Janis F. Kearney - Cotton Field of Dreams: A Memoir

By Janis F. Kearney

Foreword by Former President

William J. Clinton

Writing Our World Press

Chicago

Copyright 2006 by Janis Kearney

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2013 by Janis Kearney

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First Paperback Edition 2006

Printed in the United States of America

Cover design by Denise Borel Billups

Print Edition

Library of Congress Control Number:2004098845 ISBN: 0-9762058-3-1

Smashwords Edition

ISBN: 978-1-30188-154-3

www.writingourworldpress.com

www.smashwords.com

With love and gratitude to the three men inmy life:

James Thomas Kearney

Darryl W.K. Lunon II

and Bob J. Nash

In loving memory of my two best friends andteachers in life:

Jo Ann Kearney and Ethel Virginia CurryKearney

Special thanks to Patrick Oliver, DeniseBorel Billups, Mellonee Carrigan Mayfield, Gwendolyn Mitchell,Deatri King-Bey,

Mary Lewis and Yvonne Jeffries I couldnthave done it without you

CONTENTS

Foreword by Former President WilliamJefferson Clinton

Introduction

PART I

Going Home Again (1987)

ONE

Coming Home to Say Goodbye

TWO

Jo Anns Final Goodbye

PART II

Lifes Lessons in Black and White(1958-1963)

THREE

Remembering When

FOUR

Living and Learning the Rules

FIVE

Indian Summers on Varner Road

SIX

Sundays in the Kearney House

SEVEN

Miss Nola Mae

PART III

James Thomas and Ethel Curry Kearney(1905-1982)

EIGHT

The House on Varner Road

NINE

James Thomas Kearney

TEN

Pride and Prejudice on Varner Road

ELEVEN

James Kearneys Christmas Story

TWELVE

Ethel Virginia Curry Kearney

PART IV

Our Early Education (1959-1965)

THIRTEEN

Our Lessons in Life

FOURTEEN

Miss Jessie Freeman

FIFTEEN

Miss Katie Jackson

SIXTEEN

Miss Rosie Jones

SEVENTEEN

A Time for All Things

EIGHTEEN

Mama and Miss Bailey

PART V

The White School (1965-1967)

NINETEEN

Our Colored EducationGoulds Freedom ofChoice

TWENTY

Walking on the Other Side of the Track

TWENTY -ONE

Our Good Brothers

TWENTY -TWO

Julius and Sheriff Pearson

PART VI

Goodbye Yesterday (1971-1973)

TWENTY -THREE

A Change of Season

TWENTY -FOUR

Goodbye Varner Road

TWENTY -FIVE

Woo Pig Sooie!

TWENTY -SIX

The Wedding on Varner Road

TWENTY -SEVEN

D.K.s Arrival Signals Change

TWENTY -E IGHT

A Summer of Changes

PART VII

The Last Reunion (July, 1987)

TWENTY -NINE

A Final Gathering

THIRTY

Reunion Sunday

Epilogue: At the End of the Day

About the Author

Former President William JeffersonClinton

J anis F. KearneysCotton Field of Dreams paints a poignant picture of anArkansas black familys struggles to live the American dream beforeand after the civil rights movement, with their only assets hope,sweat, and a devout faith in God. This authors memories of growingup black and impoverished in the South are the very memories whiteAmericans need to know and learn from.

The Kearney family was the poorest, largestfamily in their small rural county in southeast Arkansas, but theirdreams were rich and large. This amazing family is living proofthat seemingly impossible dreams, with hard work and persistence,can come true.

In part because of the Souths history, ourhearts are warmed by stories as this one: under-educated AfricanAmerican sharecroppers pushing their children to achieveacademically, then seeing them reach amazing pinnacles of success.From their parents, the children absorbed a powerful conviction.They were neither better nor less than any other human beings. Thisconviction gave them the self-confidence to move far beyond theirdifficult beginnings.

Janis F. Kearneys poignant memoirilluminates the larger truth: That it is the lessons we internalizein spite of our hurts and disappointments, that remain with us;that enable us to dream beyond today and work ourselves into abetter tomorrow. With those lessons, Janis moved from the cottonfields of Gould to the halls of the White House.

In Cotton Field of Dreams we learn that JamesKearney expected his children to contribute to this world, and hemade them believe they could. I have been privileged to know andwork with Janis and four of her brothers. They followed theirfathers lead.

The Kearney family underscored what I learnedduring my 12 years as governor and eight years in the White House.There is a necessary role for government in citizens livestoempower people like the Kearneys to make the most of their lives,to defend and support the helpless, to stop discrimination. But themost important force in childrens lives, whether they areprivileged or impoverished, remains their parents. That force madeall the Kearney children wealthy in a profound sense.

Fortunate are the children, white or black,rich, poor or middle class, who are blessed with parents like Jamesand Ethel Kearney, parents whose vision for their children is firednot by what is immediately before them but by the deepest longingswithin them. Those longings got the Kearney kids beyond the longcotton rows, the hungry nights, and the taunts of schoolmates.These children, now grown, are beacons which will shine brightlyenough to touch and light the way for others. The Kearneys loveand vision are a blessing for their children and for all the restof us, too. Im very glad Janis decided to share it with theworld.

I began this bookwith the full expectation of writing a story about my fatherscolorful, vibrant, amazing life. That effort began in 1973.

Now 30 years later, my father is still avibrant man at the age of 98.

As I began to shop my story 10 years ago,well-meaning editors showed great interest in my script. They toldme I was chasing after windmillsthat I couldnt write my fathersstory with the emotional depth it deserved. What I could do, theyoffered, was honor and celebrate his place in my life. That hastaken another 10 years to do. In this vignette of memories, which Icall memoir, I offer the world a photo sketch of this man whosegreatest gift to his children was the permission to dream, knowingthat our dreams would color our realities, soften our knocks andlift our reach beyond our stations in life.

My story is my truthnot the whole truthabout my world, but a stringing together of dreams andrecollections of growing up in a rural Arkansas town, of living asharecroppers existence where cotton in many ways ruled our lives.This is a story that also celebrates a unique family that included19 siblings who each possessed such rich personalities as torequire a book of their own. It touches on my longing to know thetwo siblings I hardly knew as a child and on my parents longingsfor something better than what Gould, Arkansas, offered. Thiscollection of memories gives credence to my journey from thesharecroppers home on Varner Road to the White House onPennsylvania Avenue.

In this ever-winding literary journey, Ifound that my memoriesas vast as they may beare not enough tocall this my familys stories.

I cannot offer their unadulterated truths. Ican only attest to the small space that was mine, to my remembranceof the world that surrounded me and to my memories of Jo Ann, thebeautiful and brilliant sister who tired of this world too soon.How would I tell the whole story of how our world drew us so close,yet served as a wedge between us during our childhood years? Jo Annis not here to look deeply inside me and laughingly admonish me,Tell the truth or hold your tongue.