East St. Louis, Illinois had, and still has, a very colorful history. Since the 1970's there has been a steady decline of this city, in the shadow of the Gateway Arch. After returning from Viet Nam at the end of 1970, the author found himself working at City Hall in East St. Louis, a place where he had been raised. This coincided with the election of the first Black mayor for the city. He had friends and relatives in all parts of the city. He knew the streets, alleys, and playgrounds from hanging out in those places during his childhood. During his employment in the city's government, there was a loss of control of millions of dollars of federal funds. The actions of certain people in the city's government contributed to this loss for control. The loss of its Prime Sponsorship designation made it impossible for the city to provide jobs and job training for many people depending on the funds to live. This account describes some of the actions during that period that led to the loss of its Prime Sponsorship. It will allow the reader some background as to why East St. Louis is a mere shell of its former glory.
In the 1910s, half a million African Americans moved from the impoverished rural South to booming industrial cities of the North in search of jobs and freedom from Jim Crow laws. But Northern whites responded with rage, attacking blacks in the streets and laying waste to black neighborhoods in a horrific series of deadly race riots that broke out in dozens of cities across the nation, including Philadelphia, Chicago, Tulsa, Houston, and Washington, D.C. In East St. Louis, Illinois, corrupt city officials and industrialists had openly courted Southern blacks, luring them North to replace striking white laborers. This tinderbox erupted on July 2, 1917 into what would become one of the bloodiest American riots of the World War era. Its impact was enormous. "There has never been a time when the riot was not alive in the oral tradition," remarks Professor Eugene Redmond. Indeed, prominent blacks like W.E.B. Du Bois, Marcus Garvey, and Josephine Baker were forever influenced by it. Celebrated St. Louis journalist Harper Barnes has written the first full account of this dramatic turning point in American history, decisively placing it in the continuum of racial tensions flowing from Reconstruction and as a catalyst of civil rights action in the decades to come. Drawing from accounts and sources never before utilized, Harper Barnes has crafted a compelling and definitive story that enshrines the riot as an historical rallying cry for all who deplore racial violence.
Urban poverty, along with all of its poignant manifestations, is moving from city centers to working-class and industrial suburbs in contemporary America. Nowhere is this more evident than in East St. Louis, Illinois. Once a thriving manufacturing and transportation center, East St. Louis is now known for its unemployment, crime, and collapsing infrastructure. Abandoned in the Heartland takes us into the lives of East St. Louis’s predominantly African American residents to find out what has happened since industry abandoned the city, and jobs, quality schools, and city services disappeared, leaving people isolated and imperiled. Jennifer Hamer introduces men who search for meaning and opportunity in dead-end jobs, women who often take on caretaking responsibilities until well into old age, and parents who have the impossible task of protecting their children in this dangerous, and literally toxic, environment. Illustrated with historical and contemporary photographs showing how the city has changed over time, this book, full of stories of courage and fortitude, offers a powerful vision of the transformed circumstances of life in one American suburb.
One of the most important dance artists of the twentieth century, dancer and choreographer Katherine Dunham (1909-2006) created works that thrilled audiences the world over. As an African American woman, she broke barriers of race and gender, most notably as the founder of an important dance company that toured the United States, Latin America, Europe, Asia, and Australia for several decades. Through both her company and her schools, she influenced generations of performers for years to come, from Alvin Ailey to Marlon Brando to Eartha Kitt. Dunham was also one of the first choreographers to conduct anthropological research about dance and translate her findings for the theatrical stage. Katherine Dunham: Dance and the African Diaspora makes the argument that Dunham was more than a dancer-she was an intellectual and activist committed to using dance to fight for racial justice. Dunham saw dance as a tool of liberation, as a way for people of African descent to reclaim their history and forge a new future. She put her theories into motion not only through performance, but also through education, scholarship, travel, and choices about her own life. Author Joanna Dee Das examines how Dunham struggled to balance artistic dreams, personal desires, economic needs, and political commitments in the face of racism and sexism. The book analyzes Dunham's multiple spheres of engagement, assessing her dance performances as a form of black feminist protest while also presenting new material about her schools in New York and East St. Louis, her work in Haiti, and her network of interlocutors that included figures as diverse as ballet choreographer George Balanchine and Senegalese president Léopold Sédar Senghor. It traces Dunham's influence over the course of several decades from the New Negro Movement of the 1920s to the Black Power Movement of the late 1960s and beyond. By drawing on a vast, never-utilized trove of archival materials along with oral histories, choreographic analysis, and embodied research, Katherine Dunham: Dance and the African Diaspora offers new insight about how this remarkable woman built political solidarity through the arts.
That St. Louis Thing is an American story of music, race relations and baseball. Here is over 100 years of the city's famed musical development -- blues, jazz and rock -- placed in the context of its civil rights movement and its political and ecomomic power. Here, too, are the city's people brought alive from its foundation to the racial conflicts in Ferguson in 2014. The panorama of the city presents an often overlooked gem, music that goes far beyond famed artists such as Scott Joplin, Miles Davis and Tina Turner. The city is also the scene of a historic civil rights movement that remained important from its early beginnings into the twenty-first century. And here, too, are the sounds of the crack of the bat during a century-long love affair with baseball.
Bills Life story was his desire for his children and grandchildren to know him and even more than that, he wanted them to know Jesus as their personal savior. He studied the Bible and was very concerned about the liberal teachings coming from new translations and our governments lack of respect of Gods Word. Bill never knew his father because his father was killed, as he tells in his story, at the very young age of two. Although Bill was always around during the lives of his children, there was much of his younger days not spoken of. He loved reading of his heritage and had a desire to know his father and grandfathers. He wanted his children and grandchildren to know him and what his childhood was like. Maybe he was driven by his desire to know more about his own daddy or just wanted his loved ones to know where he came from. Whatever the reason, it was very important to Bill to be remembered. He wanted his grandchildren to know he was a singer and decided to record some CDs to be left behind. Wanting to be remembered and also wanting Jesus to be remembered, he named the gospel recording Remembering Him, and he recorded an old country classic, popular in our younger days, The w-RIGHT WORLD. As you read Bills MyLife, notice the time and datesit will tell you even more. If you read and listen closely, you will find a love story or maybe two or maybe even threeor is there more? Michael Carlton has a lot to say about needing the negative to know the positive. Pray for wisdom and understanding Bill wrote an original story of his life, which included many more names and happenings or memories special to him. It was too much for a short book; therefore, Bill condensed this book. It has not been altered in any way. At one time, while Bill was writing, sitting at the head of our dining-room table, which served as his office, he called to me (I was in the kitchen next room), What about the time [Ill not say what], how or what should I say? After a quiet thought and a sincere prayer and a deep breath, I answered, What is, is. Its your book. Write what you want. I turned and walked away, thinking, Whats done is done and cant be undone. I cant change the past. Thank God for his forgiveness, praise His Holy Name Jesus Christ and His shed blood. I appreciate you so much, thank you, Lord! Bills wife for 51 years, Helen
This book chronicles the journey of discovery by a man who went on a quest to solve a mystery. Did his grandmother die the way he was told she had, or was she murdered? The rumor had plagued his family for almost four decades. Could the unthinkable be true, that his own grandfather might have been involved with the mysterious death of his grandmother? Along the way in his multiyear odyssey, the author discovers his family roots, his family tree, and the disturbing secrets long buried by his family. He vividly portrays the life and culture of Paducah, Kentucky, East St. Louis, Illinois, and Okeechobee, Florida, in the 1910s through the 1970s. He displays a culture and dialect of a strong breed of people that lived in rural western Kentucky in the early 1900s. He discovers extreme violence, knife fights, gunfights, bigamy, racism, thievery, bootlegging, and long-lost siblings. He discovers secrets within military and government files, unknown mental illnesses, wife-beatings, and murders. He discovers his grandfather’s World War II emprise, and the surprises it revealed. He uncovers the secrets of Freemasonry, and how it may have been involved in his grandmother’s death. He uncovers many lies from many people, and lawlessness by some in his family. The story includes attempts at a belated exhumation and autopsy to finally solve the mystery once and for all. He finally brings together all the evidence, pieces of a bizarre mystery, never before assembled by his family, to solve the enigma of his grandmother’s death. This book details the emotional pendulum experienced by a grandson on a journey to solve a riddle, and being repeatedly shocked and dumbfounded by what he found. Anne Carayon: “Great entertaining narrative! The mystery thickens as you go along! The historical and sociological backgrounds have transformed a personal sad story into a page of American Middle West history. It is also a description of what man can do to achieve his egotistical goals. That’s universal and timeless.” Deborah Schadt: “How brave it was of Dwain Tucker to put so much thought, time, and energy into looking for something he didn’t want to find! His intention to uncover evidence to disprove a family murder rumor led him to the discovery of numerous family secrets, both good and bad. “Many in Dwain Tucker’s family learned everything they knew from the school of hard knocks, and he was so honest in his portrayal of the ‘colorful’ characters in his family. His attempt at imitating the dialect used by the people of that place and time is both humorous and accurate. “Dwain has my admiration, appreciation, and gratitude for preserving a part of the Tucker family history—that if not for his perseverance would have otherwise been forever lost.”
