Articles by Paul Rawlins
Jackie Robinson, Big Man on Any Campus
How good was Jackie Robinson? So good that in high school, he even got written up in opponents’ yearbooks—after beating them: At Pasadena Junior College, he wowed folks in track, baseball, basketball, and football, the sport that led to his being dubbed the greatest individual athlete on the greatest… Read more
Mollie Williams—Little Miss Mollie
Mollie Williams was born a slave in Utica, Mississippi. But that’s not all she talks about when she reminisces about her childhood in her autobiographical interview with a Federal Writers’ Project staff member in the 1930s. She tells about what she wore, what she ate, what mischief she and the other kids (black and white)… Read more
Brawley Gilmore—John Good’s Gumption
Say you’re a blacksmith and some of your customers just might be members of the Ku Klux Klan. It takes some guts to mark their horseshoes so you can look at the tracks after a raid and finger the riders. The way Brawley Gilmore tells it—or told it in 1937—John Good had the guts. … Read more
Henry Flipper—Clearing His Name
Sometimes the scales of justice balance slowly. Henry O. Flipper, the first black graduate of West Point, was charged with embezzlement while serving as a buffalo soldier. The image is from the monthly return that notes his arrest in 1881. He was found not guilty but was still dismissed from the Army for… Read more
John Glover—Holy Rolling
To hear John Glover tell it, there’s nothing like a good earthquake to improve public morals. He explained in his interview with Federal Writers Project members how the earth thundered and rolled until folks thought the Judgment had come. People were praying, and the cows and chickens were making a racket. He said the world… Read more
Jack Peterson—Patriot
You’ve heard of Benedict Arnold, but what about Jack Peterson? According to the October 9, 1859, Weekly Anglo-African, if Jack Peterson and Moses Sherwood hadn’t decided to take on a landing party from the British sloop of war Vulture by themselves, thereby frustrating Major Andre’s escape, Arnold might have given away West Point… Read more
William Christy—First Casualty
In June 1867, William Christy, a farmer from Pennsylvania, enlisted in the 10th Cavalry. The 10th was a black regiment whose men would soon be referred to as “buffalo soldiers” after they were sent to take part in the Indian Wars of the latter 19th century. Christy’s tenure with the unit was short. The 10th… Read more
John and Vada Sommerville—Civil Rights Dynamic Duo
Born in Jamaica, John Somerville got his first taste of Jim Crowe-era discrimination the day he got off a ship in San Francisco in 1902 and couldn’t find a decent room or meal. He didn’t like it. This Who’s Who bio explains how John and his wife, Vada, spent the rest of their lives… Read more
Who would name their daughter Halloween? Just check the records.
Who would name their daughter Halloween? According to the 1920 (and 1930) U.S. census, that would be John and Ollie Hildebrand of Freeborn Township, Missouri, for one — or two. In case you think maybe the enumerator got it wrong — twice — it’s right there on Halloween’s marriage license. Typed. Though as of 1940,… Read more
1940 U.S. Census: 50 States, 134 Million Names, 1 Index
Today is all about numbers. The first is 100, as in 100 percent of the 1940 U.S. Federal Census is now indexed. That means all 50 states are available to search to your heart’s content. Our indexing came up with 134,395,545 people counted. Most reports on the 1940 census give the U.S. population as 132… Read more
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