Memories

Ellaraino is now 72 years old recounting the visit with her Grandma Silvia. She tells the story when is 16 years-old and she was in love with Tyrone. Her family made a trip not to Los Angeles, but in the South in Farmerville, Louisiana. She was introduced to her Grandma Silvia, who was 106 years-old. Her grandma would tell her stories about the Civil War and saying she was Ella's age. She had freedom after the Civil War, but she did not feel free because she could not read and write. She tells Ella at the age of 85, she decided to get help from other grown-ups and children to help her to get her freedom and she studied on her own to read and write. She had something special for Ella when she went to the cedar chest and held up the tattered church fan for Ella then she though why is grandma showing me this. Ella's grandma Silvia turned the fan over to point out to her that she could write her name and now she knew that is when she got her freedom. Ella's grandma Silvia passed away in 1965, but "Grandma Silvia lives within my heart."