Take a journey with me into Alice's Chillun. Alice's Chillun is my own true story. It's about a Black family that astoundingly developed from a mostly rural environment. The children's circumstances, however, were within the bounds of a strong extended family, which was very prideful, with a dignified Black family history. A family of children who had all the problems of life stacked against them by the failures of their parents, but they were still able to overcome. They have become educated and reached different professional heights and levels within society in just one or two generations where they, their children and their grandchildren are well educated and/or rapidly becoming a family of all educated persons. The significant development of this family resulted from the dreams of our grandmother who implanted these dreams into her granddaughter. Grandmother ("Little Mother") never lost her love or dreams for her only child and her grandchildren. The dreams were then spread among the siblings she helped raise, her great-grandchildren and now, great-great-grandchildren. When we think of the term family, we wonder what that means. Do you think of it as a group of people who are connected through DNA, or do you just think of a mother, father and children? Do you think of an extended family that consists of grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins, or do you think of a collection of people connected by love? I want you to think of my family as one sibling who was given the task to foster her siblings and other family members through life, during some very difficult times, in the early life stages of this family. In this book, you will see a varied definition of what family means-some by real connections, some not by blood alone, some by blood but not connected.
About the Author: Madeline Gervin McCloud was born on February 14, 1943, in Worth County, Georgia. She is the oldest child of the late Alice J. Wright Williams and the late Algere L. Gervin. She graduated from Monroe Senior High in Albany, Georgia, with honors in 1961. Madeline later graduated from Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia, where she received her B.S. Degree; while is attendance, she was on the Dean's List. She accepted a Human Resources all-expense paid Fellowship for a two-year study at the University of Georgia's School of Medical/Administrative Social Work in Athens, Georgia. She completed all requirements for her MSW degree within 18 months after entry. After completing her studies in Social Work, she attended post-graduate education at Mercer University's Community School of Medicine in Macon, Georgia, to become a certified Family Therapist. Since moving to Florida, she attended the University of South Florida where she received a Certification as a Family Dependency Mediator by the Florida Supreme Court. Madeline's hobbies include writing short stories, poetry writing, reading, gardening, decorating and as she states, "quietly remembering" her grandmother's "sayings." Madeline is a member of the prestigious Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority. Madeline is the beautiful wife of Joseph E. McCloud, mother of 3 adult children, and several grandchildren. She is also the granddaughter of the late Rev. Susie Jones Story of Oakfield, Georgia. She has many devoted friends, some of which she shared with us in her book. Madeline is happily retired since starting her career in 1976 and she is enjoying her retirement in Wesley Chapel, Florida. Madeline hopes to shed the light on many issues that concern and affect families; primarily, their encounters, experiences and secrets that lead to hurt, shame and abuse placed on children who then carry these burdens to their children in a vicious cycle that can be stopped or interrupted by all of God's children who have inherited the earth.