![]() ![]() At one time, she registered to vote and had to take a test she didn't pass. Stopping in the middle of the hill, Lillian remembers. She sees the same angry faces that surrounded her when she was a child, and women finally were allowed to vote. She hears her Uncle Levi telling stories about impossible questions that had to be answered before anyone with brown skin could step up to cast a vote. Lillian sees her grandpa, Isaac, but he's not voting because of a poll tax that he has no hope of paying. Then the hill seems to become higher, and the climb gets harder. That, as Lillian knows, is many years away. He approaches the polls, looking dignified in his finest clothes Great-Grandma Ida is there, too, but she can't vote yet. Lillian can see Great-Grandpa Edmund, post-War, on his way to vote for the very first time. ![]() He didn't have any more rights than his own parents did - at least not until after the Civil War. ![]() It's a long way up that hill and, as she climbs, Lillian sees more history: once a baby at that auction, her great-grandfather, Edmund grew up to pick cotton. Lillian sees that they're standing near a courthouse where only white men could vote. ![]() There are her great-great-grandparents: Elijah is wearing chains and Sarah is holding a baby. Lillian stands at the bottom of a "very steep hill." It's Voting Day and she's going to take advantage of her rights.Īs she looks up the hill, she sees things - not just a hill, but a slave auction. ![]()
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