Untold Tales, Unsung Heroes: An Oral History of Detroit's African American Community, 1918-1967

408 Pages·1993·48.9 MB·English

by  Elaine Latzman Moon

Elaine Latzman Moon Detroit Urban League, Inc.
UNTOLD TALES,
UNSUNG HEROES
An Oral History
of Detroit's
African American
Community,
1918-1967
Elaine Latzman Moon
DETROIT URBAN LEAGUE, INC.
WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY PRESS DETROIT
Copyright © 1994 by Wayne State University Press,
Detroit, Michigan 48202. All rights are reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced without formal permission.
Manufactured in the United States of America.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Moon, Elaine Latzman.
Untold tales, unsung heroes : an oral history of Detroit's African
American community, 1918-1967 / Elaine Latzman Moon.
p. cm. — (African American life series)
Includes index.
ISBN 0-8143-2464-9 (hard : alk. paper). — ISBN 0-8143-2465-7
(pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Afro-Americans—Michigan—Detroit—History—20th century.
2. Civil rights movements—Michigan—Detroit—History—20th century.
3. Afro-Americans—Michigan—Detroit—Biography. 4. Detroit
(Mich.)—Race relations. 5. Oral history. I. Title. II. Series.
F574.D49N476 1994
977.4'3400496073—dc20 93-26073
Designer: Joanne Elkin Kinney
Jacket photo: Paul B. Shirley
ISBN-13: 978-0-8143-2465-3 (pbk.) ISBN-10: 0-8143-2465-7 (pbk.)
ISBN-13: 978-0-8143-2465-3 (pbk.
TO THE
C H I L D R EN
OF
D E T R O IT

For, while the tale of how we suffer,
and how we are delighted,
and how we may triumph is never new,
it always must be heard.
There isn't any other tale to tell,
it's the only light we've got
in all this darkness.
James Baldwin, "Sonny's Blues"

CONTENTS
Foreword by N. Charles Anderson 13
Preface 15
Acknowledgments 19
Chronology: African Americans in Detroit to 1917 23
African Americans in Detroit and
the United States, 1918-1927
Oscar Lee 27
Rosa Lee Kirkman Wheeler 30
James E. Cummings 33
Helen Nuttall Brown 37
Frank Angelo 39
Discussion on Employment Opportunities 43
Henry Biggs
Reginald R. Larrie
Paul B. Shirley 48
Charles C. Diggs, Jr. 51
Frederick N. Cureton 58
Ernest Goodman 60
Carl Winter 67
Alice E. M. Cain Newman 72
William Hines 76
M. Kelly Fritz 80
Sidney Barthwell 85
Lillian Duplessis 89
Discussion with Second Baptist Church Members 92
Arthur Michael Carter III
Nathaniel Leach
Wilhelmina Lewis Means
CONTENTS
Katherine E. Reid
Ernestine E. Wright
Discussion on Education 100
William St. Clair Billups
Earlie M. Poole
Shelton Tappes 104
African Americans in Detroit and
the United States, 1928-1937
Fred W. Guinyard 111
Ernestine E. Wright 113
Dorothy Elizabeth Lawson 116
Discussion with Shiloh Baptist Church Members 120
Mary Ruth Chapman Harris
Marguerite Rhodes Mclntosh
O. Davene Ross McKinney
Mary O. Brookins Ross, D.D.
Discussion on the Labor Movement 127
HildredJ. Drew Dale
Gwendolyn Ruth Edwards
Hodges E. Mason
Stanley Nowak
JohnJ. "Jack" White
Walter Rosser 138
Ruth Wills-Clemons 141
Discussion on Green Pastures Camp 144
Eleanor Boykin Jones
Ernest Timothy Marshall
Cecil Whittaker McFadden
James Boggs 149
Ernest C. Dillard, Sr. 157
Richard L. King 161
Margaret McCall Thomas Ward 168
Edward Davis 171
Kermit G. Bailer 175
Norman McRae 182
Beatrice M. Buck 186
African Americans in Detroit and
the United States, 1938-1947
Marcena W. Taylor 193
Erma Henderson 195
10
Contents
Discussion on Sojourner Truth Homes 198
Gerald V. Blakely
Kenneth G. Booker
Robert Bynum, Jr.
Thornton G. Jackson
Adam Shakoor
Winston E. Lang 206
James T. Jenkins 209
Francis A. Kornegay, Ph.D. 212
Annie Ruth Cartwright Williams 216
Nancy Ann Green Allen 220
Discussion on World War II with Tuskegee Airmen 223
Ret. Lt. Col. Alexander Jefferson, U.S.A.F.
Richard D. Macon
Herschel L. Richey 234
Discussion on Life and Music 237
Thomas H. "Dr. Beans" Bowles, Sr.
Earl F. Van Dyke
Frances Quock 246
Discussion with Members of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority 248
Jerrylee Johnson
Cecil Whittaker McFadden
Roberta McGuire Pickett, Ph.D.
Carol A. Sayers Puryear, Ph.D.
Rose Marie Dickens Swanson
Austin W. Curtis, D.S.C. 253
Discussion on Civil Rights 256
Arthur Michael Carter III
Ernest Goodman
Alma Thomas Hall
Richard V. Marks
JohnJ. "Jack" White
Discussion with Sacred Heart Church Members 266
Harry Bernard Boglin III
Mary Ann Humphries
Emma Jean Johnson
Anthony E. McCauley, Sr.
Mary Clarice McCauley Cosey 271
Wilfred E. Little 273
Roy Brooks 279
Wardell C. Croft, FLMI 282
11