"If the Lord says so."

There are multiple reasons that I want to tell you the stories of my home owners. One is that I believe that anyone can learn something from anyone. It doesn't matter what socioeconomic status they live in, race they are, or neighborhood they live in. This has been exemplified in many ways this summer through my first homeowner: Pearlie Dotson.

Pearlie is a 70 year old woman that was born in Whiteville, TN on October 22, 1941. Whiteville is a small town in the country of Tennessee that most of the land, at the time Pearlie was growing up, was owned by white men. Growing up, Pearlie's father was a sharecropper. I had never heard of the term "sharecropper" before I talked to Pearlie about this.

A sharecropper is a black man that essentially works on a white man's property. He gets a stipend throughout the year (every three months). The amount that this particular white man decided to give was $105 per three months. With inflation, this balances out to roughly $1500 in 2012 money. This money was to provide clothes, food, and, if money left over, entertainment for the family. The household that Pearlie grew up in has 13 people in it (2 parents and 10 siblings). $1500 was not enough in and of itself to provide the basic necessities for these families. The owner of the land would say that he would pay the sharecropper if they provided "x" amount of product by the end of the season. Say the number was 200 lbs of cotton. The owner would then say that they would get half of the product that was picked past this amount. Oftentimes, however, the number would "magically" shift upward throughout the crop picking year. At the end of the season, the sharecropper would turn in the final product and, most of the time, the owner would say that they didn't meet the standard that was set at the beginning of the year. One bail of cotton typically went for $500-600 on the market. And on an average year the sharecropper would pick 15-16 bails of cotton. Most of the time the owner would go on the entire year just giving the sharecropper the money for the stipend all year long.


Pearlie talks about the difficulties of racism growing up. She says that black men had to worry about getting beaten and killed if they talked back to a white man. For all of the sharecroppers this was difficult because they had to work for them. When a white man would verbally assault a black man, the black man really couldn't do anything about it because of the fear of getting hurt. Pearlie also talks of times that she stands up for herself in situations where she gets cursed at by white men. She recalls one situation where she reminded a white man that respect is generally a two way street, we need to treat people the way we want to be treated, and that we this is something we should all live by. The response was drastically different than if a man were to do it. She says that the man tended to stay away from Pearlie for the next couple of weeks.

Pearlie's father, Hubert, was killed by a robber while he was on the way home from work one evening when Pearlie was in her late 20's. He was asking for a ride to his home and the man that picked him up robbed him and killed him. No one was ever convicted for the murder.

There was another woman on the porch while Pearlie was telling me her story. Her name was Louise. In response to hearing the story of Pearlie's childhood, she said "We had problems but God brought us through them. If it wasn't for our problems, we wouldn't know or have the belief in God we had." Pearlie agreed with this statement and the faith that it took in her childhood is still present in her life to this day.

I found it interesting that, even though there was so much darkness, racism and violence that they still found that respect for women in the society (even though in an "inferior" race) was still important.

Pearlie didn't have very many friends growing up. She found herself playing and socializing with family all the way growing up. She still values family greatly. She moved to Memphis in 1964 from the country. She got married to a man named Milton and he wanted to move to the city. At first, Pearlie didn't like it very much. She visited home every weekend like a homesick college freshman. The reason was that she loves the country. She loved the wide open areas and how "freeing" it is. The city is closed and impersonal.

Once she spent more time in the city, she started liking it a little more. Her favorite part was that she felt like she "was working for herself and not a white man."

Now, Pearlie enjoys whenever her family gets together again even if it's just a few of her sisters. She values family immensely and loves talking to new people. When asked what wisdom she wants to share with anyone, she said, "Be good, be kind, treat people right." and "Be strong. Stick with it. You can do anything that you put your mind to."

Everyday when I leave Pearlie's house after a long day, I say "I'll see you tomorrow Pearlie!" Her response, everyday, is "If the Lord says so." This exemplifies the faith that was instilled in her at a young age by her parents and a trust that the Lord's timing is perfect. That is truly what a life glorifying God looks like. Putting yourself behind for the glory and will of God.

Coming Soon...

This summer one of my favorite things about my job is that I have the privilege to build relationships with the owners of the homes that I'm working on. I'll be starting a short series on the home owners that I've been developing relationships with this summer. I'm going to "interview" them about their lives, what they've gone through, struggles they've had, and pieces of wisdom that they want to share with the world. Keep posted and pay attention on these posts coming!