{"id":832,"date":"2020-12-06T16:12:09","date_gmt":"2020-12-06T20:12:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/welter\/?page_id=832"},"modified":"2021-06-24T15:28:50","modified_gmt":"2021-06-24T19:28:50","slug":"whats-in-a-name","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/welter\/fiction-archive\/whats-in-a-name\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s in a Name?"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n
\"\"

image from This is What I Leave You<\/em> series by Maya Caulfield<\/p><\/div>\r\n

\u00a0<\/h3>\r\n

What’s in a Name?<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n

Shannon Evans<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Cotton attended The Academy, a small, private kindergarten through twelfth grade school that advertised college preparatory courses in small class settings. Her parents first moved her to The Academy in fifth grade to avoid mandatory desegregation of the small southern town\u2019s elementary schools. Next year for sixth grade, Cotton would have been forced to go to middle school at Booker T. Washington in the former \u201ccolored\u201d high school building. For Cotton\u2019s parents, that building was \u201cnot a good fit\u201d for their daughter. So she continued from the elementary school at The Academy to the Upper School that housed a middle and high school.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Cotton\u2019s first class was with Mrs. Hairston for English. When the bell rang, she joined her classmates as they scurried out the hall. They all looked a bit lost and confused as they bobbed and weaved around the taller, much cooler upperclassmen. Cotton found Mrs. Hairston\u2019s room just in time to slink into a seat before the tardy bell rang.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cWelcome, students! I am Mrs. Hairston.\u201d She elongated the vowels so it seemed that it took forever for Hah-ston to roll out of her mouth. A willowy woman with tight pin curls that framed her perfectly made-up face, she wore a sensible Madras plaid shirtdress, matching Izod belt, and espadrilles. \u201cThis year we are going to split our time between learning to write academic research papers and reading some great works of literature. Before I hand out your textbooks, do you have any questions?\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Cotton raised her hand tentatively.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cYes?\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cYour name is Hahston? But it\u2019s spelled H-A-I-R-S-T-O-N?\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cSo why isn\u2019t that Hairston? What English rule changes the air to an ah?\u201d The question seemed innocent enough. Little did Cotton know she was digging a deep hole for herself early in the semester.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cBecause my husband\u2019s father was a Hahston and his father before him and his father before him.\u201d She picked up the glasses that hung from the gold chain around her neck and peered over them. \u201cWhat is your name?\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cMary Haskell Pridmore, but my friends call me Cotton.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Mrs. Hairston took a deep breath and released it slowly. Looking over her tortoise shell half lenses she said, \u201cI see. Your mother is a writer and editor at the paper?\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cYes, ma\u2019am.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n

<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Mrs. Hairston continued to study Cotton. Cotton wiggled her feet, not sure what to do next.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cI see.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The teacher began calling the students to her desk to take a book from one of the tall piles on her desk.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cMary Haskell.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Cotton slowly approached the desk, took a book, and gently handed it to the teacher to be recorded. She held her hand back out for the book. The teacher paused and looked Cotton square\u00a0in the eye. \u201cMy husband\u2019s father\u2019s father\u2019s father\u2019s father. The Hah-stons were some of the earliest land owners on either side of the Tombigbee.\u201c She shoved the book into the girl\u2019s hands.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cYes ma\u2019am.\u201d Cotton returned to her desk, confused as to why her teacher was touchy about her married name.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

That night at dinner Cotton\u2019s father led the way into the dining room. \u201cLet\u2019s go ahead and eat. Your Mama is running late at the paper again. How was the first day of school?\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Cotton\u2019s sister Liza regaled him with updates on all her new classes. There was much discussion about her new position on the school newspaper staff.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cDaddy?\u201d Cotton interrupted.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cYes, Baby?\u201d He took a fresh slab of cornbread from the plate their cook, Annie Ruth, had brought from the sideboard and dipped it in his bowl of chili.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cI have an English teacher whose name is Mrs. Hairston, but she pronounced it Haaaaahhhh-ston. She got annoyed with me when I asked her to explain how H-A-I-R is pronounced, hah.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n

<\/p>\r\n

Daddy sat back in his chair, cocked his head to the side, and finished chewing a bite of food. He wiped his mouth. \u201cHairston, huh? Did she tell you why?\u201d He held his bowl out to be served by Annie Ruth, who shuffled around the table in her worn, white, hand-me-down SAS shoes. \u201cAnnie Ruth, you right! Them black beans are better than pinto beans in the chili!\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Cotton also held out her bowl for the chili, then answered her daddy\u2019s question. \u201cNo, she just said it was a name that went way back in her husband\u2019s family and that they were an old local family on both sides of the river.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cUh huh\u2026ok\u2026Hahston is the white branch of the Hairston family. When the slaves were freed they often took on the names of their former owners. The white Hairstones adjusted the pronunciation of their names to differentiate themselves from the black Hairstons. They didn\u2019t want folks to assume they were related or lowborn.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cOh, well, that\u2019s silly. I can\u2019t imagine why they\u2019d go to that much trouble.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cWhen it comes to color in the South, they do.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cWhat would happen if a Hahston Hairston married a Hairston Hairston?\u201d Cotton asked.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cCrosses would get burned. Now, Mary Haskell, hush. That is not going to happen in my lifetime in Mississippi.\u201d Using her given name was her father\u2019s way to end the conversation.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cDaddy\u201d \u2014Cotton contemplated her tea glass a second\u2014 \u201cwhat a sad life her family must live to feel like they had to change the way they say their last name just because they were afraid of being confused for a black person.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cCotton Girl, it is just the old ways. One day they will die out, just not today.\u201d He pushed back his plate, rang the small bell by his waiting dessert plate, and called to the kitchen. \u201cAnnie Ruth, I hear tell you made us some of your famous buttermilk pound cake.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n

\"\"<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n

Shannon Evans <\/strong>is a Southern author accidentally born north of the Mason Dixon. She is an MFA in Creative Writing student.<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 What’s in a Name? Shannon Evans Cotton attended The Academy, a small, private kindergarten through twelfth grade school that advertised college preparatory courses in small class settings. Her parents Continue Reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2919,"featured_media":0,"parent":1301,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/welter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/832"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/welter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/welter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/welter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2919"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/welter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=832"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/welter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/832\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1572,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/welter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/832\/revisions\/1572"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/welter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/welter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}