Did You Hear About Kitty Karr?

by Crystal Smith Paul

The pain that you’ve been feeling can’t compare to the joy that’s coming.

There are two types of people in this world, Mary: people with time to sit under the trees, looking up at the sky and pondering life”—she jostled the gold balls in her hand—“and those who end up hanging from those same trees, looking down on the life they might have had, had they been born different. You were born different, by the grace of God, so you get to choose. Choose the gold-earring life.”

Kitty learned that it was under that spirit that Blair House operated: to champion the rights of Negro women, whose burdens were doubled, being Negro and female. Their needs were often overshadowed or ignored by everyone, even their men, who were depleted, depressed, and often dependent mentally, spiritually, and economically. The virulence against Negro men was pressing, and as their ability to support their families as head of the household was inhibited, it was Negro women who had to take up the slack and absorb the shock of the blows they faced.

These were callous attempts at goodness thrown out with defiance, daring someone to be ungrateful.