An "Over-average Man" Who Told His Story but Couldn't Read a Word of It.

I am halfway through the book All God's Dangers: The Life of Nate Shaw, by Theodore Rosengarten. This book is written about Ned Cobb, an illiterate farmer in Alabama, who could "make numbers" but couldn't add them up. By no means was he a stupid man. I am amazed that he lived to tell his story. He went to prison in 1932, in his mid-forties, after being shot three times as he stood up to the local Alabama law while protecting the property of his neighbor from illegal (and immoral) seizure. He knew he was next on the list. He served twelve years. He was possibly the most successful Black man in Alabama during his day. That made him a prime target for exploitation and destruction. He saw his friends and neighbors robbed, cheated and murdered all too frequently. I've learned a lot about mules, farming, and boll weevils, and a great deal about manhood. Ned Cobb was all man.

Ned Cobb had a very insightful understanding about the times in which he lived. He carried himself through the world as a man, when it was very difficult for a Black man to do so. When it mattered for himself and his friends or family, he faced down death and put himself at risk when it was almost suicidal to do so. He had a wife and ten children that depended on him. I am encouraged that there are still men and women like him, who stand up and risk something simply by speaking out against injustice. I am saddened that so many stay silent, as in his day, because they are afraid to risk what little they have. I hope that more stories like this come to light. He has his equivalents in today's society. I get glimpses and read snippets of their stories. Some shine brightly for a moment and then fade away. I want them bathed in floodlights, so the world can see who they are and what they have overcome.

If you need some bucking up, please read this book. You'll laugh, and cry, and hopefully be inspired to action. You'll finally learn what "chopping cotton" really means as well. That there isn't a statue of Ned Cobb in all of Alabama is a shame. That there are so many others that glorify those (and their descendants) who sought to oppress him is both a shame and a testament to the fact that the fight continues. You can join the fight. You have less to lose than Ned Cobb ever did. Don't let these stories die. We need them.