“I used to come out here every Fourth of July as a child to picnic and to swim on the island, to tour the fort and wander through it. And all of that time, I never knew anything about the presence of black soldiers on the island. And so, for me, this was a way of trying to tell another history, a lost or a forgotten or a little-known history about these black soldiers who played an important part in American history.” Trethewey said. Coincidentally, she was born “exactly 100 years to the day that Mississippi celebrated the first Confederate Memorial Day, April 26, 1866.” WayTryingYearsFirstsChildrenLittlesSaidImportantUsedLostBlackBornKnownForgottenSoldierWanderIslandsSwimFourthAmerican HistoryMemorialAprilJulyMemorial DayMississippiPicnicsFortsConfederate Author:Natasha Trethewey
“First, I emptied the closets of your clothes, threw out the bowl of fruit, bruised from your touch, left empty the jars you bought for preserves. The next morning, birds rustled the fruit trees, and later when I twisted a ripe fig loose from its stem, I found it half eaten, the other side already rotting, or-like another I plucked and split open-being taken from the inside: a swarm of insects hollowing it. I'm too late, again, another space emptied by loss. Tomorrow, the bowl I have yet to fill.” FirstsNextFoundLeftSidesLossSpaceHalfMorningTakenTreeTomorrowLateClothesBirdEmptyFruitPreservesToo LateSplitsBowlsStemClosetsInsectsTwistedRipeJarsBruisedRottingSwarmsFigsFruit Trees Book:Native Guard Source: Native Guard
