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Twelve angry men and women

28 Nov

…

The New York Age, February 9, 1935

Black airmen, then and now

21 Nov

Ebenezer Ray's grandson Lamman Rucker, "Black Angels Over Tuskegee" Photo: MarkGlennStudio.com

In the middle of this column, under the heading “The Goodwill Flight “Ebenezer  talks about a goodwill flight to the Caribbean and South America that was undertaken by Dr. Albert Forsythe and C. Alfred Anderson. They were dubbed the “first transcontinental Negro flyers.”

A New York Times obituary on Forsythe in 1986, said: “In 1933, Dr. Forsythe and C. Alfred Anderson became the first black pilots to complete a cross-country flight, traveling from Bader Field in Atlantic City, N.J., to Los Angeles. The flight, along with trips to Montreal and the Caribbean in 1934, was made in an attempt to break down the color barrier in aviation.”

An obituary of Anderson, who died in 1996, recalled: “He and Forsythe made the first land plane flight from Miami to Nassau in 1934. They island hopped throughout the Caribbean, to the Northeastern tip of South America. They overflew the Venezuelan straits and landed in Trinidad as national heroes.” It described Anderson as a mentor to Tuskegee Airmen.

First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt with C. Alfred “Chief” Anderson, a pioneer black aviator and respected instructor at Tuskegee Institute. (U.S. Air Force photo)

I also found a 1933 Time magazine story about their trip.

The itinerary did not include a visit to Barbados, which was a disappointment to those, including my father,  with connections to the island.  The column and the letter make it sound like the pilots were black Americans, but according to his obituary, Forsythe was born in the Bahamas. Perhaps there was a little bit of Caribbean rivalry.

The connections here are a little uncanny. Lamman Rucker, Ebenezer’s grandson, is co-producer of  Black Angels Over Tuskegee, a play about the Tuskegee Airmen. Lamman, who plays Elijah in the production,  is a founding member of the company, The Black Gents of Hollywood, an all-male ensemble devoted to redefining the images of African American men in entertainment.

The cast of "Black Angels Over Tuskegee"

In a few weeks I’ll be headed for Barbados, my father’s birthplace. I’ve been there only once, back in 1984 and only for a couple of days. I’m looking forward to reconnecting with the place, perhaps beginning the journey of finding family. It is interesting that while in his thirties, my father’s emotional connection to the island still seemed very strong. My impression was that later in his life, by the time he was married and living in Pittsburgh, that connection seemed to be lost, or at least frayed.
I can’t tell whether “The little Englander” my dad  quotes is him or someone else. (Editor’s update 8/3/11: It’s possible it is his brother, Noel, who worked at the Barbados Advocate.) Perhaps I can find the archives of the Barbados Advocate while I am there.

The New York Age, January 12, 1935

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‘To expect a white teacher to place unusual interest in a stubborn delinquent Negro youth is like expecting a peacock to exhibit a great interest in an unpretentious chicken’

16 Nov

My father argued that black students would be better served by having black teachers who are more likely to “exhibit greater sympathy and interest in them.”  He added that “white teachers who openly carry that air of superiority over this darker race of ours should not be included on staffs of schools where the students are Negroes; neither should those who think that all Negro girls are ‘cut out’ to be maids and nurses  — for other people’s children, and that Negro boys will get little further than manual labor. . . “To expect a white teacher to place unusual interest in a stubborn delinquent Negro youth is like expecting a peacock to exhibit a great interest in an unpretentious chicken. That white superiority complex is there, whether you think so or not and an already acquired knowledge further enhances it over those who seem less inclined to reach a similar position. ”

Ebenezer also riffs on the 1934 version of  Imitation of Life. He called it an “imitation of a certain type of life  — particularly foreign to me. A white woman is so sympathetically interested in her Negro business partner’s personal troubles she goes out with her in quest of a solution. Yet that white woman rides alone in the rear seat of the car, while her Negro partner rides in front with the chauffeur. The acting is good, otherwise  — to hell with it!”

The New York Age, February 2, 1935

‘The Negro is a marked race’

6 Nov

“Not many generations out of slavery, and forging our own existence despite heavy odds, the Negro is a marked race, hence our activities share the spotlight of constant scrutiny. when we reach the height of success none will be able to deny us our rightful share of recognition and applause. We should strive to leave great footprints in the sands of time,” my father writes below.
But I cannot help but think that 75 years later it’s still not so easy.  In this so-called “post-racial era,” the struggle continues. I’m sure my father could not have imagined that in his children’s lifetime America would have a black president. And though Barack Obama has reached the “height of success” by any measure, he continues to be a member of a “marked race.” Conservatives cry that they “want to take their country back,” which is code for we want to take the country back to a time when having blacks in power was only a dream. They call him elitist, which is code for “uppity Negro.”

I also found the last item, about the assaults on domestics by the men they work for, interesting. That’s one subject that was not broached in The Help.

As he did when he wrote about the illegal numbers, or so-called “policy games,” Ebenezer expressed sympathy  for prostitutes, who he referred to as “pavement pounders.” He argued that the lack of legal means available for these men and women to support themselves made it almost impossible for folks to avoid “easier money.”

“When social and economic agencies move to protect their youngsters vice crusades will not be necessary; when they do not – vice crusades will be ineffective,” he said.

P. S.: I’m still trying to find a source of information on the Mills brothers and the incident my father notes regarding their being barred from watching white baseball players play in Detroit.

The New York Age, March 23, 1935

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The Lindbergh kidnapping, from many angles

30 Oct

Ebenezer weighs in on the trial of Bruno Hauptmann, the man sentenced to death in the Lindbergh baby kidnapping. My father, having been a court reporter before he was a columnist, was apparently fascinated by the trial. He also had a few things to say about the racial implications of the story. William Allen, the truck driver who found the corpse in the woods, was apparently a “Negro” who got little recognition. He also drew parallels with this case and the trial of the Scottsboro boys. In both cases, suspects were tried in the media, as well as in the courts, but Hauptmann got a fair trial,  my dad says, the Scottsboro boys did not. Of course, questions still remain as to whether the Hauptmann was framed, but we get his point.
I like the final item about the white girl who defied her parents by marrying a “mulatto” man. But my favorite is closer to the top when he talks about his hobbies: eating, catching a good show and drinking good gin occasionally.”  Hear, hear! I’m headed to a show at the Herbst Theater in San Francisco tonight and am looking forward to a great dinner with friends.  And, yes, I’ve been known to enjoy a Bombay martini and a Tanqueray and tonic more than occasionally. Once again, the apple does not fall far from the tree!

The New York Age, January 19, 1935

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