Walter Winfrey, Lacey Manier & Negro Folktales in Michigan

scroll through the pages with the arrows at the middle edges of the book

If you do enough research on any interesting topic, person or place you eventually stumble onto 50 equally or more interesting subjects. Through that meandering of semi-related topics you stumble into exactly the thing you were seeking. Such is this find.

Years of research on the Eloise Asylum and Ganong Cemetery led me to an interest in Inkster. The fact that Inkster does not have an historical society made it an even more appealing subject to delve into. While I am not black I am interested in preserving all history. Folklore included. A random search a few months ago led me to seek out this title and a placed request through the MELcat library system brought it to my hands.

Without even considering that Inkster would be included in the volume (I am pretty mindless about such things at times!) I requested it and was pleasantly surprised when I found its mention in the first chapter.

That depiction of Inkster and the two characters from there who contributed stories to this book full of Michigan Negro folktales follows:

As the author states in a newspaper piece about the book, "Michigan may seem an unlikely state in which to find the folktales of Southern Negroes first made famous by Joel Chandler Harris and his creation, Uncle Remus. But actually Michigan proved richer than any single southern state, since black people from all over the South had poured into Michigan communities, and I met them in Calvin Township, Benton Harbor, Covert, Mecosta, Idlewild and Inkster."

Onto the participants. The first contributor was a grocer named Lacey Manier. While he plays a lesser role in the book than the second gentleman he gave a brief overview of Inkster's history to the author and recited one of his poems about the town which is printed in the book:

Well Inkster is a busy little town out Michigan Avenoo,

Where the people live happy and are very seldom blue.

They raise their chickens and they plant their corn

(The kind you eat with your meat

And the kind that's been distilled),

Until every lot is filled.

But they go to church on Sunday

And practically every night,

And both old and young they have their fun

And seldom have a fight.

They have their clubs and their fraternity organization,

With one thought in mind, to get ahead,

Seem to be their determination.

They prune the flowers and cut the grass

To attract the visitors when they pass.

And they never worried about the Blue Eagle,

Not even from the start,

Because I know that the records show

That Inkster has always played its part.

Now some folks brag about the city,

But I'll accept Inkster for mine,

And shall expect to find better times in Inkster.

It's simple, proud, sing-songy and homey to say the least.

The second character is Walter Winfrey. Like Manier he was a southern transplant. Born in Arkansas in 1891 he came to Detroit in 1922 after playing professional baseball, working in sawmills and serving in the army and moved to Inkster in 1927. Here, he made a career at a Ford factory as many early Inkster blacks did. When he became physically disabled and retired he turned to his gift for gab and storytelling. He contributes a dozen or so stories to the folklore of Michigan in this 1956 book from the Harvard University Press.

The first 9 chapters are included above and the remainder will be added at some point.

A Dudley Randall Poem in Milestone 2

I bought this Milestone 2 poetry Magazine at a Livonia estate sale this week. Milestone was the literary publication of Wayne (State) University and this second issue dates to 1949. While I don't recognize most of the names, Dudley Randall was both a nationally known poet and the librarian for the Wayne County General Hospital at Eloise via the Wayne County Library System. The poem featured is The Southern Road which was a revised version of the completed poem from 1948 that h as a handful or two of word differences between the two. I don't know if Randall edited the poem for later collected works editions or earlier but this link features it in its likely final form in 2009. Neither version particularly enchants me but the block print in the magazine is an added bonus.

A Cabinet Card of a Dead Man Lying in Repose From Wayne Photographer Susan Doolittle

The City of Wayne, Michigan was not a large village at the turn of the 20th century so it stands to reason that there wasn't a glut of photographers practicing their trade there. As such, the 3 cabinet cards and carte de visites that I own represents roughly a quarter of the early ones. Considering that the wives of Frank Hickok and William Corlett, first Village President of Wayne, took over after Frank's death in 1892 the list grows smaller beyond those two families. Had I snagged the Doolittle dead man cabinet card I'd be even that much more Wayne-rich in photographs. Speaking of Susan Doolittle, of whom I have learned very little about, it is interesting to note that Wayne had three women photographers in an era oft dominated by men in that very field. This photograph of a corpse is a startling example of her work.

Frederick Soop: Not An Equal Opportunity Restraunteer

Detroit Free Press , March 28, 1890 If you don't want to hear a racist tale of a suburban namesake then close your eyes now. As early as 1876 Frederick Soop had left his Belleville farm once again, having done a stint at the Hawkins House in Ypsilanti during the Civil War and the City Hotel in Detroit thereafter, and ventured off to Chatham, Ontario to run the Rutley Hotel , which was conducted as a Temperance House. Detroit Free Press , August 17, 1879 In 1879 he was searching for a good restaurant or small hotel to operate. Eventually he ended up on Washington Avenue near State Street running a dining hall which he ran until around 1890. Detroit Free Press , April 16, 1890 It was in 1888 when the aforementioned racial incident occurred at his dining establishment. It was then that William H. Haynes, a black doctor, sat down with his former classmate S. W. Barkwell for dinner. The men ordered but when the food was served none was placed before Mr. Haynes who, ironically, ha...

The Nankin Township Historical Society

Search This Blog