Walker 1
Garren M. Walker
Dr. Washella T. Simmons
ENGL 1102-WH2
24 March 2019
The Importance of Heritage and History: Understanding the Value and Quality of Family
Heirlooms in Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use”
At the close of one era and the beginning of a new era, Alice Walker sets “Everyday Use”
in rural Georgia around the early 1970s. This particular decade in the South, especially Georgia,
is an ice breaker for people of color. Just a few years earlier, President Lyndon B. Johnson had
just signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the act that attempted to end discrimination based on
“race, color, religion, or nationality” (Ginsberg 214). African Americans had legally overcome
segregation but still dealt with certain issues. Everything that a person of color possessed during
this time was very important to them and close to their heart. They worked tirelessly for
everything they had and often made the items themselves, which is often passed down through
generations – becoming family heirlooms. Dee/Wangero claims to understand the importance of
the Johnson family heirlooms which goes to include the butter churn top and dasher, a bench,
and Grandma Dee’s quilts. Why does Dee/Wangero feel like Mama and Maggie do not
understand the value of the Johnson family heirlooms when they clearly respect them enough to
put them to everyday use? Sarnowski feels that Dee/Wangero “understands the value of what the
dominant society says is worthless” (Sarnowski 275). It appears that Dee/Wangero doesn’t
respect the family’s heritage by changing her name, attempting to take items that are currently
seen as everyday essentials, and questioning Mama’s strong connection to heritage.
Walker 2
Merriam-Webster defines heirloom as “something of special value handed down from
one generation to another” (“heirloom”). If the reader looks closely, they can identify that the
items Dee/Wangero wants have been in the family for quite some time. Mama tells us that the
churn top was whittled out of tree by Uncle Buddy (Walker 153), the dasher was whittled by
Aunt Dee’s first husband, Henry also known as “Stash” (153), and the two quilts that belonged to
Grandma Dee was comprised of different patterns, scraps of dresses, and different sentimental
pieces that were special to the family (153). Why would someone want to take something so
valuable and use it as décor when it is contributing to Mama and Maggie’s everyday life?
Even before her involvement with the Black Nationalist Movement, Dee/Wangero rejects
the lifestyle and conditions under which she was raised. Mama indicates this when she says, “…
