We're Gonna Make It

By Shirley Everett-Dicko
​Updated: Oaklandside

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Dorothy Turner Everett

We may not have a cent to pay the rent but we’re gonna make it
​ I know we will

Dorothy Turner Everett said "I thought that I would never earn more than $2.00 dollars an hour.  With nine children I always believed that God would make a way for us.  I had a dream.  I wanted to build something that my children could fall back on.  He answered my prayers."  Check out our upcoming 50th anniversary exhibit at oacc.cc/event/everettjones/ 

Growing up this song by Little Milton was on repeat in our house.  By then my mom was a single parent.  My dad and mom divorced and Dad moved to Albany, New York.  She played this song to encourage herself that everything would be alright.

Harry Mock and his contribution to Oakland's Black barbeque culture will be explored in August at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center https://oacc.cc/ https://www.instagram.com/oaklandasiancc/

​We’re Gonna Make It
Sung By Little Milton - May 19, 1965
Written By: Billy Davis, Carl Smith,
Gene Barge, Raynard Miner

We may have to eat beans every day 
but we’re gonna make it, I know we will.
And if a job is hard to find 
And we have to stand in the welfare line
I’ve got your love and you got mine 
So we’re gonna make it, I know we will.

We may not have a home to call our own
But we’re gonna make it, I know we will
We may have to fight hardships alone
But we’re gonna make it, I know we will
Cause togetherness brings peace of mind
We can’t stay down all the time
I’ve got your love and you know you got mine
So we’re gonna make it, I know we will

Our car may be old, our two rooms cold
But we’re gonna make it, I know we will
We may not can spare a roach a crumb
But we’re gonna make it, I know we will
And if I have to carry around a sign
Sayin help the deaf, the dumb, and the blind
I got your love and you know you got mine
So we’re gonna make it, I know we will

We’re gonna make it
We’re gonna make it, baby
It might seem hard sometime
But don’t worry, darlin baby
We’re gonna keep on tryin

---

My mother was born Dorothy Turner on July 28, 1932, in rural Choctaw County, Alabama.  She was the oldest daughter of eight children from her mother Maybelle Everett.  Her father Leslie Turner and her mother Maybelle were never married.

Grandma Maybelle, three of her daughters Minnie Lee, Ethel Lee, and Bobbie Jean, and stepfather Allen Gandy.

Dorothy worked at a domestic cleaning house in Alabama until, as part of the wave of African Americans leaving the segregated south looking for a better life.  She migrated to Oakland, California in 1952, with her husband the late Reverend Cleveland A. Everett, and three young daughters.
 
Dorothy’s first job in California was cleaning houses in the city of San Leandro.  Dorothy later worked at Wolf’s Records in West Oakland on the historic 7th Street selling popular black records- they were called "race records" back then to the growing Black population in West Oakland.  Dorothy also worked as a waitress at the Continental Club on 12th Street in West Oakland, where she saw legendary Blues performers live, and later as a cook at the Original Jenkins Bar-B-Que on 7th Street in West Oakland.

Two natural forces were born in 1973, Hip Hop and Everett & Jones Barbeque, both will celebrate 50 years in 2023.  Five decades of Everett and Jones Barbeque, which continues to succeed and inspires the third generation of family pitmasters and BBQueens.  My late mother and five deceased siblings' legacy will live on! Black Girl Magic!

To read more about West Oakland's famous and historic 7th Street BBQ and Blues Legacy, click on the link 7th Street Barbeque Legacy    

Shirley Everett-Dicko and Ken McGhee

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