He Left His Mark Behind

It could be called a legacy..... but often its just a set of letters HUGGINS drawn into a concrete slab he poured in the back yard....  or a piece of plywood he hammered into the attic construction
project

The Great Migration - from Holmes Cty, Mississippi to Chicago IL (1946)

Howard Jr Huggins (b. 1928) graduated from Saints School in Lexington MS in the Spring of 1946...

He moved to Chicago IL at @ age 19.

 

 

CHICAGO

 

Timidly,

we get off the train.

We hug our suitcases,

fearful of pickpockets.…

We are very reserved,

for we have been warned not to act green.…

We board our first Yankee street car

to go to a cousin’s home.…

We have been told

that we can sit where we please,

but we are still scared.

We cannot shake off

three hundred years of fear

in three hours.

—

RICHARD WRIGHT, 12 Million Black Voices

 

Wilkerson, Isabel (2010-09-07). The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration (Kindle Locations 4110-4118). Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Tombstone Tuesday 2012

The Tomb-stone Tuesday

is presented as a Prepaid Head-Stone of Elder. Howard Jr. Huggins.   b 4-17-1928 MS, d. 6-14-1997 OK



It was his pride and joy,,,, a sense of self-sufficency, responsible living and dying.   So with his own hands, be bought and inscribed the headstone for Howard and wife, Helen, loaded it into his vehicle, levelled the area, and the story is told that be placed a penny underneath.

He didn't like for a black cat to cross his path, he believe so hard, that he knows he looked out the window and he saw Sante Claus going bye.   So for whatever measure,,, he had his way... and stood proudly.  

I really don't know who shot this photo with him...  He was proud.   Plus, I can say,,, at this time in his life, I had two good legs.   later past 1989 --- he was an amputee/wheelchair.

He's my hero... my champ... my daddy.