The Courage of Elvis Presley.

[MauriceColgan]

Often we read and hear how Elvis was protected by his mother and friends during his life in Mississippi, and later at High School in Memphis.
Yet Elvis openly befriended black people in Mississippi of all places. Before "Mississippi Burning" before "In The Heat of the Night".
Surely we should look again at this remarkable young man and his sheer nerve? A strange fruit indeed!

[Sonny]

Yes, he did, that's true.

But despite the fact that maybe he was going places the older white and black people wouldn't dream of going at the time, we also should keep in mind that when Elvis visited such places he was very young.

And he did not care either. My bet is he wasn't even thinking anything of it, and that was his strenght.
Back when he was a child and also in later years.

Sonny

[MauriceColgan]

Yes, he did, that's true.

But despite the fact that maybe he was going places the older white and black people wouldn't dream of going at the time, we also should keep in mind that when Elvis visited such places he was very young.

And he did not care either. My bet is he wasn't even thinking anything of it, and that was his strenght.
Back when he was a child and also in later years.

Sonny

That's exactly what I am getting at. Elvis was already his own man as a child. Not the tied -to- apron -strings child we discoverd in biographies but a wild young boy exploring and discovering the world around him.

Tupelo is pretty much spread out and Elvis and his pals would have known all the shortcuts to places of interest. With Gladys and Vernon at work Elvis would have had far more freedom than we are lead to believe.

Having spoken with a lot of older people in Tupelo about their childhood there, we have seen another view of what it was like to grow up in that particular area of segregated Mississippi.

[Diane]

I agree Maurice, Elvis wasn't tied to his mother's apron strings as much as has been said through the media and elsewhere. He seemed to have gone "exploring" as much as any other child. I think he was very close to his mother, maybe a little more than most young boys and I'd be willing to bet that his sense of being unprejudiced came partly from her as well as his own deep inner feelings. And you're right it was very brave! Anyone agree? Diane

[Dovey]

Yes Diane, I agree with you 100%... he was very close to his mother but she did not always know where he was or who he was with.... I have read in many books that he often spent much time with young black girls.

Elvis was a free spirit and I admire him for his humble beginning and the wonderful way he always treated people. His parents played a big part in the early years of his life but he never forgot where he came from and what it was like to be poor and spend a lot of money giving to many people. Dovey.

[MauriceColgan]

Yes we can imagine Elvis on his bike roaming far and wide like children do without their parents, relatives and even friends knowing about it.

Our own two adolescent children having been told to stay close to home often rode 20 miles or so in every direction. We learnt this later when they were old enough to inform us Common sense decrees Elvis would have done much the same. Boys will be boys:-)

Poor children everywhere often earnt the few pennies or cents to go to the movies, imagine the myriad of influences on Elvis's young mind when he and his pals went to the Lyric.

The Lyric cinema in Dublin city in the 40s was a flea pit where youngsters were squeezed two to a seat:-) If our parents knew we went there they would have been not to pleased to say the least.

Elvis's birthplace seen through the water jets from the "Fountain of Life"
Not only Elvis lived in a modest little house. We do now. Maureen in our front garden.