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butter and jelly sandwiches the most. I was always so embarrassed, especially since my mom taught there. I really didn’t get it! Well, I
guess you just can’t have a perfect life.

My mom taught at Hopper, and once again, it was hard for me to attend. Anytime I would open my mouth to say or do the wrong
thing, my teachers would march me down to my mother’s classroom for additional punishment. I still remember a couple of incidents

like it was yesterday.

Incident 1: I was in the 4 grade, and we were playing outside during recess time. I saw one of my classmates
th
who was absent from school that day walking past the school and I blurted out, “Look at her. She looks

like she’s going to have a baby!” Why would I say that about my classmate, who couldn’t have been over
10 years of age? She was tall and looked older. Anyway, one of the students reported my comment to the

teacher. She spanked me on my hands 10 or more times with a green palmetto branch that was flexible and

really hurt. She then sent me downstairs to my mother’s classroom. My punishment was to write the
comment I made 100 times. When I got home, my brother heard about it, and he had a good time poking

fun at me. I don’t blame him because I tended to speak out of order. Although it was a picnic day for my
parents’ social club, they gave me permission to attend. Needless to say, I never blurted out any negative

sayings again because I never knew who might be listening.

Not long after that, my mother later taught me a poem entitled, I Know Something Good About You. I

learned it and recited it on every program in town – at my church, socials, and school openings for teachers.
I also went out of town to Bethune Cookman University to recite it to students and faculty members. I

even recited it at a Conference of the National Council of Negro Women, Incorporated, in Daytona

Beach, Florida, when Dr. Dorothy Height was President and the keynote speaker at the conference. She
made a poignant remark: “Greatness is not measured by what a man or woman accomplishes, but by the