Scottish Immigrant Marge Glasgow

"The nurse was still taking care of me.  She took me outside to sit and see all the boats go by.  I sat there and I wondered, 'Will they let me into the United States, or will they send me back?'  I so much wanted to live here in the United States." (Marge Glasgow)

Motherwell, Scotland circa early 1900's courtesy https://www.pinterest.com/dcarbray/motherwell/.

Marge Glasgow was born and raised in Motherwell, Scotland to a Catholic family.  In her hometown, the Catholics and Protestants were always fighting.  Her father worked as a puddler at the local steel furnace.  On Friday nights, he would head from work straight to the pub.  Several hours later, he would sing as he stumbled down the street to home.  "Of course, my mother was ready to beat him over the head with something," explained Marge.

Marge excelled at Highland dancing for which she received many medals.  By 15, she was already working, but she felt like there were many more opportunities in America.  Marge's neighbour's girls were working at a factory in New Jersey and sending money home to their parents.  Marge thought she could do the same.

In 1922, after much convincing, Marge convince her parents to let her make the trip to America.  The voyage took ten days during which Marge helped a sick mother care for her baby.  Marge was apprehensive when she reached Ellis Island remembering her mother's warnings about how they checked your hair for bugs.  "I remember the Great Hall, and at the desks there with men.  I don't know if they were doctors, judges or what, questioning the people..."

A list of codes and their corresponding medical diseases/issues used at Ellis Island courtesy http://www.federalobserver.com/2011/10/22/immigrants-were-quarantined-at-ellis-island-until-screened-for-good-health-and-morals.

All alone, Marge started to cry hysterically.  An official explained to her that they were simply checking her eyes to determine if she had the disease trachoma.  Marge stayed in the Ellis Island hospital for ten days.  "The nurse was still taking care of me.  She took me outside to sit and see all the boats go by.  I sat there and I wondered, 'Will they let me into the United States, or will they send me back?'  I so much wanted to live here in the United States."

When Marge reached the mainland, she discovered that at 15, she was too young to work in a factory.  She was hired as a domestic for a family in Newark, New Jersey.  Sticking to her promise, she saved up enough money to bring her father and mother over.  Marge married a German electrician.  She owned two successful dress boutiques which put her six children through college.  In 1997, she was 101 years old and living in rural New Jersey.

Dresses circa 1940 courtesy http://vintagedancer.com/1940s/1940s-hats/. 

The Power of the Pen

Don’t let anyone ever tell you that one voice can’t make a difference.  Here’s a story of how powerful the written word can be.  One day back in 1983 a teenage boy bought a used book at the Toronto Library.  He took it home and devoured the words.  He immediately discovered that he had a lot in common with the writer of the book.  They were both Black, both from the New York City area, both from humble roots. 

Lesra loved the book so much that he gave it to his housemates to read, including a lawyer.  He sat down and wrote a letter to the writer, introducing himself and commending him for his book.  Soon, Lesra took a train to New Jersey and met the writer who was serving time in jail.  It turned out that the writer was a former boxer who was convicted of a triple murder that he claimed he did not commit.  He had spent his early years in prison writing his life story to explain what had really happened.  However, the establishment did not believe him.  His case became a “cause celebre” for certain celebrities, though, including Bob Dylan who wrote a song about the conviction.  The boxer was front page news for a few months. 

However, the headlines soon changed and the boxer was forgotten, languishing in prison.  He would sit in his jail cell, night after night, typing on his typewriter his life story, including the events that transpired the night of the murders.  When the jail guard came to inspect his cell, the boxer’s manuscript was off limits.  He had given up his freedom and he certainly wasn’t giving up that manuscript!  Page by page, chapter by chapter, he poured out his story.  Although he had little formal education, he was a great storyteller, something the reader quickly discovered upon reading his book.  A second trial brought a second conviction.  The boxer tried to resolve himself to the strong possibility that he might be in jail for life. 

Then he got a letter from Lesra.  They struck up a friendship and before he knew it, Lesra and three of his housemates were on their way to New Jersey to help the boxer.  They moved into a hotel near the prison and set to work researching his case in the hope of securing another trail.  Despite intimidation from locals who wanted to preserve the status quo, the three Canadians worked tirelessly to seek justice for the boxer. 

Incredibly, after several months, the do-gooders got their wish.  It had been almost twenty years since the original murders in 1966 and some witnesses had died in the meantime.  Fortunately, the boxer would have a new judge this time who seemed willing to listen.  In 1985, the boxer stood trial for a third time.  He received an innocent verdict!!!  The judge ruled that the original conviction had been based on racial prejudice. 

That boxer’s name is Rubin “The Hurricane” Carter and his book is titled The Sixteenth Round.  His story was made into a movie starring Denzel Washington called “The Hurricane” in 1999.  Rubin Carter has gone on to champion the cause of other wrongfully convicted individuals.  He lives in Toronto and does speaking engagements in Southern Ontario.  He walks free now because he had the courage to tell his story.  Never underestimate the power of the pen.

P.S.  I should mention that the teenage boy, Lesra Martin, who bought the book at the Toronto Library went on to become a lawyer himself. 

Photo courtesy http://search.barnesandnoble.com

Hurricane Carter uses Bibliotherapy to Break the Bonds of Prison

"Carter's spirits rose at [Victor] Frankl's words, which he read over and over.  He had always seen prison as a scourge on his spirit, not as an opportunity for growth.  Frankl confirmed that true freedom could be realized not by digging through a prison barrier but by excavating one's inner life." 

(James S. Hirsch)

Rubin "Hurricane" Carter was wrongly convicted of a triple murder in Paterson , New Jersey in 1966. He spent almost 20 years in jail, rotting away in a cell.  Full of anger and bitterness, he found himself wasting away.  He decided to do something about it.  He wrote a book about his life, a book that would make him famous, at least for a short time.  However, it did not secure his freedom, at least not for many years.

Carter figured he had two options:  he could vegetate in jail or he could rise above his circumstances, a type of "inner triumph".  One day, Carter was walking on the prison grounds when a pinprick of light appeared in the prison wall.  It grew bigger and he could see on the other side of the barricade.  "He noticed cars driving down the street, children walking to school."  Carter thought to himself:  "...perhaps the prison walls were not real.  Perhaps he could walk right through that wall."  (http://www.amazon.ca/Hurricane-Miraculous-Journey-Rubin-Carter/dp/0618087281)

Transcending the prison became Carter's mission.  "From that moment on, I decided to take control of my life.  I made up my mind to turn my body into a weapon.  I would be a warrior scholar.  I boxed. I went to school.  I began reading W. E. B. Dubois, Richard Wright." http://www.metacafe.com/watch/an-oxeeb7bJ7hbbYm/the_hurricane_1999_rubin_carter_training/ 

Thom Kidrin, a part of Carter's defence committee, started making monthly visits to the prison, loaded down with books.  Carter would stay awake for two days straight in his cell, with four or five books laying on his bed, pouring over them.

Victor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning spoke to him.  The Nazi concentration camp reminded him of Trenton prison.  Frankl's message rang true.  "Carter's spirits rose at [Victor] Frankl's words, which he read over and over.  He had always seen prison as a scourge on his spirit, not as an opportunity for growth.  Frankl confirmed that true freedom could be realized not by digging through a prison barrier but by excavating one's inner life." 

Carter devoured book after book.  The Autobiography of Malcolm X was another title which really affected him.  He requested works that had inspired Malcolm X.  Kidrin brought him W. E. B. Duboi's Souls of Black Folk, an anthology of essays on race first published in 1903.  

Carter was beginning to comprehend the redemptive power of literature, how reading a book helped put the reader in another man's shoes.  Ouspensky's A New Model of the Universe, helped Carter understand his adversaries.  The anger and bitterness, which had once held him hostage, were beginning to dissipate.  The walls of the prison, which had once seemed insurmountable, were now merely walls of concrete, not barriers to freedom.

Carter served almost 20 years in jail.  A young man from Brooklyn read his autobiography which set off a series of events leading to Carter's release from prison in 1986.  For the full story, read my post "The Power of the Pen" at http://alinefromlinda.blogspot.ca/2011/05/power-of-pen.html.

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/4/21/-hurricane-cartersbiggestfight.html

  

Jaws' Quint Based on Shark Hunter Frank Mundus

"This shark swallow you whole." (Quint, Jaws)

Quint was a shark hunter from New Jersey who owned a boat called The Orca.  He operated a whale oil business as well as a bootleg distillery.  After a renegade shark attacks tourists on the jersey shore, Quint is charged with capturing the great white.  He meets a premature death as he battles the shark.

Quint is loosely based on the Montauk, New York shark hunter, Frank Mundus.  As eccentric as he was ostentatious, Mundus spent started chasing the great white in 1951 and dedicated a lifetime to the quest.  The captain of the Cricket II, named for its Jiminy Cricket like profile, he spent hours haunting the Atlantic shore.  

One night Mundus rescued passengers from The Pelican, an overloaded party boat on which 35 of the 54 souls perished.  He continued to search for the great white; his persistence paid off.  In 1986, 28 miles off the coast of Montauk, he captured a shark weighing 3427 pounds, the largest ever caught by rod and reel.  Mundus took great delight in hanging a replica from the Montauk pier.  

Later in life, the shark hunter became a conservationist.  Mundus was featured in a 2005 documentary called "Shark Hunter:  Chasing the Great White".  He passed away in 2008, still searching for the elusive shark.

Frank Mundus, right, with a great white shark courtesy http://fromthedepthsofdvdhell.blogspot.ca/2014/07/spin-off-quint-jaws.html.