That's All Right, Right All Right

About the Book

This story, set in a church in post-slavery days in the rural South, specifically the fictional town of Tidewell, Mississippi, is a fictional story told both in prose and in song. The plot deals with the trials of the people who, unable to do anything about their situation, are reduced to having to sing out their frustrations. Their songs, thus, are composed extemporaneously.

The trial of the central characters, Fessa Lee and Milanna a married black couple, who live on a plantation along with most of the other people, is the main source of the people’s frustration.

At the root of the problem is the plantation owner who, exploiting his position and power, takes continuous, sexual advantage of the beautiful Milanna.

Although the people have been tackling this problem a long while, the beginning of the solution comes from a most unexpected source–a religious experience inspired by a song that has nothing to do with the situation. The subsequent actions of the people, which build on the momentum started by the song, bring the people face to face with the plantation owner; and they bring him to shame for his oppression.

The 52 songs in this book represent a fond collection of the songs that we, the writers, remember from our grandparents’ (great-grandparents’) church. Since these songs were sung without the benefit of a hymnal or songbook, we often wondered how the songs (many of them like folk songs) originated. The fictional storyline attempts to answer that question for ourselves as well as for you, the reader.

About the Author

Myrna Except for a brief stint in New Orleans in the late 1950s, which included the reign (rain) of Hurricane Audrey, I have lived in Mississippi all of my life. Though many ventures have taken me away, I have always returned home– and with great pleasure. I now live on the farm I was raised on near the tiny town of Nettleton. After graduating from Alcorn, a college in the southern part of the state, I held various office and teaching positions. Also, during this time, I wrote short stories and poetry and shared them with family and friends. Early in 2000, my daughter Carolyn and I started collaborating and gathering material for this book. It truly has been a fulfilling project. Carolyn Jemille After attending the local schools through high school, and then college at Jackson State University (all in Mississippi), I moved to Dallas to start my adult life. I have worked in the fields of insurance, technical training and medicine. Presently, I am a respiratory therapist. I am also a volunteer social coordinator for my friends and colleagues. I think it was my cooperative spirit that prompted me to work on this book with my mother, Myrna. It has been a pleasure all the way.