Remembering Granddaddy

Growing up in the south, Anthony Heyward revered his grandfather as the definition of masculinity and character — a perception that would be reinforced by a tense exchange between the man and a local bank manager. Heyward (BMCC 09) was a teenager at the time, but the incident stayed with him. He wrote about it in a memoir entitled Granddaddy, which has been selected for publication in the 2009 edition of Nota Bene, Phi Theta Kappas literary honors anthology. Founded in 1918, PTK is the international honor society of two-year colleges.

Heyward is currently pursuing a double major—in English and education—at City College and preparing for a career as a teacher. Prior to attending BMCC, I had only a general knowledge of what it meant to be a teacher and what I might accomplish in a classroom, he says. What I got from BMCC was a passion for the possibility of activism through education—and an understanding of how I might be able to turn that passion into ways for students from urban areas to overcome some of their disadvantages.

Finishing touches
Clearly, much of that passion is part of the legacy Heyward inherited from his grandfather. Id been working on Granddaddy for quite some time, but it was in my last semester at BMCC that I got it into shape with the help of my creative writing teacher, Dr. Carlos Hernandez, he says.

As a man of color growing up in the South in the 1930s and 40s, Heywards granddaddy — his name was Joseph Smith—never had the opportunities that would later be open to his children and grandchildren. In those days, racism in the South was very brutal and many people died, Heyward says.

Their stories were never told. My grandfather was one of the ones who survived, but he had to work incredibly hard to take care of his family. At the same time, he made sure that his children and grandchildren all had a chance to work with him and to learn what it meant to get your hands dirty.

A mechanic by trade, Granddaddy also ran a landscaping business on the side. Hed work all day at his mechanics job, come home, change his clothes, and then do yard work around the neighborhood, says Heyward.

Late one hot August afternoon, Heyward and his grandfather were cutting the grass on the grounds of a bank. Afterwards, I observed my grandfather having words with the bank manager—apparently over payment. But he showed what I thought was incredible restraint and, on the drive home, didnt say a word to me.

Lessons for living
After Granddaddys funeral in 1993, the family gathered to share a meal and stories. I talked about the time Granddaddy had been cheated by this man and done nothing to defend himself—and my uncles and older cousins all laughed at me, Heyward says. It turned out that he had done this same thing with each and every one of them—same bank, same bank manager, year after year—because he wanted to show us what not to do in business. He was just trying to teach us a lesson.

It was the importance of that lesson—what it meant to Heyward and what it said to him about his grandfather—that inspired him to write Granddaddy. No doubt it will shape the kind of teacher he becomes as well.

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