A helping hand for families in need

The Rev. Mark Hyde (left), the CEO of Abba's Helping Hands, and his wife Angela,
organized a toy drive at Bickford Community Center to help struggling families that
may not be able to afford gifts for their children (Photos by Wiley Henry)

The holiday season is not always jolly for families struggling to make ends meet. Many of them wouldn’t mind a helping hand. Abba’s Helping Hands, a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit founded in Memphis in 2007, is doing just that – helping families and individuals in need.  

On Dec. 19, more than 40 kids from the inner city were recipients of Abba’s Helping Hands at its sponsored toy drive at Bickford Community Center, where a roomful of toys and other playthings awaited the kids for pickup.  

“We bless people with furniture, food, clothing, for example, and people who’ve been burned out of their home,” said the Rev. Mark Hyde, Abba’s chief executive officer and assistant pastor of Breath of Life Seventh Day Adventist Church in East Memphis. 

“We just try to help as much as we can in the community,” he said.

Carasha Williams, 5, carried away at
least seven wrapped gifts

Abba is an Aramaic word meaning “Father” and used by Jesus in the New Testament to express intimacy and his personal relationship to God. 

Crystalyn Bobo felt Abba’s love and welcomed the organization’s help after two of her four children were gifted with a few toys apiece. “I’m happy about getting the new toys,” she said.

Seven-year-old Hannah Jordan, a second grader at Memphis Scholars Caldwell-Guthrie Elementary School, and Monique Jordan, who is nine and in third grade at the same school, were just as delighted as their mother to receive a handful of wrapped gifts.

“It helps,” Bobo said. 

Anitra S. Huston concurred. “It’s helping a lot of kids that may not get something. There are families that don’t have much,” said Huston, whose daughters, Sasha Green, 6, and Arianna Johnson, 2, received gifts. 

Huston learned about Abba’s toy drive after receiving a call from Memphis Scholars Caldwell-Guthrie Elementary School, where Sasha is in first grade. “She was picked to get a gift,” said Huston, who lives in the New Chicago community. 

The kids were wide-eyed and eager to investigate the lot of toys and playthings all around them, including Carasha Williams, 5, who carried away at least seven wrapped gifts.

Angela Hyde, wife of Abba’s CEO and one of several volunteers, said, “There’s something about seeing people’s needs and desires fulfilled and knowing I had a small part in making that happen.”

Hyde praises God for blessing Abba’s collectively and each one of them individually. “Whether through service of giving, when the Lord blesses us, it’s good to give back,” she said, and added that God “blesses our family, churches and the community.”

In short, she said, “It’s just good to give back.” 

Hyde is a vocal coach at AngelStreet, a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit housed at Bickford Community Center and in partnership with Oasis of Hope, a nonprofit organization that spawn AngelStreet, which first launched in 2014 before receiving its own nonprofit status two years later.

The Hydes counted on their volunteers to help make the kids’ holiday season a little brighter. Their names were compiled on a list to receive gifts. The volunteers checked the list once, twice, and once more to ensure that every kid was gifted something.

“We’ve touched a lot of people,” the Rev. Hyde said. He touted Abba’s outreach into the Memphis community and internationally, but heaped praise on the organizations and businesses that contributed to the toy drive.

Some of the organizations and businesses included E.H. Ford Mortuary Services, the drop-off location for donations; Organized Chaos Ent.; Metropolitan #161 NWPHGLTN-Central District; At Your Service! Facility Maintenance & Care, and The A.N.D.Y. (Assisting the Needs of Disadvantaged Youth) Project. Anonymous donors also contributed to Abbs’s toy drive.

The A.N.D.Y. Project, for example, “assists the needs of disadvantaged youth,” said Valerie Wright, the group’s president. Abba’s and the A.N.D.Y. Project are in lockstep with each other and serve the same constituents – the disadvantaged youth.

Wright was one of Abba’s dedicated volunteers who felt compelled to lend a helping hand. She understands that some youth are disadvantaged and that families lack the bare essentials to make ends meet.

Giving is a guiding principle of Abba’s Helping Hands. As the organization continues to bless the least of God’s people, the Hydes continue to call on “Abba, Father” to order their steps.

Teen Town Singers keep memory of A C “Moohah” Williams alive

Fred Davis (standing) and Joan Patterson (right), daughter of A. C. "Moohah" Williams,
reflect on the era when they were the Teen Town Singers. (Photo by Wiley Henry)

They were the “children” of Andrew Charles “Moohah” Williams Jr., the trailblazing announcer at WDIA 1070 who used his influence to shape the lives young people.

A bevy of them, known as the Teen Town Singers, are now in their 70s and 80s and ambling along. There were hundreds of them altogether. On Dec. 7, at least 30 paid respect and celebrated the birthday of their founding father. He would have been 103 years old. 

Joan Patterson, Williams’ daughter, started the conversation by asking her fellow Teen Town Singers to give a testimony if her father had impacted their lives. She had her own memories to share as well. 

 “I was a little girl, and in those days the pompadour was very popular,” Patterson remembered. “I wanted my hair like that. But Mom didn’t feel like a two-year-old should wear it.”

Her father begged to differ. “Dad wanted to please his little girl. So he took a shoe spoon and wrapped my hair around it into a pompadour. He wanted me to feel like a little princess. I was his little princess.”

Bert Ferguson (left), WDIA's co-owner, chats with J.E.
Walker, founder of University Life Insurance Co. and
sponsor of the Teen Town Singers, and A.C. "Moohah"
Williams (right) in 1952, three years after Williams
founded the chorale group. (Courtesy photo)

Other testimonies were just as compelling and noteworthy, but mostly about the group that Williams steered to success. Some stories drew chuckles. He was their surrogate father and held them to account as he did Patterson, who sang with the group for six years.

“Mr. Williams was like a father to me. He was instrumental in me getting a scholarship for $250. That was a lot back then,” said Percy Wiggins, who used the money to attend Tennessee State University, Williams’ alma mater.

Williams doled out scholarships to other students as well. Markhum “Mark” L. Stansbury Sr. was awarded $100. “That got me through school at Lane College,” said Stansbury, who has been associated with WDIA for 62 years.

Williams was a stickler for education and frowned on wanton behavior, and tardiness, too. He taught biology at Manassas High School where he’d first organized a boys choir. While his work on the radio and in the community was tantamount to his success, he believed a good education was germane.

“All that I went through, I felt loved all the years we were together,” Mary J. Cooper said. “Mr. Williams was our dad and we were good children. That was the theme of the Teen Town Singers.”

Williams began organizing the Teen Town Singers in 1949 shortly after WDIA switched from country and western music to all-black, on-air personalities and programming to attract black listeners. 

Cathryn Rivers Johnson was the pianist for the Teen Town Singers. She taught at Booker T. Washington High School and was the musician for Salem Gilfield Baptist Church. A few in the group evoked her memory as well.

“I’ve known Mr. Williams all my life,” said Dorothy Herenton, the sister of former mayor Dr. Willie W. Herenton. “When Mr. Williams would come over to Booker T. Washington, he would visit Ms. [Cathryn Rivers] Johnson’s class.”

Herenton noted that Williams was a good man – “and he didn’t play.”   

Williams died three days before his birthday on Dec. 4, 2004. He’d worked at WDIA for 34 years as an announcer and director of community relations. Twenty-one of those years were spent organizing and directing the Teen Town Singers.

The group disbanded in 1970. They meet twice a year in honor of Williams – once in the spring and the other around his birthday. The camaraderie is heartfelt; the memories sustain them; and they keep his spirit alive.

Fred Davis, owner of the Fred L. Davis Insurance Agency, said Williams tapped him 27 years ago to chair the group. Williams was also Davis’ teacher at Manassas.

“This group means a lot to me,” Davis said. “I’ve been in this group more than any other group in this town. We still exist.”

Barbara Griffin Winfield said she had the best time in her life when she was a Teen Town Singer. “Don’t think people have forgotten about us,” she said, “because they haven’t.” 

Memphis hasn’t forgotten what Williams did to shape the lives and careers of the youth in his charge. Under his tutelage, their voices rang out over the airwaves at WDIA and they shared the stage with mega stars such as The Temptations, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, and others.

Cheryl Fanion Cotton thanked God for Williams. “I will love him until I die,” said Cotton, who would eventually travel across the country and participate in the Civil Rights Movement. 

“I wish children today had a role model like A C Williams,” she said.

Kinyah Bean Braddock: ‘Chillin My Way to Success!’

Kinyah Bean Braddock serves lemonade to first-time customers Ja'Kia Washington,
11; Ja'Keria Washington, 9: and Latasia Stanley, 13, at B Chill Lemonade in
Hickory Ridge Mall. (Photos by Wiley Henry)

Kinyah Bean Braddock is “young, gifted and black,” an anthem of sort that songstress Nina Simone and others brought to America’s consciousness some 50 years ago. 

At the ripe age of 11, Kinyah is loaded with youthful exuberance and imbued with an entrepreneurial spirit that reflect the meaning of Simone’s inspiring message of empowerment and self-confidence.

Kinyah is indeed empowered and confident in her role as proprietor of B Chill Lemonade, LLC., a small business first created the night of Jan. 16, 2017, when the budding entrepreneur was merely eight years old.

She’s also empowered and confident in her role as author of “Chillin My Way to Success!” “It’s about kid entrepreneurs and how I started my company, B Chill Lemonade,” she said. “It’s about creating a blueprint to inspire my generation to explore entrepreneurship and to become entrepreneurs.”

Demetrius Braddock, along with his wife Valerie Braddock,
pose for a family snapshot with Kinyah Bean Braddock, 11,
and seven-year-old Demetrius Braddock at
B Chill Lemonade.

“Chillin My Way to Success!” was published by Noah’s Art in California and released Feb. 24, 2018.

Motivation to launch such a business enterprise began earlier when Kinyah’s doting parents, Demetrius and Valerie Braddock, seized the opportunity to tap into their daughter’s creative mind and her propensity to flesh out an idea. 

“At the age of six, my dad challenged me to be an entrepreneur. I took the challenge and ran with it,” said Kinyah, a six-grader learning the rudiments of operating a small business. Her mother also home-schools her.

Kinyah has since become a bona fide entrepreneur who is rather mature for her age. “It’s great being an entrepreneur,” she said, “because it opens up so many doors that you won’t go through if you weren’t.”

On Nov. 1, during a ribbon-cutting ceremony, maturity was on display when Kinyah introduced herself and the 18 products and eight flavors that she offers at B Chill Lemonade in Hickory Ridge Mall’s food court. The store first opened in April. 

“During the ribbon cutting, we let the public test the lemonade,” said Kinyah, touting the various flavors, including original, coconut, peach, mango, blueberry, strawberry, pineapple, raspberry. Diet lemonade is also on tap.

“Kinyah is the youngest certified business owner and entrepreneur in the state of Tennessee and the youngest [member] of the Greater Memphis Chamber,” Demetrius Braddock said. 

The Braddocks are Kinyah’s pillars of support. They keep her grounded and lifted up. He is the chief financial officer of B Chill Lemonade. She is the chief executive officer. It’s a family business. Even seven-year-old Demetrius Braddock II has a stake in the business.

“I manage the company and make sure everybody is on track,” he said. “I take care of the employees.”

Employees? It’s all hands on deck. Everybody works to some degree. “This is no cookie-cutter,” said Demetrius Braddock, who teaches personal finance and business management at Memphis School of Excellence High.

Valerie Braddock once studied law in Mississippi. She taught school as well in Nashville and Memphis and resigned in April to open the store in Hickory Ridge Mall. Now she works full-time with and for her daughter.

“I handle day-do-day operations,” she said. “I handle brand development and look for opportunities. I’m the driver, shopper and banker. Most of all, I’m the mother.”

“We work hard so we can play hard,” Demetrius Braddock said. “And we pray every day.”

They pray incessantly and try to strike a balance between being Kinyah’s parents and working for her at the store. 

“She knows we are her parents. [And] she’s a very respectful kid,” Valerie Braddock said.

“It’s difficult for a father to have a child that is an entrepreneur,” her father added. “Now I’m following her directions. She gives us the vision and we have to figure out how to make it happen.”

Kinyah says she can do this forever. “My ultimate goal is to have my lemonade on all seven continents. That’s the plan,” she said. “I want it to be a point where my company can run without me.”

With so much on Kinyah’s plate, she still finds time to give back. With Edward Bogard of BOGARD Footwear & Apparel, she has designed a shoe that pays homage to breast cancer survivors.

The deep pink tennis shoe with half of a stylized bee on each shoe is marketed through BOGARD’s non-profit called “SoGiv.” 

“When you put your feet together, it creates a bee that shows unity,” Kinyah said. She also sells pink lemonade to create awareness.

Kinyah is indeed young, gifted and black – and on her way to success. She is exactly what Simone alluded to in that awe-inspiring anthem.

Rufus E. Jones Sr. was an accomplished businessman and legislator

Rufus E. Jones Sr. (left), his wife LaVerne Jones, former U.S. Rep. Harold Ford
Sr., and Mr. Jones' mother and father, Ida Mae Crawford Jones and S.L. Jones, pose
for a snapshot inside Jones Big Star on McLemore. (Courtesy photo)

Rufus E. Jones Sr. was a relatively quiet man, but his contributions to economic development in Memphis and as a legislator in the Tennessee General Assembly spoke volumes about his life and legacy.

That was the sentiment of family, friends and colleagues who paid homage to Mr. Jones when he was eulogized on Oct. 26 at Mt. Olive Cathedral C.M.E. Church. There was an intermittent downpour that day, but not enough to deter the mourners.

Mr. Jones’ sendoff was just that important that Markhum “Mark” L. Stansbury Sr. had to be there. He knew the legislator before he was elected to the Tennessee General Assembly from District 86.

He’s also known his wife, Marvis LaVerne Jones, a member of the “Memphis State 8,” the first black students to integrate the college.

“Even though I was close to his age, he would encourage and help a lot of people,” said Stansbury, a longtime WDIA Radio personality and one of several people Mr. Jones personally helped.

Rufus E. Jones Sr.

He credits Mr. Jones, the late Speaker Pro Tempore Lois DeBerry, and former U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Sr. for encouraging then-Tennessee Gov. Ned McWherter to hire him as his special assistant.

 “What stands out to me about Rufus Jones is his personal integrity, character and economic achievements,” said State Rep. GA Hardaway, chairman of the Legislative Black Caucus.

“He understood that education and economics allow you to take full advantage of the American dream,” said Hardaway, who represents District 93.

Mr. Jones advocated for African-American entrepreneurship and education, and convened “leadership to establish laws and regulations around economic development policy.”

He also was a registered lobbyist for more than 20 years.

Mr. Jones served 15 years in the House from 1981 to 1996. But he was more than just an accomplished legislator. His daughter, Dorothy D. Jones, remembers her father as a pioneering entrepreneur who served his community and loved his family.

“My family were pioneers in the early years. My father was very proud of that,” said Jones, who spoke fondly about her father and grandfather ahead of Mr. Jones’ funeral.

Her grandfather opened S.L. Jones Supermarket in the Boxtown community in 1938. After Mr. Jones graduated from Michigan State University in 1961, he took a job as a sales tax auditor for the Tennessee Department of Revenue.

He was the first African American to hold the position before following his father’s footsteps in the retail business.

After S.L. Jones expanded the Boxtown store several times, Mr. Jones and his father formed a partnership and opened a second store, Nite N Day, in the Walker Homes community in 1967. The father and son were considered one of the first multi-store supermarket owners in Tennessee.  

A third store in Midtown was opened in 1968, Jones Big Star #102. This was a franchised store. Mr. Jones later severed ties with Big Star and changed the name to Jones Supermarket.

“He fed a lot of families from our business and provided jobs,” said Jones, who started working at the store in elementary school with her three siblings alongside the store’s employees. They were paid a fair wage as well.

“Generosity is the thing that captured the man,” said Jones, putting into context her father’s work and what defined him as a public servant and pillar in the community. A good education, she was taught, is a springboard to success.

“He gave his children the best education,” Jones said, in addition to her father instilling in his children good work ethics, honesty, timeliness, excellence and service. “[And] we traveled internationally to give us a broad perspective.”

Mr. Jones’ contemporaries applauded his perspective on economics, education and as a lawmaker. They included former state senators John Ford and Roscoe Dixon, State Reps. Joe Towns Jr. (District 84) and Larry J. Miller (District 88), and U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen.

Miller said Mr. Jones was well respected in the Black Caucus and the Republican Caucus. In fact, Mr. Jones had served as chairman of the Tennessee Black Caucus of State Legislators.

“He was able to work behind the scene in a quiet way, but at the end of the day he got things accomplished,” Miller said. “He was a visionary.”

  Jones said her father was a simple man. “My dad never sought the spotlight. But when he was in it, he shined. He beamed.”

She said her father grappled with lymphoma for 19 years. He died Oct. 20 surrounded by his family. He was 79.

Black History is prevalent in ‘Old Germantown’

Rosemary Stokes-Nelson has more than a passing interest in this house, where the
Lane family once lived in 'Old Germantown.' She would like to convert the house
into a museum 'or a historic place for African Americans.' (Photo by Wiley Henry)

Before the city of Germantown was a bustling municipality in Shelby County (Tennessee), there was “Old Germantown,” a rural area where noted black families thrived and survived the Jim Crow era.

Stories of Old Germantown will be the subject of water cooler conversations when Rosemary Stokes-Nelson and other former residents gather on Oct. 11 at 5:30 p.m. at the Pickering Center, 7771 Poplar Pike, “to travel down Memory Lane.”

Julia E. Lane

Lane is an important surname in Germantown and would likely consume the conversation during “A Gathering of Friends: Growing up in Old Germantown.” The public is invited to attend.

Stokes-Nelson grew up in Old Germantown. Her father, she said, could not step into the store on South Germantown Road to purchase anything until white customers were finished shopping. That store is now The Germantown Commissary.

“I felt my daddy’s spirit and didn’t have to wait outside,” said Stokes-Nelson, sharing with a reporter the history of a bygone era when they met at The Commissary to chat and peruse an old scrapbook that once belonged to Stokes-Nelson’s former teacher, Julia E. Lane.

The invited guests would remember Old Germantown after its transformation into an urban enclave. But not as many people would have the same vivid memories that Stokes-Nelson has of Mrs. Lane.

“I was the teacher’s pet,” said Stokes-Nelson, reflecting on the fond memories that she has of Mrs. Lane, her first-grade teacher at Neshoba Elementary School in Old Germantown.

Mrs. Lane died Jan. 23, 2006. She was 96.

Stokes-Nelson said black people, like Mrs. Lane and her family, are often overlooked and their legacies seldom preserved for posterity. She said they’d left behind indelible footprints in Germantown.

“Growing up in Germantown, there have been a lot of black people that have never been acknowledged in a big way,” said Stokes-Nelson, an event planner. She intends to shed light on their contributions.

The idea of preserving the Lane family legacy, for example, didn’t hit her right away until she noticed that a tarp had been draped across the Lane house at 7606 Southern Ave., a three-minute walk across the railroad tracks from The Germantown Commissary.

Stokes-Nelson said she would routinely jog from the Lane house to New Bethel Missionary Baptist Church at 7786 Poplar Pike, where the family worshiped, when she made up her mind to inquire about the property.

The white, two-story frame house was built in 1909. There are a total of nine rooms, including four bedrooms and two baths. Mrs. Lane was the last surviving member of the family.

Stokes-Nelson learned that New Bethel, a 10-minute walk or jog from the Lane house, is the owner of the property, according to the Shelby County Assessor of Property. “They were thinking about tearing it down,” she said.

Now the house is being refurbished. The hardwood floors, sturdy framework (both inside and out) and the roof are being reinforced to provide someone with living space and a history that is just as valuable as the total appraisal for 2019: $230,100.

Other noted black families in Old Germantown are just as important to Stokes-Nelson. The names of those families, she’s sure, will resonate with former residents when they recall Old Germantown’s past at the Pickering Center. The Lane family pedigree just happens to pique her interest.

“The entire family of Lanes grew up there in the house,” said Stokes-Nelson, deriving this information and other facts from Julia Lane’s old scrapbook. She said a librarian had given her the scrapbook, believing that Mrs. Lane would want her to have it.

Mrs. Lane’s parents were Mary Rankins (b. 1878) and Jeff Lane (b. 1866), who married in 1891. Their six children – Minnie, Joseph, Johnnie, Robert, Irene and Julia – were raised in the house. 

The scrapbook documents the Lane’s historical journey and stunning revelations about the family. Mrs. Lane’s grandmother, Molly Rankins, was a slave on the Callis Plantation in Virginia and relocated with her owner to Germantown.

Her great-grandmother was a slave too. Ironically, Mrs. Lane’s father, Jeff Lane, would end up hauling bales of cotton in a covered wagon drawn by a team of mules from the Callis Gin in Germantown to Front Street in Memphis.  

“They (Lanes) owned all the land from Southern to Poplar Pikes,” Stokes-Nelson said. “None of the children had children, so the property was portioned out, and some of it was given to New Bethel Church.”

Stokes-Nelson initially wanted to raise funds to save the Lane house. That idea was scrapped when she found out that New Bethel Church had secured the property. She was hoping to convert the house into a museum – or a historic place for African Americans in Germantown.

Historic Avery Chapel AME Church closes after 156 years of service

Avery Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church celebrated family and friends
day before closing its doors after 156 years of service. At the pulpit is the Presiding
Prelate of the 13th Episcopal District, the Right Rev. Jeffery N. Leath; the Rev.
Lula Martin Sanderson (at Leath's left), the church's pastor; and the Rev. Beverly
A. Darden, the interim pastor. (Photos by Wiley Henry)

Avery Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church (A.M.E.) is steeped in history. Founded by Black Union soldiers during the Civil War, the church has survived 156 years.

Ida B. Wells-Barnett, the august journalist, educator and anti-lynching crusader, once worshiped and taught Sunday school for young men at the original site. This fact was highlighted in her personal diary and published in 1995 as “The Memphis Diary of Ida B. Wells.”

On Sept. 29, the doors to the age-old church opened for the last time to a capacity crowd who gathered for friends and family day to pray, to worship in song, to proclaim the word of God, and to celebrate their enduring legacy.

“We want to turn over the keys with pride and happiness,” said the Rev. Beverly A. Darden, assistant to the Presiding Prelate of the 13th Episcopal District, the Right Rev. Jeffrey N. Leath.

The Right Rev. Jeffrey N. Leath said the district will make
a decision on what to do with Avery Chapel AME Church
once the building is closed.

“My heart is in Avery. I have been associated with Avery for 50-plus years,” Darden said. She grew up in the church and married her husband there. Her children were baptized at the church as well.

“It’s hard,” she said.

Darden was assigned to Avery Chapel after the pastor, the Rev. Lula Martin Sanderson, took a sabbatical earlier this year.

“Since I’ve been here, we have had four deaths since January,” said Darden, a native Memphian who’d spent time in Washington D.C. before moving back to Memphis. “I told the bishop that I would stand in the gap.”

She thought she’d come back to Avery Chapel to lend a helping hand.

Roughly a dozen members were worshiping in the nearly vacant sanctuary, said Darden, feeling a little nostalgic and sentimental now that Avery Chapel has been ordered closed.

“The congregation had experienced decline for really decades,” Leath, the presiding bishop, explained. “They moved from their original site from downtown [Memphis] sometime ago. The new site just hasn’t worked for them.”

Leath pointed out that the church’s demise was due in part to an aging congregation and an inability to attract younger members. Such demographics had set off an alarm at the district level years earlier.

Those who worshiped to the end still subscribe to the church’s motto: “God Our Father, Christ Our Redeemer, the Holy Spirit Our Comforter, Humankind Our Family.” A.M.E. churches in the area have extended invitations to the displaced members to join them.

Avery Chapel had been the mother church of the West Tennessee Conference since its founding and the third A.M.E. church in the entire state at that time. Located at 882 E. Trigg Ave., the third and final location, the church is nestled in the South Memphis community.

Leath said the church hierarchy will decide how to dispose of the building. He isn’t sure when that will happen.

Floyd Harrison Jr., 81, had been a longtime member and church trustee. He said his mother and grandmother once worshiped at Avery Chapel. So did his daughter. Now he is contemplating a move to one of the other A.M.E. churches.

“I have been a member of Avery Chapel since junior high school,” said Harrison, a retired educator. “I came to Avery when it was located at 145 S. Fourth St. That was in 1950.”

 Harrison’s brother, Alfred Motlow Sr., had been a longtime member of Avery Chapel as well. In fact, the 83-year-old, also a retired educator, had served dutifully for decades. He had been a steward of the church.

The brothers could be described as anchors with deeper roots in the church than most congregants who’re still alive. Respectively, they tended the needs of the pastor and maintained the church.

Worshiping at the church for the last time conjured up sentimental feelings from within them and the other members as well.

“I’m saddened,” said Harrison, the keeper of Avery’s historic legacy. “It’s been my church and my family’s church all of my life. I’ve known the adults and the young people at the church.”

He said the aging adults eventually succumbed to death and the void was too difficult to fill. The youth, however, worshiped elsewhere. And the death knell at Avery Chapel began ringing.

The remaining congregants had been faithful. Darden, however, said she’d seen their pain, their anguish.

“They’re tired,” she said.

Linda Sengstacke was a tough editor and crusader for justice at the Tri-State Defender

The name Linda Taylor Sengstacke was synonymous with the Black Press in the 1970s and ‘80s. She was the editor-in-chief of the Tri-State Defender during that time and followed the tradition of attacking issues head-on without fear or favor, an approach to journalism that was encouraged by her uncle-in-law, John H. Sengstacke, who founded the Defender in 1951.

Mrs. Sengstacke was married to John H. Sengstacke’s nephew, Herman Fredrick Sengstacke, a photojournalist. On Sept. 9, she died peacefully at their home in Bristol, Penn., after a long illness. She was 67.

Linda Taylor Sengstacke

“Linda was committed to whatever she was doing and was always helping somebody,” her husband said. The Sengstackes were married 33 years, but spent a total of 40 years together.

She was the quintessential journalist and a crusader for justice, said Herman Fredrick Sengstacke, recalling a headline story of a man who was allegedly drugged and killed his father.

“Linda wrote a story and the man got off,” he said. “The lead story was ‘I Didn’t Know I Killed My Father.’”

Mrs. Sengstacke’s contributions to the newspaper can be found in the Defender’s archives and remembered by the people who knew her as a bona fide journalist.

“She was fearless,” said her sister-in-law Ethel Sengstacke, who once worked at the Defender as a photojournalist. “She researched her stories and was fair and balanced. She sought the truth.”

She said Mrs. Sengstacke wanted to know the truth about “Voodoo Village,” an eerie compound in the Westwood community. Her cousin, Thomas Maurice Sengstacke Picou, “challenged us to go down to Voodoo Village.”

Picou was John H. Sengstacke’s nephew and a widely respected, award-winning journalist from Chicago. Sensing their apprehension to investigate Voodoo Village, she said Picou responded in jest, “You supposed to be journalists.” 

“So we went down to a dead-end street,” she recalls. “I turned the car around so we could get out. Linda said she wanted to talk to this man; he was the leader. He told us he was going to put a curse on us.”

Herman Fredrick Sengstacke and his wife
of 33 years, Linda Taylor Sengstacke

 Strange people were encroaching upon them, Ethel Sengstacke said. “So I got in the car and it wouldn’t start. We finally got it started and got the hell out of there.”

The Defender had been a family operation with creative input from Picou, whom Mrs. Sengstacke esteemed. After he died in 2014, she told a reporter, “Tommy taught me everything I know about the newspaper business.”

She often referred to Picou as her mentor.

Mrs. Sengstacke was just as fond of her immediate family and friends. “She treated me like a daughter,” said Michele Lucas, a niece. “I talked to her every night. She was family-oriented.”

The consensus is Mrs. Sengstacke was a tough journalist. However, Lucas pointed out this about her aunt: “You weren’t going to get over on her. She’d bark at you, but would help you with anything.”

“She was always a good aunt to everybody,” added Christine Shane, Mrs. Sengstacke’s sister from Texas and the only sibling left. “When we were kids, she was the busiest of eight of us.”

Shane said life for Mrs. Sengstacke began at 1616 Monsarrat St. in a small brick home in South Memphis. It was the family home headed by their parents, the late Mamie and James Taylor Sr.

Mrs. Sengstacke attended St. Augustine Catholic School and graduated from Father Bertrand High School in 1970. She left there and matriculated at the former Memphis State University.

Mrs. Sengstacke held a couple of jobs before fate led her to The Tri-State Defender, Memphis’ premier black newspaper. “She was the first female editor of the paper,” her proud husband said.

A memorial service for Mrs. Linda Taylor Sengstacke is slated for 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 28 at Joe Ford Funeral Home, 1616 Winchester Rd., Memphis, TN 38116.

Beef with mother leads daughter to help the homeless

The relationship between mothers and daughters can become quite contentious and fragile sometimes. In some cases, the relationship may languish beyond repair.

 “Today’s mother and daughter relationships are the most turbulent in existence,” said Timishia Ortiz, who is hosting a “Mother Daughter Gala: The Heart of the Matter” on Sept. 14, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., at Bartlett Banquet Hall, 2758 Bartlett Blvd.

There is a fee to attend the gala: $35 for adults and $15 for children. Proceeds benefit The Jasmine Center, Inc., a non-profit transitional home for families that Ortiz is planning to open in the Binghampton community.

A contentious relationship with her mother, which
resulted in homelessness, led Timishia Ortiz to host
a Mother Daughter Gala to fund The Jasmine
Center, a transitional home for families.
(Courtesy photo)

“The property that I’m looking at…they want $350,000,” said Ortiz, 36, the Center’s founder, president and CEO. A temporary office is located at 3592 Knight Arnold Rd., Suite 320.

“Right now we still do help families in need. We will open up the facility as soon as we get the money,” said Ortiz, adding that once the doors are open, six families at a time will be able to stay up to 12 months.

The gala is the first step in bringing The Jasmine Center to fruition. Attendees can expect light refreshments, in addition to a performance by former recording artist Temmora Levy, who manages the wildly popular girl group, KARMA. Elder Yvonne R. James, a poet and novelist, will deliver the message.

While raising needed funds is paramount, Ortiz is hoping the message and camaraderie will help repair relationships and eventually mend hearts – thus the impetus that led to the founding of The Jasmine Center.

In fact, Ortiz’s relationship with her own mother was fraught with problems that waned over time. She was incensed that her mother had defaulted on a lease agreement that was forged with her name.

She discovered what her mother had done after leaving an abusive husband in Nashville and returning home to Memphis for family support. An eviction notice had already been issued, which meant the person whose name was on the lease (Timishia Ortiz) had to vacate the property.

Ortiz was pregnant at the time with her son and a two-year-old daughter in tow when her world was suddenly upended. Because of her mother’s misdeed, “I couldn’t get a place because of the eviction on my credit.”

In retrospect, Ortiz had no money because her husband, whom she’d married in 2013, had convinced her to stay home. The arrangement turned out to be an unwise decision on her part.

When she’d search for a place to live, she was told she needed a physical address. The eviction also complicated matters.

Ortiz was now homeless and had nowhere to turn for help. Then, too, having to navigate the court system leading up to a rocky divorce only exacerbated her problem.

“We were on the streets. Sometimes we slept in my car,” she said.

Ortiz had come from a steady family. Her father was a radiologist and a preacher. He died the day before her seventh birthday. Her mother, who’d stayed home at the behest of her husband, raised five children.

After finishing high school, Ortiz earned a degree at the University of Memphis, worked a good paying job, volunteered in the community, and attended church. Homelessness was now a factor that she had to contend with.

Options were nil for the homeless population in Memphis in 2016, said Ortiz, who’d searched for a shelter to no avail. So she opted to return to Nashville where she’d fled domestic violence. She found a shelter and employment there.

After returning to Memphis, “My dad’s sister relocated from Atlanta to Memphis to help me and my children get a place to stay after she found out what had happened.”

Ortiz had struggled for six months before she started seeing a glimmer of hope. Now she’s trying to help others who are homeless with limited resources or none at all. That’s why The Jasmine Center is so important, she said.

Her mother died this year in March. The eviction snafu, however, is still unresolved. “I’m still trying to fix that error,” said Ortiz, who had already forgiven her mother before she died.

For more information about The Jasmine Center, call (901) 921-9455.

Min. Suhkara A. Yahweh to talk about civil rights and his beatdown in Forrest City, Arkansas

Min. Suhkara A. Yahweh, known during the Civil Rights Movement as Lance
"Sweet Willie Wine" Watson, lounges in his South Memphis home/office where
the story of his activism is documented via newspaper clippings, books and
photographs. (Photo by Wiley Henry)

Forrest City (Arkansas) was once a bastion of racial upheaval. Named for the infamous Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, Min. Suhkara A. Yahweh knows the city all too well. On Aug. 26, 1969, an angry white mob tried to beat the life out of him after leading a “Walk Against Fear.”

“I noticed two men…one in a suit and the other with jeans on. One had a knife in his hands,” Yahweh remembers. “Then I noticed two Europeans on the right side of me trying to break off this branch trying to hit me with it. The next thing I knew I had come to myself. I was in the gully.”

Yahweh will get a chance to tell the full story of his “Walk Against Fear” and other relevant issues affecting African Americans then and now when he returns to Forrest City on Aug. 17 to keynote the Civil Rights Commemoration Program at Beth Salem Baptist Church, 835 Garland St. The program will begin at 5 p.m.

The commemoration will also mark the 50th anniversary of Yahweh’s “Walk Against Fear,” a peaceful walk he was leading in 1969 from West Memphis to Little Rock to bring attention to injustice there and racial conflict. 

On Aug. 18 at 5 p.m. in Memphis, Yahweh and his friends will celebrate his 81st birthday a day earlier at Booth Park at South Parkway East and Texas Street, which coincides with the third annual B.F. Booth Day. Benjamin Franklin Booth (1858-1941), a slave, teacher, principal and attorney, was a distant relative of Yahweh’s.

The skirmish in Forrest City that led to Yahweh’s beatdown is a constant reminder of an era that mirrors racial conflict today. It is an easy topic for Yahweh – who sacrificed life and limb to change the status quo – when he addresses the audience at Beth Salem.

“Min. Yahweh will talk about the struggle of the Civil Rights Movement in Forrest City, and part of that is the Walk Against Fear,” said Frank Shaw III, a retired educator and president of the St. Francis County Branch NAACP, the program sponsor.

“We will talk about the struggle from 1963 to 1969 when Min. Yahweh came to Forrest City,” said Shaw, also on program to speak. He credits Yahweh for his role in initiating incremental changes that eventually came to Forrest City.

“After Yahweh, jobs and everything opened up,” he said.

Known in 1969 as Lance “Sweet Willie Wine” Watson, a 31-year-old member of The Invaders, a local militant civil rights group, Yahweh was already deep in the throes of the “Movement” when the Rev. Cato Brooks Jr. called on him to come to Forrest City to help picket and boycott white merchants.  

Brooks, the Rev. J.F. Cooley and other leaders in Forrest City had been organizing a “poor people’s march” across East Arkansas, but postponed it after meeting with then Arkansas Gov. Winthrop Rockefeller. 

“With them calling off the march…we were looking forward to it. So I couldn’t in good faith be part of the decision,” Yahweh said. “So I said what we’d do…I’ll have a walk against fear.”

The first stage of the “Walk Against Fear” began on Yahweh’s birthday, Aug. 19. He said it took him four days to reach Little Rock. Altogether, he had occupied Forrest City for a total of three months trying to tame the rambunctious city.

So Yahweh has much to talk about at Beth Salem. His stories are endless, vivid, and forever inscribed in the annals of history.

“My fingerprints are all over Memphis, Atlanta, Mississippi, Jackson, Carolina, Washington, D.C.,” he said.

He also left his indelible fingerprint in Forrest City, Ark.

Elder Barbara Hawthorne: Prayer Warrior

Elder Barbara Hawthorne feeds and prays for the health and welfare of these men
in Morris Park after church services. (Photos by Grace Perry)

Barbara Hawthorne has studied the Word of God, taught Bible study, prayed for the sick and shut-in, ministered to the least of God’s people, and preached the unadulterated gospel truth for more than 25 years.

So why has this licensed and ordained elder, evangelist and prayer warrior taken her ministry to the streets and into the disadvantaged areas of the city?

“You can preach the perfect sermon, but there is no healing in the pews,” Hawthorne said. “There is so much hurt that is still not being addressed in the church.”

This gentleman gladly accepts
a mean and something to drink
from Elder Barbara Hawthorne
after he was released from
Methodist University
Hospital.

Ten years ago, Hawthorne made a conscious decision – or was “led by the Holy Spirit” – to minister to the downtrodden in communities where hurt and pain is visible.

“We preach feel-good sermons,” said Hawthorne, a member of The Life Church - Highland. “But there is still hidden pain, unspoken pain.”

Such as domestic violence inflicted on the victim of an abuser purporting to love that person.

Violent rage welling up in a child who has been battered, rejected or sexually abused by someone the child trusts.

Self-doubt, depression and suicidal thoughts overwhelming an individual’s mind who has given up on life.

Hunger pangs ravaging the innards of people without resources to feed themselves or their family.

Financial drought forcing people into homelessness in search of shelter on the dangerous streets of Memphis.

 Hawthorne said the common denominator in each example of unspoken pain is prayer. She feels it is her Christian duty to pray for people in the church, on the street corners, and others laden with life-altering problems.

When she’s feeding the homeless, she’ll first ask if it’s OK to pray with them and for them. Such was the case recently when she fed a half dozen hungry people in a Midtown park and prayed fervently for their restoration.

She wrote a prayer manual and submitted it to the Memphis Police Department after completing eight weeks of training at the MPD’s Clergy Police Academy in April. The partnership between the MPD and the faith-based community is designed to help reduce crime.

Hawthorne wanted to make a contribution. “There were Methodists, Baptists, Muslims, Catholics [in the class],” she said, and pointed out that the camaraderie was a welcome experience.

According to recent statistics, there are approximately 2,000 churches in the Greater Memphis Metropolitan area representing various beliefs and denominations including Christians, Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists and Jews.

Memphis alone has a population of 655,155 residents. For cities with 500,000 or more residents, Memphis is often ranked in the top 10 nationally for violent crimes. Hawthorne believes prayer is a deterrent.

She prayed for a woman recently released from jail and called on the Holy Spirit to free the woman from the lure of criminal activity. She also prays for juveniles with wanton behavioral problems.

No matter the person, their ethnicity or race, Hawthorne prays for them. She is a volunteer Chaplin at Regional One Health providing emotional and spiritual support to staff, patients and their family.

Hawthorne touts her passion for prayer and being disciplined in the nine attributes of the Fruit of the Holy Spirit, according to Galatians 5:22-23 – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

She said a person has to be equipped to do this kind of work – ministry. “You can’t just step into it with nothing. You have to have the right people with passion, heart and a love of God.”

Her vitae reflect the length and breadth of ministry and community outreach.

“I’ve been busy the last three years waiting on God,” said Hawthorne, believing God will take her to a higher plateau in ministry so that more people can experience the love of God.

Meanwhile, the prayer warrior plans to continue feeding the homeless, praying for the sick and shut-in, soothing troubled minds, visiting those in detention centers and the hospital, embracing the violent child, and tending the spiritual and emotional needs of victims of domestic violence.

“I call this mobile evangelism,” she said.

With ‘RESPECT,’ 11-year-old could advance in Apollo competition

When AlexAnndrea Yohontas Simpson takes the stage at the legendary Apollo Theatre in Harlem, New York, on July 10, she could win the respect of the audience.

In fact the 11-year-old will sing “RESPECT,” Aretha Franklin’s signature hit song from the 1960s, and “put her own spin on it,” said Katrina Whitfield, AlexAnndrea’s mother.

“She will be creative. She will make the song her own,” she said.

Eleven-year-old AlexAnndrea Simpson is
ready to audition for Amateur Night at the
Apollo in New York in April. (Courtesy photos)

Whitfield will be front and center at The Apollo Theatre for the Amateur Night competition to cheer on AlexAnndrea when she belts out her version of “RESPECT.” She’s her daughter’s most ardent supporter.

AlexAnndrea nevertheless remains confident using her voice to relate to the audience, to garner their respect, to kindle their emotions and to keep The Executioner from sweeping her off the stage.

“Being on stage gives me the confidence,” she said. “When you can take over the stage, you feel strong with emotions…and it makes me feel kind of powerful.”

AlexAnndrea will need that power to convince the tough and no-holds-barred audience that she is just that good. In fact, she has to “Be Good or Be Gone,” an edict of sort from the audience signaling who stays and who leaves.

Undaunted by the competition, AlexAnndrea plans to perform her very best under the circumstances. She’s not planning on getting swept off the stage. Instead, she said, “I want to take it to another level.”

The emerging singer, dancer and actress first auditioned in April in the Child Star category for Amateur Night at the Apollo. If she makes it past the curt audience on July 10, she’ll move to the third and final round on Sept. 27 for an opportunity to be the Grand Finale Winner and collect a cash prize of $5,000.

“Right now she’s on vocal rest,” said Whitfield, and added that AlexAnndrea’s diet has been changed to maximize her voice in order to beat the competition and win the audience’s approval.

“She’s ready,” her mother said.

Singing has always been a part of
AlexAnndrea Simpson's life.

Whitfield noted that AlexAnndrea has been ready for an opportunity of this magnitude since she first arrived in the world.

“She was born with it (innate talent),” she said. “She was humming songs before she started talking. I knew it before she came out because she had the cry of a six-month-old baby.”

It was a “soprano cry,” she added.

The household was conducive for AlexAnndrea’s arrival and her inclination to sing. “That’s all we do is play music. We don’t watch TV,” said Whitfield, mother of six daughters, all of whom are talented, and a son, James Whitfield, 27.

For example, Mariah Simpson, 21, sings, acts and dances; Jamesha Whitfield, 29, writes poetry; and Andrea Simpson, 17, will play Dorothy; and Shamiah Simpson, 19, will play Evilene in “The Whiz” on July 25 at the University of Memphis Rose Theater.

The sisters are behind AlexAnndrea 100 percent, said Whitfield, and added that Andrea Simpson will audition at the Apollo in September.

“She’s (AlexAnndrea) a natural. When I first met her at eight, I told her she was going to be a star,” said Chrysti Chandler, founder and artistic director of the Young Actors Guild (YAG), a nonprofit dance and theatre academy.

AlexAnndrea is one of Chandler’s prized students. “We provided vocal training,” she said. “I’ve worked with her for three years. She’s real good. She has a powerful voice…that raspy soul voice.”

Chandler also taught her about the importance of stage presence.

“I feel lucky to be there (at YAG),” said AlexAnndrea. “Ms. Chrysti puts me on the spot and I thank her. She pushes me to sing and sing out on stage.”

 Whitfield said her daughter has an old spirit. “She listens to Aretha Franklin, Frank Murphy, Yolanda Adams, Fantasia, and, of course, Beyoncé. But she is drawn to ‘Old School’ music.”

If AlexAnndrea’s voice were compared to another singer, it would be the legendary Ella Fitzgerald, a gifted jazz singer once referred to as the First Lady of Song and the Queen of Jazz.

“I like her voice; I like her music,” said AlexAnndrea, who has an affinity as well for gospel music, up-tempo songs and the classics.

While AlexAnndrea is honing her skills as a singer, she hasn’t neglected school. She had a 4.0 GPA at Vision Preparatory Charter School in South Memphis and will start the 2019-2020 school year as a sixth-grader.

Before graduating Vision Prep, AlexAnndrea had divided her time between school and practice. “I’d go to school, come home and do my homework, and practice my singing from seven to nine.”

Memphis is known for its hotbed of talent the world over and now serves as a launching pad for AlexAnndrea. Born in Alabama, the family moved to the Bluff City from Detroit in 2011.

Now Memphis is home.

“My mom and dad moved to Memphis in 2008,” said Whitfield. “He was diagnosed with Parkinson in 2010. So I came here to help them out.”

She fell in love with Memphis and found the right people at the right time to help prepare AlexAnndrea for the big stage.

“It’s the rich history, the ‘Old School’ music, and the weather,” said Whitfield, confident that her daughter’s talent will lead to the caviar of entertainment success some day.

Amateur Night at the Apollo could be that barometer – if The Executioner doesn’t sweep her off the stage.