Cross Burned on Librarian's Lawn

Juliette Morgan courtesy www.encyclopediaofalabama.org.

How did a quiet, polite librarian end up with a cross burning on her front lawn?  It all started with a letter.

Juliette Hampton Morgan was born in 1914 in Alabama.  Her roots were political.  Her mother Lila Morgan, was the descendant of a Confederate general and South Carolina governor named Wade Hampton.  Her father, Frank Morgan, was the grandson of a Georgia Senator and the son of the Cleburne County mayor.  Not to be outdone, Juliette joined the Democratic Club in 1936, supporting Roosevelt's economic reforms, after she saw the human suffering wrought by the Great Depression.  She supported anti-lynching laws and abolishing the poll tax.

Wade Hampton courtesy www.scoopweb.com.

Juliette attended the University of Alabama where she received a BA and MA in English.  Her degrees were put to good use when she was hired at the local Carnegie Library in 1942.  Soon she was promoted to research superintendent of the Montgomery City-County Public Library.

Miss Morgan came under scrutiny by neighbors, friends and colleagues when she joined an interracial prayer group, violating Montgomery's laws.  As white churches refused to host the group, it was forced to meet in black churches.

Juliette took the bus to work each day as she couldn't drive a car due to panic attacks.  As she rode the bus, she would watch blacks pay the same ten-cent fare that she did, but not receive equal treatment:  the bus driver called them names, threw their change at them or even drove away without letting them board first though the back door.  Tired of the abuse, Juliette pulled the cord when she saw the woman left in the bus' wake; in fact, she did this several times.

Segregated bus courtesy blogspot.ca.

In 1952, refusing to support the status quo, Miss Morgan wrote a letter to the Montgomery Advertiser explaining that blacks would not tolerate the abuse any longer.  Many of the librarian's friends, colleagues and neighbours shunned her.  Mayor William Gayle urged the library's board of trustees to fire her, but they refused, suggesting instead that Miss Morgan not write any more letters.  She complied.

In the meantime, Juliette's alma mater accepted its first black student which led to rioting all over the state capital.  On January 5, 1957, Buford Boone, the editor of the Tuscaloosa News, urged the White Citizens Council to stop supporting the violence.  In response, Juliette wrote Mr. Boone a letter of congratulations, which was published in the Tuscaloosa News.  Mayor Gayle, a member of the White Citizen's Council, vowed to get the librarian fired, but again the board of trustees refused.

White Citizen's Council courtesy www.occidentaldissent.com.

Citizens of Montgomery protested by tearing up their library cards.  On July 15, 1957, someone burned a cross on Juliette Morgan's lawn.  The next day, she resigned and was later found dead of an overdose of sleeping pills.  Many Montgomery residents attended the librarian's funeral, including those who had remained silent, or shunned her, during her letter-writing campaign.

On August 13, 1962, the Montgomery Library was peacefully integrated.  In 2005, it was renamed the Juliette Hampton Morgan Memorial Library.

Note:  Read Journey Towards Justice:  Juliette Hampton Morgan and the Montgomery Bus Boycott by Mary Stanton.

Juliette Hampton Morgan Memorial Library courtesy upload.wikimedia.org.

In the Heat of the Night

"What do they call you up there [in Philadelphia]?"  --  "They call me Mr. Tibbs."

On a hot night in Sparta, Mississippi, Virgil Tibbs finds himself waiting for a train after a visit with his mother. All of a sudden, the town's police chief shows up and hauls him off to jail on suspicion of murder -- all because of the colour of his skin.  

Based on the novel written by John Ball in 1965, In the Heat of the Night is a movie about a black detective from Philadelphia, played by Sidney Poitier, and a racist white police chief, played by Rod Steiger, who end up trying to solve a murder case together.  Wealthy businessman Mr. Colbert from Chicago, has been in Sparta for the building of a new factory when he shows up dead.  Chief Gillespie is in charge of the case.  In his haste to pin the blame, he picks up Virgil Tibbs.  Calling the black man "boy", he is shocked to hear that Virgil is a police detective back home.  Gillespie asks:  "What do they call you up there [in Philadelphia]?"  And Virgil responds with:  "They call me Mr. Tibbs."  

Back at the police station, Chief Gillespie phones the Philadelphia police department to varify Tibbs' story.  The Philadelphia chief suggests that Virgil stay in Sparta to help Gillespie solve the murder.  Begrudgingly, Virgil agrees.  It soon becomes apparent that Mr. Tibbs is more qualified to take the case than Mr. Gillespie, the latter wrongly accusing more than one suspect.  

The first suspect is questioned by Virgil who realizes he can't be the murderer.  The victim's widow overhears the questioning and realizes this detective from Philadelphia knows his stuff.  She insists that he be named head of the investigation; otherwise, she will halt work on the new factory.  

The next suspect is a wealthy plantation owner named Mr. Endicott.  Resentful of Mr. Tibbs' questioning simply because of his race, he slaps the detective who in turn slaps him back.  Endicott sends hooligans to attack Tibbs who is rescued by Gillespie.

Gillespie and Tibbs decide to accompany Sam Wood, the officer on duty the night of the murder, on his usual route.  The police chief immediately suspects Wood of the murder when he changes his route.  Also, Wood made a big deposit at the bank the day after the murder.  On the route, the three men stop at a diner where the counterman refuses to serve Tibbs due to his colour.  Back at the police station, Gillespie charges Wood with the murder.  To further darken his reputation, local Mr. Purdy presses charges agains Wood for impregnating his 16 year old sister.  

In the meantime, Mr. Tibbs clears Mr. Wood of the charges, explaining that he could not drive two cars, the police cruiser and the victim's vehicle, at the same time.  Acting on a hunch, Mr. Tibbs visits a backroom abortionist and finds Mr. Purdy's sister there with her boyfriend -- the racist counterman at the diner.  Mr. Tibbs has Mr. Purdy arrested, the latter confessing to the crime, saying he robbed Mr. Colbert (and accidentally killed him) to use the money for the abortion.  

With the crime officially solved, the police chief drives the Philadelphia detective back to the train station.  But this time, instead of calling him boy, he calls him Mister -- Mister Tibbs, that is.  

It's the Real Thing!

Wheaties cereal was about to be pulled from the shelves back in the 1920's.  That is, until a radio jingle was aired and sales spiked in those areas.

Jingles have been around for decades now.  I can remember the Coke jingle Its the Real Thing! from when I was a kid.  Here are ten popular jingles from the last several decades:

1.  In My Merry Oldsmobile (1925)

2.  Oh my!  Its Eskimo Pie! (1930s)

3.  A nickel drink worth a dime! (Pepsi, 1940s)

4.  A little dab will do you! (Brylcreem, 1950s)

5.  Plop, plop, fizz, fizz!  Oh, what a relief it is! (Alka Seltzer, 1960s)

6.  Its the real thing! (Coke, 1970s)

7.  I am stuck on Bandaid cause Bandaids stuck on me! (1980s)

8.  Give me a break! (Kit Kat, 1990s)

9.  Who let the dogs out! (Baha Men, 2000)

10.  Whoop, there it is! (2010s)

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Lucky Beans

libcom.org

It was the Great Depression and Marshall's dad was out of work.  Marshall's mom was a seamstress but she wasn't getting much work done on her broken down sewing machine.  His uncle, also unemployed, had moved in with them and their house was getting crowded.  Marshall was getting tired of eating beans for dinner every night, but that was all his family could afford.

One day, as Marshall walked home from school, he noticed something in the window of Kaplan's Furniture Store -- a brand new sewing machine.  And beside it was a giant jar of beans.  Marshall knew his mom would loved to have that sewing machine but the price tag attached to it said $23.95.  How could they afford it?  But then he noticed the sign advertising a contest:  Guess how many beans are in the jar and win the sewing machine.

Marshall was anxious to share the news with his mom so he hurried home.  He explained the contest to his mom and then got to work his math homework.  He was studying measurement and his mom helped him to figure out how many cups were in a pint and how many pints were in a quart.  She lent him a Mason Jar which had held preserves in more prosperous times, and an old milk bottle.  Marshall filled the jar with water until he had filled the bottle.

The ladies at Marshall's church knew how desperate his family was and gave them five sacks of beans.  When Marshall had retrieved the Mason jar and milk bottle he had noticed a pickle crock downstairs.  He realized that the crock was about the size of the beans jar at Kaplan's Furniture Store.  He had an idea:  he would fill the pickle crock with the beans from the sacks and count them as he went.  However, the beans only filled up part of the crock.  That was where estimating came into play.  Marshall estimated the number of beans in a quart.  Then he filled quarts of water until he filled the pickle crock.  Then he multiplied the number of beans times the number of quarts.  His answer was 53,280.

Mrs. Loman entered the contest and used Marshall's figure as her guess.  At 327 entries, the competition was steep.  The correct number of beans was 53, 293.  Marshall's mom won the sewing machine!  She was able to get work mending and sewing clothes and help the family out at a time when 1/4 white Americans was out of work and 2/4 black Americans.

Becky Birtha's story is based on the story of her grandmother, who really did enter and win a bean counting contest.

 

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Book Wagons, Bookmobiles & Travelling Libraries

While pack horses delivered library books in the Appalachians, book wagons transported books in many other areas of the United States and Canada.  Here are some photos of travelling libraries.

Washington County Library Wagon circa 1916 courtesy www.libraryhistorybuff.com.

Staten Island, New York bookmobile courtesy www.libraryhistorybuff.com.

Brooklyn Library Bookmobile courtesy bookriot.com.

New Mexico Bookmobile circa 1941 courtesy www.flickr.com.

Tennessee Bookmobile circa 1950's courtesy www.libraryhistorybuff.com. 

McGill University travelling library courtesy static.flicr.com.

Modern day Toronto Bookmobile courtesy c-raine.com. 

Soccer, Spiders, Splash Pads & Stuffies

www.earthtimes.com

I accompanied five girls to the splash pad today:  my daughter Jacqueline and her four friends, all clad in their swimsuits with towels tucked under their arms.  The sun blazed in the clear blue sky, a welcome change from the ever present clouds of the past few weeks.  We made our way down the street and across the lush green grass of the park to the play equipment where we made a short stop.  The girls climbed on it, their long limbs wrapped around its bars.  Our second stop was at the Spider, a rather large piece of playground equipment in the middle of the park; it looks boring but the girls liked it just as much or more than the monkey bars.

Our final stop was the splash pad.  A couple of younger children were just leaving.  A baby girl, dressed in her frilly swimsuit, frolicked under the water spraying from the pad.  Jacqueline and her friends ran over and under the sprinkling water on a day that was hot, but not too hot.  A gentle breeze wafted across the park as I watched from a picnic table.  I watched the baby girl crawl around the splash pad, thinking that it wasn't that long ago that my Jacqueline was a baby.  And now she's up to my chest.  It struck me there and then:  Enjoy these years because before you know it, your daughter will be all grown up.

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After an hour or so, we headed for home, the girls having dried off from the afternoon sun.  The guests changed out of the suits into their clothes and then took their places at the dining room table for supper.  Rob arrived with the pizza and garlic bread.  After the first course, we sang Happy Birthday to Jacqueline.  Her brother Thomas snapped a photo as she blew out her number 10 candle.  She is so proud to be in the double digits now.  The girls devoured their chocolate fudge cake and vanilla ice cream.

After supper, Rob took the girls outside to the backyard for a rousing game of soccer.  Kicking around a multi-coloured ball, the girls played a match that lasted for an hour and a half!  They downed water like a baby slurps a baby bottle.

Spent, they changed out of their sweaty clothes into their pajamas, grabbed their stuffies, large and small, and settled in to watch Alvin and the Chipmunks.  Yes, they still love stuffies.  Enjoy it while it lasts!

And now for the sleepover...

Happy Birthday, Jacqueline!  I love you!

To Kill a Mockingbird

Mockingbird courtesy upload.wikmedia.org. 

Harper Lee chose the mockingbird for the title of her 1960 book because she thought it represented innocence.  However, the incident that moved her to write the book was anything but innocent.  It was the murder of a black boy named Emmett Till in Mississippi in 1955 which sparked the Civil Rights Movement.  

Harper Lee was born on April 28, 1926 in the small sleepy town of Monroeville, Alabama.  Like Scout in her famous novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Miss Lee was the daughter of a lawyer.  Like Boo Radley, the recluse in her book, she had a neighbour who lived in a boarded up house.  One of her good friends was Truman Capote, the inspiration for the character of Dill in her story.  Miss Lee attended the University of Alabama in the 1940's where she wrote articles about racial injustice.  

Harper Lee in Monroeville courthouse courtesy britannica.com.

In the 1950's, Harper Lee moved to New York City where she started writing a novel called Atticus, the name of the lawyer character who defends a black man who has been charged with the murder of a white woman.  By 1957, Miss Lee completed the novel.  Three years later, she secured a publisher, at which time she changed the book's title to To Kill a Mockingbird.  At one point she was so frustrated with her manuscript that she actually tossed in out her New York window into the snow, but her editor, Mr. Lippincott, convinced her to retrieve it.  While Mr. Lippincott was interested in the story, he warned her that it would probably only sell several thousand copies.  

The book was well received by the public.  People speculated about Harper Lee's motivation for writing the story.  Some said that she was motivated by the 1931 case in Scottsboro, Alabama of nine black men accused of raping two white women.  Five of the nine defendants were sentenced to long prison terms despite the fact that many people thought their accusers had lied.  However, Harper Lee would have only been six years old at the time of the Scottsboro case.  

Emmett Till photographed on Christmas Day 1954 courtesy upload.wikimedia.org. 

It turned out that it was the Emmett Till case that inspired Miss Lee to write her story, a much more recent case.  Emmett, a black youth, had been born and raised in Chicago.  A relative invited him to spend the summer in Mississippi and he agreed.  While his mother warned him that Southern rules were quite different than Northern ones, he said he would be able to manage on his own.  However, after entering a general store and supposedly flirting with a white woman, he was hunted down by the white woman's husband and brutally murdered.  Emmett's mother was so outraged by her son's killing that she insisted that his corpse be photographed and printed in newspapers for the entire nation to see what "Southern justice" looked like.  

Harper Lee's novel won the Pulitzer Prize in 1961. By 1962 it was made into a play as well as a movie, the latter starring Gregory Peck as Atticus.  Miss Lee chose to take a back seat in the movie production.  By 1964 she no longer did interviews with the press.  She withdrew from the public eye, eventually moving back to her hometown.  To Kill a Mockingbird would become a staple in high school English classes.  The novel has sold 15 million copies and has never been out of print.  It was the only book Harper Lee ever had published.

Gregory Peck starred in the 1962 movie courtesy wordpress.com.