In honor of #Black History month February, 2017 excerpt from A Johnson Family Saga—Love that transcends all (complete Destinee series) also found in Two Become One which is part 2 of the series. By Lisa Marbly-Warir Even the Johnson Family left their mark in their own enclave of the world. as told by Destinee Jones-Johnson …When the party was over, nice as it was, I knew some of the women would still hold their old elitist attitudes towards me, and my mother-in-law was blissfully ignorant of it. She, like most of the women there, lived in her own bubble. They related only to each other for the most part and never took into consideration the feelings and life experiences of women from other cities; especially if those cities were poor or didn’t have the same wealth. I never understood that, but I wasn’t from Langston either. It was just innately in them. Being married to Edward was wonderful; he was my buffer and a lot of the ugliness never reached me because of him and even his parents. Langstonites weren’t keen on becoming ostracized for messing with The Johnsons—they were one of the first families of Langston. Edward’s great-grandfather, founded Langston with the help of other well-to-do Blacks of his time; a time when Blacks were relegated to certain areas of the country and terrorized simply for being. They wanted a place to differentiate between themselves and less fortunate Blacks. Edward sat down with me one evening and went over old photos of his grandparents and great-grand’s. One thing for certain was that the Johnson men had strong genes, the same eyes and that beautifully-shaped mouth. He told me the story that was passed down to him about how his great-grandfather founded the city with about six other families and it grew from there. They were blessed to survive during a time when certain societal conditions that was beyond their control could have destroyed anything positive and good concerning Black people. Four generations later, the community was still thriving and I was blessed to be a part of it… And because of the trials and tribulations the Johnson’s ancestors went through made Edward Sr. come down especially hard on his son, Edward Jr. Often reminding him of the great strides his family and Black people in general went through to be where they are today. To read more please download a copy today. http://amzn.to/2lwRAmF
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