Mother Pearl Graham stands as a living symbol of resilience in one of Jacksonville’s most well-known historically Black neighborhoods.<\/p>\n
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 This Black History Month, Vivid Hues is taking you into Jacksonville’s historic Eastside\u2014lovingly known as Out East\u2014through the eyes of local artists and the voices of those who lived its history.<\/p>\n
Each Monday in February, Good Morning Jacksonville Anchor, Keitha Nelson will highlight the people and places that shaped \u00a0Jacksonville’s last 19th-century historically Black neighborhood, still intact. Today’s story centers on a woman whose life reflects resilience, faith, and transformation: Mother Pearl Graham.<\/p>\n
Pearl’s journey began far from Jacksonville. Raised in Georgia, she spent her early years picking cotton and enduring what she describes as years of sexual and physical abuse. By the age of 13, she was already a mother, pregnant as a result of rape.<\/p>\n
At just 18 years old, Pearl made a decision that would change her life.<\/p>\n
She boarded a train heading south guided by the advice of a stranger and the hope that anywhere would be better than where she had been.<\/p>\n
“I had a brown paper bag, and my sister, and a baby, and I said wherever I land, that’s just where it’s going to be. But it’s better than here,” Graham said. “And everything else is history.”<\/p>\n
She stepped off the train in Jacksonville in the late 1960s with little more than determination and faith.<\/p>\n
“I said, ‘God, don’t let me be broke, don’t let me be a whore.’ I said, ‘Let me always keep money in my pocket,'” Graham recalls.<\/p>\n
A simple newspaper ad would soon redirect her path. A local dry cleaner was hiring, Pearl applied and got the job.<\/p>\n
Though she faced racism from the shop’s owner, Pearl’s work ethic spoke louder than prejudice. She earned trust through persistence, showing up early, staying late, and doing whatever was needed, including cleaning the bathrooms.<\/p>\n
By 1975, she had done the unthinkable: Pearl Graham purchased Spot Rite Cleaners, the very business where she once worked.<\/p>\n
“I started cleaning the bathroom that I own now,” Graham exclaimed.<\/p>\n
Today, along A. Philip Randolph Boulevard, formerly Florida Avenue, just blocks from EverBank Stadium, a brightly colored row of storefronts stands as a testament to her journey. Mother Pearl owns the entire block.<\/p>\n
Despite earning advanced degrees and becoming a pastor, Pearl is most proud of the name the community knows her by.<\/p>\n
“I have a doctorate degree, masters, I’m a pastor and all that, but I just love Mother Pearl,” Graham said. “Anytime I introduce myself, it’s Mother Pearl.”<\/p>\n
She is a fixture Out East, praying with the homeless, helping those in need, and extending the same grace once shown to her.<\/p>\n
Her name has changed over the years, but her purpose has not.<\/p>\n
“Before I really got saved, they called me Pretty Pearl,” she laughs. “After I found Jesus, I said I don’t want that name anymore.”<\/p>\n
History lives in these moments. In these streets. In these stories.<\/p>\n
“I love Out East, ’cause Out East been good to me,” Graham said. “You understand \u2014 it’s been really good to me.”<\/p>\n
\nFeatured Artist <\/p>\n
The first featured artist this month is Alisha Lewis, a fourth-generation Eastsider.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts with a focus in ceramics, a minor in Art History and African American Studies from the University of Florida. After years of working as an independent artist and educator, she obtained a Master of Professional Studies, Business of Art and Design, from the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, Maryland. \u00a0To learn more, visit her website<\/a>.<\/p>\n