Washington, D.C.: "The Secret City"

As I've mentioned before, the history of the Nation's Capital is very much an African-American story because it was these Americans who filled the demand for labor in the city, initially as slaves and later in low-paying jobs as cleaning women, nannies, porters and custodians.

Gaining access to skilled, better paying jobs as clerical workers wasn't as easy.

Constance McLaughlin Green addressed this in her book, "The Secret City: A History of Race Relations in the Nation's Capital." 

Washington Post deputy managing editor, Ben W. Gilbert, reviewed the book in an article titled, "The Negro's Painful Rise" published on May 11, 1967.

"Americans generally assume that the Nation's history is one of steady progress, of technological improvements, of widening horizons, of improved living," he wrote. "The story of the Negro in Washington is not such a fairy tale. It is a story of adversity and a little progress, accompanied by a shocking indifference and some hostility from the mass of whites."

Gilbert explained that any progress that was made was thwarted in the 1880s.

"The segregation of Government employment by race, begun at the turn of the century, became policy under Wilson, whose first wife was distressed to see Negroes and whites working together in the Post Office," he added.

Gilbert credits Harold Ickes, Franklin Roosevelt's Secretary of the Interior, with laying "the public foundation of today's integrated city by insisting that the facilities under his jurisdiction be used without discrimination."

"Mrs. Green's book should prove valuable to anyone caring about the future of race relations in Washington," he wrote. "It would be great if funds could be found to make it available as a standard text in the city's high schools. Today's youth need to know how we got where we are. Mrs. Green can help them find out."

"The Secret City" is available on Goodreads (click).

Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" Speech

E. Marie Swan

In the summer of 1963, E. Marie Swan applied to work for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 

"Growing up in the all-black community of Wilmington, N.C. I experienced firsthand what segregation was about," she said in a commentary in The San Diego Union-Tribune in January 2003. "I resolved that if I ever had the opportunity, I would make a difference in the way things were. The only problem was that I was very hotheaded and militant."

Swan explained that after listening to her rant and rave during the job interview about how she could change her community, Dr. King told her that she was too angry to be part of his movement. 

"He told me there was too much anger and hatred inside of me," she recalled. "This hurt, but it got my attention."

After a restless night of self-reflection, she decided to adopt a more peaceable attitude. She immersed herself in Dr. King's theory of nonviolence.

"The March on Washington [August 28, 1963] doesn't seem that long ago," she wrote. "Yes, I was there. The largest group of kids there was from Wilmington. Yes -- I eventually became their leader and, yes -- I continue to this day to be influenced and inspired by Dr. King." 

Mrs. Swan eventually moved to Oceanside, Calif., home of the  U.S. Marine Corps Base, Camp Pendleton, and a traditionally politically conservative town. She went on to be elected president of the Oceanside Pacific Kiwanis Club and a recipient of Oceanside's Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Achievement Award in 2000. 

I came to know her as a reporter in January 2009 through a librarian at the Oceanside Public Library. She wanted me to share Mrs. Swan's story and invite the community to visit a display of Swan's personal memorabilia from her civil rights days which she generously loaned in celebration of President Obama's inauguration.  

To read the complete article published in The San Diego Union-Tribune/Today's Local News, click here. 

Female Clerks Balk at Prospect of Working for Black Presidential Appointment

Rev. James M. Townsend

On May 11, 1889, President Benjamin Harrison appointed Rev. James M. Townsend to the position of recorder of the General Land Office in Washington, D.C. 

Harrison was impressed with Townsend's Civil War record in the 54th Massachusetts Volunteers, the first black regiment to enter military service and, later, his civil rights advocacy as a Republican state legislator from Indiana.

In an article, "Their Chief is a Negro," published in The Washington Post on May 15, 1889, the staff of 24 women clerks appeared to be unmoved.

"The only thing that they think or care about is that the Rev. James Townsend is a colored man," The Post reported. "Since his appointment was made nearly half of the ladies in his division have applied for a transfer to some other division." 

The women were reluctant to talk about the matter to the reporter, fearing for their jobs.

"We naturally have to pay a certain amount of court and deference to our chief," said one of the ladies on condition of anonymity, "and it will be very disagreeable for me to treat a negro as my superior. I shall get into some other division if I can; if not I suppose I shall have to stand it, as my bread and butter depend upon it."

Another woman added that she had no idea what kind of man Townsend was -- but it made no difference "as long as he was black."

"Mr. Townsend is expected at the Department to-morrow," the reporter wrote. "At his office his appearance is undoubtedly dreaded."