Tom's Two Cents : Hattie McDaniel, by Jill Watts

As part of my preparation for my Gone With the Wind seminar at the Library next month, I’ve been doing a lot of reading and thinking about Scarlett O’Hara and her “crew,” and that of course also brings fond memories of the great Selznick film of 1939, starring Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable, and of course the great Hattie McDaniel, the first of her race to win an Academy Award for her supporting performance.  I say “supporting” in name only, for absolutely no one could have given a more definitive interpretation of the character that Margaret Mitchell created—she was truly MAMMY, not only the person, but the symbol, of a type of individual who once existed in the South, now denigrated more than recognized, as an integral, yet separate, part of many Southern families of the past.

Hattie was the youngest child in a family of six, her mother having borne thirteen children, seven of whom died in infancy. Her father, Henry, an ex-slave, settled in his native state of Tennessee after serving on the Union side during the Civil War, but finding survival there practically impossible during Reconstruction, he moved to Wichita, Kansas, where Hattie was born. Ultimately the family settled in Denver in an up and coming (relatively speaking) Black Community. The center of that community was the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME), which formed the foundation of many Black families’ lives during those extremely difficult times. All of her life McDaniel remained a devout member and Christian, giving much of her time, talent, and later money to the Church and charitable causes.

Also born of a talented family, she made a stage debut by the age of five and became a seasoned vaudevillian by the age of eighteen, often performing with one or more of her siblings, singing, dancing, and later even writing for the stage, before she went to Hollywood, ultimately appearing in dozens of roles between 1932 and 1949, usually as a domestic—more often than not, the only type of role open then to Black women. She was forty-five, screen testing with Vivien Leigh herself, when she was picked to play Mammy, one of the roles of a lifetime, and she played it to the hilt, even though some of her own people protested what they interpreted as a Black stereo-type presentation.

Jill Watts has written a carefully researched biography not only of McDaniel herself, but of the difficult times in which she grew up, chronicling as she goes the complicated and often terribly unfair life of the African American in show business during the first half of the 20th century. Tenacity, faith, extreme perseverance, and an enormous work ethic were required to succeed against the heaviest of odds. Hattie McDaniel had them all, in spades!

Julie's Journal : A Few Things I've Learned Recently

I've read this type of post on another blog several times, and thought it was a great idea.  I'm sharing a few small things that I have learned or discovered over the past few months.  If y'all like the post I may do it again on a semi-regular basis.


1.  Chicken thighs are the perfect dark meat.  My husband Jason and I both prefer dark meat chicken and turkey over white meat.  I found a recipe for chicken thighs in the Texas Co-op Power magazine. It was super easy, the meat was juicy and tender, and it made enough that we had leftovers for several days.  The recipe suggests serving it over pasta or rice, but I found that it goes well with mashed potatoes or macaroni and green beans or salad.  Find the recipe here : Sort-of-Confit Chicken Thighs.

2.  Cross Stitch is still fun.  As a teenager and young adult, cross stitch (along with crochet) was my hobby of choice.  I made stockings for Jason and I, a baby sampler announcement for my nephew, and lots and lots of pretty designs for framing.  However, in the last few years my free time has been eaten up by playing on my phone and creative projects have been pushed to the side.  Our crochet group at the library - now called Creative Hands - has been the catalyst I needed to get back into creative projects.  This summer I found a kit for a tiny little owl to cross stitch and worked it up quickly as a birthday/thank you gift for my mother.

I enjoyed it so much that I started looking for something else to do.  I wanted something fun and whimsical and small, so that I could see progress quickly.  I finally settled on a pattern from Etsy featuring the characters from the original Super Mario Bros. game.  I've been making steady progress on it and am enjoying stitching it.  I have no idea what I'll do with it once its done, but I guess that's not the point! 




3.  Mary Balogh  This has been a year of very light reading for me.  I have not seemed to want to dive into many very deep or difficult books with a couple of exceptions.  Rather, I have been reading lots and lots of very light fiction.  I reread Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series - all 25 books - earlier in the year.  Recently I discovered Mary Balogh and have been reading her backlist.  She writes Regency Romance - books set in the late 1700's or early 1800's in England.  Her characters are titled and wealthy and are all on the hunt for the perfect spouse.  These are definitely an adults only series, containing some explicit scenes that I prefer to skip.  If you are a history buff, I doubt these are for you either because I'm pretty sure that her depiction of life during this time is highly romanticized.  However, they are light and fun and quick, and are perfect escapist reading.  We do not have any of her books in the library, but they are almost all available as e-books through our Overdrive service. (P.S. - If you like Recency Romance without the risque parts, try Georgette Heyer.  Her books are hilarious and quirky and I reread her often!)

4.  Multiple iPhones using the same Apple ID can have some quirks.  My parents recently got smart phones for the first time.  I recommended iPhones because they were already familiar with an iPad and I figured it'd be easy for them to learn the phones.  I used my Apple ID to set them up.  I learned a lot about the iPhone through this process.  For instance, if you use the same Apple ID on several iphones you have to go into each phone's settings and disable the other numbers on the account.  Otherwise you will receive all the calls and texts for all the numbers on the account.  Of course, we learned this the hard way!  Also, if you try to text one another, the conversations look very weird in the messages app.  It looked like I was texting myself!  Fortunately, Google helped me find the answers I needed and we were able to get the phones functioning separately.  Through it all I learned several things that I think I will use to help our patrons with their technology! 

5.  Houston Public Library  I feel a little like I'm betraying Franklin County Library by sharing this information with you.  Did you know that the Houston Public Library offers free library cards to any Texas resident?  I applied online here and use my card to access HPL's extensive digital offerings.  They offer Overdrive for e-books and I was able to add them as an additional library in my app.  Now when I find a book I want to read I search both the North East Texas Digital Consortium that FCL is a part of and the Houston Public Library.  They don't have everything I want, but sometimes they will have something that we don't have.

Have you learned anything interesting lately?


This post was inspired by Modern Mrs. Darcy.