CCC NEWSETTE
"The POSITIVE Voice of the Communities"
News Deadline: 12 NOON Saturdays Telephone: 475-5141
A Community Family News-letter From The CONCERNED CITIZENS COMMITMENT PO. Box 955 _ Evanston, IL 60204
VOL. 13, No.8, Thursday, February 24, 1983 + $18 Year + Six Months $12 +Single Copy: 40¢.
OUR EVANSTON BLACK HISTORY MONTH FEATURE REPEATS THE FASCINATING "EDGAR SMITH STORY" OF 1903
By CCC Publicitor Melvin S. Smith
(NOTE: The article on this page we first published in our March 16th, 1978 issue CCC NEWSETTE.
We found this oral record of early black Evanstonians so fascinating that we reprint it here as a Black History Month feature article. Reference to Mr, Smith's wife, Mamie, was five years ago)
"WELCOM NEWS FOR EVANSTON BLACK ORAL HISTORY. HERE'S THE ANSWER TO LAST WEEK'S CCC NEWSETTE
SHOT AND INQUIRY ABOUT THE IDENTITY OF THE YOUNG MAN SHOWN BELOW, WHOSE BEAUTIFUL, FLOURISHING HANDWRITING INSCRIBED IT ONLY TO SAY 'FROM EDGAR, TO MARIE, EVANSTON,1903.'
"THIS NATTILYDRESSED, NEATLY TRIMMED YOUNGSTER IS EDGAR SMITH, ELDER BROTHER OF FRANK D. SMITH, RETIRED PHARMICIST WHO LIVES AT 1540 FOWLER WE TRACED INFORMATION ABOUT HIM THROUGH CCC READERS WHO ADVISED THAT WE CONTACT MRS, LILLIE CANNON, A FAMILY ELDER AND STATELY DOWAGER, THE EPITONE OF BLACK EVANSTON CULTURE THAT, SADLY, SEEMS TO BE DYING ON THE VINE OF A NEW, MODERNDAY SOCIETY WHOSE STANDAADS ARE FAR BENEATH THE DIGNITY OF EVANSTON'S EARLIER DAYS.
"MRS. CANNON ASSURED US OUR PHOTO IDENTIFIED EDGAR; THIS IS EDGAR SMITH, FOLKS ALSO MARTHA TWIGGS WALKER WHO, SEEING THE PICTURE, REMEMBERED EDGAR SMITH AS THE BROTHER OF FRANK. OUR VISIT TO MR. SMITH THEN PROVED EQUALLY JOYOUS ALONGSIDE OUR CALL ON MRS. CANNON, FOR RIGHT OFF, HE DECLARED, 'THAT'S EDGAR ALL RIGHT!'
"OUR DELIGHT GREN EHWN WE LEARNED THAT EDGAR, IN HIS BIRTHPLACE, GREENVILLE, SOUTH CAROLINA, HAD A TREMENDOUS LOVE OF RIDING HORSES, NO DOUBT HAVING WORKED AS A STABLE BOY. GREENVILLE'S RACIAL PATTERN OF THE 1880'S, APPARENTLY WAS SUCH THAT THE CITY'S FIRE DEPARTMENT HIRED ONLY WHITE FIREMEN (SOUND FAMILlAR TODAY, CHICAGO?). YET, BY COMMON CONSENT, IT WAS FELT WIDESPREAD, EVEN AMONG CITY OFFICIALS, THAT WHITES SIMPLY WERE NOT THE EQUALS OF BLACKS AS ACCOMPLISED HORSEMENT. (BLACK ISAAC MURPHY WAS A THREE-TIME KENTUCKY DERBY WINNER BEFORE BIG MONEY RACISM MADE IT AN ALL-WHITE EVENT)
(SEE NEXT COLUMN) -
"IT WAS AN ODDITY, THEREFOR, THAT ALL GREENVILLE FIREMEN WERE WHITE, BUT ALL DRIVERS OF THE TOWN'S FIRE WAGONS WERE BLACK, AMONG THEN BEING EDGAR. HOW MUCH TIME WENT BY BLTWEEN RECEIVING THE CALL AND ARRIVING AT THE FIRE SCENE? WE DON'T KNOW, BUT HOW SMITH AND HIS ASSOCIATES PREPARED FOR THE FJRE EMERGENCIES WAS INTERESTING.
"HUNG FROM FIRE STATION RAFTERS WAS A HARNESS ON ROPE PULLEYS, THE FIRE HORSE,TRAINED EXPERTLY, WAS KEPT BEHIND A BARRIER UNTIL THE ALARM SOUNDED. STATION EXIT DOORS WERE CWSED, THE BARRIER MOVED AND THE HORSE DASHED TO THE SPOT "!HERE THE HARNESS WAS DROPPED ON HIS BACK, AND IN SECONDS,DRIVERHORSEMAN EDGAR SMITH WOULD STRAP HORSE TO HARNESS. THEN, WITH BELLS CLANGING, DRIVER AND FIREFIGHTERS WOULD BE OFF AND RUNNING TO THF: FIRE.
"STILL A HRSEMAN IN THE LATE 1890'S, EDGAR SMITH LEFT GREENVILLE, SOUTH CAROLINA, FOR EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, WHERE HE BECAME A COACHMAN FOR A MILLIONAIRE, GERMAN-BORN EVANSTONIAN WHOSE NAME WAS SOMETHING LIKE PAUL TEIGENS. IT'S EVIDENT THAT EDGAR SMITH'S FANCY DRESS SHOWN HERE INDICATES THE STYLISH MANNER IN WHICH EVANSTON'S WEALTHY WHITES DRESSED THEIR HORSE AND BUGGY COACHMEN.
"IT WAS EARLY 1900 WHEN A/1ERICA' S FIRST (SEE PAGE TWO)
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