My parents divorced when I was six years old and my father was absent from my life for a long time afterward. I would not have the memories that inspired this book had my mother, Jeanne Theis Whitaker, not continued to drive her two mixed race sons all the way from eastern Massachusetts to Pittsburgh every year so that we would not lose touch with our grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. I am so glad that at ninety-one, she is still here to read this book—and to receive my thanks for making it possible.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
© JENNIFER S. ALTMAN
MARK WHITAKER is the author of the critically acclaimed memoir My Long Trip Home. The former managing editor of CNN Worldwide, he was previously the Washington bureau chief for NBC News and a reporter and editor at Newsweek, where he rose to become the first African-American leader of a national newsweekly.
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NOTES
PREFACE
they came north: Laurence Glasco, “Double Burden: The Black Experience in Pittsburgh,” in Samuel P. Hays, ed., City at the Point: Essays on the Social History of Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1989), pp. 71–72; Ervin Dyer, “Revisiting the Great Migration,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Feb. 25, 2001, p. G1.
Pittsburgh’s black population: “Historical Census Statistics on Population Totals by Race, 1790 to 1990, and by Hispanic Origin, 1970 to 1990, for Large Cities and Other Urban Places in the United States,” U.S. Census Bureau, Feb. 2005.
1. THE BROWN BOMBER’S CORNERMEN
Seventy thousand spectators: Lewis A. Erenberg, The Greatest Fight of Our Generation: Louis vs. Schmeling (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006), pp. 134–42.
Bill Nunn was the first of the three: P.L. Prattis, unpublished “Autobiography,” University of Pittsburgh Archives, Collection no. AIS.2007.01, p. “add 91.”
No one had a better nose: Interview with Bill Nunn’s granddaughter, Lynell Nunn; World War I draft registration card for William Goldwin Nunn and death certificate for father Junius N. Nunn, ancestry.com; Ulish Carter, “Guiding Force Behind Courier Editorial Greatness,” New Pittsburgh Courier, “100 Years of Influence” supplement, Nov. 17–23, 2010, p. 3.
Vann also knew one of the men: Andrew Buni, Robert L. Vann of the Pittsburgh Courier (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1974), p. 252.
“Ches,” as everyone called him: Reports on Chester Washington and family in the 1920, 1930, and 1940 U.S. Federal Census, ancestry.com; “Leaves for School,” Pittsburgh Courier, Sep. 20, 1924, p. 4.
When Washington started looking into Louis’s record: Chester L. Washington and William G. Nunn, “The Life Story of Joe Louis,” Pittsburgh Courier, March 9, 1935, p. 4, March 23, 1935, p. 14.
Chappie Blackburn had done a lot of fighting in Pittsburgh: Joe Louis, My Life Story (New York: Duell, Sloan & Pearce, 1947), pp. 46–47; “Joe Broke Two of ’Em Here,” Pittsburgh Courier, Jan. 26, 1935, p. 4.
During this time in Pittsburgh: Louis, My Life Story, p. 47; “Predict Sellout for Joe Louis Fight at Duquesne Gardens,” Pittsburgh Courier, Jan. 12, 1935, p. 1; “Wylie Avenue,” Pittsburgh Courier, Jan. 12, 1935, p. 6.
compare their man to Jack Johnson: Erenberg, Greatest Fight, pp. 42–47.
an exhaustive profile: Chester L. Washington and William G. Nunn, “The Life Story of Joe Louis,” Pittsburgh Courier, Feb. 9, 16, March 9, 23, 30, April 6, 20, 27, May 4, 18, 25, June 1, 22, 1935.
his toughest opponent yet: Louis, My Life Story, pp. 48–51; Nunn and Washington, “Life Story,” Pittsburgh Courier, April 6, May 25, 1935.
the Courier held its presses: Buni, Robert L. Vann, p. 253.
“JOE LOUIS BATTERS NATIE BROWN”: Pittsburgh Courier, April 6, 1935, p. 6.
Ches Washington was already inside: Nunn and Washington, “Life Story,” Pittsburgh Courier, April 6, 1936, p. 14.
officials demanded to know: Buni, Robert L. Vann, p. 252.
“Joe Louis Flattens 245-Pound Chicago Giant”: Pittsburgh Courier, June 8, 1935, p. 16.
Ches agreed to answer Joe’s mail: “Ches Sez,” Pittsburgh Courier, Oct. 30, 1937, p. 16.
“JOE LOUIS WINS!”: Pittsburgh Courier, June 29, 1935, p. 1.
“Bill Nunn Writes His Story 10,000 Feet in the Air”: Pittsburgh Courier, June 29, 1935, p. 1.
a vindication of the Great Migration: “Ches Sez,” Pittsburgh Courier, Feb. 15, 1936, p. 15.
Washington immediately got Joe on the phone: “Ches Sez,” Pittsburgh Courier, April 4, 1936, p. 15.
McClelland received a worrisome telegram: “Ches Sez,” Pittsburgh Courier, April 18, 1936, p. 15.
“JOE IN TIP TOP CONDITION—CHES”: “Ches Sez,” Pittsburgh Courier, June 13, 1936, p. 17.
why it would be “Louis Before the Fifth”: Ibid.
Washington liked to compare Joe to a panther: “Ches Sez,” Pittsburgh Courier, June 20, 1936, p. 15.
poet Langston Hughes recalled: Joseph McLaren, ed., The Collected Works of Langston Hughes, vol. 14 (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2003), pp. 307, 308.
his blood-streaked head in his hands: “Ches Sez,” Pittsburgh Courier, Oct. 30, 1937, p. 16.
Washington faulted Louis: “Ches Sez,” Pittsburgh Courier, June 27, 1936, p. 16.
Bill Nunn was even tougher: “Courier City Editor Writes a Letter to Joe,” Pittsburgh Courier, June 27, 1936, p. 15.
Washington attributed the turn of events: “Ches Sez,” Pittsburgh Courier, Feb. 13, 1937, p. 19.
Braddock knew that he could expect a much fatter gate: Jeremy Schaap, Cinderella Man: James J. Braddock, Max Baer, and the Greatest Upset in Boxing History (New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2005), p. 271.
Ches Washington tagged along: “Ches Sez,” Pittsburgh Courier, May 19, 1937, p. 17.
“The King is dead”: Pittsburgh Courier, June 23, 1937, p. 1.
a celebratory ode entitled “Our Champ”: Ibid., p. 13.
an exclusive account of the title bout: “Ches Sez,” Pittsburgh Courier, July 3, 1937, p. 17.
Louis invited Washington to Detroit: “Joe Louis Resolves to Beat Schmeling,” Pittsburgh Courier, Jan. 8, 1938, p. 17.
“There’s nothing to it!”: Pittsburgh Courier, Jan. 8, 1938, p. 1.
the political symbolism surrounding it: Erenberg, Greatest Fight, pp. 137–38.
Louis had his own reasons: Louis, My Life Story, pp. 97–98.
Louis was as antsy as a caged cat: Ibid., pp. 100–101.
It was pandemonium: “Rouzeau Gives Glowing Account of Joe’s Victory,” Pittsburgh Courier, June 25, 1938, p. 17.
the referee summoned the fighters: Louis, My Life Story, pp. 101–2; Pittsburgh Courier, June 25, 1938, p. 1.
his share of the earnings: Buni, Robert L. Vann, p. 256.
“Joe was murderous”: Ibid., pp. 256–57.
“JOE KO’S MAX”: Pittsburgh Courier, June 25, 1938, p. 1.
the vicarious glee: Buni, Robert L. Vann, p. 256.
more than doubled the Courier’s circulation: Ibid., p. 257.
Vann proudly cited the paper’s contribution: Ibid., pp. 257–58.
“the Crossroads of the World”: The Harlem Renaissance poet Claude McKay has been widely cited as coining this description of the Hill District—see Laurence Glasco, “Double Burden: The Black Experience in Pittsburgh,” in Samuel P. Hays, ed., City at the Point: Essays on the Socia
l History of Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1989), p. 76—but it is unclear whether McKay ever used the phrase. Others attribute it to Mary Dee, a Pittsburgh disc jockey: see Hazel Garland, “Mary Dee Rests: First Female Disc Jockey Is Buried in Pittsburgh,” Pittsburgh Courier, March 28, 1964, p. 1.
2. THE NEGRO CARNEGIES
The boy’s name was Cumberland Willis Posey: Rachel Jones Williams, “Cumberland Willis Posey Sr.,” Pennsylvania Heritage Magazine, Spring 2010.
his father was ordained: Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. 8 (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1879), p. 436.
As Cumberland Posey was entering his teenage years: Thomas S. Ewell, “The Smoky City,” The Colored American Magazine 4, no. 2 (December 1901), p. 136.
Posey set his sights: Ibid., pp. 136–37.
The object of his affection: Carole Wylie Hancock, “Honorable Soldiers, Too: An Historical Case Study of Post-Reconstruction African American Female Teachers of the Upper Ohio River Valley,” PhD diss., Ohio University, March 2008, pp. 311–26; Carole Wylie Hancock, “Eminently Qualified,” in Karen A. Johnson, Abul Pitre, and Kenneth L. Johnson, eds., African-American Women Educators (Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 2014).
“Progress in the march of events”: Carole Wylie Hancock, “Eminently Qualified,” in Karen A. Johnson, Abul Pitre, and Kenneth L. Johnson, eds., African American Women Educators (Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 2014), p. 9.
an event occurred in Athens: “Lynching in Athens: Christopher C. Davis,” Leona L. Gustafson, ed., Ohio American Local History Network, geneologybug.net.
“I have used the freedom of giving your name”: Len Barcousky, “Eyewitness 1758: Pittsburgh Gets Its Name,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Dec. 2, 2007, p. A2.
three major “packet lines”: Laurence A. Glasco, ed., The WPA History of the Negro in Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2004), pp. 387–88.
profitable mass production of steel: David Nasaw, Andrew Carnegie (New York: Penguin, 2006), p. 179.
The buyer was Andrew Carnegie: Ibid., p. 247.
As a child, Andrew Carnegie: Ibid., pp. 1–53.
But he would build his first fortune: Ibid., pp. 54–88.
In his early thirties: Ibid., pp. 137–63.
one of history’s most generous philanthropists: David Nasaw, “Giving Back, Big Time,” Los Angeles Times, Nov. 2, 2006, accessed on latimes.com.
George Westinghouse, a young inventor: “George Westinghouse Jr.,” They Made America, PBS.org.
head-to-head with Thomas Edison: Gilbert King, Edison vs. Westinghouse: A Shocking Rivalry, Smithsonian.com, Oct. 11, 2011.
In 1869, Henry J. Heinz: John N. Ingham, Biographical Dictionary of American Business Leaders, vol. 2 (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1983), pp. 566–67.
Andrew Mellon was still in his teens: Ibid., pp. 918–22.
Henry Clay Frick was a sickly child: John N. Ingham, Biographical Dictionary of American Business Leaders, vol. 1 (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1983), 417–19.
Carnegie saw that he needed Frick: Nasaw, Andrew Carnegie, pp. 209–10, 289–90.
curbing the growing power of labor unions: William Serrin, Homestead: The Glory and Tragedy of an American Steel Town (New York: Times Books,1992), pp. 66–95.
denounced as a hypocrite: Ibid., pp. 92–95; Nasaw, Andrew Carnegie, 456–72.
Posey made his first investment: Ewell, “Smoky City,” pp. 137–38.
Carnegie had befriended Booker T. Washington: Nasaw, Andrew Carnegie, pp. 714–15.
346 Negroes working in three Carnegie steel mills: Helen A. Tucker, “The Negroes of Pittsburgh,” Charity and the Commons, vol. 21, Oct. 1908–April 1909, p. 603.
“for the industrial Negro to succeed”: Ibid., pp. 599–603.
Four years after the Declaration of Independence: “Pennsylvania’s Gradual Abolition of Slavery,” in Robert Hill and Laurence Glasco, eds., Free at Last? Slavery in Pittsburgh in the 18th and 19th Century, www.library.pitt.edu.
the most prominent was Charles Avery: “Notable Abolitionists of Pittsburgh,” in Hill and Glasco, eds., Free at Last?
Lewis Woodson, a minister and businessman: Ibid.; Frank Bolden, “The Woodson-Proctor Family,” Pittsburgh Courier, May 13, 1950, p. 17.
a nineteen-year-old boy named Martin Delany: “Notable Abolitionists of Pittsburgh,” in Hill and Glasco, eds., Free at Last?; Glasco, WPA History of Pittsburgh, pp. 82–88.
Along with Woodson and Delany: “Notable Abolitionists of Pittsburgh,” in Hill and Glasco, eds., Free at Last?
an area known as Arthursville: Ervin Dyer, “The Abolitionists of Arthursville,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Feb. 22, 1999, p. D1.
a warm, windy afternoon: Peter Charles Hoffer, Seven Fires: The Urban Infernos That Reshaped America (New York: PublicAffairs Books, 2006), pp. 63–103.
After Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Law: “Fugitive Slave Laws and Great Escapes,” in Hall and Glasco, eds., Free at Last?
Wealthy whites who had lost their homes: Quentin R. Skrabec Jr., The World’s Richest Neighborhood: How Pittsburgh’s East Enders Forged American Industry (New York: Algora Publishing, 2010).
Frick’s card table: Ibid., p. 106.
more millionaires than any neighborhood: Ibid., pp. 3–22.
Thomas Mellon met that demand: “The Hill District: History,” Bridging the Urban Landscape, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, andrew.cmu.edu.
A number of well-to-do families: Laurence Glasco, “Taking Care of Business: The Black Entrepreneurial Elite in Turn-of-the-Century Pittsburgh,” Pittsburgh History, Winter 1996/96, pp. 177–82.
“Our caterer is not a man of ‘soft snap’ ”: Ewell, “Smoky City,” p. 134.
Caroline Wiley and her husband: Frank Bolden, “The Wiley Family,” Pittsburgh Courier, Feb. 4, 1950, p. 18.
Samuel Rosamond: Ewell, “Smoky City,” pp. 147–48.
He moved his family into a home in Homestead: Ibid., pp. 136–38.
Lewis Woodson’s daughter Virginia: Bolden, “The Woodson-Proctor Family.”
For the men of the black elite: Ewell, “Smoky City,” p. 138.
the Loendi club: Ron Ieriaci, “Loendi Club,” Old Mon Music blog, oldmonmusic.blogspot.com.
Wives and daughters had their own societies: Ewell, “Smoky City,” pp. 140–48.
the education of their children: Ibid., pp. 140–43.
“a charming little belle”: Thomas S. Ewell, “The Smoky City,” The Colored American Magazine 4, no. 2 (December 1901), p. 140.
Cum Posey preferred sports to books: John N. Ingham and Lynne B. Feldman, African-American Business Leaders: A Biographical Dictionary (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1994), pp. 293–96.
“adventurous and turbulent spirit”: W. Rollo Wilson, “Sports Shots,” Pittsburgh Courier, Jan. 20, 1934, p 14.
The first black-edited journal: Glasco, WPA History of Pittsburgh, p. 247.
a collection of verse: Edward Nathanial Harleston, The Toiler’s Life: Poems (Charleston, S.C.: BiblioLife LLC).
rented in the home of the Tanner family: Frank Bolden, “The Collins-Tanner Family,” Pittsburgh Courier, May 27, 1950, p. 17.
Harleston quickly ran out of savings: Andrew Buni, Robert L. Vann of the Pittsburgh Courier (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1974), pp. 42–44.
3. THE CALCULATING CRUSADER
Robert Lee Van hated kitchen odors: Andrew Buni, Robert L. Vann of the Pittsburgh Courier (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press,1974), pp. 3–7.
the profession he had chosen: Ibid., p. 7.
“I learned to split rails”: Ibid., pp. 7–8.
He managed to get a summer job: Ibid., p. 9.
It was the Waters Training School: Ibid., pp 10–11.
announced that he was going to Boston: Ibid., pp. 11–12.
he hailed Abe Lincoln as his hero: Ibid., p. 12.
Vann enrolled at Virginia Union University: Ibid., pp.
13–14.
opportunity for Negroes in the South was shrinking fast: Ibid., pp. 16–19.
“I’m going North”: Ibid., pp. 19–20.
Charles Dickens himself: Rick Seback, “What the Dickens?,” Pittsburgh Magazine, November 21, 2012.
Pittsburgh was very different: Buni, Robert L. Vann, pp. 21–22.
“The poorer Negroes live”: Helen A. Tucker, “The Negroes of Pittsburgh,” Charity and the Commons, vol. 21, Oct. 1908–April 1909, pp. 600–601.
no one would have guessed that now: Buni, Robert L. Vann, pp. 31–32.
At Western University: Ibid., p. 36.
the sorrow of losing his mother: Ibid., pp. 32–33.
Vann found someone to fill the void: Ibid., pp. 38–40.
Vann began submitting items to The Pittsburgh Courier: Ibid., pp. 42–47.
“CORPSE AND PISTOL FOUND”: Pittsburgh Press, March 13, 1910, p. 4.
one story more than any other: Paula Uruburu, American Eve: Evelyn Nesbit, Stanford White, the Birth of the “It” Girl and the Crime of the Century (New York: Riverhead Books, 2008).
The paper was produced: Ibid., Robert L. Vann, p. 49.
In August 1911, in another steel town: Raymond M. Hyser and Dennis B. Downey, “ ‘A Crooked Death’: Coatesville, Pennsylvania and the Lynching of Zacharia Walker,” Pennsylvania History 54, no. 2 (April 1987).
Vann wrote a mournful editorial: “Pennsylvania Falls,” Pittsburgh Courier, May 11, 1912, p. 4.
New York attorney John Frank Wheaton was celebrated: “Success of a Foremost and Able Attorney,” Pittsburgh Courier, May 25, 1912, p. 1.
Scipio Africanus Jones, Esq. of Arkansas, was hailed: Colored Lawyer Frees Client of Serious Charge,” Pittsburgh Courier, March 2, 1912, p. 1.
advertise his own legal services: “Attorney Vann Triumps and T. Cash Is Free,” Pittsburgh Courier, March 16, 1912.
the paper was still in dire financial straits: Buni, Robert L. Vann, pp. 50–51.
He brought on Ira Lewis: Ibid., pp. 53–54.
The Courier needed to crusade on their behalf: Ibid., pp. 55–86.
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