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Letters of an Abiding Faith:

Legacy of a Slave's GrandDaughter to her Son

written by Ella Lewis to her Son (Rudolph Lewis)

 

 

 

Family Origins -- Church, Family, & Place

I call Jerusalem my home. I was born, however, in South Baltimore at University of Maryland Hospital. Jerusalem remains a place of refuge and spiritual comfort. It is where Mama lives, where Daddy is buried. It was and continues to be a village, a hamlet of about ten families, spread out around a church, named Jerusalem Baptist, founded by freed Christian slaves in the late 1860s. There are some who believe it was named, not merely for the ancient and holy city of Judea, but also for the former county seat of Southampton, Virginia, that the Christian prophet and apostle Nathaniel Turner intended to seize in his holy war in August 1831. The first sixteen years of my life were conditioned by this place and when I was twelve I was immersed, along with others my age, in Jerusalem’s baptismal pool by the then new pastor Reverend John Boone. more intro

 

Table of Contents

 

Introduction  

 Family Stories

Black Mama, White Son

                A Response to "Black Mama, White Son" by Lewis Lawson

The Confessions of Walter Cotton

Conjuring & Doctoring  

Driving the Blues Away: Or Dying by Degrees  Responses to “Driving the Blues Away”

Dwarf's Lament

Father Son and Mary

Letters of An Abiding Faith ( Table of Contents)

Me & the Devil at CrossHairs  

Tale for Sam Williams

TeeJay’s Song: Shadows at Midnight  

Letter 1          February 19, 1976

Letter 2          February 26, 1976  

Letter 3          May 11, 1976  

Letter 4          March 7, 1977  

Letter 5          January 30, 1978    

Letter 6          March 16, 1978  

Letter 7          June 3, 1978  

Letter 8          July 21, 1978 

Letter 9          October 4, 1978  

Letter 10         January 24, 1979  

Letter 11         February 2, 1979  

Letter 12         September 30, 1979  

Letter 13         June 17, 1980  

Letter 14         July 14, 1980  

Letter 15         January 5, 1981  

Letter 16         June 19, 1981  

Letter 17         January 15, 1982  

Letter 18         January 7, 1983    

Letter 19         April 22, 1983  

Letter 20         May 9, 1983

Letter 21         September 9, 1983  

Letter 22         September 14, 1983  

Letter 23         September 30, 1983

Letter 24         November 23, 1983 

Letter 25         December 8, 1983

Letter 26         August 4, 1984

Letter 27         October 2, 1984

Letter 28         October 16, 1984

Letter 29         October 26, 1984

Letter 30         December 1, 1984

Letter 31         January 21, 1985

Letter 32         February 25, 1985

Letter 33         May 13, 1985

Letter 34         October 23, 1985

Letter 35         December 6, 1985

Letter 36         January 13, 1986

Letter 37         February 24, 1986

Letter 38         March 6, 1986         

Letter 39         May 24, 1986

Letter 40         July 11, 1986

Letter 41         August 11, 1986

Letter 42         September 5, 1986

Letter 43         October 2, 1986

Letter 44         January 5, 1987

Letter 45         January 17, 1987

Letter 46         April 19, 1987

Letter 47         May 23, 1987

Letter 48         December 4, 1989

Letter 49         December 20, 1989

Letter 50         February 12, 1990

Letter 51         March 2, 1990

Letter 52         May 11, 1990

Letter 53         May 20, 1990

Letter 54        June 2, 1990

Letter 55         September 27, 1990

Letter 56         March 16, 1991

Letter 57         January 31, 1992

Letter 58         September 23, 1994

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Related files

Balance Due Always  

Belief, DisBelief & Back

Black Church

Black Mama, White Son

The Confessions of Walter Cotton

Conjuring & Doctoring  

Cricket: Jazz & Other Poems

Driving the Blues Away: Or Dying by Degrees 

Dwarf's Lament

The Education of Black Folks in the South: 1860-1935

Father Son and Mary

Hearing the Coffin Close 

Home to Jerusalem

Mama's Letters from Jerusalem (review)

Me & the Devil at CrossHairs  

Mona Lisa Throws A Party

The Official History of Jerusalem Baptist Church

Poetic Journey 

Public Education in Sussex County

 A Response to "Black Mama, White Son"

Responses to “Driving the Blues Away”

Rudy Index 

Rudy's Page

Sam Williams

Sharif's Response

Sussex County A Tale of Three Centuries  

Tale for Sam Williams

TeeJay’s Song: Shadows at Midnight    

Trouble in Mind

 

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updated 28 May 2008

 

 

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