Ethel Bell Wesley

Ethel is an example of a woman who worked hard and lived a normal life, and may never receive public affirmation for what she did, but she raised a family in a very prejudiced South, and all her children are doing well, working, and raising families of their own. Her legacy of strength, perseverance, and loyalty lives on in subsequent generations, each of whom opens the door to new opportunities for the next. In the words of her granddaughter Roslyn, “Because of who she was, I am who I am, and my mother is who she is.” 

Ethel grew up in a large family who lived in a poor, cotton-picking community outside Albany, Georgia. She was born in 1910, during the post-slavery era, although slavery definitely was not in the distant past. Her family struggled financially, toiling as sharecroppers in a beautiful, albeit racist, South. As a young woman Ethel married Isom Wesley, leaving Georgia for Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Together, the couple had thirteen children, eight of whom lived to adulthood. Family was a source of great joy and pride for Ethel. She worked hard to raise her children “right,” teaching them respect, particularly for their elders, and giving them the strength to confront a racist system that often treated them unfairly.

Despite her own hurtful experiences with the white community, Ethel was not embittered. She never had anything negative to say about whites, and taught her children to respect all people. Ethel was very pleased with her granddaughters who, living around white people outside Florida, developed “proper talking.” When they were visiting, Ethel would ask them to read Bible verses in church. She was proud of her family and everything they accomplished—when she was growing up if black people spoke in proper English they were opening themselves to attack from the white community for not “knowing their place." 

As a married woman Ethel worked within the home, doing the cleaning, the laundry, and the cooking. She was known for making the best biscuits, frequently requested by her visiting grandchildren. Her grandkids didn’t just visit her, she visited them as well. She loved to travel, and if her family was far away, Ethel didn’t miss an opportunity to voyage to wherever they were, staying about a month. Of course, with eight children to look after, Ethel became very adept at keeping everyone in line. Although she left spanking to her husband, all the children knew that their mother could lay down the law—even her twenty-one grandkids knew better than to mess with Grandmother.

Ethel was as loving as she was firm, though. She took care of everyone around her. When her husband lost the ability to speak, it was Ethel who interpreted for him. She loved a house full of people. Even though she lived in modest rentals until one of her sons bought her a house in Ft. Lauderdale, there was always room for family, and more family—sometimes sleeping three or four to a bed. In fact, the importance of a large, extended family is one of many values Ethel passed on. Whether you married in or entered the family in some other way, once you got in you were family to Ethel. The idea of it taking a community to raise a child, loyalty, and the moral obligation to take care of one another, are all parts of Ethel’s legacy to her family.

Ethel was deeply loyal to her family as well as her church, the Church of God in Christ, where she was referred to respectfully as “Mother Wesley.” She attended service every week, accompanied the congregation on church trips, and participated in activities such as the women’s group until 2000, when she passed away at ninety years of age. She passed on the tradition of service, serving the community, being actively involved in the church, and of giving back to the community.

Written by one of her daughters, Anitra Farrington, and two of her granddaughters, Roslyn and Evette Farrington

Locate on Walk:

• Naming Wall (Right Wall), 3-5