GARLIC,GRAPES AND GIOVANNI- My mom was raised in the Thomas section of Birmingham, Alabama, where her father was the Assistant Superintendent of Republic Iron and Steel Company. In the 1920's, and later, large manufacturing companies often built houses for their employees and the employees lived in those houses as a part of their wages. My mom said her dad and the Plant Superintendent had large 2 story houses on either side of the Protestant church on the main street. The other houses on that street were occupied by other management level employees. The next street over had smaller houses occupied by white laborers at the plant. The next street had the Catholic church and the houses were occupied by white laborers who were Catholic. These people were mostly Irish and Italian. The next street was occupied by black workers and the black church. In Mom's childhood, Giovanni was the truck farmer who grew tomatoes,peppers,melons etc., and sold them from his horse drawn wagon. Giovanni, selling his produce, is the subject of this painting. My mom says that when she was about 13 her mother bought her a school hat for every-day wear. My mom said she hated wearing that hat and, one day, while on the streetcar,and being the strong-willed person she was, she quietly slipped the hat out the street car window and into the winds. She said later that day the doorbell rang and when she answered it, there stood Giovanni, beaming with pride that he was able to recognize Miss Alice's hat and bring it back to her. Mom said she smiled politely and thanked him for returning her hat. She also recounted that a few weeks later she"accidentally" spilled ink on that very same hat. As she liked to say life is just full of coincidences.
