The Help of Destin: Emma Irby
(Book)

You will love "Emma" A fixture of Destin for 37 years and the only black person actually living there. Always wacky, wonderful and wise; her truisms will crack you up. A mystery persona who came from an isolated, "lost" cotton plantation in Alabama that remained unchanged for 130 years--even she never knew her own age. She cleaned house and raised the children of millionaires, and gave us advice on clothing, men and marriage. Emma turned out to be a descendent of a smuggled slave named Dave, on the most magnificent sailing yacht in America, an event which led directly to the Civil War! In her lifetime, she walked 38,500 miles to serve 75 local families and their families to the 4th generations. Emma was a household name, famous for her madcap hats and for picking up soda cans along the streets. She never drove a car but flew by jet to Washington DC as an invited guest to the Inaugural Ball of President Jimmy Carter. Her story is fascinating and an inextricable link to the histories of Destin and Ft. Walton Beach, Florida. An important preservation of the experience of the 20th Century black woman in the United States of America.