Ida Mae Gladney

In October 1937 Ida Mae Brandon Gladney was preparing her children for their departure from Mississippi. She had sold off their personal items. Her husband was settling up with the plantation owner for his last year of labor. No one in the family had been on a train before. She didn’t try to explain what was going on to her two small children, James and Velma. Miss Theenie, Ida’s mother, had seen her other children leave and had to accept the departure of another. Ida Mae and the children packed up and left to meet George at the train depot.

In 1928, at fifteen, Ida Mae was courted by two men. Her mother, Miss Theenie, didn’t like either one – they were both too old for Ida Mae. Miss Theenie’s oldest daughter, Irene, had already gone off and gotten married. Her sons, Sam and...