A Black Physician's Struggle for Civil Rights: Edward C. Mazique, M.D.

Chapter Two: A Country Boy

Just a country boy—a farmer’s son, Work in the cotton field ain’t no fun. Get up in the morning at the break of day, Nothing but misery to live this way. Hitch up that mule—go to the field. Water Boy! Water Boy! Bring that meal. A bucket of grits with grease on top, A glass of molasses and biscuits to sop. Plow in the bright sun, hot as hell; Listen for the toll of the dinner bell. Eat greens and pot likker—corn bread on the side, Back to the cotton field, just can’t hide. Skin boils in sweat, keep moving along; ’Til sun starts setting, I sing my song, This kind of living is weary. Going to leave this place one day. Catch a freight train for Georgia—Make my getaway! — Edward C. Mazique, 1983 Mississippi in the early s was one of the most miserable places in this country for blacks. During Reconstruction there had been a vision of brighter days on the horizon. If they just worked hard, blacks could become mayors, congressman, senators, and successful farmers. By the twentieth century, the life of the poor sharecropper, the long hours to end up with no more than they had as slaves, had dimmed, if not completely erased, the bright hopes of a quarter-century earlier. 11 CHAPTER TWO [ A Country Boy Blacks were denied the vote, denied schooling past the elementary level, and expected to keep off Main Street in Natchez. Despite all these difficulties, the Maziques fared well. There is no clear-cut explanation as to how their success was possible. August and Sarah Mazique could neither read nor write and their children, although favored slaves, were also illiterate. How August ever managed to put together the money to buy China Grove and how his children all came to own property is something that can only make us wonder. There can be no doubt that this was an exceptional family who, if not educated in reading and writing, certainly made up for it with extraordinary intelligence. After the death of August, it was Alex, the next-to-the-oldest son, with his strong personality who was the unquestioned leader of the entire family. He was a tall, slender, coffee-skinned man who, when Eddie was growing up, sported a long white beard that fell down to almost touch his navel. All those who remember “Grandpa Alex” speak of him as a commanding figure despite the rather high pitch to his voice. Eddie remembered his grandfather with respect and love: My grandfather was a very gentle man. He was relatively tall in stature although a little stooped when I knew him. He had keen features, brown skin, deeply sunken eyes, sharp nose, heavy eyebrows, and a tousle of hair on his head that was all over—it came right down to his neck. He had a long flowing beard that covered his face and came down at least five inches below his chin and it flushed out. It was black mingled with gray and white. He didn’t drink or smoke. He was soft spoken. His eyes were sunken and piercing, making you know that he was firm in his commitments and decisions . He walked jauntily and pretty much erect. He had eight children. He decided he wanted all of his children educated and this he did. On Sundays after church, all of the family would travel in their horse and buggy over the country roads to Oakland. As they turned up the long winding dirt and gravel drive they would just get a glimpse of the shining white of the house sitting in the midst of the leaves of the huge oak trees at the top of the hill. Near the main road they would pass Grandpa Alex’s store, then the former slave quarters where sharecroppers now 12 [ CHAPTER TWO lived, past the old cemetery with the metal grate around the plot of land where the Railey family was buried. And apart from the Raileys, in death as in life, off to the side, outside of the fence were the headstones for August and Sarah Mazique. The house itself was as majestic as when the Raileys owned it. There was room after room—or so it seemed to the grandchildren. The main floor had five or six bedrooms and a living room, used only when they had company...