Bailee Brown Class of 2029 Our Grandmothers Walls: Reclaiming Our Stories
Our Grandmothers Walls: Reclaiming Our Stories
As I started the tour at Uncle Nearest Greens Distillery, Dr. Hite's words stuck with me,” Our Grandmothers are our first historians”. The walls, when you first enter the distillery, are covered with portraits of love and honor. The walls remind us of our grandmothers' walls, the walls that show the humanity and pride within black cultures. These walls are often filled with marriages, graduations, and accomplishments. The portrayal of us within our grandmothers' walls is much different than the portrayal of African Americans in the media. In the media, we were seen as “the help” they contained to a box labeled “Black Jobs” as our current president likes to say. However, our grandmothers' walls show us how great those before us were, and that there is no such thing as a “black job”. The walls in Uncle Nearest's Green Distillery, as well as the story of Uncle Nearest, show us this exactly. The walls alone, aligned with historical greatness, show us that there are no limits to African American greatness.
To understand the distillery, we were taken to the speakeasy as one of our first stops on the tour. This speakeasy was filled with furniture from the twentieth century and older antique pieces. Here we learned the story of Uncle Nearst Green. Uncle Nearst was a formerly enslaved black man who was known as the master distiller of Tennessee Whiskey. While he was not widely known, he was a mentor for Jasper Daniel, also known as Jack Daniel. Their teacher-student relationship was defined as a friendship. The culture and the love seen in the distillery are something a reader couldn't quite get from the book. Our tour guide was a prime example of this love, as he had been the first tour guide for Nearest Green since they opened. He talked about the love in the business as well as how close-knit their relationships were with one another. He also allowed us to understand the love the staff had for their customers. He explains how the whiskey tastings were done to the fullest degree to ensure the customers' happiness. Shelby, Tennessee, as a location, creates a more intimate setting for the whiskey business. Not only is the company a very tight-knit community, but Keith Weaver, co-founder of Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey, says that the location has allowed those with different political views to come together, whether they be black businessmen from Atlanta or MAGA supporters from Tennessee. The difference between Tennessee and Atlanta is undeniable; however, in Shelb,y Tennessee, the black entrepreneurship that has been long-standing in Atlanta, paired with the rich history of Tennessee Whiskey, ties the two very different cities together.
While in the speakeasy we are also presented with a memorial for the women who fought in the prohibition movement. There are thirty six seats in the distillery which represent tennessee as the “Perfect 36th” state for suffrage, along with this were floor boards which were engraved with qoutes from important figures during the movement. The memorial inside of a whiskey distillery proved to be ironic, however by acknowledging the struggle of these women Fawn shows how memory of these events can still be preserved in industries that have once tried to silence them. The distillery confronts the historical tension head on by showing how they can still work with our historical truths, rather than avoiding them.
After leaving the speakeasy our tour continued, the tour guide explained the accomplishments of Fawn Weaver as well as the company. Walking through the distillery we were told about the future business plans; the possibility of a theme park as well as sponsorships from major brands. As students who are black women, this change in scenery from the classroom to the distillery allowed us to see the power that we have within ourselves. It allowed us to see ourselves as the people depicted on our grandmothers walls rather than accepting the limitations our counterparts place on our potential.
Complication or Tension:
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