The Michigan chronicle. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1936-current, 1944-03-18
when | WAS IN knee PANTS
Bv ARTHUR ?. DAVIS

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broke out and fists began to fly.
color epithets. flew also. In such
exchanges I was always a "yaller
bastard" (the word was never used
literally. !, too, must confess,
had at my command unpleasant re-
taliatory names-of which am now
thoroughly ashamed Somehow,
though, was never able to find a
suitable retort 10 the charge inva-
risbly hurled at me in such en-
counters: Black Is honest yaller
steal"
In any case, whatever It's origin,
as little "ysller" boy. I early
learned I had 10 fight the color line
both within and without the group.
But I also learned that the internal
fight was trivial and insignificant
compared with the real fight - the
outside.
Another index to class standing
was the way We treated white folks.
To us there were only two kinds:
those who were somebody" and
poor white trash" The latter We
looked upon with a mixture Of pity
and contempt; moreover. most OF
the white people we knew we
placed in that category. Our atti-
tude was epigrammatized in the
couplet well-known TO al southern
Negroes:
I had a little dog. his name was
Dash:
I'd -ruther be a niger than poor
white trash
(This. Of course, was the classic
retort when some white person
called you "nigger.C But We also
prided ourselves on not looking up
to" any white person. rich or poor.
We did not say, "yessuh" and mo
subj: we never reached for our
hats when talking to whites; and
we did not take anything" from
them.
Although race relations in Hamp-
ton were good" white and colored
had their minor clashes. Most Of the
trouble then as now came about
because OF some infringement Of the
Jim Crow laws on the street cars
OF course we fought the white
boys whenever occasion demanded
And q lone white boy did not have
too good q chance OF getting
through the colored street unmo
Tested. But the thing worked bot
bitterness between thettwo groups
In mixed neishborhoods the Chill
dren played naturally together
Though I was reared TO believe Il
that popular Negro myth that on
Negro can whip any two whites
I have made many q detour to avoit
putting the theory 10 q test. When
ever I 60 home now, general,
see one or two white men whom
once chased or who once chased
me; and though we never speak
there is a not-unfriendly CLINT o.
recognition in our eyes as We pass
In the matter Of pricking the
bubble OF the white mans racial
vanity. my family had a distinct
advantage over most Of the neigh.
bors, for We were largely . fair
group, and several OF Us could
easily pass" for white. During hi.
youth my father had gone North
and become white. After ten year.
across the line he found It wa.
better TO be a poor Negro than 4
poor white; he came back. married
my brownskin mother. and never
left home or race again. With such
a background. there was little dan
ger of our growing up with the
feeling Of racial inferiority which
the pattern Of southern living tend!
TO create in the Negro. For this
4 hrrA alu-avc haAn hanlyftsl
Persons from our neighborhooc
did not work in service. When
ever some misguided or misin
formed white woman came to u
looking for servants. she was me
by a polite but frigid denial Of an,
knowledge concerning such per
sons, although every one in tn,
block could have directed her Il
friends or acquaintance and ever
relatives who did such work.
OF course We were oversensitiv,
about such things and were on &C
casion guilty OF making mountain
OF mole-hills, but We were just q
appreciative Of little courtesie
when extended by the other race
A clerk who called Negro womal
Mrs" or a conductor who helpe,
an old Negro on the car becam,
local legends. When a northern
white family moved into our neigh
borhood. they were simply show
cred with hospitality almost fur
lively given.
In spite OF an attenuated elias
consciousness which we undoubt
eddy possessed. in spite Of nsturs
and understandable senf.ivenes
on the problem OF race. we wer
not a bad lot, and We never CAV
ourselves any great airs. Prissy an
stodgy We certainly were
times, but We were only typics
middle-class Americans with III
added handicap Of color.
. Because il was so easy and so Gus
tomary for the whites to Taught .
Negroes, we as the inheri:ors c
second generation respectab.Ety
tried both consciously and uncor
sciously 10 be Ike other Ameri
cans. In these days OF proletaria
domination OF literature. il Is fash
; ionable 10 laugh at bourgeois striS
, ings. but am glad my parents an
, neighbors tried 20 instill IN ne N
good, old-fsShioned middle-cls:
virtues Of honesty. industry. an
independence when was IN kne
, pants.
Editors Note:--Arthur p. Dav
Is professor Of English ut Nirginl
! Union university: this excerpt
: from his forthcoming book.