The Glee Club of East Palestine, Ohio - part 1

    

Sometimes photographers get lucky.
Their subjects all look into the camera lens,
refrain from blinking or twitching,
and put on a natural expression of good humor.
The result can be a sparkling photo
filled with personality and character.

Today I'm featuring a fine example of how a photo
can be an affecting portrait of a group of young men
while also revealing something about each individual. 

It's a picture of
a small musical ensemble
of boys roughly the same age
displaying various degrees
of youthful self-confidence and shy unease.

It's a super photo
not unlike dozens of similar photos
of musical boys in my collection.
Except that this little band
has one member
who makes this image
an exceptional photo,
and for its time, even rare, too.

He stands in the center, 
hands atop a trombone. {see postscript at end of this story}
Unlike everyone else in his ensemble,
His gaze is directed slightly upward to the left.
He wears a dark overcoat, collar upturned,
and hat pushed back on his head. 
A hint of a smile suggests he is about to laugh.
He's a young man, maybe 16 -18 years old.
He is also clearly African-American,
a distinction that wouldn't merit any comment today,
but when this photo was taken
his presence with the other boys 
was very remarkable.

This postcard photo has been in my collection for a long time.
Yet until a few weeks ago, I did not know how exceptional it really was.

Allow me to introduce
James Aaron Washington.

He has a good story to tell. 

This postcard was featured on my blog in May 2010. It was my 23rd post and I gave it the title: Schneider's 1908 High School Band. The photo shows thirteen young men in an informal band who play mostly brass instruments with a couple of clarinetists and two drummers. The photographer is unidentified but has crudely written EP.H.S G C in the upper left corner and 1908-09 in the other. The boys look like a happy bunch of fellows, not unlike teenagers of today. But in the center there is one face whose complexion makes this photo different, especially because it was taken in 1908-09.

The back has a message written to Miss Jean Sutherin of Ocean Park, California. The postmark date is clear, JUN 10, 1909, but the location is partly missing with only ITS.& CHI. visible.

I am planning a
postcard shower
for Robert on his
birthday, June 19,
and tho't you folks
might like to join
in with some
cards. Want to
surprise him. 

Love from Ethel.

This is Schneider's band.

The message has no useful clue as to the writer's address, so how could I identify what EP.H.S. G C actually meant? The H.S. are likely High School. G C ? maybe Glee Club? But EP might be the initials for dozens of places in America. And who was Schneider?

In 2010 there were few archive resources available on the internet and, to be honest, my research skills were  still pretty rudimentary. By chance later that year I found a duplicate of this postcard listed on eBay and the seller noted that it came from East Palestine, Ohio. This was a great clue and I quickly put my new subscription to Ancestry.com to good use. 

I soon found enough references to make an update to the post, identifying the writer as Ethel Chamberlin, the daughter of Robert and Mary Chamberlin, living at Taggart St. in East Palestine, Ohio. Ethel was then about age 18 and was setting up a birthday surprise for her brother, Robert S. Chamberlin, who would be celebrating his 11th birthday on June 19.  A few years later his name was listed as a veteran in the Ohio Soldiers & Sailors Military Register along with that same date of birth. But I made a mistake thinking he was one of the band members. At age 11 he was still attending East Palestine's grammar school and was not yet in high school.

East Palestine, Ohio is in far eastern Ohio, about 18 miles north of the Ohio River, 20 miles south of Youngstown, and 45 miles northwest of Pittsburgh. In 1910 the U.S. Census recorded that it had 3,537 residents, a nearly 42% increase from 1900. The town reached its peak in 1920 with a population of 5,750 but has since gradually declined to 4,761 in 2020. But I think it would be fair to say that in 1908 East Palestine was a thriving community. 

Sometime since I last did research on this postcard, the East Palestine Library in conjunction with OhioMemory.org added a digital archive of the Reveille Echo, East Palestine, Ohio’s weekly newspaper, which operated from March 1894 to April 1922. The editions in the archives comprise papers from August 1904 to June 1910, January 1913 to March 1915, and January 1918 to April  1922, just enough to cover the timeframe of my postcard. Each week the Reveille Echo generally  printed a generous 10 pages of six column text that covered local, regional and national news. But like many small town papers it is a treasure trove of social trivia about the citizens of East Palestine and vicinity. 

A search for "Glee Club" quickly produced several hits, including this one from 19 November 1908. 

East Palestine OH Reveille-Echo
19 November 1908

The boys of the high school have organized a Glee Club, under the leadership of Miss Smith, instructor of music in the public schools. Those composing the Club are Cecil Oliver, James Washington, William Wirth, Walter Atchison, Earl Ward, Raphael Arnold, Glen Early, John George, Wilbur Forney, Willie Atkinson, Earl Wolfe, Sam Bye, and Donald Dorsey.  They are at present practicing several songs in which they are progressing very nicely. They will at some future date give an entertainment showing their ability in said line.

_ _ _

When I did my first research in 2010, I learned that East Palestine was just a village within Unity Township, one of eighteen townships in Columbiana County, Ohio. In the 1910 census Unity had only four census districts, which amounted to roughly 136 census sheets with 50 names per page. Even from a general examination of the data it was clear that most people in Unity were born in Ohio or Pennsylvania, with a scattering from New York or Kentucky. In 1910 there were few immigrants from foreign lands. And even fewer people from Southern states.

For the column under "Color or race" the census takers wrote a W for nearly every single person. So it was not hard to spot when a different letter was written. There were five.

• Yie Sing was a man marked CH for Chinese. He was age 37 and worked as a laundryman. 
• Lawd Snoden was a woman with B for Black. She was age 45, born in North Carolina and a servant for the large family of Mr. W. S. George, general manager of a pottery factory. We will meet Mr. George later.
• Joseph Dawson was Black man who was also a servant of a private family. He was age 38 and listed his birthplace as Ocean. His parents both born in Africa. 
• Samuel Wheeler was young Black man, age 19, a servant for a physician and his wife, and born in Pennsylvania.
• James Washington was also Black and 19 too. He was listed as a servant living in the home of a lumber merchant's family. He was also born in North Carolina.

The 1910 U.S. Census included three questions on education. Can this person read? Can they write? Did they attend school anytime after Sept. 1, 1909?  Both Samuel and James could read and write. But only James Washington answered Yes to the last question. 

With the Reveille Echo 1908 report on the East Palestine High School Glee Club I now had proof that James was a student and a member of the group. It also seems reasonable to assume that the thirteen names correspond to the thirteen boys in the postcard. 

East Palestine OH Reveille-Echo
25 February 1909

Just a few months later in February 1909 the East Palestine High School Glee Club presented a concert at the East Palestine Opera House. There were seventeen numbers and James Washington was listed as a soloist or part of a trio. His first song was "Clang of the Forge" by Rodney. Here is a YouTube recording of a 80 rpm disk produced by Columbia Record Co. in 1901-04 with baritone J. W. Myers singing. According to the Discography of American Historical Recordings, the label incorrectly attributes the song to an operetta "Robin Hood".  

In this concert the glee club finished with a piece entitled "Schneider’s Band" by Mundy, which Ethel Chamberlin referenced to in her postcard message. I believe its full title was “The Drum Major of Schneider’s Band” with words and music by Arthur J. Mundy, published in 1880. It was a popular piano piece in this era and likely familiar to the East Palestine audience though probably not in the Glee Club's arrangement. The boy with a top hat seated center holds a long stick or baton which would be appropriate for a drum major, so I think his prop and Ethel's comment means the photo was taken sometime around 25 February 1909.

The following week the Reveille Echo published a review under the headline, "Boys Glee  Club give pleasing entertainment at Opera House Friday night." To a large audience, "The boys surprised us all and perhaps even themselves in the rendition of their program.  They are a credit to the institution and city they represent.  Of course theu did not give us an evening such as might have been given by [Enrico] Caruso, and yet even he would have been agreeably surprised, and who can tell but perhaps there was a second Caruso on the stage that evening.  Several times the boys were encored and they deserved it.  We would not single out any part of the program, only to say Jack and Jill had a glorius time getting up that hill and down again with their buckets, and George, Wolfe, and Washington were very choice about their future wives, and if you never have heard Schneider's Band—well that was worth the entire admission fee.  Boys tell us when you are ready and we'll be there."

After searching for James' name in the Reveille Echo, I found that he was already an accomplished vocalist, having performed "Down in the Deep Let  Me Sleep" at his  grammar school commencement in 1906. Between 1906 and 1910, James Washington's name appeared in several notices as a soloist in school or church concerts. He also participated in the high school debate and oratory contests. Though in this era most schools did not promote team sports or athletic activities as they do in modern times, East Palestine high school did have a track team that competed against other schools. James was a member of that team and distinguished himself in the 50 yard dash and standing broad jump. 

Most small towns like East Palestine were understandably proud of their schools and postcards of a local high school building were, of course, a popular medium for townsfolks. This postcard of East Palestine's high school was sent to Miss Nellie E. Marsh of Warren, Pennsylvania from East Palestine on 11 June 1909. 

6 — '09
Rec'd your card and
was glad to hear from
you.  James Wordsworth
still has complete
victory and I still have
the blessing.
Passed in all my Exams.
Yours Respectfully
Everett Stackhouse
P.S. Excuse writing as my pen scratches.

Evidently Everett Stackhouse was also a member of the Glee Club as he is listed as a soloist on the program. He sang "My Native Village Bells" by Zeise. It's possible then that he is in the photo too. His mention of James Wordsworth is intriguing and made me wonder if it was a nickname for James Washington. In fact there was a James B. Wordsworth, born in 1893 in England, who lived in the county and must have been a rival to Everett in some way.

Coverage of East Palestine high school events focused more often on literary and debate contests. Each year the senior, junior, sophomore, and freshmen students, both boys and girls, joined one of two scholar societies, the Athenians and the Philomathians. During the year there were contests and concerts where each society competed against the other. 

East Palestine OH Reveille-Echo
20 January 1910

In January 1910, Everett Stackhouse and Harry Johnson faced Cecil Oliver and James Washington in a debate. The question for discussion was "That High School athletics, as at present conducted, are detrimental."

Oliver and Washington  from the Athenian society would contend for the affirmative. Johnson and Stackhouse representing the Philomathians would take the negative. The notice promised an "interesting and spirited" contest "from opening to close."

"The contestants are loaded and are putting on the war paint today with a view of having both sides win, of course.  Many living examples of the good effects of high school athletics are being dressed up and will be on exhibition, and many a skeleton will be dragged from the dead past and will grin upon the audience with all its deadly ghastliness.  It will be worth hearing."

_ _ _

 

East Palestine OH Reveille-Echo
27 January 1910

The next week the newspaper ran a review. Harry Johnson and Everett Stackhouse argued that high school athletics "is instrumental in keeping boys in school; that it inspired better work; that it develops the best that there is in a boy; that it develops quickness pf decisions and decisive actions." [*]

However Cecil Oliver and James Washington, in their affirmative argument for the detrimental effects of athletics, presented "the following points: that many boys are hurt for life; that a spirit of cheating is fostered, that evil practices grow out of practices indulged in on the athletic field; that contention and strife are engendered between schools; that people pay taxes mainly to develop mental and moral power—not to undermine them; that it is the history of athletics that interest in studies declines as the interest in sport arises; that the history of the local school points to the fact that the students of the past who made most of their books are making most of life."

Oliver and Washington prevailed and won the debate. Sadly, only a few weeks later, Everett Stackhouse quit school to take a job at a railroad yard outside of Pittsburgh.

[*] This is a correction from my first version of this story. I was mistaken about the report, having Oliver and Washington make the  argument that athletics were a good thing. But they were arguing for the affirmative of the question, so they were the "opposing side" making a case that athletics were detrimental for boys. That puts the reporter's sentence "The utility of athletics...got a black eye." in better context and more understandable. 

_ _ _

The biggest school event in East Palestine seems to have been an annual oratory contest recently sponsored two years before by Capt. R. C. Taggart, a prominent local businessman. The event was  set for the end of April and consisted of the Athenian and Philomathian societies each presenting one half of the evening program. There were songs, choruses, and recitations of famous poems and stories. James Washington was with the Athenian side on the second half. He first sang a duet with his friend Cecil Oliver and then followed it two numbers later by reciting Daniel Webster's "Supposed Speech of John Adams." in favor of the Declaration of Independence.

The speech is taken from an address Daniel Webster delivered in Boston, Massachusetts on August 2, 1826 at Faneuil Hall. He was commemorating the lives of Presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, who had both died a month before on July 4, 1826, exactly fifty years after the Declaration of Independence was signed. It was a notable speech that was considered a model of oration for students (and politicians, too) to learn. The first and lines read:

Sink or swim, live or die, survive or perish, I give my hand and my

heart to this vote. It is true, indeed, that, in the beginning, we

aimed not at independence. But there's a divinity which shapes our ends.

The injustice of England has driven us to arms; and, blinded to her own

interest for our good, she has obstinately persisted, till independence

is now within our grasp. We have but to reach forth to it, and it is

ours. Why, then, should we defer the Declaration? 

........... 

But whatever may be our fate, be assured, be assured that this
Declaration will stand. It may cost treasure, and it may cost blood;
but it will stand, and it will richly compensate for both. Through the
thick gloom of the present I see the brightness of the future, as the
sun in heaven. We shall make this a glorious, an immortal day. When we
are in our graves, our children will honor it. They will celebrate it
with thanksgiving, with festivity, with bonfires, and illuminations. On
its annual return they will shed tears, copious, gushing tears, not of
subjection and slavery, not of agony and distress, but of exultation,
of gratitude, and of joy. Sir, before God, I believe the hour is come.
My judgment approves this measure, and my whole heart is in it. All
that I have, and all that I am, and all that I hope, in this life, I am
now ready here to stake upon it; and I leave off as I began, that, live
or die, survive or perish, I am for the Declaration. It is my living
sentiment, and, by the blessing of God, it shall be my dying sentiment;
independence _now_, and INDEPENDENCE FOREVER. 

The Athenian society won on points and for their efforts their lead orators, Jean Bycroft for the girls and James Washington for the boys, were each awarded a $10 gold piece. 

A month later on 26 May 1910 East Palestine High School held its commencement with seventeen students in the graduating class, eight young women and nine young men. James Washington was one of them. Instead of just one valedictorian giving a speech, all seventeen graduates gave a short "oration". The address and diplomas were given by the president of the board of education, Mr. G. G. Wilkinson. 

* * *

By now I hope that readers will recognize that James Washington was clearly a talented and accomplished young man who had made a name for himself in his school and his town. I could easily stop his story here, but a big question remained. How did a Black servant to the private family of Joseph A. Meek, a lumber merchant, get a high school diploma in 1910? He was born in North Carolina, his parents in South Carolina. Where was his family?  Was he an orphan? Was he a ward of a benevolent white family? 

1910 U.S. Census, East Palestine, Ohio

In all of the newspaper reports I found on James Washington, and I found a lot—over 56 occasions when he did something newsworthy, not one referred to the color of his skin. In my search of the Reveille Echo for the terms "colored," "negro," or "black" the words were rarely used and usually only in reports from other parts of the country. Considering how many Black people lived in East Palestine, this is not surprising. But it suggests that the bigotry and prejudice found in most parts of the United States, North and South, were not present in East Palestine's newspaper and perhaps absent from many of its citizens too. 

How could I find the answers to this mystery? Was I even correct about the identity of the young man in the center of my postcard? Was his name really James Washington? 

I should point out that the name, James Washington, is very common which makes finding the exact person in census and civil records a frustrating challenge. And to compound the difficulties, Washington, of course, is arguably one of the most used words in the English language, so finding useful newspaper reports is exactly like sifting through mountains of sand to find a small diamond. 

But I got lucky and found one. 

Three years after graduating
the Reveille Echo heard news
from one of East Palestine's favorite sons.

James won another debating prize.

East Palestine OH Reveille-Echo
17 April 1913

   Won in Inter-Collegiate Debate

James Washington who is [in] taking a Raleigh, N. C., [taking] recently won the inter-classical course in Shaw University, [recently won the] collegiate debate at Raleigh. James and his colleague Jesse Bean were presented with a silver cup. James is a graduate of the local high school and his many local friends will be pleased to hear of his success.

 

Shaw University is a historically Black university in Raleigh, North Carolina, founded by the American Baptist Home Mission Society and pastor Henry Martin Tupper in 1865. It was designed to be a coeducational institution open to men and women. One of Tupper's first goals was to establish a school of medicine and in 1881 Shaw University became the first medical school to train African-American doctors in the South, and the first medical school in the state to offer a four-year curriculum. In 1888 Shaw University opened a school of law, the first of its kind for African-Americans in the country.  By 1900, Shaw University had trained more than 30,000 black teachers.

A degree in Arts & Sciences at Shaw University in 1911 required a first year student to take courses in Latin, English, Algebra, English History, Bible, Drawing, Music, and Industries. Tuition and board for the eight month school year was roughly $75 for men plus incidental fees for music lessons or laboratory equipment. All paid in advance.  

In 1910 any young Black man with aspirations to further his education would know the reputation of Shaw University. It was a school whose alumni included many lawyers, doctors, dentists, pharmacists, and other members of the upper professional class in America's black communities. 

From what little I discovered about James Washington's high school life in East Palestine he seems to have achieved enough of a proper education to merit applying to a college. But how did he manage to go from Ohio to North Carolina? He didn't seem to have a family and supposedly was employed as a servant. How could he pay the expense of going to any college, much less one so far away? 

Nonetheless I found the name James Washington listed in the freshman and then sophomore classes at Shaw University in its college bulletins for 1911–13. Clearly he was using his debate and oratory skills to good use. But beyond that, there didn't seem to be any way to confirm his identity and connect the James in Ohio with the one in North Carolina. 

Then I found another diamond.
It was from a report in June 1914
on a page in The New York Age,
considered the most illustrious
African-American newspaper of its time.

The New York Age
4 June 1914

In the news from Asheville, North Carolina
was this brief announcement:

James Washington, a graduate of East Palestine, O., will wed Miss Vivian Balston, a graduate of the Allen Home, on June 2 at the First Baptist Church.

Asheville, North Carolina was James Washington's hometown. 

It is also where I live now in 2023.

And it is where his story really starts.

To Be Continued Next Week.

For the second part of this series check out:

The Glee Club of East Palestine, Ohio - part 2
For the conclusion go to:
The Glee Club of East Palestine, Ohio - part 3 

Postscript

A few months after I wrote this story I acquired two more photo postcards from East Palestine High School. One is another photo of the E. P. H. S. Glee Club with the boys in a more animated pose playing their instruments. James Washington is still in the center but he is blowing a bugle not a trombone as I thought. The way his hands rest on top of the bend of brass tubing in the first photo didn't reveal enough of the instrument to be certain what it was, but since I couldn't see valves I mistakenly assumed it was a trombone. A bugle has the same open bend, but it was not an instrument I would expect in a boys band like this. To see the full image of these new photos check out the postscript in The Glee Club of East Palestine, Ohio - part 3.  

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday

where everyone celebrates
the start of a new school year.