Grady, Arkansas
Grady, Ark. – This town of 523 residents has captured my imagination in recent months as I have been writing about my sister and my summers here as children. It’s so funny to come back to a place that remember vividly and see how it has changed. Or how much smaller the houses are.
My grandparents, known as Grandchild and Madea, who are 90 and 87 respectively, have spent all of their 70 years together living here or within a 15-mile radius of here in the nearby Mosco, Tamo and Linwood, all within Lincoln County.
Now that I live in New York City where subways, buses and taxis take me everywhere I want to go and there’s a Starbucks every few blocks, I had to reckon the difference between the rural and urban. The contrast doesn’t get much more stark than comparing Grady to Manhattan.
You can always respond at sam@writingaboutlives.com
Posted under Travel
Hello — Saw your Web site and thoughts on Grady. Just wanted to let you know that the city will be marking its centennial on April 8 and a centennial celebration and all-time Grady School reunion is planned for April 28 and 29. I’m a reporter at the Pine Bluff Commercial and recently wrote a book on the history of Southeast Arkansas, including Grady. The book, “Bayou Country,” has a lot of photos from Grady, including many of blacks there in the 1920s and 1930s. A white woman by the name Cornelia Kirkley, who married W.F. “Bill” Foster, took assorted pictures of, collected recipes from and interviewed a number of blacks there at the time. Her works were put into a book entitled “Across the Horizon,” published 2006. It may include some photos of or information on some of your ancestors or family friends. The photos and book are now part of a black history display at the Arkansas History Commission in Little Rock. Her grandson-in-law works at the paper here, too. Hope you can make it down for the centennial celebration and reunion. I’ve never been to New York, but I can imagine what a vast difference there must be between Manhattan and Grady. The paper will have a story on the centennial and the book and photos in the April 8 edition. If you make it down this way, you can check out my book, which is on sale at the newspaper office. I appreciate you being devoted to your grandparents. All of mine are deceased now, and I miss them. Best of luck to you . . .
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