Tag: civil rights

Flash Fiction, History, tutto e niente

Harpers Ferry: Destiny Calls

Tina Stewart Brakebill

Daddy used to make me listen to the speech. I’d pretend to be bored but I always got goosebumps when he’d exclaim “to mingle my blood further with the blood of my children, and with the blood of millions in this slave country.”

It reminded me I’m not just any Brown. His blood runs in me too.

Daddy always told me: “You’ve got a destiny.”

Daddy also used to say he heard the cries of the dead in the whistle. I never believed him. But I swear as his ashes caught in the breeze, I heard them. Crying. Destiny calling.

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Harpers Ferry Photo is the property of Dawn M. Miller. Provided courtesy of Rochelle at Friday Fictioners.

I love to be able to mix two of my favorite things: history and a bit of flash fiction (100 words exactly). So special thanks Rochelle and Dawn!

Haiku & Other Poetry, History, Random Rants, tutto e niente

Haiku & History: In the Summer Following My Birth

Tina Stewart Brakebill

The World Changed In The

Summer Following My Birth

Nothing Changed at All

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In the summer following my birth, the world changed.  

  • Marilyn Monroe sang “Happy Birthday Mr. President.”
  • Marilyn Monroe died.
  • Adolph Eichmann was hung.
  • Spider Man was born.
  • Sam Walton opened the first Wal-Mart in Arkansas.
  • Doctors inserted the first silicone breast implants.
  • Diane Nash’s defiance forced a Mississippi court to back down.
  • Cpl. Roman Ducksworth was murdered by a Mississippi policeman.
  • Andy Warhol opened his first solo show.
  • William Faulkner died.
  • The Rolling Stones played their first gig as a band.
  • The Shirelles hit number one with “Soldier Boy.”
  • Court ordered Ole Miss to enroll James Meredith.
  • Ole Miss blocked James Meredith’s enrollment.
  • The Jetsons premiered.
  • The Beverly Hillbillies premiered.
  • The Red-bellied gracile mouse opossum became extinct.
  • The Earth’s population hit 3 Billion.

In the summer following my birth, nothing changed at all.

Writing Prompt Thanks to Putting My Feet in the Dirt