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Introduction
- The University of Tennessee Press
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Introduction The inspiration for this book beamed from writing my first book, Parlor Ladies and Ebony Drudges (University of Tennessee Press, 1999), which left me with an itching curiosity to learn more about one of the women discussed in the book, Geraldyne Pierce Zimmerman. Zimmerman, a feisty African American nonagenarian, is one of South Carolina’s most respected Black female icons in education and community leadership. When I was collecting data for Parlor Ladies, I spent several hours afterward listening to her “back in the olden days” girlhood stories. The more she talked, the more I wanted to learn about Black culture and its impact on the women’s experiences from the old days. The focus of this book is on the child rearing, courtship, and marriage of Geraldyne Zimmerman, an African American female coming of age in the early-twentieth-century South. In this narrative, based on my many oral interviews with her, Zimmerman’s biographical and family cultural life are revealing and fascinating. The era of the Roaring Twenties in which she grew up, the books on proper Black etiquette and behavior, and the conservative social norms of courtship, sex, and marriage all played significant roles in shaping young Zimmerman into a feisty and, at times, a rebellious child and young adult.Throughoutherlife,Zimmermanalwaysprotested,witheithersubtletyor boldness, against rules she deemed unfair or ridiculous. Today, while modernday readers might perceive her life as “squeaky clean,” that of a “good girl” who never strayed in spite of her feistiness, it is important to remember that early twentieth-century norms were far more conservative than those of the latter twentieth and twenty-first centuries. In the larger Black southern community this difference stemmed from a strong belief in God and the influences that both the church and preachers had on instilling the need to live a Introduction xviii “God-fearing” life or face “burning in hell’s damnation.” What was considered deviant, disobedient, or devilish behaviors in “yesteryear,” such as being “mouthy, eavesdropping, cutting one’s hair without permission, or breaking curfew,” are practically considered normal behavior in today’s youth. In actuality, young Zimmerman was a maverick, and as of July 2010, at almost one hundred years old, she continues to be one. Growing up in the early twentieth century, she was definitely the new, modern female, born ahead of her time. She spoke her mind, had unusual interests, made radical decisions, demanded the same treatment her brother received from their parents, and, at times, chose to go left when all others went right. As a girl she considered herself equal to boys, and as a young adult she deviated from traditional thinking and the norms deemed appropriate for females of her era. While her demands or wishes might not have been met each time, she was feisty enough to assert them anyway. This book delves into Zimmerman’s personal family background to illustrate the life experiences that ultimately shaped the type of person she became. I uncovered some fascinating details on how early Black families reared their children, dictated their lives, and taught them the prevailing Victorian views of love, courtship, sex, and marriage well into the twentieth century. This book brings forth two almost forgotten aspects of early African American culture: family traditions and child-rearing practices. It should help us better understand how southern black children were reared, how they were expected to behave, and what they were taught about child bearing, gender relations, sex, pregnancy, courtship, and marriage between 1865 and 1965, the first one hundred years after slavery ended. I hope the history presented here will somehow lead modern families to readopt some of these past practices and thereby rear healthier children and restore the traditional civility and high moral ethics once found commonly among youth, the future parents of tomorrow. This book begins with a prologue, which provides insight into the kind of world Geraldyne Zimmerman and her ancestors experienced in early Orangeburg and South Carolina, and ends with an epilogue for the curious reader who wishes to know about Zimmerman’s later life, which was filled with daily civic work and eventually rewarded with recognition, awards, and the success stories of the youth she positively affected. Perhaps one day someone will pick up where this book stops and expound on this epilogue, as this part of Zimmerman’s life certainly warrants a completely separate book. Between the prologue and epilogue are four chapters followed by a conclusion . Chapter 1, “Ancestors: The Pierces and...