The Legacies of Judge A.D. Sayre and Zelda Fitzgerald

Introduction

F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald are my grandparents. As with many offspring of celebrities, I have come to experience my ancestry as part curse, but mostly a blessing. However, the blessings do not justify ignoring uncomfortable truths, and so it is with Judge Anthony Dickerson Sayre [note spelling], Zelda’s father. Judge Sayre was the embodiment of White supremacy and became one of its principal enforcers. This collection of articles explores the significant role Judge Sayre played in Alabama during the Jim Crow era. His legacy lasted until the Civil Rights legislation of 1965. The enduring curse is Zelda’s abuse of alcohol and smoking during her pregnancy with my mother, Scottie Lanahan. In a separate article, I will examine the intergenerational effects of alcohol on my family and me.

The quest to know oneself is timeless. A Zen precept states, "Show your original face, before your mother was born.” I looked at this from three perspectives: by forming a better understanding of the neurochemistry of the mind, examining shelves of literature and newspaper articles related to my forebears, and by researching the lives and behaviors common to alcoholic co-dependent families and individuals filtered through the lens of my own experiences. I have come to understand that the neurochemical constellation that embraces both the physical and emotional upwelling of intentions is the ‘original face.’ Every ‘moment’ is therefore unique, never to be reconstructed. There is no perfect understanding of who I am, but I am forever enriched by the journey. This story begins in Zelda’s womb, for ‘showing my original face’ necessitates knowing my grandmother’s intentions before my mother was born.

Life takes many detours, even for the unborn. Brutalist Art is just what the name implies—a mish mash of geometries and materials resulting in deconstructed, industrial, dystopian collages. The brute force nature of this work shares much in common with that art genre. The reader will recognize that I approach this work with none of the credentials demanded of such an undertaking and I admit to lacking any facility with the language [the skills of the fathers are not necessarily visited upon the children]. Nonetheless, this book must be written because it is true and relevant to our times. This story is told through newspaper accounts spanning one hundred years of Alabama history from 1835–1931. With the cruel concision of Judge Sayre, the articles are sparingly represented in these pages and edited for brevity. This site includes a complete catalog of images, newspaper articles and original sources. Earlier, I took the liberty of calling this art; in reality, this collection reflects the organized/disorganized mind of an adolescent. Alas, the result is mine to claim and I take full responsibility for its content. Of course, I did not do it alone; I do not possess the required talent. Hence, this collection relies greatly on David Page and his skilled research into the life of Judge Sayre.

This site adds to the literature of Zelda and her father in important ways. I saw little value in excavating earlier biographies of Zelda that touch on Judge Sayre. Earlier authors simply did not have access to the same resources. Much of this research relies on Newspapers.com. Simply said, the Internet has changed not only research methods but also exponentially expanded available resources. Additionally, I rely on Ancestry.com and google.com/books as tools for uncovering primary resources such as slave schedules, articles in papers, opinions and much more. From these sources emerges the corpus of articles on A.D. Sayre.

This collection is, of course, autobiographical, but I make every attempt to be informed by the evidence and guided by science. Much of what I discuss has been hidden in plain sight. Understanding the evidence is simply a matter of how one is ‘conditioned’ to interpret the data. By applying uniform methodologies, I can quite effectively use a science-based template to explain historical events since the 1800s, and patterns of substance abuse. Indeed, there is an abundance of research on my family. However, when it comes to generations of the 19th century, I will rely on strong linkages and the overwhelmingly congruence of events and circumstances. That said, there is a great deal missing in this record. I do not have baseline medical information, psychological exams, or extensive individual questionnaires about lifestyles.

I cannot engage on this topic without touching on the sciences of early childhood development, neurochemistry, and attachment theory, because that is my journey, as it is for us all. There are no exceptions. I confess to having no academic grounding in these disciplines, but the basic precepts are readily accessible. Why read and learn if we are not enriched by new discoveries that help us better understand ourselves? I cannot simply unlearn what science exposes. More importantly, each of these disciplines supplies a template—a means of applying the principles to subjects over generations. For example, today we know that alcoholism is a progressive disease with predictable behaviors and outcomes at distinct stages. This is a common template that can be applied across multiple generations, allowing us to predict generations of substance abuse. Now I am in a better position to understand the influences and events that shaped the lives of my forebears, and in turn, my life.

The idea of a ‘plastic’ brain captures the identifiable stages of growth and development plus the events and environment that shape that growth. I will examine the teratogenic effects of ethanol exposure and nicotine on the developing fetus. Many developmental phases of brain functions occur both in utero and post-partum, as it can take 20 years for all regions of the brain to fully develop. We shall read how ethanol effects the glia and neurons as they form the basic regions and synapse of brain structure and function. The offspring of substance-abusing mothers (and parents for that matter), face a wide variety of psychological and physiological symptoms that last a lifetime. Additionally, parents who are active alcoholics profoundly affect the developing child. This basic imprint is directly affected by the maternal history of substance abuse or trauma early in life, or both. Zelda drank and smoked throughout her pregnancy with my mother, Frances Scott(ie) Fitzgerald.

In addition to exogenous toxins, severe neurological injury can also be caused by psychological trauma such as the death of the primary care giver. The accidental death of my paternal grandmother, Margretta Bonsal Lanahan, had a profoundly negative psychological effect on my father, Samuel Jackson Lanahan, at 2½ years of age. Science informs us that traumatic injury to a child directly affects the neurochemical emotional regulators found in the brain and the resulting ‘imprint.’ Furthermore, we know that good maternal care is essential in the development of secure, optimistic, high-functioning adults who can contribute positively to society.

We shall see how the mind and body respond to emotional stress and the impacts on the developing child. The unique neurochemical constellations of hormones that describes the response to these prolonged periods of stress form part of implicit memory and unconsciously shape the child’s personality, world view and future relationships. I will explore both the science and the resulting behaviors of traumatic injury as they came to be reflected in my father.

My great-grandfather, Judge Anthony Dickerson Sayre was born in 1858. He was a man of his time. The uncomfortable truth is his leading role in support of the institutions we have come to know as Jim Crow. Seen through the lens of today, he would appear at the furthest extreme of the political right and his outspoken support of white supremacy would be widely condemned. He was in position of great authority, and he wielded that power to the maximum extent of the law. He sentenced men to death. He watched at least one execution. But times were different in the South, post-Reconstruction, and the sentiment of the white population lent him their full support. After reading David Page’s essay on the Sayre election law, the defense of the law, written by Judge Sayre himself, makes for an interesting read.

Zelda Fitzgerald's Legacy

The Legacies of Judge A.D. Sayre and Zelda Fitzgerald

Original Face

Introduction