Jacque’s Honor Honors a Legacy

by Ernie McCray

There’s a dear friend of mine,
Jacquenese A. Barnes Price,
Jacque for short,
who will soon be an inductee
in the Hall of Fame
at Tucson High,
an honor she comes by honestly
because she was prepared naturally
for such esteem
by a mother
who stands as an iconic
Black social and political activist
in Tucson’s history,
a woman we kids used to call
“Miss Freddie,”
a woman who was dear to me just from how
she ran the Estevan Recreation Center
in the 40’s and the 50’s
during the Old Pueblo’s
Jim Crow years
when Negroes aka Colored Folks
were kept separate from White folks
in cafes and swimming pools and skating rinks
and hotels and motels and movie theaters.

Such a world was hard for us to understand.

But when we set foot
in that shabby building,

just a few yards distance from the segregated swimming pool,

we were in loving hands

as Miss Freddie

watched over us

like a mother bear

tending to her cubs,

providing us with board games

that compelled us to play with words and spell

and problem solve and strategize

and realize

we were as good as anybody,

and I’ll always remember how she used

to point out

ideas for us to think about

in the movies she screened for us,

especially if it related to

being decent, and speaking up, and doing what’s right.

And I could see

when she’d bring her daughter, Jacque, around

that she was being guided

on the same path

upon which

we rec center brats

were being led,

so, from where I sit, it is no surprise

that she’s being recognized

at Tucson High

for her many achievements in life:

being mentioned in a museum

of Arizona Black History

as the University of Arizona’s

first African American member of the UA Pom-line;

being highly recognized

as one of the school’s outstanding alumni,

a graduate who has accumulated

leadership awards,

and civil rights awards,

and pursuit-of-justice awards,

and has worked in the area of racist covenants

leading to state guidelines,

always at the ready

to help people improve their lives.

Jacque’s honor
honors her mother’s legacy

of giving

to one’s community

and since a Hall of Fame

is a place of perpetuity,

her picture on the wall

might inspire someone

down the line

to also give to their world

for the betterment of humankind.

Oh, Miss Freddie would be so proud.
Because all of that was what she was about.