Chester B. Himes

by Lawrence P. Jackson

  149“black people were treated”: QH, 73.

  149put Chester’s name first: Langston Hughes to Maurice Murphy, October 11, 1941, LM, box 3, folder “Langston Hughes.”

  149An orator and former track star: Walter Gordon, interview with author, April 30, 2010; Welford Wilson, “We White Americans,” Pittsburgh Courier, January 20, 1940, 7; “Athlete Lands City College Office Job,” New York Amsterdam News, September 21, 1935, 1.

  149“I was given the works”: CH to JAW, October 31, 1962, DCDJ, 21.

  150“a great influence”: Ibid.

  150more than a quarter: Gerald Horne, The Final Victim of the Blacklist: John Howard Lawson, Dean of the Hollywood Ten (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006), 132.

  150“Are you anti-Semitic?”: Dalton Trumbo, “Rough Draft of Letter to FBI Agents,” [c. 1944], in Additional Dialogue: Letters of Dalton Trumbo, 1942–1963, ed. Helen Marshall (New York: M. Evans, 1970), 31.

  151an African American film production company: John Kinloch to father, September 29, 1941, Charlotta Bass Papers, box 2, folder “John Kinloch,” Southern California Research Library, Los Angeles.

  151the word “duplicity”: Henry Lee Moon, “Memoirs: Encounters with the CP,” p. 24, MHLM, box 14, folder “Memoirs.”

  151offered analyses: Ella Winter to Loren Miller, March 5, 1939, LM, box 5, folder “Correspondence 1944–1946.”

  151“realistically” . . . “social history”: Loren Miller, “Blood Won’t Tell,” LM, box 33, folder 19.

  151“burn holes in the toughest skin”: Amina Hassan, Loren Miller: Civil Rights Attorney and Journalist (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2015), 11–12.

  152“I don’t know when”: CH to CVV, September 13, 1946.

  152Kenneth Littauer: CH to Henry Lee Moon, December 8, 1941, MHLM, box 1, folder “Correspondence.”

  152“got to feeling funny about it”: Ibid.

  153“things are getting a little pressing”: CH to Henry Lee Moon, December 2, 1941, MHLM, box 1, folder “Correspondence.”

  153“This town is getting too hot”: CH to Henry Lee Moon, December 8, 1941.

  153apprenticed as a shipfitter trainee: QH, 74–75.

  153“I think the suggestion”: Arthur Huff Fausett, “I Write as I See,” Pittsburgh Courier, February 7, 1942, 4; “Suspect in Attack on Woman Lynched by Mob in Missouri,” Los Angeles Times, January 26, 1942, 1; “The Courier’s Double ‘V’ for a Double Victory,” Pittsburgh Courier, February 14, 1942, 1; Lee Finkle, “The Conservative Aims of Militant Rhetoric: Black Protest During World War II,” Journal of American History (December 1973): 694.

  154Holland had wowed radio audiences: Frank Daugherty, “ ‘Ninotchka’ Influence Noted; New Negro Tenor for Screen,” Christian Science Monitor, September 13, 1940, 8; Langston Hughes to Arna Bontemps, May 26, 1941, in Selected Letters of Langston Hughes, 82.

  154pressure to build black morale: Clayton Koppes and Gregory Black, “Blacks, Loyalty, and Motion Picture Propaganda in World War Two,” Journal of American History (September 1986): 384, 392–93.

  155“restriction of Negroes”: Herman Hill, “Change of Attitude Observed,” Pittsburgh Courier, August 8, 1942, 20.

  155Hollywood Writers Mobilization: “Chester Himes Paints Local Scene in Novel.”

  155“We’ve been discriminating”: “Native Sons,” Communiqué: Hollywood Writers Mobilization for Defense, April 10, 1942, 6, Southern California Library, Los Angeles.

  155“I don’t believe we”: Herman Hill, “Change of Attitude Observed,” Pittsburgh Courier, August 8, 1942, 20.

  156“I don’t want no niggers”: MMH-DCDJ, 207.

  156heralded the appointment: “Phil Carter, Harlem Scribe, in Film Job,” Chicago Defender, October 31, 1942, 21.

  156“degrading”: Quoted in Hill, “Change of Attitude Observed,” 20.

  15780,000 blacks: Errol Wayne Stevens, Radical L.A.: From Coxey’s Army to the Watts Riots, 1894–1965 (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2009), 259.

  157“unforgettable” May 9: Mary Oyama, “A Nisei Report from Home,” Common Ground, Winter 1946, 26, “Mary Mittwer,” 1940 U.S. Census, California, Los Angeles, sheet no. 7A.

  157a similarly committed writer: CH to Henry Lee Moon, May 25, 1942, MHLM, box 1, folder “Correspondence.”

  158his unforgiving manner: Brad Pye Jr., “Washington, Johnson, Bradley Hold Rank of Lieutenant,” Los Angeles Times, June 25, 1959, B17.

  158notorious for shooting: R. J. Smith, The Great Black Way: Los Angeles in the 1940s and the Lost African American Renaissance (New York: PublicAffairs, 2006), 114–15; Nat Freedland, “A Black Cop in Old L.A. Tells Story,” Los Angeles Times, March 29, 1970, P14; “Bring No Proof: Delegation Complains About Conduct of Policeman,” Los Angeles Times, February 20, 1916, I10; “Vindication for Negro Patrolman,” Los Angeles Times, March 28, 1916, I12; “Ten Policemen Now Awaiting Hearings,” Los Angeles Times, May 4, 1920, I14; “May Be First to Die in New Gas Chamber,” Pittsburgh Courier, April 23, 1938, 12.

  158“pitiless bastards”: “Chester Himes” [interview with Michael Mok], in Conversations with Chester Himes, ed. Michel Fabre and Robert Skinner (Jackson: University of Mississippi Press, 1995), 107.

  158“how I managed”: Jess Kimbrough, Defender of Angels (New York: Macmillan, 1969), 15; J. Kimbrough, “Georgia Sundown,” Water: A Play in One Act / Georgia Sundown: A Drama in One Act (Los Angeles: Theater Journal Publishing, 1940).

  158“much better writer”: CH to Henry Lee Moon, May 25, 1942.

  158wrote to Sterling Brown: CH to Sterling Brown, March 15, 1942, SAB, box 8, folder 1930–1949.

  159“I have just about come”: CH to Henry Lee Moon, May 25, 1942.

  159fifteen hundred or so members: Horne, Final Victim of the Blacklist, 115. According to New York literary Communist Lloyd Brown, Perry claimed that CH actually joined the Party during this period, but was expelled for sexually assaulting white women: Alan Wald, “Narrating Nationalisms: Black Marxism and Jewish Communists Through the Eyes of Harold Cruse,” in Left of the Color Line: Race, Radicalisms, and Twentieth-Century Literature, ed. Bill V. Mullen and James Smethurst (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2003), 156.

  160activists like Dorothy Healey: Dorothy Healey and Maurice Isserman, Dorothy Healey Remembers: A Life in the American Communist Party (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990), 91.

  160“as Jim-Crowed”: CH to JAW, October 31, 1962, 21.

  160“mental corrosion of race prejudice”: QH, 76.

  160thirty-year-old Eluard McDaniel: Alan Wald, Exiles from a Future Time: The Forging of the Mid-Twentieth Century Left (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2002), 285; Adrienne Ruggiero, American Voices from the Great Depression (Tarrytown, N.Y.: Benchmark, 2005), 73–74; Eluard Luchell McDaniel, Bumming in California (New York: Viking, 1937), 112–18.

  161“regardless of the capitalist politics”: CH to editor, People’s Daily World, August 14, 1942, 4.

  161“Now, in the year 1942”: CH, “Now Is the Time! Here Is the Place!” Opportunity, September 1942, 271.

  161“the character of this writer”: Ibid.

  162“fight to preserve and make strong”: Ibid., 273–74.

  162“qualified white mechanics”: Stevens, Radical L.A., 266.

  162“she would mother”: CH, “In the Night,” Opportunity, November 1942, 335, 334.

  163“I can revert”: Ibid., 349, 335.

  164“Led by Uncle Tom’s son”: CH, “Heaven Has Changed,” The Crisis, March 1943, 83.

  164ceramics class: “Los Angeles Defense Workers Learn the Art of Ceramics from U.S.C. Professor,” Pittsburgh Courier, September 11, 1943, 9.

  164“respected and included”: QH, 75.

  165“When the war is over”: Clore Warne to Fletcher Bowron, May 25, 1943, LM, box 5, folder 1.

  165nightsticks on disabled Latino men: Luis Alvarez, The Power of the Zoot: Youth Culture and Resistance During World War II (Berkeley: University of Californi
a Press, 2008), 174.

  165“eye-witness of the recent riots”: CH, “Zoot Riots Are Race Riots,” The Crisis, July 1943, 201.

  166delinquency suitably corrected: Lawrence E. Davies, “Zoot Suits Become Issue on the Coast,” New York Times, June 13, 1943, E10.

  166“the birth of the storm troopers”: CH, “Zoot Riots Are Race Riots,” 201.

  166“aimless bridge games”: Smith, The Great Black Way, 100.

  166“the compulsion making”: CH to JAW, October 31, 1962, 22.

  167“the ruin of a golden dream”: Will Thomas [Bill Smith], The Seeking (New York: A. A. Wyn, 1953), 114, 122.

  168“he was that type of mulatto black”: QH, 127.

  168“I—I don’t know just when”: CH, “So Softly Smiling,” The Crisis, October 1943, 315.

  169“Here I sit”: Mollie Moon to Henry Lee Moon, August 28, 1943, MHLM, box 1, folder “Correspondence.”

  169“During the past couple of years”: CH, “Statement of Plan of Work” (1944), p. 1, CH-RF.

  170“success as an individual”: Ibid.

  170“the hard way”: Ibid., p. 16.

  170“dangerous, explosive”: Ibid., p. 18.

  170“He knows that the Negro”: Ibid., p. 19.

  170“strong and shrewd”: Mr. N. R. Howard, “Letters of Reference—Chester B. Himes,” p. 3, CH-RF.

  170“dynamic and comprehensive”: Mr. Henry Lee Moon, “Letters of Reference—Chester B. Himes,” p. 1, CH-RF.

  171telegraph the fund: Henry Lee Moon, telegram to Vandi Haygood, February 9, 1944, CH-RF; Alfred Perkins, Edwin Rogers Embree: The Julius Rosenwald Fund, Foundation Philanthropy and American Race Relations (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2011), 189.

  171“consideration of his own”: Howard, “Letters of Reference,” p. 4.

  171“We have never met him”: Mr. Roy Wilkins, “Letters of Reference—Chester B. Himes,” p. 4, CH-RF.

  171“The Negro has been”: Patrick Washburn, A Question of Sedition: The Federal Government’s Investigation of the Black Press During World War II (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986), 101.

  171“Hitler ought to get you”: “Singer Charges Police Beating in Georgia City,” Chicago Daily Tribune, July 17, 1942, 5; “Beaten in Georgia, Says Roland Hayes,” New York Times, July 17, 1942, 9.

  172taking advantage of every contact: “The People We Know,” The War Worker, November 1943, 6.

  172The participants included: “Sproul Welcomes Writers Congress,” Los Angeles Times, October 2, 1943, A1; “Racial Tolerance Needed in Laws Writers Told,” Los Angeles Times, October 3, 1943, A1.

  172“tarts of the Negro’s daughters”: Koppes and Black, “Blacks, Loyalty, and Motion Picture Propaganda,” 392.

  172“Here I am—exhibit A”: Walter White, “People and Places: Writers Congress,” Chicago Defender, October 23, 1943, 15.

  172In December, Trumbo would officially: Trumbo, Letters of Dalton Trumbo, 146.

  172Rex Ingram had too: Horne, Final Victim of the Blacklist, 159.

  173“who have never been permitted”: CH, “The People We Know,” 6.

  173“If, after reading”: Ibid., 7.

  173The Army called him up: “Report,” February 3, 1945, p. 2, CH-FBI.

  173“appeal to carnality”: “Himes Doesn’t Like Musical Sweet ‘N’ Hot,” California Eagle, February 17, 1944, 109.

  174“Those that are on the other side”: Ibid.

  174“domestic reasons”: QH, 75.

  175“It is difficult to express”: CH to Vandi Haygood, April 24, 1944, CH-RF.

  175“our author argues brilliantly”: CH, “Negro Martyrs Are Needed,” The Crisis, May 1944, 159.

  175“the enforcement of the Constitution”: Ibid., 159.

  176“We have not achieved”: Ibid., 174.

  176“You will note”: “CHESTER B. HIMES” and “Report,” July 10, 1944, pp. 3–4, CH-FBI; “Report,” January 8, 1945, p. 11, CH-FBI.

  176“every morning”: CH, “All God’s Chillun Got Pride,” The Crisis, June 1944, 188, 189.

  177“He is proud of their independence”: CH, “Statement of Plan” (1944), p. 17.

  177“complexion was black”: CH, “All God’s Chillun,” 189.

  178Jean now worked closely with: Christy Fox, “Caravan Programs Outlined,” Los Angeles Times, June 21, 1944, A5.

  178“I gave up my good”: Michael Carter, “This Story Had to Be Told,” Afro-American, January 5, 1946, 10.

  178“It hurt for my wife”: QH, 75.

  178“Shattered” by the “mental corrosion”: Ibid., 76.

  179“defiantly” and “without thought”: CH to CVV, February 18, 1948, CVVP, box He–Hols, folder “Himes, Chester B. 1948–1951.”

  7. TRYING TO WIN A HOME

  180“Harlem’s most talked”: Jervis Anderson, This Was Harlem: 1900–1950 (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1982), 341, 343.

  180“Was Chester drunk?”: QH, 178.

  181“tallest and best kept”: CH, “New York 1944” [introduction to 1972 CBS news program and interview], CHP-T, box 29, folder 8.

  181Race, Sex and War: “Chester Himes Writes Three Novels, Wins Award,” Chicago Defender, October 14, 1944, 16.

  181Henry had left his federal job: “CIO Political Action Committee Names Ex-Clevelander to Staff,” Cleveland Call and Post, April 8, 1944, 1B.

  181Sidney Hillman: Bill Cunningham, “On Sidney Hillman and the Political Action Committee,” Atlanta Constitution, July 20, 1944, 9.

  182“all of labor’s gains”: “CIO Political Action Committee Names Ex-Clevelander,” 1B.

  182he advocated a permanent: “CIO Political Action Committee Supports Negro Rights Action,” Cleveland Call and Post, July 8, 1944, 11A; Henry Lee Moon, “The Truth About PAC,” Chicago Defender, October 21, 1944, 1–2.

  182Hastie resigned: “Hastie Threat to Bolt PAC Gets Little Support,” Chicago Defender, August 26, 1944, 1.

  182prominent black Communist artists: “Seven Negroes on New Political Action Unit,” New York Amsterdam News, July 22, 1944, A12.

  183“strangely religious” elements: QH, 76.

  183“This is social equality”: CH to CVV, February 2, 1949, CVVP, box He–Hols, folder “Himes, Chester B. 1948–1951.”

  183Women’s Division: “Anne Mason Opens Western Tour of Political Action Committee,” Cleveland Call and Post, August 19, 1944, 5A.

  183“Brilliant and charming”: Polly Johnson, interview with Michel Fabre, n.d. MF, box 6, folder 31.

  183“I lost myself ”: QH, 76.

  184“had been a charade”: Kenneth Robert Janken, White: The Biography of Walter White, Mr. NAACP (New York: New Press, 2003), 328; CH, Pinktoes (1961; repr., New York: Dell, 1966). The subplot of the 1961 novel Pinktoes is the furious machinations of the nominal protagonist Mamie Mason to force Juanita Wright, wife of Wallace Wright, “the great Negro race leader of one sixty-fourth Negro blood” who is “a small blond man with a small blond mustache” (pp. 68–69), and who “looked so much like a white man” (82), to attend a party at Mamie’s home.

  184“the decadent, rotten sense”: CH, Lonely Crusade (1947; repr., New York: Thunder’s Mouth, 1997), 48.

  184“sometimes one of frustration”: Bucklin Moon, “Memoir,” Bucklin Moon Papers, box 1, folder 16, Manuscripts and Archives, Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida.

  184worked his way up: “Bucklin Moon,” Publishers Weekly, June 19, 1943, 2309.

  184“with a feeling akin”: Bucklin Moon, “On Black Causes/Colleges,” Bucklin Moon Papers, box 1, folder 35.

  185“one of the greatest”: Bucklin Moon to Maxim Lieber, November 3, 1944, Maxim Lieber Papers, box 20, folder 1075, Newberry Library, Chicago.

  185“strong feeling[s]”: Ibid.

  185“too many negative novels”: Bucklin Moon, “The Race Novel,” New Republic, November 16, 1946, 830.

  185“that deals with American Negroes”: “Doubleday, Doran Makes First George Washington Carver Award,” Publishers Weekly, June 9
, 1945, 2287.

  185on October 19, 1944: Robert Smith to CH, August 4, 1969, CHP-T, box 1, folder 8.

  186“What frightens me most”: CH, “Democracy Is for the Unafraid,” in Primer for White Folks, ed. Bucklin Moon (New York: Doubleday, 1945), 479.

  186“the white man’s sudden consciousness”: Ibid., 482.

  186“famed get-togethers”: “Socially Speaking: Last Thursday,” New York Amsterdam News, November 4, 1944, 12A.

  186“for the debasement”: “Rev. Grant Reynolds’ Crusade,” Cleveland Call and Post, October 14, 1944, 8B.

  187“career from medicine”: “Chester Himes Writes Three Novels,” 16.

  187he missed voting: QH, 76.

  187“a puritan all my life”: Ibid., 13.

  188“not known to be”: SAC Los Angeles, office memorandum, to Director FBI, November 25, 1944, CH-FBI.

  188confidential parties: CH to JAW, October 31, 1962, DCDJ, 23.

  188“deal with life”: Constance H. Curtis, “About Books: What Is Obscenity,” New York Amsterdam News, April 29, 1944, 10A.

  188“a real literature”: Constance H. Curtis, “About Books: Shortage of Negro Authors,” New York Amsterdam News, June 17, 1944, 10A.

  188man originally from Oklahoma City: HF, 13.

  189Ralph speaking at an event: Arnold Rampersad, Ralph Ellison (New York: Knopf, 2008), 182.

  189Ellison had secured a deal: Lawrence Jackson, Ralph Ellison: Emergence of Genius (New York: Wiley, 2002), 299.

  190“congenial and attentive”: HF, 14.

  190The guests included Cuban writer: “Langston Hughes Gives an International Party Here,” New York Amsterdam News, December 16, 1944, 13A; Langston Hughes to Arna Bontemps, December 8, 1944, in Arna Bontemps/Langston Hughes Letters, 1925–1967, ed. Charles H. Nichols (New York: Paragon, 1990), 176.

  190L.A. was his “home town”: Loren Miller to CH, December 27, 1944, LM, box 3, folder 1.

  190“reigning in the place”: CH to JAW, October 31, 1962, 23.

  191a “very small and prejudiced minority”: Michel Fabre, The Unfinished Quest of Richard Wright, 2nd ed. (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1993), 255–56, 264.

  191“found me deeply involved”: QH, 76.

  191Friends remembered a drunk Chester: Johnson interview.