The Michigan chronicle. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1936-current, 1944-03-18


During my boyhood. 4 number
not all. by any means, but con-
siderable number--of the "hrst
colored families" of Hampton, Vir-
GINA, lived In our section OF Lin
coin street. Save for two or three
exceptions, we were little homo
geneous group of the towns bet
ter" Negro citizens; but the Sec
ond families" crowded in upon Us
from both sides.
Since we were the "somebodies"
OF the town. we naturally had
few advantages denied to the less
favored Negroes. And though there
was never any overt snobbishness
on our part. we were just bit con-
scious of being upper class'-not
that we ever used the term. II was
therefore only natural that to some
Of our acquaintance up and down
the street. We were nothing but a
bunch of "dicty niggers;" and this
they never failed to tell Us when
ever occasion arose.
| Actually, in our daily living. we
never drew any sharp lines OF dis
tinct;on. For one thing we were
all Negroes and therefore brothers
| In misery. II was mainly in little
things we differed; otherwise our
pattern Of life was much the same
as that OF our up-the-street ac-
quaintances.
| For instance, we tended to avoid
loud clothes: we did not slick our
hair with too much grease: We
never talked blatantly in public or
clowned before white folks. We
studiously avoided Smelling peas.
eating watermelon, or combing the
children's hair on the porch. Highly
decorous in all things, our parents
disapproved Of shouting" in church
and all other emotional excuses.
And when they had their differ
ences. they fused discreetly be-
hind closed doors so that the neigh
bors could not hear them. They
never lost control so completely a
20 end up in police court
Food formed another tenuoul
basis Of distinction among US Al.
though we ate pigs feet, hog NAV
, lights, chitterlinGS, and other pie
beian delectables commonly though
! erroneously supposed to be enjoyet
|, only By Negroes. We ate them II
q spirit Of conscious condescension
> And We were al shy OF any form
OF charity. Around on Locust street
Nrs. Barrett, the towns lone sociz
worker. had established . commu
I nifty house for Negro children. Pc
riodically she received barrels o.
clothing and toys from charitable
northern whites to be distributed
. among the poor and needy Of
Hampton's black population. ] car
remember many much-needed
garment or fascinating toy that
went TO boys around me. To sccep,
any Of them would have meant a
good whipping when ! got home
At such times IL was inconvenient
to be somebody"
Owning ones home was another
shibboleth among Us. First Of all
} II you rented. you had q collector
CASUALLY white) facing you every
Monday morning. And II you fell
behind in payments. the collector
put a For Rent" sign on the house
II could never stand that" Thy
! mother used TO say, and shuddeI
at the thought Of such q humili.
ating experience. As a matter OF
fact. my people and most Of their
) nei ghbors never really owned their
houses, because they seldom fin,
ished paving for them. They toe
were renting from the finance com.
psnies.
Although the children Of GU,
neighborhood did not need to work
to help the family budget, as wa
the case only too often in othel
sections, among Us 1t was consid
cred a good thing for a boy Il
hustle" And there were man.
ways for boy to make an homes
penny. The only one that wa!
frowned upon was shining shoes
which for obvious reasons was con
sidered low.
In the summer OF 1917 Mad m,
, best paying job. As water boy OF
construction Job in Newpor
News, made $225 per day. which
was not bad pay for q lad still il
grammar school I had to carr,
water to both the white and tn,
] colored. and In difference TO jim
: Crow the foreman made me us,
two buckets. ] then altered thi
: plan and carried one bucket ant
y two dippers. But since I was neve
sure which was the colored AM
which the white. threw one away
Nobody seemed to notice the dif
ference.
To me the most delightful par
z OF this Job was carrying water 3
the e-nixers-ten stalwar'
coal-black Negroes, whose favorit
and persistent sceil was:
|, Water jack! Water jacki
Y ought to've been here an ma
way back!
q Strangely enough. though. the
we're the lowest paid men on IN
e Job. they were the only ones VIII
o ever tipped me. For some reaso
they liked me but, conscious OF m
: color. they never tired Of ribbin
l,me on that score.
For color, IL must be admitted
plays some part in the matter @
: class differences within the Negr
. group Though never approximatin
= in It's influence the caste distinC
tons found in the West Indies snt
!, in its worst form. In South Afric;
u there Is still some - in fact 20
4 much-color prejudice among Afrs
, mericans. Though II is OCCASIONAL
:" present among US. color prelude
s simply does not play in actual lii
a the sensational role so often a:
crihed TO II by popular writers
e Most OF the boys in our neighboi
hood were light colored and man
/ Of those from up the street wit
a whom we played were dark.
y all our smicable relations the prof.
o lem OF color was absent or RENAME
dormant but as soon as dissensic