24Ethel Payne followed: The transcript for Payne at the Chicago Training School lists her high school classes: copy in author’s possession; ELPOH, 7.
24Miss Dixon’s English: Charles A. Fenton, The Apprenticeship of Ernest Hemingway: The Early Years (New York: Farrar, Straus & Young, 1954), 8.
25Payne fell under Dixon’s spell: ELPOH, 23–24.
25One day as English class began: Dixon was indeed one of Hemingway’s two favorite English teachers.
26One month after: Death certificate, 6005226 1926–02–21, Cook County, IL.
26Thelma, the second-oldest: Gray, “The Subject Is My Father,” ELPLC B8F1.
26On the evening: ELPOH, 6.
26The following month: Gray, “Historically Speaking,” ELPLC B7F8.
27In the fall of 1929: Margaret H. Dixon, “To My Graduating Class,” The Eagle, January 1930.
28The 1930s did not: Christopher Robert Reed, The Depression Comes to the South Side: Protest and Politics in the Black Metropolis, 1930–1933 (Bloomington: Indiana University Press), 12.
28Like canaries in a coal mine: ChDe, 3/22/1930, 13.
28The Payne family: Lyman B. Burbank, “Chicago Public Schools and the Depression Years of 1928–1937,” Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society 64 (Winter), 367.
29But no matter how: ELP, “Wiliam and Bessie Payne—Who They Were,” ELPOH, 8.
29Bessie’s indomitable spirit: ELPLOC B28F6.
29As for herself: ELPOH, 5; Gray, “My Parents as I Knew Them,” ELPLOC B28F6.
30At night the family: “She did not think herself a genius by any means,” Alcott said of Jo, “but when the writing fit came on, she gave herself up to it with entire abandon, and led a blissful life, unconscious of want, care, or bad weather, while she sat safe and happy in an imaginary world, full of friends almost as real and dear to her as any in the flesh.” Louisa May Alcott, Little Women (New York: Signet, 2004), 246. ELP, “Wiliam and Bessie Payne—Who They Were,” and ELP Convocation Speech at Fisk University, 9/12/1983, ELPLOC B28F6.
30In the midst of the hard times: ELPOH, 8.
30The odds, however: ChDe, 3/29/1930; ELPOH, 9.
31When she began at Crane: American Interracial Peace Committee press release January 1930, WEBDBP; ChDe, 1/18/1930, 10.
31Payne decided to enter: ChDe, 7/19/1930, A1. I tried to locate the winning essays, but none of the archives related to the competition retained copies.
31Despite this success: ELP to Du Bois, 11/12/1931, WEBDBP.
31The Great Depression: Christopher Robert Reed, The Depression Comes to the South Side: Protest and Politics in the Black Metropolis (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2011), 134–135.
32In the fall of 1930: AmNe, 10/8/1930, 2; Quoted in Roi Ottley, The Lonely Warrior: The Life and Times of Robert S. Abbott (Chicago: Regnery, 1955), 294. Other magazines that came out of Chicago around this time included Half-Century, American Life, Reflexus, and Bronzeman.
32Abbott’s Monthly put out: Craig H. Werner and Sandra Shannon, “Foundations of African American Modernism, 1910–1950,” Cambridge History of African American Literature (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011), 259; ChDe, 8/9/1930, 13. In describing their plans, the magazine’s editors announced they were seeking “short or long stories of the fiction type, success stories of individuals, human-interest stories of the confession class, sketches from artists and material in general for magazine purposes.”
32Well-crafted and clever: ELP, “Driftwood,” Abbott’s Monthly, Vol.1, No. 3, December 1930, 46–78.
35In November 1931: ELP to Du Bois, 11/12/1931, WEBDBP.
35Payne left Crane: College transcript provided by Garrett–Evangelical Theological Seminary, copy in possession of author.
36In her spare time: ChDe, 4/16/1932, 12.
36Payne’s success with Abbott’s Monthly: Hazel Rowley, Richard Wright: The Life and Times (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2001), 63. Wright was never paid for the story.
36In the spring of 1934: Dana Lee Roberts, American Women in Mission: A Social History of Their Thought and Practice (Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 1997), 155; John Thomas McFarland and Benjamin Severance Winchester, editors, The Encyclopedia of Sunday Schools and Religious Education, Vol.1 (London: Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1916), 212. The school charged no tuition and was open “to any young man or woman of ability, determination, and consecration,” according to the Methodist Year Book 1921 (New York: Methodist Book Concern, 1921), 67.
37On the evening of June 15, 1934: 1934 Yearbook on file at the Garrett–Evangelical Theological Seminary; Chicago Commission, The Negro in Chicago, 325.
37Instead Payne used: Anne Meis Knupfer, “ ‘To Become Good, Self-Supporting Women’: The State Industrial School for Delinquent Girls at Geneva, Illinois, 1900–1935,” Journal of the History of Sexuality, Vol.9, No. 4 (Oct. 2000), 421; ELPOH, 11.
37When Payne arrived: Descriptions taken from various sources, including Herman M. Adler, Cook County and the Mentally Handicapped (New York: National Committee for Mental Hygiene, 1918), 56–58.
37Payne was hired: Ruth M. Lunn, “My Years of Service for the State of Illinois,” News Notes, Illinois State Training School for Girls, February 1971.
38Payne’s wards were: Michael A. Rembis, Defining Deviance: Sex, Science, and Delinquent Girls, 1890–1960 (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2011), 96–97, 103–104.
38The job was exhausting: ELPOH 10–11.
38But after a year and a half: Personal Bio Folder, ELPMSRC B1667; Wright, Native Son, 20.
39The aspiration to be: Educational Papers, ELPMSRC B1657.
40Monotonously stamping lending: Pamela Jetaun Sherrod, Ethel L. Payne: Coverage of Civil Rights as a Washington Correspondent, 1954–1958 (master’s thesis, Michigan State University, 1979), 20–21; First Annual Report of the Illinois Inter-Racial Commission for the period August 1943 to December 1944, 53.
40Preparations for war: ChDe 1/11/1941, 8; 8/31/1940, 7; and 2/22/1941, 8.
41Over six feet tall: ChDe, 2/8/1941, 14. James Farmer described Randolph this way, “A. Philip Randolph was a Great Dane—the majesty, the gentleness, the noble head, the supreme dignity, the grace of movement.” James Farmer, Lay Bare the Heart: An Autobiography of the Civil Rights Movement (Fort Worth, TX: TCU Press, 1985), 156.
41The planned protest: AtWo, 6/18/1941, 1.
42To the president: PiCo, 1/25/1941, 13.
42Twenty-nine-year-old Payne: ELPOH, 14.
42She was an active: Crisis, July 1940, 205 and December 1941, 391; Payne became a NAACP PANCA, the name given to those who enlisted more than twenty members. The name was created by transposing the letters in NAACP; ChTr, 8/25/1946, 8.
43Nor was she sheepish: ChTr, 2/14/1937, 16.
43Hammering away at: ChTr, 2/15/1942, SW1.
44The prickly personalities: Cynthia Taylor in A. Philip Randolph: The Religious Journey of an African American Labor Leader (New York: New York University Press, 2006) noted the friction but felt it was mostly between the women and Burton. “Phil is extremely attractive to women, which results in his getting some of them to work like Trojans in the causes which he heads. But his work schedule scarcely gives him time to pay attention to ’em, which often causes injured feelings.” Morris Milgram to Daniel James, 1/16/1949, APRPLOC. Neva Ryan told Payne that she would refuse to sit in on the meeting with Randolph, claiming that Payne was to blame for the delays. “I practically forced Ethel to call the meeting of the Planning Committee when you were here,” she wrote in a complaining note to Randolph. “I further informed her that if she did not start things moving that I would take over.”
44In the end: A copy of the brochure may be found in ELPLOC B4F1.
44Armed with the flyer: Neva Ryan to APR, 4/27/1942, APRLOC MOWM Correspondence Folder.
45As the day of the rally neared: ELP, instructions for blackout, APRLOC B36, MOWM Circulars Folder.
45The work paid off: ChTr, 6/27/1942, 20; PiCo, 7/4/1942, 14; ChDe,
7/4/1942, 1.
46The news coverage: ChTr, 6/27/1942, 20.
46The rally took in: ELP to AR, 7/3/1942, APRLOC MOWM Correspondence Folder; APR to ELP, 7/7/1942, APRLOC MOWM Correspondence Folder.
46The rally over: PiCo, 81/1942, 11.
47She took the lesson: ELP to A. Philip Randolph, 12/16/1941, APRLC MOWM Correspondence Folder.
47With rest, Payne: AmNe, 9/26/1942, 5 and 10/24/1942, 3; APR to ELP, 10/8/1941, APRLC MOWM Correspondence Folder.
47In 1943: ELP to APR, 6/5/1943, APRLC MOWM Correspondence Folder.
48Once again rebellion: Paula F. Pfeffer, A. Philip Randolph, Pioneer of the Civil Rights Movement (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1990), 301. According to Pfeffer, Randolph remained sexist. In 1963 women reporters complained they were confined to the National Press Club balcony for a pre-march speech. “What’s wrong with the balcony?” asked Randolph. To which the women replied, “What’s wrong with the back of the bus?”
48She picked up: ELP to APR, May 24, 1943, APRLC MOWM Correspondence Folder.
48Payne had reasons: Quoted in David Lucander, It Is a New Kind of Militancy: March on Washington Movement, 1941–1946 (PhD dissertation, University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2010), 69.
49The riots in Detroit: ChDe, 7/10/1943, 1; AfAm, 7/10/1943, 1.
50During the meeting: Merl E. Reed, “The FBI, MOWM, and Core 1941–1947,” Journal of Black Studies, Vol.21, No. 4 (June 1991), 467–468; Luncander, It Is a New Kind of Militancy, 67–68.
50The concern was real: ChDe, 7/31/1943, 14; ChDe, 7/17/1943, 3; ChDe, 7/24/1943, 2.
51Governor Green was: ChTr, 8/1/1943, 14; ChDe, 8/14/1943, 20.
51“I hereby appoint”: Gov. Green to ELP, 7/31/1943, ISA.
52In September 1943: NYT, 9/19/1943, 18; AtWo, 9/13/1943, 1; ChDe, 9/27/1943, 12.
52In one of its: Commission Minutes 10/1/1943, IRC; ChDe, 10/9/1943, 6.
53Payne’s impatience for: ChDe, 10/9/1943, 6.
53When members turned: Commission Minutes, 11/3/1943, IRC.
54Frustrated, Payne nonetheless: Commission Minutes, 11/3/1943, IRC.
54In Washington on: ELP to APR, 1/24/1944, ELPLOC B4F1.
55Payne retreated to: APR to Francis Biddle, 1/28/1944, ELPLOC B4F1.
55The failure to get: ELP to APR, 9/2/1945, ELPLOC B4F1.
56The war’s end: ELP to APR, 9/2/1945, ELPLOC B4F1.
56As desired as it was: ChDe, 8/18/1947.
57On a hot August day: According to ELP, there were ten of them who were arrested, including her sister and infant son. When the court case came up, the judge dismissed the charges and scolded the police for “bad judgment.” See short autobiography, ELPSCRBC B37; Personal Bio Folder, ELPMSRC, B1667.
58In 1948: ChTr, 12/8/1947, 5; ChDe, 3/27/1948, 5.
58During World War II: ELP to APR, 9/2/1945, ELPLOC B4F1.
59In March Payne: ELPOH, 17.
60Her mother’s consent: Fragment of ELP ltr to BP (June 1948 but undated); Scrapbook Folder. ELPMSC, Box 1160.
60Japan put a pause: Payne never revealed much about her romantic life. Her first beau’s name was Bernie Eskridge, with whom she played hooky from church. “At age 12 years old, Bernie Eskridge and I fell madly in love. I used to slip out of the house and go with him on his paper route. It busted up when he gave the 25-center valentine he had bought for me to Dorothy Wimbly,” said Payne (ChDe, 1/19/1974, 5). According to an essay she wrote for a class in 1940, Payne also dated a teacher for a while. ELP ltr to Bessie Davenport, 7/29/1983, ELPLOC, B5F1; ELPOH, 17–18. Paul is discussed in several of ELP’s letters from Japan, which is how we know his first name.
60Setting off by train: ELP ltr to unidentified sister, 6/10/1948, ELPJAJ.
61On June 15: Fragment of ELP ltr to Bessie Payne, (June 1948 but undated); Scrapbook Folder. ELPMSRC, Box 1160.
61After nearly two weeks: ELP ltr to unidentified sister 6/10/1948, ELPJAJ; ELPOH 19.
62Payne was assigned: ELP ltr to Thelma 10/4/1948, ELPJAJ.
62“There were rules”: Vivian Lee to author, 6/25/2012. Lee and her family remained friends with Payne all her life. Lee called her “Aunt Penny,” a nickname Payne got while serving in Japan.
62Being kept apart: Charley Cherokee, National Grapevine column, ChDe, 3/1/1947, 15.
63Black soldiers: AfAm, 6/1/1946, 7; Fred Gaffen, Cross-Border Warriors: Canadians in American Forces, Americans in Canadian Forces (Toronto: Dunburn Press, 1995), 160; Michael Cullen Green, Black Yanks in the Pacific: Race in the Making of American Military Empire after World War II (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2010), 102.
63Even so: Green, Black Yanks in the Pacific, 107.
63At the Seaview: ELP ltr to unidentified aunt and uncle, 3/9/1949 ELPSCBC Box 5; ELP ltr to RJ 8/23/1948 ELPJAJ; AfAm, 11/11/1950, 6; Pacific Stars & Stripes, 5/28/1949, 6; Vivian Lee interview with author, 7/17/2012.
64On a Saturday: Bruce M. Tyler, “Behind the Lines—Marguerite Davis,” Louisville Magazine, Nov.2006.
64Davis wanted to: Yukiko Koshiro, Trans-Pacific Racisms and the U.S. Occupation of Japan (New York: Columbia University Press, 1999), 161–163.
65Military law freed: Sey Nishimura, “Promoting Health in American-Occupied Japan: Resistance to Allied Public Health Measures, 1945–1952,” Public Health, August 2009, 99 (8) 1364–1375.
65But Payne was: ELP ltr to ARJ, 8/23/1948, ELPJAJ.
66As her first: ELP ltr to TG 1/9/1949, ELPSCRBC B5.
66As her second: ELP ltr to JT, 4/17/1949, ELPSCRBC B5; ELP to unidentified aunt and uncle, 3/9/1949 ELPSCRBN B5.
67At Nara Park: Japan typescript, ELPMSRC, Box 1160; ELP undated ltr to TG, ELPJAJ.
68She attended the war tribunals: ELPOH, 20 and 30.
68At the end of: ChDe, 1/21/1950, 9.
68Soon, however, the holiday: She met with the head of UNESCO in Japan and wrangled an invitation to dinner at the home of Komakichi Matsuoka, a socialist leader and trade unionist. “Mr. Matsuoka,” she said, “gave some very pertinent facts on the economic situation which I can use when I sit down to write.” Japan typescript, ELPMSRC, B1660; ELP ltr to TG, 3/28/1950, ELPJAJ.
69Payne’s superiors remained: Club Director-Tokyo, ELPMSRC, B1657.
69The occupation forces: ELP to TG date unclear August/September 1950, ELPJAJ. The original letter says, “of volunteer [unreadable word] are doing all they can . . .” To make the quotation grammatically correct I made the missing word volunteers.
70The burdens of war: Green, Black Yanks in the Pacific, 59.
71One of Ethel Payne’s: Charles Pomeroy, editor, Foreign Correspondents in Japan: Covering a Half-Century of Upheavals; From 1945 to the Present (Rutland, VT: Tuttle Publishing, 1998), 16.
71Hicks was impressed: AfAm, 11/11/1950, 6.
72But what really: Green, Black Yanks in the Pacific, 63.
72“By tradition”: ChDe, 11/11/1950, 13.
73By the standards: AfAm, 9/2/1950, A5.
73Like Payne: Robert H. Giles et al., Profiles in Journalist Courage (New York: Transaction Publishers, 2001), 70–71.
73Payne and Wilson: ChDe, 12/2/1950, 10
73Wilson filed a report: ELPOH, 31.
74When Wilson was: ChDe, 6/6/1991, 20.
74About a month: ELP, short autobiography, ELPSRBC, Box 37.
75“To get back to”: ChDe, 11/18/1950, 1.
75The identical headline: ChDe, 11/25/1950, 12.
76“If there was”: Jessie Parkhurst Guzman, Negro Year Book: A Review of Events Affecting Negro Life, 1941–1946. Alabama: Dept. of Records and Research, Tuskegee Institute. 1947, 386.
76MacArthur’s aides: The lawyer was Leon I. Greenberg, whom she retained for $100, a considerable sum for her. (Expense account, ELPMSRC, Box 1657.) Greenberg served as a defense counsel at the Japanese war crimes trials, which Payne had attended.
76In the early months: ChDe, 4/28/1951, 1.
77Concerned with survival: William T. Bowers et al., Black Soldier, White Army: The 24th Infantry Regiment in
Korea (Honolulu: University Press of the Pacific, 2005), 186–187. President Truman later reduced the death penalty sentence to twenty years, and the soldier served only five years before being released.
77When word of the: Diary, Thurgood Marshall Papers, Library of Congress, B57914.
77At the club: Marshall, who had already battled his share of racists in the United States, was unimpressed with MacArthur’s explanations. The lawyer reminded the general that the Air Force and Navy were already integrated but the Army, particularly those men under his charge, was not. MacArthur claimed he couldn’t find any qualified Negroes. But when he did, they would be integrated.
“Well, look, General,” said Marshall. “You’ve got all those guards out there with all this spit and polish and there’s not one Negro in the whole group.”
“There’s none qualified,” MacArthur replied.
“Well, what’s the qualification?” asked Marshall, to which MacArthur gave a discourse on battlefield accomplishments and the like.
“Well,” Marshall impatiently responded, “I just talked to a Negro yesterday, a sergeant, who has killed more people with a rifle than anybody in history. And he’s not qualified?”
“No.”
“Well, now, General, remember yesterday you had the big band playing at the ceremony over there?”
“Yes, wasn’t it wonderful?”
“Yeah. The Headquarters Band. It’s beautiful,” said Marshall. “Now, General, just between you and me, Goddamn it, don’t you tell me that there’s no Negro who can play a horn.” (Stephen Smith and Kate Ellis, Thurgood Marshall Before the Court, American Radio Works documentary. Transcript may be viewed at http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/marshall/.
77Meanwhile, hearing about: ELPOH, 33.
78Getting home was: ChDe, 4/28/1951, 1.
79In enormous disrepair: Peter Irons, Jim Crow’s Children: The Broken Promise of the Brown Decision (New York: Penguin Books, 2004), 80–95.
85In early April 1951: The religious analogy was inspired by similar veneration from others in the black press, such as “destined to be known as ‘the Negro bible.’” (Ebony, October 1970, 62); Timuel Black quoted in Alan Ehrenhalt, The Lost City: The Forgotten Virtues of Community in America (New York: Basic Books, 1995), 148.
Eye on the Struggle Page 39
