Diaz, D. (2020) Vertamae Smart - Grosvenor. Personally Commissioned by Loren Cahill.
Vertamae Smart-Grosvenor sought her entire life to be in deeper alignment with her people. Following the vibrations of her heart and her race, Vertamae became a self proclaimed ‘culinary griot’ by intuitively ritualizing her diaspora. She was born in the Gullah Islands in the Low Country of South Carolina; a proud daughter gifted with a beautiful legacy of culture and survival. She later moved with them as a child to Philadelphia during the Great Migration. As a Blackgirl, she went on to fully embrace the food, culture, and community in Philadelphia (Click hyperlink to view map of Vertamae most frequented Philadelphian locations). She was a big fan of the Black arts and was even friends with Nina Simone in her younger years. She left Philadelphia at 19 for Paris to pursue a career on stage. Verta was a backup singer, dancer, and later costume designer for Sun Ra & His Solar-Myth Arkestra. She ultimately found success as an actress on iconic films Daughters of the Dust and Beloved and even starred on Broadway. But what Vertamae always found herself returning to was food. Her work as a food writer and culinary anthropologist led her to her greatest acclaim. Her cookbook - memoir, Vibration Cooking: or, The Travel Notes of a Geechee Girl (1970), moves beyond memories, and gave a glimpse of how Black migrants lived and what they ate in postwar Philadelphia as well as foodways she experienced in Paris, New York, and Rome, the Caribbean and the Congo. Forever on a quest to archive Blackness, Vertamae was also a researcher of Black domestic workers and longtime NPR contributor. Vertamae Smart-Grosvenor died of natural causes at the age of 79. Vertamae's enduring legacy celebrates both Black mothers and daughters who practice cooking as both an art form and a demonstration of freedom. I was so elated to learn that Julie Dash is currently creating a full length documentary on her life. I was deeply saddened to learn that because of gentrification nearly every space where Vertamae left her imprint on in Philadelphia no longer exists. This short illusory rap is written from the perspective of Vertame. To evoke her own words, “i do not consider myself a writer, i am a rapper. therefore do not read this piece silently … rap it aloud.” I request the following of my readers.
Image Caption: Erdman 1700 Block Street sign nearby where Vertamae’s childhood home, 1719 Erdman St. used to be erected.
Ode to Philly I Once Knew
A Three Story Rowhouse on Erdman Street is where I grew.
We followed my grandmother to North Philly with a whole gullah crew.
5 families out of 7 on my block were Geechee too
“Whenever Daddy went crabbing it was a real treat.
We would have enough crabs for all of Erdman street.”
Even though rent was only $17 some months it was pretty bleak
Often as a family we struggled to make ends meet.
We later had to move to 203 Norris Street.
That’s where we stayed while I attended Kensington High to get my grades.
There was this fish spot on Ridge Ave called Porgy and Bass.
My mother went there to make the best catfish stew if I didn’t sass
My ritual lies in the food that I create.
I wrote cookbooks so that you could get a plate.
So much of who I am and who I came to be
Is indebted to the city that raised me.
But if you go to Philly today you would not see my trace.
Every place I lived or frequented has been demolished and erased.
Seems that “White folks always discovering something after we give it up
By the time they got to the boogaloo, we were doing the tighten up
By the time they got to pigs’ feet, Black folks were giving up swine.”
It would appear that our city of love that we once knew has run out of time.
-- 🖤 --
Footnote: Every quotation in this rap was written by Vertamae herself and selected from her text Smart-Grosvenor, V. (2011). Vibration Cooking: or, The Travel Notes of a Geechee Girl. University of Georgia Press.
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