109 Year Old Daughter Of Slave Votes For Obama

Brett Singer — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 19:45:00 GMT

The line to vote for President and other stuff today might be kind of long. If you get cranky, here's an inspiring story to keep you a little bit sane.

From the Austin American Statesman:

Amanda Jones, 109, the daughter of a man born into slavery, has lived a life long enough to touch three centuries. And after voting consistently as a Democrat for 70 years, she has voted early for the country's first black presidential nominee.
…
Jones' father herded sheep as a slave until he was 12, according to the family, and once he was freed, he was a farmer who raised cows, hogs and turkeys on land he owned. Her mother was born right after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed, Joyce Jones said. The family owned more than 100 acres of land in Cedar Creek at one point, she said.
Amanda Jones' father urged her to exercise her right to vote, despite discriminatory practices at the polls and poll taxes meant to keep black and poor people from voting. Those practices were outlawed for federal elections with the 24th Amendment in 1964, but not for state and local races in Texas until 1966.

First of all, the fact that anyone lived to be 109 is cool. More importantly, though, is her story. I can't imagine what it must have felt like for Amanda to cast her vote in this Presidential election.

Source/Image: Statesman.com

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Neal Pollack, Babble's Rebecca Woolf Get Their Say at South by Southwest

Patti — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 11:27:00 GMT

Arvind Grover is liveblogging the events he's attending at this year's South By Southwest Interactive festival, and one of those events just happens to have been Monday afternoon's Alternadad Live, featuring Neal Pollack and Babble blogger Rebecca Woolf.

Grover's notes are here at his 21Apples blog. It looks like, surprise surprise, Rebecca and Neal were obligated to speak on the (deep sigh) Hipster Matter. It's hard to tell how it really went from Grover's notes, but there are tantalizing clues: The panelists discussed their motivations for blogging, the ethics of using children as blog fodder, and seem to have at least attempted to define that pesky label. I'm looking forward to getting the scoop from both Rebecca and Neal.

Grover, who works in education, also noted that he should probably start reading parenting blogs. Hi, Arvind!

Strollerderby : austin

109 Year Old Daughter Of Slave Votes For Obama

Neal Pollack, Babble's Rebecca Woolf Get Their Say at South by Southwest