“colored aristocracy”—Cyprian Clamorgan, The Colored Aristocracy of St. Louis (1858), Lawrence Oland Christensen, Black St. Louis: A Study in Race Relations 1865–1916, unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Missouri, Dec. 1972, p. 82.
$20,000 worth of St. Louis real estate—Christensen, Black St. Louis, p. 105.
tonsorial palace—James Thomas, From Tennessee Slave to St. Louis Entrepreneur: The Autobiography of James Thomas, ed. Loren Schweninger (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1984), pp. 2 and 10–14.
Pelagie Rutgers—Christensen, Black St. Louis, p. 105.
nearly 300 black barbers—Eleventh U.S. Census, Population, 1890, Part II, pp. 724–25, cited in Christensen, Black St. Louis, p. 166.
best in the city—Lillian Brandt, “The Negroes of St. Louis,” American Statistical Association, Vol. 8, No. 61 (Mar. 1903), p. 235.
laborers, servants—Ibid., Christensen, Black St. Louis, p. 166.
blacks had dominated the trade—NNBL Report, 1916, pp. 164–65.
“The colored barber”—“Black Barbers Must Go—The Whites Say That the Colored Shaver Is Falling Off in Popularity,” St. Louis Republic, May 10, 1896, CTS/MHS.
“We can no longer grow”—The Smoke Nuisance; Report of the Smoke Abatement Committee of the Civic League (St. Louis: Civic League of St. Louis, 1906), pp. 4–10, in Selwyn K. Troen and Glen E. Holt, St. Louis (New York: New Viewpoints, 1977), p. 115.
Italian, Jewish and black poor—Christensen, Black St. Louis, p. 149.
well known on the police blotter—“In Blood: Neil Furniss Left His Female Victim Weltering,” unsourced St. Louis newspaper clipping from CTS/MHS.
“washing for families”—“Negro Woman, Rich Hair Tonic Maker, in City: Mrs. Sarah J. Walker, Former Laundress Here, Said to Be Worth Million or More,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Mar. 4, 1918, p. 6.
Jennie Lias—Jennie Lias affidavit, Dec. 26, 1919; Ida B. Winchester affidavit, Dec. 26, 1919.
Like more than half—Eleventh U.S. Census, cited in Christensen, Black St. Louis, p. 174.
two or three white families—Jones, Labor of Love, pp. 125–26; Tera W. Hunter, To ’Joy My Freedom (Cambridge, MA: Oxford University Press, 1997), pp. 56–57; “Bea, the Washerwoman” (Sarah Hull), Federal Writers Project #3709, Southern Historical Collection, Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, March 13, 1939, p. 4 (FWP #3709, p. 2010).
“ten to twelve sheets”—“Bea, the Washerwoman,” p. 4.
$4 to $12—Hunter, To ’Joy My Freedom, pp. 52–53.
“converted”—“America’s Foremost Colored Woman,” Indpls Freeman, Dec. 28, 1912, p. 16.
In September 1889—Typewritten copy of Indpls. Freeman, Mar. 7, 1891, article, UMSL Archives—“A Historical Sketch of the society founded half century ago by J.E.B.,” p. 4.
Sarah Newton—“Panorama of Growth 1888–1963, How It Began, Mrs. Sarah Newton Cohron,” page from untitled, undated brochure from the UMSL Archives; Gwendolyn Robinson, “Class, Race, and Gender: A Transcultural Theoretical and Socio-historical Analysis of Cosmetic Institutions and Practices to 1920,” unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Illinois at Chicago, 1984 (Ann Arbor: University Microfilm International, 1984), p. 359.
religious instruction—Report of the First National Conference of the National Federation of Afro-American Women, Boston, Mass., July 29, 30 and 31, 1895, from Records of the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs, 1895–1992, Part I: Minutes of National Conventions, Publications, and President’s Office Correspondence (Bethesda, MD: University Publications of America, 1993), p. 23.
“half-orphans”—Brandt, American Statistical Association, Mar. 1903, p. 260; Mrs. M. F. Pitts and Miss L. Carter, “St. Louis Colored Orphans’ Home,” in Report of the Second National Conference of the National Federation of Afro-American Women, RNACWC, p. 85.
escorted Lelia to Dessalines—Dessalines School Register, 1890, St. Louis Public Schools; Pitts, National Federation of Afro-American Women, 1896, RNACWC, 85; Brandt, American Statistical Association, Mar. 1903, p. 260.
“kindnesses that were shown”—“America’s Foremost Colored Woman,” Indpls. Freeman, Dec. 28, 1912.
CHAPTER 4 ST. LOUIS WOMAN
“I was at my washtubs” —“Wealthiest Negro Woman’s Suburban Mansion,” The New York Times Magazine, Nov. 4, 1917.
Founded in 1841—Report of Lucy Jefferson, St. Paul AME Church, cited in J. W. Evans, “A Brief Sketch of the Development of Negro Education in St. Louis, Missouri,” Journal of Negro Education, Vol. 7, No. 4 (Oct. 1938), p. 550; John A. Wright, Discovering African-American St. Louis: A Guide to Historic Sites (St. Louis: Missouri Historical Society Press, 1994), p. 68; Jervis Anderson, A. Philip Randolph: A Biographical Portrait (New York: Harvest Book/ Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1973), p. 28.
“constructed by and for Negroes”—Brandt, American Statistical Association, Mar. 1903, p. 257.
The largest organ built—Indpls. Freeman, Mar. 7, 1891, UMSL.
Mozart anthems—Ibid.
“Lamentation Day”—Lorenzo J. Greene, Gary R. Kremer, and Antonio F. Holland, Missouri’s Black Heritage (rev. ed.; Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1993), p. 109.
“work in Africa”—“The A.M.E. Conference,” St. Louis Palladium, Aug. 26, 1903; “The Conference—At St. Paul’s Chapel Well Attended and Interesting,” St. Louis Palladium, Oct. 10, 1903.
persecution of Russian Jews—“The Massacre of Jews Serves as a Text on Behalf of Negroes,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, June 1, 1903, and St. Louis Palladium, June 6, 1903.
predominantly white—“St. Paul A.M.E. Church—In the March of the Century,” 1940, loose page, UMSL; “St. Paul A.M.E. Church Oldest A.M.E. Church West of Mississippi River,” loose page, UMSL.
Having the rest of her family—Gould’s St. Louis City Directory, 1891, p. 219.
Between 1891 and 1896—Sarah lived at 1407, 1615, 1517, and probably 1619 Linden according to Gould’s St. Louis City Directory, 1891, 1894, 1895, and 1896; Application No. 57142 for License to Marry, State of Missouri, Aug. 11, 1894; Marriage License No. 57142, State of Missouri, Aug. 11, 1894.
In March 1892—“Colored Club,” Albuquerque Daily Citizen, Mar. 16, 1892, p. 4.
convicted of manslaughter—F. B. Ransom to S. E. Garner, Dec. 6, 1911; FBR to J. H. Allen, Warden, Parchman State Prison, Dec. 4, 1911.
John Davis—Garner to FBR, Dec. 23, 1919, and Jan. 10, 1920; John H. Davis is also known as John L. Davis and John Lincoln Davis. John H. Davis died Dec. 22, 1929, at City Hospital #2 (Missouri State Board of Health Certificate of Death No. 386, filed Jan. 13, 1930).
moved in with Sarah—Garner to FBR, Jan. 10, 1920.
Saturday, August 11, 1894—Marriage License and Application, No. 57142, Aug. 11, 1894.
100 degrees—“Weather Conditions,” St. Louis Daily Globe-Democrat, Aug. 12, 1894, p. 4.
“Miss Sallie McWilliams”—Marriage Application No. 57142, Aug. 11, 1894.
German workers—Brandt, American Statistical Association, Mar. 1903, p. 238.
2 percent—Katharine T. Corbett and Mary E. Seematter, “Black St. Louis at the Turn of the Century,” Gateway Heritage, Vol. 7, No. 1 (Summer 1986), pp. 43–44, with photo; Jones, Labor of Love, p. 124.
menial chores—Corbett and Seematter, “Black St. Louis,” pp. 43–44; Jones, Labor of Love, p. 124.
tobacco factories—Brandt, American Statistical Association, Mar. 1903, p. 238.
26 percent—Cynthia Neverdon-Morton, Afro-American Women and the Advancement of the Race, 1895–1925 (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1989), p. 68 cites R. R. Wright, Jr., “Negro in Unskilled Labor,” The Negro’s Progress in Fifty Years: The Annals of the American Academy, ed. Emory R. Johnson (Philadelphia: American Academy of Political and Social Science, 1913), pp. 25–26.
“were constantly in quarrels”—Jennie Gully Lias affidavit, Dec. 26, 1919, MWC/IHS.
“strike, beat and maltreat Sallie”—Lias affida
vit; Ida B. Winchester affidavit, Dec. 26, 1919; Garner to FBR, Jan. 10, 1920, MWC/IHS.
“fussy, mean and dangerous”—Winchester affidavit; Garner to FBR, Jan. 10, 1920, MWC/IHS.
“before the courts”—Ibid.
a block away with her uncle James—Lucas Avenue had previously been named Christy, Gould’s St. Louis Directory for 1895 (St. Louis: Acme Printing Company, 1895), and Gould’s St. Louis Directory for 1896 (St. Louis: Acme Printing Company, 1896).
“toughest neighborhood”—“Murderer Stack Lee Taken Out for a Drunk,” newspaper clipping in CTS/MHS.
Bad Lands—“Sheriff’s Men Are Gentle to the Criminals,” St. Louis Republic, Feb. 20, 1896, CTS/MHS.
murders nearly doubled—Annual Report of the Board of Police Commissioners, 1894–1895 (St. Louis, 1895), pp. 612–17; Annual Report of the Board of Police Commissioners, 1895–1896 (St. Louis, 1896), p. 670.
“the most prolific murder center”—“Murderer Stack Lee Taken Out for a Drunk.”
dives near Twelfth—“Butchered: Jessie Sims Carved to Death by Alexander Royle,” St. Louis Chronicle, Nov. 29, 1895, CTS/MHS. Depending on the source, the surname is spelled either Royal or Royle.
“female denizens”—Ibid.
ten-cent bathhouses—“Snapshots of Daily Life on Lower Morgan Street—Once the Home of the 400 Club and of McAllister Bill Curtis,” undated newspaper clipping, CTS/MHS.
“terror of the police”—Ibid.
a jealous boyfriend—“Conspiracy to Murder—Killing of James Freeman Said to Be the Result of a Plot,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, Dec. 5, 1895, CTS/MHS.
the day after Thanksgiving—St. Louis Chronicle, Nov. 29, 1895, CTS/MHS.
“two stab wounds”—“Butchered,” St. Louis Chronicle, Nov. 29, 1895, CTS/MHS.
multiple lacerations—“In Blood: Neil Furniss Left His Female Victim Weltering,” newspaper clipping, CTS/MHS.
one neighbor fatally shot—“Shot and Killed—Henry Massey Receives Two Bullets from the Pistol of Nelson Casey,” newspaper clipping (possibly St. Louis Republic), Dec. 11, 1895, CTS/MHS.
Shelton Lee—Depending on the source, the murderer is named Shelton Lee or Lee Shelton. The victim is sometimes called William Jones, at other times William Lyons. See “Murderer Stack Lee Taken Out for a Drunk.”
“Stackalee shot Billy”—“Stackalee,” a version collected by Onah L. Spencer, in Deirdre Mullane, ed., Crossing the Danger Water: Three Hundred Years of African American Writing (New York: Doubleday, Anchor, 1993), pp. 264–66.
Accompanied by two . . . deputy sheriffs—“Sheriff’s Men Are Gentle to the Criminals,” St. Louis Republic, Feb. 20, 1896, CTS/MHS.
“There is continual warfare”—Ibid.
Bad Lands murders continued—“Killed His Brother-in-Law—Taylor Jackson, Colored, Shot Twice by Louis Walton After a Quarrel,” St. Louis Republic, Feb. 14, 1896, CTS/MHS.
since the 1850s—John A. Wright, Discovering African-American St. Louis: A Guide to Historic Sites (St. Louis: Missouri Historical Society Press, 1994), p. 23.
Bordered by Twentieth Street—Ibid.
“highroller Stetson”—W. C. Handy, Father of the Blues: An Autobiography, ed. Arna Bontemps (New York: Macmillan, 1941), p. 30, cited in Edward A. Berlin, King of Ragtime: Scott Joplin and His Era (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994), p. 90.
2142 Walnut Street—Gould’s St. Louis Directory for 1898 for the year ending April 1, 1897 (St. Louis: Gould Directory Company); Gould’s 1899; L’Ouverture Elementary School Annual Register, 1898, St. Louis Public Schools; L’Ouverture Register, 1899.
Following their pattern—Between 1896 and 1902 they lived at 2117, 2142, 2113 and 2231 Walnut. See Gould’s St. Louis Directory 1898 for the year ending April 1, 1897; Gould’s 1899; L’Ouverture Register, 1898; L’Ouverture Register, 1899; Gould’s 1900; 1900 Census.
Maria Harrison—“New Douglass Palm Garden,” St. Louis Palladium, June 18, 1904.
L’Ouverture Elementary—Lelia attended Banneker Elementary School for at least one year in 1897 before transferring to L’Ouverture Elementary School in 1898. See L’Ouverture Register, 1898; “The Hudlin Family” PROUD Bicentennial II, 1976, p. 29, UMSL.
95 percent—Brandt, American Statistical Association, Mar. 1903, p. 239.
Girls with neatly parted hair—See circa 1900 photo of L’Ouverture School classroom in Wright, Discovering, p. 111.
proportion of black students—Brandt, American Statistical Association, Mar. 1903, p. 245.
Lelia missed only six days—L’Ouverture Register, 1898.
1899 school year—L’Ouverture Register, 1899.
She attended only twenty-three days—Ibid.
missed only thirteen days—L’Ouverture Register, 1900.
Oberlin graduate—100th Anniversary History of Charles Sumner High School, 1975, p. 13, UMSL.
Twentieth Century Girls’ Club—Nathan B. Young, Your St. Louis and Mine (St. Louis: N. B. Young, 1937), p. 23.
“open all day”—Rosebud Cafe ad, St. Louis Palladium, Jan. 2, 1904.
“uncrowned master”—Young, Your St. Louis, p. 62.
“I did washing”—St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Mar. 4, 1918.
gladly sent $7.85—Knoxville College Catalogue 1901, from Robert J. Booker, p. 9.
“sparingly granted”—Ibid.
“normal school”—Ibid., pp. 6–7.
50,000 residents—Ibid., p. 7.
As one of twenty-four students—Robert J. Booker letter to author, Feb. 25, 1999.
$6 blue serge Norfolk jacket—Knoxville College Catalogue 1901, from Robert J. Booker, pp. 10–11.
In Elnathan Hall—Ibid., p. 8.
forty-year-old James—James Breedlove, Death Certificate No. 004364, City of St. Louis, Bureau of Vital Statistics, Division of Health.
Solomon succumbed—Solomon Breedlove, Death Certificate, City of St. Louis, Bureau of Vital Statistics, Division of Health.
In November 1903—Davis gave the date as November 1903 in his petition to claim one-third of the Walker estate drawn up Jan. 9, 1920; Petition of Executrix for Authority to Compromise Claim of John H. Davis, Filed Apr. 5, 1920, Marion County Probate Court, Sarah Walker Estate No. 56-14285; I believe Sarah left Davis as early as 1902, possibly around the time Lelia left for Knoxville, because Peggie Prosser met Lelia in Jan. 1903 in Knoxville. Davis himself claimed she deserted him in 1903.
fall of 1902—Peggie Prosser to FBR, Oct. 2 (no year: 1921 or 1922).
three black newspapers—Brandt, American Statistical Association, Mar. 1903, p. 237.
as a barber and in a saloon—Gould’s St. Louis City Directory, 1903.
He was a mix—Louise/Kansas City, MO, to Charles J. Walker, Jan. 11, 1912, MWC/IHS.
well-shined shoes—“C. J. Walker Says: ‘As You Reap So Shall You Sow’—Former Husband of Well-Known Hair Manufacturer Regrets Past Life,” Indpls. Freeman, Mar. 21, 1914.
“what you would call yellow”—Violet Davis Reynolds, Feb. 17, 1985.
lifelong confidante—Young, Your St. Louis, p. 15.
taught at Banneker—Sharon Huffman/St. Louis Public Records and Schools Archives to author, July 2, 1998, E-mail; St. Louis Public Schools 1891–92 Annual Report, Appendix, p. lviii.
French knots—photo in Young, Your St. Louis, p. 13.
Grand Chancellor—“Knights of Pythias—Eighth Biennial Session of the Colored Supreme Lodge,” St. Louis Republic, Sept. 12, 1896, CTS/MHS.
Supreme Grand Secretary—Young, Your St. Louis, p. 11.
publisher of The Clarion—Julia Davis, “Saint Louis Public Schools Named for Negroes” (St. Louis: Banneker District St. Louis Public Schools, Nov. 1967), MHS; “Facts from The Palladium Scrap Book,” St. Louis Palladium, May 12, 1906.
“educated in night school”—Frank Lincoln Mather, Who’s Who of the Colored Race (Chicago: Who’s Who of the Colored Race, 1915), p. 274.
sixty-three washerwomen—47th Annual Report of the Board of Education of the City of St. Lou
is, Mo., for the Year Ending June 30, 1901 (St. Louis: Nixon-Jones Printing Co., 1902), p. 100.
In 1903 students older than twenty—“Night School,” St. Louis Palladium, Dec. 5, 1903.
including one at L’Ouverture—“Free Evening School,” St. Louis Palladium, Oct. 8, 1904.
“forming female classes”—“Vashon’s Female Classes,” St. Louis Palladium, Nov. 5, 1904.
St. Paul’s Mite Missionary Society—“150 Years of Service to God—St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church,” souvenir brochure (1991); “St. Paul A.M.E. Church—In the March of the Century,” 1940, loose page, UMSL.
“Membership within church clubs”—Darlene Clark Hine, When the Truth Is Told (Indianapolis: National Council of Negro Women/Indianapolis Section, 1981), pp. 26–27.
“She felt it was her duty”—A’Lelia Perry Bundles, Madam C. J. Walker: Entrepreneur (New York: Chelsea House, 1991), pp. 32–33.
“I tried everything”—The Walker Manufacturing Company (Indianapolis: Walker Manufacturing Company, 1911), p. 3, BTW/LOC, MW file.
CHAPTER 5 ANSWERED PRAYERS
“I was on the verge of becoming entirely bald”—The Walker Manufacturing Company (Indianapolis: Walker Manufacturing Company, 1911), p. 4, BTW/LOC, MW file.
“He answered my prayer”—“Queen of Gotham’s Colored 400,” Literary Digest, Vol. 55 (Oct. 13, 1917), p. 76, reprinted from Frances L. Garside, Kansas City Star.
“I made up my mind I would begin to sell it”—Ibid.
“When I made”—The Walker Co., p. 4.
“an inspiration from God”—Ibid., p. 5.
“place in the reach”—“It Makes Short Hair Long and Cures Dandruff,” Walker ad, Indpls. Freeman, Apr. 16, 1910, p. 2.
“Hair Feeder”—“Dr. W. D. Deshay’s Hair Feeder,” ad, St. Louis Palladium, May 12, 1906.
On Her Own Ground Page 41