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The Cathedral of St. John the Divine

5 Dec

This photo by William Porto was taken in 2008.

Construction of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, located at 112th St. and Amsterdam Ave. and dubbed a house of  worship “for all people,”  began on Dec. 27, 1892, when the first cornerstone was laid. But it took decades for the church to be completed. My father published  this column Feb. 23, 1935, and it would be more than six years before the opening of the full length of the Cathedral. (The opening celebration took place Nov. 30, 1941, and a week later the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Construction was halted during World War II and did not resume until the 1970s.)

The grand design inspired this response to those who warned that the Apocalypse was imminent:

“I am far more interested in the present rise in food prices, the prolonged depression, and the likely invasion of Abyssinia by the Italians than in any tornado of fire sweeping these hemispheres and leaving their inhabitants in ashes. Yet there remain a few devout persons who occasionally try to scare my reluctant soul into submission with this bogey, which, they say, will be followed by that great Judgment Day when I will have to account for even taking a lump of sugar when Mother wasn’t looking.  When they come around again I will tell them that while they in their puny knowledge look for world destruction, learned theologians are erecting structures of granite to stand forever.”

The New York Age, February 23, 1935

‘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

A riot breaks out in Harlem

17 Oct

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The New York Age, March 30, 1935

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All quiet on the Harlem front, but Negro inferiority complex remains

17 Oct

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The New York Age, April 6, 1935

 

Don’t let the facts get in the way of a good story

13 Jul

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The New York Age, March 24, 1934

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