Remembering Uncle Hugh

In my novel The Red Scarf, one of the primary characters is Uncle Hugh, a very old colored man--(colored---1944 vocabulary.) My depiction of the relationship between two young boys and Uncle Hugh could best be described as a close friendship. When I wrote this novel, I thought back over my early childhood and then later into my adult life about Southern racial prejudice. I realized I hadn't been born prejudiced, I had become prejudiced as an ingrained part of Southern culture. In my novel, the two boy's relationship with this old colored man was based strictly on friendship and prejudice was absent. I can remember as a young child playing with my many colored friends and never having a thought about race. One of my earliest memories concerning race was an incident in the county courthouse. I walked over to get a drink from a water fountain and there was a sign over the fountain that said, "Colored only". I was puzzled and asked my dad why. The best I can remember he said, something like this. "That just the way it is, Richard."

Well, it's sad to say, but young, innocent southern boys and girls---in the 1940s and 50s quickly became prejudiced young men and women. ---Then, in the 60s, 70s, and 80s Southerners changed. We're not colorblind yet, but were getting closer every day. Yes, we do have pockets of prejudice left, but the vast majority of former prejudiced Southerners have put their prejudice behind them. It's been a change of historic proportions and our county is stronger because of it.

In The Red Scarf, a touching friendship between the two boys and an old colored man is the heart of the novel. That relationship overrides all the subplots and antics that involve the boys. I think the nostalgia of the novel combined with the friendship the boys have with Uncle Hugh are the keys to its success in adult fiction.