Case Study: Grandma Rose

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Seeing Rose Johnson, more often called Grandma Rose, was oft’ considered the best thing that ever happened to the black folk of Evelyn, Nevada. The small farming community was run mostly off of slave labor, something the slave owners rationalized as an economic necessity. Grandma Rose however, had been there since before the slaves had been brought in. Sure, they’d been harder times; of course they were, there were less people to farm. But she’d seen the men toil in the fields, seen them sow and reap the crops. Sure they’d been tired, complained about their aches and pains, but they sure got by just fine. Wasn’t luxurious, wasn’t a living of splendor, but it was an honest one. Then the slaves came in and she saw a lot less of that, in There was no doubt that she thought her son was a damned fool, but she didn’t think he deserved to die. Johnny told her that it could be hard for the enslaved folk to see it like that. The way he put it is that when someone’s trying to rob ya’, ya’ don’t take a long moment to think about that robber’s life and whether or not you have the right to take it, all you’re thinking about is how likely it is you’ll be able to take it. Grandma Rose understood that much, she admitted she didn’t know what it was like to be a slave, nor did she think she ever would, but she’d do her best to look out for them. She tried her hardest to keep her son on the straight and narrow, told him that if she ever saw him whip a slave again she’d have good ol’ Johnny take that whip from his fool hands and bring it right to her. Told him she’d whip him till that whip wouldn’t whip no more, and not a soul in town would dare try defend him for her. She’d not tolerate any violence within her family and if they slept on the property and worked on the property they were a part of the family and there’d be no debate about that. Blood or not, she told that boy that Johnny had been more help around the house than he “If you can tell by looking at them that they ain’t blood, you should know they ain’t nothing near relations.” Her son smiled a bit and scratched his head, the thin hairs rustling while his fingers combed through it. “Well, that might just be the very problem, looking at ‘em. I’m ‘bout sure she’s never seen one.” Her son replied cautiously. Thomas scoffed, “What do ya’ mean? How can there be so many of ‘em out working the fields and she’s never seen one?” Just then they passed through the gate, circling around to the front of the house and on the front porch was Grandma Rose, face oriented towards the fields. From a distance, if you didn’t know any better you might’ve thought she was watching for something, waiting. Ol’ Johnny by her side knew she was listening, that to say her ears were better than her eyes was to say a pitchfork worked better than a fork for farming. Grandma Rose head them talking in the distance and turned towards the sound, smiling out at the boys as they approached. “How can she have never seen a single bla-” The man’s voice cut off as he saw her face. He stood there quite a while, staring slack jawed at Grandma Rose, while those empty eye sockets stared back. “S-She doesn’t have any eyes,” Thomas whispered, “Where are her eyes!?” Her son chuckled a bit at that and looked away from both of them, looking out at

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