UP & DOWN FARISH STREET [Jackson Advocate]

Reprint June 23-29, 2005

EDITOR'S NOTES: City hall ... the house that slaves built gets a new head. Historic changes loom on the new horizon. A salute here and there. A birthday or two or three. Then we answer questions and Move on Down the Line!

I REMEMBER IT WELL. The first day I reported for duty after being named an administrative aide to Jackson mayor Dale Danks Jr. back about 1977. I walked up the front steps of the building, and to the right there was a unique plaque with bronze letters on a dark green background that read "this building was erected by slave labor in 1847-1848" or words to that effect.

I thought, almost aloud, how in the name of white cotton could they classify slaves as ignorant and inhuman if the they, the slaves, could erect a handsome, tall-pillared structure of three stories and a slanted attic like city hall? And all at once I had to remind myself that history dating back to the Pharaohs, well before Hannibal (a black man) crossed the Alps, proved that the first and greatest civilization on earth was black. That's right, black! Black men were kings and black women were queens seated on golden thrones centuries before white men could read or write.

Oh well, that's another subject we'll treat a bit later, but to the point.

The other day as I drove passed city hall I remembered that voters in the city had just elected their second African American mayor over any decade, and he, Frank Melton, was about to claim that high office in less than two weeks. I thought again, the Bible plainly states, "The meek shall inherit the earth."

Well, city halls in many states across the South and the nation is now under the command and heavily staffed by blacks. It's becoming common practice for urban cities to be directed by top flight black men and women. Maybe there's something to this democracy ... all men are created equal ... thing after all. There just might be.

Speaking of mayor-elect Frank Melton, I first want to congratulate him, wish him well (because as he goes, so goes the city), and offer my services (in an advisory capacity, of course) when and if needed. The mayor elect has probably noted that Farish Street is the center of one of the nation's better known national black historic districts. And that it runs from Town Creek South to Fortification Street North. That's right Mr. Mayor, it does not stop at Davis Street. It goes another block.

As it happens, I was born on Farish Street, 704 to be exact. And some of the most brilliant minds in America used to operate within that historic area, bounded on the west by Mill Street, in the main, and in the east by West Street. From time to time I will point out some of the structures that were either the homes or the businesses of some of these people, most of whom I knew as a child growing up in the area.

But before I dive into the past, let's give a round of applause to what's happening now. Farish Street Baptist Church, organized in 1983 (no, I hadn't made it to the scene back there) has just completed a handsome all brick parking lot south of the main building that extends from the church auditorium to the corner of Oakley Street. It is of modern design and compliments any and all future effort occasioned on the street.

In brilliant golden letters (that face south) it spells out the birthday of the church, which by the way is the church where my mother and father exchanged wedding vows under the words of Rev. C.A. Greeg, pastor, many years ago. We salute Farish Street Baptist Church and its current pastor and memberships.

Now back to a few historic abodes still standing in the area. At the corner of Church and Monument streets stands the remains of the first home of Walter H. (Duke) Williams, former head football coach at Tougaloo College, and founder and president of Security Life Insurance Company, whose first offices were in the famed 100 block of Farish Street (between Capitol and Amite streets). With time and growth, the offices were relocated on Lynch Street, very near the corner of Lynch and Dalton streets.

Next door to Duke Williams' house there stands today in fairly good repair the Church Street home of Dr. S.D. Redmond, reputedly America's first black multi-millionaire. He was often called "The Black Genius." Sidney Dillion Redmond's exploits could easily fill a book, or a television series. He was a physician, a lawyer, a businessman, a scholar, and a lover of the common man. His offices were located, like Duke Williams', in the famed 100 block on Farish Street.

I used to see Dr. Redmond almost every day because he never owned a car. He walked from his Church Street home to his office every morning and walked home at night, or very late evening. Dr. Redmond was a brilliant "everything" as a lawyer. He had no equal in <location value="LS/us.ms" idsrc="xmltag.org">Mississippi (or the South for that matter). A Harvard honor student, he sent his son Sidney Jr., who I came to know through his friendship with Jackson Advocate editor Percy Greene.

As I started to say, he sent his son to Harvard, and had his son (who was also very bright) to save all his law papers from all his classes, and Dr. Redmond would hold school teaching law to at least three men I know of. Those three men were civil rights lawyers J.H. "Jack" Young, Carsie A. Hall and Percy Greene. Two of them became lawyers by passing (in one try) the Mississippi Bar Association. Those two? Jack Young and Carsie Hall.

Dr. Redmond owned more than 50 rental houses, most in West Jackson. The houses were located in an area named "Redmond's Alley." His personal estate at the time of his death was estimated in the millions.

Just around the corner from Dr. Redmond's house there still stands the handsome Wilson home. I never knew Mr. Wilson Sr. I believe he died at a fairly early age. His son, Charles Wilson, Jr., became one of the city's most widely known and highly regarded citizens and educators. After attending local schools he graduated from Southern California University, and remained there for his masters degree.

I should add here that the Wilsons owned a small grocery store (Mom and Pop) that stood in front of their Grayson Street (now Lamar Street) home for decades. It has long been torn down, but the house surprisingly is as handsome as ever, sitting as it does on a hill where the property adjourns a small street (Dreyfus Hill) that borders Christ Temple Church at the corner of Lamar and Monument streets.

If you are to truly lend honor to the history of the Farish Street District, you must remember the name Sampson. Because still standing on its original site on Monument Street, almost in front of New Deal Supermarket, is the building that housed Sampson Shoe Repair Shop. A shop that for years, despite its limited size, did a thriving business with customers who came from both Georgetown (the name given homes west and northwest of Farish Street) and Virden's Addition, an area further north. While the building has been renovated and refined with new material, it looks exactly as it did when I was a boy. And while Mr. Sampson has long since passed, his children, including two boys and a girl, are, to the best of my knowledge, still living.

And finally for this week on the subject, the new administration in Jackson may be interested in knowing that the side streets played an important role in the history of mid-African American Jackson, because that is where most of the leaders (black leaders of central and north Jackson) lived. One of those side streets is Oakley Street. It runs directly from Farish Street to Mill Street, directly in front of the Crystal Palace Ballroom. No less than three Jackson College (now JSU) professors lived on Oakley Street. At least two Lanier High School teachers also lived on the street. While it is basically a run down are, it wears a full share of the good history made by dedicated people in the Farish Street area many years ago.

AND NOW, LET'S LOOK. IN THE MAILBAG ... First from Detroit from a lady who signs her name "Bernice from section one of the class." She writes: "Dear James, I don't expect you to remember me, but I was a classmate of yours, and I have tried to keep up with you through the years. A group of us were discussing you at a Lanier High School Club meeting the other night. We know you were the first person to finish Lanier High at age 15, and quite frankly, I believe you could have finished at age 14, but the principal (I.S. Sanders) and teachers didn't want to admit that you were smart. As a matter of fact, I overheard one of the teachers say that 'we are not about to let that happen.' You were really smart-headed (smile).

"At the meeting we talked about how you used to publish your own little paper using professor O.B. Cobbin's typewriter while you were a National Youth Administration student working in his office. In one issue of your one-sheet newspaper, you wrote about a man whom you stated President Lincoln had called 'the most intelligent black man in America.' Do you remember that? We think of you often up here, and we are planning a special honor for you later this year. I will write you more about it as time goes by. Good luck!"

ANSWER: Thanks for the pretty words about me in your recent letter. You know that if you had said something bad about me, I never would have put it in the column (heh, heh). The man you're talking about was a free-born native of Charleston, Virginia, named Martin R. Delanry, born 1812, died 1885. I am looking in my files for a visual biography of him for this column so you can get an idea what he looked like, plus a bit more on him.

QUESTION: From Charlie Hayes of Jackson. "Dear Mr. Rundles, I read your column in the Jackson Advocate every week without fail. As a matter of fact, it is one of the few things I look forward to each week. I am 92 years old, and still in pretty good health. I remember things about Jackson and Mississippi where white people helped Negroes instead of lynching them. I mean they paid their way through college, after helping them with jobs while they were in high school. One of those families was the Enochs family. They were very rich. Have you ever heard of them? There were others. I think you should consider mentioning some of these people when you write. We know about the buzzards, let's hear more about the eagles."

ANSWER: A very good idea, and very well put. Yes, as a child, it happens I did know a bit about the Enochs family. I think they were friends of my father (Rev. James Isaiah Rundles Sr.). And I believe they ran a lumber company somewhere around Jackson, I'm not sure where, but I do know they lived on the corner of Capitol and Rose Street, and the house is still there and still looking good. I believe it may become some kind of training center or something now, I'm not sure.

Thanks for your letter and thank God for people like the Enochs. There are many others like R.H. Green, who owned a wholesale grocery company on Mill Street and started a training program for black nurses, as well as financing a nursing home or health clinic (hospital) for blacks at Baptist Hospital Center on State Street.

A SPECIAL SALUTE. NOTE: From time to time we will salute a person (persons) who we believe has (have) made a worthy contribution to their fellow man, mostly, in our case, African Americans. This week we choose Mrs. Mary Ann Franklin. This charming young lady worked for a number of years in the banking industry, and though retired (at an early age I might add) she still serves on the board of Liberty (African American) Bank in Jackson. A relative of my wife Mattie, and the daughter of Mrs. Mary Dell Thomas of Jackson, Mary Ann tells us that she and her husband Marvin Franklin (also retired) now live in Boulder, Colorado, and enjoy climbing the "Flat Iron Mountains" ofthat state. By the way, her husband was an executive with Anheuser Bush Corporation.

BECAUSE OF THE IMPORTANT POSITIONS HELD BY THIS MAN OVER THE PAST SEVERAL DECADES, and the ups and downs in his political and personal life, we will have time and space for a few notes on the life of only one person this week as we look at birthdays of celebrities. This week our spotlight points to portions of the life of Clarence Thomas, U.S. Supreme Court Justice, lawyer, administrator, jurist.

Thomas was born on June 23, 1948, in Pin Point, Georgia. When he was two years old his father, M.C. Thomas, deserted the family, leaving his mother, Leola Anderson Thomas to raise the family. The woman struggled bravely to feed and clothe Thomas and his brother. Her trials were multiplied when the shack in which they lived, without electricity or plumbing, went up in flames. She sent Clarence across town to live with her father.

From that day forward, Clarence Thomas' life took giant steps forward in worthy directions. He excelled at St. Benedict's Elementary School and at St. John High School. He wanted to become a Catholic priest. In 1967 he entered the Immaculate Conception Seminary in Missouri. As one of only a handful of blacks enrolled, he was subjected to racial slurs almost daily, but he persisted and excelled. He would later join protests against the Vietnam war. He studied the philosophies of Booker T. Washington, Malcolm X, and the Black Panthers.

Although he was invited to attend several law schools after seminary, he chose Yale University where they used an affirmative action program to admit him. By 1979 he was working for John C. Danforth, Republican Attorney General for Missouri. When Danforth was elected to the U.S. Senate, Thomas followed him to Washington in 1980. Thomas flew to San Francisco to attend a meeting of black conservatives, where he urged blacks to leave the ideological plantation of liberalism. Thomas' remarks caught the attention of President Ronald Reagan, and after a while he appointed him Assistant Secretary of Civil Rights in the State Department of Education. A year later President Reagan nominated Thomas to chair the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

There then began an up and down cycle of approval and disapproval (in the eyes of blacks) where Clarence Thomas was concerned. In his first case as EEOC chairperson, Clarence Thomas sued General Motors for discrimination in the workplace, and in 1993 he forced the automakers to agree to a $42.5 million settlement, the largest in EEOC history.

But he would later sound uncertain. Example, he stated, "I do believe in compensation for actual victims, but not for people whose only claim is that they are members of a historically oppressed group."

He received criticism from all quarters of black leadership, but in 1989, President George Bush offered him a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, and he served there.

As most should know, the first African American to serve on the United States Supreme Court was the famed NAACP champion Thurgood Marshall. Thomas had been on the Court of Appeals for only 15 months when Justice Marshall announced his retirement. President Bush presented Thomas to the nation as his nominee to replace him. Thomas was confirmed, after much controversy concerning Anita Hill and sexual discrimination, yet became only the second black to serve on that high court where he still participates. And that is that, for now!

WEEKLY QUOTATION: Politeness is to do and say the kindest things in the kindest way."

- Something Mama taught us

By Jim Rundles

JA Feature Historian