Harlem to New York: Zara Cully Brown - A Letter to my Mom

Zara Cully Brown, [my great-aunt] was a boarder in the same New York Apartment with her sister Agnes Cully Peters,  for a number of years between 1935-1940's.  My mother was quite young at the time, and I had not known that Aunt Zara ever lived in New York with my grandmother.  This discovery of their living arrangements was documented in the 1940's Census.

Aunt Zara had been living between Duval, Florida where she taught drama and was a elocutionist and New York.  She traveled to various states of the U.S. performing, speaking and doing readings.  Zara was not fully recognized as a talented & skilled actress until she landed the role of Olivia in "The Jeffersons."

Zara eventually moved to Los Angeles in the late 1950's taking my grandmother Agnes, her brother in-law "Unkie" Brown, and my mom.

I found this letter written to my mother regarding the movie role Zara took in "Sugar Hill" as the Voodoo high priestess..

Letter written to My mother Betty Mae Peters Porter

And here again, I have to take note that My brother and I were thought of indirectly.

" Kiss the children for me and excuse all errors."

Aunt Zara

I wanted to see what the home looked like that Aunt Zara lived in at the time this letter was written.  I do not remember this home, only the high-rise apartment she resided in a few years before her death in 1978.

What an adorable home.  Wonder if she chose this home as it seems similar to the homes Zara resided in Worcester, MA.

What Happens to A Dream Deferred?

When I think about the process of writing my mother's memoirs of Sugar Hill, my mind reflects on  Langston Hughes and one of his famous poems, "A Dream Deferred".

What Happens to A Dream Deferred?

Does it dry up

like a raisin in the sun?

Or fester like a sore--

And then run?

Does it stink like rotten meat?

Or crust and sugar over?

like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags

like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

I will not allow my mother's dream of being published die and rot.  I feel the urgency of her stories wanting to be shared.  Did she feel like Langston Hughes when he scribed these words on paper? She deferred her dreams of pursuing her career in journalism, because as she put it, "Discrimination was live and well" and "I must be practical."  She took no risk...Why?

I could hear her say, "One day I will..."  "One day when I have time.."

That time never came...or did it?

"Does the Dream come first or does the dreamer?"

Is it the dreamer that moves on?  Is it the Dream that remains?  Who will pick up the mantel of the dream?
Will it be you?

I will not listen to the word, "wait!"  "We have waited far too long!"

"Why must we wait?"

"If not now?

When?"

Welcome to "A Taste of Sugar Hill"

I have always been intrigued by the life of my late mother Betty Mae Peters.  She divided her life in three distinct phases by the places she lived.  The first phase of her life began in New York. She and her mother Agnes Cully Peters migrated to Los Angeles, and eventually settled in San Diego, California.


My mother was a double major at New York University (NYU), earning a degree in English and Journalism.  She had hopes and dreams to be a journalist and possibly an author.  My mother's dream had been deferred as she felt that the racism of the day would hold her back from her interests.  My mother settled, and became an elementary school teacher for over 35 years.


I sometimes wonder, what would have been my mother's outcome if she would have been willing to take the risk and step out of her comfort zone, would she have succeeded?  


As I was growing up, I remember my mother always talking about the memoir she was going to write when she had time.  That time ran out!  So I have chosen to write her stories and her life and that of the people she knew.  When my mother was in her late 70's, I started to help her with her genealogical research because she wanted to include some of it in her book.  I promised her I would get it done.


I like to keep my promises...So here I am beginning this process and not waiting as I have learned, "Time waits for no one."


The purpose of this blog is to present what I have uncovered through my research in archives, and databases regarding  my family in Harlem during the 1920's and 1950's.  Some of the information will be about people during the time of the Harlem Renaissance, as this will be the beginning backdrop of Harlem and then moving into the Roaring Twenty's, The Great Depression, World War II and around the time of the "New Deal." 


I intend on publishing my mother's personal journals and recollections of her life in Harlem, with my commentary of that time period.


I will not be revealing the very personal stories until the time of publication, but I hope that the information I do disclose will be interesting enough to hold your interest.


My mother's memoirs along with mine will be published and debut on January 1, 2013.