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Our Auntie Rosa
by Sheila McCauley Keys with Eddie B. Allen, Jr.
c.2015, Penguin Tarcher
$24.95 / $27.95 Canada
208 pages
By Teri Schlichenmeyer
The Truth Contributor
Once, many years ago, your grandmother chased your grandpa
out of the house.
Nobody remembers why or what happened afterward; the
particulars are lost, and they aren’t important anymore,
really. The laugh-til-you-cry telling, the knee-slapping,
each embellishment as years go by – that’s what truly
matters.
Family stories are the glue that holds you all together. And
in the new book Our Auntie Rosa by Sheila McCauley
Keys (with Eddie B. Allen, Jr.), you’ll read one
family’s recollections of an icon.
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For much of their early lives, Sylvester McCauley’s children
didn’t know who their favorite aunt really was. Sure, they’d
read about the woman who launched the Civil Rights Movement.
They’d heard her name said with pride. But for most of them,
it took awhile to make the connection: the woman on the bus
that day in Montgomery was their Auntie Rosa Parks.
Even after she moved north, after she and her husband and
mother came to live with the 11-member McCauley family in
Detroit, their Auntie Rosa didn’t much speak of her actions.
The nieces and nephews asked her sometimes, but she usually
waved questions away. The past wasn’t important to her then.
Family was.
The Parks never had any children themselves, so the McCauley
kids were happy to absorb any extra love. Their Auntie Rosa
was a good cook who loved to entertain. She was steady,
supportive and resourceful but she encouraged independence.
An elegant, sharp dresser, Parks was never showy in manner
or accomplishment – although she did save all her hate mail.
To the children of her beloved brother and to those she
enfolded in her circle, Parks embodied strength and
fearlessness. She made sure there was food on tables more
than once, and clothes on young backs. Through her mistakes,
she taught the power of apology. She counseled them not to
judge as they’d been judged, but she showed them that
there’s a limit to forgiveness. In her latter years, they
say, she was the same calm, determined person she’d always
been. And even well into her 80’s, she vowed to keep doing
what needed done.
With the approaching 50th anniversary of Rosa
Parks’ famous act of defiance, you’re likely to hear a lot
about her in the next year. But when was the last time you
thought about Mr. Parks?
Yeah, same here. That’s why Our Auntie Rosa is so
important.
Filled with memories of the Parks’ lives within the raucous,
loving McCauley family, this book offers things history
doesn’t tell you. Author Sheila McCauley Keys (with Eddie B.
Allen, Jr.) weaves her siblings’ memories into a treasury of
life, not politics or action. We meet people important to
Rosa Parks and, through them, we’re warmed by tales of a
real person – tales that, if you never met Parks, will make
you mourn for it.
I absolutely loved this memory-filled delight, I loved its
balance and I think you will, too. If you’ve ever wondered
about the quiet, tiny giant behind the act, Our Auntie
Rosa is a book to chase down. |
