What would you sacrifice to eradicate racism, antisemitism, poverty, gender- bias, war? What would you be willing to sacrifice to augment, human rights, and social justice in America? Author Randy Susan Meyers poses these provocative questions in what became one of my (many) favorite books of 2024, curiously titled The Many Mothers of Ivy Puddingstone.
Annabel, a sophomore at Boston School of Practical Art, was raised “to detect the merest whiff of injustice.” Her parents were actively involved, helping the vulnerable, the poor, the disenfranchised. Yet, in 1964, it was difficult for 18 year-old Annabel to get her parents’ permission to register Black voters in Mississippi. Nevertheless, Annabel joined other likeminded students Guthrie, Irene and Helen to work for The Freedom Summer Project in the most racist American state.
Twenty year old supervisor, Clay Williams understood the limits of social interaction between white volunteers and “a colored boy” like himself. Initially Clay resisted Annabel’s naïve flirtations. Risking the KKK’s ubiquitous presence their secret liaisons quickly developed into a mutually “crushing love.” Prophetically, Clay vanished. As rumors of missing or killed volunteers increased and upon insistence from the Black community, Annabel and Guthrie returned to Boston. Guthrie’s adoration for Annabel heightened as did her longing for Clay’s safe return.
Inspired by their Mississippi experience, Annabel and Guthrie vowed, “We had to change the country or die trying”. The opportunity arose in 1965 when Anabel discovers a flyer “seeking a likeminded couple … who must be fervent about fighting for freedom and civil rights”. With financial assistance from both parents, Annabel and Guthrie moved into “Puddingstone” a rambling house that, over years, becomes the residence for five couples and seven children – including Ivy, born in 1966 and Henry, in 1967 to parents Guthrie and Annabel.
Puddingstone’s residents worried about raising their children in a turbulent environment of hate, violence and injustice --- the assassination of Bobby Kennedy in 1968, Martin Luther King in 1969, the Vietnam War protest marches, riots, rallies for women’s rights, student demonstrations at Harvard. Guthrie, a law student, became deeply immersed in politics. Annabel created protest posters and studied art. In 1974, after years of futile struggles to “save the world,” the Puddingstone families’ “devotion to the kids collided with their dedication to political movements.” There wasn’t enough time for both.
And that’s when the five couples founded Roundhouse “an ersatz kibbutz but without the discipline.” Situated on 20 acres of gorgeous farmland in Vermont, Roundhouse would become the residence for the kids supervised by one permanent housemother, the guide for the children. The adult couples
would continue to live in Puddingstone with rotating visits to their begets as their political activism permitted. What could possibly go wrong in this veritable children’s utopia with freedom for civic-minded parents driven to save the world
