows better than one who has waited so long to exercise their hard-fought right, when they should, indeed, have never been denied in the first place.
​Bless them, bless them. There Mr. Moss was, dressed in his Sunday best suit, who walked 19 miles to vote. He was not alone.

Oprah Winfrey tells the story here: