Passing Strange (52 page)
Authors: Martha A. Sandweiss
55
“Testimony of John Hill,” ibid., 4:588.
“Testimony of John Hill,” ibid., 4:588.
56
“Testimony of Preston Brooks Peters (colored),” ibid., 4:569.
“Testimony of Preston Brooks Peters (colored),” ibid., 4:569.
59
Twice in the early 1880s, “vicious” and “frightening” cyclones or tornadoes swept across Harris County, causing considerable destruction and even death. See “Swept Over by Cyclones: Buildings Blown Down and Many Persons Killed and Injured,”
New York Times,
Apr. 16, 1884, 5; “A Cyclone in South Georgia,”
New York Times,
Feb. 27, 1887, 10. Smallpox swept through the county in 1884. See “Quarantined against Small-Pox,”
New York Times,
June 30, 1884, 1.
Twice in the early 1880s, “vicious” and “frightening” cyclones or tornadoes swept across Harris County, causing considerable destruction and even death. See “Swept Over by Cyclones: Buildings Blown Down and Many Persons Killed and Injured,”
New York Times,
Apr. 16, 1884, 5; “A Cyclone in South Georgia,”
New York Times,
Feb. 27, 1887, 10. Smallpox swept through the county in 1884. See “Quarantined against Small-Pox,”
New York Times,
June 30, 1884, 1.
60
Ada Copeland’s great-granddaughter Patricia Chacon recalls hearing no stories about Copeland’s Georgia girlhood either directly from Copeland herself or from Copeland’s children and grandchildren. Personal communication to author, Wilmington, NC, June 20, 2006.
Ada Copeland’s great-granddaughter Patricia Chacon recalls hearing no stories about Copeland’s Georgia girlhood either directly from Copeland herself or from Copeland’s children and grandchildren. Personal communication to author, Wilmington, NC, June 20, 2006.
61
Marcy Sarah Sacks, “ ‘We Cry among the Skyscrapers’: Black People in New York City, 1880- 1915” (Ph.D. diss., University of California, Berkeley, 1999), 21.
Marcy Sarah Sacks, “ ‘We Cry among the Skyscrapers’: Black People in New York City, 1880- 1915” (Ph.D. diss., University of California, Berkeley, 1999), 21.
63
Sacks, “ ‘We Cry,’ ” 29.
Sacks, “ ‘We Cry,’ ” 29.
64
The digitization of census records makes such calculations about the origins of large numbers of people much simpler. Using the databases accessible at
Ancestry.com
, for example, one can describe the makeup of Manhattan’s and Brooklyn’s black and mulatto communities by conducting a search using both race and birthplace as variables.
The digitization of census records makes such calculations about the origins of large numbers of people much simpler. Using the databases accessible at
Ancestry.com
, for example, one can describe the makeup of Manhattan’s and Brooklyn’s black and mulatto communities by conducting a search using both race and birthplace as variables.
66
“An Exodus Movement,”
La Grange Reporter,
Aug. 17, 1879; “The Exodus in Northeast Alabama,”
La Grange Reporter,
Sept. 4, 1879. For a general overview of the Exoduster movement, see Nell Irvin Painter,
Exodusters: Black Migration to Kansas after Reconstruction
(New York: Knopf, 1977).
“An Exodus Movement,”
La Grange Reporter,
Aug. 17, 1879; “The Exodus in Northeast Alabama,”
La Grange Reporter,
Sept. 4, 1879. For a general overview of the Exoduster movement, see Nell Irvin Painter,
Exodusters: Black Migration to Kansas after Reconstruction
(New York: Knopf, 1977).
67
Ada’s son Wallace King supplied this information on her death certificate.
Ada’s son Wallace King supplied this information on her death certificate.
70
See Charles S. Mangum Jr.,
The Legal Status of the Negro
(Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1940), 215-17. Although Mangum cites segregation laws stemming mainly from the 1920s, he suggests that practice likely followed the older established rules for segregation on railroad cars. He also cites (p. 204) the ruling of
Hall v. DeCuir,
95 U.S. 485 (1877), which held in a case involving a Louisiana steamboat that the state civil rights acts enacted during Reconstruction prohibiting discrimination on public carriers were invalid with regard to interstate travelers.
See Charles S. Mangum Jr.,
The Legal Status of the Negro
(Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1940), 215-17. Although Mangum cites segregation laws stemming mainly from the 1920s, he suggests that practice likely followed the older established rules for segregation on railroad cars. He also cites (p. 204) the ruling of
Hall v. DeCuir,
95 U.S. 485 (1877), which held in a case involving a Louisiana steamboat that the state civil rights acts enacted during Reconstruction prohibiting discrimination on public carriers were invalid with regard to interstate travelers.
72
Henry Hugh Proctor,
Between Black and White,
133-34. For an overview of black life in New York City during this relatively understudied time period, see Marcy S. Sacks,
Before Harlem: The Black Experience in New York City before World War I
(Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006).
Henry Hugh Proctor,
Between Black and White,
133-34. For an overview of black life in New York City during this relatively understudied time period, see Marcy S. Sacks,
Before Harlem: The Black Experience in New York City before World War I
(Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006).
74
Ada identified “Annie Purnell” as her aunt in court testimony given more than forty years later (see
King v. Peabody et al.,
file no. 26821-1931, Records of the New York County Clerk’s Office, Supreme Court of the State of New York, and below, chap. 10) and stated that in 1888 her aunt lived at 149 West Twenty-fourth Street.
Trow’s New York City Directory
for the years 1882-89 records Purnell’s move from 26 Minetta Lane to the West Twenty-fourth Street address. The directory entries note that she is the widow of John, and the 1887 entry identifies her profession as “washing.” Annie Purnell’s precise relationship to Ada is unclear. The loss of the 1890 census records in a disastrous fire in 1921 makes it difficult to know, with any assurance, which of the other people of that name living in New York either earlier or later might have been Ada’s relative.
Ada identified “Annie Purnell” as her aunt in court testimony given more than forty years later (see
King v. Peabody et al.,
file no. 26821-1931, Records of the New York County Clerk’s Office, Supreme Court of the State of New York, and below, chap. 10) and stated that in 1888 her aunt lived at 149 West Twenty-fourth Street.
Trow’s New York City Directory
for the years 1882-89 records Purnell’s move from 26 Minetta Lane to the West Twenty-fourth Street address. The directory entries note that she is the widow of John, and the 1887 entry identifies her profession as “washing.” Annie Purnell’s precise relationship to Ada is unclear. The loss of the 1890 census records in a disastrous fire in 1921 makes it difficult to know, with any assurance, which of the other people of that name living in New York either earlier or later might have been Ada’s relative.
75
For the tenants of Purnell’s building in 1880, see 1880 U.S. Federal Census, City of New York, County of New York, State of New York, SD 1, ED 343, 23-24. On the use of racial terms in the census, see below, 213, 264.
For the tenants of Purnell’s building in 1880, see 1880 U.S. Federal Census, City of New York, County of New York, State of New York, SD 1, ED 343, 23-24. On the use of racial terms in the census, see below, 213, 264.
76
See the entry in
Trow’s New York City Directory for the Year Ending May 1, 1888
(New York: Trow City Directory Company, 1888), 1595.
See the entry in
Trow’s New York City Directory for the Year Ending May 1, 1888
(New York: Trow City Directory Company, 1888), 1595.
78
Again, the digitization of the census records on such sites as
Ancestry.com
makes it possible to quickly scan the 1880 records to search for the living situations of Georgia-born blacks in the greater New York area. The
New York Age,
the city’s preeminent paper for the black community, lends a more qualitative note to a quantitative story. It published a brief article on Mar. 30, 1889 (p. 3), about Georgia-born Jane Mitchell, who was found dead in her bed in her Seventh Avenue apartment. She was buried by her “Georgia friends,” and the public administrator took charge of her effects in the absence of any kin.
Again, the digitization of the census records on such sites as
Ancestry.com
makes it possible to quickly scan the 1880 records to search for the living situations of Georgia-born blacks in the greater New York area. The
New York Age,
the city’s preeminent paper for the black community, lends a more qualitative note to a quantitative story. It published a brief article on Mar. 30, 1889 (p. 3), about Georgia-born Jane Mitchell, who was found dead in her bed in her Seventh Avenue apartment. She was buried by her “Georgia friends,” and the public administrator took charge of her effects in the absence of any kin.
79
Sacks, “ ‘We Cry,’ ” 34-35.
Sacks, “ ‘We Cry,’ ” 34-35.
83
Mary White Ovington,
Half a Man: The Status of the Negro in New York
(1911; repr., New York: Negro Universities Press, 1969), 149; Isabel Eaton, “Special Report on Domestic Service,” in W. E. B. DuBois,
The Philadelphia Negro: A Social Study
(1899; repr., New York: Benjamin Blom, 1967), 427.
Mary White Ovington,
Half a Man: The Status of the Negro in New York
(1911; repr., New York: Negro Universities Press, 1969), 149; Isabel Eaton, “Special Report on Domestic Service,” in W. E. B. DuBois,
The Philadelphia Negro: A Social Study
(1899; repr., New York: Benjamin Blom, 1967), 427.
84
Jessie Redmon Fauset,
Plum Bun: A Novel without a Moral
(New York: Frederick A. Stokes, 1929), 27-28.
Jessie Redmon Fauset,
Plum Bun: A Novel without a Moral
(New York: Frederick A. Stokes, 1929), 27-28.
85
Eaton, “Special Report,” 452-54.
Eaton, “Special Report,” 452-54.
86
Lucy Maynard Salmon,
Domestic Service
(New York: Macmillan, 1897), 96; Eaton, “Special Report,” 452; “Facts from Georgia,”
New York Age,
Jan. 5, 1889, 2. On field wages around Harris County in the 1880s, see “Testimony of W. H. Spencer (colored),”
Relations between Labor and Capital,
4:5.
Lucy Maynard Salmon,
Domestic Service
(New York: Macmillan, 1897), 96; Eaton, “Special Report,” 452; “Facts from Georgia,”
New York Age,
Jan. 5, 1889, 2. On field wages around Harris County in the 1880s, see “Testimony of W. H. Spencer (colored),”
Relations between Labor and Capital,
4:5.
88
Eaton, “Special Report,” 468.
Eaton, “Special Report,” 468.
91
Eaton, “Special Report,” 467. See also Daniel E. Sutherland,
Americans and Their Servants: Domestic Service in the United States from 1800 to 1920
(Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1981), 114-17.
Eaton, “Special Report,” 467. See also Daniel E. Sutherland,
Americans and Their Servants: Domestic Service in the United States from 1800 to 1920
(Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1981), 114-17.
93
Eaton (p. 470) found that in her sample group of black women domestic workers in Philadelphia, 66 percent said they turned to their church for recreational activities. She estimated that many of those who reported that they spent most of their leisure time at home also relied on church programs, bringing the total number of women involved in church affairs during their leisure time to 93.2 percent.
Eaton (p. 470) found that in her sample group of black women domestic workers in Philadelphia, 66 percent said they turned to their church for recreational activities. She estimated that many of those who reported that they spent most of their leisure time at home also relied on church programs, bringing the total number of women involved in church affairs during their leisure time to 93.2 percent.
96
For a history of this strain of Methodism, see Lewis V. Baldwin,
“Invisible” Strands in African Methodism: A History of the African Union Methodist Protestant and Union American Methodist Episcopal Churches, 1805-1980
(Metuchen, NJ: American Theological Library Association and the Scarecrow Press, 1983), and U.S. Bureau of the Census,
Religious Bodies: 1906
(Washington, DC: GPO, 1910), 444-46.
For a history of this strain of Methodism, see Lewis V. Baldwin,
“Invisible” Strands in African Methodism: A History of the African Union Methodist Protestant and Union American Methodist Episcopal Churches, 1805-1980
(Metuchen, NJ: American Theological Library Association and the Scarecrow Press, 1983), and U.S. Bureau of the Census,
Religious Bodies: 1906
(Washington, DC: GPO, 1910), 444-46.
98
Department of the Interior, Census Office,
Report on Statistics of Churches in the United States at the Eleventh Census: 1890
(Washington, DC: GPO, 1894), 48, 542.
Department of the Interior, Census Office,
Report on Statistics of Churches in the United States at the Eleventh Census: 1890
(Washington, DC: GPO, 1894), 48, 542.
99
Knowledge of Ada’s church membership comes from her reference to her minister in
King v. Peabody et al.
Records from the church itself do not seem to have survived. On the church activities, see, for example, the ads for “A Dramatic Cantata,”
New York Age,
Mar. 10, 1888, 3; “Third Re-Union,”
New York Age,
Feb. 16, 1889, 13; “The Union A.M.E. Church,”
New York Age,
Aug. 4, 1888.
Knowledge of Ada’s church membership comes from her reference to her minister in
King v. Peabody et al.
Records from the church itself do not seem to have survived. On the church activities, see, for example, the ads for “A Dramatic Cantata,”
New York Age,
Mar. 10, 1888, 3; “Third Re-Union,”
New York Age,
Feb. 16, 1889, 13; “The Union A.M.E. Church,”
New York Age,
Aug. 4, 1888.
100
Easter Jackson, interview included in “Born in Slavery,” LC.
Easter Jackson, interview included in “Born in Slavery,” LC.
101
On religion in Troup and Harris counties during Reconstruction, see Barfield,
History of Harris County,
and Forrest Clark Johnson III,
Histories of LaGrange and Troup County, GA: A History of LaGrange, Georgia, 1828-1900,
vol. 1 (LaGrange: Family Tree, 1987).
On religion in Troup and Harris counties during Reconstruction, see Barfield,
History of Harris County,
and Forrest Clark Johnson III,
Histories of LaGrange and Troup County, GA: A History of LaGrange, Georgia, 1828-1900,
vol. 1 (LaGrange: Family Tree, 1987).
103
“Bishop James H. Cook,”
New York Times,
Aug. 12, 1899, 7. Ada King refers to Cook as her pastor in the later court testimony reported in “Sues Gardiner Estate,”
New York Times,
Nov. 21, 1933.
“Bishop James H. Cook,”
New York Times,
Aug. 12, 1899, 7. Ada King refers to Cook as her pastor in the later court testimony reported in “Sues Gardiner Estate,”
New York Times,
Nov. 21, 1933.
104
On the doctrine of the Union American Methodist Episcopal Church, see Baldwin,
“Invisible” Strands,
passim.
On the doctrine of the Union American Methodist Episcopal Church, see Baldwin,
“Invisible” Strands,
passim.
105
[Ida B. Wells], “The Model Woman: A Pen Picture of the Typical Southern Girl,”
New York Freeman,
Feb. 18, 1888, reprinted in Miriam Decosta-Willis,
The Memphis Diary of Ida B. Wells: An Intimate Portrait of the Activist as a Young Woman
(Boston: Beacon Press, 1995), 188-89.
[Ida B. Wells], “The Model Woman: A Pen Picture of the Typical Southern Girl,”
New York Freeman,
Feb. 18, 1888, reprinted in Miriam Decosta-Willis,
The Memphis Diary of Ida B. Wells: An Intimate Portrait of the Activist as a Young Woman
(Boston: Beacon Press, 1995), 188-89.
106
Ada’s great-granddaughter Patricia Chacon, personal communication to author, Wilmington, NC, June 20, 2006.
Ada’s great-granddaughter Patricia Chacon, personal communication to author, Wilmington, NC, June 20, 2006.
107
Little scholarly work has been done on the lives of African American women in late-nineteenth-century New York, and the field remains ripe for further research. Kathy Peiss’s book
Cheap Amusements: Working Women and Leisure in Turn-of-the-Century New York
(Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1986) offers an excellent model for investigating women’s lives but largely ignores the experiences of African Americans. Tera W. Hunter’s
To ’Joy My Freedom: Southern Black Women’s Lives and Labors after the Civil War
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1997) focuses on Atlanta and suggests how rich a comparable study might be of black women’s lives in a northern city. Marcy S. Sacks’s
Before Harlem
concerns itself with a broad range of issues beyond gender but introduces the reader to the range of sources that might support a more focused investigation of this little-studied period.
Little scholarly work has been done on the lives of African American women in late-nineteenth-century New York, and the field remains ripe for further research. Kathy Peiss’s book
Cheap Amusements: Working Women and Leisure in Turn-of-the-Century New York
(Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1986) offers an excellent model for investigating women’s lives but largely ignores the experiences of African Americans. Tera W. Hunter’s
To ’Joy My Freedom: Southern Black Women’s Lives and Labors after the Civil War
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1997) focuses on Atlanta and suggests how rich a comparable study might be of black women’s lives in a northern city. Marcy S. Sacks’s
Before Harlem
concerns itself with a broad range of issues beyond gender but introduces the reader to the range of sources that might support a more focused investigation of this little-studied period.
CHAPTER 4: KING OF THE CITY
1
Bancroft letter quoted in George Wharton James, “Clarence King,”
Overland Monthly and Out West Magazine
81, no. 6 (Oct. 1923): 36.
Bancroft letter quoted in George Wharton James, “Clarence King,”
Overland Monthly and Out West Magazine
81, no. 6 (Oct. 1923): 36.
4
Ibid., 206-20.
Ibid., 206-20.
5
Ibid., 209.
Ibid., 209.
6
JH to CK, 18 June 1870, Hay Collection, Brown.
JH to CK, 18 June 1870, Hay Collection, Brown.
7
On Hay, see O’Toole,
Five of Hearts;
Tyler Dennett,
John Hay: From Poetry to Politics
(New York: Dodd, Mead, 1933); Kenton J. Clymer,
John Hay: The Gentleman as Diplomat
(Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1975). Hay’s life merits a full new biographical study. Hay’s book
Castilian Days
was published by James Osgood, the same publisher who issued King’s
Mountaineering
the following year.
On Hay, see O’Toole,
Five of Hearts;
Tyler Dennett,
John Hay: From Poetry to Politics
(New York: Dodd, Mead, 1933); Kenton J. Clymer,
John Hay: The Gentleman as Diplomat
(Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1975). Hay’s life merits a full new biographical study. Hay’s book
Castilian Days
was published by James Osgood, the same publisher who issued King’s
Mountaineering
the following year.
10
King, “Catastrophism and Evolution,” 470.
King, “Catastrophism and Evolution,” 470.
11
The debate continues. Geologist James Gregory Moore argues in
King of the 40th Parallel
(2006) that recent thought has swung toward a general acceptance of some of King’s catastrophist views. “For example, it is well accepted that major meteoritic impacts and episodes of massive volcanism have assaulted the Earth across the eons with catastrophic results, thus shaping and accelerating physical and biologic evolution. Many of these catastrophes have been shown to occur at the boundaries of the great geologic eras and periods, boundaries that were originally discovered and defined because they marked the time that major extinctions and changes occurred in plant and animal life” (p. 269).
The debate continues. Geologist James Gregory Moore argues in
King of the 40th Parallel
(2006) that recent thought has swung toward a general acceptance of some of King’s catastrophist views. “For example, it is well accepted that major meteoritic impacts and episodes of massive volcanism have assaulted the Earth across the eons with catastrophic results, thus shaping and accelerating physical and biologic evolution. Many of these catastrophes have been shown to occur at the boundaries of the great geologic eras and periods, boundaries that were originally discovered and defined because they marked the time that major extinctions and changes occurred in plant and animal life” (p. 269).
12
Goetzmann,
Exploration and Empire,
464. For a more recent evaluation of King’s science, see Kenneth R. Aalto, “Clarence King’s Geology,”
Earth Sciences History
23 (2004): 9-31.
Goetzmann,
Exploration and Empire,
464. For a more recent evaluation of King’s science, see Kenneth R. Aalto, “Clarence King’s Geology,”
Earth Sciences History
23 (2004): 9-31.
13
CK to Marcus Benjamin, 21 Aug. 1887, record unit 7085, box 3, folder 14 “King, Clarence,” Marcus Benjamin Papers, Smithsonian Institution Archives; letter quoted in Clifford M. Nelson, “King, Clarence (Rivers),” in
New Dictionary of Scientific Biography,
ed. Noretta Koertge (Detroit: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2008), 4:120.
CK to Marcus Benjamin, 21 Aug. 1887, record unit 7085, box 3, folder 14 “King, Clarence,” Marcus Benjamin Papers, Smithsonian Institution Archives; letter quoted in Clifford M. Nelson, “King, Clarence (Rivers),” in
New Dictionary of Scientific Biography,
ed. Noretta Koertge (Detroit: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2008), 4:120.
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