Thomas Edwards

Thomas Edwards – The Uncle I Knew Thomas Edwards was born to Napoleon and Mattie Edwards in 1914. He was the youngest of thirteen children. The time Thomas grew up in was nothing like the 60’s or even now. He grew up during the height of the Ku Klux Klan, when lynching was a common thing. It is hard to imagine being a poor black boy in a family of sharecroppers in Perry County, Alabama. This was the world of Thomas Edwards, a poor, smart young man with a great sense of humor in which one would need to endure the toil and outright prejudice of that day. Those early years taught Thomas the importance of family because he understood that it was family that got him through those rough days of Jim Crow and the Great Depression. Thomas indeed survived those trials but he went one better coming out of it he was instill with a strong sense of independence that was based on a strong family unit and that idea he had so long ago is what paved a way that we now are trying to keep open today. 

Thomas Edwards was a hardworking young man and a devoted Christian. He was one of the founding members of his church in Jones Alabama a place he called home. He met his wife, Cora Lee Clay while attending church. Thomas Edwards was very astute when it came to women, as to say, he had no time for someone he wouldn’t marry. Cora Lee Clay was definitely someone he would marry. Their union was indeed fruitful as they gave birth to nine children. The wealth of Thomas was indeed his family in that he was ahead of his time, and many people even today would do well by following the adage, i.e. there is wealth in family. He lived a wonderful life he got to see his kids grow up and become pillars of the community something that would’ve been next to impossible if he wasn’t the man he was. 

Thomas raised men and Cora raised women. He was a hunter, farmer, and carpenter. He enjoyed working with his hands. I felt were he able to attend school which in the black belt in the great depression was a tall order, but had he I thought he would’ve made a great doctor I also felt the same about his sister Lela Houston. When Covid is over and I hope that day is not to far in the future I hope to visit the homestead in Jones Alabama and maybe soon we can have another family reunion there because that would be in keeping with Uncle Thomas, he would often host grand family get togethers and Bar-b-ques that are rarely seen today in our culture. Family was everything to Thomas, and it hurt him deeply to see any of us come on hard times, that was the husband, father, brother, and uncle that he embodied so well as nothing delighted him as when family was doing well. 

We all miss Thomas and Cora. To be honest we didn’t really know what we had and it would be a shame if we don’t learn as much as we can from our elders because so much of you is tied in them. The knowledge they have is of great import and must not go wasted into the ether because when they are gone, we will never see that again in this plane of existence. Thomas and Cora were a bridge from where we were trying to find ourselves, to a period where we became the ones we were waiting for. The Legacy of Thomas and Cora is the Black Family. It’s about overcoming and succeeding in spite of. Marriage isn’t easy, but it is the best way for our people. Thomas, as I remember him, was one of the brightest men I’ve ever known. He did not suffer fools or laziness. Those tenants helped shape me to be the person that I am today. 
 

By Renardo L. Edwards  

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