This memoir of oer 300 pages by Eric L. Motley and is one
of the most amazing stories I have read ever.
Welcome to Madison Park, an Alabama Community founded by
freed slaves in 1880.
Meet Eric Motley –the following are excerpts from the
prologue to this amazing book;
On my grandmother’s dressing table
in her farmhouse near Montgomery, Alabama, there was a snow globe containing a
tiny fairy-like replica of the White House. It was given to her by the daughter
of a family whose house she used to clean. As a child, it inspired my wildest
imaginings. “One day,” my grandmother would always tell me, “you can be in this
globe.”
That seemed unlikely. I was an
African American child born in 1972 to a teenage mom and raised by her adoptive
parents-my grandparents. I called them Mama and Daddy. We lived in Madison
Park, a rural always struggling Southern community founded after the Civil War
by freed slaves. A safety net of neighbors, church friends, tradespeople and
most of all, Mama and Daddy, held me up. The whole town had a vested interest
in me. They determined to educate me and give me bone-deep confidence in my
values, my abilities, and who I was. The first in my family to go to college, I
went on to receive a Ph.D. After graduation I moved to Washington, D.C.
At 27 he began work at the White House.
This was one of the few times when
childhood fantasy was meeting adult reality. Perseverance, hard work, and good
luck had brought me here. But I knew Madison Park was the thread that stitched
my life together.
You need to read the entire book but here are some of the
highlights:
Madison Park near to Montgomery, Alabama began as a 560 acre
plantation which a group of freed slaves bought. They made a down payment on
the property in 1880 and within two years they were able to pay the $2,380.00
to pay in full for the plantation becoming the only recorded group of freed
slaves in Alabama to purchase an entire estate.
Eric’s great-great grandfather was one of the freedmen who
was part of the original group who established Madison Park. Eli Madison was
the leader of the group that established Madison Park and the group of former
slaves gathered in an open-air temple of arched trees to make a promise under
God’s heaven and on the altar of God’s green earth to start their own
community, take responsibility for one another and make a success of their
lives.
Fast forward to the 1970’s when Eric started school, he was
having a challenge reading. The teacher moved him from the “rabbit” reading
group to the “turtle” reading group. When this became known, the town people
rallied around and neighbors brought him books and various ladies began a tutorial program to
help him with his reading.
Eric excelled in school and eventually graduated from Samford
University. From their he went to St Andrews University in Scotland and earned
his Master’s degree as well as a Ph.D. Currently he is an executive vice president of the
Aspen Institute based in Washington, D.C.
I was inspired by his story and highly recommend this book.
The ISBN # for this book is978-0-310-34963-1. The book is available in book
stores as well as on line venues such as Amazon.com
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