A Daughter Remembered

Fourteen years ago I was in Eatonton, GA, this time visiting my father in the same nursing home in which I am now visiting my mother.

Although I had visited Georgia many times, I was new to Eatonton. I looked it up. Eatonton, a town of some 6,900 inhabitants had a claim to fame.  Joel Chandler Harris was born and grew up there.

If the name doesn’t ring a bell, this may—The Uncle Remus stories. Br’er Rabbit. Tar Baby.  It came out in 1881—a collection of African American folktales that he adapted and compiled.

I was much more impressed with the town’s famous daughter. Alice Walker.  Pulitzer Prize winner, Walker is best known for The Color Purple.

So when I first visited in Eatonton, I wasn’t surprised that there was an Uncle Remus museum. Made sense. But what shocked me was that nothing in town connected to Walker.

“We have an Alice Walker festival in the summer,” a townie told me when I inquired. But no signs. Nothing to lay claim to this famous daughter.

Why the oversight?  I suppose town fathers would cite time. Mention Chandler’s fame had years to build.

But in my mind, I wondered whether the author of minor talent who wrote tales for children (considered racist by some), was thought to be more significant because he was . . . not black.

That weighed on my mind again these 14 years later. As I drove past the Uncle Remus museum.

I made a happy discovery today. At the edge of one end of town is a large Welcome to Eatonton sign. Home of  . . . Joel Chandler Harris. And underneath that name, in letters of equal height, Alice Walker.  

Things have changed.

Some.