My Uncle Norman

Norman Alphonso Joseph 1925-1985

My Uncle Norman (Norman Alphonso Joseph) recently created quite the stir on Facebook and Instagram. Dead thirty-plus years, he was not only my favorite uncle but was loved by as many people as he frustrated, I do believe. He always did for others–tried to help the community, tried to take care of his family, tried to make up for his mistakes (with the ladies, I also believe).

Of course, when I knew him I was mostly a kid and he was the uncle with the convertible, who drove fast, and took me and my brother on long trips in the country (we lived in the country, but whenever we went to Dayton, Ohio with Uncle Norman, we seemed to take the backroads, the untraveled pavement.

Now, after doing some research on the 1960s and 1970s, I imagine, he chose to traipse through the backcountry of Ohio because it was the best way (safest way) for a black man to travel. He likely had one of those books–you may have heard of them–but one of the titles was The Negro Motorist Green Book. Of course, by 1966, after the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the last edition of the book was printed under a new name: Traveler’s Green Book: International Edition.

My Uncle Norman was a handsome man, now, wasn’t he?