February 14,2001
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(Observer
Black History
Page A7
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Readers Share Their Black History
T he Portland O bserver w ould like to thank all o f those w ho brought in their treasured fam ily photos
to share for Black H istory M onth. W e are still requesting that you bring in yours w ith som e background
on each picture so that w e can show case them.
Above: the Spaceburger with a drive-in food and dairy owned by
Jeanette and Bill Russell. This was one o f the first black-owned
businesses that was located at North Shaver and Vancouver. They
served burgers, fried chicken, pop and shakes.
(P hoto courtesy of T helma R ussell )
To the left: Eliza Washington was born in 1800 and worked on
George Washington's plantation. When she was officially a
fre e d black, she moved to Mississippi.
Mary Lee Taylor as the bride in an old-fashioned mock wedding in the 1930s. Mary Lee
was the daughter o f O.C. and Birdie Lee Taylor.
(P hotocourtesy of G ary A nn T aylor )
My Interview with Grandmother
B y S tephen H anks for T he
P ortland O bserver
I had no idea that m y last and only
interview with G randm other Shelton
w ould be in 1989.1 w aited around for
another interview seven years too late.
Tw enty-four hours after N ew Y ear’s
D ay in 1997, G randm other Shelton
passed on. She was the M ississippi
bom m other o f three children, which
included by m other Fern. The other
day, I listened to the 10-year old taped
conversation:
“ I was bron Indianola, Mississippi,
right there inS unflow erC ounty.. .how
old am 1?.. .you not supposed to ask
m e th a t...m y papa w as Julius L.
Lipscomb, bom in Columbus, Missis­
sippi. He said he was a Black Jew, and
m y grandfather on m y father’s side
was nam ed Julius Lipscom b also. He
w as b o m 1885 in M ontgom ery,
A la b a m a ...h o w h e en d up in
M ississippi?...he was a slave and
worked for a slaveow ner nam ed Dr.
Dabney Lipscom b w ho cam e first to
A labam a from South Carolina then
brought his fam ily an d slaves to
Colum bus.. .Papa’sm otherwas named
Margaret from G eorgia.. .Papa met my
mother, N ora Fuller, and they were
married around 1894.. .m y grandpar­
ents on M am a’s side w ere Peter and
ElizaFullerfrom Virginny.. .Mama said
she was bom at Tibbee Station near
W est Point, “Tibbee” is an o le’ Indian
word for “w ater fight” because at
Tibbee Creek there was that Indian war
the Chickasaw and Choctaw fought
the C hakchium a.. .there w'ere Indians
and Black slaves all up ‘round Tibbee
Station in the old d ay s...w h en was
M ama b o m ? .. all she told me was “I
was bom the second year surrender.”
Her family lived next door to one-legged
Gus Cannon w ho was a farm laborer on
Mr. R yland’s plantation.. .when was I
m arried ?...y o u sho’ asking a lot o f
questions.. .before I m arried Grandpa
Shelton, I married Willie M cCoy ofPort
G ibson, his fam ily from dow n in
Louisiana.. .we married in 1920and had
our first child the next year, you Uncle
W illiam M cCoy, then we left Missis­
sippi and m oved to Caruthersville,
M issouri w here you Aunt Dore and
your m other Fern were b o m .. then I
married Grandpa Shelton and came here
to Portland in 1945 so G randpa could
w ork at the ship y ard s.. .we first lived
on North Blandena then later near
Colum bia V illa while G ranpa ran his
tailor shop dow ntow n on Fifth and
S alm on... now , before you ask me any
more questions, let me say this: make
sure you get your education and don’t
(P hoto courtesy of L.C. O ddhs )
run with the wrong crowd, ‘causeyour
mom and dad working a lot ofhours for
you and your brothers to m ake it, so
don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t
m ak eit.. .ifyou put yourmind to some­
thing and concentrate - NO W YOU
CO O K IN ’W ITH G A S !... how old am
1?... I d o n ’t rem em ber (grin), probably
100 years o ld ...” A s I listened to my
taped interview with Grandmother, I
was spellbound. Being a genealogist,
I very m uch eagerly desired to inves­
tigate G randm other’s story the next
chance I got. U ncle William, the late
Senator Bill M cCoy, had often men­
tioned o f going back to Mississippi to
do just that. My m other also gathered
what information she could at the fam­
ily reunions. O n m y next day off, I
drove to the N ational Archives Fed­
eral Census Repository in Seattle to
verify the names, places and dates
G randm other had supplied. M ost o f
them all checked out, except for her
age, which I now learned from the 1910
census was that she was not 100. but
90. How farbackcould I tracemy roots?
A fter a w hole day spent and still
dozens o f questions and new leads,
I knew it was tim e to call it a day and
begin the three hour drive back to
Portland. But before I left, there was
one question I needed an answ er to:
when was grandm other’s m other,
N ora Fuller Lipscom b bo m ? I kept
turning the microfilm reader and soon
hernam e appeared. Grandm otherw as
right, for her m other was b om “two
years after surrender” in A ugust o f
1867.
Is your family tape recorder ready?
• Pepsi is proud to be a part o f the
Commemoration, o f the Blue-Print Created
by Martin Luther King, Jr., for Social
Justice for all Americans. •
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