Seasoned Saints: Atlanta seniors shaping the city’s history
Seasoned Saints is a series of stories on Atlanta seniors who have helped shape the way the city is seen through local media, community activism, and a national lens. These stories are representative of Black History Month and the people who helped make Black history every day. Some are well-known the world over, while others’ names might only ring a bell within their respective communities. Black history is all around us.
-D. Suggs, Editor in Chief, The Atlanta Voice
“I’m enjoying my life” – Dr. Alyce Ware
When her guests arrived, Dr. Alyce Ware was seated at a table inside an Atlanta senior living facility. She was early for bingo, making sure to get a good seat at the table before the games began. The 94-year-old mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and former educator still makes sure to have her hair and nails done just in case she has company. On a warm Friday afternoon in early February, Ware, dressed in a black and white patterned blouse and matching pants, made her way from the table to a comfortable chair in the corner of the room so she and her guests could talk. She was going to talk to a reporter about her life and times but wasn’t sure why her journey was particularly worthy of a story.
“Why is this a special day?” she asked. “Well, allow me to reintroduce myself, I’m Dr. Alyce Ware,” she said. “I’m from Birmingham, Alabama.”
The visit was more about this year than about any particular day. The Atlanta Voice is turning 60 years old, and Ware, the wife of the late newspaper’s co-founder J. Lowell Ware and the mother of the newspaper’s publisher Janis Ware, played an important part in establishing what is now the city’s longest-running print Black-owned newspaper. The building at 633 Pryor Street was purchased in 1970 to serve as the headquarters for The Atlanta Voice in the city’s Mechanicsville neighborhood. The newspaper has called 633 Pryor Street home ever since. The plan was for Ware to hold the building in her name in the event that the newspaper faced a libel lawsuit or similar issues. Current publisher Janis Ware said her father, the paper’s co-founder, always planned ahead. His wife was part of that plan all along.
She asked if the newspaper was still located within the building. When told it was, she said, “Oh, that’s good.”
Nearing 95 years of age—her birthday is June 19—Ware said she has a hard time remembering many of her times and travels, but she knows she had a good time.
“I’m enjoying my life,” Ware said. “You know, I’m 94, and that’s going on 100 years old. So there’s a whole lot that I don’t remember.”
Photo courtesy of the Ware family
The Importance of Education
Ware taught in Dekalb County and Atlanta Public Schools for 40-plus years, so education was an integral part of her and her two daughters’ lives. She worked as a homebound instructor, teaching children at home because they were unable to attend school for various reasons. For example, some were injured in accidents, while others could not walk. Ware said each child was still a student and that it was her job to ensure they were caught up on their lessons.
“I’d go to the school first and see what their class was doing, then I would teach them at home,” she said.
Ware said she enjoyed teaching because that was the professional lane she was forced to be in at the time.
“That was the only thing I could do being a Black woman at the time,” she said. “They wouldn’t let me teach in those other schools back then.”
She attended A.H. Parker High School, which recently celebrated its 125th anniversary as the first Black high school in the city of Birmingham’s history. The school was a fixture in Birmingham’s Black community for generations, particularly for Ware, who, as the youngest of the four Martin siblings, who like her siblings, went on to attend college at a Historically Black College and University (HBCU) because of the times she grew up in.
“It was very important, and education was the thing. If you didn’t have an education, you were a nobody,” Ware said. “You had to be somebody with an education. A master’s, a doctorate, or whatever you could afford.”
Ware attended Alabama A&M University, where she majored in English and graduated in 1951. She said going to college wasn’t just the next stage in her higher education journey. It was something she dreamed of doing.
“That was something that I wanted, and it was up to me to get it,” Ware said. “Everything I did was up to me.”
On choosing Alabama A&M, she said, “I guess there was something about Alabama A&M.”
She went on to earn a Master’s degree from Columbia University and her Doctorate in Education from Atlanta University. Both advanced degrees were part of her plan to make a lifetime of education.
Like their mother, Janis and her sister, Dr. Rhonda Ware, graduated from college. According to Janis Ware, their mother continues to be an inspiration.
“There’s a strong foundation there,” Janis Ware said about her mother. “You have to appreciate her intelligence, wit, and ability to navigate the system during her time.”
Janis commonly describes her mother as caring, loving, and supportive.
“She may not have always agreed with what you were doing, but she was supportive,” Janis jokes.
Keys to a Good Life
Mr. and Mrs. Ware met in college and, for decades, worked together to provide their adopted city of Atlanta with one of the many Black-owned newspapers that proliferated in the city at the time. The pair had what her daughters called “a good partnership” and a “strong marriage” before Mr. Ware passed away in 1991.
“Marriage is everything,” she said. “Without marriage, there’s no relationship.
Along with having a strong marriage, Ware said traveling and seeing the world is key to enjoying and having a good life. Though she doesn’t travel as often these days, Ware fondly recalled trips to London, Paris, Egypt, and Israel and walking along the Great Wall of China.
“I enjoyed my life. I had a good time traveling and learning,” Ware said.
She also said managing her and her family’s finances led to a less stressful and more enjoyable life. Ware credits her father for teaching her to save money from every single one of her paychecks. This simple yet effective strategy was passed down to her daughters as well.
“My daddy insisted that we save something out of any money we got, and I did,” she said. “I always did that. I never had a check that I didn’t save something out of.”
She added, “And don’t pinch off of it.”
Janis Ware credited her mother for teaching her money management tips early on. Dr. Rhonda Ware said her parents inspired her because she went into education and business, but her mother’s career remains a guiding point.
“She was really a trailblazer in Atlanta Public Schools,” Rhonda said of her mother. “I believe my compassion for children came from her.”
Ware says that in order to grow fully in life, people have to properly manage their finances and own some of what she called “God’s good earth.”
“Because He’s not making anymore,” she explained. “He ain’t making no more, so you own some of the land he left for us.”
When she was done with her interview, Ware had plans to get back to her seat at the table in preparation for bingo. She has always had a seat at the table.
“The main thing about life is, you need to know what you want to do and how you want to do it,” Ware said. “You’ve got to do right for your friends, neighbors, and children.”
