She Married God
A Testament of Tenacity
by Erika-Janea
Name: Mattie Dickerson (maternal grandmother)
Profession: Nurse
Age: 64
E. What does being an activist mean to you, grandma?
M. Well, it's being involved in a cause that you feel strongly about. Personally, as far as my faith is concerned, me sharing the gospel and devoting myself to Christ's calling; being steadfast in my faith by caring for others and having compassion for those who are less fortunate than me. As far as the job, I feel strongly about patients being treated with respect and dignity. And that's what administration wants, but some of my co-workers don't oblige. I report others, and encourage the patients to report disorderly conduct. I tell them where to go, who to see. Veterans have served our country, and I respect them, and I care about what happens to them.
E. What was the chief concern back in your day?
M. To me, survival. I wanted a family. I wanted to do something with my life. I read a lot of harlequin novels in my free time, and that's how I escaped from failing marriage and economic landslides. I started writing after then, and that was even more of an escape.
E. It's interesting that you say survival, because that encompasses so much. Can you walk me through your youth?
M. There was poverty for one thing. From ages one to five we didn't have food, and that was a big thing in my life. Living in the south, we ate the dirt....it was kinda like kool-aid, and whatever else we could get our hands on. When my mother was alive, she would leave home [in Mississippi] for about a month or so and then she'd come back with money she'd saved up-she worked as a waitress. When she passed, when I was five, I moved in with my uncle on a farm. I didn't like it. I wasn't really going to school much. Didn't have time or the clothes. I had to milk 12 cows before I went to school every morning. My uncle didn't have control over his two boys, and they wouldn't work. Since I was a girl, and more passive than them, I made breakfast, did laundry, and then milked the cows-all before the school bus came 'round 7. I had to play catch up; they were chapters ahead when I went back to school. Then my uncle took me back out when the cotton got ready, I had to pick it. I remember I got a double though! And I was proud of that. I skipped third grade and went into fourth. And I really loved it. But I was out at three months at a time until the principal told my uncle it was against law to not let me go to school, and threatened to get more involved.
E. Doubles seem to run in the family, since my uncle received on in fifth grade, and I was offered on in third grade as well. Were in your teenage years better? How was your social life?
M. As a teen, I was more of a...not a loner, I mean, I socialized but I only had one real friend. We played together, had lunch together- we didn't have classes together- but I enjoyed her company very much. And it went on like that for a while until I got pregnant at 22. I was scared. I had heard a lot of things from old wives tales, and when I was about 2-3 months, I was petite like you, Erika. So it was easy to see. And there wasn't really anybody to talk to. I was really scared and I prayed a lot. I had never had a baby and I never seen one being born. I had a midwife. Sometimes you miss a lot of info when you don't keep up with the times. She came and talked to me and I began to feel more comfortable. But it still wasn't the same as having your own mother or aunt to talk to.
E. Word. You married at a young age, months before you gave birth. Before then, you were working. Some women struggle finding a balance between work and home. That being said, where do you think a woman's place should be?
M. I think a woman's place should be wherever she would like to be. She could be president if she wanted to be, and I think that has been proven in the political realm, in the medical field, in law force, etc. If she wants to be at home, that's her business.
E. I only everyone thought that way! So its 2008. Looking back, what do you know now that you wish you knew back in your day?
M. (laughs) Then, it was always said that a women needed a man to make it. I wish I knew then that you didn't need to marry in order to succeed in life. And I found that out when I came to Chicago. I met women here who were struggling and they were persevering, making money just like the men. And when I came to understand that, I followed suit. In the south, they raised children -especially girls- to cook, sew, get married, and have babies; basically preparation for marriage.
E. Gathering all the knowledge you've pocketed over the years due to your experiences, what do you feel young women, like me, should be focused on?
M. I feel that young women should focus on first off, figuring out who they are and what they want to be, and not what society says: you're popular if you got this guy on your arm, or what purse you're carrying. Don't settle for second best. Get an education and focus on your faith. That should in their top priorities.
E. That being said, what do you think we should be activists on?
M. Educating young girls about the importance of education and the benefits of waiting to have sex/get pregnant. They need to recognize that they are somebody, 'cause God don't make junk.
E. You talk about God a great deal. Our family is pretty involved in the gospel...
M. When I was young, I got baptized at a Methodist church, but I wasn't serious. And the water was just sprinkled over my head. When I really gave my life to kingdom building, the Baptist church I was attending said 'we don't believe in sprinkling, we believe in emerging.' And so I was baptized again. After a failed marriage and a few bad relationships I vowed to love God always. So I have a wedding band. A lil' gold ring that I wore on my marriage finger for years. As I got older, and different sicknesses came along, my finger swelled a bit, and I had to get the ring cut off. But it still sits in my jewelry box upstairs in my room. I plan to get it fixed. My relationship is closer with God than man. And that's man, period-not just gender wise. He brought me form poverty, to dirt and water, to bread and water. And for that, He deserves my hand in marriage.