Sunday, February 29, 2004
Black History Month - epilogue
Oscar DePriest: 1871: Born in Alabama, the son of former slaves.
1928: Becomes first African American, in the 20th century, to win a seat in the US House of Representatives. First black American elected to Congress from a Northern State. 1915: First African American to be elected to Chicago's city council. 1933: Legislative accomplishments include the anti-discrimination amendment attached to the bill establishing of the Civilian Conservation Corps. Fought for federal anti-lynching legislation.
DePriest was also the subject of national scandal when, in 1929, his wife was invited to the Hoover White House to attend one of Mrs. Hoover's congressional teas. A great hem-n-haw ensued with respect to Mrs. DePriest's invitation as citizens and editorial cluckings condemned the visit and held forth with grave exhortations of unforseen perils in the event of such luncheon madness. Windy forecasts of menacing clouds gathered on the horizon, imminent threats to our Anglo-Saxon institutions, Christianity, and the evermore fragile dignity of Southern sensibilities, sir, all awaited our nation should such an insult be allowed to cross the threshold at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. And blah blah blah. Mrs DePriest attended the tea despite the foul weather, and needless to say, the wheels of industry did not come flying off the wagon.
Nordic Furies, zany Fundamentalist Christian crusaders, and the fragile dignity of the Lost Cause were not heaved into the Lake of Fire or pounced upon by a plague of angry boils. Or any other number of similar enviable consequences. Each, unfortunately, lived to fight another day. Darn it.
To emphasize the point above, with respect to galvanic reactions to the crimes of Hoover-DePriest, behold the following examples.
(*Note: I have no idea if the signer of this letter is any relation to Coleman L. Blease, then Senator from South Carolina. Sen. Blease (SC) was an unapologetic bigot and white supremacist who, upon arriving in Washington DC, introduced legislation to prohibit interracial marriage.)
Editorial from the day. Jackson, Mississippi - 1929.
Well, there goes the retirement getaway on Hoover Lake.
Anyway, on a related note with respect to today's gay marriage debate, I wonder if any of this kind of past overwrought fore-doom bellowing makes any impression on latter day scoldpottle busybodies like Sandy Rios or Louis Sheldon or our storied national soap liniment salesman George W. Bush. I wonder if they recognize themselves in old canards like the ones above. In their own dour modern day predictions of enormous offenses against purity and preservation and the certain fall of western civilization should the gay marriage menace come to darken the doors of the matrimonial sanctum. And blah blah blah.
Nah, probably not. Guess you'll have to visit the link below and help remind them.
All Facts and Opinions My goal is to recruit 1000 people to the Million for Marriage effort. Please join us.
*
1928: Becomes first African American, in the 20th century, to win a seat in the US House of Representatives. First black American elected to Congress from a Northern State. 1915: First African American to be elected to Chicago's city council. 1933: Legislative accomplishments include the anti-discrimination amendment attached to the bill establishing of the Civilian Conservation Corps. Fought for federal anti-lynching legislation.
DePriest was also the subject of national scandal when, in 1929, his wife was invited to the Hoover White House to attend one of Mrs. Hoover's congressional teas. A great hem-n-haw ensued with respect to Mrs. DePriest's invitation as citizens and editorial cluckings condemned the visit and held forth with grave exhortations of unforseen perils in the event of such luncheon madness. Windy forecasts of menacing clouds gathered on the horizon, imminent threats to our Anglo-Saxon institutions, Christianity, and the evermore fragile dignity of Southern sensibilities, sir, all awaited our nation should such an insult be allowed to cross the threshold at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. And blah blah blah. Mrs DePriest attended the tea despite the foul weather, and needless to say, the wheels of industry did not come flying off the wagon.
Nordic Furies, zany Fundamentalist Christian crusaders, and the fragile dignity of the Lost Cause were not heaved into the Lake of Fire or pounced upon by a plague of angry boils. Or any other number of similar enviable consequences. Each, unfortunately, lived to fight another day. Darn it.
To emphasize the point above, with respect to galvanic reactions to the crimes of Hoover-DePriest, behold the following examples.
I hope the Georgia Legislature will pass a resolution condemning the Mrs. Hoover-DePriest tea party. I think that every Southern State should set aside one day to fast and pray for the preservation of our pure Anglo-Saxon race, for it is plain that if the South does not preserve it, that it will soon be a thing of the past.
I think that every wheel of industry should stand still and every head bow in prayer and shame at one o'clock the same day we pray for the preservation of the white race of America.
I hope that no Southern Senator or Southern Congressman's wife will darken the doors of the White House as long as Mrs. Hoover is its mistress.
When Mrs. Hoover has vacated the White House I hope our government will see the necessity to dynamite the White House, remove it from the face of the earth, build another one in its stead, that its walls may not be contaminated with the odor of Mrs. DePriest.
P.S. I would rather that the Catholic had control of our government than the African race.
~ W.R. Blease[*] [Barney, GA., Macon Telegraph, Macon GA, 1929.]
(*Note: I have no idea if the signer of this letter is any relation to Coleman L. Blease, then Senator from South Carolina. Sen. Blease (SC) was an unapologetic bigot and white supremacist who, upon arriving in Washington DC, introduced legislation to prohibit interracial marriage.)
Editorial from the day. Jackson, Mississippi - 1929.
Several weeks ago it was announced that President and Mrs. Hoover intend to visit several Southern States during the Autumn and early Winter.
For their own sakes and to save Southern people from embarrassment, it is sincerely hoped they will not do so.
The DePriest incident has placed President and Mrs. Hoover beyond the pale of social recognition by Southern people.
As tersely remarked by the Memphis Commercial-Appeal, the White House reception to a Chicago Negress did not establish the social equality of the Negro race, but it did establish the social status of President and Mrs. Hoover.
A Southern visit by President and Mrs. Hoover at this time - or any other time in the future - would mean social ostracism for them. We do not practice social equality and we refuse recognition to people who do practice social equality.
Anglo-Saxon men and women of the South have no desire to bring the President and Mrs. Hoover face to face with the enormity of their offense. Its is wise, therefore, that plans for the Southern visit be cancelled. [~ editorial: Jackson Daily News, Jackson Mississippi. 1929]
Well, there goes the retirement getaway on Hoover Lake.
Anyway, on a related note with respect to today's gay marriage debate, I wonder if any of this kind of past overwrought fore-doom bellowing makes any impression on latter day scoldpottle busybodies like Sandy Rios or Louis Sheldon or our storied national soap liniment salesman George W. Bush. I wonder if they recognize themselves in old canards like the ones above. In their own dour modern day predictions of enormous offenses against purity and preservation and the certain fall of western civilization should the gay marriage menace come to darken the doors of the matrimonial sanctum. And blah blah blah.
Nah, probably not. Guess you'll have to visit the link below and help remind them.
All Facts and Opinions My goal is to recruit 1000 people to the Million for Marriage effort. Please join us.
*
