You Are My Sunshine, Helen Juanita

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• You Are My Sunshine, Helen Juanita
• Aneesah Nu'Man (bio)

Once there was a thriving village named Woodburn. It was nestled in the Pennyroyal region of Kentucky. As time passed, Woodburn faded and became crinkled and desiccated as old things do. But about one hundred years ago, Woodburn had many loving families and bountiful farms that yielded delicious nutrition. It was there that the Donoho and Thurman families relocated and united in holy matrimony.

This is where our story begins. William Howard Donoho (1862-1928) and James Elizabeth "Lizzie" Thurman (1876-1966), affectionately known as "Mama Lizzie," married in Hartsville, Tennessee but created a family and a legacy that began in Warren County, Kentucky. William was the color of switchgrass in the fall and had a thick mustache like Bass Reeves. He worked as an engineer and fireman at the local flour mill. Mama Lizzie had skin the color of mitochondrial Eve's bones, hair like broomcorn in color, texture, and smell, and eyes like the cool, clear water that ran from the creeks in nearby Rich Pond, Kentucky.

William's parents were quiet stoics named Dave Donoho (1832-1890's), a farmer and laborer, and Rilla Clardy (1844-1914), a homemaker. They were both residents of Hartsville, Tennessee (formerly called Donoho's Mill) in the county of Trousdale, near the big city of Nashville.

Mama Lizzie's father was named Dan Thurman (1847-1905), a reading and writing Civil War hero and a first sergeant in the very prestigious 14^th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry, Company F. Mama Lizzie's mother was named Charlotte Tinsley (1854-1934), an herbalist, midwife, and town sage. When the state came around to inoculate its citizens against smallpox, Charlotte declared to the official that he wasn't "man enough" to inoculate her. Thank you very much, Mr. Government Man, but no thank you.

Woodburn wasn't known for a lot, but it certainly wasn't known for its airs. Woodburn was rich with love, but nobody had any money. No one cared if you were called someone's girl or someone's boy, fifty years before. Therefore, everyone shopped at the local A&P, egalitarily. One day at the people's A&P, Helen—Mama Lizzie and William's precious grandbaby—got to singing the number one song of the year "You Are My Sunshine" at the top of her lungs. Strangers exclaimed "How cute!" and "What a beautiful baby!" and "Awwww!" Helen's mother, Dorothy, was not amused, as she took after the stoic Donoho side and promptly dragged little Helen right out of the store.

Helen was really a daddy's girl, but she adored her Mama Lizzie. Mama Lizzie was a typical grandmother who spoiled her grandchildren with love, affection, and privileges that bemused her own children when they witnessed it.

Mama Lizzie's bungalow style home was located in the Hickory Flat section of Wood-burn: at the crosspike of the railroad tracks. During this time, many young men would [End Page 127] ride the trains from town to town looking for work. Mama Lizzie would regularly feed these men who weren't lucky enough to live with loving families and neighbors who shared what they had freely.

One time Mama Lizzie gave one of these young men the last serving of the peach cobbler. Helen loved peach cobbler, so she pouted when she realized that the last piece went to some "hobo." Mama Lizzie stopped her right there and told little Helen that she "ought to be ashamed" of herself because she always had as much food as she needed and wanted. "That poor man ain't got nothin'." Helen, the golden grandchild, got a memorable whooping that reverberated down to even Helen's grandkids. A refrain in the Donoho-Thurman family is, "Be nice to everyone. You never know who you might need to get a drink of water from."

There were fifteen schools for Black children in Warren County, which was more than any other county in Kentucky. The Woodburn School for Colored Children was not one of the philanthropic projects of Julius Rosenwald. There was a Rosenwald school nearby called Rockfield, but the Woodburn...