CAN YOU HEAR THE ANGELS 
 

 FICTON IS NOT FACT,BUT FICTION IS FACT SELECTED AND UNDERSTOOD, FICTION IS FACT ARRANGED AND CHARGED WITH PURPOSE”    

                                                                                                               by Thomas Wolfe

                                                                                                            

 

ACT I

 

 

UPON DECEMBER 1930, FLORIA VENUS NEWBLE WAS BORN. IT WAS THE BEST OF TIMES AND WORST.  AFTER ALL, THE GREAT DEPRESSION HAD ARRIVED ,BRINGING HARDSHIP TO EVERY PERSON. FLORIA WAS THE OLDEST GIRL. BORN , HOWEVER, THIRD TO HER BROTHERS, CHARLES NEWBLE JR (WWII),RODMAN AND JAMES(VETERAN). HER FATHER WORKED AT THE VA  (A).  FLORIA WAS OLDER THAN KENNETH (VETERAN),COUSIN JEAN WILKES BOYD,ANITA, BUSTER AND MARY FRANCIS. KATHERINE SIMS NEWBLE (1906 in - 2010), DAUGHTER OF EUNICE SIMS(SIMS OF AIKEN SC), OBTAINED THE HOME ON OR AFTER (1924). WALTON STREET FOR IT’S TIME, APPEARS QUASI-EXCLUSIVE,  CERTAINLY WITH THE ADDITION OF THE PARK/POOL BEHIND. FATHER SCOTT (NYC )ARCHDIOCESE AND FRANCISCAN ORDER OF NUNS PURCHASED 55 & 56 WALTON STREET; THE TWO ACRE LOT ACROSS FROM 25 WALTON STREET.  36 WALTON STREET WAS THE ONLY PROPERTY  A SINGLE FAMILY.  

 

THE SIMS/NEWBLES' PURCHASED A NEW 3/1   STYLED BUNGALOW. CELEBRATING 100 YEARS   GRANDMOTHER (KATHERINE) WAS TALL, FAIR COMPLEXION (BI-RACIAL),LIGHT EYES WITH COPPER TINTED HAIR. SHE WAS STOIC IN NATURE. NO NONSENSE. AFTER ALL, SHE REARED 9 CHILDREN. WALTON STREET HOMES WERE FILLED WITH NUCLEAR BLACK FAMILIES.  IT IS ONLY ONE BLOCK IN LENGTH, BETWEEN HIBERNIA AND DEPOT.

THE MOORISH MEDDITERANEAN ESTATE HOME ON PATTON AVENUE WITH IT'S “ BOUNTY" OF SLAVES IS NAMED “HENRIETTA” , AFTER JAMES PATTON'S WIFE.   THOMAS  WALTON PATTON WAS THE YOUNGEST CHILD OF JAMES PATTON. THE CIVIL WAR  BEGAN AND THOMAS JOINED THE CONFEDERATES. HE LEFT FAMILY AND WOULDN’T RETURN FOR FOUR YEARS. THOMAS  PATTON SHOULD’VE BEEN A DEAD MAN, MANY  MANY TIMES.  THE WAR WAS OFFICIALLY CALLED  OVER, UNAWARE, THE ENEMY COMBATANTS IN THE TENNESSE VALLEY, FAUGHT TO THE DEATH.   AFTER THE SMOKE CLEARED, IN THE MORNING,  THERE WERE TWO SURVIVORS, PATTON'S SLAVE, SAM COPE AND HE. SUPRISINGLY, SAM TRAVELLED WITH HIM OVER THE YEARS INTO BATTLE(S). IT WAS BY THE GRACE OF THIS ENSLAVED SOUL, AS HIS OPTIONS WERE SLAVERY OR DIE IN A WAR TO KEEP HIM IN OPTION ONE, THEY SURVIVED. PATTON SCRIBED, SAM COPE WAS IN HIS LOYAL BEST FRIEND. ENTERING IN HIS DIARY: "SAM IS NOT A SLAVE BUT MY BEST FRIEND WITH DARKER SKIN". HERE,  I’M UTILIZING THE  WOLFE’S RULE OF FICTION.  ENUICE SIMS OWNED 25 WALTON STREET AT THE CROWN OF THE HILL. PERHAPS LIKE  CAPPACADOCIA HILL, ONCE  OWNED BY THE PATTON FAMILY ON THE EAST SIDE OF ASHEVILLE.  CAPPACDOCIA  HILL  BECAME ,CATHOLIC HILL 1892 , LATER STEPHENS LEE 192. EVERETTE’S  NEIGHBORHOOD. WALTON STREET AND ST ANTHONY’S FLORIA’S HOME IS CAPPACSDOCIA HILL SOUTH, ST ANTHONY’S CATHOLIC HILL. 

 

FLORIA WAS FIVE YEARS (PICTURED) WHEN ST ANTHONY’S FIRST CLASS WAS SEATED, IN 1936 (ARTICLE). 120 NEGRO STUDENT ANSWERED THE CALL., THE PAPER ANNOUNCED.  FLORIA  IS THE SMALLEST, MOST SELF ASSURED STUDENT, FOLDING HER ARMS CONFIDENTLY STANDINF FRONT RIGHT  HER BROTHERS RODMAN AND JAMES ARE ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE AND REAR. GRANDMOTHER REMAINED BAPTIST,YET EVERY CHILD ,INCLUDING COUSIN JEAN, WAS AFFORED A CATHOLIC EDUCATION. LATER,KATHERINE WOULD BECOME A WIDOW IN 1949; STILL RAISING BUSTER,MARY FRANCIS. LOSING HER OLDEST CHILD FROM SERVICE RELATED TUBERCULOSIS AND HUSBAND IN 1929.  THE TIMING OF THOSE LOSSES WOULD BRING FLORIA HOME FROM XAVIER OF NEW ORLEANS (UNIVERSITY). GRANDMOTHER WAS A MASTERFUL SEAMSTRESS AND DRESS MAKER FOR THE CHURCH. SHE ATTENDED CATHOLIC SERVICES TOO. FLORIA, ESSENTALLY RAISED BY THE SISTERS, HAVING TO ATTEND DAILY PRAYER/MASS AND THE RIGOROUS VATICAN I CATHOLIC EDUCATION.  

 

FLORIA PROBABLY DEVELOPED AN ATTACHMENT FOR THE NUNS AS SHE WAS "THEIR BABY “ THAT WOULD’VE  BEEN P. I’M SURE THEY NUR TURED AND INSURED SHE HAD THE BEST. FLORIA WAS UNUSUAL. ALL THE ADJECTIVES ONE USES TO DISCRIBE ASSIMILATED NEGROES; ARTICULATE, WELL READ,  PROPER AND CIVIL.  FLORIA DID NOT EXUDE THESE TRAITS AS ACROUCEMENTS. SHE WAS GUILED IN  ARTS AND MUSIC. THERE COULD NOT , WOULD NOT BE ANYONE BORN AFTERWARDS WHO WOULD REPLICATE HER FORMATIVE LIVE/EDUCATION IN ASHEVILLE? 

 

NEXT, THE DYNAMIC DUAL., EVERETTE PARRISH (KNUCKLES) AND FLORIA NEWBLE (ST ANTHONY OF PADUA’S OWN) RUBY DEE AND OZIE. DEZI ARNEZ AND LUCILLE BALL (I LOVE LUCY), RHETT BUTLER  AND SCARLET MOST LIKELY.  

 

 STEPHENS LEE (SLHS)  WAS LIKE NO OTHER HIGH SCHOOL BLACK OR WHITE . BY THE 1930’S , COLUMBIA  TEACHERS COLLEGE HAD BEGUN AN ASSOCIATION WITH THE SLHS TEACHERS AND ADMINISTRATORS TO PROVIDE AN “ NTERNATIONAL NEGRO” EDUCATION” . COLUMBIA TEACHERS COLLEGE’S  (CTC) HAS IT’S ORIGIN IN NEW YORK CITY.  GEORGE VANDERBILT’S  MISSION WAS TO EDUCATE THE IMMIGRANTS OF GREENICH VILLIAGE. HE THOUGHT OF PROVIDING THE SAME TO BLACKS IN ASHEVILLE. DUE TO THE EXTRAORDINARY INTELLIGENCE OF THE BLACK ADMINISTRATORS AT SLHS , VANDERBILT REALIZED THIS COULD BE POSSIPLE.  VANDERBILT WAS A CURATOR AND THE EMBODIMENT AVANT GARDE IN THE  AMERICAN RENNAISANCE  ERA.  CURATOR, CONESSIEUR OF CULTIVATED  OPULANCES OF ALL THINGS GRAND AND PERVAYOR OF EUROPEAN  ARTS. BILTMORE, HIS GLORIUOS MONEY MAKING AMERICAN HOME (TOURISM)  ‘BILT’ BY BLACKS AND MAINTAINED BY BLACKS (MOORS). 

 

SLHS, THE ONLY HS IN WESTERN CAROLINA. "THE CASTLE ON THE HILL”. R0SE, UP FROM THE ASHES OF CATHOLIC HILL SCHOOL’S HORRIFIC FIRE, INCINERATING 7 BLACK CHILDREN AND DESTROYING THE SCHOOL.  THE EXTRORDINARY PRINCIPLE, EDWARD S STEPHENS (1892) WAS HERALD IN EUROPE FOR HIS INTELLECT ANF FRENCH MANNERISMS. STEPHENS WAS PROBABLY THEE MOST LITERATE MAN OF THE WORLD.  A BLACK MAN. BORN IN SOUTH AMERICA, FORMALLY EDUCATED WITH WHITES IN ENGLAND,FRANCE,GERMANY,ITALY,ETC.  ANNOUNCED IN ASHEVILLE’S PAPER AS THE NEGRO WHO WRITES IN SEVEN LANGUAGES. VANDERBILT PERSUADED HIM TO HEAD THE YMI.  HE, ALONG WITH OTHER BLACKS, BUILT  YMI CULTURAL CENTER, PROVIDING WORLD CLSASS CULTURE TO BLACK ASHEVILLE.   COLUMBIA IS NOW ASSOCIATED WITH SLHS BY THE TIME EVERETTE AND FLORIA ARRIVE, "CORE CURRICULUM” IS IMPLEMENTED. (SEE DR. F. TOLLIVER’S DISSERTATION AT COLUMBIA LIBRARY). BY 1947, FLORIA, HEADING GLEE CLUB USO AND DAD’S POPULARITY HEADING DRAMA, INTEREST GREW TO TWO LEVELS IN THE DRAMATICS CURRICULUM. THERE ACCOMPLISHMENTS ARE NOT POSSIBLE TO ENUMERATE HERE. HOWEVER, FLORIA’S USO CLUB WAS VISITED UPON BY MARIAN ANDERSON’S( USO).MOST LIKELY TO EVALUATE THE CLASSSICAL PIECES THEY LEARNED TO PERFORM WELL. IT MAY BE POSSIBLE THEY COLLABERATED ON A SONG.NONETHELESS, WHAT IMPACT ON FLORIA’S ASPIRATIONS THAT HAD ON HER.  . AFTERWARDS, THE PAPER SAID 3,000 ATTENDED! EVERETTE HAD HIS HIGHLIGHT OF SCHOOL  YEARS WHEN CAROLINA PLAYMAKERS (UNC CHAPEL HILL) INVITED SLHS DRAMATICS TROUP TO THEIR COLLEGIATE CONTEST. IMAGINE THAT A SINGULAR BLACK HIGHSCHOOL TRAVELLING ACROSS STATE TO SEGREGATED UNC CHAPEL HILL’S CAMPUS AND REQUUIRED TO PERFORM 3 ACTS!PERFORMED ABOVE ANYONE’S IMAGINATION.  WELL, NOW YOU KNOW HOW RENOWNED THEY WERE TAKING BACK TO THE MOUNTAINS #1!

 

NOTE: UNC’S WILSON LIBRARY IS THE SOURCE AND SLHS 1948 YEARBOOK IS AN UNUSUAL PROGRAM OF THE FOUR YEAR’S UNDER THIS EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH. CORE OPENED EVERETTE AND FLORIA’S EYES TO THE WORLD. IT TAUGHT THEM TO DESIRE NEW WAYS OF THINKING. ENDLESS POSSIBILITIES. NOT TO BE A SPOILER. THE NORTH AND IT’S ASSOSIATION WITH EMANCIPATION AND FREEDOM, MAY HAVE BEEN THE UNDERPINNING OF EVERETTE'S SELF DISCRIBED “BREAKDOWN’ ACTII 

 

THE SHORT HISTORY OF SLHS  WOULD SHOW ONLY FOUR MALE PRINCIPLES.   UNDERGRADUATE DEGREES (HBCU) AND  MASTERS (2 COLUMBIA 1 MICHIGAN 1 OHIO STATE) WERE REQUIRED OF THEM AND EVERY STAFF. . ALBERT MANDLEY, CAME FROM CENTRAL AMERICA ,AS A YOUNG BOY, TO STEPHENS LEE. LEFT TO EDUCATE HIMSELF, RETURNING,AS  PRINCIPLE. AFTERWARDS , BECOMING NC SUPERINTENDED OF NEGRO PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF NC AND LATER , FIRST BLACK PRESIDENT OF SPELMAN COLLEGE. SLHS IS ARCHIVED AT UNC-ASHEVILLE AND CHAPEL HILL AS HAVING THE MOST HIGHLY QUALIFIED TEACHERS IN THE SOUTH. FLORIA AND EVERETTE’S YEARS,(1944 - 1948),  HALF OF TEACHERS HAD MASTERS AND SOME DOCTORATES. 50% OF THE TEACHERS CAME FROM OTHER STATES BRINGING ADDITIONAL  ENRICHMENT. 

 

MOM AND DAD WERE EXCEPTIONAL FRESHMEN STUDENTS. STEPHENS LEE TEACHERS AND STAFF WERE ANTICIPATING GREATNESS PRIOR TO THEIR START. FLORIA ARRANGING IN THE GLEE CLUB THE SUMMER BEFORE FRESHMAN YEAR,1944. MOTHER , AS A FRESHMAN, WAS ADMITTED IN AND LEADING AS A FRESHMAN. UNHEARD OF BEFORE BUT, SHE COULD READ CLASSICAL MUSIC. DIDN’T HURT DAD’S SISTERS WERE UPPER CLASS WOMEN IN GLEE AND AUNT AGNES ON STAFF TEACHING., STARTING AT CATHOLIC HILL.  SHE TOOK OVER GLEE CLUB. EVERETTE, NEEDING NO INTRODUCTION. HE WAS A KNUCKLES. THE HOEY’S COME FROM SHELBY, NC (FLORA AND FANNIE).  KNUCKLES  ARE FROM PACOLET , S.C.(PRINCE CHARLES WILLIAM KNUCKLES) SON OF NATHANIAL  AND QUEEN ALEXANDRIA LITTLEJOHN. BUILDERS OF MALBERRY CHAPEL CHURCH (1880)(HISTORIC REGISRTRY). THE ONLY REMAING OF 2 OR 3 GOTHIC RIVAL STYLED CHURCHES BUILT DURING RECONSTRUCTION. BEHIND, IS THE LITTLEJOHN CEMETERY.  REP SAMUEL KNUCKLES (REPUBLICAN) "SPOKE OUT”  AT THE 1868 SC CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION ARCHIVED IN THE CONGRESSIONAL LIBRARY.  HE CONDEMED THE KKK WHICH HAD A BOUNTY ON  HIM, KILLING 9 OTHER BLACKS IN PERSUIT. 

 

" THE RADICAL CONGRESS”  THEY ARE TERMED, DID NOT UNDERPERFORM THEIR BILLING.  FIRST, THEY RADIFIED THE 14TH AMENDMENT, KEEPING SC IN THE UNION,SECOND, VOTING RIGHTS FOR ALL RESTORED, THIRD, WOMEN'S RIGHT TO DIVORCE AND….. I JUST FOUND OUT WATCHING ROLAND MARTIN’S “UNFILTERED”;  S.C. WAS THE FIRST STATE IN AMERICA TO “FUND’ PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOR BLACK PEOPLE!!!!!! SO, DAD’S MOTHER AND AUNTS WERE EDUCATORSA ALL.  THIER GRANDFATHER ESSENTIALLY MAKE THEM FIRST DAUGHTERS OF PUBLIC EDUCATORS. FLORIA WAS REMAINED ENDEARED TO THE KNUCKLES FOREVER.EVERETTE AND FLORIA’S FOUR YEARS AT SLHS ELEVATED THE DRAMA AND MUSIC ARTS TO #1 HIGH SCHOOL IN THE IN THE SOUTH. 

 

ACT II: MOTOWN, THE 60’S, RIOTS,NORTHERN RACISM AND SEGREGATION
 

 
 

 

ACT III: HOW MY WIFE AND I SERENDIPIOUSLY MET, STUMBLED INTO AN EUROCENTRIC INSTITUTION WITH DUAL LANGUAGE IMMERSION. ADVERTISED AS ONE OF MAYBE ANOTHER SCHOOL IN AMERICA. IT WOULD BE 13 YEARS OF AN INTERNATIONAL BACCALAUREATE CONTINUUM PYP (5) MYP (5) DP (2). BY  THE TIME OUR SON GRADUATED, 2022, ONLY 11 SCHOOLS IN THE US OFFERE IB CONTINUUM. DUAL LANGUAGE IMMERSION ADDITIONALLY MAY CUT THAT NUMER IN HALF. ANTHONY, GRAND SON OF EVERETTE (2012)  AND FLORIA (1991), ANTHONY EARL PARRISH II,WAS BORN MAY 2004. FLORIA PASSED AWAY FROM LUPUS 1991. I CAN ONLY IMAGINE THIS CURRICULUM. IT’S WHAT SHE WAS ALL ABOUT. EDUCATION, ARTS, WORLD TRAVELS AND CHILDREN. WHAT I LOVED ABOUT MY MOTHER, SHE ENJOYED THE COMPANY OF ROYALTY, YET FOUND LITTLE DESIRE TO LIVE LIKE IT. OFTEN SHE WOULD REVERT INTO HER MOUNTINEER FORM. BAREFOOT. DAISEY SHORTS AND TEE SHIRT. SHE ABSOLUTELY LOVED WATER SO, OUT WITH WATERHOSE WASHING DOWN EVRYTHING IN REACH.  

 

 MY PARENTS LOOKED GOOD TOGETHER. THEY COULD’VE GONE FAR IN THEIR ART. SOMEHOW, LEAVING THE ISOLATION OF THE MOUNTAINS PROVED TOO MUCH FOR MY FATHER. HE WAS “SPOILED” BY HAVING ALL HIS AUNTS EDUCATORS. HIS MOTHER HAD SOME COLLEGE IN MUSIC. YET, SHE BORE 5 CHILDREN BY THE TIME SHE LEFT HER HUSBAND, ALPHONSO GONZALLES PARRISH (CUBA) IN Washington DC. JUST MONTHS BEFORE DAD’S BIRTH. HE NEVER MET HIS FATHER. OFTEN SAY PRIDEFULLY, NO MAN HAS LAID HANDS ON HIM. SPOILED BY MY STANDARDS. MOTHER, TOM BOY AND AGRESSIVE. WILL GET PHYSICAL AND HAVE PLENTY OF STORIES TO OFFER. YET, SHE WAS REFINED ENOUGH TO PLAY IN NYC PLAYHOUSES. 

 

I’M THANKFUL MOM ATTENDED MY GRADUATION, MEHHARY MEDICAL COLLEGE (DENTISTRY) BEFORE HER DEATH. 30 YEARS AGO.  

 

ANTHONY E PARRISH DDS

 

“ANY FOOL CAN AMASS A FORTUNE, BUT IT TAKES A MAN WITH BRAINS TO KEEP IT” CORNELIUS VANDERBILT 

 

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