Dovey Undaunted
Page 13
7Grandma Rachel’s birth: Her death certificate gives December 30, 1872 (“North Carolina, Death Certificates, 1909–1976,” digital image s.v. “Rachel M. Graham,” Ancestry.com). Her Social Security application gives December 30, 1871 (“US, Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007,” digital image s.v. “Rachel Millis Graham,” Ancestry.com).
9“They were gnarled . . . poor broken feet”: Roundtree and McCabe, Mighty Justice, p. 3.
10“I ran and fought . . . his way with me”: Roundtree and McCabe, Mighty Justice, p. 4.
10“with a swaying awkwardness . . .”: Roundtree and McCabe, Mighty Justice, p. 5.
10Dovey’s residence and her father’s death: “Standard Certificate of Death,” North Carolina State Board of Health and Bureau of Vital Statistics, digital image s.v. “James Johnson,” Ancestry.com.
11“I was too young . . . my mother was crying”: Roundtree and McCabe, Mighty Justice, p. 6.
2: God’s House
12“rich alto”: Roundtree and McCabe, Mighty Justice, p. 17.
12“a rich tapestry . . .”: Roundtree and McCabe, Mighty Justice, pp. 14–15.
13shogun houses: “Shotgun Houses,” Encyclopedia of African American Society, ed. Gerald D. Jaynes, vol. 2 (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2005), p. 744; “Shotgun Houses,” Data Center, http://www.datacenterresearch.org/pre-katrina/tertiary/shotgun.html. Last accessed February 24, 2020.
13“We pieced out. . .”: Roundtree and McCabe, Mighty Justice, p. 15.
13Grandpa’s store: 700 S. Plum as per Charlotte, North Carolina City Directory, compiled by Ernest H. Miller (Charlotte, NC: Piedmont Directory Co., 1917), p. 249. In a 1993 interview Dovey’s sister Eunice remembered that Grandpa also managed a business for a white man. Hagans, Zenobia Gray, and Eunice Johnson Brown interview, Behind the Veil Oral History Project: Documenting African-American Life in the Jim Crow South, https://repository.duke.edu/dc/behindtheveil/btvnc02024. Last accessed March 15, 2020.
13“left a hole”: Roundtree and McCabe, Mighty Justice, p. 7.
14James Johnson’s employment: He was identified as a “common laborer” on his death certificate, but the Charlotte, North Carolina City Directory, compiled by Ernest H. Miller (Charlotte: Piedmont Directory Co., 1918), p. 334, listed him as a pressman for the AME Zion Publishing House.
14“By all let it be known . . .”: Roundtree and McCabe, Mighty Justice, p. 18.
14“I spoke like him . . .”: Roundtree and McCabe, Mighty Justice, p. 17.
14“garbage . . . personally violated”: Roundtree and McCabe, Mighty Justice, p. 11.
15“Get that . . . there”: Roundtree and McCabe, Mighty Justice, p. 9.
15KKK incidents: Roundtree and McCabe, Mighty Justice, p. 13, p. 5.
15“and Grandma knew . . .”: Roundtree and McCabe, Mighty Justice, p. 7.
15“as good as anybody”: Roundtree and McCabe, Mighty Justice, p. 11.
15“grand procession . . . known as Brooklyn”: Roundtree and McCabe, Mighty Justice, p. 8.
16“to be in a cleaner . . . beautifying their yards”: “The Cleanest Portion of the City,” Charlotte Observer, May 31, 1878, p. 3.
16Statistics on college attendance in 1920: Digest of Education Statistics, Table 104.20, National Center for Education Statistics, https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d13/tables/dt13_104.20.asp. Last accessed February 24, 2020.
17“broken-down old frame building”: Roundtree and McCabe, Mighty Justice, p. 18.
17“The classrooms were crowded . . .”: Betty W. Barber “Struggle, Commitment, and Determination: An African-American Woman’s Journey to Self-Development,” in The Emergence of Women into the 21st Century, edited by Patricia L. Munhall and Virginia M. Fitzsimons (New York: NLN Press, 1995), p. 378.
18Dovey’s high school activities: “Application for Admission,” May 16, 1934, DJR Alumna File, Spelman, Folder 1934a, pdf p. 3. Dovey mentioned her study of the French horn on p. 19 of her autobiography, Mighty Justice.
18Black women with medical degrees: Thomas J. Ward Jr., Black Physicians in the Jim Crow South (Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 2003), p. 53.
18Black businesses in Charlotte in 1915: C. H. Watson, ed., Colored Charlotte: Published in Connection with the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Freedom of the Negro in the County of Mecklenburg and the City of Charlotte, North Carolina (Charlotte: AME Zion Job Print, 1915), p. 6.
19Cost of Spelman: “Expenses,” Catalog of Spelman College 1928-1929, April 1929, pp 43-44.
19Earnings of domestic workers: Elizabeth Ross Haynes, “Negroes in Domestic Service in the United States,” Journal of Negro History 8, no. 4 (October 1923): 404.
19“PANIC SEIZES STOCK MARKET”: Hutchinson (Kansas) News, October 24, 1929, p. 1, https://newspaperarchive.com/hutchinson-news-oct-24-1929-p-1/. Last accessed March 12, 2020.
19“STOCKS LOSE 10 BILLION IN DAY”: Klamath News, October 29, 1929, p. 1.
3: Worthy Wish
21Hurley residence and Mr. Hurley’s job: 1930 United States Federal Census, Charlotte, Mecklenburg, North Carolina; “US City Directories, 1822–1995,” digital images s.v. “Bailey C. Hurley,” Ancestry.com.
21“my own silent prayers . . .”: Roundtree and McCabe, Mighty Justice, p. 20.
22“good people”: Roundtree and McCabe, Mighty Justice, p. 20.
22“stately . . . dogwood and magnolias”: Roundtree and McCabe, Mighty Justice, p. 21.
22Dovey and Mama’s weekly earnings: Notes, September 20, 1934, DJR Alumna File, Spelman, Folder 1934a, pdf p. 16.
22Forty dollars and “I [have] been obsessed . . . the obstacle”: “Application for Admission,” May 16, 1934, DJR Alumna File, Spelman, Folder 1934a, pdf pp. 2, 3.
23“How do you expect . . . work on campus”: “Application for Admission,” PDF p. 2.
24“city of a hundred hills”: W. E. B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk: Essays and Sketches, 2nd edition. Chicago: A. C. McClurg & Co., 1903, p. 75.
24“Most of the stylishly . . . comprehend it”: Roundtree and McCabe, Mighty Justice, p. 28.
24“A student’s wardrobe . . . prohibited”: “Dress,” Catalog of Spelman College 1933–34, April 1934, pp. 66–67.
25“She’s just doing fine . . . impudent little thing”: Roundtree and McCabe, Mighty Justice, p. 22.
25Wimbish family: 1930 United States Federal Census, Atlanta, Fulton, Georgia, digital image s.v. “Edith Wimbish,” Ancestry.com. Edith’s father Christopher Columbus Wimbish Sr., deceased, had been a customs collector. One of her brothers, Christopher Columbus Wimbish Jr., a graduate of Howard University in Washington, DC, and of Northwestern University’s law school, had been a first lieutenant in a Black regiment in World War I and was now a prominent attorney and politician in Chicago.
25“feast . . . educators”: Roundtree and McCabe, Mighty Justice, p. 23.
26Nabrit and Norris recommendations: “Confidential Estimate of Applicant for Admission,” DJR Alumna File, Spelman, Folder 1934a, pdf pp. 18–21. Nabrit’s is undated. Norris’s is dated May 25, 1934.
26“as much a warrior . . . her time”: Roundtree and McCabe, Mighty Justice, p. 24.
27“She taught . . . light for me”: Judith Weinraub, “A Long Life of Sweet Justice,” Washington Post, February 4, 1995, https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1995/02/04/a-long-life-of-sweet-justice/eb378931-d7ec-417f-9282-5401262f87b7/?utm_term=.3680dc779a65. Last accessed February 24, 2020.
27Harvard anniversary: Dovey Johnson, “The Harvard Tercentenary,” Campus Mirror, November 15, 1936, p. 4, https://gahistoricnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu/lccn/sn38019897/1936-11-15/ed-1/seq-4.pdf. Last accessed February 24, 2020.
27Rockefeller’s death: Dovey Johnson, “Spelman Loses a Friend,” Campus Mirror, May–June 1937, p. 13, https://gahistoricnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu/lccn/sn38019897/1937-05-01/ed-1/seq-15/. Last accessed February 24, 2020.
27Japanese woodcuts: Dovey Johnson, “Exhibits of Japanese Wood-Cuts Open at Atlanta University Library,” Campus
Mirror, October 15, 1937, p. 1, https://gahistoricnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu/lccn/sn38019897/1937-10-15/ed-1/seq-1/. Last accessed February 24, 2020.
27Rufus Jones: Dovie [sic] Mae Johnson, “The Challenge of the Closed Door,” Campus Mirror, October 15, 1936, p. 2, https://gahistoricnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu/lccn/sn38019897/1936-10-15/ed-1/seq-2/. Last accessed February 24, 2020.
29Howard Thurman: Dovey Johnson, “Mr. Howard Thurman Addresses Spelman Students,” Campus Mirror, November 15, 1936, p. 5, https://gahistoricnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu/lccn/sn38019897/1936-11-15/ed-1/seq-5/. Last accessed February 24, 2020.
29Etta Moten: Dovey Johnson, “Etta Mot[e]n Speaks to Spelman Students,” Campus Mirror, December 15, 1936, p. 7, https://gahistoricnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu/lccn/sn38019897/1936-12-15/ed-1/seq-7/. Last accessed February 24, 2020.
4: Miracle-Maker
30“Thief! You’re a thief!”: Roundtree and McCabe, Mighty Justice, p. 33.
31“nearly numb with terror”: Roundtree and McCabe, Mighty Justice, p. 33.
31“I knew only one white person . . .”: Roundtree and McCabe, Mighty Justice, p. 33.
31“Throughout my life . . . if you but believe”: Weinraub, “A Long Life of Sweet Justice.”
32“dedicated work . . .”: “John W. Stanley Funeralized,” Atlanta Voice, September 18, 1971, p. 3.
32“I climbed the steps . . . doing here?”: Roundtree and McCabe, Mighty Justice, p. 36.
33“If young men and women . . . steadily”: “Graduates Urged to Bar All Fear,” Atlanta Constitution, June 9, 1938, p. 2.
33loan from Neptune: “Spelman College, Atlanta, Georgia, June 8, 1938,” and “Statement of Debts and Payments of Dovey Mae Johnson of 921 East Hill St. Charlotte, N. Carolina to M. Mae Neptune, Spelman College, Atlanta, Georgia,” DJR Papers, NABWH, Folder 9, pdf pp. 7–10. Mary Mae Neptune also made small loans to Dovey. For example, in PDF p. 11 we learn that Neptune lent Dovey $10.25 to get home the summer after she graduated from Spelman.
5: No
36No. “There are things . . . right here”: Roundtree and McCabe, Mighty Justice, p. 45.
37Dovey’s work and salary at Finley High and Piedmont Junior College: “Application for Federal Employment,” stamped September 12 and 13, 1946, DJR Papers, NABWH, Folder 1, PDF pp. 3–6.
37Grandpa Clyde as helper: “City Directories, 1822–1995,” digital image s.v. “Clyde L. Graham,” Ancestry.com.
37Dovey’s family in the 1940 Census: 1940 United States Federal Census, Charlotte, Mecklenburg, North Carolina, digital image s.v. “Clyde Graham,” Ancestry.com.
38Grandpa Clyde’s death: “North Carolina, Death Certificates, 1909–1976,” digital image s.v. “Rev. Clyde Graham,” Ancestry.com.
38“Ill as he had been . . . quiet”: Roundtree and McCabe, Mighty Justice, p. 42.
38Defense industry earnings: Doris Weatherford, American Women During World War II: An Encyclopedia (New York: Routledge, 2010), p. 342.
39Hiring discrimination in defense industry: “Becoming the Arsenal of Democracy,” National WWII Museum, https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/becoming-arsenal-democracy. Last accessed March 12, 2020.
39“We burned logs . . .”: Audrey Thomas McCluskey, A Forgotten Sisterhood: Pioneering Black Women Educators and Activists in the Jim Crow South (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2014), p. 60.
40“often worked 12-hour days . . .”: Abigail Thernstrom and Stephan Thernstrom, “Black Progress: How Far We’ve Come, and How Far We Have to Go,” Brookings Institute, https://www.brookings.edu/articles/black-progress-how-far-weve-come-and-how-far-we-have-to-go/. Last accessed February 24, 2020.
41“something powerful . . .”: Roundtree and McCabe, Mighty Justice, p. 13.
41“something else in mind”: Roundtree and McCabe, Mighty Justice, p. 45.
41“Every clip was logged . . . advice”: Roundtree and McCabe, Mighty Justice, p. 46.
42“speechless . . . retreated . . . awe”: Roundtree and McCabe, Mighty Justice, p. 48.
42“No person . . . getting down to business”: Roundtree and McCabe, Mighty Justice, p. 48.
6: No Glamour Girls Need Apply
44“behind-the-lines assignments”: “Women Army Bill Passed By House,” Dayton Journal, March 18, 1942, p. 1.
44“Who will do the cooking . . .”: Kara Dixon Vuic, “American Women in World War II,” The Routledge Handbook of American Military and Diplomatic History, 1865 to the Present, ed. Antonio S. Thompson and Christos G. Frentzos (New York: Routledge, 2013), p. 152.
44“Heavy Guard . . .”: headline, Washington Post, December 8, 1941, p. 3.
45“silliest piece of legislation . . . duty of men”: Yashila Permeswaran, “The Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps: A Compromise to Overcome the Conflict of Women Serving in the Army,” History Teacher 42, no. 1 (November 2008): 97.
45“to pass a physical examination . . .”: Jennifer Nichol Stewart, “Wacky Times: An Analysis of the WAC in World War II and Its Effects on Women,” International Social Science Review 75, no. 1/2 (2000): p. 29.
46“No glamour girls need apply”: Lee Carson, “WAAC Volunteers Face Hard Tasks,” newspaper clipping in DJR Papers, NABWH, Folder 14, pdf p. 14.
46“grand lobbyists”: Kellie Patrick, “WAC Veteran Recalls Pain of Discrimination,” The Sentinel, August 25, 1992, p. A4.
46“consumed . . . terrifying months”: Roundtree and McCabe, Mighty Justice, p. 48.
46“Bethune saw in the WAAC . . .”: Putney, When the Nation Was in Need, p. 3.
46“handpicked and approved”: Putney, When the Nation Was in Need, p. 2.
47“more open”: Roundtree and McCabe, Mighty Justice, p. 56.
47Ally Laury and family: 1940 United States Federal Census, Richmond, Richmond City, Virginia, digital image s.v. “Allie C. Laury,” Ancestry.com.
47“interrogated . . . educational background”: Roundtree and McCabe, Mighty Justice, p. 56.
47“Miss Dovey Johnson Passes WAAC Exams”: Baltimore Afro-American, July 4, 1942, p. 16.
47“uniforms . . . military discipline: “Five Virginians Sworn In for WAAC Training,” Staunton News-Leader, July 14, 1942, p. 3.
47Dovey’s height and weight: “US, World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938–1946,” digital image s.v. “Dovey M. Johnson,” Ancestry.com.
7: All-In
49“I was dumped out . . . White women on the other”: Roundtree and McCabe, Mighty Justice, pp. 56–57.
49Racial classifications: Dovey Johnson Roundtree, “Out of the Service Into New Careers,” Opportunity, January–March 1947, p. 83.
50“I know that you understand . . . do that”: Roundtree and McCabe, Mighty Justice, p. 57.
50Occupations of some Black WAACs: Charity Adams Earley, One Woman’s Army, p. 24.
50“Though a high school . . . their children’s children”: “40 Negro Women Report to Training Center at Fort Des Moines, Iowa, for the WAACs,” New York Age, August 1, 1942, p. 3.
51“so tight on . . .”: Earley, One Woman’s Army, p. 26.
51“You are a member . . . every day of the month”: War Department, FM 35–20, WAC Field Manual, Physical Training (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1943), p. iv.
51Recreational outlets: Putney, When the Nation Was in Need, p. 18.
52“Swinging along . . . infantry drill”: https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47df-fa11-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99.
54thirty-six Black officer candidates: Dovey M. Johnson, “The Negro and the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps,” speech to be given on the “Wings of Jordan” radio program, January 10, 1943, DJR Alumna File, Spelman, Folder 1940sb, pdf p. 6.
54“serious, challenging . . . their sex”: Roundtree, “Out of the Service Into New Careers,” p. 83.
54“You darkies move . . .”: Roundtree and McCabe, Mighty Justice, p. 60.
55“agitators”: Roundtree and McCabe, Mighty Justice, p. 61.
55“Colonel Morgan’s scare . . . was not it: Putney, When
the Nation Was in Need, p. 55.
55“We might be agitators . . .”: Roundtree and McCabe, Mighty Justice, p. 61.
55“I believed in the war effort . . .”: Roundtree and McCabe, Mighty Justice, p. 63.
55Black lack of interest in the WAAC: Roundtree and McCabe, Mighty Justice, p. 62.
56rumor about the WAAC and prostitution: Putney, When the Nation Was in Need, p. 38.
56recruiting in Orangeburg, South Carolina: “WAAC Officers on Recruiting Duty in S.C.,” Pittsburgh Courier, December 26, 1942, p. 11.
56recruiting in Macon, Georgia: “WAACS to Appear Here Sunday at Steward Chapel Church,” Macon Telegraph, January 15, 1943, p. 12; “WAAC Offers Many Jobs for Women,” Macon Telegraph, January 19, 1943, p. 5.
57“Lt. Dovey M. Johnson . . . WAACs”: Orlando Morning Sentinel, February 9, 1943, p. 10.
57“NEGRO OFFICERS . . .”: Tampa Sunday Tribune, February 21, 1943, Part 2, p. 3.
57“sense of oneness”: Roundtree and McCabe, Mighty Justice, p. 65.
57“I am traveling . . . by this bus”: Roundtree and McCabe, Mighty Justice, p. 66.
8: Of Courage and Conviction
59“My job . . . any other citizen”: “First Negro WAAC Arrives in Texas,” Pampa News, March 23, 1943, p. 1.
59Dovey’s March letter to Read: March 29, 1943, DJR Alumna File, Spelman, Folder 1940sa, pdf p. 8.
59Dovey’s April letter to Read: undated, DJR Alumna File, Spelman, Folder 1940sb, pdf p. 8.
61“Sir, you are setting . . .”: Roundtree and McCabe, Mighty Justice, p. 70.
61“stated that if . . . ”: Putney, When the Nation Was in Need, pp. 15–16.
61“I am interested only . . .”: “Wac Capt. Johnson Opens Ohio Drive for Recruits,” unidentified newspaper, DJR Papers, NABWH, Folder 14, pdf p. 32.
61“Brown America . . .”: “Capt. Dovey Johnson Lauds Fellow Members of Corps,” unidentified newspaper, DJR Papers, NABWH, Folder 14, pdf p. 33.
62“without doubt . . .”: “Toki Types,” Pittsburgh Courier, May 13, 1944, p. 9.
62“PEACE! It’s Over”: Charlotte Observer, August 15, 1945, p. 1.
63“All around me . . . peace”: Roundtree and McCabe, Mighty Justice, p. 74.