The old cartwheel lay weathered, rusting and forgotten, leaning against an abandoned mule pen at the end of the busy plantation yard. Gone were the days when it was part of a cart, filled with freshly cut sugarcane, and pulled by mules to a sugar factory. Even the mules were gone. The pace of plantation life is much faster now revolving around motor vehicles like, tractors, trucks and harvesters.
I have nostalgic memories of taking my granddad for daily walks to see his mules. Chatting to him about what was happening in my world and climbing high on the old cartwheel, while he listened intently, smiled encouragingly, supporting me as I climbed.
As I was three years old when he died, it is not clear to me how much of my memory is ‘true memory’ and how much has been constructed from family stories told over the years. What I do know is that when I look at my photo of granddad, I feel safe, secure and happy. This is interesting, as in my photo of my grandfather, he is serious and unsmiling, very much the thoughtful professor that he was.
It was not until years later when I was older and had heard more of my family story that I realised the symbolism in those walks with granddad.
As my dad tells the story, the abandoned cartwheel was one designed and patented by my great grandfather Charles Miller, a blacksmith. As a Black man, the son of a slave, Charles Miller had few prospects, because during that time in Barbados social status was based on land ownership and or education. However, Black people were not given bank loans, and most white landowners would not sell land to Black individuals. This wheel changed the family fortunes. Royalties from his patent allowed my great granddad to save and eventually with creativity, purchase his first plantation.
Education was the other key to survival in a world stacked against Black families. While my grandfather left us early, in his will he designated specific funds for the post secondary education of each of his grandchildren.
Little did I realise as a child climbing on the old cartwheel that I was literally standing on the wheel of fortune and that my granddad was helping me to stand upright in more ways than one.