No Crystal Stair

by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson

  When I heard they were forcing Mr. Michaux to move, I thought, that’s it, I’m ready to start picketing at that office building site.

  So when the store reopened today, I hoof it on up there to check it out.

  It’s good to see so many old customers. And there’s a new sign above his door : Knowledge is power—you need it every hour. Read a Book.

  The Professor is still getting the message out, so things haven’t changed that much. College is back in session. I hope there’s something new from James Baldwin.

  LEWIS

  Moving was hell, but it gave us an opportunity to do a real inventory of our stock. Over two hundred thousand books. A far cry from the five I started with.

  Rent is higher, but we’re managing. The regulars are finding their way here, so it seems to be business as usual.

  Willie Stone

  I’ve been looking for something—a direction? an identity? When I mention this to one of the brothers at the Black Panther meeting, he tells me about the National Memorial African Bookstore in Harlem. So I go there and meet Mr. Michaux, this feisty little man they call The Professor.

  I tell him, “I’m learning how to get away from being a Negro. I’m looking for books about the African. Books that will teach me how to be a better black man.”

  “How to be a better black man?” he says. “Brother, you don’t learn how to be black from no damn book. I don’t care who wrote it. There isn’t one book in this store that can give you any soul. Soul is something that, if you are not born with it, forget it. So, young brother, that is your answer for getting your blackness from a book. You have to live, breathe, and be black to have blackness.”

  I look at the hundreds of books. It didn’t make sense. Wasn’t he going to let me read even one lousy book?

  Then his voice gentled down. “Brother, if you are already a true black person, then books will help you pick a better path and program. They can give you the knowledge of the failure of others. They can give you guidance for success in being black.”

  Mr. Michaux takes me to a little room in the back. It is cluttered with African artifacts, letters and pictures of famous blacks. Beautiful hand-carved African objects adorn the walls. Letters from George Washington Carver, Marian Anderson, and many other famous blacks hang on the wall. I know now I am in more than just a bookstore.

  I had intended to go to the store, maybe find one book, and leave. Instead, I stay all morning, lost in the culture surrounding me, and listening to conversation about black issues and heritage.

  Before I leave, I ask Mr. Michaux to recommend some books for me to read. He picks five, saying, “You bring these books back and I’m going to ask you questions. If you’ve read and understood the books, they’ll cost you nothing. If you can’t answer the questions correctly, you’re going to pay full price. Fair enough?”

  “Yes, sir!” I say before thinking about how I’ll pay for the books if I flunk his test.

  As I walk down 125th Street, I say to myself, “There’s no more Negro in me. There’s nothing but pure blackness.”

  FBI FILES

  JUNE 1968

  Title of Case:

  Louis Michaux, aka

  Louis H. Michaux

  Lewis Henry Michaux

  Lewis Henri Michaux

  Lewis H. Michaux

  Lewis Michaux

  RACIAL MATTERS

  During the month of May 1968, informants familiar with racial activity in the NYC area were contacted relative to MICHAUX’s connection with black nationalist activities in Harlem, NYC area. Sources advised they could furnish no pertinent information concerning subject’s involvement with any black nationalist activities nor the printing of antiwhite literature at the present time.

  Case is being placed in a closed status as information received failed to show subject as being currently active in black nationalist activities or with any black militant organization. Subject is therefore not being recommended for placement on the Security Index and/or the Rabble Rouser Index.

  In the event information is received showing subject to be active in black militant activities, then case will be reopened.

  LEWIS

  WASHINGTON, D.C. Seeing Brother in that hospital bed shook me. I’d never seen Lightfoot so vulnerable. This is a man who was always in charge. He held the reins. He wore the crown. But lying in that bed, he looked small. Feeble. Broken. I guess we’re all so busy living our lives that we don’t notice when age creeps up on us.

  Lightfoot and I had our differences. We’ve taken paths that usually led us to places the other couldn’t go without losing himself. I’m okay with that. And I think on some level, Brother understood this too. We have that much respect for each other.

  Mother always knew her favorite child would do great things. And Poppa, well, he would have his chest puffed out at what Lightfoot has accomplished.

  NATIONAL PRESS SERVICE

  OCTOBER 20, 1968

  NEGRO RELIGIOUS LEADER DIES AT 84

  WASHINGTON, D.C., October 20, Elder Lightfoot Solomon Michaux, charismatic Negro founder of the Church of God, died at Freedman’s Hospital today at the age of eighty-four. He had suffered a stroke in August.

  Known as the “Happy Am I” evangelist, Elder Michaux conducted his first church service in 1917 under a tent in his hometown of Newport News, Virginia, before a congregation of 150 people. He went on to establish seven churches. Elder Michaux, his choir and his theme song, “Happy Am I,” gained international attention through radio broadcasts, which began at WTOP in Washington in the early 1930s. The programs were picked up by the Columbia Broadcasting System and the British Broadcasting Company. His services later were aired on television station WTTG in Washington.

  After establishing his Washington, D.C., church under the Gospel Spreading Association in 1928, Elder Michaux’s fame was heightened by his dynamic marches and baptismal services featuring his “Cross Choir” of 156 trained singers. He baptized followers in the Potomac River and, later, at Griffith Stadium where he drew crowds as large as 25,000 people. Attracting both Negro and white followers to his ministry, Michaux was once arrested for holding racially integrated baptismal services.

  Elder Michaux established a monthly church publication, Happy News ; an employment agency for church and community members; a housing development for Negroes; and the Happy News Cafe, a lunchroom which fed people in need.

  Elder Michaux was a friend and political associate of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who admired the minister for his charitable work on behalf of Negroes during the Depression. Elder Michaux was also on close terms with FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover and President Harry S. Truman. President Dwight D. Eisenhower was an honorary deacon of the Washington Church of God.

  The son of a seafood merchant, Elder Michaux worked in his father’s business in Newport News before entering the ministry.

  Survivors include three sisters, Ruth Michaux (Washington, D.C.), Margaret Banks (New York, NY), and Jennie MacRae (Newport News, VA); and two brothers, Lewis Michaux (New York, NY) and Norris Michaux (Port Chester, NY).

  Funeral arrangements are not finalized, but services will take place at the Church of God in Newport News, Virginia. Elder Michaux will be buried next to his wife, Mary, at Pleasant Shade Cemetery, near the church.

  FBI FILES

  NOVEMBER 1968

  By means of a suitable pretext conducted by a Special Agent (SA) of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, November 5, 1968.

  NATIONAL MEMORIAL AFRICAN BOOKSTORE,

  NEW YORK CITY

  A confidential source of the New York Office advised that the National Memorial African Bookstore is operated by Lewis MICHAUX. MICHAUX originally set up the bookstore at 2107 Seventh Avenue, New York City. The current location for the bookstore is 101 West 125th Street, New York City. The store retails books both fiction and nonfiction, specializing in those about the Negro race.

  A source advised the National Memorial African Bookstore does not pu
blish or print books, but only sells them. Many of the books are of black nationalist theme such as can be purchased in drugstores and other business establishments in the Negro areas of New York City.

  The same confidential source advised that the National Memorial African Bookstore is not a gathering place for black nationalists, although various Harlem leaders have been seen purchasing books at the bookstore. There are no newspapers or periodicals of black extremist organizations for sale. Lewis MICHAUX seems to be semiretired and is definitely not an active black nationalist leader at this time. Those books observed for sale appeared to be published by nationally known publishing houses. MICHAUX has not been known to make any violent statements, or to encourage violence.

  LEWIS

  Lightfoot often began his sermons with, “My precious ones . . .”

  Seems I’m not among his chosen.

  I understand why Lightfoot cut me out of his will. We had our differences. He included me in the 1953 and the 1958 versions but gave my portion to Willie in the 1966 version. She’s been loyal to him and the church all these years.

  Because Mary died before Lightfoot, the court named me executor. I want to see the family through this, but now a fourth will has turned up—supposedly written in 1968—that leaves everything to the Church.

  I don’t believe it. If my brother wanted them Negroes to have the money, he’d’a left them the money.

  Charles E. Becknell

  I’d just finished reading Before the Mayflower as part of my fellowship work at Columbia University. A powerful book. I’ve always been interested in black history, but this course fueled something new in me.

  I figured the Schomburg library was the place to go in New York for black history research, so I asked one of my professors how to get there.

  “Yes,” he said, “but I think you also need to go to Michaux’s bookstore in Harlem.”

  He told me where to find it, and I walked across campus, through Morningside Park, and down to the bookstore.

  I introduced myself to Mr. Michaux and asked about John Hope Franklin’s From Slavery to Freedom. He directed me right to it. He seemed to have material on anything I asked about and some comment or piece of information to share.

  I’ve been spending a lot of my free time in Mr. Michaux’s bookstore. Yesterday, there was a man speaking, standing on a ladder on the street corner, and people were gathering around. I thought, “The guy’s nuts.”

  I asked somebody, “Who is he?”

  The man said, “His name is Charles Kenyatta.”

  I said, “That name sounds familiar.”

  He said, “Yeah, he was one of the lieutenants for Malcolm X.”

  I stayed around and listened. And learned.

  I did make it to the Schomburg library just so I could say I’ve been there, but everything I need is right at Mr. Michaux’s bookstore.

  BETTIE

  I’m worried about Lewis. Ever since Lightfoot’s passing, he hasn’t been the same. The spark, the lightness in his walk, is absent. The brothers had their conflicts, but their inner bond was never broken. Lewis feels this loss deeply.

  And just as he was starting to recover from relocating the store, the fiasco with the will began.

  First, we learned Lightfoot had disinherited Lewis. I wasn’t really surprised, knowing how offended Elder was by Lewis’s friendship with Malcolm. I suppose when Lightfoot finally accepted the fact there was nothing he could do to influence this alliance and realized he would never be able to rein Lewis back in to the Church, he gave up on his brother. Elder would say it was business. Church business. He surely had difficulty with anyone he could not control. So the disinheritance was no bolt from the blue.

  But now, as executor, Lewis is having to deal with multiple wills and the Church, the bank, the lawyers, and the family, all staking claims.

  My husband is pushing eighty. Keeping the store going and those trips to Washington for meetings about the estate are just too much for him. For me, as well. I do my best to run the business while he’s away, but I’m no spring chicken myself.

  LEWIS

  I was depending on Governor Rockefeller, but since the Rock left office, things have changed. They want me out so they can tear down this building. I just want to stay where I am until they finish the project.

  The higher-ups still insist there will be a place for the bookstore on the east side of the state office building. I want to believe them, but my faith is failing. And so is my spirit.

  I’m getting old. Tired.

  BETTIE

  AUTUMN Lewis received an eviction order today from the State of New York. We have to vacate the premises by January 1. This time, there’s no place to go. We understood there was no room for commercial businesses in the state building. But the eastern portion of the site was to house cultural, educational, and commercial facilities. It was our understanding that the bookstore would be in this eastern section. Now it appears there will be no eastern section.

  Rockefeller’s promise was empty. Though he’s no longer governor, Lewis has left messages for him, but there’s been no response. Governor Wilson has remained silent on the matter. I doubt state officials ever really intended to keep Rockefeller’s promise. It wouldn’t surprise me if relocation was just the first step in putting us out of business.

  Lewis is discouraged.

  I’m angry.

  JET MAGAZINE

  FEBRUARY 7, 1974

  EVICTION OF HARLEM BOOKSTORE OWNER

  IS PROTESTED BY LEADERS

  Harlemites are rallying by the hundreds around Lewis H. Michaux, owner of the National Memorial African Bookstore, to protest a state eviction order that would remove the bookstore from its 125th Street location in the heart of Harlem.

  In 1968, Michaux vacated his original location further up the block on Seventh Avenue to make way for the new state office building, and moved to his present location. According to Michaux, former Gov. Nelson A. Rockefeller told him: “We’re going to leave that building at the present site until the state office building is completed.”

  Then, last fall, Michaux received the state eviction order effective January 1 of this year, but he could not find suitable space to house his large collection of books. According to his latest inventory, “we have more than 225,000 books, particularly on black people,” Michaux said.

  The Memorial Bookstore is also a kind of shrine for serious students of black life and culture. In addition to his collection of books, Michaux has photographs, paintings and mementos of leaders of African countries of the post-colonial period.

  The building that houses the bookstore is the last remaining edifice on the site being cleared for the eastern portion of the state office building projected to house cultural, educational and commercial facilities. If all goes well, the future site of the bookstore will be in the eastern part. But in the interim, Michaux and his supporters do not want the Harlem community to be deprived of the Memorial Bookstore for any period of time.

  Harlem Hustler

  When we heard the Man was messing with him we told The Professor we could help.

  I said, “Just say the word, Prof. We’ll burn down that new state building. Let those mothers know they’re jerking the wrong people around.”

  The Professor smiled but shook his head, “That’s no way to hold a discussion.”

  I could tell he thought about it though.

  LEWIS

  When bad things happen, you find out who your friends are. Seems I have many, and they’ve been raising hell all over the place about this eviction. I’m grateful. The protests may have bought us more time, but I know the reality.

  Even if the state gives us a location, I’m getting too old to run things. The bookstore is my baby, but it’s gotten too heavy for me. And Bettie’s made it clear that when I retire, she’ll be ready too. I don’t blame her. She’s worked like a dog right next to me. If there’s a heaven, that’s where she’s going.

  Lewis Jr. is at Ithaca. His m
ind is on basketball and women, as it should be. He’s a nineteen-year-old college kid. Not that he doesn’t care about the store. I know he does. But bookselling is my passion, not his.

  I doubt I can find a buyer. The uncertainty of the location is a gamble investors won’t bet on. I wouldn’t. As a young man, maybe, but not anymore.

  Now I know how Poppa must have felt. He spent his whole life building a business and died knowing it would die with him.

  The days of the National Memorial African Bookstore are numbered. It looks like mine are too. You’d think those sore throats I’ve been having this past year would have tipped me off. Should have gone to see a doctor back then, but I figured I’d go, give him my money, and he’d look in my throat and say, “Here, take some cough medicine and go to bed.” I can do that myself for free. And who’s had time, with the eviction. And Brother’s estate. Even if I’d seen a doctor, would it have mattered? By the time I felt the symptoms, the cancer had already found its home in my throat.

  I guess I could blame it on cigarettes. But the truth is, nobody made me smoke ’em. Well . . . nature produces you and nature reduces you. I’m bucking against nature now. Nature has told me to sit down before I fall down. But I want to die on the battlefield.

  Gus Travers,

  New York City Newspaper Reporter

  (OFF THE RECORD)

  When I first saw the ad, I’d hoped Michaux was just trying to reduce stock, so there’d be fewer books to put in storage until he could reopen at a new site. But it’s clear he’s going out of business. The last paragraph of the ad clinched it: “We’re going to call it a day . . .”