I was to know her in her poi and soft food days. We
children were rather afraid of her. She lived alone. The house
was dark and rather forbidding. Some . . . who had felt her
verbal barbs sometimes referred to her as the "witch of Walnut
and Locust Streets." In later life she harbored a kitchen and
cellar full of cats. None were aristocrats. They were the alley
variety and had a pedigree about as long as my Spanish
vocabulary. . .
I can't afford to lose this chance for getting a little matter
before you, because after this forensic effort I may never get
the chance to talk again in public. It has to do with my Theta
pedigree. . . I virtually stem back to one of the Founding
Mothers herself. . . Bettie Tipton, the one and only Bettie
Tipton so far as we are concerned, and my Grandmother Durham were
cousins--their Mothers were Blacks and they all lived on farms
near Mt. Sterling, Kentucky. Bettie Tipton was opposite of Bettie
Locke. She came from the blue grass and was as feminine as baby
breath. . . She too had a hectic experience at Indiana Asbury,
compared with the sheltered home in the blue grass from whence
she had come. Maybe I'll tell you that story some time.
ANOTHER EARLY FEMINIST
December 16, 1952
Mr.
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