Boxcar: Part 2
Based on oral histories.36 total reviews
Comment from Mark Valentine
Glad I have a six left. I often think of writing as a hobby, but your posts remind me that writing an important, and one of the important things it does is to tell stories that need to be told. We all know of lynchings, of course, but the horror is often lost - in this case, the Devil is literally in the details -your research ensures that we don't forget that. I grew up (and still live) on the south side of Cicago and can remember the unofficial segregation of the beaches back in the sixties.
With xenophobia rearing it's ugly head and David Duke somehow getting back in the news, your story is important - gets my SOM vote.
reply by the author on 09-May-2016
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Glad I have a six left. I often think of writing as a hobby, but your posts remind me that writing an important, and one of the important things it does is to tell stories that need to be told. We all know of lynchings, of course, but the horror is often lost - in this case, the Devil is literally in the details -your research ensures that we don't forget that. I grew up (and still live) on the south side of Cicago and can remember the unofficial segregation of the beaches back in the sixties.
With xenophobia rearing it's ugly head and David Duke somehow getting back in the news, your story is important - gets my SOM vote.
Comment Written 09-May-2016
reply by the author on 09-May-2016
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Thank you, Mark, for your generous, six star review. In my last conversation with my father shortly before he died, he said Victorville was segregated and that he had to walk to the only swimming pool for blacks in Apple Valley. My father came from Chicago, site of the Riot of 1919 when a black youth drifted into the unofficial white section of the beach. I can imagine my father's disappointment when he came to California and discovered the same segregation.
One aspect I enjoy about my story is that Mama Jennie and Freddie talked about lynchings after the Civil War, and then their dialogue of incidents up until their present day in the 1940's. As reviewers read this, they share their own incidents that go to the present day.
I am thrilled that I wrote my family stories in my diaries and that my mother and stepmother also wrote them down, too.
Thank you for your review.
Comment from Realist101
Young Sir...First, I need tell you I'm sorry this is part of your history. Second, very well written, taking us with you in the horror of it all. Third, I would like to share, as you might be one of the very few people in the world who might understand...I do know SOME of what this feels like. Tho no one in my family has been murdered, or burned or hanged, we stood up to a small town sheriff's department concerning the behavior of a reserve deputy, and we were literally run out of our paid for home. They used constant harassment. Usually in the form of dynamite being set off near our property lines. We lived in southern Indiana on a small farm surrounded by gorgeous woods...and they'd sneak up at all hours and terrorize us and our livestock. I have had bullitt's fly past my face as I stood on my porch. Guns and fireworks as I would ride my horse. People would drive by and yell obscenities. Low planes to this day roar real close to our roof. Fireworks every where we go almost all year long. Seriously. Someone, and I recognized the voice as a local sheriff deputy, mumbled 'Hey' under my bedroom window one night. My blood ran cold. The more they did the more calls we made and when a neighbor girl threw a rock and hit one of the horses I got her on tape doing it. We didn't know she was a delinquent and when we turned it in, she was put on house arrest. SO! Guess what. They concocted a charge against our son and have ruined his life with a false arrest. We tried to sue, the lawyer we hired took a copy of a letter that stated (from the prosecutors office!), that if we moved they would expunge our son. So I sold out and left just to help our kid. But the police now follow us with lies and gossip and we've moved and moved to escape this shit and nothing helps. I'm telling you this so you'll know that black folk are not the only ones the KKK types go after. The KKK's Indiana headquarters are now in Kokomo according to the Southern Poverty Center. If you check their site they have a map of locations across the country. I'm just an old white housewife who dared to lodge a complaint against a deputy. And our lives have been ruined. We can't hire contractors ... good mechanics, etc... My son has been harassed by every fellow employee he's tried to work with for years. He has to drive a truck just to be away from people. I just stay to myself. And it's hell. I'm afraid to go to a doctor and I need help. I'm 62 and in poor health but I'm afraid to go. I've tried contacting our state's reps, etc...only to get no where. White folk are largely ignored when these things happen. I'm hoping to share this so someone who really knows what hate is will see they are not really alone? I sure wish you all the best in your life and pray things get better for all of us who are downtrodden. Susan
reply by the author on 09-May-2016
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Young Sir...First, I need tell you I'm sorry this is part of your history. Second, very well written, taking us with you in the horror of it all. Third, I would like to share, as you might be one of the very few people in the world who might understand...I do know SOME of what this feels like. Tho no one in my family has been murdered, or burned or hanged, we stood up to a small town sheriff's department concerning the behavior of a reserve deputy, and we were literally run out of our paid for home. They used constant harassment. Usually in the form of dynamite being set off near our property lines. We lived in southern Indiana on a small farm surrounded by gorgeous woods...and they'd sneak up at all hours and terrorize us and our livestock. I have had bullitt's fly past my face as I stood on my porch. Guns and fireworks as I would ride my horse. People would drive by and yell obscenities. Low planes to this day roar real close to our roof. Fireworks every where we go almost all year long. Seriously. Someone, and I recognized the voice as a local sheriff deputy, mumbled 'Hey' under my bedroom window one night. My blood ran cold. The more they did the more calls we made and when a neighbor girl threw a rock and hit one of the horses I got her on tape doing it. We didn't know she was a delinquent and when we turned it in, she was put on house arrest. SO! Guess what. They concocted a charge against our son and have ruined his life with a false arrest. We tried to sue, the lawyer we hired took a copy of a letter that stated (from the prosecutors office!), that if we moved they would expunge our son. So I sold out and left just to help our kid. But the police now follow us with lies and gossip and we've moved and moved to escape this shit and nothing helps. I'm telling you this so you'll know that black folk are not the only ones the KKK types go after. The KKK's Indiana headquarters are now in Kokomo according to the Southern Poverty Center. If you check their site they have a map of locations across the country. I'm just an old white housewife who dared to lodge a complaint against a deputy. And our lives have been ruined. We can't hire contractors ... good mechanics, etc... My son has been harassed by every fellow employee he's tried to work with for years. He has to drive a truck just to be away from people. I just stay to myself. And it's hell. I'm afraid to go to a doctor and I need help. I'm 62 and in poor health but I'm afraid to go. I've tried contacting our state's reps, etc...only to get no where. White folk are largely ignored when these things happen. I'm hoping to share this so someone who really knows what hate is will see they are not really alone? I sure wish you all the best in your life and pray things get better for all of us who are downtrodden. Susan
Comment Written 09-May-2016
reply by the author on 09-May-2016
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Susan, I am devastated by your review. My family fled a Klan-like group 150 years ago. I am shocked but not shocked that this is still going on in Indiana. No one, black or white, is safe. There are many whites who died at the hands of these people. If my family had held onto the land and had been allowed to build their wealth generation to generation, my generation could have benefited. Instead I have a tale of horror so horrible that my mother, stepmother, and I wrote it down when we heard Mama Jennie and Freddie tell it.
Thank you for your generous, six star review, and for sharing your story that these horrors still exist and are not things of the past. Please keep safe.
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Thank you so much for understanding...I feel so alone most of the time and this has caused so much cost and stress it's unreal. We're moving again too. Just yesterday someone set off fireworks and almost caused my husband to be run over by the horse as he led it. I don't know where to go. When the police are mad, you're toast. Thanks again! And I do hope you'll write more about this too.
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I grieve to hear of your travails. I am reminded of when neighbors set my house on fire, set a bush on fire, through garbage on our lawn, and broke down our fence all in an effort to chase a black family out of a Los Angeles neighborhood in the 1970s. I understand that stress and felling alone. My family has been dealing with them for 150 years.
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Oh Lord...I know we don't have it that rough, and I sure hope things are better for you now? Please be my neighbor. I would love to be around you and your family. Suse
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Yes, things are better for me now, and I hope it stays that way.
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Oh Lord...I know we don't have it that rough, and I sure hope things are better for you now? Please be my neighbor. I would love to be around you and your family. Suse
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Thank you so much for understanding...I feel so alone most of the time and this has caused so much cost and stress it's unreal. We're moving again too. Just yesterday someone set off fireworks and almost caused my husband to be run over by the horse as he led it. I don't know where to go. When the police are mad, you're toast. Thanks again! And I do hope you'll write more about this too.
Comment from Ima L. Ami
I can't even imagine how terrifying such a story would be to a small child like your father. I am very familiar with the Free Masons. They have always been known for their kindness and compassion. It is also a well known fact that they hold many secrets and could be anywhere at anytime. My favorite line in this story is:
"Freddie, you have to give time time to change."
I had to read it a couple of times before it sunk in. Great work and thanks for sharing!
reply by the author on 02-May-2016
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I can't even imagine how terrifying such a story would be to a small child like your father. I am very familiar with the Free Masons. They have always been known for their kindness and compassion. It is also a well known fact that they hold many secrets and could be anywhere at anytime. My favorite line in this story is:
"Freddie, you have to give time time to change."
I had to read it a couple of times before it sunk in. Great work and thanks for sharing!
Comment Written 30-Apr-2016
reply by the author on 02-May-2016
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Yes, suzlswiz, I am horrified at the thought my grandmother likely told my father this story while they were living in a boxcar and feeling vulnerable in a segregated migrant worker's camp. I put myself in my father's shoes and imagined what went through his head. If I were him and heard that story, I would be unable to sleep in that boxcar.
I am glad your favorite line is "Freddie, you have to give time time to change."
Thank you for your review.
Comment from c_lucas
Man inhumanities toward man. Cowards all as they sought to improve their status quo by mistreating those of a lower social standing. This is very well written.
reply by the author on 21-Apr-2016
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Man inhumanities toward man. Cowards all as they sought to improve their status quo by mistreating those of a lower social standing. This is very well written.
Comment Written 20-Apr-2016
reply by the author on 21-Apr-2016
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Thank you, c_lucas, for your generous, six star review. I am shocked at man's brutality and man's inhumanity toward man evidenced in this story. When my father and grandmother used to tell me this story I would wonder why the Masons had to hide Tom's body. I had done a lot of reading lately and I learned that mobs, Klans, White Caps, and other racists used to dig up and tear apart the body of a black lynching victim in order to get souvenirs and, strangely, good luck charms. Given what I know now about then, I am glad the Masons hid the body of my great great great grandfather. May he rest in peace knowing that I am telling his story. Thank you for your review.
Comment from jusylee72
Once again this is riveting. I love the way you are telling it. I am so enamored with the story . Though I hate the history behind it I know that it is true and needs to be told. I am glad that you are the gifted one who can do it.
reply by the author on 20-Apr-2016
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Once again this is riveting. I love the way you are telling it. I am so enamored with the story . Though I hate the history behind it I know that it is true and needs to be told. I am glad that you are the gifted one who can do it.
Comment Written 20-Apr-2016
reply by the author on 20-Apr-2016
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Yes, jusylee72, this is history that needs to be told. My ancestors and family told it for 123 years before I wrote it down in my diary twice. My mother and stepmother also wrote it down. I am glad I am able to share our story. Thank you for your review.
Comment from I am Cat
Wow, Andre,
yet another one which deserves so much more than I can give it. My grandfather (on my mother's side), my husband's father and his father, going back some time, were freemason's. My Uncle Gene, a free mason. I guess Jimmy and I didn't understand enough about them, both his brothers are freemasons, but because (and this was our understanding) they ARE a mostly, or purely 'white' organization, we wanted no part of it. So Jimmy stopped that particular tradition in its tracks. We knew that they did some good things, but the fact that they made a deal about it at all, was a deal breaker to us. Ah well. I'm glad that they tried to help when they could. You know? What a terrible thing to have to live through. And for some, those things still are going on... I just don't 'get' it... why people have to drive wedges.. .but I know the wedges are there, it just makes no sense to me, in my spectrum of many colors...
At any rate, the fact that you keep these stories in print, is a great service to your family, and to history as well, Andre. A beautiful job, these two box car stories. Painful to write, but so necessary.
Another one that needs a video my dear. ;)
Hugs and love,
Cat
A virtual six from me...
Tell me how Poetry and Poison is coming along?
reply by the author on 20-Apr-2016
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Wow, Andre,
yet another one which deserves so much more than I can give it. My grandfather (on my mother's side), my husband's father and his father, going back some time, were freemason's. My Uncle Gene, a free mason. I guess Jimmy and I didn't understand enough about them, both his brothers are freemasons, but because (and this was our understanding) they ARE a mostly, or purely 'white' organization, we wanted no part of it. So Jimmy stopped that particular tradition in its tracks. We knew that they did some good things, but the fact that they made a deal about it at all, was a deal breaker to us. Ah well. I'm glad that they tried to help when they could. You know? What a terrible thing to have to live through. And for some, those things still are going on... I just don't 'get' it... why people have to drive wedges.. .but I know the wedges are there, it just makes no sense to me, in my spectrum of many colors...
At any rate, the fact that you keep these stories in print, is a great service to your family, and to history as well, Andre. A beautiful job, these two box car stories. Painful to write, but so necessary.
Another one that needs a video my dear. ;)
Hugs and love,
Cat
A virtual six from me...
Tell me how Poetry and Poison is coming along?
Comment Written 20-Apr-2016
reply by the author on 20-Apr-2016
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Cat, I am aiming at resuming "Poetry and Poison" in May. Even before the certificates expire on my present stories, I am pivoting to rehearse African, African American, and Turkish folktales for the Bay Area Storytelling Festival next week. Meanwhile I will write reviews to earn enough FS bucks to post two chapters. After the festival, I will turn my attention to writing those chapters.
Yesterday I found and began to read "Masonic Abolitionists," a recent book that documents the existence of Masonic abolitionists who worked in the Underground Railroad in Illinois before the Civil War and continued to assist former slaves afterwards. Masons were even killed and jailed for helping them. It is not a coincidence that Masons helped my ancestors flee to Illinois, which was the center of their activities. As I read this book I may discover more accounts of their assistance to my ancestors. I may even get the names of the Masons who helped and the dates and locations. But what surprised me most about this book was that these Masonic lodges were not white, but black because the "white" Masonic lodges would not accept them. I have to finish reading this book to confirm my suspicions, but the Masons who helped my family may have been black. I knew little about the Masons before I heard and collected my family's stories, but I am intrigued afterwards.
I am grateful that my family passed these stories down to me so that I could share them with you and the world. These stories were "Painful to write, but so necessary."
Thank you for your review.
Comment from JBCaine
Sis Cat-
That's about as vivid as it could have been told. Your winding of the dream into the story was very well done... almost a cliche of a writing tool, but rarely done well these days. This was an obvious exception.
Nicely done.
JBCaine-
reply by the author on 20-Apr-2016
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Sis Cat-
That's about as vivid as it could have been told. Your winding of the dream into the story was very well done... almost a cliche of a writing tool, but rarely done well these days. This was an obvious exception.
Nicely done.
JBCaine-
Comment Written 20-Apr-2016
reply by the author on 20-Apr-2016
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Oh, thank you, JBCaine, for your heartfelt review. I am glad you found my dream to be an "obvious exception" and my storytelling to be "about as vivid as it could have been told."
Comment from lightink
Andre, you're so amazing for taking on recording and sharing your family's history! No wonder you had nightmares! I was withholding my breath throughout a lot of this story and I felt both enraged and heartbroken. Also, I don't think I fully realized how little time passed since then... Such a hero's journey! And in a world of no happy ends, I guess being able to hide the body counts as a "semi-happy end"...
How much I wish that this story had had a very different ending!
How much I wish That compassion and respect was (and had been) the main moving force of history!
Thank you for sharing this and making sure that this story will never get forgotten!
reply by the author on 19-Apr-2016
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Andre, you're so amazing for taking on recording and sharing your family's history! No wonder you had nightmares! I was withholding my breath throughout a lot of this story and I felt both enraged and heartbroken. Also, I don't think I fully realized how little time passed since then... Such a hero's journey! And in a world of no happy ends, I guess being able to hide the body counts as a "semi-happy end"...
How much I wish that this story had had a very different ending!
How much I wish That compassion and respect was (and had been) the main moving force of history!
Thank you for sharing this and making sure that this story will never get forgotten!
Comment Written 19-Apr-2016
reply by the author on 19-Apr-2016
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Yes, I am grateful that I have these documents at my disposal so that I could share my family history. Yes, "I don't think I fully realized how little time passed since then. Given what I know about what the mobs, White Caps, and Klans did to lynched bodies, I count it a victory that Tom's body was hidden and his family fled to safety. I, too, wish that " compassion and respect was (and had been) the main moving force of history!" My family members who heard the story did not forget it. Thank you for your generous, six star review.
Comment from Eric1
Hi Sis Cat, A brilliant well-told story of survival through those harsh and dreadful times, How your family survived is a miracle, I was kept spellbound by your words and found
myself praying that all was going to be well with Freddie.
All in all a brilliant story well told my friend.
reply by the author on 19-Apr-2016
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Hi Sis Cat, A brilliant well-told story of survival through those harsh and dreadful times, How your family survived is a miracle, I was kept spellbound by your words and found
myself praying that all was going to be well with Freddie.
All in all a brilliant story well told my friend.
Comment Written 19-Apr-2016
reply by the author on 19-Apr-2016
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Oh, thank you, Eric, for your generous, six star review. My family survived through the hard work of a lot of people. I just found today the book "Masonic Abolitionists" that details their activities with the Underground Railroad in Illinois before the Civil War. I started reading this book to confirm whether or not these Masons were active where my family lived after the War.
I am pleased that you were "kept spellbound by" my words.
If they were alive today, my grandmother and father would be please that I continue to share our family story.
Thank you for your review.
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Family is what it's all about Sis Cat.
Comment from Kooky Clown
What a terrible story of how things were and probably still are in places it makes me sad to think that this kind of thing happened not so long ago. I am so glad that you have chosen to relate these stories so that they will now be remembered and not forgotten, even though they must be a painful to you of how your family suffered in the past. Well done and good luck for the future.
reply by the author on 19-Apr-2016
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What a terrible story of how things were and probably still are in places it makes me sad to think that this kind of thing happened not so long ago. I am so glad that you have chosen to relate these stories so that they will now be remembered and not forgotten, even though they must be a painful to you of how your family suffered in the past. Well done and good luck for the future.
Comment Written 19-Apr-2016
reply by the author on 19-Apr-2016
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Yes, Kooky Clown, I am shocked that this all happened not too long ago. My grandmother and father weaved together stories about the hatred and discrimination of African Americans from the post Civil War period to World War II. I am so slag they passed these stories down to me so that I could share them with you. Thank you for your review.