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Interview with Renee Ward Anderson and Sharon Patterson Young about their Grand-father Harry Wilson Patterson (1897 - 1963) with music from SunnyvilleCD (by Andaiye). 03 20 2023
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Interview with Renee Ward Anderson and Sharon Patterson Young about their Grand-father Harry Wilson Patterson (1897 - 1963) with music from SunnyvilleCD (by Andaiye). 03 20 2023
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Interview with Renee Ward Anderson and Sharon Patterson Young about their Grand-father Harry Wilson Patterson (1897 - 1963) with music from SunnyvilleCD (by Andaiye). 03 20 2023
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Renee Ward Anderson and Sharon Patterson Young are working on a project to gather more information about their grandfather, Harry Wilson Patterson. He left behind a collection of poems and prose titled "Gems of the Soul." They discovered the book at Louisiana State University, thanks to a book collector named Wyatt Houston Day. LSU is planning to release a press release about the project on March 27th. Good evening, good evening, good evening. You're listening to Soulay on NuNu Radio, and I'm your host, David V. Brooks. Good evening. Once again, thank you for joining me this evening. I have two special guests that I would like to introduce to my listening audience. Their two colleagues of mine are artistic, creative, and beautiful women, Renee Ward Anderson and Sharon Patterson Young. I had the opportunity to speak with them about a project that they're working on. Both Renee Ward Anderson and Sharon Patterson Young are working on a project in order to gather more information on a family treasure, their grandfather, Harry Wilson Patterson. Harry Wilson Patterson was born on 1897, and made his transition in 1963. And in 64 years, he's managed to have a very full career, working for the Navy and also as an Army veteran. In that time, Mr. Wilson Patterson managed to leave behind a written legacy that his family is now learning of, and he left behind a collection of poems and prose with illustrations also by the author. The book is titled Jams of the Soul. Yes, Jams of the Soul. And I had the fortunate privilege to talk with Renee Ward Anderson and Sharon Patterson Young. And this is an excerpt of our conversation. And it was so in depth that we decided to do two more sessions of this. So consider this part one of three interviews in order to find more about the creative legacy of Harry Wilson Patterson. Ladies, how are you? We're great. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for having us. Thank you for joining me. First of all, I just want to start off. What was the genesis of you discovering this family legacy? And so whom are we discussing? Well, last October, as I was writing my autobiography, a heavy presence came over me when I thought about my grandparents. And I sort of went back in time and I said, wow, when I would go to my grandmother's, my grandparents' house, it was always seemed like lingered in the air a poem that he had written called Sleep On. But I didn't know what it was really all about. And I said, well, since I'm feeling the way that I'm feeling, maybe I should start my research at Library of Congress. But I was hesitant. I said, oh, he's going to laugh at me or she's going to laugh at me. So when I called Peter Armenta, the librarian at Library of Congress, he sent me a link and he sent me a picture. And he says, oh, by the way, your grandfather wrote a book called Gems of a Soul. I said, I think I remember hearing something about that. So a cousin of ours happened to be in town around during the Christmas holidays. So Renee asked him, would he go over to Howard University to check out the book Gems of a Soul? You know, since, you know, that's what the librarian told me that it was there. So Patrick could see that it had been cataloged, but for some odd reason, the book wasn't there. So one thing led to another. And Renee and I, you know, got into a conversation and Renee says, well, can I get on the research with you? I said, sure. You're my cousin. Why not? So I called Peter back and I told him that there was no book. So he said, Sharon, don't worry about it. Call LSU. I said, well, what is LSU? He said, Louisiana State University. He said, your grandfather's work is there. So Renee and I called and because he gave us the web page and the catalog number and we called and you want to pick up from there? And we called the library. They gave us the curator's number right to his desk, but unfortunately he didn't answer. So we called the main library of the special collection and a young lady by the name of Aaliyah just happened to be walking by the desk and said, and answered the phone. And I asked her, have you done a miracle for today? And she said, what do you mean? And I said, I need a miracle. We are looking for my grandfather's book that was published in 1938. And we were told that it's in your catalog special collection. And she asked us for the name and the title and she went and looked and came back and said, yes, we do have it. We just got it. I said, I need you to touch the book. I need you to physically touch the book. Not just tell me you have it because someone else said that they had it and it wasn't there. So she said, hold on again. And she came back and she said, I touched the book. It's here. I said, oh my goodness. How can we get a copy? How can we get it? Whatever. Well, we realized that it belonged to the library and she said she would have to ask the curator in charge how or what was possible for us to get a copy, a digital copy. And because of that, she gave us the name Wyatt Houston Day, D-A-Y, who just happens to be a resident in New York City and is a book collector and has been collecting books since he was eight or nine years old. And I looked online and found his number and was shocked when I dialed the number, he answered the phone. I'm in Maryland. He's in New York. And this is all happening in Louisiana. And when I chatted with this gentleman who is 81, who just happened to be Caucasian, he said to me, I started collecting African-American poetry when I was eight or nine years old because I had a love for books because my family were journalists. And I said, his father, he and his father loved the expression of Black writers. I said, how did you get my grandfather? And he said, I believe I got it from a picker. And I said, what is a picker? It's people that go around and pick books from yard sales, thrift stores, going out of business, vintage shops, what have you. And I believe that's how I got a signed copy of your grandfather's book, Gems of the Soul. He said, but let me help you. I also have a broadside poem with illustration. And we just hollered. But what was most intriguing about Mr. Day at 81 young was that he realized that us calling to say that we were a descendant of one of his 800 collections of poetry books was exactly what he wanted. He did not want the books to die in the house with him. He wanted it to go back out into the community and let it be a historical influence on other people. So he was delighted that we were one of those people. Okay, so that was the genesis. And we are once again speaking up, give me the title of the project and your grandfather's full name, his date of birth, please. We want to know how old was this young man when he started writing? He was born April the 10th, 1897. And from what I can remember, as far as his journey, he was working for the Navy Department as an artist and a poet during World War II. So he wrote a book. Well, anyway, he wrote the poem for the victims of Pearl Harbor, but he actually wrote the poem for a coworker named Merwin S. Binion, B-E-N-I-O-N. He actually wrote the book. So I guess they sort of grouped it all together and added in the D.C. soldiers. And his artwork was just great. He painted, they said, many, many posters for the Department of Defense. And he was a great matter of fact, Gems of the Soul. It's a lot of illustrations that he actually had written. It's just beautiful, beautiful work that you just wouldn't believe. So I wonder if he was part of the WPA program, you know, back in the 30s when they had that social program, the Workers Progress Administration, when they were paying people to writers and artists to work for the Department of Defense. Well, I believe the poetry was a love of his. Okay. And he was a minister. He was a draftsman for the Navy, but he also did these posters that he got a citation for and they actually issued them around the world because it was in honor of the soldiers of Pearl Harbor. But he also had a love for writing. And when we found the book, which was really a bonus to our family, was that even though he had written 20 poetic prose, he also wrote a four-page autobiography about his life in the beginning of the book. And a dedication. And he did a dedication to women of color. He wrote a sermon that he hoped one day someone would read for Negro History Week. And he did an honor to women of color and mothers. So he was a forward thinker. He was beyond his years. He was only 44 when that was happening. And so for him to have the insight to write his own autobiography and to write a sermon that he hoped one day someone would use. And my brother just happens to be a minister as well who plans to use that sermon in one of his own sermons at his church. I hope you record it. Yeah, it was just a full circle experience. But we are in awe that he had all of that foresight back in 1938. And what really got it started was the poem, Sleep On. That is what really got everything started. Like I said, it was released February 22, 1942, in the Sunday Star. And that was years before the Washington Post. And what is the anticipation you had currently moving forward with this project? Well, LSU has done an amazing radio broadcast. They called us up and said they were so in awe that we are the first ones from the 800 collection to contact them. So they did a live broadcast that is now archived in their special collection. And they are getting ready to release a press release on March 27 out to the news world down in Louisiana. And they're not sure what that's going to look like, but they want us to be ready officially March the 27th for interviews, stories, and other things. From reporters and broadcasters. They want us to be prepared. They are very interested in our story and are just so excited that they themselves bought the collection and could barely get it cataloged. And here they already have a connection. And my grandfather was the first to get cataloged because Mr. Day sold the collection to them in 2021. And they just cataloged it the early part of December. So had Renee and I called before December, we would still be searching for our grandfather's legacy. And it just so happened that it just happened that way. And it seems like it's coming full circle because your family is totally an autistic family as well. So it's definitely spread over to them. Now you have a pastor in the family who plans on taking his sermon, what, almost a hundred years later from his birth? Your daughter's a musician, you're a writer. First of all, before we move forward, you mentioned earlier that you're writing your biography? Yes, I am. And what's the title of that? It will be called Legends at Grandma's House. Our oldest cousin, Guy Draper, he's been in the celebrity world for many years. There was a group back in the 60s called the Uniphix. And it was a song recorded called Quarter Love in the beginning of my end. And Guy was definitely behind that. He learned his craft through Curtis Mayfield. Curtis showed Guy all the ins and outs of the music business while Guy was studying political science at Howard University. So after he learned his tutelage from Curtis Mayfield, he went back to Howard University. Guy graduated with honors at Howard. He went back and grabbed the group and they recorded Quarter Love. And they were headliners, believe it or not, for eight years. Believe it or not, Michael Jackson, my father, was the road manager and sound man. And he said, Michael Jackson would always say, oh God, the Uniphix are on the marquee with us. What are we going to do? He said, well, they're going to take the show over anyway, so we might as well come on first. They were there. Every group, believe it or not, iconic groups, were very afraid of the Uniphix. Let me say also that the Uniphix, one of the lead singers was my brother. And my brother was the gentleman who officiated at my wedding, who I'm speaking of, that's the minister. So you've had the honor of seeing him. You've seen him. And he sings at everything we do. But he was the one who performed my wedding ceremony. And you've had the pleasure of actually seeing him. Well, being the artist that I am, I'm already envisioning a one-man show of your grandfather. Absolutely. Ladies, get your creative juices flowing and think about that, because I understand you have the four pages of his autobiography, and then you have 40 of his poems. And so that's a performance piece right there. So just keep that in mind moving into the future. Absolutely. But you know what? One thing that was beautiful, we called him Pop-Pop. We called it. That was our affectionate name for him, Pop-Pop. And Pop-Pop sang after every sermon that he ever preached. He was this artistic drawer as well for the draftsmen, but also in his Gems of the Soul, he wrote his own poetry, and then he would make illustrations to go with them, just like he did on the poster, Sleep On. So he was a full-circle, total creative person. And once again, Pop-Pop's full name again for those of you who don't know him. Henry Wilson Patterson, born April 1897, book written in 1938, and the poem that went around the world was distributed in 1941, and that was Sleep On, Sleep On. Would you happen to have one of those poems with you? Absolutely. But what I would like, if you don't mind, before we recite a poem, can I just tell you what he did at the beginning of his book? He said, this little book is dedicated to the mothers of the colored race in America, those humble souls who have endured unparalleled hardships and incomprehensible suffering, often battling toe-to-toe against overwhelming odds that their children might have the right and privilege that they now enjoy. Their spirits are marching on. It is my sincere desire that some weary traveler may find in my book, Gems of the Soul, a ray of hope to light up the dark path that may be before him, and for him to just have that foresight. Insight, insight. I want to get you to read that again. It's so powerful because we all benefit from that. We are the children of those women he talked about. Absolutely, and for him to be honoring women, and this is Women's History Month, but for him to even know in 1938, for him to have the compassion and the love for women of color that he would even do this. Do you know how many men wouldn't even acknowledge women? How many men didn't want to give women a voice? So for him to have this dedication in his book in 1938. Yes, I'm thankful. I'm thanking our ancestors today for that, because like I said, we all benefit from that. And he'd gone through some hardships. He had mentioned something about he drifted from job to job. He went through hunger, pains. Doors were shut in his face. He didn't have a place to lay his head. But I'm going to quote this, and this was always going to carry me through to the end of my life. He said, if it takes the balance of my lifetime. No, he says, I'm sorry. I intend to complete my training, whatever the cost. If it takes the balance of my lifetime, I will not be deterred. I am determined not only to serve this present age, but to leave an imprint on the sands of time that the coming generations may rise up and call me black. I shall leave to my children a heritage of which they may be proud. Amen. 1938. This is how he was speaking. And just for a little background about himself and his family, again, born April the 10th, 1897. They lived in a two-room log cabin, and he lost his father at a very early age. So himself, with four other siblings and his mother, they walked from Wake County, North Carolina, which is outside of the capital of Raleigh. They walked and rode with an ox cart and an ox, and they made their way to Norfolk, Virginia. On foot. On foot. But when they got there, by then, you can imagine how long that must have taken them, they had to sell the ox cart and the ox for food and lodging. And then they walked from Norfolk, found their way to Baltimore. They bypassed Washington and all that, and they ended up in Baltimore. And that's where they were for a good little while before they came to Washington, D.C. So it is, I tell you, he talks about how he always had a pulling and a tug to do something different than most of his other friends were doing because of a lack of education. I like that expression. But Mr. Brooks, this is going to knock you out. David, love. David, David, David, love. This is the very last paragraph. Someday, somewhere down through the dusty corridors of the years, I shall wrap my garments about me, lie down upon my couch, and as light like the Arab folds up his tent and begins to softly seal away, I want to look back upon a life well spent in service and be able to say, as did Paul at Nero's chopping block, I have fought a good fight, kept the faith, finished my course, and the time of my departure is at hand. I am ready to be offered up. Then somewhere, you may read on a slab of granite, Patterson, minister, poet, artist, soldier. I will give myself up. I love that. I really do. We, you know, we all have stories. Do you want me to read the poem? Sleep on? I think time is of essence, but we should come back and do a part two of this. We really should come back and do a part two of this, and I would like to do it around his birthday, which is April the 10th. And guess what? Yeah, I would like to do a part two of this. I really would. So you're thinking about that. My father's birthday is April the 9th. Really? So we're going to honor those two men. So we'll get back together and do that. Okay? That sounds great. Okay. I thank you, too. Once again, we were listening to Renee Anderson and Sharon Young, and we were discussing Gems of a Soul by Pop Pop. And who's Pop Pop again? Harry Wilson Patterson. We should say doctor, you know. No, Reverend. Reverend. Reverend Patterson. We honor the Reverend Patterson, but we will definitely have to do a part two of this and honor those both men, and also you, Mrs. Young. I mean, you're a writer among us as well. So we would have to come back and do this, a part two of this. But we were talking about family of artists. Your daughter has a song out. Can you give us a little bit about that song? Yes, that's Miss N'Diaye. Yes, she has a song, Storyville, a CD that she put together a few years back. And one of the original songs is Much Better. And it talks about just being more better. And she is a jazz soul, R&B. She does a little bit of it all. She is self-taught with most things. She did graduate from a performing arts school, Los Angeles, for the performing arts. But she has spent like we all have, cultivating our art almost through natural abilities, just like my grandfather. I'm sure he never went anywhere and took a class, but he sung at every sermon. And my daughters, my brother, my cousin and I, we were in a group called Baoli and the Violets, when we were in high school. I got to look all this up. I got to find all this jam of information. We sang two songs by the Marvelettes, but we kept screwing up in rehearsal. So I had the idea to call Wanda at Howard Theatre in D.C. so they could help us. And I knew we were going to screw up. And I led a song called I'll Keep On Holding On. And they called me Wanda for the rest of the school year at Anacostia High School at the time. So as a family, as a family of, I'd say, unsung heroes, the Unifics probably were the ones that have made the most money as far as financially. But Ndiaye, who also is a vocal artist, my oldest daughter, she has done very well for herself. And then she has a daughter named Nyandi, who is well internationally known from a duo group called O'Shoon. They came out of NYU. So it's just six generations. And then my grandfather, my grandfather, his wife, Florence Patterson, she was an opera singer. So it just, it was just all in the family. Well, Ndiaye, I do thank you for this moment. But once again, we'll get back for part two of this. All right. Thank you. Thank you very much, Renee Anderson and Sharon Young. Thank you so much, Mr. Brooks. All right. Have a beautiful weekend. Thank you for your time. You too. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Good evening and thank you for tuning in to Suze on NunuRadio.com. And my name once again is David Brooks. We're going to end the evening with a sample of Much Better. Good night. This love affair falls somewhere between C and G These ebony and ivory keys help me my destiny My passion lies within these ties They soothe my soul No matter what life gives to me I can't grab hold of better Life is better for me When I can sing, sing my melodies Life is better, better So much better for me When I can play, play my symphony I recall that day and fall I played And you sang back to me In harmonies, epiphanies I knew You would be my remedy You sharply showed so natural How I can make this music for my own Meccano, you need to know why To dedicate this song Life is better for me When I can sing, sing my melody Life is better, better So much better for me When I can play, play my symphony Baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby
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