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The New York Age, April 21, 1934
Tags: 1934, african american history, bermuda, black history, ebenezer ray, elaine ray, genealogy, harlem, journalism, marriage, the new york age
Tag Archives: the new york age
Letter to the editor on Will Rogers and Mr. Ray
16 JulApparently, my father’s columns on the Will Rogers affair – Rogers referred to black people as “darkies,” an offense that resulted in some community members calling for a boycott of Gulf gas stations – did not sit well with this reader. Although my father did not condone Rogers’ use of the term, he felt strongly that as long as “Negroes” continued to refer to themselves in derogatory terms, arguments that others should not use them were shaky. BTW Gulf Refining Company was the sponsor of the television show on which Rogers appeared. The letter below is from a reader who thought m father’s views were off base.
The New York Age, March 3,1934
Where are their parents?
5 JulThis column was written a full 15 years before my father became a father (as far as I know), so I find it amusing that he was so quick to stand in judgment of parents, particularly mothers of girls. My mother used to say that the three of us had a lot more freedom than we would have had my father been healthy enough to put his foot down. Frankly, I think he would have been no match for us.
The New York Age, January 13, 1934
The barbershop
4 JulRather than increase the price of a haircut during the difficult years of the Great Depression, my father thought barbers should do a little less talking about politics, clients’ romantic exploits, etc. If he only had known that his observation that “the average barbershop might easily be seen as an ‘institution of learning and observation,’ was as true in 1934 as it is today. Perhaps he would have enjoyed the Ice Cube movies. Moreover, Harlem Hospital’s recent problems with quality of care are apparently not new.
The New York Age, January 6, 1934
Featured Posts
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Election days, then and now
Looking for something fresh to write about on Election Day, I searched my father’s columns for wisdom from the past. A footnote in a column published in the New York Age on November 3, 1934, implored readers to elect “Mrs. Eunice Carter” to the New York State Assembly. The name had a familiar ring. Five […]
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‘Was silence not an option?’
My barber called Kamala Harris a “ho.” The shop I go to is not the stuff of Black culture lore. It’s not a boisterous place. It doesn’t reek with toxic masculinity. It’s a nice, quiet, family friendly kind of enterprise. The worst I have been subjected to in the nearly three years I’ve gone there […]
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Standing on the shoulders of Black Legends
On Saturday, Feb. 17, I will be among several individuals inducted into the 2024 Class of the Black Legends of Silicon Valley. This is quite an honor. Previous recipients in the News and Documentary category in which I am being honored include journalists with stellar credentials. Loretta Green, an award-winning reporter for several local papers […]
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‘The Donna Collection’
My short story, “The Donna Collection” is included in the new anthology 166 Palms 2020. Buy the anthology on Amazon.
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Elaine Ray wins 2016 Gival Press Short Story Award
Blown away and humbled. The first piece of fiction I’ve ever gotten published wins an award. The story is published here.
My Father's Posts 