Chapter 11 Pre-World War II Days
Emma began to talk to Missy about the time just prior to World War II. During this time in the last 1930’s she remembered things like Joe Louis fighting every one that came his way. They called it the Bum of the month club because he beat everyone. Negroes were always looking for someone to carry the Race and Joe Louis was the one especially in sports. For in this time Negroes were not allowed to play in the Major League Baseball League. This was many years before Jackie Robinson and the others broke the color barrier.
Emma also talked with Missy about the many evenings when she and her neighbors set around the radio to listen about things going on in Europe. Emma like many of her friends only knew that Adolph Hitler was a Nazi and was trying to take over all of Europe. While she knew that there was a war going on over there she also knew that it had little barren on her life or so she thought.
By this time Emma and her daughter had moved from the one room tenement to a one bedroom apartment. She continued to work odd jobs to make ends meet and she had also began attending a new church. While she had been raised a Baptist she became drawn to the House of Prayer led by someone they called “Daddy Grace”. She had gone to the church during one of their week long revivals and got caught up in the music and the way that they had Church. While she was a little uncomfortable with the image of “Daddy Grace” she soon found comfort in that she was able to receive food and clothes from the Church when her check did not go far enough.
Charles M. Grace had built his second Church in Washington DC which became the national headquarters for the “House of Prayer”. He was an offshoot of the Apostolic Faith and was known for his ability to generate personal wealth; however, the Church has been known for greatly assisting the church's poor and working-class members, including day care centers, food banks, senior citizen centers, and well-maintained, inexpensive housing. Emma lived in one of those apartments.
It was during one of those Church Revivals, Emma met Phillip Mays who had not long come up North from Georgia to work in the factory. He was 6 ft 3’’ and muscular built just like a farmer boy. He was dark and had a great smile. He reminded her a little of the Preacher’s son in Riverside. She seldom thought of Riverside anymore and had long decided that she would just stay in Washington DC. For a brief moment her mind went back to the home in Riverside where she still now lives. Sure she had fixed it up some since she had moved back but it was still home and had some good and bad memories for her.
Her mind went back to the first time that she saw Phillip Mays. He was in the line of men who were going forward to pay their offerings and as was the custom they would go back time and time again trying to impress to see who could give the most in the most flamboyant manner. She watched him and he watched her as he kept going back and back to the table. It was later that he confessed that he had long gave all of his money and was just going back to the table to see if she was looking at him. On the next evening, he made a point to sit next to her and quietly made conversation. This followed with coffee in the Church dining hall. This was the first man that she had even looked at since coming to Washington DC for she had been too busy working and keeping up with her daughter to even think about a man.
During this time, things had begun to change for the Negro up North. Negroes could vote and had used that vote to strongly support President Roosevelt. This was a significant change as Negroes had previously voted Republican however due to the popularity of Eleanor Roosevelt and the few changes supported by President Roosevelt, the Negro vote switched to the Democrats. Also there were less and less signs of outright racial inequality. The end of the 1930’s was the beginning of the Negro Civil Rights movement in the North.
Emma again began to talk to Missy about her life in 1939 and 1940 in Washington DC with a child and no husband and with limited job opportunities. Missy for the first time was beginning to understand all that her grandmother had gone through with her mother. Missy looked over and saw that her granny had gone back to sleep. Missy wanted to wake her for this is the first time that she was truly learning about the history of her family.