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11 Uncle Martin Dr. King always called my mother his “Selma mother,” which she enjoyed being when he was in Selma. one day he arrived in Selma with a cold and my mother made him a potion that only mothers of those days could make: red onions, honey, lemon, and several teaspoons of whiskey. She would cook this until all was blended well and give Martin several spoonfuls. feeling better after sleeping for awhile, he would tell her she needed to bottle this potion and sell it throughout the land! you can imagine the changes she had seen in her lifetime. it was amazing to hear her stories and realize how she adjusted to over one hundred years of life and she was always looking forward to seeing a few more changes to adapt to! our daughter and only child, Jawana virginia Jackson, was born on July 15, 1960. finally, after all these years, the house by the side of the road would have a child to fill its walls with laughter! The birth of our daughter put a glow on the dim light that had been burning in our hearts regarding the social issues in this country and the civil rights movement. Jawana knew Martin from the time she was born. To have him in the house was nothing unusual. To Jawana he was simply “Uncle 44 / Chapter 11 Martin.” being the type of person he was, and having children of his own, he gave children “special time”; even if only for a few moments, he made them feel that they had his undivided attention. He indeed had a gift for relating to children and he related quickly to Jawana. This was her home and she had the free run of it, and later it did become a problem when Uncle Martin was in a meeting somewhere in the house and she was told that she could not disturb him. explaining to a four-year-old why all of these people were in her home and that seeing Uncle Martin and what he was doing wasn’t possible this minute was at best difficult. very early, one of the times he was away from the house we sat with her and tried to explain Uncle Martin’s important role: “Just as Daddy has a job to take care of people ’s teeth, Uncle Martin is trying to help people, too. by helping Uncle Martin we are helping make your life better, too.” “but Mamma, Uncle Martin is a preacher who lives in Atlanta. We went there to see him in his church. He called my name from up there where he was.” “yes, and Uncle Martin works very hard for all of us.” Children often accept the explanations of those they trust, understanding ontheirlevel as long asyouaretruthfulwith them. i believe children have the God-given ability to look into your eyes and know if they can trust you to tell the truth. Whenever Jawana was in the house we made sure she was introduced towhoeverwasthere.Thismadeherfeelapartofwhatwas going on. even though she was very young, she needed to be included. After such introductions, she would usually go on her way continuing to play. Sometimes we would receive a telephone bomb threat, and we needed to get her out of the house quickly. When the threats oc- Uncle Martin / 45 curred, we would take Jawana over to stay with my mother (whom she called ban Dam). Going to ban Dam’s house was no problem; she enjoyed going to see her grandmother and great-grandmother (emma Richardson), who then lived with my mother in Selma. both women had moved to Selma in the 1940s, my mother from york and my grandmother from Hamner. Many a night we would have to call a nearby relative or a friend that Jawana knew well to come to our back fence, which ran along a quiet alleyway, and hand her over the fence to safety covered with a blanket. As her parents, we were committed to our involvement and had placed our faith in God to take care of us, but our daughter needed to have a chance to grow up, have a future, make her own commitments, and have the productive life that had eluded many of her ancestors in this country. every time Uncle Martin came to the house he brought Jawana something, usually a five-dollar bill. Since Martin hardly ever carried any money on his person, he would put his hand...

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