IF ONLY THE PAST HAD BEEN SO BRIGHT-Alice Moseley was born in 1909 but she was a very progressive lady who judged people by the content of their character, not their race, social status, wealth, or poverty. To those few of us who remember segregated days, my mom's paintings always included behaviors that just did not happen in the segregated South; i.e., a black and white child sharing a watermelon, or a black lady walking her child and a white child together. William Faulkner wrote that ""It is not enough to endure life's vicissitudes and injustices, one must prevail over them". In the segregated South, black people shared with friends a lot of music and laughter and a love of life. They also were able to build, against overwhelming odds, a community that was loving, structured and supportive. That they were able to do so certainly was not a reflection of how happy they were in an oppressive social and economic system, but a reflection of their ability to not only endure but to prevail over the existing injustices. Alice Moseley retitled this painting to explicitly make clear to younger people that her paintings were not a celebration of the past, but a tribute to those people, black and white, who not only endured those injustices, but who prevailed over them. Alice Moseley included herself among those who prevailed in spite of many sorrows and hardships.
