A chronicle of one man’s journey through the 20th century and beyond, Cornie brings lessons from the past to the future.  His is a story of how to struggle through adversity and witness inhumanity yet emerge with dignity, grace and good humor.

The nearly century-long reminiscences of Robert L. Watson, affectionately known as ‘Cornie,’ paint a vivid picture of the life of an African-American in the 20th century and beyond. Born at the dawn of the first World War, he was a veteran of the second, where despite his service to his country he was nevertheless disparaged as a second-class citizen. Sadly, this was nothing new: in his youth in historic Mercersburg, PA, he endured segregation and institutional prejudice that severely limited his options. Yet in the face of these imbalances he discovered that not every privileged white wished to shut him out, and he gained a quiet dignity that gave even unabashed racists pause. 

Private school student Lyndsey Dawkins, born and raised safely beyond the implementation of civil rights, emotionally relives Cornie’s story that she heard him tell, and now associates a face to the benefits she enjoys but he never had. A torch is passed, and like Lyndsey, you too will remember and thank Cornie.