Chicago History | Fall 1996 by Chicago History Museum

~ GO RISTO Fall 1996 $3.50

CHICAGO HISTORY The Magazine of the Chicago Historical Societ y

Fall 1996

EDITOR R OSE\ IARY

K. AD A MS

Volum e XXV, um ber 3

ASSISTANT EDITORS

L ESLEY A. M A RT IN LY'\ N E

llJ GE'<T

DE SIGNE R

CONTENTS

BI LL V AN N !M\VEGE N PHOTOGRAPHY J OH N ALDER SO N

J AY CR Al\'FO RD

The Brotherhood B ET H TOM PKINS B ATES

Co pirig h1 1996 b) th e Chicago [ li,to rical Socie 1y Clark S1ree t at No rth Ave nu e Chi cago. I L 606 1·1-6099

Remembering

the Great Chicago Fire

Parade s, Prote sts, Politics

ISS'\ 0272 -8540 ,\ nicl e, app earin g in thi s journ al a rc ab, trac ted a nd ind exe d in lli ,tonca l rlbstrocts and il mmca: H i>IO>)and J,1(,.

KAT HLEEN Z YGMU

Footnoted manuscripts of the ankl es appearing in this is, ue a rc a,·a ilab le fro m the Chicago Histo rical ~ocie11·s Publica tion, om ce. /.R1110,'1 19/ 2 /Xlmling, Cove r :} 1t/i11 ,\! e morie, of the Chicago Fire in 187 1. CJIS Pamtmg,and Srnlpt11r, Col/ec/1011.

,\'ole: 71wmde, for ,,ol,11111• 25 will he rnd11dedm the commg 17 111m11/atn,emde,[orw/1111ws lhro11gh25 ( 1988- 19%).

DEPARTMENTS 3 From the Editor 60 Makin g Hi stor y

Chicago Historical Society OFFICERS Sharon Gist Gilliam , Treasurer Philip \V. Hummer, Chair Richard M. Jaffee, Vice Chair R. Eden Martin, Secrelary Charles T. Brumback, Vice Chair Philip D. Block Ill, Jmmediale Pasl Chair Douglas Greenberg, President and Director

Lerone Bennett Jr. Philip D. Block III Laurence Booth Char les T. Brumback Mrs. Ann Middleton Buckley Rob ert N. Burt Michelle L. Co llin s Mrs. Gary C. Comer John W. Croghan Mrs. Owen Deutsch Stewart S. Dixon Michael H. Ebner

TRUSTEES Sharon Gist G illiam M. Hill Hammock Amy R. Hecker Harry Howell Philip Vr Hummer Richard M. Jaff ee Edgar D. J annotta Barbara Levy Kipper W. Paul Krauss Fred A. Krehbiel Joseph H. Levy Jr.

Mrs . .John.J. Louis Jr. R. Eden Martin Wayne A. McCoy Robert Meers Mrs. Newton N. Minow Potter Palmer Margarita Perez Arthur F. Quern Ken Rakowski Gordon I. Sega l Edward Byron Smith Jr. James R. Thompson

LTFE TRUSTEES Bowen Blair Philip E. Kelley Mrs. Frank D. Mayer John McCutcheon Andrew McNally JJI Bryan S. Reid Jr. Dempsey J Travis HONORARY TRUSTEES Richard 1\1.Daley , Mayor, City of Chicago John\\'. Rogers.Jr. , Pre ident, ChicagoPark District The Chicago Historical Societ y is a prinnely endowed, independent institution denJted to collecting, interpreting, and presenting the rich multicultural history of Chicago and l llinois , a~ well as selected areas or American history , to the public through exhibitions, programs, re~earch collection~. and publications. It must look to its members and friends for continuing financial suppon. Contributions to the Historical Society a,-e taxdeductible, and appropriate recognition is accorded major gifts. The Chicago Historical Society gratefully acknowledges the Chicago Park District 's generom ~uppon or all of the Historical Society's acti,·ities. Membership Benefits include free admission to the Historical Society, in\'itations to special e\'ent~. Chirngo Hist01ymagazine, Past Ti.mes, and discounts on all special program, and ;\]useum Store purchases. Famih Dual 50; Scudent/Senior Family 45; Individual 40; Student/Senior Individual 35. Hours The Museum is open daily from 9:30 .\.\I. to 4:30 P.\I.; Sunday from 12:00 ,oo, to 5:00 P.,\I. The Library and the Archi\'es and Manuscripts Collection are open Tuesday through Saturday from 9:30 A. ,1. to 4:30 P.\I. The Prints and Photographs Collection is open from I :00 to 4:30 P.\1. Tuesday through Thursday and on Saturday. All other research collections are open by appointment. The CHS is closed on Thanksgi\'ing, Christmas, and New Yea,-'s days. Suggested Admission Fees for Nonmembers Adults,

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From the Editor One of the hottest meeting spots today is the coffeehouse. In Chicago, Starbucks and similar establishments seem to appear on nearly every block. Although this current phenomenon began in the late 1980s, the history of the bitter black brew and of the establishments that serve it reaches back centuries. Ethiopia's Galla tribe is generally credited with discovering the stimulating effects of eating a certain berry mixed with animal fat. Arab traders carried the bean back home, cultivating the plant and eventually creating a drink they called qahwa, or "that which prevents sleep." By 1475, the very first coffeehouse was opened, and coffee gained such popularity in Turkish society that women could divorce their husbands for not providing an adequate amount of it. Coffeehouses began appearing in London in the mid-seventeenth century. Bryant Lillywhite's London CoffeeHouses cites the existence of more than two thousand such establishments between 1650 and 1850. Often called "penny universities " (a cup of coffee cost a penny), they soon became important forums for learning and debate. Merchants met there to transact business. Perhaps the most irresistible pastime offered in coffeehouses was gossiping. Samuel Pepys, the diarist who diligentl y recorded life in Restoration London, noted that "all the wits of the town" gathered at coffeehouses. Such exchanges of information spawned an entire industry; early newspaper editors frequented coffeehouses to discover the latest news and scandals, then used coffeehouses as a distribution center for the printed paper . Indeed , so important did coffeehouses become that in 1675, King Charles II, describing them as places "where the disaffected met" to share their criticism of the government and to gossip about the royal family, attempted to close them. Public protest forced him to reverse his order. The popularity of coffee and coffeehouses traveled to the New World. In 1668, coffee replaced beer as ew Yorkers' favorite breakfast beverage. In 1737, the city's Merchants ' Coffee House opened, and it became an important meeting place for the Sons of Liberty just before the American Revolution. Coffee's popularity in the colonies soared in the wake of the Boston Tea Party, when drinking the beverage became a patriotic act. Chicago has hosted at least one revolutiona1y (some would say tragic) coffee development. In 1901 , chemist Satori Kato invented instant coffee here. Chicago's current passion for coffee and coffeehouses shows no signs of abating. Like their Restoration predecessors, today's coffeehouses are important social spaces. Chicagoans frequent them to visit with others, read the newspaper (often provided by the establishment), study, and people watch. o Exit, founded in 1958 , still provides diversions such as folk music and poetry readings . In addition, specialty coffeehouses allow patrons to indulge in their hobbies or avocations: Scenes caters to actors and theater types, while Kopi functions as a travelers' librar y and boutique. Most recently, cybercafes have emerged, providing the latest incarnation of coffee-inspired social interaction and shared knowledge via the Internet. The InteractiYe Bean , for example, provides access to Macintosh computers to send and read e-mail, chat on-line, and explore the Web. The coffeehouse's mission is to break through the elitism of the information superhighway by pro\'iding affordable access to the general public. They also serve great coffee. Whether you explore the Web at hom e, at the office, or O\'er a cup of java at the corner coffeehou~e, be ure to check out the Chicago Historical Society's and Northwestern University's new on-line exhibition The Creal ChicagoFireand the IVebof Memory (http: //www.chicagohs.org). Through photographs, artifacts, and written accounts of the fire , this exhibition explores what happened to the city from October through I 0, I 71, and how the events of tho e days have been remembered, interpreted, and mythologized over the past 125 years. RKA

The Brotherhood In its early work in organizingPullman portersand maids, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Portersdrew on the effortsof many of Chicago'ssocialactivists, such as Irene McCoy Gaines,Mary McDowell,and Ida B. Wells-Barnett. Beth Tompkins Bates

SLEEPING CAR

PORfERS The stationeryof the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters borea simplerepresentationof a po1terstanding on duty at the station platform. Beth Tompkins Bates is a doctoralcandidatein American hist01yat ColumbiaUniversity.

In 192 5, the Brotherhood or Sleep in g Car Porters (BSCP), a union recently formed in New York City, began organi;,ing Pullman lee ping car porters and maids on Ch icago's South Side. The principal target or the BSCP was the Employee Representation Plan, a union created by the Pullman Company [or its porters and maids. The Brotherhood said the porters and maids needed the BSCP because it would represent their int erests, not those of the Pullman Company. BSCP organizers soon discovered , however, that before they cou ld repre enc the interests of porters and maids, they had to gain recognition and support from the middle-class black community on the South Side of Chicago. 1ot only did this e lite dislike labor unions, but the majority regarded the Pullman Company as a friend of black Chicagoans. Since the black middle class controlled institutions in the black community such as the press and larger churches, their opinion mattered. The Pullman Company started performing "good works" and pouring money into the black community on the South Side during the last decade of the nineteenth century. Florence Pullman , daughter of George Pullman, founder of the Pullman Palace Car Company, contributed a large sum of money to help found Provident Hospital in 1891 . The country' first interracial ho pita! , Provident not only received black citi,ens on an equal basis with whites, but both its advisory board and medical staff were interracial, giving the black neighborhood unprecedented control over health care. Florence Pullman continued to make contributions during the hospital's periodic tough times. In 1896, George Pullman and Marshall Field purchased land adjo inin g Provident Ho pita! for a nursing

The Dawn of a New Day

SEPTEMBER, 1926 15 Cents a Copy

Vol. VIII, No. 9

$1.75 a Year

used the pages of Im 111agazi11e, rl1e J\1essenger, to promotethe BSCP. On this coverfrom September 1I. Philip Rm11!11l/Jh 1926, 111/ewmral figures labeled''The Brothnhood"and "Education"breaka chain of low wages,prejudice,long lw1m, and 1g1wmnrPhy destroying!hi' link that re/J1e1mls !hi' Pullman Co111prmy's E111/Jloyl'e RepresentationPlan. 5

ChicagoHistory, Fall 1996 T h e Revere nd Ca rey a lso ex pa nd ed th e multipl e ro les of th e black chur ch furth er th an most mini sters when he established an empl oyment sen ,ice for black workers. Ca rey's empl oym e n t se rvice link ed th e in te res ts o f blac k wo rk ers, di scrimin ated aga in st by th e city's tra d e uni o ns, with wea lthy whit e famili es such as th e Pullm ans and th e Swift s. Whe n Ca rey a nn oun ce d p os itio ns with th e Pullm an Co mpany from his pulpit , th e comp any app ea red to be a be nevo lent fri end o f blac k wo rk e rs. Th e arr ange ment made sense to th e black elite who th ough t empl oye rs had clo ne mu ch m ore for black work ers than th e ge nerally racially exclu sive whi te trad e uni o n . Co nseq ue ntl y, th ese leaders ad\'ised black worker:. to supp ort manage ment and eschew uni ons.

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Above: Quinn Chapel (j;icl111NI here i11 1953), where Bisho/JATChibald Carey of the AME rlw rch began his career in Chicago. Phologra/JhhyJ. Sherwin Mur/Jhy. CareJ strong!')' opposed the BSCP a11dforbade A, \/ E churches lo invite its /eade1:~ lo ~/m1k.Right: The official orga11of the Pull111a11 Com/;any, T he Pullm an Ne ws ignoredthe BSCP. its nem of /Jorle1:1 stressedsociale7.1e11ls.

schoo l, whi ch by World \\' ar I wa tr ainin g an avera ge of twent y-five nur ses a yea r . Pullm an Comp any executive also pr ovid ed signifi ca nt fin a ncial bac kin g for th e Wab as h Avenue Youn g Men 's Chri sti an Assoc iat io n (YMCA) and th e Chicago Ur ban League. Both th e Wabash Avenu e YMCA, esta blished because th e d ownt own bra nch did not admit bl ac k , a nd th e U rb an Leag u e were im po rt an t in shapin g work habits of black Chicagoa ns as well as placing th em in j obs. Ar o und 1900 , th e Re\'ere nd Archi ba ld J am es Ca rey saved Quinn Ch apel, th e largest Africa n Meth odi st Epi scopa l (AME) chur ch in Chi cago, fr o m fo rec los u re, es ta bli shin g hi s r eput a ti o n as a ca p ab le fin a n cial m anager. Seve ral promin e n t fa mili es, in cludin g th e Pullm a n s and th e Swift s, no ti ce d hi su ccess and pr o m o ted hi s ri se in bot h p o liti ca l and ec cles ias tica l circl es. T he Revere nd Ca r ey, co nsid ered on e o f th e mos t influ e nti a l p o litica l vo ices o n th e Sou th Sid e, was app o int ed AME Bishop by 192 0. 6

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III LA DJ U,p I!I - ----=.. nncl t he . I porters are . ready fo I pict ur e shows t h '" ~ musical, too 'l'hc r iarmony in n l, , • l elocly Trio,: Bodcl?lcn are p,,, t;•rs W ?"cl~nsling st11Uo~ 'l'he1e ; nd Harry Poweli, ,~·rtGt°ct~ie, Luthe; lill I tl ullmun Porte Q o right. ec 1e mo th r unrtet' their engage,; 't ~s Will be noted s I, warb lh1.gs and 29th O ens. ept 1st .Y rea d1ng Chic . L, roadcast over 1,,8th , 15t h, 22nd Dixon , l tla~ue of econd •R~ Chicago; 3 rd , trial Club·' 5t h, luucl,eon of ptis_t Cl,urch, Clul,. 9tl ' Ch1c11go. 7th, E l Clearing Indusploye~ Cl~l,~outh Peki n, I ll., Cm~ i r5.t Cou ntry Commerce. • i1gt~h, Mo111nouth j 11 ~- 1 W . EmStorc, Chi~a - 1, " Lorr sino-';' arnbcr of 0 lier of at lloston ', and East Chica';, bri dge Ol'cr K"chrcc; 16th, decJ{c,i't_Incl., Chainis w,u,ke .. Hi " w n of new 20th J k 23 rd' al e so nvillc, Ill . Cho ber, Belv idere 111• , c inner f ' u.m e r of Co ' ·' H ome 1tnd S I or benefit of Cl . mme rce; Ont ., P nsse,~ 100 1 11t Elgin, Ill .; Junior Assn. of I i f iter Clu b, and 27 ,, Toronto iugton D ~Ce Underwriters' co th,_ rationa l Tl ' ·. . nven tion, \ Vashic Ch1ca~o N' of F .. J. . ,.., • ,ort her 11

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ThP BSCP di(/ 110/ hesitate lo a/lack Afrirnn . l111erica11 leaders whofmled to rn/Jportthe union. This cartoonfrom T he t-lc,,enger o!Ja1111a1J 1926 rurn11' 1 a 1111mbn ofleade1:1, including Chirago's Bishop Carey, of having "sold out their major a messo/'poltar;e." 7

ChicagoHistory, Fall 1996 The Reverend Carey felt so strongly that economic opportunity for black workers would result from cooperation with industrial magnates rather than solidarity between black and white workers that he forbade the congregations in his bishopric in Chicago to allow A. Philip Randolph, national leader of the BSCP , or Milton P. Webster , head of the Chicago division of the BSCP, to speak before them. Carey's comprehensive approach to ministering, with its reliance upon the Pullman Company's benevolence , helped strengthen the company's ties to the black community. While not everyone's faith in the goodwill of the Pullman Company was as strong as that of the Reverend Carey, the black midc!Je class generally agreed with Claude Barnett , founder of the Associated Negro Pres , that it would be "cliCTicultto overestimate the economic value to the entire colored group what the business of 'pullman portering' has been " to the backbone of the community. The roster of defenders of the Pullman Company, the largest private employer of black workers nationally , in its struggle against the upstart union of porters and maids read like a who's who within the black community. It included Jesse Binga, head of Binga State Bank, most ministers, and Robert S. Abbott, pub Ii her and editor of the ChicagoDefender. Moreover, the black middle class must have wondered why union porters and maids thought they stood a chance again t the Pullman Company. When the BSCP threw clown its gauntlet, it landed at the feet of a giant American corporation, an opponent with more than sufficient resources to combat union porters and maids. Finally, it was difficult to ignore the Pullman Company's success in defeating unions in the past. Yet, despite the overwhelming odds against the BSCP effort to gain support for its labor union , the attitudes of the black middle class and elite were not as homogeneous as some scholars have argued. In December l 925, while most ministers, the press, and politicians ignored or spoke against the BSCP, the Chicago and Northern District Association of Colored Women, one of the premier women's clubs in Chicago at the time , invited A Philip Randolph , head of the BSCP, to speak to them. 8

Above: '-llbor leaderA. Philip Randolph, seen here in the early 1930s, headedthe BSCP Jimn itsJozmrlingi11I 925 1111/ii 1968. Though hi' never worked as a /Jorter, he 1wdentoodthe difficult conditionsthese menfi1cerl,in co11tradictio11to dej1ictionsof smiling J;orten such as that 011 the rover of Life on a Pullman (bl'low).

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ChicagoHistory, Fall 1996

!Vhen Ida B. WelL,-Bamell(abovl',1920) Jhilerltofind a Jmblic meeting s/Jace where the Woman's Forum could listen to a speech by J\Ji//011 P. ll'ebster, she held the meeting in her own hmnl' al what is now 3624 South Mmtin Luther King Dri;ie (below, c. 1973).

Two weeks later, the Woman's Forum, a Sunday even ing civic and social discussion group at the Metropolitan Commun ity Church, heard Randolph speak in Ida B. WellsBarnett's home. She told Randolph that they wanted to hear his side of the story since they had not been ab le "to find anything in our pre s favorable to this movement" and had heard so much propaganda against it. WellsBarnett had hoped to hold the meeting at the Appomattox Club, a social and fraternal club for professional and politically connected men, rather than in her home. The Appomattox Club, however, tole! Wells-Barnett they cou ld not "afford to have Mr. Randolph speak" on its premises because so many of"the men who are opposing him are members here and it would embarrass them with the Pullman Company." To the twenty-five business and professional women gathered at her home Wells-Barnett said, "I can hardly conceive of Negro leaders taking such a narrow and selfish view of such vital problems affecting the race." After Randolph's remarks about the aims and purposes of the BSCP, the women endor eel the Brotherhood and a ked, "\Vhat can the Woman 's Forum do to help this great movement?" Milton P. Webster , head of the Chicago division of the BSCP, wrote Wells-Barnett, seeking to expand the opening the Woman 's Forum provided. He suggested that Wells-Barnett give the BSCP a copy of the membership list of the Ida B. \Velis Club, a civic club formed in 1893 by Wells-Barnett , so that the BSCP could "send out publicity to the women direct." Webster also asked Wells-Barnett to encourage the women to attend BSCP meeting . The women, he hoped , would serve as a conduit within the black community to adveni e and educate other about the Brotherhood 's cause. The Ida B. Well Club women would act as a counter to the weight of "hosti lity of our local newspapers against this movement." Webster emphasized that the Brotherhood was not just a labor organization, but a social movement. "In the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porter the Race has a staunch, progressive, militant movement, which will ever be on the alert to wield its power whenever the interests of the Race demand ," he wrote Wells-Barnett. Her club members were important to the larger goal

The Brotherhood

Head of the BSCP's Chicago divisionfr om its founding in 1925, Millon P. Webster, a former porter, /1/ayed a key role in early 01ga11i zing eff orts. He remained a leader of the BSCP until his death in 1965.

of getting the Brotherhood 's message on "economic subjects of vital importance to Negro workers" out to the commun ity, despite all attempts of the press to silence the BSCP. To a large extent, Webster 's proposal and the civic interests of members of the black clubwomen 's movement in Chicago con\'erged. The key issue uniting them was that of fuller citizenship rights for all African Americans , for which the BSCP employed the idiom of "manhood rights. " Black women, active in the fight for the Nineteenth Amendment , viewed the strugg le for manhood rights as part of the broader effort to claim full citizenship for all African Americans. A larger political role for black women was part of the struggle for fuller freedom for the entire black community. Fuller freedom entailed moving out from under white control and enjoying rights of first-class citizenshipachieving equ ality \\'ith ll'hite Americans . The work of Ida B. \ \'ell -Barnett illu trates this point. lcla B. \Veil -Barnett began the black women\ club movement in Chicago in the I 890~, in order to defend the "manhood of her

race" through her anti -lynchin g crusade. WellsBarnett did not neglect black women when she thought of advocating brotherly considerat ion; nor did she imagine on ly males when she and others in that era used the term "manhood." For \,Veils-Barnett, women 's enfranc hi sement was necessary to stop lynching. The vote for women wou ld give added weight to the quest for full cit izensh ip for both women and men. Wells-Barnett drew upon her network of clubwomen to work for suffrage for women, as well as other issues that would strengthen the black community, bringing African Americans more control over the direction of the ir lives. Passage of the Nineteenth Amendment did not eclipse the political activism of black middle-class clubwomen. Those who had been involved in the movement for suffrage con tinued to focus on issues that plagued both black men and black women, a pattern that distinguished their agenda from that of their white sisters. Working with the BSCP merely broadened their agenda to include the importance of claiming economic as well as political rights. When the BSCP appealed to clubwomen to carry the BSCP message deep into the black community, these women probably envisioned a chance to be in the vanguard of a socia l movement designed to strengthen the overa ll ability of the black community to claim firstclass citizenship. The BSCP suffused its labor rhetoric, aimed at porters and maids , with the idea of manhood and manhood rights, implying self-reliance, standing tall, and moving out from under the paternalistic control of whites. In a widely-circulated poster under the banner, "Reasons V11hy Pullman porters and maids shou ld join the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters Now," organizer Ashley Totten wrote: "We appeal to that spark of manhood; that willingnes to take the position of a man and not a coward." Within the larger community, BSCP Oyers , handbills , and literature revived the nineteenth-century usage articulated by Frederick Douglass and W. E. B. DuBois, that equated manhood with full humanity and firstclass cititenship . The local black press addressed slavery, freedom, and citizenship on a regular basis. The articles, howe, ·er, usually portrayed 11

A Message to the Slacker Porter ARE YOU A MAN! By W.R.

SHIELDS

I do not a sk my friend, if you We re born a Gentile or a Jew A Buddhis t , or Mohammedan :1 only aak, are you a man?

It matters

not, my friend, to me If you ar e black as black can he, Or colored red , or b rown, or tan :1 uk but thia, are you a man? I care not, brother , whence you came. Nor do I seek t o kn ow yo ur name, Your race, religion, creed or clan :1 want to know if you 're a man .

I care not if yo u ' re homely quit e. Or handsome as an angel bright, If you , through o ut your little span. Have only ahown yourself a man . I think that most men think like that, They hate a weakling , loathe a rat: They ' ve always like<l, since time began. One who ia 6rat and laat a man.

Join the Brotherhood and BE A MAN! ADMISSION FEE, $5.00

APPLICATION FOR MEMBERSHIP To the BROTHERHOOD OF SLEEPING CAR PORTERS 2311 Se•enth

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. .. ... ...... i~~e·,;i~li~~.C~~~;itt~ ..

The emplwsis that A. Philip Randolph and others of the era placedon "manhood rights"forAfrican American, is clearin literature promotingthe BSCP, such as this aj;plication for membershi/1 from theJ uly 1926 Messe n ge r. 12

progress as a stra ight line flowing rrom slavery toward huma n d ignity. Whe n Rando lp h, Webster, and ot her BSCP organizers discussed fullfledged "American ism" and citizensh ip , they used these terms to quest ion just what progress had been made and on whose terms. A com pany un ion den ied the porters and maids the fundamenta l r ight to organize and to choose their own leaders. Sim ilarly, black leaders in the wider commun ity were u sua lly chosen by whi te pat rons. Black po liticians found that the best way to contest racial exclusion was through po lit ica l inclus ion in what scho lar Char les Branham ca lled a "preexisting po lit ical cu lture," that rewarded those who learned how to adapt to machine po litics. To the porters and maids, clubwomen, and the genera l pub lic, the BSCP ra ised the issue of the "unfin ished task of emancipat ion," ask ing them to "re dedicate [the ir] hearts and minds " to the spirit of Denmar k Vesey, Nat Turner, Sojourner Truth , Harr iet Tubman, and Frederick Doug lass, who "s ha ll not have d ied in vain ." Black Americans had to assert the ir manhood rights to first-class citizenship and throw off what The Messenger, A. Philip Randolph 's magazine, called the "grip of the old slave psychology." Claude Barnett , Bishop Carey, and Robert S. Abbott were condemned in one issue for having "a wish-bone where a backbone ought to be." With suc h leaders, it continued, "one can hear the clank of the slave's cha in" in all they say and do. The Messengerreminded its readers that " ew egroes" had the backbone to demand full civil rights. A popu lar handbill harked back to nineteenth-century manhood rhetoric with a sketch of Frederick Douglass and a capt ion that said: "Douglas fought for the abo lition of chattel slaver,·, and today we fight for economic freedom. The time has passed when a grown -up black man should beg a grown-up white man for anything." To promote this out look, the Chicago division or the BSCP began working ,,·ith a committee or citi1ens, largel y leader from the Ida B. \Veils clubs and the Chicago and Northern District Association or Co lored \\'omen . The first test or the ability of this network to overcome the opposition of Chicago newspapers and ministers came in October 1926. By that time , Irene Goins, another pioneer in

Pullman Porters and Sleeping C p ar orters Generally, Attention!

You a~e tired of be. children instead "'fg treated like You think o men; h oura ; You •hould Work •horter you think Your wa e, h Y 0 u are tired of d:ub; . ould belarger ; ing back; You are aide f Co You ha"e a ba:i.bo m~any tyranny ; bonene •nllead of a wiah-

THEN

~iU out th ia blank a . . d1ately to A. PHIL nd rna,I•t inune. IP RANDOLPH General o OF SLE::ir;I~~r , BROTHERHOOD 2311 Se.,enth A CAR PORTERS \'enue, New York Cit • <l , y. ' on l delay. Spread the Good N' A

Cl to<la) • ,

CWb.

....,.owing by leaos and . s rr ' 'T">!

Above: This advertisementurgedportersto;oin forceswith other BSCP membersto improve working conditions in waysbothpracticaland philosophical.Below: T/ze coverof The Bulletin, a BSCP publication, compareseconomic freedomwithfreedomfi-oinslavery.

Ye BrothHhood

men, hold

hia:h your banner of .t0lid11.rity. Remember th1u • quitter ne:ver win, and II winntt never qui11. Rcmcmbe, 1hat he who would be hec mutt h1m9elf fi~t ,trike the blow . Ler WI 1111.ndfirm and be unafnud Pay your duea The Mediation and HkNmenl. Board will call u1 soon . Jr we fight 11nd f11int not , we fflall reap our just 1cward 1n due.

Your fa,thh,I

aervanl ,

A. PHILIP RANDOLPH, C.nar.i 0 •1•111Hr

t i' , ......... ,,,,,..._ /'f

.. n•~

,..,,.,.

Chicago History, Fall 1996

women's social activism in Illinois, actively worked for the BSCP. As president of both the Chicago and orthern District Federation of Colored \i\'o men and the Federated Women's Club, Goins helped expand the base of active clubwomen demanding social justice for all black Chicagoans. She inOuenced state politics as founder of the Women's Republican Club. But Goins also had ties to the black working class. The first African American woman in the Midwest to take an active part in the labor movement, she worked for several years on the eight-hour-day bill with Agnes estor, president of the International Glove Workers Union. During World War I she organized the v\Toman's Labor Union at the stockyards, continuing her efforts to organize black women workers at the Chicago Stockyards after the war. She also served on the executive council of the Chicago Women 's Trade Union League from 1917 to 1922. Clearly, Goins could carry the Brotherhood 's labor message beyond middle-class club circles.

By the fall of 1926, the BSCP also gained the support of Mary McDowell. First president of the Chicago branch of the Women 's Trade Union League (WTUL) and a University of Chicago settlement-house worker, she was the only white person among the Chicago citizens contesting the politics of Pullman paternalism alongside BSCP organizers in the early years. McDowell, along with Wells-Barnett and Webster, promoted the mass meeting of October 3, 1926 , in the community. Webster and Randolph gave much thought to details such as the quality of paper used for advertising the mass mee ting as well as the character of the images proje cted to the black community, for Webster vowed to "mobilize all of the forces in Chicago, religious , social, fraternal and otherwise," to bring out a crowd. The fall 1926 mass meeting was a success in terms of publicity. Webster doubted that the Brotherhood could have "bought the same publicity in Chicago with the expenditure of a thousand dollars. " The Brotherhood program and movement was, Webster believed, "the talk of

Mmy McDowell,co-founderof Hull-House, was one of the earlies/of the BSCP's while supjJorters.The "Union f_abefBul-

letin" that can be seen in this wzdated jJ/wtograjJhindicatesher interestin union activities. 14

The Brotherhood

Telephone: BRAdhurot 0454

jI ~

BROTHERHOOD OF

SI.WINOCAJI POlm:RS

~leeping<!Cat ~ottet!i Headquarten

General Orge.nizer

A. PHILIP RANDOLPH Aui utant General

Secretary- T rcasurer

23 I I SEVENTH AVENUE

ROY LANCASTER

NEW YORK. N. Y.

Organizer

W. H. DES VERNEY

Special Organizer

FRANK R. CROSSW AITH

As sistant General Organiz e r

Fie ld Representative

A . L. TOTTEN

1,ir. P . 'ebstor ,311 8 Giles vc ., C ~ cago , Il 1.

S. E. CRAIN

Ycnr 1 et t er of the 9th in s t . re c ei v e d. :!iiay I ss.y yoi;._-,.plc.n t-i c' ange tre mcet i ne; frow ·,Jerrlell Ph5 ll i p s Ti g1 School to s ome c. u:•ch •·10.erc cl. collection rr:ay be ts.ke 71 .is a \'lis e move . I wou l 'l s ucgest t e Pil gr ri B tpt i st Cl· r ch or so;-~ place i n hat neirh O:::'hood, s 'nee 51st .:trect i s a l i t tl e You nre qu i te ~1g 1t t s.':; 'TC il l :1eed the too far 0 11t . rove a~ ~o col ctions since t c cxrcnso : th.P eeting large . is l'kely to be quite

that

I il" ~c~d you a 1 s t 0¥ all thr org t i zations t• 4t hav c 1orsed the Br t •erhood , nc1 alflo '1C':1sp pera +,1-,,a t ,Ve spoken f vorab l y of t1-,c Movement . Br ot er Lnn c aster tel s ire that no such mc:n by tho irto thi.s o ffi c e. n "'C of' Gi l b ert >-Ialey ha s s en t any n.ppl icat.i.on on the; ttcr frO!'' you . "ii l l a·.ntit 0 1,l•c · deve1opment;s Fraterni,

' y y 1.W.l'

A!'. /LP'

OUR GOAL

More wage.a; better boura; better working tion .. time; abolition of •·doubling out/"

charge and manhood

conditions; pay conductor '• pay

Eor ovettime; for conductor'•

pay for ••prcpara• wo rk when in

riabta .

,Hilton li'Pli.111-1worked tirele.1.1 /y to p romote the early mass meetings of the BSCP lo a broad audience. This lei/er is one of 111 a11 y Pvha11 ged by IVebster and A. Phifi/J Randolph as they worked out the logistiral delail.sf or theseevents. 15

ChicagoHistmy, Fall 1996

An invitation is extended TO

Organized Labor in Chicago

Public Mass Meetin g -HELD

TO ATTEND A

Worker's Rally MassMeeting HELO UNDE R THE AUSP ICES OF

Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters SundayAfternoon, Oct.30, 1927,3 P. M. AT

Metropolitan Community Church 4100 SOUT H PARKWA Y Mr. A. Philip Randolph. General Or!!anizer of the Brotherhood, will speak on ''The Case of THE PCLLMAN PORTERS and THE COMPA Y UNION." The Company Union is, without a doubt, the most insidious enemy to organized labor, and the Brotherhood. for the past two years, hns been conducting a fight against tremendou$ odds, against one of the most vicious forms of a Company Union that exist.,. We feel that our case will soon be a complete success, and are ~oliC'itingthe co-operation and suppo1·t of all organiied labor in our effort to eliminate a

common enemy.

A Special Musical Program will be rendered. Come oul and bring you!' friends. n n CAGO DIVISION BROTHE RHOOD OF SLEEP ING CAR PO RTERS 224 Eas t Persh ing Road M. P . WEBSTER, GEO. W. CLARK. Chicago Division Organizer. Divi!,ion Recy..Treasurer

BY-

Chicago Division

Brotherhood ofSleeping Car Porters Sunday Afternoon, April 22, 3 P.M.

======= AT == = ====

Me tropolitan Comm unity ... Chu rc h ... 4100

PA R K WAY

SOUTH

A. PHIL IP RANDOL PH Gene ral Organizer ,

wiU discuss every phase of the Strike Situarion. and also the "So ca.lied offer to Settle with the Pull man Porters.'' ,o prominently played up by the Pittsburg C.ourrier.

T he success of the Brot herh ood is of vital interes t to all N egro workers . Learn more abou t it at this meeting .

Everybody Welcome

Admission Free

CHICAGO DIV. HEADQUARTERS 224 EAST PERSHING ROAD

GEO. W. CLARK , Sec.,Treaa.

M. P. WEBSTER, Organizer

•

,01

Unlikemoreconservativeblackchurches,the MetropolitanCmmmmityChurchsu/JjJorted the work of the BSCP. Thfse broadsidesadve1ti.semass meeting, held at this church.

the town." Ifso, it was partia lly the resu lt of the efforts of McDowe ll and Wells-Barnett, along with the Wells Club members, broadcasting the BSCP message to the larger community. Nevertheless, the majority of representati\'es from the black press and pulpit-most notably the Chicago Defender-continued to speak aga inst the BSCP, when they mentioned the Brotherhood at all. Despite this cont inuing lack of su pport, the BSCP did gain, litt le by little, add itiona l recogn ition. Lula E. Lawson, executive secretary of the South Parkway Young Women's Ch r istian Association (~VCA), opened up th e ~VCA network to the BSCP when she endorsed the ir goa ls in 1928. By the 1920s, the Y\ VCA emphasized collect ive act ion and the importance of partic ipation in "group wor k" as a means to give the ind ividual a greater sense of self-wort h and a connection with large -scale socia l change. The ~VCA strove to rev ita lize the community, which it be lieved was fragmented through forces of 16

modern life, such as m igration and indu tr ialitation. Lula Lawson brought this perspective and experience to the BSCP. Her abi lity to interest individuals in the merits of a larger community \'ision oppo ed to Pu llman philanthropy and patronage politic must have been valuable to the BSCP. Dr. Wi lliam D. Cook, minister of the Metropo litan Community Church, was the fir t minister to open his church to the Brotherhood. His support was not surprising since, as Webster to ld one scho lar, Cook was "kind of an outlaw preacher," who once headed one of the largest and most prominent churchesBethel AME-of Chicago. Cook's church had a history that stretched back to World War I of social and political leanings "not in harmony" with a majority of the AME churches in the Chicago area. Shortly after the Reverend A. J. Carey was appointed AME Bishop of Chicago in 1920, he removed Cook from Bethe l forever. Out of that turmoi l came the People's

/:-

,/. , I

~1.

ii','

-·

~::-... _,

-•

.••

A.1thl' BSCP bernmemore.rncre.1 .1/ul.rnrtoon,in The Messenger boasteda/the porters'unitedfront and the union'striumph /Jl' l' I 1/1 0/Jj)Olll ' ll/S.

ChicagoHistory, Fall 1996

· THE PULLMAN PORTERS THE

Brotherhood oFSleeping Car Porters THE INDEPENDENT PULLMAN PORTERS UNION is pleased to announce that it has

COMPLETELY DEFEATED THESTOOL PIGEON, THE WELFARE WORKER , THEPORTER INSTRUGTOR , THELICKSPITLE POLI· TICIAN, THE WEAK-KNEED NEGRO BUSINESS MANANO ALLOF DOUBLE CROSSING NEGRO NEWSPAPER EDITORS, ANDIN FACT THE ENTIRE GROUP Of NEGRO RACE TRAITORS WHO WERE MOBILIZED BY SOME "MYSTERIOUS POWER" TOOBSTRUCT THEWORK OF ORGANIZING THIS

Union of,byand forPullman Porters The most powerrul force e,·er lined up against a mo,·ement of this kind has not been able to retard its onward progress. After many attempts to organize a Real Union success has at last boon obtained. of the Pullman Porters has triThe REAL MA1'"HOOD umphed over the low, degraded traitorous cowardly , underhanded efforts of that wlSCrupulous group or Negroes who for about "THffiTY CENTS" ha,·e surrendered e,·ery principle of Manhood, Honor Honesty and Rate Loyalty in U1eir feeble errorts to show the P~llman Porters that they arc still Children and not Men.

• THEBROTHERHOOD ISONTHEMAP and has started to carry out its Const uctive Program of the Organization of getting you a Living \\ 'age, Decent Working Conditio ns and Manly Treatment. Chicago Men, let's live up to the 0 1 WILL" Spirit and finish lhe job by making Chicago a Ninety-Fh·e per cent Local.

SPECIAL SERIES OFMEETINGS THIS WEEK ATUNION HEADQUARTERS, 311B SILES AYE.

TUES. JAN. 19TH , WED. JAN. 20TH , THURS. JAN . 21ST, FRI.JAN. 22ND , SAT . JAN. 23RD, ATBP.M. IMPORTANT INFORMATION WILLBEDISCLOSED ATTHESE MEETINGS Members be sure to beon handand bringat leastone new member. Olfice Open Day and Night M. P. WEBSTER,Organizer. G, A. PRICE, Act. Sec.-Treas. Comeand learn the truth about the new law to abolish the U. S. RailroadLaborBoard.

The animosity of the BSCP towardAfrican Americans who fail ed to sujJport the union is expressed strongly in this broadsidefrom 1928, which announces the defeat of "the lickspitle politician, the weak-kneed negro business man and all of double crossing negro nnL'S/Japer editors.··

Community Church of Christ and Metropolitan Community Center, dedicated to the service of humanity and the welfare of the community. Under Cook's leadership, the church , generally known as Metropolitan Community Church, sponsored activities such as educational programs and seminars on industrial relations. Cook found and rented office space for the porters and maids during the first crucial two years of the union's existence and , until his death in 1930, addressed many of the Brotherhood's meetings. 18

Dr. J. C. Austin opened up the Pilgrim Baptist Church for mass meetings of the Brotherhood soon after he came to Chicago from Pittsburgh in 1926. Known nationally as a "dynamic personality" and business leader as well as minister , Austin, as an outsider to Chicago politics, was not entang led in patronage nor paternalistic relations. He arrived with a vision of uplifting the race and building a progressive church in Chicago. Offering protection and advice to workers was just one of the church-sponsored services that Austin initiated to put uplift into practice. Pilgrim 's stated mission was to reach the unreached, upon the "highway and in the hedges. " Apparently, this approach to Christian ministry filled a need. for by l 930 the church had attracted more than nine thousand members, becoming one of the largest and most prosperous of the hundreds of churches on the South Side. Meanwhile, Bishop Carey continued to ban the Brotherhood From AME churches, reminding AME ministers of their responsibility to warn their membership against the evil inAuence of labor leaders. Also joining forces with the BSCP wa Dr. Charles Wesley Burton, minister of the Lincoln Memorial Congregational Church until he began practicing law in 1926. Webster considered Burton to have a "world of experience in the various social problems that concern the egro ." When Burton took over the ministry of the Lincoln Memorial Congregational Church, he tarted a strong community outreach program on social issues. At a mass meeting on October 30, 1927 , the BSCP made significant gains in terms of upport and recognition from the black community when more than two thousand people heard the BSCP rebuke the Chicago Defender for its editorial stance . Randolph charged that the Defender had surrendered to "gold and power." Earlier the BSCP had referred to the D~fender as the Chicago "Surrender" and the "World 's Greatest Weakly. " Many of those who packed Cook's Metropolitan Community Church to hear the BSCP leaders lash out at the Defender were drawn to the meeting through the clubwomen's network and the di tribution of more than five thousand circulars throughout the black neighborhoods on the South Side. The

'TheBrotherhood BSCP fea tur ed its figh t aga in st a co mp any uni o n , whi ch it pi ctu re d as a fig h t aga ins t whites choos ing black leaders. As a res ult of the meet ing, a large numb er o f citizens delivere d a "bu shel bas ket of m ail" to th e Defender de man din g an expl an at io n for its failur e to cover news of th e BSCP. Pullm an Co mp any detect ives, re por ting to execu tives about th e Brot her hoo d 's activities, noted t he incr ease d att en tio n th e com munit y showed towa rd th e Bro th er hoo d by th e fall of 1927. T he Defender staff also not iced : with the Nove mb er l 9, 1927, issu e, th ey began su p portin g the Brot her hood. T he chan ge in policy was nothin g if not abrup t. Ro i Ott ley, biogra ph er of Robert Abbott , publisher and ed itor of the Defender, sa id Abbott ch anged hi s policy toward the uni on in respo nse to bot h decreased circul ation an d charges th at black ed itors sup portin g Pullm an were "tr aitors to th eir race ." Although th e Pullm an Co m pany fired or ot herw ise p uni sh ed th e porte rs a nd m aids identified with the un ion, sentime nt withi n the blac k co mm uni ty was shi ft ing towards the

Above: Irene McCoyCainesjoined the Citizens' Committee i111927 and became its secreta1y in 1928. Below: This undatl'd photogrn/Jhshows one of the mass meetings o im/Jortant to the BSCP'.ssuccess. 1vlilto11Webster is seated in the renter of lhe jJlatfonn.

ChicagoHisto1y,Fall 1996 BSCP thanks in part to the efforts of Dr. Cook, Dr. Austin, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Lula Lawson, and Mary McDowell. The Brotherhood held meetings several nights a week with as many as fifty to sixty porters and maids showing up. Larger "mass" meetings, aimed at the community, were held about once a month, commanding good publicity because organizers would blanket key parts of the community using their friendly networks. In December J 927, Webster formalized the group of supportive citizens into the Citizens' Committee. He added new members at the same time. Perhaps the most important addition was Irene McCoy Gaines, leading clubwoman and industrial secretary of the South Parkway YWCA. In her role as industrial secretary of the YWCA from 1920 to 1925 , she advocated a labor-oriented approach to civil rights. In addition, Gaines and her hu band, Harris Barrett Gaines, formerly a representative in the Illinois State Legislature and Assistant State's Attorney, had acces to the social and political world of upper-class black Chicagoans. From 1924 to 1935, Irene Gaines served as president of the Illinois Federation of Republican Colored Women's Clubs, a group that she helped to organize. In January 1928, Webster appointed Gaines secretary of the Citizens' Committee. Key members of the Lincoln Community Men's Club may have inOuenced the breakdown of opposition during the next couple of years among middle-class professional black men not normally familiar with the merits of labor organizing. In 1928, Dr. Burton, of Lincoln Memorial Congregational Church , became chairman of the Cititen ' Committee. Burton probably encouraged David \.\'. .Johnson, president of the church 's Lincoln Community Men's Club, to join the committee. Johnson helped the Brotherhood by writing letters to citizens, and encouraging other members of the Men's Club to do the same. George Cleveland Hall lent his support to the BSCP in 1928, revealing that e, ·en within the Chicago Urban League, a bastion of proemployer sentiment, differences could be found on the issue of unionism. Hall, one of the League's founders and a well-known physician, became a member of the Citizens' Com-

mittee of the BSCP despite the fact that Pullman Company had always contributed to the Urban League. Hall hardly fi.t, however, the profile of a New Negro economic radical. Con idered one of the most articulate business leaders in the early part of the century, Hall in many respects appeared to be out of the Booker T. Washington camp , which believed black Americans should accept the status quo and not directly challenge second-class citizenship. Indeed, he and his wile had been personal friends or Washington. Hall promoted black business in Chicago and , in 1912, became the president of the Chicago branch or Washington's National egro Business League, which believed capitalism was color blind. Simultaneously, however , he was one of' two active black leaders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and participated in its committee on grievances. The contradiction implied by active membership in both a Washington and a DuBois organitation at the same time-one advocating an accommodating approach, the other a more direct, militant approach-did not seem to upset Hall. \\'hilc he may have supported Washington out of personal loyalty or even because he subscribed to certain a pects of

George Cleveland Hall became a member of the BSCP's Citizens' Committee in 1928. This J;hotogmj;h,c. 1886, shows hi111 as a young man.

The Brotherhood

self-help, he did not believe in accommodating to the status of a second-class citizen. He thought that black Americans had to fight white prejudice and discrimination directly and move out from white control of black institutions, which seem to be the issue that connected Hall with the Brotherhood. The Citizens' Committee became the offi cial sponsor, beginning in 1928, of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters' Labor Conferences, annual meetings to educate porters and the public about labor and civil rights issues. Some members of the Citizen's Committee spoke at the conferences; others used civic and political clubs to advance the BSCP's labor point of view. Still others, such as Mary McDowell, worked with black and white labor networks and used the page of the Federation News to discuss the BSCP approach to reform and advancement through labor organization. By the 1930 , the BSCP, through the Citizens' Commiuee, influenced the protest agenda of rnanr club members and leader~ on Chicago's South Side. The Reverend IIarold l\L Kingsley, pa~Lor of the Church of the Good Shepherd, described by one interviewer as "preaching to the white collar class" spoke al Brotherhood mass meeting and at it annual labor confer-

Due in part to the efforts of the Citizens' Committee,the BSCP's membe1:1hip and influencegrew, and the Pullman Company event1wlly recognized the wzion. Above: The I 93 7 BSCP negotiating team. A. Philip RandoljJh is fourth fimn the left,,!'vii/ton Websterthird fimn the right. Below: This membershipbook recordsa porter's paid-u/J dues.from 1930.

ChicagoHistO'ly,Fall 1996 ence. His sermons emphasized the virtue and value of labor. But at the 1930 Negro Labor Conference, sponsored by the Citizens' Committee, he said the black church of the late 1920s ignored the plight of the working classjust as the Russian church had before the Russian Revolution of 1917. ''The Church is the one institution that gets more of the people together than any other institution," he said, but it needed to be "educated up to the economic conditions of the workers." Frederic Robb, president of the Washington Intercollegiate Club, spoke at that same labor conference and focused on the need for black workers to educate students "up to their responsibilities" and for "students to quit criticizing the worker and get in harmony with him ." Finally, Robb also admonished the churches to "foster a labor psychology. " The Brotherhood's need for outreach into Chicago's black community did not disappear when the Pullman Company finally recognized the BSCP as the bargaining agent for porters and maids in 1935. A loosely organized group still existed as a reserve army to counter adverse publicity put out by Pullman within key community networks. But the active years of the Citizens ' Committee were between 1927 and 1933 when the BSCP needed help mobilizing support in its attack on the culture of Pullman paternalism. The Citizens ' Committee raised quest ions about the value of a political

culture that denied black Chicagoans-as workers and as citizens-rights of first-class citizenship. But it also put workers' interests and unionization on the agenda of civic clubs, helping to bridge the gap between the middle and working class, and introducing labor issues into civic discourse. Finally, the work of the Chicago Citizens ' Committee of the BSCP foreshadowed alliances of the mid-to-late 1930s between groups such as the Chicago chapter of the National Negro Congress (NNC), which focused primarily on labor issues, and middleclass groups like the Chicago Council of Negro Organizations, which focused on securing civil rights for black Chicagoan . In 1939 , Irene McCoy Gaines headed the Chicago Council of Negro Organizations , leading joint efforts with th e left-leaning NC local to support workers ' rights. Without the labor education provided to the black middle class through networks of the Citizens ' Committee, alliances uniting leftwingers and more conservative groups in protests against second-class citizen hip might have been harder to form . Life on a Pullman described P11L/111 a11porters and maids as "attentive, but never obtrusive;" an addition lo a Pull11umrar's "crea/11r e-co111fo,t. 1."In addition to practiral demands fo r higher wages and shorter working hours, the BSCP worked to end the Pullman Co111/Jan y'.1/xllronizing allitude toward the Pullmm1/Jorten and maids.

. .AND ISMADE COMFORTABLE BYTHESE EMPLOYEES .

THEPULLMAN PORTER obligin@

and courtt..>ous at all times; diligent and cheerful in executing )'Our orders. He asliMs with your luggage, prepares your berth. and keeps )'Our car, bed and wash• room linen and equipment in orderly fa.shioo. Pullman porters are tra.ined in the art of making you fec:I a, home. They arc anentive, but never obtrusi, •e-aod they welcome the chance co help you get the most comfort and pleasure out of your trip. On .some lines the porter is in charge of rhe service.

WHILE THE CONDUC TOR'S duties arc generally associated wjth receiving passengers , assi,coiog accom• modarion..)., and caking tickets , r.he most important of his dutie, at aJl times and under all conditions h to please and ~athfy you . He is interested io your com• fore and welfare and, whe-n you so desire , the porter will be glad to summon him to answer any questions that you may have or wish to ask concerning some particular phase of your trip.

THEMAIDofTeru

,en ice of e,pecial importance co women tn"elen on some Pullm a n equipped trains . Her duties, of couue , embrace services generally appreciated by women paS)Cn!Cers. Tra~• elen with children find the maid 's anention to the youngsters · want most helpful. The women 's dressing room anentioo . Pullman receives her ~dul maids a.re expert maokurists and skilled in hair -drcs~ing. In fact, rhc maid '!t duties add co the many creature-comforts ,o be found in Pullman ervice.

The Brotherhood

The support of the Citizens'Committeehel/Jedpromote the mass meetingsthat built the strength of the BSCP. In this undated p!wtogm/Jh, the audiencelistens attentively. FOR FCRTIIER

READING

A number or histories of A. Philip Randolph and the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters exist, including William H. Harris's Kee/Jing the Faith: A. Philip Randolph, Millon P. Websterand the Brotherhoodof Sleeping Car Porters (Urbana: University or Illinois Press, 1977) and Joseph Wilson's TearingDournthe ColorBar:A Documentary Histo1yand Analysis of the BSCP (New York: Columbia University P1·ess, I 989). Although there is little published information on the BSCP's Citizens' Committee, background on social acti\'ism among 1\rric an Ameri can women during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century can be gathe,·ed in Paula Giddings's When and WhereI Enter:the Impact of Black Womenon Race and Sex in America(New York: William Mon-ow, 198-!) and Jane Edna llunter's To Beller Our World:Black Womenin 01ga11izedReform, 1890- 1920. For general backgrnund on th e African American community in Chicago during the 191Osand 1920s, sec Jame s (,rnssm an's Land of Hope: Chiwgo, Black So11themer.1, and the Gm1t Migration (Chicago: Uni1·e1·sity of Chicago Press. I 991 ). [u .t ',IR .\ 110'-S

-!, Cl IS Archi, ·e, and l\lanuscripts Collection, BSCP papers; 5, from The Messe11wr,(September 1926),

courtesy or·n1e ewberry Library; 6 top, CHS Prints and Photographs Collection; 6 bottom, from Pullman News, (October 1929), CHS Library; 7, from The Messenger, U anuary I 926), courtesy of The Newberry Library; 8 top, CHS, ICHi-12255 ; 8 bottom, from Life on a Pullman ( 1939), CHS Library; 9 top , "No. 9:" The Sto1yof the First Pullman Car (1924), CHS Library; 9 bottom , CHS, ICHi-26271; 10 top, CHS, ICHi12867 ; IO bottom, courtesy of the City or Chicago , Department or Development and Planning , Landmarks Di\'ision ; 11, CHS, ICHi-20821; 12, from The J\lessenger, Uul y 1926), courte y of The Newberry Library; 13 top , from The Messenger (September 1925), courteS)' of The Newben 1 Libra,,; 13 bottom, from The Bulletin, (vol I , no. 8), courtesy of The Newberry Library; 14, CHS, ICHi-21783; 15, CHS Archive and Manuscripts Collection, BSCP papers ; 16 le ft, CHS, JCHi-25676 ; 16 right, CHS, ICHi06236; 17, from The Messenger(August 1926), courtesy ofThe ewberTy Librar y; 18, CHS, ICHi-15038; 19 top, CIIS, ICHi-25389 ; I 9 bottom, CHS, ICHi22640; 20, CHS, ICHi-22 353; 21 top, CHS, JCHi22642; 21 bottom, CHS Archives and Manuscripts Collection, BSCP papers ; 22, from Life on a Pullman ( 19'.\9), CHS Library ; 23, CHS, ICHi-23673 23

Remembering the Great Chicago Fire The dramaticevents of the Great ChicagoFireof 1871 remain vivid 125 years later in thepersonal accountsof thosewho witnessedit.

Ed itor's note: As one of the defining events in the city's history, the Creal Chicago Fire of 187 l has been the subject of counllessarticles, books,legends, and even a Hollywoodmovie.Fromthe contemporary newsjJaperand magazine accounts that sjnead the news of the disaster around the world to curre11t scholarlyworksthat explore theJire'slegacy,the event has been dissected, analyzed, celebrated, misrepresented, anclmythologized. What we do no/ often hear are the voicesof those who actually witnessed the event. The following articlefeatures first-hand accounts of Chicagoans who lived through this great urban disaster. In 1918 , Mr. and Mrs. Dennis O'Keefe donated a painting of thefire lo the ChicagoHistoricalSociety. The artist wasJulia Lemos, whosedramatic account of herfamily's escapefrom thefire was also donated. In addition, a little boy's letter to a "chum," which includes a drawing of himsf'!J,his family, and their goatfleeing their home, and twelve-year-oldBelle F. Becker's1873 school essa)'illustrate children'sex/Jeriencesand memoriesof thefire. We have, with a few exceptionsfor readability,retained the authors' original spellingand punctuation. Becausetwo of these pieceswere writtenyearsafter thefire and two by children, the objective "truth" of the accounts may be questioned. Indeed, time undoubtedlycoloredpeople's memoriesof the events and exaggerated their experiences.Yet these/Jerspectives remain valuable, as they recount not only what Chicagoans experienced, but how they chose lo remembertheir experiences. Youcan /,earnmoreaboutthe legacyof thefire in the ChicagoHistoricalSociety'sand N01thwesternUniversity'srecentlyla,unchedon-line exhibition The Great Ch icago Fire and the Web of Memory (accessible throughour Website:http://www.chicagohs.01g). 24

Fleeing from the Burning C ity, pencil slielchby Albert R. Waud, 1871.

Chicago Hi story, Fall 1996

J ulia Lemos wrote down her memoriesof thefire in 1918, when the Historical Society requesteddelail.sabout the impiralion for her recentlydonated jJainting, Memories of th e Chicago Fire in 1871.

Re111e111beri11g the Fire Two weeks before the fire, on account of my mother's failure in health, so she cou ld not take charge of my ch ildr en as she formerly did, by the advice of a lad y friend, I put four of them in the half orphan asylum on Burling st. north side, but left the baby who was not yet a year old with my mother. I was to pay $7 a week for them at the asylum and provide their clothing. It was a trial to me to have them there, but I had a situation down town at Lithographic work, and had to hold fast to it to support the family. The second week I worried so that I cou ld not stand it, and determined to go bring them home, no matter ifl lost my situation or not, so I went and told the matron I wanted them, she refused to let them go, she said the rules were not to change the last of the week, but if I came Monday I cou ld have them. Well I had to go home then, and said I would come after them Monday morning. That even ing I went next door to our landlord and paid $12 rent in advance for a month. About 9-o'clock that evening, my baby was as leep and I began to get ready to retire. Our cottage had front shutters, so lid without slats in them, so when shut, the room was in complete darkne s. I pulled the shutters to close them, but there was such a strong wind blowing, that I had to pull hard to close them, I said out loud, Oh what a wind. It would be bad if there was a fire-I did not know it then, but the fire had already started on the west side, I retired, but about five o'clock in the morning wa woke up by a rumbling noise, so as I was awake I got up and threw open the shutters, I thought I was dreaming, the whole treet was crowded with people, with hats and shawls on, a neighbor who stood in front of our house called to me, and said Mrs. Lemos, are roujust getting up? I said yes, what is the matter? The sky was reflecting fire, she said the cit)' has been burning all night, and the fire is coming to the north side, \Veil, that startled me, and I ran to the back room and called 111)' father and mother up, I said the city is burning, father ran around shaking his hands, the children, the children, I must go for them, he said. I said no, you do not know where the asylum is, I will go, you stay here and take care of mother and the bab) ', then r ran to the asylum, they were moving there up north to another building,

Julia Lemos\ 1912 Jx1i11ling,Memories of the Chicago Fire in 1871.

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The t1·rron of thefire wae gra/Jhicallydepictedin Geo1ge Barclay\ Der Gn>sse Feuer in Chicago (fhe Great Fire in Chicago).

ChicagoHistmy, Fall 1996 the matron said my children would be all right, and wanted me to leave them, but I insisted on taking them, and had to bring them with ragged clothes on, though I had given good clothes when I took them there , but I was thankful to get them in any way. My youngest boy bad to go with me without a hat, as it was all confusion there. Well we got home and I

gave the ch ildr en breakfast, then father said I should go to the landlord next door and ask him Lo return to me, the $12 I had g iven him for rent in advance, as we were go in g to be burnt out, and I was a widow with a ll that family , he refused to give me back the money, but was an expressman and had a wagon, he said that he had been moving their household

Wagonshastil)'/Jackedwith household goodsfilled the streets of city 011 the night of thefire, as shown in this pencil sketch by Alfred R. Waud, 1871.

Rememberingthe Fire

goods up north on the prairie, and that he would move one load of my things for that money, which he did, things we would need at first, but all our best things had to burn. I had a trunk with papers valuable to the family and my best clothes, and father had a large trunk with papers of \'alue and mother's and his best clothes. His name was on the outside of his trunk and my name was on my trunk also, then there was a mattress and a feather bed and other things put on the wagon, and it went off We did not know if we could find the things again, by that time the fire was advancing on us, I wanted to leave the house, but father said, 0, the wind will change. People were running in crowds past our house, I 5tood with my baby in my arms and the other children beside me, 11 ·hen a woman running past with three children, said to me, Madam, ain ' t you going to save those children, that started me, I went to Father and said I was going to leave at once, he said O wait, but 1 started and then he and mother gathered some things, mother put

To/J:Those not lucky enough to find transportation left. the city with only what they could rnny. Bottom: Chicago'sfirst .fi.reengine, Fire King number 1, was no/ in service in Chicago at the time of the fire, but now stands in the HistoricalSociety'sRichard H. Needham Chicago History Galleries to illus/rate the kind of equijmzenlused lofight thefire.

some bread and a pound of coffee in a valise, then he rook a small tin kettle-father came out of the house, with his hunting dog, which was worth $25 on a chain, his gun and a large

Chicago Histmy, Fall 1996

round cloak he wore those days, then he locked the door, and put the key in his pocket, we always laughed about that afterwards-then we started away with the crowd and went way up north till we came to prairies, where people had moved their goods. \Ve found our goods and trunks in a pile by themselves, by that time it was getting late in the afternoon, the children were very tired as we all were, father took the mattress and laid the children on it and the feather bed and covered them with his large cloak, they got asleep for about an hour, when word came that we would have to run again. The fire was on us, the wind blew the blazing boards for a long distance and set fi.re to all the goods on the prairie. A dry goods store, on the corner of \Veils and orth Ave had their stock here, and the fire ran along the long grass too, we had no rain for a long time, and everything was very dry. l had to wake the children up, and we had to run again, and leave everything to burn, this time we felt the heat on our backs when we ran, like when one stands with the back to a grate fire. \Veil we ran a good way 1orth, then father thought we were safe and we stopped, then the sky was clouding up and getting dark, there was an old board fence where we were and father pulled four boards off, and laid them on the grass and laid three of the children on them and covered

them with his large cloak again, but my oldest child, a boy about 9 yrs old stayed with me. I set on the grass holding the baby, and the boy laid his head on my lap and went to sleep, then it wa dark, and from where l was sitting I could see a circle of fire at a distance, then I saw a church steeple topple over in the Aames. Just then, my boy woke up, and began to sob, I said, Willie, mama is here, do not cry. He said yes but Mama, Isn't this the Last Day? You see, he had been to Sunday school and heard about the Day of Judgment-the end or the world, Well it was getting very dark, then it began to rain, a pouring rain, I said to father it will kill those children to sleep in that rain. Poor old man, he said, I have done all I can. I said I think this is a farm, or this fence would not be here, I will go see if there is not a shed we might go in out of the rain, father said you must not go, I will, then he went and we were afraid be would lose his way, it was so very dark, but soon he came back, and said he had found a shed, so the second time I had to wake the children up, and we all went to the shed. or cour e it was pitch dark inside, and we did not know if there were cows or pigs or dogs there, and not one or us had a match. Mother and I sat Oat on the ground, each with a baby in our arms, for my 4th child was about two years old, and till a baby, then we tried to

A horse-drawnfire engine, SteamerR. A. Williams,number 1 7, c. 187 1. 30

Rememberingthe Fire

sleep as we were all worn out, about midnight I was roused, and saw two figures coming in, but it was so dark we could not see who it was, at the first rays of daylight I saw it was a poor woman with her little boy. Well, in the morning father went to the farm, and they sent us a pitcher of milk, and a cup to drink it, but nothing to eat, all we had in the bag was half a loaf of bread, so I gave the children some and ourselve , so that was our breakfast, then father said I should stay there with the children, while he and mother went to see if our trunks and things were burnt up. By and by they came back and told me that everything that was stored on that prairie was burned. \Ve had a mattress and feather bed, all that remained of that was a few feathers Oying in the air. A policeman saw father hunting around, and asked him what he was looking for. Father told him we had goods there, and among them were two trunks, but he could not find the remains of them. The policeman asked him, what names were on the outicle of the trunks, father said his name Eustace \\'ys1ynski was on one, and my name Mrs.Julia Lemos, was on the other. The policeman aid, here they arc, and he pointed to a mound of

Top: Bu med 011/ of their homes.manyfamilies sel 11pcamp on the open Jm1irie.Bollom: The rnins of thefirst Palmer House al Stale Streetand QuincyAve1111e.

ChicagoHistory, Fall 1996

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Above: This broadsidefrom the General Relief Committee /Jublicizedthe shelter available in chu rehes and public schools.Right and op/Jositebot/0111: These "beforeand afin'' mapsfrom The Chicago Fire and the Fire Insurance Companies illustratethe extent of the burnt district.OjJ/Josite top:Many churchesservedas sitesfor the distributionof food and clothingfor those left homelessby thefire.

earth, then he took a spade and dug them out. He told father he was there when the fire reached the goods, and saw the trunks and thought they were of value, so he covered them with the ground, so the fire passed over them . People have said it was a miracle, as everything else there was burned. Then father got a man with a wheelbarrow to take them in the basement of a church which was opened for the refugees, then father came after us, and we all went to the church . My children were comfortable in two pews, the whole church was crowded, even the pulpit. The government sent wagons to the church with provisions, and the janitor of the church made 1-yecoffee for the people, we could not drink it, and mother had a pound of ground coffee in her valise, and a tin pail that she brought along, so we 32

were allowed to go in the basement and make our coffee three times a day. While we were drinking it a lady came down from the pulpit with her pet poodle in her arms, she bad a silk dress on and diamond earrings, she came to me and told me that the smell or our coffee made her crazy, that she could not drink the rye coITee they were making , and that she had never begged in her life, buL was going to beg now of me for a cup of coffee. or course I gave it to her and told her that every time we had coffee she should come and have some, which she did, we were there three days. The second day, about noon I saw a gentleman come in the church door, and at the same time saw that lad y whom I had been giving the coffee to, running down the steps or the pulpit with her arms outstretched, he met her half way down the aisle and took her in his arms, and the little poodle jumped over both of them. It was her husband, he was in St. Louis on business at the time or the fire, he was looking for her and

Rememberingthe Fire

CHICAGO ASITIS. f!HOWlNOTIIJ:

had a carriage outside to take her, they were going to St. Louis, she came to me and kissed me Good Bye she said we may never meet again, but we will meet in Heaven, then father told me that the government was giving free passes on the railroads, so people could go to their friends and that he could take us to New York to my aunt there. As all the firms I worked for were burned I knew it would be very long before I would have work to support the family, but might get work in ew York, so I told father to get the pass and we would go. The next morning he went after the pass. While he was gone there was a great commotion, every one ran to the church doors and looked out, so I went to see what was the matter. There was a crowd in the middle of the street dragging a man along with a rope around his neck, they were going to hang him, he had been caught setting fire for robbery, that frightened me, and I said we will leave Chicago at once, I would be afraid to have my children on the street. The second night at the church every one was asleep at midnight, but on account of my baby being restless, I woke up, and saw a rough looking man coming in the church door , I pretended to be asleep but watched him, he laid down in a pew for awhile, 33

Chicago H istory, Fall 1996 th en h e ro se up a nd loo ked about to see if he was obse rved , a m an la id as lee p in th e n ext pew, and he reac h ed ove r and was ju st takin g hi s wa tch , wh en I set up and t he thi ef sta rt ed a nd la id d own aga in , I pr ete nd ed to wait on baby, but whi sp ere d to m ot he r to te ll fath er , which she did , and as fath er was an o ld soldi er and had a gu n, he with seve ra l o th e rs wer e a pp o int ed a guard in th e chur ch, he went to th e o th e rs a nd ca lled th e m , a nd th ey clos ed about the man and too k him to a gu ardhou se th ey had about th er e . Th ere was a lady in th e chur ch wh o had beco m e insane fro m th e fire, her hu sband was away, all ni ght she walked th e a isles, callin g out loud J o hn , J ohn . T he ladi es m ad e a be d for her and te nd ed he r . We left th e thi rd day bu t we hea rd lo ng a fter that she di ed in the insane asylum . She was a very celebr ated singer. Left: City of!irials adojJtedstem measures to discourage thef/ and lootin[;in the wake of the fire, m rn11be seen in thi1noticeJimn Allan Pinknto n. Below: Donatedfood and clothin[;for the fire's victims /Joured into Chicagofrom around the nation.

Rememberingthe Fire Well how were we to get to the tra in for New York . T here was no way-so the janitor of the chu rch had a wagon and horse, and offered, if fath er would let hi m have the dog (which was wort h $25, a tra ined hunter, father brought him from Lo uisville, Kentucky) he wou ld take us to the train, in his wagon, so father arranged it, and he put our two trunks in the wagon then we got in, I set on one trun k with one baby, and moth er set on the ot her with the litt le two year old . T he ot her three children set on the bottom of the wagon, and father on the seat wit h the dr iver. T he street car tracks as far as you cou ld see, were in scollops (like th is rrY"I ) a ll over the city, the h eat had warped them . \Ve drove, I expect, through a ro ug h part of the city, rowd ies came and stood about

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ChicagoHistory, Fall 1996

Miss Eliza Talbott'srailroadpass.

our wagon and I was much afraid, till we arrived at the station. I suppose the driver took the shortest route there, without regard to the neighborhood. Well, we felt perfectly safe when we got on the train. The passengers were very kind to my children, buying cake and candy for them, when they were brought in at different stations. There were many other refugees on the train, going to different towns on the route. In spite of all my trouble, I was happy, because I had all my children with me. We arrived in New York , and father told me to stay in the station with the children, while he and mother went to find my Aunt, she had not written for six months, so they were not sure of her address. They left me, and it is a fact, I did not have 10 cts in the world. I had given all my money for the rent, and expected to get my salary $15 on Monday-that firm paid the artists Monday instead of Saturday-but the fire happened, so that settled it. While they were gone, a gentleman , rather old, came in the station, and walked over to me, be asked me if I had been burned out in the Chicago Fire. I said yes, then he asked if all those were my children, I said they were. He said, too bad, too bad. Then he put his hand in his pocket, and handed me a bill, I drew back and said, Thank you, but I will not take it. He said Madam, take it for the children, his tone was so kind, that I took it then-he said good Bye Madam and good luck, he took his hat off and bowed as he left, when he got to the door of the station, I saw the bill was a $10 bill, I had thought it was $1-so I ran after him, and stopped him, I told him he had made a mistake, he had given me $10. He said, Madam I

know it, I wanted you to have it-Good Bye and then he left. Just then father came in the door and seeing a stranger talking to me, he frowned , and the janitor who was sweeping saw him. He said to father, do you know who that gentleman is? Father said, no , who is he. The janitor said, he is the richest man in ew York , and is helping the Chicago refugees, he will not give his money to the societies, but investigates every case himself. He told father his name, but I cannot remember it. Well following father as he came in, was mother and my cousin , a young lady, I had not seen her since she was a child of 10 years. Of course we were glad to meet, and she told me to come along, she had a carriage waiting for us, so we went out, got in the carriage, and had rode a long block , when my cousin said to me , Julia, I heard you had five children, I said yes. Then she looked around the carriage , and said, but there are only four here. I looked and saw my baby was not with us , mother had been holding her, and in the excitement, forgot her in the station. I told father, and he called the coachman , and said , drive back like lightning, we have left a baby in the station. The coachman hurried his horses back, and I jumped out and ran in the station. Fortunately , no other train had come in, so the station wa empty , otherwi e, if people had found a baby there alone , we might have lo L her. She was leaning on a cushioned seal looking ouL the window, he did nol know we had gone. Well the way I clasped her in my arm , and the feelings that I had only a mother know , it seemed o ridiculous, that I had sa, ·ed the children from the fire, and was so near losing my baby, just as our trouble were ending-which they were , my cousin took us to her mother my Aunt and she kepl us with her for two weeks, then we got a small llat, and with things the relatives gave u started housekeeping. The third day after we arrived, I got work at Lithograph work, to do at home by the piece , so I got startedWe returned to Chicago a year and a half after the Fire, I got my old situation back, at Carqueville & Shober Lithograph establishment , and father done some work for them al o. We have remained here ever since then. -Mrs.Julia

Lemos

Remembering the Fire

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Lake Forest Oct. 19 Dear Chum, We are burnt out of house and home and so we had to come up here, I suppose you wou ld like to hear about the fire and how we escaped from it. Half past one Monday morning we were awakened by a loud knocking at the front door we were awake in an inslant and dressing ourselves we looked about and saw a perfect shower of sparks flying over our house. I got some water and went out in the yard whi le my brother went up on the roof we worked for one or two hours at the end of that time we had to gi\'e up. We tried to get a wagon bul could not so we put two trunks on a wheelbarrow and each or us shouldered a bundle and we marched for the old skating park I leading my goat. We got along very we ll until the Pestigo

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I n this illustratedletter,J ustin (lastname unknown) tellsa friend about /zisfamily's adventureson the night of thefire.

Lumber yard caught on fire then it was all we could do to breathe. Mother caug ht on fire once but we put it out at last we heard that there was a little shanty that hadn't burnt down so we marched there but had to leav e our trunks and everything else but Charlie a nd father went back and got one but could not get the other as the sand was blowing in tl1eir faces and cut like glass at last a wagon drove up and we all piled in and escaped so good by yours Justin

Address Lake Forest Lake County Care of Mr. Rossiter 37

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Fannie Belle Becker[Dement} wrote this essayon thefire as a school assignment in I 87 3. Her memo1yof the !'vents cifthe night of October 8, 1871 , however, remained clear.

My Experience of the Chicago Fire Sat day evening Oct the 8th 1871 there was a large Fire in Chicago it wa probably the largest Fire ever in that city then it was the lumberyard burning there was a great many people out to see it. They stayed until! a late hour and so were very tired but did not get much rest for Monday morning at three o'clock I was awakened and told to Dress for the Fire was all around us and we would soon be burnt out. My ma put all her valubals into her ewing machine and locked it up and threw some things into her trunk. I carried ma·s fur box (with furs in it), and, account book, and a parasol , and, a little lad y called Jennie. And perhaps some of my little friends in Fruit-Port have made her [acquaintance] but some of you may not know who little Jennie is so I will say 38

that she is a little China doll a Chri tma s pr esent whe n I wa Five yea rs old and I will always kee p her as a Relic of' the Chicago Fire. We could nol save th e Sewing Machine but did ave the trunk . We had a gentleman friend who helped us ; we all went down right away but ma stayed, she aid Lhat she would stay as long a she could. owe wenl around Lhe corner to monroe street and waited and when she came she brought a large hair 1atra . The air was so full of cind e rs and was so hot that it almost stifled her. We could not get an express man to carry the thing for ther e were none to be had. So our friend drew our trunk and a trunk that belonged to a friend of his who was out of the city. He lashed the two together and lashed the Matrass on top of the trunks, and then drew

Rememberingthe Fire them along. The trunks both has castors on. When we got to the corners of Dearborn street ma told me to go Down on Jackson st. a few blocks away to the house of a friend and see if they thought the fire would come there and if not we would go there and stay. And Just as I was about to start a man who had been standing near and heard what ma said told her that he would see me safe there. Ma thanked him and said we would not trouble him but he said it was no trouble and walked along beside me. He said he would take my account book I did not like his looks and so told him that I cou ld carry it myself, and, as we went through a crowd just then I dodged away from him and ran and I have not seen anyth ing of him since . When I got to the house they had all their things packed and out on the sid e walk and, in a little while ma came and then we went back to monroe st and then as the Fire came on we went on toward Lake Michagan as we went on we came to our friends brothers house we stayed here until the fire drove us out then the heat was so intense that it drove us down to the waters Edge and then my uncle who was with us (and, had arrived Saturday) took his hat and ,oured water on the things to keep them from Jurning but thousands and thousands of dollar's worth of goods were burned right there on the waters Edge. Although our things were saved we sat there until I was almost blind with the dirt and cinders that filled the air I could not open my eyes, o that when I walked ma had to lead me. I did not have anything to eat from Sunday afternoon until Monday afternoon at about four o'clock. Then we went out to the City limit on the South side to the house of a friend I stayed here two days and then I went out in the country with my cousins, and stayed there one week and then I came to Fruit-Port. I shall ever remember with thankfulness my reception by my littl e friends in Fruit-Port. I almost went barefoot and without any good clothes. I was well treated and one of them e,·en took off her over shoes and let me wear them that I might go out in the co ld weather and play. Never while I li,·e will I forget my friends in Fruit-Port.

Halt , Who Goes There? Pencil sketch by Alfred R. Waud, 1871. ILLUSTRATIONS 24-25, CHS, ICHi-02991; 26 , CHS Archives and Manuscripts Collection; 27 top, CHS Paintings and Sculpture Collection; 27 bottom, from Das Grosse Feuer in Chicago (1871 ), CHS Library; 28, CHS, JCHi-02984; 29 top, CHS, ICHi-02913; 29 bottom , CHS, ICHi-02660; 30, from Report of the Board of Policein the Fire Department (c. 1872), CHS Library; 31 top, CHS, ICHi-02890; 31 bottom, CHS Prints and Photographs Collection; 32 top, CHS, ICHi0619'"1;32 bottom , from The ChicagoFire and the Fire Insurance Companies (187 1), CHS Libi-ary; 33 top, from Frank LesliP'sillustrat ed Weeldy ( rovember 4, 1871 ), CHS Library; 33 bottom , from The Chicago Fire and the Fire Insurance Companies (1871 ); CHS Library; 34 top , CHS, ICHi-06193: 34 bottom, CHS, ICHi-02894; 35 top, Archives and Manuscripts Collection; 35 bottom, CHS Prints and Photographs Collection; 36, 37, 38 top , CHS Archi,·e and r.tanuscripts Collection; 39, CHS, JCHi-02990

Miss Fannie Belle Becker's Essay Fruit-Port, Mich. Oct. 29th, 1873 39

Parades,Protests,Politics Kathleen Zygmun nother chapter in Ame1ican political history was recorded in Chicago when the city hosted the 1996 Democratic National Convention in August. Although this was the first main-party convention held in Chicago si nee 1968, when the infamous demonstrations brought worldwide allention Lothe city, Chicago has host ed a total of fourteen Republican, eleven Democratic, and more than twen ty-four third-patty conven tions. Although conventions now function as a forum for the official announcement of the people's choice and as the party's rallying ritual, they were once boisterous, chaotic, and suspensefu l events. Conventions are not mandated by the United Stales Constitution . Instead, they evolved by 1832 as a political insliluLion to unify parties and to promote candidates nationwide.

STREET

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t5_;;2::J!if!?t ~.~ -,:;.71 ___,_

During presidential election years, delegates representing the party in every stale and Lerri tory convened first al the stale level and then al the national convention. There the) nominated the party's presidential and vice presidential candidates and crafted the party's platform, the blueprint of its foreign and domestic policies. By 1860, when Chicago hosted its first convention, the traditional proceedings of the convention had taken form. Since 1912, stale primaries and caucuses have inCTuenced the results of the convention,

DELEGATE. COLISEUM-63Ro

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but after 1968 primaries actually began Lodictate convention results. ILis no coincidence that parties have chosen Chicago Lo host their national conventions so frequently. Chicago nol only is a politically Lrategic choice for a party, but al o a practical one. Strong stale and city paity supporters have provided the backbone needed Lostage these elaborate events. Chicago's central location and ample facilities are convenient for the delegate and press who CTock Lothe convention. Equally important, holding a convention in Chicago allows the party Lo impress upon the nation that "Middle America" approves of the party's decisions. Beginning with Abraham Lincoln's nomination in 1860, Chicago's conventions have selected the next president of the United tales thitteen times, and Chicagoans have had front-row seals for some of the most dramatic moments in American political history.

This brochure from 1947 publicized Chicago as the "Convention Capital of the Nation." In addition to trade shows and professional meetings, Chicago has attracted more national political conventions than any other city.

WhyChicago? Since Chicago's first convention in 1860, Chicago's mayors hme boasted of the cit) 's incomparable facilities, amenities, and pol itical spirit and relished the prestige and economic benefits of staging these enormous events. Mayor Richard J. Daley used this bumper sticker to welcome delegates to the 1968 Democratic ational Convention.

Chicago's location at the center or transportation networks reduced travel costs and s implifi ed travel logistics for the delegate -, campaign managers, press, and party members who converged on the cit), such as this enthusiastic New York delegation (left) that arrived in Ch icago by train lo nominate Thoma;, E. Dewey at the Republican ationa l Convention

in 1914. Ele\ en convention halls hm e set the stage for Chicago's twent)-fi\ e main-party conventions. The 1860 Republican Wigwam (right) 11as a temporary structure erected specificall) for tbe com ention, as were subsequent meeting halls, including the 1864 Amphitheatre and the 1892 Wigwam. Finished only days before the convention, the 100 by 180-foot structure was considered the largest indoor meeting place in America.

Only partially constructed al the lime of the 1888 Republiean ational Convention, the Auditorium Theatre, designed by Adler &. Sullivan, is one of Chicago's fe" survi~ing comenlion sites. Built for theatrical performances, il also offered an excellent stage for political conventions. This drawing by J.W. Taylor captures the patriotism and boi lerous enthusiasm of the delegates who nominated Benjamin Harrison.

The fi\e Republican conventions held at the Chicago Coliseum from 1904 lo 1920 nominated Theodore Roose\ell, William H. Taft (l\,ice), Charles E. IIughes, and \X'arren C. Harding. Pictured here in 1908, the Coliseum \\as a monstrous strudure built in 1900 using bricks from Libb} Prison, a Confederate pri on for Union ·oldier,, rt•loealed from Richmond, Virginia. Designed as a multipurpose structure, the Coliseum hosted ilH' 1896 Demoeralic Comenlion as 1,ell a~ fairs, e>..positions, and enlerlainmenl until il closed in 1982.

ThirdParties

Hot e ls have pla yed a unique role in conventions as the site of ca mpaign hea dquart ers and heh ind-th e-sce nes negotiation s . In 1860 , conve ntion- goe rs ove rwhelmed Chicago's forty-two hotels , some of which ar e shown above, forcing delega tes to sleep on cots or billiard tables. Since th e Lum of the ce ntury , Chicago ha s provided ample hotel space.

Since 1880 , Chicago ha s hosted more tha n twenty-fou r third-part y co nvention s. Although the ir chan ces of winnin g a n elec tion were s lim , third parties provid ed an import a nt a lte rnative for activists who fell outsid e ma instream politics, espec iall y those who support ed lab or. Chicago's ce ntral role in national la bor stru ggles dr ew many third parties to Chicago between 1880 and 1932 . Oppo s ite above: Thi s broadside promot es the Soc ia list Part y's presidential ca ndidat e, Eugene V. Debs, nom inated in Chicago in 19 00 , ]904 , a nd 1908.

Th e Bul l-Moose, or Pro gress ive, Part y was the most success ful third part y in his tory. Much of thi s support relied on the popula rity of its nomin ee, former pres id ent Th eo dor e Roo seve lt , pic tur ed below on thi s 1912 postcar d.

12,J. HatIsStillInTheRin:. ~

lOUITICDr L 111ETIM!''

Spreadingthe Word Ca mpaign mate rial, s uch as toke ns, ribb ons, pla tes, elabo rat e badges, a nd bann e rs, once blanketed the na tion Lo co nvey pla tform sloga ns a nd lo assoc ia te can did ates with the pa rty. Thi s ha ndk erchie r from 1888 identified not onl y the Re publi ca n ca ndidate, Be nja min Ha rriso n, but a lso spec ified the pa rty's maj or pla tform issue.

Th e " 16 lo l " sloga n on these ca mpaign bull ons demons lrate d supp ort for W illia m J ennin gs Bryan a nd Lhe Democ ratic Party's fre"'-sil ver pla tform , which ad voca ted a bime tal 11 10neta1)' sta nd a rd base d on th e coin age of s ilver at a ratio of sixtee n oun ce or s ilver lo one oun ce of gold.

Th e use of new forms of mass communi ca tion such as radi o in 1924, te levis ion in 19 52, and the Int erne t in 199 6 , as well as limits on ca mpaign spendin g, redu ced the numb er of ca mpaign material s produ ce d . Ma ny lac ked an y reference lo the part y or platform, s uch as thi s 1952 handk erchief; a co mpac t, bad ge, and bull on from Steve nson 's l 95 6 ca mpa ign; a nd a dr ess worn by a Hub ert Hu mp hrey supp orter in 1968 .

Eve n wrillen material , such a this broadside promotin g war hero General Douglas MacArthur in 1952, provided littl e sub stantiv e information about the ca ndidat es .

IKECAN'TBENOMINATED ATTENTION: MR. ORDINARY REPUBLICAN DELEGATE WHY KID OURSELVES? WHY NOT BE REALISTIC? THE QUARREL BETWEEN IKE AND TAFT HAS BECOME BITTEi. THE PARTY IS SPLIT WIDE OPEN. THE WOUNDS ARE TOO DEEP TO HEAL BETWEEN NOW AND NOVEMBER. OUR JOB WOULD BE TOUGH ENOUGH IF THE PARTY WAS PERFECTLY UNITED AND THERE HAD BEEN NO CRUDE, UNDIGNIFIED QUARRELING. THE DEMOCRATS ARE LAUGHING UP THEIR SLEEVES. TAFT AND EISENHOWERARE DOING THE WORK OF THE DEMOCRATS BY WEAKENING OUR UNITED FRONT.

FACE THESE FACTS 1. IKE HAS DISAPPOINTED HIS ADMIRERS . HIS SPEECHESHA VE FLOPPED.HIS LOW - GRADE RHETORIC AND LACK OF RADIO APPEAL MAKES IT IMPOSSIBLE FOR HIM TO GET THE NOMINATION. l. TAFT IS NOT POPULAR AMONG THE INDEPENDENT VOTERS AND IN BORDERLINEAREAS. 3. TAFT CANT CARRY NEW YORK. 4. TAFT CANT CARRY PENNSYLVANIA . 5. TAFT CANT CARRY CALIFORNIA. 6. IKE IS SO GREEN THAT THERE IS NO TELLING WHAT KIND OF A BLUNDER HE WOULD MAKE BETWEEN NOW AND NOVEMBER IF HE DID GET THE NOMINATION. 7. REMEMBER , WE REPUBLICANS WILL NOT HAVE HENRY WALLACE TO SPLIT THE NEW DEALERS FOR US THIS TIME .

It may be a ,ileasant pastime for the 'big &hot'Rtpubll""' to quarrel ovu who Is going to eonlrtl tht Republicanparty, but we ordinaryRepublicans.the little fellowswho have to do the workan~ ring the doorbells.• re hungry for I canihlat, whosename inspiresthe voterand the mentionofwhombringsapplausett our littleau4iencts and our 'backhome'con1tftu1nb . Try This Experiment: Questiontwo or three of your ~•legate friends. and they will confe.ut, you that their secret ambition111 chance to vote for GeneralDouglasMac.Arthur.

The e\O lution of mass media has dramatically changed conventions and the public's perception of them. ln 1860, the telegraph provided faster communication with the convention hall. After 1878, parties distributed phonograph recordings of ke) convention speeches as part of their campaign strategies . B) 1924, American;. heard the proceedings live over the airwave , and, in 1952, the first nationally televised conventions recorded these boisterous and chaotic gather ings. Abo \ e: Journa lists in thi s 1960 press room wrote their stories on typewriters.

DRAFT MacARTHUR NOW· WININNOVEMBER This circular is printed anit paid for by a committeeof unnamei humbleRepublicanswhoare celtlnt tired of llwlngon short grass and skimpyrations, We are among those who htllen that a Republicanparty wise enoughto win will lie wise enoughto exploitthe stalasmanshipand popularityof GeneralDouglasMacArthurwho has all the assetsof Eisenhowerwith out his liabilltles•••allthe assets of Taff withouthis llabillties•••,lusel01!Uln"-,pepularity,telewl1iona,-111, dynamicradio per1onality•••andbut of all, a rare and balanud c:om,inatienof wisd1m,nalurtl gifts and other allalnmentswhldl comlllna to make him the one man that can lead the Republic:anparty to victory.

100votes for Mac.Arthurin the llrst Dilllolwill spell his nomination. Huntlredsof delegates llound legally to Taft or Eisenhowerin the firtf ballot crave the opportunityle Jumpto MaeArthurin the second hllot. Those of us who are grass roots Republitans,who meet the averagenit! every day, knowthat the disillusionmentner Eisenhowerani the coolnesstowardTaft has created a situation which demar.dsMacArthur . This great man Is as popularsouth of the Mason-Di10n line.!!..ht is north of I~• MHon-Dl10n line. Ha ii as slrcng west of the Mississ~i i3 he is east o! the Mlssissl_ppi!.He is~s pyular _~ th_el_aclfJ..cCoast as he ls on the Atlantic;Coad,

Right: This photograph of th e 1956 Democratic National Convention shows the televised proceedings. Television coverage moved the convention into the living rooms of millions of A111ericans, providing the party 11 ith unprecedented national publicit) that could reach new voters. To 111inimize the negative effeds of 01 erexposing the C'haotiC'and unpredictable proC'ess, convention planners regulated and timed speeches and proceedings to climax during prime-time television vie11ing hours. The) also ,,hifted the mo,,t contro1 er,-ial debates to precomention meetings or private c·auc·w,c::. lo conceal part) disunit). llm, ever, so111e pi\t>tal clehatt's still spil led 01er

onto the co111ention noor, such as the Democratic Party's Yietnam platform fight in 1968. Although radio and television opened the c·o111en lion to America, these

media lacked live speeches heckling that measurement

the immediacy of and the c heers and gave candidates a of their popularity.

Clinchingthe Nomination Campaign sty les and etiquelle have changed dramat ically since 1860. Whi le it was once considered taboo lo openly campaign before the national convention, it is now virtually required. Before the turn of the century, ac tive presidentia l candidates did not pub lic ly seek the nomination, believing that a man shou ld nol seek such a high office, but the job would find the right man. As this telegram suggests, candidate Abraham Lincoln was slrong l) discouraged from attending the 1860 convention in Chicago.

'"Don't come herefor Cod's sake . You will be telegraphed by others to come. It is the [advice} of your friends not to come. This is important."

Right: B) 1912, candidates 11ere encouraged lo camµaign acti\'ely before the convention during stale primarie , where a popular ,ote of the slate' parl) members bound the delegates' voles in the national convention. In 1932, Franklin D. Roosevelt was the first candidate to accept the nomination al the convention. Pictured here during his acceptance speech, Roosevelt captivated radio audiences II hen he introduced the e11 Deal, his plan lo bring America out of the Great Depression. Radio, and then television, gave candidates greater

,·isibility and catalyzed the shift in American politics from a parl) centered lo a candidate-centered SL)le of campaigning .

Le ft: Ca rved on the face of thi s podium , u ed in num erous con vention s, a re the Re publi can nomin ees from 1880 . l 88 4, and 1888 . Unlik e toda y, when nomination s ar e c linched in one ballot , votin g was a long and unpr edi ctab le process . Republi ca ns cast thirt y-s ix ball ots before choo s ing Jam es A. Carfte lcl in 1880 , and in 1888 , after thr ee days of ballotin g, de lega tes fuiall y unit ed be hind Benja min Harri son.

Above : This cartoon about the 1896 De mocrati c Na tional Con' ention acc urat ely de picts the nomin a tion as a " free -for- all " rac e with a host of pote ntial ca ndidat es . Willi a m J ennin g Brya n, the eventual nomin ee , is conspicuously ab se nt from the lea din g cont ender s shown here.

Left: Alth ough sla te primari es and ca ucuse~ had come lo domin ate the nomin ation process, in 19 52 the Republi ca n pa rt) overlook ed the front-runn er Estes Ke fa uver and ins tead drafted Adlai E. Ste venson as its ca ndidat e . As Car ey Orr 's ca rtoon shows, Ste, enso n was not inle re ~tecl in the pres id ency but wa nted lo be ree lec ted gove rnor of Illinoi s. Ste venso n eve ntu all y accep ted the nomination s in 1952 a nd 195 6 but ,, as defea ted in both e lec tions b) World War II hero Dwight D. Eise nh owe r.

BehindClosedDoors Ri ght: Chicago 's Democ ratic mac hin e often played a criti ca l role in sec urin g a ca nd ida te's nomin ation. Thi s photogra ph ca ptur es the strong alli a nce between Ch icago's Mayor Edwa rd Kell y and Rooseve lt's ca mpa ign ma nager Jam es A. Farley .

THE FIGHT FOR THE FISHIN' POLE

Left : Alth ough Rooseve lt was favored lo sec ure the 193 2 vote, the conventi on requir ed two-third s of the delega tes' voles lo win the nomin ation. Car ey Orr 's cart oon "Th e Fi ght for the Fi shin g Pole" ca ptur ed the battle among seco nd ary ca ndid ates refus ing to relinqui sh the ir voles a nd hopin g a dea dl ock would sway the nomi nation to them. After balloting a ll night , howe ver, the delegates return ed the nex t night a nd finall y nominated Rooseve lt on the fourth ba lJot. In 1936, Rooseve lt was able Lo sway the party to adopt a simpl e majo rity req uir ement for the nomin ation.

Below: By the 1860 s, parad es we re an import a nt as pec t of politi ca l ca mp a igns. Thi s bann er carri ed by me mb ers of the Wid e Awa ke Club ralli ed supp ort for Ab raha m Linco ln durin g his 18 60 ca mpa ign.

Rallying'Round the Candidate

Above : Th e Blaine Clu b from Cinc inn a ti ma rc hed Lo ra ll y s upport for the Rep ubli ca n Part) and its 19 12 co nve ntion in Chi cago .

Abo1 e: The 111 · . d I . JnOIS . rncludino- R. I e egat,on ( b 1c rnrd J D ower left) . aley in th e , parades C I tevenson in 1952 or Adlai E.

Demonstrating for,

DemonstratingAgainst Left: This vivid painting by Raymond A. Katz captures the boisterousness of the demonstrations for cand idates in side the Democratic al iona] Convention in 1932.

Above: In 1912, the e lection of temporary chai rman Ehuli Root, pictured here at the podium, led to a division between the supporters of incumbent William H. Taft and former president Theodore Roosevelt, "hich split the Republican party. Roose, ·elt supporters knew Lhat Root 11ould rule in favo r of Taft delegations during the credentia l cha llenges and Roose1elt's chance lo be nominated was lost. In retaliation, 348 of the 1,078 delegates abstained from voting, jeered and lwckled the chairman and delegates, and e1entual ly formed the Progressi1e Party, 1d1ich then nominated Roose1ell.

Ri ght: Politi cal cartooni s t John McCut c heo n captur ed th e 1912 Re publi can Part y s plit in thi s c artoon d e pi c tin g th e Republi c an P art) sac rific ing it se lf for indi vidu a l pow e r. Th e part y's refu sa l to se ttl e on a compromi se ca ndid a te ha nd e d th e pr es id enti a l el ec tion Lo th e Demo cra ts .

Thi s ga \ e l, a llege d I) mad e of wood from the sec ond Fort Dearborn, ,, as use d a t th e 1968 De mocrati c Na tional Com e ntion , one of th e mos t cont es ted part~ ga th e rings in Ame rican hi s tor1 . Th e d e lega tes battl ed 01e r c red e nti a ls

a nd th e Vie tna m pl a nk of th e plat form , a$ we ll as th e c-andid a tes . Iss ues 11e re furth e r c ha rge d ½>ith riotous d e mon s trati ons out1;id e of' th e co nve nti on hall. Th e pa rty re ma ined int ac t and nomin a ted Hub e rt 11.llumphr e), hut th e ex te nsi \ e te le vis ion ('O\ era ge of th e na me-ca lling d e ba tes an d d e mons tra tions out,;id e the ('On1e nti on ruin ed th e pa rty's c ha nces in O\ e mb e r.

ChangingTimes Left: In 1968, th e typ icall y fes tive parades of past conventions gave wa) to violent co nfrontation s between police and protestors. The war in Yietnam, the assassinations of Martin Luther Kin g Jr. and Robert Kenned),and th e failure of the Democratic part) to impl ement its civ il rights polic) spu rred activists to de mon strat e their discontent at the convcntion. As tensions in c rease d , Chicago police, Army regu lar s, Illinoi s National Guardsmen, a nd FBI and Secret Se rvice agents used force Lo keep the demonstrators away from the main hot e ls a nd convention ha ll. According to th e police, 589 persons were arrested and more tha n 119 police and 100 demonstrators injur ed. As photographers and film c rews reco rd ed the even t in images suc h as thi s, demonstrators cha nt ed, " Th e who le world is 11atch ing!"

Above: Jewe l Stradfo rd Rogers's second ing of Richard l\I. nation in l 960 was unprecedented. Although African American men secured national suffrage in 1870 and all American women in 1920. at the 1968 Democratic National Com ention, 95 percent of the delegates were white and 01er 87 percent 11ere men.

1.LLUSTRA TlONS : 10 lop and bottom, CIIS OcC'orative and Indu str ial A,ts Coller-lion; 41, from Here's Why: Chicago is the Conm1tion Capital <ifth,, 'Vativn, (194 7), Cl IS Libra,') ; 42 top. CHS Decorati,e and Indu strial Arts Collection; ,f2 middle, Cl IS, ICHi262 12: l2 bottom, CHS Prints and Photograph, Collection; 4;3 lop, from CHS Prints and Photographs Collec-Lion; ,f:3bottom, CHS, lCI li-21100;

I l. from Hotels of Chicago ( 1891 ). C l IS Librar}: 11-4 .5, CII S Decornti1e and Industrial Arts Collect ion: 45 top,

Cl IS, ICI li-06178: 16.

Cl IS DecoratiH • and lndu~trial Arts Collection: l8 left. CHS. ICHi-26284: 48-49, CH . ICI li-26281;

19 hottorn, Cl IS. IC I li-2621 1; 50. Cl IS De<·oratilt' and lndu~trial .Arts Collec-tion: 50--51. Cl IS. D~-104649: 52 top. CHS DecoratiH• and lndu~lrial \_11~Collection: 52 middle. fro111Chicago Tribww (Jul} .:i. 1896), CHS Library; 52 bouom, CHS, ICHi-2625 8, reprinl!'d h} permi,:,ion: T,ibun(:' ~ledia Sl'n ic-t's; .:i:3lop, Cl IS. ICl-li-25536; 5:3 bottom. CHS. ICl--li-26332, reprinted by penniseion: Trihun<' \ledia Sen ices;.') l lop. C l IS Decorali1e and lnduslrial Arts Collection: 5-l bottom. CHS, ICHi- 20663; 55, CHS, ICI li-2(>17:5: 56-57, Cl IS, Painting, and Scu lptur e Collec1ion; 57. Cl IS. D\T-.587:35; 58 top. CHS, lCl--li-26383; 58 bouom, CHS Decorali\C' and Indu st ria l Arts Collection: .'i9 top. CIIS. !Cl li-1 835-l: 59 hollom , CIIS, ICl-li-26373

MAKING HISTORY Writing Law and History in Chicago: Interviews with John Hope Franklin and Abraham Lincoln Marovitz Timothy

J. Gilfoyle

At the end of the twentieth century, few Americans evoke more admiration than historian J ohn Hope Franklin and Judge Abraham Lincoln Marovitz. In the Chicago area, Columbia College, Lake Forest Co llege, Loyola Un iver sity, Northwestern Univer ity, Roosevelt Univers ity, and the Un iversity of Illin ois-Chicago are but a few of the more than one hundred institutions of higher learn ing that have conferred honorary degrees on Franklin. He remains the only indivi dua l elected to the presidency of the American Studies Association ( 1967), the Southern Historical Assoc iat ion ( 1970-71 ), Phi Beta Kappa (1973-76), the Organization of American Historians (1974-75), and the American Historical Association (1978-79). In 199 5, President Bill Clin ton awarded Franklin the Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States. Marovitz's popularity is visible to anyone walking around Chicago . One block of Plymouth Court (between Jackson and Van Buren Streets), a moot courtroom at Kent College of Law, a court in the Federal Center, and the entry room to the Halas Center at Loyola Univers ity are identified with Marovitz 's name. His ninetieth birthday ce lebrat ion attracted friends from arou nd the world, includin g Mayor Richard M. Daley , former Illin o is governor J ames Thompson, comedian Bob Hope, opera singer Robert Merrill, synd icated columnist Irv Kupcinet, and seventeen hundred other well-wishers.

Timothy]. Gilfoyleis an associate/1rofe ssorofhisto1yat wyola L'niversityChicago, a scholar-in-reside11 ceat the Newben)' Librmy,and theauthorof City of Eros: New York City, Prostitution and the Commercia lizat ion of Sex, 1790-1920 (W. W. Norton, 1992). 60

Top:John Hope Franklin, Pill Professor al Cambridgl' University, St. John 's College, in 1962. Bottom: During World War If, AbrahamLincoln Marovitz served in the United StatesMarine Corps.

John Hope Franklin came of age when racial segregation was the norm. He was born in the all-black town of Rentiesville, Oklahoma, in 1915, a descendant ofChickasa>vv Indians forced to migrate to Indian territory in 1834 by President Andrew Jackson and ofa runaway slave who enlisted in the Union army in 1864 under the name David Franklin. John Hope Franklin 's family moved to Tulsa in 1925, where he attended segregated schools . His mother, Mollie Parker Franklin, was an elementary school teacher who introduced him to writers such as Paul Laurence Dunbar and James Weldon Johnson. His father, Buck Colbert Franklin, was a lawyer who "would read or write something each evening. This was my earliest memory of him, and indeed, it was my last memory of him," remembers Franklin. "I grew up believing that in the evenings one either read or wrote." Franklin graduated as the valedictorian from Booker T. \ Vashington School in l 931, but the universities of Oklahoma and Tulsa refused to admit him because of his race. Marovitz is a product of the great Jewish migration to the Americas between 1880 and 1920. "My mother [Rachel Glowitz Marovitz] had three brothers, and they all left Lithuania before the turn of the century. One (Jacob), went to Johannesburg, A(i-ica; another one (Isaac), went to Melbourne, Australia; and the oldest brother (Abraham), went to New York. Jacob and Isaac assumed the name "Glover." Abraham retained the name "Glovitz." And shortly after they left Lithuania-their father had died before they left-their mother died, leaving my mother only fifteen years old and her younger sister , thirteen, orphaned." Marovitz was born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin , in 1905 , five years before his immigrant parents moved to Chicago's West Side, near Maxwell Street. His father established a tailor shop and his mother a candy store in front of the family 's three-room apartment. Nearby, Maxwell and Halsted Streets were the physical center of the old West Side Jewish ghetto. By 1915, approximately twenty thousand Eastern European Jews and their offspring lived in the neighborhood bounded by Polk, Stewart, and Fifteenth Streets and Blue Island Avenue. Although he attended Thomas Jefferson School and Medill High School, the gymnasium and settlement house probably proved more inAuential for the teenage Marovitz. "I lived next door to a man named 'King Rollo,' who was a sparring partner of [former heavyweight boxing champion] John L. Sullivan," Marovitz recalls. " He was teaching his grandson, 'young King Rollo,' how to box, and he taught me too. I had no punch. I could hit rou with all my might; it would be like a 0ea bit you, but I was fast on my feet and hard to catch." Marovitz credits organizations such as the Chicago Hebrew Institute (later the Jewish People 's Institute) and the Boys' Brotherhood Republic for sponsoring the boxing and wrestling matche that occupied him as a teenager. "'\\'e'd box at 'stags' and some nights some of the men at ringside would each give us a buck or two. I alwars boxed a kid that I knew and we ga\'e a good exhibition without hurting each other .... Many times we made friend 61

ChicagoHist01y,Fall 1996 out of the guy we were boxing, never having known them before." Eventually, "the amateur athletic units started clamping down these phony boxing matches-made us weigh in and box opponents our weight and size." On some occasions, Marovitz remembers the sociologist Philip Seman coming "to the gym or the settlement house, and he would lecture us-once a month-on the importance of having a social conscience." The childhood years of Marovitz and Franklin were inadvertently shaped by act of violence. Like many Eastern European Jews, Marovitz's family Aed Europe in the wake of pogroms and other forms of ethnic violence. As a six-year-old, Franklin remembers his father preparing to move the family to Tulsa. "He left in the first of the year [1921], and he got there and fell in with the right activity and attracted clients and had arranged a home for us, bought or was buying a home, and we planned to come on the first of June. But on the first of June, a race riot broke out in Tulsa, and everything that he had accumulated was burned to the ground, and we didn't even know whether he was living. Final!), we got word that he was alive and well, but it meant, of course, that we couldn't move there. There was nothing there, and it was four years later that we moved, 1925." Discrimination was a common part of their early lives. Marovitz, for example, was fired from a Michigan Avenue clothing store as a teenager when the employer learned he was Jewish. "When I graduated from grammar chool [at thirteen and a half], Jack Robbins sent me over to this fancy haberdashery store on Michigan Avenue for an after- chool job from four to six and all clay Saturday for three bucks a week. And I went down there, and a very nice little gal, who was the ca bier, hired me." A short time later, recalls Marovitz, "she just asked me my religion-asked me what church I was going to. I said, 'T don't go to a church, lady. I'm Jewish. I go to a synagogue.' And she looked at me ... very kindly, and she said, 'Son, I'm terribly sorry. I don't make the rules here, but they don't employ Jewish people.' My inclination was to break every damn window in that store on Michigan Avenue, but when I came home, my Pa said in broken English and Yiddish, 'How do you like your new job?' And I said, 'I dicln 't get it, Pa.' He said, 'I thought you told me you were hired.' This is all in mixed Yiddish and English. I said, 'I was, but I was unhired today when they asked me my religion, and I said I was Jewish.' So he said to me in Yiddish, 'It's al/a miza,' which means, 'It's an old story.' He said, 'I can't do anything about it, but someday you will. You mu t stand for something in this life,' and twenty years later, he lived to ee me elected the first [practicing]] ewish state senator in Illinois. And I tried to do something about it, introducing a resolution [prohibiting discrimination in housing and employment]. I only got seven votes out of fifty-one, but lived to see it become a law." Violence and discrimination, however, never deterred Marovitz or Franklin. Fortunately, each came under the guiding hands of older mentors. Franklin went to Fisk University in Tennessee fully

Ma!?i11g l Iisto1y intending to become a lawyer. "But then I got to Fisk, and I got under the spell of this young, white department chair of the department of history , and he just bowled me over." Professor Theodore Currier, just out of Harvard University, quick ly recognized Franklin's inte llectua l ta lents, pushing and tutoring him in directions he might otherwise never have ventured. "l think that I got more in the way of intellectual training, discipline from him than from anybody at any time , anywhere," insists Franklin. "I got more training from him than the entire time I was at Harvard at graduate school." Upon graduating from Fisk, Franklin gained admittance to Harvard's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the first student from a historically black institution permitted to pursue doctoral studies without completing some undergraduate work at Harvard. Without Currier, Franklin might never have become a historian. The Great Depression of the 1930s exerted a seYere toll on Franklin's family. "We lost our home when I was in college," he recollects. "When you're a black professional [like my father], depending on the black clientele, and that's 99 to 95 percent unemployed, you don't have anything. Well, we didn't have anything. " At this point, Currier intervened. Franklin remembers that the young professor "borrowed the money and put five hundred dollars in my hands , which in l 935 was a fortune. He said, 'Money won't keep you out of Harvard. Here.' He was thirty-two." MaroYitz came under the tutelage of Alfred S. Austrian and Colonel.Jacob Meyer "Jack" ArYey. When Marovitz passed the bar exam, Austrian called the Cook County state's attorney Uudge Crowe]. MaroYitz recollects Austrian saying, "You know my young friend, Abe, he just got his license. He 'd make a damn good trial lawyer. He 's been trying cases with me." Marovitz, however, admits that he was only carrying Austrian 's books to court at that time! Austrian insisted: "He'll be a good trial la,.,vyer.I'm sending him OYer. Put him to work." Marovitz thus became the youngest assistant state's attorney in Cook County history. "Aro und that time I was making twenty-two dollars a week with J\fr. Austrian," remembers J\faroYitJ. "I ll'ent to see Judge Crowe, and he LOokme in to the gal who had the charge of the payroll. He ~aid, 'Put 111) young friend in Gracie 7.' I looked at my voucher. It was 203 a month-from twenty-two dollars a week to fifry dollars a week! And my Ma had just got a telephone installed

Abmham Lincoln lvlarovilz.with his motherand fathe1~Rachel and.Joseph J\.Jarovitz., c. 1938.

ChicagoHistory, Fall 1996 in her candy store up in the Maxwell Street area. I called her and said, 'Ma! We're rich! We're rich!'" Jack Arvey, a product of the Maxwell Street area like Marovitz, dominated political life in the Lawndale neighborhood of the old Twenty-fourth \Varel. A Democratic ward committeeman, alderman, and Aoor leader in the city council before World \,Var II , Arvey rose to national prominence as chairman of the Cook County and Illinois Democratic Party committees and as a member of the Democratic Party National Committee. In 1936 , after Arvey delivered his district by a margin of approximately twenty-nine thousand to seven hundred for Franklin D. Roosevelt over Alf Landon , the president referred to the Twenty-fourth as "the greatest Democratic ward in the country." In 1948, Arvey was credited with delivering Illinois in the reelection or Pre ident Harry S Truman. Arvey hand-picked Iarovitt to be the new state senator. Arvey had alienated large numbers of his Jewish con tituents in the Twenty-fourth Ward by failing to support Jewish-born Governor Henry Horner in 1936. Marovitz admits that "in order to kind of redeem him in the eyes of the Jewish community, the political machine ... gave him the right to name the candidate for the state senate in that district-the old Nineteenth Senatorial district , the second large tin the state. J didn't live in his ward , [so] he asked me when I was moving into the ward. He said: 'You know, you've got a chance, now that I'm the committeeman too, a chance to be alderman, maybe state representative or senator.' Well, I wasn't particularly interested. I had a pretty good law practice. I had a nice apartment." Marovitz nevertheless moved into an Arvey-owned apartment building. "So he introduced me to the Twenty-fourth Ward Democratic precinct captains one night at their meeting, and they made me an honorary vice president. But then when they found out that he was building me up for something political , alderman or senator or representative, they weren't too happy with me. Jack insisted that I run , and he was responsible for having the committee, very reluctantly , sponsor me for the state senate. The precinct captains were very unhappy with me, because I took a prize that they were looking for. Eventually I was able to overcome their objections. " Marovitz went to Springfield to serve in the same state senate as the littleknown Richard J. Daley in 1938. "Some years later , when 64

Joh11 f-lo/Je Franklin, seen here i11 1964 , .1erved a., r/l(linnan oj the department0/hi.1/oryal Brooldy11 Collegejimn 1956 lo 1967.

Making Histo1y [Arvey] had a chance to recommend the candidates for the federal bench, Arvey proposed my name to U.S. Senator [Paul] Douglas, and Douglas supported me for it. The late President Kennedy appointed me in 1963." As a state senator, Marovitz was a bit of a maverick, introducing the first-ever fair housing and fair employment resolutions in the Illinois legislature. During World War II, he served as a Marine in the Pacific in World War II before being wounded by shrapnel in the arm. Returning to Chicago, Marovitz immersed himself in politics. He introduced Adlai Stevenson to Jack Arvey, who steered Stevenson to the governor's mansion and Democratic presidential nomination. Marovitz even turned down two offers by Daley and Arvey to be the Democratic nominee for governor. In time, he went on to serve as a judge for more than forty years, being the last judicial appointment of President John F. Kennedy. Since 1963, Marovitz has sworn in more immigrants as U.S. citizens than any other member of the federal bench. During his years on the bench, he administered the oaths of office to both Richard J. and Richard M. Daley for all of their nine terms as mayor of Chicago. Richard J. Daley's children, in fact, refer to Marovitz as "Uncle Abe." Ironically, politics and law were not Marovitz's first choice for a career. "I would have liked to have been a rabbi," he admits, "but I wasn't mart enough. I have a strong faith about religion . Every Friday night that I'm able, I go home and light the Sabbath candles like my mother did. " Many a sabbat he reads a poem (right), written by Sophie Tucker, over his mother's Sabbath candles. "On Friday nights mother would light the candles, and my Pa would go to the synagogue and bring some stranger home that we never saw, [who] had no place to go, and mother would say a prayer over the candles in Hebrew, and then in English, and dad would bless us. \Ve would bow our heads, and he'd say a little prayer over us, and if the guy-it was generally ajewish guy he brought home from the synagogue-wanted to say a prayer , he did." Whereas Marovitz 's career was entirely centered in Chicago, Franklin's took him all over the United States. Before completing his doctorate at Harvard, Franklin taught at his alma mater, Fisk University, from 1936 to 1937. He then received appointments at St. Augustine's College in North Carolina ( 1939-43), North Carolina College at Durham (1943-4 7), and Howard University (194 7-56). In 1956, he was named chair of the history department at BrookJyn College. A the first African American to earn such a position in the City University of New York ystem, the event generated a front-page story in the New York Times. In 1967, he moved to the Uni, ·ersity of Chicago, and three years later became the first African American to chair a hi tory department at a major research university in the United State while serving a the John Matthews Manly Distinguished Service Professor from 1969 to 1982. During that time, he was named to visiting professorships at Cambridge, Harvard, Wisconsin , Cornell, Hawaii, and Cali-

Our home becamea mansion In that mysticglow, Our heartswerefilled again withhojJesand dreamsof long ago. Through all the tragicstory Of Israel's darkestnights, They'venever dimmed the glmy OJour mother's sabbathlights.

Chicago History, Fall 1996

fornia-Berkeley . In 1982, he moved to Duke University, ending his teaching career in 1992 as the James Buchanan Duke Professor in the School of Law. Chicago dramatically changed Franklin's life. ALthe university he supervised dissertations for the first time , directing nearly thirty individuals to their doctorates. He served on the boards of Illinois Bell, the Museum of Science and Industry , the DuSable Museum of African American History , the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and the Chicago Public Library. "By the time I arrived in Chicago in 1964-I'm going to get in trouble for this probably-I felt that I was a refugee from New York City. I was glad to be out of ew York City . There was an awfully hostile climate in which to try to live. I lived right near the Brooklyn College on ew York Avenue [the East Flatbush section of Brooklyn]. The only reason I wanted to move down there was to walk to college. It 's a lovely residential area, so I asked, why not? Bul it took heaven and earth to get down there , and they were hostile. They were particularly hostile to my son. It was an awful, awful experience." Franklin, in fact, approached more than thirty realtors before one willingly helped him find a home. By comparison, Franklin insists it was "a relief to get to Chicago to have a lovely house which I didn 't have Loscratch and fight for and where the neighbors were congenial and welcomed me, and where I felt so comfortable." Franklin is quick to recognize his accomplishments are full of paradox. He remembers being invited to deliver a paper at the Southern Historical Association meeting in 1949 . ''I'd never been to a meeting. I didn't know of any blacks LhaL had been to a meeting. Certainly no blacks had ever read a paper." Only two years after Jackie Robinson broke the "color barrier" in major league baseball (ironically in Brooklyn, New York), Franklin did the same with the Southern Historical Association. 'There was a great debate as to where I would stay, where I would stand, where I would sit. Would I sit on the platform? Would I tand and read a paper and look down on white people from a platform ? Thal would be unheard of. \ Vould I come to the banquet?" In order to avoid problems at the hotel , he rayed at the home of Douglas Adair. Franklin finally deli\'ered the paper in the old Phi Beta Kappa Building. "I read the paper. Everybody came. People were looking in the windows and everything. It was a great spectacle," recalls Franklin . "Interestingly enough, that's where Phi Beta Kappa met for its biannual council when l was president. I was president [of Phi Beta Kappa] at the time of the two hundredth anniversary, so I had the presidential suite at Colonial Williamsburg Inn , and I presided at Phi Beta Kappa Hall at the bicentennial celebration in 1976 , twenty years ago." Two decades after becoming the first African American to speak at the Southern Historical Association meeting, Franklin was elected its president. Marovitz and Franklin were outspoken critics of racial and ethnic discrimination throughout their lives. Marovitz remembers

Makiug Histo,y being "born into an ecumenical family. We grew up not judging anybody by the color of their skin. When I was in the legislature-the [state] senate-[there was] a lad that J worked with in the state's attorney's office, Chris Wimbish. He was the only black man there, and I was the first professing Jew elected to the [state] senate, and there was discrimination against blacks and Jews. We introduced a resolution to eliminate discrimination in housing and employment. We only got seven votes out of fifty-one. One of those seven was my pal [Richard].] Dick Daley, who didn't have any Jews or blacks in his ward, but he felt like I did about discrimination. We became very good friends through the years, so I think the things that we learned from uneducated parents about simple decency and kindness and reaching out every day to do what we Jews call a 'mitzvah,' a good deed, you Christians call 'goo d works.' My ma, every day from the time we were going to grammar school, she'd say to us, 'You've got to do your little mitzvah today, children."' One cannot help but be struck at how ethical issues and moral concerns dominated the public lives of Franklin and Marovitz. 'Tm sure my ma wouldn't know what you were talking about, if you talked about a 'soc ial conscience,"' admits the judge. "But that's what she had, and we were the beneficiary of it, teaching us the importance of not hating anybody and reaching out to help people every day, no matter how small it is." For MarovitL 's parents, acts of kindness were part of a daily ritual. "V11e would bring our friends of all backgrounds home for a gla s of milk and a cookie or piece of cake. Mother was a great ba ker. So we were raised in thi atmosphere of non-hate and brotherly love, see? She taught us a prayer: 'Dear Lord , teach us to be kind and grateful, humble and forgiving. Teach us to live like brother and sisters under thy fatherhood.' Kind ofan ecumenical prayer, and this is no bunk, you know. I'm ninety years old, and I'm on the way out, but the things that I learned from my ma and pa about imple kindness and decency and integrity have held me in good stead all of 111) life. I never got frustrated because I couldn't do big thing . The Lord didn't give me that kind of a brain. The clay is lost for me if I can't think of something when [ go to bed at night , some little thing I did for somebody else that would make a modest change in their life for the better." Franklin's writing ranges from biography to slavery to the history of violence. He considers Geo,ge Woshi11gto11 Williams:A Biography his most "so phisticated" and original book. Franklin's

judg e Abraham Lincoln Marovitz administersthe oath of officeto newly electedCook County Clerk Richardj. Daley in 1950. BetweenMarovilzmul Daley,from left to right, Illinois governor Adlai Stevenson and Chicago mayor1vlmtin Kennellylook011.

ChicagoHisto1)', Fall 1996 Reconstruction ( 1961) played a significant part in ttacia\ revising historical interpretations of that often-misunEqua!~erica derstood period in American history. The Militant South (1956) was one of the earliest historical critiques efra o\dio of the Southern cu lture of vigilantism and violence. \oh"HOP Franklin's scope and variety of writing has attracted accolades from more than a few learned societies. In the past decade, Franklin has earned the Clarence L. Holte Literary Prize (l 986), the Clean th Brooks Medal of the Fellowship of Southern Writers (l 989), the Encyclopedia Britannica Gold Medal for the Dissemination of Knowledge ( 1990), the Jefferson Medal of the American Philosophical Society (1993), the Bruce Catton Award of the Society of American Historians ( 1994) , and the Sidney Hook Award of Phi Beta Kappa (1994). Yet, Franklin's most influential work remains From Slave1y to Freedom, a volume he almost never authored. "I didn't want to write that book, " he admits. "I ,vas persuaded to write it by the editor, the college editor at Alfred Knopf Company. I was teaching in Durham at the time, and he had written to me and wanted to know if I would be interested in writing a book on the history of blacks. I said, "No. Maybe someday, but I'm busy. I'm working on The Militant South." The same editor wrote back, "Well, that's very good, and that's a good subject, and it's of lasting importance, but this is really something we need now. I wonder if you could just put it off, put off your other work." At that time the only significant ----·-"\ 'V t. , synthesis of African American his~j/ FROiU tory was Carter Woodson's The Negro in Our History, a work that Franklin admits was more celebratory than analytical. Finally, Roger Shugg, an editor at Knopf and a respected historian of the South, traveled to Durham to see Franklin. "I was nattered . I am A Histmyof what, twenty-se\'en, twenty-eight Americm~Ncgroei years old, and here's a man who was one of the great publishers of all time. I said, 'Who am I to be saying no to this man)' So 1 agreed, and so that's how I happened to JOH;\/ HOPE FRANKL!i'i get involved in it." At that point , Franklin had never taught a course in the subject. "I just didn't know it," he admits. "I didn't know the field, and it wasn 't really a field." From Slavery lo Freedom was not an immediate hit. "It didn't sell in a spectacular way until the civil rights movement ," admits Franklin. Then, in the 1960s, "blacks began to argue that they had done enough in the history of this country to get better atten-

,n'"'

SLAVERY TO

FREEDOM

Making Hist01y tion than they were getting, and they began to use this book, and they began to say, 'We need courses that will teach our children these same things .' Courses began to develop , so there 's a sort of interactive re lat ionsh ip between the civil rights movement and the book." F irst published in 1947 , From Slavery to Freedom went through seven editions. It remains in print half a century later. Exclud ing textbooks, the three million copies sold to date make From Slave1y to Freedom perhaps the most widely read book on Amer ican history. Frankl in never let public adu lat ion affect his outlook. "You're on these corporate boards, and you can really lose your perspective if you aren't carefu l, because of the kind of emo lum ents you get, the kind of treatment you get," admits Frank lin . "We 'd fly around the country in corporate jets. They'd ca ll my secretary and say, 'We're stocking the jet. What kind of whiskey must we put on for Mr . Franklin?"' On one occas ion, he was serv in g on the Chicago Public Library board and the Carter Woodson Branch at Ninety-fifth and State Streets was under construction. Mayor Richard J. Daley was running for reelection and wanted what Frank lin ca lls a "premature dedication." "The place wasn 't nearly ready," Franklin remembers. "He didn 't have a comp letion date. They'd broken ground, got some party palms and things and put them around. But I wouldn't go, and I said at the board meeting I would not go, because this was obvious ly a political ploy, and I wasn't playing politics. This was clearly to me a gesture on the part of the ma yo r. I knew it. I'm sure someone to ld him what I said, because he had plants in the board meeting. It was a ploy by the mayor to cultivate votes, and I'm not going to be a party to it. I said, 'We don't even know when this thing is going to open. How can you dedicate something when you don't even know when it's going to open? You don 't even know when it's going to be comp leted."' Frank lin and Marovitz are a rare breed: voca l critics with principled positions who simu ltaneous ly have built consensus with widely differing groups. Indeed , their honesty and integrit y have impressed groups normally found in opposition to each other. Marovitz, for example, has been honored by both the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Independent Voters of Illinois. In his words, "I learned how to disagree without being disagreeab le." During an era of tension between elements with in the African American and Jewish communities, some Afr ican American leaders openly admire Marovitz. Hidden amidst the wealth of historical memorab ilia in Marovitz 's chambers is a handwritten letter , dated 1975 and taped to the back of a picture, from a twenty-eight-year-old, African American as istant U.S. attorney requesting an autograp hed image ofMarovitL. The writer calls 1arovitz her "perso nal hero." She explains that "J have observed you and your humanity , humility, and fair treatment or the people who come before you in court. Your genuine concern for the 'little peo ple '

RECONSTRUCTION ~-

HOPE

FRAIIIKLl"I

Chicago Hislor)', Fall 1996

who need so badly the compassion, guidance and understanding is especially inspiring to me." Seventeen years later that former U.S. attorney, Carol Moseley-Braun, became the first African American woman ever elected to the .S. Senate. Franklin and Marovitz concur that their ethical outlooks, values , and professional successes were the product of close-knit families. Marovitz humbly insists that "while I'm the least educated judge on this bench, probably in the country-never having gone to college-what I learned about simple decency and kindness and brotherly love from my ma and pa has held me in good stead." Franklin's proclivity toward writing originated with his father, a man who not only read classical works o[ literature and history, but expected his children to do the same. "He was a kind of frustrated writer. I suppose i[ he had his druthers, he would have been a novelist and essayist. He was always writing." After moving to Tul a, Franklin remembers that his father "took great pride in taking me to court with him , introducing me to the judges and his attorney friends. Although Tulsa was a very segregated town, there were no laws egregating us in the courthouse, but blacks tended to sit in one part of the courthouse. My father never let me sit there. He was so bitterly opposed to segregation. I either sat with him at the bar itself, that is where he was sitting, or if there wa a nonjury trial , he would tell me to sit over in one of the jury seats. That's the way we were brought up. " Marovitz, a bachelor, places great importance on familie . "You hear about children killing children. You hear about fourteenyear-old girl having their second child out of wedlock and don't know who the fathers are. You see children killing par ents, parents killing children, parents killing each other. And the elope situation, in my judgment, is responsible for 80 percent o[ that. I imposed the largest sentence ever imposed in a narcotics case to a judg e fl'illia111Cam/Jbell (right) administersthe oath of officelojudg e Abraham Linro/11Marovitz on his co11fin11atio11 to the federal bench in 1963.

Making History

gt') ' who wasn 't a dope peddler, but was selling to young kids who went to [Wendell] Phillips High School, and he died in the penitentiary , and I have no remorse. He ruined a lot of kids' lives. I've spent most of my adult life trying to salvage their lives. I've talked a lot about my ma and pa and the values they taught us. Some of these kids didn't have that. They would have been different children. I think that as we get busier in our lives, we neglect to reach out to others less fortunate." Although Marovitz and Franklin are beyond "retirement age," neither shows any signs of ending his work. Yet, they do think about their mortality. "When my pa died, " remembers Marovitz, "he said to me and my brothers as we were gathered around his bedside, 'Boys, I never hurt the name, I never hurt the name, I never hurt the name .' Three times he repeated it and then he died . And there are many times, if you're active a I've been in politics and law, somebody wants to make a lot of money for you but by doing something you shouldn't be doing, and I always remind myself of what my beloved pa said, ' Boys, I never hurt the name, I never hurt the name.' So I want to be able, " 'hen 111)' time i up-and I'm probably close to the firing line the~e clays-to say '~ la and Pa, like you, I never hurt the name. "' 1ost agree. Abraham Lincoln Marovitz and John Hope Franklin never hurt their names.

ProfessorFranklin in a classroomat the University of Chicago, where he chaired the history department from 1969 to 1982.

Chicago History, Fall 1996 FOR F URTHER READI NG .

For a short autobiography, see "John Hop e Franklin" in Douglas Greenberg and Stanley Katz , eds., The Life of Learning ( ewYork: Oxford University Press, 1994), 7186. The most recent biographi ca l account is Pet er Applebome, "John Hop e Franklin: Keep ing Tabs on Jim Crow," New York Times Magazine, 23 Apri l 199 5. Frank lin 's influenc e on the historiography of Re co nstruction is traced in Eric Anderson and Alfred A. Mos , Jr., eds., The Factsof R econstruction: Essaysin H onor ofjohn Ho/Je Franklin (Baton Roug e: Louisiana State Un iversity Press, 1991) . Franklin 's writing is voluminous, but the most important works remain From Slave1y lo Freedom:A History of African Americans, 7th ed. ( ew York: McGraw-Hill, 1994) ; R econstruction: After the Civil War (Chicago: U niversity of Chicago Press , 1961 ); The Emancipation Proclamation ( ew York: Doubleda y, 196 3); George Washington Williams: A Biogra/Jhy (Chicago: University of Chicago Press , 1985); and Race and Hi story: Selected Essays, 1938- 1988 (Baton Ro ug e: Louisiana State University Pr ess, 1990). An intervi ew of Marovitz appears in Studs Terkel, Coming of Age: The Story of Our Century by Those Who've Lived lt'(New York: ew Press, 1995 ), 334-340. Various figur es from Marovitz 's early years are discu sed in Ira Ber kow, Maxwell Street: Survival in a Bazaar ( ew York: Doubleday , 1977). The most recent articles on Marovitz can be found in Chicago Sun-Times, 2 May 1995, 9 Aug. 1995 ; Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, 28 Aug. 1992; Chicago Tribune, 12 Aug. 1995.

J11dgPAbraham Unco/11 Marovitz with ChicagoJ-listoricalSocietytmstee Kay (M1:s. Frrwli) Mayf'1'at the 1995 J'vla/1i111; l h1t01yAwards ceremony.

ILL USTRAT IO NS

60 top, court esy of J o hn H ope Franklin; 60 bottom and 63, court esy of Abraham Lin coln 1arovitz; 64, courtesy of .John Hop e Franklin; 67, cou rtesy of Abraham Lincoln MarovitL; 68 top, Raci.alEqualityin America ( 1976), CHS Library; 68 bottom, From Slavery to Freedom (rev. eel, 1956), CHS Library; 69 top, Reco nstructi on (1961 ), CHS Library; 69 bottom, The E111a11cipation Proclamation (l 963), C HS Librar y: 70, courtesy of Abraham Lincoln Marov itz; 71, co urt esy of John Il opc Franklin; 72 top and bottom, photographs by Linda Schwanl

J ohn 1-lo/Je Fra11hli11al lhe 1995 J'vlak111g f-li.1to1yAwards ceremony with Douglas Greenberg, president a11ddirector of the Chicago H istoriad Society.