Histories

Mazy Fitzgerald Sligh

When great history texts are written, it is rare that we read about the lives of everyday individuals. It is especially hard to find the histories of women because so many times their lives and work were considered unimportant. And yet, if you think about it, none of the events written in history would have occurred without the everyday events and people who created them.

My Granny Sligh, Mazy Fitzgerald Sligh, never traveled very far from her home in the mountains of Virginia. She grew up in poverty, and when she married a man who was an alcoholic, she lived a life of toil and struggle. She had eight children, one who died as an infant, and she made a home for them as best she could. My father had many stories of their life and the privations that occurred on every hand.

And yet, Granny Sligh did leave a legacy for her children and grandchildren, and along the way, she created objects with her hands that abide today. Perhaps she learned some of those skills from her own mother, Annie Lee Meeks Fitzgerald. Without many resources, she used the items that she had at hand and crafted items that she could use in her own home, and creations that she could give as gifts to others.

In my next two blog posts, I want to highlight the items I have that were made by Granny Sligh. And along the way, I hope to tell a bit of her history as part of the legacy that she left for me and others.