| from sharecropping in the south to marching against segregated housing in the north. Being a Christian woman doesn't mean being a door mat, said Madison native Richard Harris, even for Mother Martin, who he describes as proactive and a lifelong agent for change in her own way. "She has always been a kind and caring person and very committed to the community," Harris said. "You could always count on her to speak out on issues for south Madison from bus service to children's programs. She was kind of like the eyes and ears of Ridgewood Way." Mother Martin came by her sense of justice naturally as the grandchild of a former slave, Iverson Grandison, who served as a First Class Colored Boy in the Union Navy from 1863-1865. Grandison fled his master's plantation and boarded the Union Navy boat in 1863. The Union Navy was integrated. "That's how he got his freedom," said his great-granddaughter and Mother Martin's daughter Jeannette Braxton. After the Civil War, Grandison returned to Mississippi and reunited with his family and children. They then moved to Greenville, where he was a wagon driver, or an early deliveryman called a "dryage." G randison's spirit for freedom and independence was passed down through his family for generations to come. Both Martin and her mother shared the same first names, Braxton said. Her grandmother's name was Mary Lee Grandison Black after she married John Black in Greenville, Miss. Mother Martin was born in Greenville, and later moved with the family to a farm in Ball, Mississippi. She was the youngest of what is believed to have been six children. The younger Mary Lee Black met James Braxton in Ball, Mississippi. They were married and moved to Cleveland, Mississippi. It was the early 1930s when Jacob Grandison, Mother Martin's uncle, migrated north to Beloit, Wisconsin. The word of good jobs at Fairbanks & Morse Company in Beloit and other northern factories fueled the great north migration of African Americans from farms in the south, and they became part of this moment in history. But Beloit was still segregated and racist, Braxton said, so Jake moved further north to Madison, where there were fewer Blacks, but the people were more liberal. In the early 1940s, Jim Braxton, Mary Lee Black Braxton and her mother, Mary Lee Grandison Black, boarded a train bound for Wisconsin, leaving Mississippi behind forever. "You can't pull my Mom out of Madison even today," Braxton said. "She's only been back to the south once for a funeral. She wanted to leave the cotton fields and the racism behind." They joined Jake in Madison and found themselves in the middle of an unavoidable struggle for civil rights. Mary Lee Braxton worked as a housekeeper and her husband, Jim Braxton, moved from job to job. He "finally" settled at the Wisconsin Veterans Hospital, where he worked for 30 years along with other jobs on the side. Later in life, he became one of Madison's Black business owners. Mary Lee Braxton landed a job at St. Mary's Hospital in housekeeping and stayed until she retired in the early 1970s. They had two daughters, Beatrice and Jeanette. "My Mom showed me work ethics," her daughter, Jeanette Braxton said. "We didn't have a car and she never missed a day of work, come rain, sleet or snow. She is very religious and a very forgiving person. For the community, my mom always had a garden and she would give all of the neighbors fruits and vegetables. The Fisher Street neighborhood was an extended family like the movie 'Brewster Place,' but everyone worked so hard. Everyone had two or three jobs. When (Mom) wasn't working at St. Mary's, she was doing domestic work." Mother Martin's love of the land and skill in gardening was a blessing to many south Madison residents in the 1960s, Jim Booker said. Everyone knew and respected her, he added. When she wasn't caring for her family, working or gardening, "Ms. Martin," as she is known, too, was at church, south Madison residents say. She was on the Mount Zion Mothers Board with her mother, Mamie Matthews, Addrena Squires recalled. "The church was located at 548 West Johnson St. back then," Squires said, "and she didn't miss a Sunday." Mount Zion Deacon and Mother Clara Franklin said Mary Lee Martin is the same kind-hearted woman she met at church in the 1950s. "She was one of the best altos in Mount Zion's senior choir. They had missionary circles back then and she would open her house for ice cream socials and cake walks. She was a hard worker. She's always been the same woman who loved and cared for her family and children from the first moment I met her until today. She's just the same, she hasn't changed a bit." Like all children of dedicated church families know, you can't get too much church, her daughter Beatrice Chatman said. "My mom has always been very active in Mount Zion Church," Chatman said. "She's sung in the choir and has been on the Mother's Board since before I was born. I grew up in the church. Every time the church door opened, my mother was there and had us there. It's the only church she's ever gone to." "Church has always been social staple for the African American community, Braxton added. "It definitely represented a social life for the adults in the community. They didn't look at it as being social, they looked at it as church work, but it was social. There were chicken dinners, ice cream socials -- we were always selling something. That's how I got into sales. It involved many of the positive things in the black community." Mary Lee and James Braxton later divorced and both remarried. Mary Lee Braxton married William Martin, a deacon at Mount Zion Baptist Church. They also divorced. Mother Martin and her two daughters lived on the corner at 2000 Fisher Street until urban renewal swept through South Madison and the family moved to 921 Ridgewood Way. "She used to walk just about everywhere," said Mount Zion Mother Willie Bea Johnson. "Ms. Martin was very nice; she never had a hard word to say about anyone. She never gossiped about anyone. If any of the neighbors had something bad to say, she wouldn't respond. She'd just say, 'Praise the Lord,' and walk away." Her mom was very stern, but a great role model, Beatrice Chatman said. Much of her life, her mother was a single parent, but she has always been very independent and lived in her home until two years ago. "She raised my sister and I mostly alone and it wasn't easy," Chatman said. Mary Lee Martin was one of the first people to make a lasting impression on Mother Jackie Wright when she and her husband Pastor James C. Wright moved to Madison in 1960. "I always admired Mrs. Martin and the things she accomplished. She is an asset to Madison," said Mother Wright. "The main thing that I admired was that she was working manual labor at St. Mary's Hospital, but saved enough money to buy her own house and she took care of her own business. She would not take welfare or ask the church or anyone for help. She did it all by herself." It wasn't uncommon to see Mary Lee Martin up on her roof fixing tiles or going about needed carpentry and repairs, she said. "She wouldn't hire anybody, she'd do it herself," Wright said. "She had the nicest looking home on the block and a beautiful yard. The house was spotless and her daughters were very well cared for. And she worked hard in the church; she helped to take care of her pastors." When it was the peak of the Civil Rights Movement and while Madison was becoming nationally known for campus unrest, anti-war protests and ground-breaking laws to end housing discrimination and promote equal job opportunities for blacks, Mother Martin was working to hold the community family together. "She loved children and baking, giving her time to the South Madison Neighborhood Center and other community projects. And she never neglected to vote," Wright said. Mother Martin still regularly attends Sunday services with the help of her daughter, Beatrice, and walks to her seat, refusing to be pushed in a wheelchair. It's the fiery spirit for which she's known and no one will challenge her determination to get into the church sanctuary under her own power. Even people who don't personally know Mother Martin have heard about her and recognize how hardworking, good people integrated Madison and opened doors, Betty Banks said. "People like her laid the groundwork for a lot of what we have now," Banks said. "People used to stand up for right. It was a risk that former generations had to take." |
| Living Black History By Valeria Davis |
 |
| Ms. Mary Martin (r) with her daughter, Beatrice Chatman. |
| The life of Mary Lee Black Braxton Martin, the oldest mother at Mount Zion Baptist Church, is a reflection of the past century's Black history. Born in February 1918 in Greenville, Mississippi, she is celebrating her 90th year of blessing in the Lord. Mother Martin is one of Madison's community elders; a woman everyone knows and admires, who during her quiet, consistent and productive life has shown by example what it means to be a strong woman of God. She's also one of the community jewels who lived the historic words of sacred old spirituals |
 |