Black biographies

Review: Paul Laurence Dunbar

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Paul Laurence Dunbar: The Life and Times of a Caged Bird, Gene Andrew Jarrett. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2022.

Summary: Perhaps the definitive biography of Paul Laurence Dunbar, one of the first African writers to achieve fame for his poetry and other writings.

On the sesquicentennial of the birth of Paul Laurence Dunbar (b. 1872), Princeton University published this extensively researched biography of a man who, arguably was one of the first great African-American poets and writers. Born of former slaves, including an alcoholic father who soon divorced his mother Mathilda, he was able to enroll in Dayton’s top high school when few African-Americans achieved more than an eighth grade education. A classmate of Orville Wright, being educated in a classically-oriented curriculum, he began writing, teaming up on several publishing efforts with Wright.

Dunbar gained the attention of influential men like James Whitcomb Riley and Frederick Douglas early on, giving him connections, the opportunities to read his poetry, and reviewing his books. This was a mixed blessing. Fellow Ohioan William Dean Howells praised an early collection of his poetry, bringing him wider notice of the literary public but also imposing the first of the “cages” Jarrett depicts that would trouble his brief, yet brilliant career.

Dialect poetry. Howells especially praised his dialect poetry, often around scenes of southern life pre- and post-Emancipation in the language and idioms people supposed Blacks to use. Throughout his career Dunbar composed poems both in formal English and dialect, the latter to satisfy the demand of the public. This also represented a larger struggle against the racial stereotypes that both shaped public taste and yet Dunbar strove to transcend. He wanted to be known simply as a great poet, not as a Black poet.

Poverty. While publishing his first collections and trying to cultivate connections who would help publicize his work, Dunbar struggled with lowly jobs such as an elevator operator in Dayton, earning a meager $4 a week while trying to help his mother. Poverty would be a cage against which he would struggle, shaping his efforts both in writing prodigiously for papers, periodicals, several musicals, one of the early Black librettists, as well as his book publishing efforts. This also necessitated relentless travel to readings, all while working at the Library of Congress, efforts detrimental to his health.

Alcoholism. Like his father, Dunbar drank increasingly throughout his life. On the one hand, it seemed to facilitate his composing, as when he turned out a school song for Tuskegee Institute on short notice and, increasingly hampered his readings when he turned up drunk. It also released violent tendencies exacerbating problems in an already troubled marriage.

A difficult marriage. Fellow writer Alice Ruth Moore came to his notice in a magazine article and they began writing, developing a deepening bond long before they met. At this time, as throughout his life, Dunbar had flirtations (and perhaps more) with a number of other woman. For this reason, she was slow to engage, and then to set a date for a wedding. Neither her parents nor Mathilda would give the couple their blessing (and Mathilda would occupy an unhealthy place in their eventual marriage). Jarrett covers at length Dunbar’s rape of Alice (when inebriated) during their engagement. Apparently she had physical injuries requiring medical attention and leave from work. It nearly broke the engagement. After several years of marriage, there was another violent incident, leading to permanent separation (though not divorce) during which she refused to respond to his attempts to apologize and reconcile. Dunbar, in declining health, purchased a home in Dayton. living with his mother.

Tuberculosis. Through most of his adult life, Dunbar was in frail health, frequently laid low by “colds” that signaled something more. Eventually, it became clear he was sick with what was then called “consumption” and is now known as tuberculosis. During his life, before the age of antibiotics, there wasn’t a cure. Dunbar even rationalized drinking as curative. A trip to Colorado brought a remission, but after his break with Alice, his condition worsened. All he could do was read and write. The end came in February of 1906, when he was but 33 years of age. He was buried in a different part of the same cemetery where his father was buried.

Jarrett not only covers the “cages” of Dunbar’s life but also how the caged bird sang. He traces his literary career, citing a number of poems. He traces Dunbar’s transition to writing several moderately successful novels as well as the previously mentioned musical collaborations. One wonders what Dunbar would have done had he lived longer or not faced the constraints he had. Yet were these constraints the very thing that drove and inspired Dunbar?

As a fellow Ohioan, I knew of Dunbar but welcome what is probably the definitive biography on Dunbar. Jarrett confirmed to me the extent of Dunbar’s greatness. He also confirmed me in his recognition of his and my favorite Dunbar poem, “We Wear the Mask,” and arguably one of his greatest, with which I will close:

  We wear the mask that grins and lies,
  It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,—
  This debt we pay to human guile;
  With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
  And mouth with myriad subtleties.
  Why should the world be over-wise,
  In counting all our tears and sighs?
  Nay, let them only see us, while
        We wear the mask.
  We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries
  To thee from tortured souls arise.
  We sing, but oh the clay is vile
  Beneath our feet, and long the mile;
  But let the world dream otherwise,
        We wear the mask!

Paul Laurence. Dunbar, “We Wear the Mask.” from The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar. (New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, ) via Poetry Foundation

Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown — Atty. Clarence L. Robinson

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Attorney Clarence L. Robinson

His grandfather was one of the foremost Black citizens and businessmen in Youngstown. He was an outstanding football player and his team’s captain. He became a prominent attorney, serving on both local and state commissions, and was name to the first group of trustees when Youngstown University became Youngstown State in 1967.

Clarence L. Robinson was born March 6, 1892 to Thomas B. and Addie Berry Robinson. Addie’s father was P. Ross Berry, the area’s leading brick contractor of his time, who built many Youngstown area buildings including the still-standing original Rayen School building. His father was the headwaiter at the Youngstown Club. Clarence played tackle for The Rayen School, never missing a minute of play in three years, and was named a team captain.

He started out as a clerk and later secretary for the William Tod Company after completing studies at McGrath Business College. He went on to work in 1917 as a stenographer for the Wilkoff Company. While there, he enrolled in the Youngstown College night law school, studying under Judge George H. Gessner, passing the bar in 1925. On the death of Leo Wilkoff in 1931, Robinson succeeded him as counsel and became a director of the company in 1937.

Community service marked his life from early on when he volunteered as a football coach at the Booker T. Washington Settlement, leading his team to a city championship. He served on the Parks and Recreation Commission for ten years in the 1940’s. He also worked with organizations pursuing racial equality including the Inter-racial Committee, served as director for race relations for the War Manpower Commission during World War II, and the Governor’s Committee on Civil Rights in 1957. He was a member of the Youngstown Metropolitan Housing Authority, beginning in 1959.

He played a leadership role in a number of legal organizations. He was president of the Roberts Deliberating Club, chairman of the legal redress committee of the NAACP, a trustee of Youngstown Civil Liberties Union, and a trustee and vice president of the Legal Aid Society. His distinguished leadership and Youngstown College roots made him an outstanding choice to serve as a trustee of the newly named Youngstown State University, appointed by Governor James Rhodes.

Robinson was a dedicated churchman. named as one of the most outstanding parishioners of St. Augustine’s Episcopal church, where he served as a lay reader, senior warden, and later, warden emeritus as a 57 year member. He was a vice president of the Youngstown Council of Churches and served on the committee on management for the old West Federal YMCA. In 1963, he received the first “Letterman in Christian Living” award from the national Laymen’s Movement for a Christian World.

Clarence L. Robinson passed away 50 years ago on October 27, 1973, at 81 years of age. In 1967, his community service was recognized when the new Clarence Robinson Center opened on the South Side. The building was eventually vacated in the early 2000’s and fell into disrepair and was demolished in 2016. During the same year the city dedicated a new Clarence Robinson Park, located in the 1700 block of Oak Hill Avenue at West Chalmers. It is fitting that this distinguished community member (and former volunteer coach and Parks and Recreation Commission member) be remembered in this way and it is to be hoped that the city and community will continue to honor his memory by caring well for the park for many years to come.

To read other posts in the Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown series, just click “On Youngstown.” Enjoy!

Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown — François Clemmons

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François Clemmons in Oberlin College’s 1967 yearbook Hi-O-Hi, The Stofan Studio, Public Domain

I did not realize until last week, through comments on my article on “Distinguished Black Citizens,” that François Clemmons grew up in Youngstown. He was born in Birmingham, Alabama, but the family migrated north and settled in Youngstown when he was young. It wasn’t an easy childhood. His parents were abusive. From kindergarten on, however, people recognized that he had a beautiful voice. In his own words, he came to realize that “Singing was the key out of the ghetto.” He sang in many churches, community groups and even a rock group called the Jokers.

He had to exercise determination to resist the ways Blacks were “tracked” in those days. A guidance counselor pressed him to sign papers to go to vocational school. He refused. A social worker, Mary Lou Davis, agreed to pay for voice lessons as long as he stayed out of trouble. His music teacher was Ron Gould who conspired to get him an audition at the Oberlin Conservatory. He was accepted and awarded a scholarship by the Oberlin alumni association, facilitated by the efforts of his principal at The Rayen School, an Oberlin alumnus. This was a huge boon because he could not afford the tuition. After gdraduating from Oberlin, he went on to pursue a Masters degree at Carnegie-Mellon University.

The year 1968 was significant for Clemmons. He won auditions to the Metropolitan Opera. This led to performances with a number of orchestras including those in Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia. This eventually led to a Grammy winning recording of Porgy and Bess in 1976. But 1968 was also the year he met Fred Rogers. Fred’s wife Joanne sang in the same choir at Third Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh as Clemmons. After a particularly moving concert of spirituals, everyone came up to say how much they appreciated Clemmons. The last in line was this self-effacing man who turned out to be Fred Rogers. In his memoir, he writes:

“My clearest memory of that occasion was of Fred Rogers’s sincerity and the deep look, bordering on passion, in his gentle blue eyes. He nailed me when he took my hand, turned his head slightly, and paused, as though he was waiting for me to say something. I waited too, because it was he who had come over to talk to me. He took his time and spoke of my lovely voice, my compelling interpretations, and the genuine effect the songs had had on him during the service. I smiled and returned his warmth and sincerity. It was easy to accept his praise. There was something serious yet comforting and disarming about him. His eyes hugged me without touching me.”

Rogers followed up by inviting him to lunch and a visit to the studio. Eventually, he asked him to sing and then offered him a part as Officer Clemmons. Clemmons struggled with this because of the perception of police in the Black community. Rogers convinced him that he could change the perception of police. They did more than that together. This was still a time when swimming pools were segregated (this was true at one time in Youngstown). There is a famous scene, filmed in 1969, in which Mr. Rogers invites Officer Clemmons to cool his feet with Rogers in a small child’s pool, and even share Rogers towel to dry them. You can see the scene in this clip of scenes with François Clemmons on Mr. Rogers Neighborhood.

Won’t You Be My Neighbor? (2018) – Officer Clemmons Scene (5/10) | Movieclips

Clemmons had realized he was gay during college but remain closeted. He discussed this with Rogers who continued to be warmly accepting personally, but warning him that he could not be “out” or wear an earing on the show and continue on the show. Clemmons went so far in following Rogers’ advice that he entered into a brief, disastrous marriage. Rogers always welcomed Clemmons gay friends and later encouraged him to pursue a stable gay relationship. This challenged the trust they had built but reflected societal realities of the time. Rogers worried that Clemmons’ sexuality could actually put Clemmons in danger.

Clemmons was on the show for 25 years until 1993. In that year, he reprised the pool scene with Rogers drying his feet. In 1988, he formed the Harlem Spiritual Ensemble to preserve Black spirituals. Then in 1997, he artist in residence and director of the Martin Luther King Spiritual Choir at Middlebury College, in which he continued working until his retirement in 2013. Middlebury awarded him an honorary Doctor of Arts degree.

He still lives in Middlebury, Vermont and has published a volume of spirituals, children’s books, and a memoir, Officer Clemmons in 2020. Like many other Blacks growing up in the 1950’s in Youngstown, racial prejudice resulted in barriers he overcame through his determination, his singing and the help of a social worker, teacher, and principal. His work on Mr. Rogers Neighborhood contributed to changing racial perceptions and exposed people to his splendid voice. He realized his dreams of singing at the top levels. His work in creating the Harlem Spiritual Ensemble preserved our rich heritage of spirituals.

I’ll leave you with this performance of a Mr. Rogers favorite by Clemmons:

François Clemmons sings There Are Many Ways (to Say I Love You)

To read other posts in the Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown series, just click “On Youngstown.” Enjoy!

Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown — Distinguished Black Citizens

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Pictured: Top Row (L-R) Betty Allen, P. Ross Berry, Simeon Booker, Alfred L. Bright, J. Maynard Dickerson, Bottom Row (L-R) Hugh Frost, Hon. Nathaniel R. Jones, Rev. Lonnie K. A. Simon, William R. Stewart

Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to learn about the many people who came from, and made Youngstown a great place to live. Among these are a number of Black citizens who distinguished themselves in the arts, in community leadership, politics, law, spiritual life, education, and journalism. This is hardly an all-inclusive list–only the ones whose lives I’ve been able to research and write about! But I thought with the upcoming Juneteenth Holiday on Monday, June 19, celebrating the end of slavery in the United States, that it would be fitting to celebrate these distinguished citizens who have made us proud and added so much to our community. Here is the list of those I’ve written on with a link and preview to the article:

Betty Allen. She performed in operas as a mezzo-soprano on stages around the world to standing ovations. She was part of the first generation of Black opera singers, along with Marian Anderson to achieve wide success, breaking down racial barriers with her voice. She collaborated with the foremost American composers of her generation: Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, Ned Rorem, and Virgil Thomson, among others. And it all began in the Mahoning Valley on the streets of Campbell.

P. Ross Berry. He was involved in building most of the buildings in downtown Youngstown at one time. The Rayen Building on Wick Avenue is an enduring example of his work. His stature in the community was such that a number of white bricklayers worked under his direction, something very uncommon in the day. As black soldiers migrated to the Mahoning Valley after the Civil War, he also trained many of them to work as bricklayers and was responsible for founding the Brick Masons Union, Local 8. 

Simeon Booker. Jet was a pocket-sized news magazine that could be found in barber shops, beauty salons, doctors’ and dentists’ offices in the Black community and in many black homes. In the early 1950’s, it chronicled the beginnings of the Civil Rights movement, culminating in an article in 1955 showing the brutally beaten and mutilated body of 14 year old Emmett Till and his mother’s determination to awaken the nation’s conscience. Jet covered the subsequent trial and acquittal of his murderers in the Jim Crow South. Booker wrote those articles, and covered every president from Eisenhower to George W. Bush.

Alfred L. Bright, Jr. Discriminated against at a Youngstown swimming pool as a boy, he went on to college, became an accomplished artist and taught art at Youngstown State before establishing the Black Studies Program. In his lifetime, his art was exhibited in over 100 exhibitions and received the university’s Distinguished Teaching Award in 2006.

J. Maynard Dickerson. Mentor of Nathaniel R. Jones, his was an equally distinguished career as a civil rights leader, publisher, attorney and city prosecutor in Youngstown, and civil servant in Ohio’s State government. He launched Youngstown’s only black newspaper, The Buckeye Review, was president of the local NAACP chapter and served as chairman of the Ohio Industrial Commission.

Hugh A. Frost. He was a member, and eventually vice president of the Youngstown Board of Education and an assistant to the president at Youngstown State. Three times he ran for mayor of the City of Youngstown. He made history during his first run in 1967 as the first Black Republican candidate for mayor of a U.S. City. He also served in leadership roles in a number of community organizations, including serving as Executive Director of the McGuffey Centre, presiding over construction of new facilities and a growing staff.

The Honorable Nathaniel R. Jones. He grew up in Smoky Hollow. His father worked in the mills and later did janitorial work. His mother took in laundry. As a high school youth, he wrote for a local newspaper and organized a boycott of a segregated roller skating rink. He rose from working class beginnings to become a judge in the second highest court in the land as a justice on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth District. The new Federal Building and Courthouse in downtown Youngstown bears his name. Nathaniel R. Jones.

Reverend Lonnie K. A. Simon. He was both a spiritual and a community leader who gave crucial leadership in Youngstown at a racially volatile period of our history. Like many in Youngstown, his father worked in coal mines and he worked in steel mills before his call to ministry. He was a peaceful advocate for civil rights, surviving a car bombing. He served on the Youngstown Board of Education. The character of his leadership is evident in the enduring presence of the church he pastored and a son who is carrying on that work. He pursued peace, but not at the expense of justice nor without personal risk. 

William R. Stewart. He was the son of one of the first African-American families to settle in Youngstown. He was the first African-American legislator from Youngstown. He helped secure the funding to build the first Market Street Bridge and secured taxpayer funding for Saint Elizabeth’s Hospital. After returning from two terms in the state legislature, he worked another six decades as an attorney in Youngstown and at his death in 1958 was called the “dean of the Mahoning County Bar.”

As I read over these biographies again, I’m struck by the courage and grit and hard work and excellence of character demonstrated by each person here. They represent not only the best of Youngstown’s Black community but are among the best of Youngstown. Period. Happy Juneteenth!

I’d love to hear if there are others you would include in this list!

To read other posts in the Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown series, just click “On Youngstown.” Enjoy!

Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown — Betty Allen

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She performed in opera performances as a mezzo-soprano on stages around the world to standing ovations. She was part of the first generation of Black opera singers, along with Marian Anderson to achieve wide success, breaking down racial barriers with her voice. She collaborated with the foremost American composers of her generation: Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, Ned Rorem, and Virgil Thomson, among others. And it all began in the Mahoning Valley on the streets of Campbell.

She was born on March 17, 1927 to James and Dora Catherine Mitchell Allen. Her father, a graduate of Tuskegee Institute, had trained to be a math teacher but because of prejudice, could not find work. He came north and found work at Sheet & Tube. Her mother added to the family income by taking in laundry. She grew up in a Greek and Sicilian neighborhood and it was her she had her first exposure to opera. In 1999, she told The New York Times, “On Saturday, walking down the street, you could hear the Met broadcasts coming from the windows of everybody’s house. No one told them that opera and the arts were not for them, not for poor people, just for rich snobs.”

All seemed to be going well until her mother died of lung cancer when she was twelve. The loss resulted in her father sinking into depression, drinking heavily. Betty tried to keep up the house while becoming spelling bee champion at Gordon Ave. School for two years. One day, fed up with it all, she went to Judge Ford Agey and asked to have a real home like other children. The best that could be done at the time was a series of foster homes, some abusive.

At age 16, she moved into the YWCA, supporting herself by cleaning houses while finishing high school at The Rayen School in the top half of her class, excelling in Latin and German. A teacher, Dorothy Seeger, befriended her and helped her get a scholarship to attend Wilberforce College. One of her classmates was Leontyne Price. Her German teacher, Theodor Heimann, a former opera tenor, encouraged her to sing. She went from there on scholarship to Hartford School of Music in Connecticut.

In 1950, while studying at Tanglewood, she came to the attention of Leonard Bernstein who chose her to be the mezzo-soprano soloist in his Symphony No. 1, the “Jeremiah” Symphony. She debuted in her first opera the following year, Virgil Thomson’s Four Saints in Three Acts. In 1952, she won the Marian Anderson Award, a singing competition in Philadelphia. A series of opera roles followed throughout the 1950’s: Tin Pan Alley, Prince Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus, Queenie in Showboat with the New York City Opera among others. She made her recital hall debut in 1958 at Town Hall in New York City, performing a program that included Brahms and Faure.

She appeared with Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic throughout the 1960’s and 1970’s. She performed on opera stages in New York, Boston, Santa Fe, San Francisco, Washington, Canada, Buenos Aires and Mexico City as well as concert performances in France, Italy, and North Africa. Two of her standout performances were as Jocasta in Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex with the Santa Fe Opera in 1964 and as Monisha in Scott Joplin’s Treemonisha with the Houston Grand Opera in 1975.

By the 1980’s she stopped singing, except for a handful of concerts, because of lung problems, which she attributed to growing up near the mills in Campbell. She devoted herself to vocal instruction as executive director of the Harlem School of the Arts, as well as serving on the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music, and adjudicated many vocal competitions. She died on June 22, 2009 in Valhalla, New York of complications of kidney disease at age 82.

Learning about Betty Allen’s story, I’m struck by both her personal drive, reflected in going to a Youngstown judge seeking a better home, supporting herself from age 16, and the influences of others from those Campbell neighbors who thought opera was for everyone to a high school teacher at The Rayen School who became a friend and mentor to a college professor who persuaded Betty to sing. Obviously, she used all her opportunities to hone her talents while benefiting from a once in a lifetime opportunity to perform works of Leonard Bernstein. Hers is yet another amazing Mahoning Valley story.

To give you an idea of the beauty and richness of her voice, I found this recording of her singing several classic spirituals.

To read other posts in the Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown series, just click “On Youngstown.” Enjoy!