1860 photo taken 4 days after Mr.
Lincoln visited Lincoln, Illinois, for the last time. Info at 3 below.
This President
grew;
His town does too.
Link to Lincoln:
Lincoln & Logan County Development Partnership
Site
Map
Testimonials
Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission of Lincoln, IL
1.
Abraham Lincoln and the Historic Postville
Courthouse,
including a William Maxwell connection to the Postville Courthouse
2.
About Henry Ford and the Postville Courthouse, the
Story of the Postville Courthouse Replica,
Tantivy, & the Postville Park
Neighborhood in the
Route 66 Era
3.
The Rise of Abraham Lincoln and the Founding of Lincoln, Illinois,
also the founding of Lincoln College, the plot to steal Lincoln's
body, and memories of Lincoln College and the Rustic Tavern-Inn
4.
Introduction to the Social & Economic History of
Lincoln, Illinois, including poetry by William Childress
& commentary by Federal Judge Bob Goebel & Illinois Appellate Court
Judge Jim Knecht
5.
"Social Consciousness in William Maxwell's
Writings Based on Lincoln, Illinois" (an article published in the
Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, winter 2005-06)
5.a.
Peeking Behind the Wizard's Screen: William
Maxwell's Literary Art as Revealed by a Study of the Black Characters in
Billie Dyer and Other Stories
6.
Introduction to the Railroad & Route 66 Heritage
of Lincoln, Illinois
7.
The Living Railroad Heritage of Lincoln, Illinois:
on Track as a Symbol of the "Usable Past"
8.
Route 66 Overview Map of Lincoln with 42 Sites,
Descriptions, & Photos
9.
The Hensons of Business Route 66
10.
The Wilsons of Business
Route 66,
including the Wilson Grocery & Shell Station
11.
Route 66 Map & Photos Showing Lincoln Memorial
Park
(former Chautauqua site),
the Historic Cemeteries, & Nearby Sites
12.
Route 66 Map & Photos Showing Salt Creek &
Cemetery Hill,
including
the highway bridges, GM&O bridge, Madigan State Park, the old dam (with
photos & Leigh's memoir of "shooting the rapids" over the old dam), &
the Ernie Edwards' Pig-Hip Restaurant Museum in Broadwell
13.
The Historic Logan County Courthouse, Past &
Present
14.
Route 66 Map
with 51 Sites in the Business & Courthouse Square Historic District,
including locations of historical markers
(on the National Register of Historic Places)
15.
Vintage Scenes of the Business & Courthouse Square
Historic District
16.
The Foley House: A
Monument to Civic Leadership
(on the National Register of
Historic Places)
17.
Agriculture in
the Route 66 Era
18.
Arts & Entertainment Heritage,
including
the Lincoln Theatre Roy Rogers' Riders Club of the
1950s
19.
Business Heritage
20.
Cars, Trucks & Gas Stations of the Route 66 Era
21.
Churches, including the hometown
churches of Author William Maxwell & Theologian Reinhold Niebuhr
22.
Factories, Past and Present
23.
Food Stores of
the Route 66 Era
24.
Government
25.
Hospitals, Past and Present
26.
Hotels & Restaurants of the Railroad & Route 66
Eras
27.
Lincoln Developmental Center
(Lincoln State School & Colony in
the Route 66 era), plus
debunking the myth of
Lincoln, Illinois, choosing the Asylum over the University of Illinois
28.
Mining Coal, Limestone, & Sand & Gravel; Lincoln Lakes; & Utilities
29.
Museums & Parks, including the Lincoln College
Museum and its Abraham Lincoln Collection, plus the Heritage-in-Flight
Museum
30.
Neighborhoods
with Distinction
31.
News Media in the Route 66 Era
32.
The Odd
Fellows' Children's Home
33.
Schools
34.
Memories of the 1900 Lincoln Community High School,
including Fred Blanford's dramatic account of the lost marble
fountain of youth
35.
A Tribute to the Historians and Advocates of
Lincoln, Illinois
36.
Watering Holes of the Route 66 Era
37.
The Historic 1953 Centennial Celebration of
Lincoln, Illinois
38.
The Festive 2003 Sesqui-centennial Celebration of
Lincoln, Illinois, including photos of LCHS Class of 1960
dignitaries & the Blanfords
39.
Why Did the State Police Raid Lincoln, Illinois,
on October 11, 1950?
40.
The Gambling Raids in Lincoln and Logan County,
Illinois,
During the Late Route 66 Era (1950-1960)
_______
Pages
in this section tell about Leigh Henson's Lincoln years, moving away,
revisits, and career:
About Lincoln, Illinois;
This
Web Site; & Me
A Tribute to Lincolnite Edward Darold
Henson: World War II U.S. Army Veteran of the Battles for Normandy and
the Hedgerows; Brittany and Brest; and the Ardennes (Battle of the
Bulge)
For Remembrance, Understanding, & Fun: Lincoln
Community High School Mid-20th-Century Alums' Internet Community
(a Web site and
email exchange devoted to collaborative memoir and the sharing of photos
related to Lincoln, Illinois)
Directory of Email Addresses of 168 Mid-20th
Century LCHS Alums
Leigh Henson's Pilgrimage to Lincoln, Illinois, on
July 12, 2001
Leigh Henson's
Review of Dr. Burkhardt's William Maxwell Biography
Leigh Henson's Review of Ernie Edwards' biography,
Pig-Hips on Route 66, by William Kaszynski
Teach Local Authors: Considering the Literature of
Lincoln, Illinois
Web Site About
Leigh Henson's Professional Life
__________
Pages
in this section are about the writing, memorabilia, and Web sites of
other Lincolnites:
A
Tribute to Bill and Phyllis Stigall:
Exemplary Faculty of Lincoln College at Mid-Twentieth Century
A
Tribute to the Krotzes of Lincoln, Illinois
A Tribute to Robert Wilson (LCHS '46): Author of
Young in Illinois, Movies Editor of December Magazine,
Friend and Colleague of December Press Publisher Curt Johnson, and
Correspondent with William Maxwell i
Brad Dye (LCHS '60): His Lincoln, Illinois, Web
Site,
including photos of many churches
Dave Armbrust's Memorabilia of Lincoln, Illinois
Leigh Henson's
Review of Dr. Barabara Burkhardt's William Maxwell Biography
Leigh Henson's Review of Ernie Edwards' biography,
Pig-Hips on Route 66, by William Kaszynski
Leigh
Henson's Review of Jan Schumacher's
Glimpses of Lincoln, Illinois
J. Richard
(JR) Fikuart
(LCHS '65):
The
Fikuarts of Lincoln, Illinois, including their
connections to the William Maxwell family and three generations of
family fun at Lincoln Lakes
Jerry Gibson (LCHS '60): Lincoln, Illinois,
Memoirs & Other Stories
Dave Johnson (LCHS '56): His Web Site for the
Lincoln Community High School Class of 1956
Sportswriter David Kindred: Memoir of His
Grandmother Lena & Her West Side Tavern on Sangamon Street in the Route
66 Era
Judge Jim Knecht
(LCHS '62): Memoir and Short Story, "Other People's Money," Set in
Hickey's Billiards on Chicago Street in the Route 66 Era
William A. "Bill" Krueger (LCHS '52): Information
for His Books About Murders in Lincoln
Norm Schroeder (LCHS '60): Short Stories
Stan Stringer Writes About His Family, Mark
Holland, and Lincoln, Illinois
Thomas Walsh: Anecdotes Relating to This Legendary
Attorney from Lincoln by Attorney Fred Blanford & Judge Jim Knecht
A Tribute to Robert Wilson (LCHS '46): Author of
Young in Illinois, Movies Editor of December Magazine,
Friend and Colleague of December Press Publisher Curt Johnson, and
Correspondent with William Maxwell, including excerpts
from Young in Illinois and from Maxwell's letters to Robert;
family photos and information from Robert's only child, Sue Young
Wilson; commentary from Literary Critic Lee Walleck; and memoir by Curt
Johnson
Leon Zeter (LCHS '53): His Web Site for the
Lincoln Community High School Class of 1953,
including announcements of LCHS class reunions
(Post yours there.)
__________
|
Highway Sign of
the Times:
1926-1960
The Route 66
Association of Illinois
The Illinois
State Historical Society
Illinois
Tourism Site:
Enjoy Illinois
|
| |
Marquee
Lights of the Lincoln Theater, est. 1923, Lincoln, Illinois |
4. Introduction to the Social
and Economic History of Lincoln, Illinois
|
"You could be eccentric and still
not be socially ostracized. You could even be dishonest. But you
could not be openly immoral. The mistakes people made were not
forgotten, but if you were in trouble somebody very soon found out about it
and was there answering the telephone and feeding the children. Men
and women alike appeared to accept with equanimity the circumstances (on the
whole, commonplace and unchanging ) of their lives in a way that no one
seems able to do now anywhere."
William Maxwell describing Lincoln
society
early in the 20th century, from Ancestors (1971),
p. 190.
_____________________
The threads in a community's
economic and social tapestry are closely woven. What are the kinds of
natural resources in a given area? Who are the people who settle it? What do they do with those resources? What businesses and industries
stem from local citizens because of their cultural backgrounds, special
talents, and ambitions?
The most important fact about the economic history
of this area is that it is surrounded by some of the most fertile
land in the world. Thus, farming has shaped Lincoln's and Logan
County's growth from mid 19th century to the present. Row crop farming, first of corn then of
both corn and soybeans, emerged as more important than raising livestock. A
history of farming in the Lincoln area, including memoir of 20th-centuy
farmers, appears in Nancy Lawrence Gehlbach's "Farm Life in Logan County,
Our Times. She explains how farming
changed over the decades, for example, how
hedgerows of Osage orange trees were used to help mark boundaries as the
land became well populated. Then, hedgerows got in the way of
tractors, so the hedgerows were taken out, drastically changing the prairie landscape
and destroying the habitat of many species (p. 1).
Another excellent history of agriculture in Logan
County is found in Paul Gleason and Paul Beaver's Logan County Pictorial
History (pp. 1-22). The photos there depict farmers at work and
the changing technology of farming, farm houses and farm buildings, the
crops, as well the variety and importance of livestock.
|
In addition to farming, mining played a key role in
the early economic and social development of Lincoln. The most
complete account of this industry occurs in Nancy Lawrence Gehlbach's "When
Coal Was King." Mines were located literally south, north, east, and
west of Lincoln. More information about the mines appears in this site
on the page titled
28.
Mining Coal, Limestone, & Sand & Gravel; Lincoln Lakes; &
Utilities.
Mrs. Gehlbach explains
that many late 19th- and early
20th-century immigrants to Logan County worked in these mines.
"North Lincoln, the area off North Kickapoo Street, was full of
immigrants: Hungarians, Poles, and Croatians. The Lincoln Public
Library even boasted a Croatian-English dictionary, one of a group of seven
foreign-language dictionaries given by a patron in 1915"
(p. 5).
Farming and mining provided regular employment for
many, forming a solid foundation for other commerce. Workers needed
building materials, hardware, food, and the services of a professional
class, including ministers, teachers, doctors, and lawyers. |
The photos below show
"then" and "now" versions of a
typical two-story, brick structure that housed shops owned and operated by
folks of Germanic descent. Businesses in Lincoln were
often named by and for their owners. In Lincoln, Illinois: A Pictorial
History, Paul Gleason notes that "The 100 block of South Sangamon Street
was known as 'Dutch Row' since the business owners in that block were of
German nationality" (p. 71). Also, "the Dehner Block" was familiar to
Lincolnites from the late 1800s to the mid 1900s.
Much of Lincoln's growth occurred
toward the end of the 19th Century. Gleason observes that especially between 1880 and
1890, an influx of people occurred as railroads were laid out and made
Lincoln a stopping point on their new lines (p. 65).
|
4.1: Lauer
Brothers Hardware on
South Sangamon, Part of "Dutch Row"
(Fish, Lincoln Illustrated,
1916)
|
4.2: Part of "Dutch
Row" in 2002, Including Site of Former Lauer Brothers Hardware
(Leigh Henson photo, 6-02)
|
Author William Maxwell used his childhood recollections of Lincoln in the
first two decades of the 1900s as the setting of some of his writing, and he
observes "other towns within a radius of a hundred miles continued to
prosper, but Draperville [Lincoln] stopped growing. It was finished by 1900" ("The
Trojan Women", p. 41).
Growth may have slowed, but it really did not stop. Some people
continued to settle here for the work afforded by the diverse economy.
Some families, such as my father's, came from southern Illinois because the
economy of central Illinois afforded more jobs. After WW II, new small factories opened in Lincoln, allowing at
least for modest growth and economic stability in mid 20th century.
|
More information about Lincoln's economy is presented on
17.
Agriculture in the Route 66 Era; 19. Business Heritage; 22.
Factories, Past and Present;
and
28.
Mining Coal, Limestone, & Sand & Gravel; Lincoln Lakes; &
Utilities. A forthcoming article will discuss
William Maxwell's use of social, ethnic, and racial groups: 5.
Social Consciousness in the Writings of William Maxwell Set in Lincoln,
Illinois.
|
Political and
Social Context for the Arrival of African-Americans in
Lincoln, Illinois
Part of the fame of Abraham Lincoln is that he was
the Great Emancipator. Thus, any town such as Lincoln, Illinois, that
proclaims its direct association with this legendary American hero is bound
to have its social fabric and race relations scrutinized. This subject
is difficult, and the following discussion is not intended to be a complete
analysis of race relations in this community, but only to identify some of
the context for them. To begin such a consideration, we go back to the
day Stephen Douglas spoke in Lincoln, Illinois, on September 4, 1858
(described in
3. The Transformation of Abraham Lincoln and the Founding of Lincoln, Illinois,
also the Founding of Lincoln College, the Plot to Steal Lincoln's Body, and
Memories of Lincoln College and the Rustic Tavern-Inn).
In the large and favorable crowd
that Douglas enjoyed (on 9-4-1858),
many participants came on the train with him, but most likely many others were from the local community.
The enthusiasm for Douglas at that time and place suggests how famous he
had become for his principle of "popular sovereignty," which appealed to
advocates of states' rights, including citizens with Southern sympathy.
A significant number of citizens of Lincoln, Illinois, may have been of that
political persuasion. Historian Raymond Dooley has observed that "actually, the
town [Lincoln, Illinois] was settled largely by Southerners, and many of its
citizens maintained Southern sympathies even after the war began" (Dooley,
"Lincoln and His Namesake Town," p. 139).
A
casual survey of the biographies of the earliest settlers presented in
Lawrence Stringer's History of Logan County 1911 and some of their
descendants' autobiographical and biographical sketches in Paul J.
Beaver's History of Logan County 1982 indicates many settlers of
Lincoln, Illinois, were born in such northern states as Vermont, Pennsylvania,
and Ohio.
(Most were of English, Irish, Scotch, and German descent.)
Yet, the number of those who settled in Lincoln
from such Southern states as Virginia and Kentucky appears to be significant. Dooley notes that "while basically the town of Lincoln was
loyal [to the North], it was not exactly a 'unit for the union.' The following news
item in the Illinois State Journal of October 12, 1863 (discovered in
1952 by the late Illinois State Historian Dr. Harry E. Pratt) illustrates
the situation: 'Exciting reports reached this city
[Springfield, Illinois] Saturday
afternoon [October 10, 1863] to the effect that a riot was going on at Lincoln, in
Logan county -- a Copperhead meeting being in progress at the time
[Copperheads were Southern sympathizers in the North, including some
anti-Union activists].
The difficulty commenced about one o'clock, by one Sparks, a Copperhead,
hurrahing for Jeff Davis and Vallandigham, when a man named Harless made at
him and cut him severely. A crowd then pursued Harless, knocked him
down, and beat him terribly. . . . There were eight solders on down
[sic]
passenger train at three o'clock, who waited here thirty minutes for orders
from Gov. Yates, but no order came. . . . Harless is reported killed,
and Sparks lies in a very low condition'" (Dooley, "Lincoln and His
Namesake Town," pp. 140-141).
|
First African-Americans in
Lincoln, Illinois |
Evidence indicates that the first
African-Americans in Lincoln, Illinois, were not exactly welcome.
"Negroes Found Difficult Time Settling Here" is a brief article published in
the Lincoln Evening Courier Centennial Edition, Section Eight, August
26, 1953, p. 3. This three-paragraph article says that "no colored
people were here at all when the town was laid out [1853] and many local citizens
objected to their settling here. The negro was first brought up from
the south by the northern soldiers returning from the Civil War." The
unnamed author of the article had interviewed Mrs. Georgia Artis, then
"Lincoln's oldest colored lady." She recalled the "early days" when
"colored people would never go out of the house during the day, but would
slip out after dark for a breath of fresh air." (For additional
information on sources of black history, see "Lincoln Public Library
District Sources on the Local African-American Community" listed toward the
bottom of this Web page.)
The article reports that Mrs. Artis had been born
in Kentucky, and her mother had been sold four times. Mrs. Artis
said she had worked for a banker and had witnessed his murder by Jesse
James. She "still has the blood stained shirt that her employer wore."
She said she had first worked in Elkhart and then came to Lincoln, working
for Judge Stephen A. Foley [original owner of Harts Hall]. "Still spry
and active the 89-year-old mother of 12 children was the owner of a 200-acre
farm near Lincoln.
There are many more stories the old timer could tell, but many of them she
says she does not care to recall" [emphasis mine].
|
4.3: Mrs. Artis
(Photo from Lincoln
Evening Courier,
sec. 8-27-53, p. 5)
|
Mrs. Artis's
observation that "When they [soldiers] brought them [blacks] to
Lincoln, the soldiers had to stop outside of town and roll them in blankets
so they would not be seen" ("Negroes Found Difficult Time Settling
Here," Lincoln Evening Courier, Centennial Edition, section 8, 1953,
p. 5). Mrs. Artis's reference to the Civil War
soldiers transporting blacks is probably to the route of the Underground Railroad.
This observation is supported by information in another Lincoln Centennial
publication, The Namesake Town: A Centennial
History of Lincoln, Illinois. The editor, Raymond Dooley, presents
brief
memoirs of another elderly African-American woman named Mrs. Harriet Dyer
Brummell
(the sister of the African-American named Billie Dyer, M.D., the subject of the
story "Billie Dyer" by Lincoln, Illinois, Author William Maxwell). Since the age of seven, Mrs. Brummell had lived at 133 N. Elm in the house of
her parents, Alfred and Laura Dyer.
Mrs.
Brummell explained that her Grandfather
Aaron Dyer "was born a slave in Richmond, Virginia, and received his freedom
when he was 21 years old, came to Springfield [Illinois] where he was
employed by the underground railway. Aaron drove his horse and wagon
at night, taking runaway slaves to the next underground station. When
they reached Springfield, where the feeling against slavery was strong, they
were fairly safe, although there were times when their masters traced them
there and then they would be kept in hiding for as long as three weeks, or
until the chase was given up and their masters returned without them. Springfield was a center for the underground railway.
Everywhere throughout the South the Quakers, enemies of slavery, strongly
supported the fugitives and aided them in every possible way. Once they
reached Chicago their freedom was virtually assured." (The
Namesake Town, p. 33). More information about Harriet Dyer
Brummell and her family appears later on this page under
"Blacks of Lincoln,
Illinois, in the Early Twentieth Century."
As the Underground Railroad ran from
the South through Springfield to Chicago, it must also have run through or
near Lincoln.
4.4: Map of Underground
Railroad Through or Near Lincoln, Illinois
Click
thumbnail for larger version.
The thumbnail image above is adapted from a map by Historian Wilbur Henry Siebert published
in "Andrew Borders vs. William Hayes" by Carol Pirtle
(p. 149).
Fuller bibliographical information for this source appears below in Sources
Cited.
When you click the thumbnail image to see a larger version of this map, you
will note the location of Lincoln, Illinois, on the Springfield Stage Road,
running from Springfield to Ottawa and paralleling the Chicago & Alton
Railroad. Thus, you will see that Lincoln, Illinois, was on or near the
underground railroad, which followed this route (Pirtle, p. 147).
Another source with even
more information about the first blacks in Lincoln, Illinois, is the 1939 Logan County
Centennial Edition of the Lincoln Evening Courier in
an article titled "Lincoln's Former Slaves Recall Pre-Civil War Days."
This source identifies other blacks who were born into slavery and who
found their way to Lincoln and Logan County, Illinois. The information below
is excerpted from this 1939 Courier article. Access
the full text and photos of the article.
"It is significant that a
majority of the plantation emigrants who came to Lincoln and Logan county
just after the Civil War were born in Logan County, Kentucky. In fact
a reunion of Lincoln residents who sprang from the Kentucky Logan County
would find a very large segment of our colored population represented.
This settlement
pattern was
similar to that of Emden, first established by emigrants from Emden,
Germany. The first comers wrote back to their friends, and others from
their home community followed them" (Courier, Section Two, 9-18-1939,
p. 1).
This article provides
biographical sketches about the following African-Americans, including
former slaves:
|
Mrs. Millie Smith, 88, 441 Ninth St.; Walter Orendorff, 89, and his wife, Mary, 85 (also photo); Preston Townsend, 78,
(also photo); Wilson Russell, 82, (photo on carriage with the Frorer
family); Albert Perkins (also photo); Mrs. Laura Dyer, 82, (also photo);
William Bibb, 74, (also photo); Susan Camper (also photo); and William Boyd,
73. There is also a photo of Dock Fort, but no other information about
him. Additional photos show black women and the white children they cared
for: Mrs. Millie Smith (servant) and Mrs. Phyllis Kuhl Edgell (as a
child) and Mrs. Millie Smith (servant) and Barrett Cosby (child).
The Orendorffs
(photo at right) had been
slaves and afterward worked
for the Brainerds (owners of the Neo-classical mansion in Lincoln whose photo is published
more often than any other house there. See an artistic drawing at
30. Neighborhoods with
Distinction). Mr. Orendorff was the family
coachman and "drove the open and closed carriages of those days. He loved
horses and spent much time grooming 'White Molly,' Mr. Brainerd's favorite
mare." Mr. Orendorff also farmed on the Brainerd property on North
Union Street.
Several other blacks mentioned in the 1939
Courier article were former slaves. One, Mrs. Millie Smith,
married a Civil War veteran in Petersburg, Illinois, and lived at 441 Ninth
Street. She is pictured twice in the Courier article: first, as
a housekeeper holding the child who became Mrs. Phyllis Edgell and in
another picture holding "the late Barrett Cosby."
|
4.5:
Mr. and Mrs. Orendorff
(Photo from Lincoln Evening Courier, Wednesday,
Section Two, October 18, 1939, p.1)
|
"Mrs. Smith recalls a great deal of those dark and at times seemingly
hopeless days when the older slaves prayed for
deliverance from cruel masters." She recalls how some slaves,
forbidden from praying, concealed themselves under large iron kettles "to
prevent the sound from traveling up to the 'big house,' the home of their
masters. It was the only way in which they could have 'church.'"
Mrs. Smith gave this recipe for
"beaten biscuits: Flour, very little lard, milk. Mix and put on
a block like a butcher's block: beat with rolling pint for two or
three hours, or until light. Bake in slow oven."
|
Lincoln, Illinois, and the 1908 Race
Riot in Springfield, Illinois
In her acclaimed
critical biography of Lincolnite Author William Maxwell (William Maxwell:
A Literary Life), Professor Barbara Burkhardt notes that at the time of
his birth (August 16, 1908) a race riot broke out in Springfield, Illinois.
A white mining engineer had been murdered by a black man, and in a separate
incident a young white woman, Mabel Hallam, claimed she was assaulted by a
black man. As a result, "angry mobs lynched two black men, wrecked the small
black business district, and burned forty homes in a black neighborhood" (p.
24). The riot killed two blacks and five white men. Ms. Hallam later
admitted that her white lover had beaten her (p. 24).
The next morning, news of the riot arrived in Lincoln when trains delivered
the Springfield Register. At the train depot, sales of the
Register set a record, and tensions in Lincoln increased because of a
local incident, as described by Professor Burkhardt:
"The Courier reported that a black Lincoln man made remarks about
Mabel Hallam that 'in Springfield would have meant his death.' Other blacks
in Lincoln advised the man to go on vacation until the racial climate
cooled. 'It is well for the colored people of [Lincoln] that they refrain
from utterances likely to inflame the people and their most valuable acts
will be to suppress any signs of rowdyism that may appear on the part of the
less valuable members of their race,' the local paper advised. '[This] may
go a long way in promoting the peaceful relations which now exist between
the white and colored people [here] but which might be strained without much
tension'" (pp. 24-25).
Burkhardt continues, "No large-scale acts of violence were reported in Lincoln, yet racism was
common, as it was in most small Midwestern towns. In neighborhoods such as
the Maxwells', genteel bigotry marked most dealings between white families
and their black servants" (p. 25).
|
Blacks of Lincoln,
Illinois, in the Early Twentieth Century
|
Late in the nineteenth century and early in the twentieth century, some
blacks in Lincoln gained upward social mobility, rising from the lower
middle class to the center of the middle class. Some of the children and
grandchildren of black servants and laborers advanced into positions in
the business community. The following four examples are seen in a 1910
Illinois business publication. This source was contained in a vertical
file folder that Lincoln Library Director Richard Sumrall showed me. The captions are quoted in their
entirety:
|
"One of the leading blacksmiths of Logan County, a promising young
business man, whose future is good.
Mr. Orendorff has the respect and confidence of the leading white people
of the city and with them his word is his bond.
He does a large volume of business annually, employing three men,
regularly 99 percent of his customers are white.
He has a beautiful home on east Broadway." |
4.6: A.B.
Orendorff
|
4.7: Izora Rogers |
"Miss Rogers is prominent in the social circle and teacher of the junior
class of the A.M.E. Sunday School; president of the Allen Christian
Endeavor of the Springfield District.
Miss Rogers is a 'typo' [typist] of no mean ability, and worked on the
Metropolis Gazette, a weekly colored paper.
Miss Rogers is very popular and enjoys a wide circle of friends." |
"An industrious promising young lady, who is book keeper and office girl
in the office of Coleman and Rhodes, white physicians, having been in
their employ for five years.
This is a good record and the position is one that is not commonly held
by colored girls. The stenographic work of the office is done by her.
Miss Perkins is a church worker and Sunday school teacher and has been
organist of Allen Chapel A.M.E. Church for several years. She is very
popular in Lincoln and adjacent cities." |
4.8: Anna
Mae Perkins
|
4.9: Lucille Louise Duke
|
"Of Lincoln, Illinois, a prominent young stenographer and book keeper,
who is employed in the offices of Drs. Brown and Ewing, the leading
white physicians of the county, which position she has held for the past
seven years.
Miss Duke takes special pride in church work, being a member of the
A.M.E. Church, and was recently elected Dist. Sec'y. of the Illinois
A.C.E. League.
Miss Duke is Supt. of the primary department of Allen Chapel Sunday
School and is a zealous and ardent worker, held in high esteem by all
the members and people in general.
She recently finished a special course in stenography in the Lincoln
Business College and is able to fill a creditable position."
|
4.10:
A.B. Orendorff Family Stone in Old Union Cemetery
|
The Alfred and Laura Ward
Dyer Family
The photo below does not appear to be from a Lincoln setting, but the
photo does show second and third generations of a black family that was
prominent in Lincoln from just after the Civil War into the mid twentieth
century. This photo is undated, but I guess it to be from the 1910s. The
photo and related information were provided by Lincoln Courier
reporter Nancy R. Saul at my
request. I have sought information about Hattie Dyer Brummell
(1883--1963) and her family
because of my interest in William Maxwell and his writing about her and
her brother, Dr. William "Billie" Dyer (1888--1958).
|
4.11: Alfred
and Laura Ward Dyer Family
Below I quote the caption exactly:
"Picture was taken in front of Etta & George's house"
L to R [from top]
Thelma Brummell--Mary Dyer
Annette's 1st husband--Fred Brummell
Mildred Tyler--Hattie Brummell
Ethel Brummell--Annette & Gertrude Groves--William
Tyler?
Lainey Groves--Alfred Dyer--?--Laura Dyer--Etta
Dyer--Sadie Dyer
Hellen Brummell on Alfred's lap
Dorothy Tyler on Laura's lap
two girls on front row
Edith Tyler & Margaret Brummell"
4.12: Hattie and Fred Brummell
from the Photo Above
The Namesake Town, published as part of the 1953 celebration of the
centennial celebration of Lincoln, Illinois, includes an interview with
Harriett "Hattie" Dyer Brummell because she represented one of
the town's prominent black families. Above on this page, I give
information about Mrs. Brummell's Grandfather Aaron Dyer.
Mrs. Brummell's mother, "Laura Dyer, was born a slave in Sedalia,
Missouri, the property of the wife of General Smith of the Union Army.
Laura's father and mother, also slaves, ran away from Sedalia to escape
their bondage, but were caught and returned. General Smith then sold the
father somewhere in the deep South, and he was never heard from again by
any of his family. After the Civil War Laura Dyer moved with her family
first to Edwardsville, and then to Lincoln where she worked in the
boarding home kept by Mrs. Jones and located where the high school new
stands [now Lincoln Junior High School on Broadway Street]. Later she
married Alfred Dyer, in the home of J.L. Leslie which stood on the site
of the present Burke home."
The 1939 Lincoln Courier special Logan County centennial edition
reports Mrs. Brummell's mother, Laura Ward Dyer, was 82 that year. Mrs.
Dyer "recalled seeing both Confederate and Union soldiers at Sedalia
near her birthplace. Her father, Strouther Ward, was shot in the knee
while waiting on officers, and later during the war was exempt from
service in the Union Army draft because of the disability." Laura Ward
married Alfred Dyer in 1877.
"Mrs. Brummell's father, Alfred Dyer, born in Springfield, Illinois,
remembered when Abraham Lincoln was assassinated and Springfield at that
time was put under martial law with orders to shoot at sight anyone who
seemed to rejoice in the death of Lincoln. As long as he was able to
work, Alfred Dyer was employed here by the B.P. Andrews Lumber Company."
"Both Mrs. Brummell's father and mother were deeply religious. 'In our
home' [133 N. Elm Street, beginning in 1884, but now demolished], she said, 'there was no
card playing, but how we loved to dance! And we did dance when they were
away from home.' Her father, long a Sunday school superintendent and a
choir leader, was a student of the Bible, and on hearing a Bible
quotation, could tell instantly where it was to be found."
According to the 1939 Courier Logan County centennial article,
Alfred and Laura Ward Dyer had seven children. Four were living in 1939:
Mrs. Hattie Brummell of Lincoln; Clarence, a pullman porter of Columbus,
Ohio; Dr. William Dyer, city policy surgeon, Kansas City; and Sadie
Tyler, Chicago. Three children were deceased by 1939: Etta Mae Groves,
Mary B. Dyer, and Fred Dyer.
According to the 1953 Courier article, "Mrs. Hattie Brummell is part Indian--her grandmother, who lived in North
Carolina--was the child of a Cherokee Indian father and a white mother.
This woman came in the covered wagon days first to Sparta, Illinois, and
then to Springfield."
"'In looking back over the years,' Mrs. Brummell said, 'I am proud of my
father and mother, who were highly regarded by all who knew them, white
as well as black. Their deep religious faith has been my help and
strength throughout my life'" (The Namesake Town, p. 33).
On the Internet I discovered the following information about Aaron Dyer
posted By: Eric
<[email protected]>Date:
Wednesday, 21 February 2007, 11:57 pm
"I am trying to find information about my ggggrandfather, Aaron Dyer,
who was born into slavery in Richmond, Virginia sometime between 1813
and 1819. The family story is that he was freed when he turned 21 (1834
- 1839). He subsequently moved to the Springfield, IL area, where he
worked on the underground railroad, although his official work,
according to the 1850 US Census, was as a blacksmith.
The precise birth date is unclear. I believe the cemetery record said he
was born Nov 13, 1813 and died Sept 2, 1900 at age '87 yrs, 10 mos, 17
days' (even if the dates are correct, I think that number might be a
miscalculation by about a year). The 1880 Census age (67) also puts his
birthdate in/around 1813. However, his age was recorded in the Oct 25,
1850 US Census as 31, with corresponding ages reported in the 1860 and
1870 census records (which would make his birthyear closer to 1818 or
1819)."
Another kink is a family story that the (or a) slaveowner's name had
been Cunningham; "Dyer" was chosen to mark a new beginning."
In an email to me of 2-6-08, Nancy Rolling Saul told me that Aaron Dyer
is buried in a northeast section of Old Union Cemetery at Lincoln,
Illinois, where he moved and where several generations of his
descendants lived. In March of 2008, I located the Aaron Dyer grave
marker about 75 feet beyond the Beaver crypt. The Dyer stone is not in a
special black section, but among the markers of many whites, including
those of German descent.
4.13: Aaron Dyer Stone in
Old Union Cemetery
This Web site's pages on William Maxwell and the Foley house have
additional information on the Dyer-Brummell families. The material shared
with me by Nancy Rolllings Saul includes a flier of the "5th Annual Dyer
Family Reunion" held in Decatur, Illinois, in 2002, and a page of
information about one of the children of Hattie and Fred Brummell,
Marian Louise Clay, and that information is summarized below:
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Mrs.
Clay's life shows a common pattern of both blacks and whites who lived
in Lincoln but whose lives took them to other places because of marriage
and job opportunities. Marian
Louise Clay was born in Chicago, Illinois, in1923. After 1 1/2
years, her parents, Hattie and Fred Brummell, moved the family to
Decatur, Illinois. When Marian was in the first grade, her family moved
to Laura Dyer's home at 133 N. Elm Street in Lincoln, Illinois, due to
Fred's poor health and loss of employment. Marian lived in Lincoln until
she graduated from high school in 1942. She then moved to Kansas City,
Kansas, to stay with her Uncle William "Billie" Dyer, M.D.,
and to continue her education. Years later in 1952, Marian
returned to Lincoln and worked at the Lincoln State School, where many
blacks and whites found steady employment. After her
marriage to Frank Clay in the mid 1950s, they lived in Jacksonville, Illinois,
until his death in 1980. Following Marian's retirement from the State of
Illinois Department of Revenue, she moved to the Chicago suburbs
to be near her children.
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Blacks in Lincoln During the
1920s
From a source in
California, I recently acquired some rare photos of blacks in Lincoln,
Illinois, from the 1920s. The photos are from an album that had been
owned by Theodore R. ("Teddy") Isaacs. The first photo shows Ms. Callie
Gorens with the A.M.E. Church on Broadway Street. This church was
attended by the Dyer-Brummell family and other black Lincolnites
mentioned on this page.
4.14: Ms. Callie Gorens at the
A.M.E. Church on Broadway in Lincoln, Illinois (undated)
The Dyer-Brummell
house in Lincoln was at 133 N. Elm Street, and William Maxwell wrote
that Elm Street was the boundary between the white upper middle class
and lower middle class, which consisted of whites and blacks living in
the same neighborhood.
William Maxwell's parents and maternal grandparents, the Edward Blinns,
lived in fine, large houses on Ninth Street one half block east of the intersection of Ninth
and Elm. West of Elm Street "the
neighborhood took on an altogether different character. The houses after the
intersection were not shacks, but they were not a great deal more. Grass did
not grow in their yards, only weeds" ("Billie Dyer"). This
lower-middle-class neighborhood was integrated: "In this down-at-the-heel
neighborhood a few white families and most of the Negroes of Draperville
[Lincoln] lived on terms of social intimacy to which there were limits. . ."
(Time Will Darken It).
My maternal great grandparents, Martha A. (Woodruff) and George G.
Wilson, lived at 450 Ninth Street two blocks from the intersection of
Elm Street. Thus, they lived in the "down-at-the-heels," integrated
neighborhood of Ninth Street described by Maxwell. My Wilson great
grandparents lived at that address for 50 years (he died in 1925; she
died in 1941 at the age of 86--I have her obituary) and were thus
neighbors of the Dyers and Brummells. Mr. Wilson was a house painter,
and she was a housewife. Both were of German descent. According to my
family history, Mrs. Wilson wrote letters in English, spoke German, and
played the accordion. Mrs. Wilson was a member of the First Presbyterian
Church, attended by William Maxwell and his parents (sometimes social
class boundaries are blurred). Five generations of my family have
attended or belonged to the First Presbyterian Church in
Lincoln--attended by even me once in a while. My Wilson great
grandparents are buried in Old Union Cemetery not far from the graves of
Dr. Billie Dyer, his wife, and his sister, Hattie Dyer Brummell.
See link under Works Cited for information about Dr. Billie
Dyer and photos of Dyer-Brummell headstones in Old Union Cemetery.
The background of the photo below shows a couple of the houses
on Ninth Street that Maxwell refers to as not
being much more than shacks.
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4.15: Ms.
Callie Gorens at 402 Ninth Street (undated)
The excited young man in the background is unidentified.
|
4.16:
Unidentified Man in Front of House on Ninth Street:
The Photo Album Caption Reads "The Old Homestead."
I have found this house still standing in 2006, and it is easily recognizable because of its 1 1/2
stories, three windows, gabled porch, and gabled roof.
4.17: Evelyn Taylor
William Maxwell summarizes race relations in Lincoln in the early
twentieth century: "Apart from the doctors, the only things I can think of that the
white people of Lincoln were at that time willing to share with the colored
people were the drinking fountain and the cemetery" ("Billie Dyer" in
Billie Dyer and Other Stories, p. 9). Actually, whites and blacks shared
much more. The photos below show blacks at the GM&O train station, and
high school yearbooks show photos of blacks in sports and clubs along
with their white classmates. The information about John Ross later on
this page indicates blacks and whites shared the public library, too.
For a photo of a black patron of the historic Rustic Tavern on Pulaski
Street in Lincoln, see the link to "Photos of the Rustic Tavern in the Route 66 Era"
in the Works Cited.
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4.18: Evelyn
Taylor (l) and Sadie (last name unknown)
at the GM&O Station (date unknown)
|
4.19: Sadie
at the GM&O Station in Lincoln
(click image for larger version)
The Photo Album Caption Reads "Hot Mama."
|
4.20: Sadie
and Teddy Isaacs:
Photo Caption Reads "Squeeze Me Tight."
|
4.21: Close-Up of "Squeeze Me
Tight"
|
John A. Ross: A Black
Life-Long Lincolnite of the 20th Century and Friend of William Maxwell
|
According to an article in the Bloomington Pantagraph of 1993 by
Elaine Graybill, John A. Ross and Lincoln author William Maxwell
attended Lincoln High School in the same freshman class of 1922.
Maxwell's family then moved to Chicago, so the freshman year was the
last time that Ross and Maxwell saw one another, although they corresponded over the years.
Ross says Maxwell encouraged him to read: "He [Maxwell] introduced me to
reading. He loaned me a copy of The Wizard of Oz. That was the
first book I ever read" [in the eighth grade].
Ross says he then began to visit the Lincoln Public Library: "I learned
to read all stuff. I read some of everything." Ross said he read all of
Maxwell's books and has read novels by other authors.
The Pantagraph article says that "after graduating from Lincoln
High School, Ross attended Lincoln University, now Lincoln College,
about six months, until he ran out of money."
"Ross's career consisted of farm and janitorial work, and 29 years at
Caterpillar's foundry. He worked for Maxwell's aunt, Annette Bates. 'I
worked around the Maxwell family all my life.'"
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4.22: John A.
Ross
(Pantagraph photo)
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Memories of John A. Ross
From Debbie Ross: "Hello to you, I m
Debbie Ross, daughter of "John A". Thats what everybody called him white
or black as his name was "John Adam Ross". I read your emails and had to
smile as I work now at the new Abraham Presidential Library and Museum
here in Spfld. Il. I work in "Newspaper/Microfilm so some one is always
doing "genealogy", or trying to find out info about either family or
Abraham Lincoln. We here are the largest repository of Il. newspapers on
microfilm in the world. I was told this as I have only been here less
than a year. I used to work for the Il. Dept. of Corrections (the prison
system). Alot of these people in your photos I remember, one lady lived
long enough that I actually knew her. My father was a very liked and
well respected man, very wise, and even though he weighed never more
than 140lbs, or stood taller than 5'6 and I am 6'1 to me he was the
tallest man I've ever known. His wisdom and logic and intelligence could
not be learned or I should say taught at any school, it was "life", and
the things that unfolded. He was a humble man, that loved his wife and
his kids, though they never had any of their own. I was adopted by him
from a family member and raised and loved without any prejudice. My
father was the greatest person I think I've ever met. And sir, I have a
band and have performed for 3 Presidents of these United States so I
have been around what society thinks is the best but none as far as I'm
concerned compared to my "daddy" as I called him up until the day he
died Nov.6 1992 a month and a day to his b'day as it would have been
Dec.7th 1906. I would be glad, and mostly honored, to talk to you about
"Billy Maxell", (as this is what daddy and I called him. I even wrote to
him as I have saved his letters and he would send daddy books, and they
were autographed, by him. To many Billy was this larger than life icon,
to daddy he was just his "friend". And that's how he closed his letter
to daddy, typing on that old smith corrona. I've gone on too much."
From Bobby Olson:
"Although he was far older than me, more
or less by two full generations, I was acquainted with Mr. John Ross
through the Railsplitter Coin Club in Lincoln from around 1975 until his
death. John had an excellent collection of United States and world
coins; he was always a strong buyer of nice silver coins. He was the
only black member of the Lincoln Coin Club, and we all enjoyed his
presence & stories very much. He never seemed to age or change much
through the years. He died suddenly, at an advanced age. . . . While
that is sad, he was in full possession of his mental faculties right up
to the end, which is better than the alternatives. John Ross was a
memorable Lincolnite."
Email
Bobby Olson at [email protected]
From Leon Zeter: When I graduated
from LCHS in 1953, I immediately started working at Caterpillar in their
4 year Machinist Apprentice Program, working on the second shift. I
rode to work with John A. Ross for about 3 or 4 months until Caterpillar
had a big layoff, as a result of loss of business after the Korean War
ended and I was one of them. I got to know John fairly well during that
time as it was an hour there and an hour back. I thought he was a very
smart person and enjoyed the ride. I learned a lot from him about a
variety of things as he loved to talk as well as read. Some nights when
we would get home a little after midnight all of us would go out in his
back yard and look at the stars with his little telescope. He would
point out a lot of the stars, constellations, etc. One day he saw a
wart on my arm and said “Do you want to wish the wart away?” I thought
he was kinda crazy when he said it and I said “Yeah, sure.” He grabbed
my arm and rubbed his thumb on the wart. I kind of laughed and forgot
about it. A few weeks later he asked me how my wart was. I looked and
honest to god it was gone. He also had a very nice coin collection with
quite a few old and/or rare ones. He was very proud of them and showed
them to me several times.
I heard later on that Caterpillar gave a test to all of
their employees to try to find people that might be able to be promoted
into better jobs. It is my understanding that he got the highest score
of anyone at Caterpillar.
As always, I enjoy reading and looking at your website. Keep up the
great work.
Email
Leon Zeter at [email protected]
From Debbie Ross:
"The story that Mr. Zeter wrote about daddy, I can attest to the wart
thing. He saw I had a wart on my hand one day and he rubbed my hand and
yes not much longer after that it was gone. Boy I never knew about the
test that was given at "Cat". My daddy always said he wanted to be a
scientist if he could have furthered his education, God love him Mr.
Leigh he was the best... As I told you he had that effect on everyone he
came in contact with. Though he claimed to not be religious in practice,
he was the most Christian person I ever new, and honestly, and I'm not
just saying this. I never ever heard him ever, ever say anything bad
about anyone.
He told me about the time him and Billy were around Salt creek and Al
Capone was there and told them both to "Get". Daddy said he did not
realize who it was until he got a good look at him and saw that scar.
Daddy use to work for the Bates family the old man W.C. was our lawyer,
and my mom did their laundry (washing and ironing as she did for the
Graue's). I guess there was an incident where when daddy was working
either for W.C. or his family there was a chest, in which daddy never
told me what was in that chest. It was not until after his death I was
told by I think it was "Boe" Perry (daddy use to work for the Perrys on
Union St) and also is a cousin to Billy Maxwell he told me that in that
chest was a Klan uniform". I guess daddy wanted to protect me from that
part of it, he said it scared the devil out of him. I guess it would.
Would you please do me a favor and tell Mr. Zeter, whom I'm sure I
probably went to school with one of his children (if any), that I read
what he wrote my father and tell him I said thanks, Thanks alot." Debbie
Ross.
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The KKK
Information about the
social context of Lincoln,
Illinois, early in the twentieth century is provided by Larry Shroyer and
published in Paul Beaver's History of Logan County 1982:
"In the early 1920s a disturbing element appeared
with the organization of Ku Klux Klan opposed to Catholics, Jews, and
Blacks. Before the end of the decade its tentacles had hundreds of
followers in Logan County and had infiltrated both the city and county
governments, law enforcement and fire services.
A mammoth rally was staged in Lincoln September
30, 1924, which drew thousands of the white robed and masked members.
The Illinois Terminal Railway ran excursions from Bloomington, Springfield
and Peoria.
A lengthy parade with the Klansmen in full
regalia moved through Lincoln. Except for the Klan band and the
French's Military Band, one only heard the tramping of marching feet.
A lighted cross was mounted on the lead car in
the parade. The statue of Liberty was a Lincoln girl. Chief of
Police Bill Hopp put on extra men to handle the traffic and [a] local
contractor, and his crew erected five tents on the Gentry farm and the old
Johnson race track at the end of Wyatt Avenue [site of the 1959 LCHS campus]
and along the east side of the Primm Road.
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Two electric lighted
torches were prominent at the south end of the 40-acre field. The
program began at 3:30 p.m. with vaudeville stunts. The free barbecue
drew thousands. The Rev. "Dinty" Moore gave a two-hour lecture on Klan craft before an audience
of 3,000 which packed the big tent.
Naturalization in four
branches of the order took place in the shadow of the fiery crosses at the
conclusion of the evening program. City police reported that a
pickpocket working the crowds grabbed 16 pocket books. A later Klan
rally took place on the Atlanta fair grounds" (p. 13).
Certainly the celebration of racism was not
unique to Lincoln and Atlanta. Nor is there any indication that the majority of
the participants in Lincoln were local or that this behavior reflected the racial views
of the majority of local citizens. Lincoln, Illinois, was not the
location of the kinds of anti-black violence as seen in other Midwestern
cities such as Springfield, Missouri, and Tulsa, Oklahoma, where blacks were
murdered early in the twentieth century.
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Comments About Social Class and
Minorities in Lincoln at Mid-20th Century
As a teenager in Lincoln, Illinois, I became aware of social class
distinctions and racial prejudice. I knew that money meant a great
deal to everyone and that those who had it were studied, perceived as
superior, and envied. I knew the well-to-do were entirely white and
that they lived on certain
streets, ate in certain restaurants, and sat in certain places in church.
I knew that my family, although white, was not part of their society.
From my experience as a white male born and raised in Lincoln, Illinois, I
recall hearing whites use racial slurs in conversations among themselves but
not express them directly to blacks. I was, however, not living in adult society
and so lacked a full perspective. I also recall a time of
self-awareness when I knew it was wrong to use racial slurs.
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Attending public schools
in Lincoln in the 1950s, I had little experience with classmates of
minorities. My third-grade class photo shows only one black.
Unfortunately, I do not remember his name, but I also do not remember the
names of several other classmates. I do remember Bradley Fox, whose
family was Jewish. Bradley's father was William Fox, M.D., the
superintendent of the State School and Colony in the 1940s and early 1950s. My Grandmother Ruth Ann
Henson, a licensed practical nurse, worked there closely with Dr. Fox.
She was very fond of Dr. Fox, as Bradley's classmates were very fond of him.
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4.23: Mid-1950s Third Grade Jefferson School Classmates (l.
to r.): David Carpenter,Carol Reynolds, and Bradley Fox
|
In my view, race relations among school
children in the 1950s were essentially favorable. Childhood innocence
and low numbers of minority groups helped to minimize racial conflicts. The
photo below clearly shows a relaxed, friendly group: black and white
hands and arms resting on one another's shoulders.
4.24:
Third Grade at Washington School in the Early 1950s
(Photo provided by Sue Hodgdon)
4.25: Lincoln High
School Black and White Sprinters from 1954
(Adapted from 1954 Lincolnite pages provided by Leon Zeter,
LCHS Class of 1953 -- the Centennial Class)
American public education has been one of the
major influences in creating a level playing field for blacks and whites.
From Kentucky, Federal Judge Bob Goebel Also Recalls
Limited Experiences with Blacks While Growing up in Lincoln
In an email message to me on July 26, 2001, Judge Bob Goebel wrote,
"Interesting that you should choose such a topic for your master's thesis.
[My master's thesis is titled "Treatment of the Negro in Thomas Wolfe and
William Faulkner".] We who grew up in Lincoln led a rather sheltered
existence when it came to contact with racial and cultural diversity.
Lincoln schools had long been integrated, but there was hardly anyone there
to integrate. From K thru 12 I can think of only 2 blacks, Foster
[Whitfield] and a girl I think was named Mamie Ross in 7th grade. She
didn't stay long. I recall she "liked" Foster, and he wanted nothing to do
with her.
After H.S. graduation, I went to Murray State
University (then, college) on a basketball scholarship, and played 4 years.
Murray is in far western Kentucky and very "Southern" in its culture. I
recall my first trip to a movie theater there -- seeing a sea of black faces
in the balcony as I turned to leave when the show was over. As I reentered
the lobby, I discovered why -- on the wall, a simple sign, "colored," with an
arrow pointing up the stairs. Murray plays in the Ohio Valley Conference,
and did when I was there. When I started in the fall of '60, black faces
were hard to spot on campus. Not one black played for any team in the OVC
which had 4 Kentucky and 4 Tennessee schools. Not till my senior year did
the OVC have a black player, and Murray broke the color line.
In the summer between my junior and senior years, I sold Bibles and other
religious materials in deep south Georgia (this was strictly a commercial
enterprise), and I encountered prejudice the likes of which I had not even
encountered at Murray. I recall being literally run out of the small
Georgia town of Attapulgus simply because some of the local rednecks thought
I was "one of them agitatin' no-good Yankee sonsabitches down heah signin'
up our niggas to vote." I was doing this around the time Birmingham, Selma,
etc., was heating up -- about 2 or 3 years shy of MLK's assassination.
All of this is to say Lincoln hadn't prepared
me at all for these encounters."
Respond to
Bob at [email protected].
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Leigh continues: In
later adolescence, I was guarded in my brief, friendly acquaintance with
Foster Whitfield, the black male mentioned above by Bob.
When I knew him, Foster and I were attending Lincoln Community High, and
I was fearful of
what some adult whites (not peers) might think if they saw me with him. I have almost no
information about him, but I often think of him, wondering what his full
experience was like for the time he spent in Lincoln.
In this matter, I
think of the voice of Langston Hughes, the celebrated black poet who began
writing poetry in the eighth grade at Central School in Lincoln, Illinois.
"Minstrel Man" is a poem about the gap between the social mask and the true,
inner emotion of the black performer. To what extent does the minstrel
man's laughter relate to the quiet, wry laughter of my black friend in
this small Midwestern town with a predominately white population?
"Because my mouth/ Is wide with laughter/ You do not hear/ My inner cry?/
Because my feet/ Are gay with dancing,/ You do not know/ I die?" (from
"Minstrel Man" by Langston Hughes).
Another poem by Langston Hughes expressing his
social criticism is "Theme for English B," a work commonly included in the
anthologies of high school English literature textbooks. For thirty
years, I taught English at Pekin Community High School, an all-white school,
and I recall the interesting challenge of teaching this poem to juniors in
American literature: "You are white-- /yet a part of me, as I am a part of you./That's America./Sometimes perhaps you don't want to be a part of me./Nor do I often want to be a part of you./But we are, that's true!"
(from "Theme for English B" in
The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes, published by Knopf and
Vintage Books. Copyright ©1994 by the Estate of Langston Hughes. All rights
reserved. Obtained from
http://www.poets.org/index.cfm).
In 1953, Langston Hughes expressed his social criticism
in Washington, D.C.: "I have believed in the entire philosophies
of the left at one period in my life, including socialism, communism,
Trotskyism. All isms have influenced me one way or another."
According to Time, Langston Hughes made this statement "during a closed-door
inquiry in 1953 before Senator Joseph McCarthy's Permanent Subcommittee on
Investigations, as documented in transcripts released last week" (Time 5-19-2003, p. 21.)
It is unclear if Langston Hughes had any hurtful experiences in Lincoln,
Illinois, that might have contributed to his social criticism. He was in Lincoln only for a few months while in the eighth grade
at Central School, and he had kind words about his time in Lincoln as
expressed in a letter to his English teacher, Miss Ethel Welch, in which he
said he was unable to attend the 1953 Centennial Celebration because he was
working against a publication deadline. I quote this letter in its
entirely at
33. Schools, and ironically this letter dates exactly to the time
in which Langston Hughes was expressing his political views in the U.S.
Senate.
In view of Hughes's
1953 testimony in the U.S. Senate, the question arises as to whether he was
merely being polite to Miss Welch -- playing the minstrel man -- in
declining to visit a place that he knew had a white majority -- a racial
context that he may have found disturbing.
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Responses of Several
White Males to Racial Prejudice in Lincoln of the 20th Century
The men whose social
views are cited here include businessmen, a teacher, and social
workers.
John Hickey owned and
operated a pool hall on Chicago Street (a picture of it appears at the very
bottom of 18.
Arts & Entertainment Heritage, Including the Lincoln
Theatre Roy Rogers' Riders Club). In an email message to me
March 13, 2003, Illinois Appellate Court Judge Jim Knecht of Bloomington-Normal, Illinois,
described Mr. Hickey as unsympathetic toward those who advocated social
injustice based on prejudice.
Jim wrote, "I spent many of my teen years
either at football or track practice or in the pool halls of Lincoln, and
eventually became close to John Hickey who told me the KKK in Lincoln was
frustrated by the lack of blacks and Jews so they became interested in
energetically intimidating Catholics. They marched down Chicago Street, and
Hickey placed a revolver in his waistband and sauntered up and down in front
of his store so the hooded miscreants would be sure to see the pistol. He
let it be known he carried a pistol to his car each night -- when poker was
big, he often carried large sums home after midnight as he did not have a
safe -- and told me he hoped one of the KKK would confront him in the dark.
No one ever did."
William Childress
taught at Lincoln College during the 1969-70 school year. Mr.
Childress came to my attention as a result of a phone conversation I had
with my Aunt Mary Wilson in the fall of 2002, when I told her I was working
on a Web site about Lincoln, Illinois. Mary has lived her adult life
in Lincoln, and her mother's papers had included a typewritten poem about
Lincoln, Illinois, written by William Childress. Having no other
information about this poem or this poet, she asked me if I had ever heard
of them. I had not but got on the Internet and found a professor in
California whose topics of publication included a William Childress. I
emailed the CA prof to see if the Childress he wrote about might be the same
as the poet who had written about Lincoln, Illinois. The next thing I
knew I had an email from William Childress wanting to know why I
had made the inquiry. The prof had forwarded my email to Mr. Childress, who
has been gracious in corresponding with me.
In an email message
of
March 25, 2003, Mr. Childress, now living in Folsom, CA, gave me permission to use his poem about
Lincoln, Illinois, in this Web site. On the homepage of this Web site,
I write that Lincoln can be seen from various angles. Mr. Childress's
views may not be popular with some Lincolnites, but his views do serve my
stated purpose of offering diverse opinions and a balanced perspective.
Thus, I am grateful that Mr. Childress is willing to share this poem.
He requested that I introduce his poem with the following background, and I
am pleased to oblige:
"A few minor comments about me, mostly about dues
paying. Over the past 40 years, I've paid 'em! I began writing as a poet,
and after a couple of books, I starved into teaching and journalism. I would
rather have stayed with poetry, an art I'm now painfully getting back to.
After three books, 30-odd stories and over 200 published poems (two books),
I consider myself as both 'writer and poet' if you don't mind. I was already
publishing fiction and poems at Lincoln College."
"As a writer and
poet, I brought a keen eye to the study of people and their hypocrisies,
and soon grew disillusioned with Lincoln society. I was already an
agnostic. Seeing how so-called Christians treated each other, not just in
Lincoln but around the Midwest, made me a full-fledged atheist. I wrote
the following poem expressing my social criticism. I'm sure Lincoln is
more broad minded today. At least I think I'm sure."
Lincoln, Illinois (1970)
The college is a pond of toads outside the town.
The high school had 26 cases of gonorrhea in 1 year.
The editor of the town paper is senile and vicious.
He is against sex education and fluoridation of water.
He exhorts everyone to learn all six verses of
the Star Spangled Banner.
Gossip flows in Lincoln like the stinking creeks
of spring.
The country club is country.
The citizens hate outsiders and talk about them
and take their money.
The woman in the camera shop is a bigot, saying:
I WISH THIS TOWN WERE NOT NAMED
LINCOLN. WHAT DID LINCOLN EVER DO
BUT FREE THE GODDAMN NIGGERS?
In Lincoln, you better not look different,
Or be different
Or think different.
You had better know that there is holy ground in Lincoln,
And two Catholic churches,
One for Germans, the other for others.
There are hardly any blacks, seldom seen, never heard from.
The local American Legion is filled with hunchbacked minds.
The legionnaires discuss kikes and niggers unless Jews
are present, and they hardly ever are.
The local Lions growl over glassed football they never
played, make nigger jokes, lust for wars
because they never fought one.
A lawyer sworn to uphold the constitution in the name
of justice
swears he will never defend a hippie, a poet, or a pinko,
and classifies them all as one.
He warps his son into West Point, proud of his pull.
This is Lincoln, Illinois, I am talking about in this
poem.
I taught there for a year, going through
all I have told you about above.
Lincoln, Illinois, is America, four-square, red, white
and blue.
Love it or leave it, you traitorous sonofabitch.
Published in West
Coast Poetry, Vol. 1., No. 1, July 1971. Reproduced here with the
author's permission.
In email correspondence to me, Mr.
Childress also commented on the great losses from the fire that destroyed
the Administration Building at Lincoln College [1969], saying that it "destroyed
priceless Lincoln artifacts; which also destroyed my just-finished novel
(Sky of Brass, Earth of Iron) plus copies, and a just-completed 16mm film
(master) I had filmed about Lincoln, my students, and the town. (My
favorite image was of a visiting Senator Dirksen looking up at me as I
yelled from a window, "Senator, up here!" and got a great shot [photo] of
that old buffalo -- whom I admired. Who could not admire someone who
said in a Senate speech, 'A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon
you're talking real money!'")
After leaving Lincoln
College, Mr. Childress became an editor for the National Geographic
magazine. After many years as a columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch,
he retired in 1997. His articles have been published in such diverse
magazines as the Saturday Evening Post, Family Circle,
Poetry, and the New Republic. In 1985 and 1986 he was
nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.
One of
his books is Out of the
Ozarks, a collection of memoirs and poems based on the author's
childhood and adult life in southern Missouri. I recommend this book
for its effective and entertaining portrayal of how the past curiously
continues to shape the present in this region.
Books by William Childress are available at amazon.com and
barnesandnoble.com.
4.26: Writer and Poet
William Childress
(Photo from dust jacket of Out
of the Ozarks, 1987)
Presently (in 2003)
Mr. Childress is a freelance writer and consultant.
He tells me that now at the age of 70 he is resuming the composition of
poetry.
Wherever possible in this
Web site, I have included an email link to encourage readers to correspond
with writers, and Mr. Childress has given me permission to include such an
email link here for him.
Respond to William Childress at
[email protected].
From my formative years spent in Lincoln, Illinois (1941-62), I believe this
town has had many citizens with social
consciousness. I am confident that if Mr. Childress had lived in
Lincoln longer, he would have discovered this decency, as indicated by the
examples of such Lincolnites as Tony Rufogales, Pete Andrews, and others described
below.
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Tony
Rufogales and
Pete Andrews owned and operated the Gem
Coney Island Lunch Room in downtown Lincoln on Pulaski Street,
one block from the Logan County Courthouse. The following account of
their views on race relations is found in an article written by Nancy
Lawrence Gehlbach titled "From Greece to America":
"Pete is proud that the
Gem was the first restaurant in Lincoln to serve African-Americans in the
dining room. When Pete's Uncle Tony had the lunchroom, an
African-American janitor named Lee Townsend always ate in the kitchen.
One morning, Pete's uncle said, "Lee, I want you to go out and sit on the
first stool there.'
'It
didn't go good with a couple of guys,' says Pete. 'They threw one of
those old-time coffee mugs and almost took his head off.'
Pete says, 'We continued that practice. Some people didn't like it,
but most people accepted it.'"
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4.27: Gem Coney Island Lunch
Room on Pulaski Street in Lincoln:
Tony Rufogales Behind Counter (left); Pete Andrews at the Grill (far right)
(Undated photo from
Our Times vol. 6, issue 1, spring, 2001, p. 5) |
Jim Knecht,
LCHS Class of 1962, worked at the Lincoln State School (& Colony) before
attending law school, and he emailed me the following account on March 13,
2003:
"Ron Ross
and I both worked in activity therapy {recreation} at the State
School -- arranged to have about 8 or 10 youngsters from the school sign up
for and play Jr. baseball. It was quite controversial -- some members of
the Jr. baseball community {parents who were coaches} did not want to let
kids from the State School -- especially black kids -- play with their
children. Liberal minds prevailed and after it was discovered that most
of our kids -- ages 10, 11 and 12 -- were excellent athletes, they were more
than welcome. Ross was also instrumental in joining the elementary school
association-IESA -- and from 1966 to 1970 when I left to enter law school,
Lincoln State School fielded junior high school basketball and track
teams. Ross left in '69 to teach at the high school and by the time I left
there were very few youngsters of the right age and ability to play sports
or be mainstreamed on the playing fields.
One of our better kids was taken in as a
foster child by a black Lincoln couple and then played sports at both the
junior high and the high school -- started on the basketball team and then
went to Lakeland Jr. College. Most of the kids we worked with in athletics
did not belong at the state school and had been shunted off there as
juveniles by the Cook County Juvenile Court -- if they tested low, then send
them off to the Department of Mental Health -- that was the norm in the
60's before large institutions began to be phased out. More later if you
are interested -- my granddaughter wants to use the computer.
I would like to note that Bob Thorton -- Judge Thorton -- I think I have
the spelling right though there may have been an "n" between the r and the
t-- was one of the coaches who welcomed Ross and me and the kids from the
state school -- his son also helped with the coaching. I would get a van
from the school car pool and take the kids to various practice fields in
the spring and then to the games during the summer.
The boys met with some prejudice both as to
their race -- though one of the boys was white -- and their retardation -- that
was the term in those days. Their success -- particularly at bat -- made them
heroes on some teams. We also played jr. high basketball against LJHS,
Carroll Catholic, Broadwell, Jacksonville, Farmersville and maybe
Chester-East. At any rate we encountered some problems but were generally
well received. I am not sure Ron Ross realized he was advancing
race relations but I believe it did. Pete Andrews -- I think -- was
one of the Jr. baseball commissioners and was supportive of the kids
playing (emphasis mine).
Thus, this was going on at the very time the
poet [William Childress above] was railing against the small-mindedness of
Lincoln. My involvement with the youngsters from the state school and my
work there taught me more about the human condition than any other
experience. It gave me a sensitivity to race and poverty and oppression
and an interest in civil liberties that I might otherwise never acquired.
Ron
Ross was practical -- he wanted to enhance the sports program at the state
school, and did it both for the adults and the kids. I was self-righteous about the "right" of our kids to play in jr. baseball and
had the potential to say things that could have made our efforts a
failure -- Ross was more diplomatic, which no one who knows him has ever
said, and prevailed upon me to be calm and prevailed upon the coaches and
commissioners to give it a try. Our success at fielding IESA teams in
basketball and track lent credence to our efforts with jr. baseball."
Respond to Jim at
[email protected].
The experiences and views cited
above show that racial prejudice and discrimination have occurred in
Lincoln, but have been limited and resisted by many. I believe the
community has always benefited from the many decent people living there.
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Other Present and Former
Lincolnites' Comments on Race in the First Lincoln Namesake Town
As a result of my addition of the section above titled
"Blacks of Lincoln,
Illinois, in the Early Twentieth Century," I received several
messages besides those relating to John A. Ross. I present these
messages below in the order I received them:
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Sheryl Miller Beccue: Good afternoon
Leigh. Another good read.
I was raised at 225 N. Union St. Noah and Clara Gordon on one
side....Chub McCubbin lives there now, and Charles and Eva Richards on
the other side....Mike Fak lives there now.
Charley and Eva didn't have any children but they let the neighborhood
kids have the run of that big old home. Loved the billiard room.....Eva
had trunks of clothes up there that a certain few of us could play dress
up in. Beautiful expensive clothes, jeweled handbags, and shoes.
They had a garden, Ray Kurtz; a houselady as Eva called her...Mary
Foster, who is still living with her husband on Elm street. Mary was
loved by everyone (she was a very pretty black lady and still looks
great for her age.) Have no idea how old she would be now, but her and
her husband are always out working in their yard, waxing the car etc.,
....only a little slower. Not sure but her husband might have been the
"driver" as Charley always called him....maybe they weren't married
yet...I just can't remember. Charley went every night to the Hotel
Lincoln to eat while the "driver" waited for him. Eva more often than
not stayed home and watered her prized flowers most every night. Charley
and Eva treated all their help like family... black or white and
remembered them when they passed away.
When I was in the first grade I had the mumps, measles, and chicken pox
one right after the other. My mother fixed me a bed in our den by the
window so I could watch as they put a huge elevator on that side of
their home.... it was bigger and better than any around and completely
silent. Not sure what's going on with the elevator now that the house is
so run down....but I do know it's not being used.....makes me sick. Pat
Gleason and his parents lived in this same home for years but they kept
it up. Emmett and Helen made the old carriage house out back into a cute
little house for their retirement. Both have passed away and a widow
woman lives there now.
The story and a half home on Ninth street was owned by one of the Kirks
and I'd bet it still is. As a child I remember going there with my
mother and some other ladies from the church to take food. I'm thinking
someone must have passed away or was real sick. I'm sure this isn't
adding much, but just thought I would pass it along.
Sports have come along way...all my children played...now my
grandchildren. What a mix we have here in Lincoln now.
Gene and I lived at 189 Ninth street for 24 years so have seen the
neighborhood go thru some changes. Our neighbors on one side were Ida
and Henry Johnson and their daughter. Wonderful people and black. Ida
just retired from teaching at LCHS and Henry from the prison as a
Chaplin. Ida had a rough time at first, (not so much with the students
but others) in the end the kids all loved her as far as I know. I could
go on, but have a couple little rugrats here that want to go to
McDonalds. Hope all is well with you and your family. Thanks again
for all you do.
Email Sheryl Miller Beccue...61 at
[email protected]
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Ted Allison:
Hi, Leigh --
Very interesting article on black
Lincolnites. In it, you say you're looking for information about Hattie
Dyer Brummell (1883--1963) and her family. For most of the years that I
was in high school (I graduated in 1956) and probably until my brother
Steve graduated in 1959, we had a housekeeper named Hattie Robinson who
would have been about that age (70+), certainly bore a resemblance to
the much younger Hattie Brummell in the photos, lived around 9th
and Elm, and passed away around 1963. Could Hattie Brummell have married
a Robinson later in life?
Regarding (our) Hattie's family, she was the
aunt of Eloise Girard (sp? Gerard?). Eloise passed away in Lincoln just
within the last year or so, was the mother of Hank and Harvey Townsend,
LCHS '54 I think, and was the preeminent caterer in Lincoln during the
50s-70s. While we understood Hattie Robinson to be Eloise's "aunt" in a
literal sense, that may not have been the case. I don't remember Hattie
ever mentioning having children or grandchildren. I hope this helps
you.
Keep up the good work. Whenever I'm around Lincoln people, especially my
former classmates, your name and your very interesting work on Lincoln
invariably come up.
Email Ted Allison at
[email protected]
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Dave Salyers: Leigh --
Well, you've done it again! Another home run!
As a small boy
-- 1945-1947, maybe, my grandmother Salyers lived next to Mrs. Orendorff,
on Sangamon St.
I don't think it was
the Mrs. Orendorff your piece refers to, because she was 85 in 1939.
Although I suppose it could be.
She was the
sweetest woman; I just loved her. I'd sit on the front porch and talk
with her whenever we came to town.
I remember --
actually, I don't, but my mother told me about this when I was older --
I touched Mrs. Orendorff's hair and said something like, "I'm glad my
hair isn't like yours."
My mother said that Mrs.
Orendorff just laughed and said something about God making different
people in different ways. (All this while my mother was probably ready
to fall off the porch in a dead faint.)
I also
remember -- not that I thought much about it at the time -- that black
people in Lincoln were virtually invisible. Mind you, as a country boy,
I wasn't in town every day. Had I been, my memory might be different.
When I was
maybe in 8th grade, I recall Bobbie Hood, Joycelen's elder brother,
played on the LCHS basketball team and I would talk with him from time
to time, although he was much older than me. (I remember that he had
two rows of lower front teeth; as if he hadn't lost his baby teeth.)
I also recall
Henry? Townsend, who was a very good athlete.
The Whitfield
boy I had completely forgotten about. I'm even having a hard time
placing him in high school. (I think I'm getting him mixed up with some
guys that I was in the Army with. Comes with age, I'm told.)
I also
remember the murder at Goren's? Tavern, in about 1946-47? That was a
major topic of conversation for about the next 3 years.
Interesting
about all the books about Lincoln that you just cited.
Well, that's
all another trip down Memory Lane.
Hope this
finds you well.
Best,
Email
Dave Salyers at
[email protected]
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Dan
Gaydosh:
Leigh:
Again you have provided interesting information and food for
thought, I did not know about the KKK activities in Lincoln. As almost
everyone has said, Lincoln has lived up to its namesake in providing a
reasonably good example of racial tolerance. For example, my father
never allowed the N word to be used and told me to refer to them as
colored people, which he practiced long after that term disappeared from
usage. Of course, Lincoln's good reputation may have been true because
there were not that many blacks in the town. If push came to shove, I
think Lincoln would not have been so nice. A not-so-latent bias did
exist just under the surface.
Outside of Foster
[Whitfield], I really do not remember any blacks in school during our
presence at LCHS. I know there were more in the early 50's because I
saw a picture in the Courier of a black basketball player from Lincoln.
As a grade schooler, I attended a football game at the old field where
Lincoln had a black running back. He could have been a member of the
Tommy Rouse family which was quite large. An entertaining black man
called either Sylvester Myers or "Pork Chop" Myers worked on a bailing
crew for my father. Until ISU, I really had no contact with any other
race.
Email Dan Gaydosh at
[email protected]
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Sources Cited
Beaver, Paul J. History of Logan County
Illinois 1982. The Logan County Heritage Foundation. Dallas, TX: Taylor Publishing Company, 1982.
Burkhardt, Barbara. William Maxwell: A Literary Life. Urbana and
Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2005. For information about this
book, including ordering information, see
http://www.aliterarylife.com/.
Childress, William. Out of the Ozarks. Carbondale: Southern
Illinois University Press, 1987. (Available at
www.barnesandnoble.com and
www.amazon.com.)
Dooley, Raymond. "Lincoln and His Namesake Town." Journal of the
Illinois State Historical Society. vol. 52, no. 1, spring, 1959: 130-145.
___________, ed. The Namesake Town:
A Centennial History of Lincoln, Illinois. Lincoln, IL: Feldman's Print Shop, 1953.
Gehlbach, Nancy. "Farm Life in Logan County,
Our Times vol. 2, issue 2, summer, 1997.
__________ . "From Greece to America."
Our Times vol. 6, issue 1, spring, 2001.
__________. "When
Coal Was King," Our Times vol. 2, issue 3, fall, 1997.
Gleason, Paul E. Lincoln, Illinois: A Pictorial History.
St. Louis, MO: G. Bradley Publishing, 1998. Material from Mr. Gleason's books is copyrighted with all rights
reserved. Mr.
Gleason's material used in this Web site is with permission from the G. Bradley Publishing Company, 461 Des
Peres Road, St. Louis, MO 63131. Call 1-800-966-5120 to inquire about purchasing Lincoln:
A Pictorial History (1998) (200 pages of rare photos and text) or Logan County Pictorial History
(2000) (also 200 pages of rare photos and text). Visit
http://gbradleypublishing.com/.
Gleason, Paul E., and Paul J. Beaver. Logan County Pictorial
History. St. Louis, MO: G. Bradley Publishing, 2000.
Henson, Leigh. "Dr. Billie Dyer: Patriot, Dedicated
Caregiver, and Role Model for Blacks":
http://www.geocities.com/findinglincolnillinois/foleyhouse.html#dyers.
For a photo of a black patron of the Rustic Tavern, see
Photos of the Rustic Tavern in the Route 66 Era.
Hughes, Langston. "Minstrel Man." The Collected Poems of
Langston Hughes. NY: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1994.
Hughes, Langston.
Quoted in "Notebook." Time magazine. May 19, 2003, p. 21.
"Lincoln's Former Slaves Recall Pre-Civil War Days." Lincoln Evening
Courier and Lincoln Herald vol. 83, no. 291, Section Two, Wednesday, October 18,
1939, p. 1.
Maxwell, William. Ancestors: A Family History. NY:
Vintage Books, 1971.
___________. "Billie Dyer." Billie Dyer and Other
Stories. NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 1992.
___________. "The Trojan Women." All the Days and Nights:
The Collected Stories. Vintage Books-Random House Inc., 1995. William
Maxwell's books are available at
www.amazon.com
and www.barnesandnoble.com.
"Negroes Found Difficult Time Settling Here." Lincoln Evening Courier
Centennial Edition, Section Eight, August 26, 1953, p. 3.
Pirtle, Carol. "Andrew Borders vs. William Hayes:
Indentured Servitude and the Underground Railroad in Illinois."
Illinois Historical Journal. vol. 89, no. 3 (autumn, 1996), pp.
147-160.
Stringer, Lawrence B. History of Logan
County Illinois (1911). Reprinted by UNIGRAPHIC, INC., Evansville, IN: 1978.
Lincoln Public Library District
Sources on the Local African-American Community
(as of January, 2005)
The following is provided by Mr. Richard Sumrall, Director of the Lincoln
Public Library District:
1. The Library collects and disseminates
information on all subjects/topics related to Lincoln and Logan County,
including the local African-American community. Library sources of
information on the local African-American community include
-
Books and other
information pertaining to author Langston Hughes, including his
connection to Lincoln
-
Information on
and diary of Lincoln native Dr. William "Billie" Dyer, a World War I
surgeon
-
Vertical files on
local information pertaining to African-American churches, biographies,
slavery, and the Underground Railroad
-
The United State
Federal Census records for Lincoln, 1840-1930, listing everyone who
resided in Lincoln during a given census year
-
Lincoln City
Directories, 1871--present, listing everyone who resided in Lincoln
during a given year
-
Lincoln
Courier newspapers on microfilm, 1859--present, containing any
article written on anything related to local African-Americans or the
local African-American community
-
Book biography on
Brian Cook and a current events clipping file on him
2. The Library
collects this information on a courthouse basis.
3. The information is available to anyone who
visits the library. No library card is needed to access the information; all
items that can be photocopied are available at ten per copy.
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Email comments, corrections, questions, or suggestions.
Also please email me if this Web site helps you decide to visit Lincoln, Illinois:
[email protected]
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"The Past Is But the
Prelude" |
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