“Gram died right before Mother’s Day last year. She grew up in...

“Gram died right before Mother’s Day last year. She grew up in Georgia and spent most of her childhood working in the cotton fields. She dropped out of school after seventh grade. She moved North with her family and started working in a button factory. My mom was her only child. They both almost died during childbirth. Gram raised Mom all by herself, and after we were born, she helped raise us too. My friends called her Diva Miss Eva. She’d roll down the window of her Oldsmobile to tell people to pull up their pants. And she loved pink. We took this picture on the day my mom graduated from community college. It was in the middle of June. It was so hot. But Gram comes outside in a pink evening gown, mink fur, and evening gloves. We told her it was too hot but she said: ‘My baby’s graduating!’ She loved this photo. She put it in a frame and hung it above her pink bed. In her pink room.”