Reading Enhancement Guide #4: The Ballad of Black Tom (Patreon)

Here are five things to read, watch, know, or learn about to enrich your read of The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle. Have a suggestion that me or another patron might enjoy? Feel free to share!

1. HP Lovecraft's Racism

HP Lovecraft was a 20th century pulp fiction writer known for his disturbing and magnetic short stories. Victor LaValle was inspired by him, who he first began reading at 10. He said of the collection of short stories, "I can't say they all made sense, but I wanted to read and re-read them until they did." LaValle's book was also a remix of Lovecraft's The Horror at Redhook,  in which the xenophobic and racist author called residents "the dregs of humanity."  LaValle said on Lovecraft's racism: 

Well, here's the funny thing - so I didn't realize it when I was 10 or 11 reading these stories. And I read pretty much all of them. And in some of them, he's pretty blatant about his particular hatred - particularly of black people. When I was 10 or 11 and I read these stories, I read them only for the wild and outlandish plots and the large cosmic dread sort of thing. And in a way, I was naive and I could overlook what should have been blatant clues about the uglier sides of H.P. Lovecraft's personality and his ideas.

Here are some recommended reads for more on Lovecraft's racism, and interviews with Victor LaValle. 

'The Ballad Of Black Tom' Offers A Tribute To And Critique Of Lovecraft

The Ballad of Black Tom: An Interview With Victor LaValle

INTERVIEW WITH VICTOR LAVALLE, AUTHOR OF “THE BALLAD OF BLACK TOM”

Disturbed by Lovecraft, whose racism and hate weren't merely a product of his times

We Can't Ignore HP Lovecraft's White Supremacy

2. West Indian Immigrants in New York

At several points in The Ballad of Black Tom, I was reminded of the prevalence of immigration of West Indians into New York in the 1920s. There was the quote on page 29 that I already mentioned in Lexi Wants To Know, but also when eating at The Victoria Society on two separate occasions, Tom is served by a Trinidadian and Puerto Rican woman, respectively. The Trinidadian meal included Saheena, which is like a spinach fritter. It also came with pineapple chow (pineapple with garlic, cilantro, and chili), macaroni pie (baked macaroni like what we eat here in the south), and cow heel soup. This medley of items made me lick my lips, and when passion fruit juice was mentioned I contemplated a trip to the grocery store for some  cold freshly squeezed juice of the same nature. When served by a Puerto Rican woman, Alcapurrias, or plantain wrapped meat fritters were mentioned. I love when fiction seamlessly integrates food into a story's narrative!

In the early 1900s, West Indians were about 1.3% of New York's population, and by 1923 they were 12.7% of it. They founded churches, entered the country with higher literacy rates than black Americans, and many went to night school. It was in the 1920s that a "Trinidadian immigrant, Ms. Jesse Waddle, began to organize a carnival celebration to take place before Lent in the months of February or March." (Source)

More Information: New York: A Caribbean Capital (Dr. Tyesha Maddox)

3. The First Harlem Riot Against Police Brutality

The murder of Black Tom's father made me think of the untold number of victims of police brutality. We know that it was happening in the 1920s, but it wasn't until 1935 that residents of Harlem rioted for the first time. 

According to blackpast.org:

At 2:30 p.m. on March 19, 1935, a 16-year-old black Puerto Rican boy named Lino Rivera stole a 10 cent penknife from the Kress Five and Ten store on 125th Street.  Both the store owner and the assistant manager saw Rivera steal the knife and managed to capture him before he was able to run away.  A mounted police officer was called to the scene to investigate.  When asked if he wanted to press charges, the store owner instructed the officer to let Rivera go.  In order to avoid anxious crowds and excited spectators, the officer took Rivera down through the back entrance of the store and out onto 124th Street.  When one of the spectators saw the police officer take Rivera away, she shouted that they were going into the basement to beat Rivera.  An ambulance arrived moments later to take care of the store owner and the assistant manager, who suffered scratches and other wounds while trying to tackle Rivera.  When the ambulance left the scene empty, many of the spectators assumed that Rivera had been killed.

Shortly after the ambulance left, a hearse parked across the street from the store at 124th Street.  The driver was visiting his brother-in-law, who was inside of the store.  Gathering crowds immediately assumed that the hearse was there to haul away the body of Rivera.  The police who arrived on the scene attempted to inform the growing crowds that no harm had been done to Rivera.  Spectators began to demand that the police bring out Rivera alive, but police officers repelled the crowds and claimed that this was none of their business.  At 5:30 p.m. the store on 125th Street was closed and New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia urged the residents of Harlem to remain calm.

The closing of the store did little to stop the anger of the crowd, and word spread across into Harlem that a boy had been mistreated by the police.  Groups organized by the Young Communist League and a black group called the Young Liberators mounted a demonstration that drew thousands of people.  When a white member of the Young Communist League was introduced and stood up to speak, an object was thrown through the window of the store, and the police responded by arresting the speaker and attempting to disperse the crowd.

The crowd reorganized across the street and another speaker tried to address the group from a lamp post perch.  The police arrested him as well on the charge of “Unlawful Assemblage.”  The crowds began to gather in greater numbers along 125th Street, and soon spread to other areas in Harlem.  As the sun set, the looting and window smashing began.  Police attempted to stop the crowds by circulating photographs of Rivera alive, but this fueled rumors that the photographs were fake.

The rioting ended the next day when New York Governor Herbert Lehman announced to Harlem’s white shop owners that city officials had the situation under control.  Overall, three African Americans were killed and nearly sixty were injured.  Seventy five people, mostly blacks, were arrested by the police. The riot caused over $200 million in property damage.

4. Three Blues/Jazz Songs Popular In 1924

Downhearted Blues- Bessie Smith

Everyone Loves My Baby - Louis Armstrong

When My Sugar Walks Down The Street -Duke Ellington

5. Stephanie St. Clair

Tommy's best friend is Buckeye, who works for Madame St. Clair, the numbers queen of Harlem. Here's an unrolled thread I wrote on her a few months back. There are also links for more information.

Stephanie St Clair was born in Martinique and initially attended school before working as a maid for a rich family. The son raped her often. Despite the abuse she scraped her coins & ended up in Harlem. She dodged an abusive lover who tried to pimp her out.. with a fork in his eye. Soon after she was on a bus that got attacked by the KKK and was raped AND watched others around her suffer and die. She was 23. Despite all the trauma, she still had to make a living. She had taught herself English and was fluent in French and could read and write. But getting a good job was hard in NY for a young single black woman. It was the 1910's after all. She met a guy and began selling drugs with him. She quickly accumulated a savings & told him she wanted to break up. He tried to kill her. She shoved his ass so hard that he cracked his skull on a table and died. She started her "numbers" game shortly after. In those days, black folk could not walk into a bank and legally gamble their money via investments. So "Policy banking" was the way. Policy banking was part investing, part gambling, part lotto. It was a white male dominated field, but Steph, aka Madam St Clair, excelled.

She also took out ads for black Harlemites educating them on their rights & kept up w/ incidents of police brutality. This attracted trouble. She also wrote in one of these ads, "I have received letters... from men which have annoyed me very much.... I ... am not looking for a husband or a sweetheart." For her commentary on police brutality and her zeal for educating her black peers, she became a target of local cops and was briefly jailed. She got out, got back to business, and clashed with the mafia. Nearly everybody folded to the mafia except this black woman. She didn't officially retire until the 1940s. She made a lot of money and provided a lot of jobs to black men. She got more into social justice but unfortunately married the anti-Semitic activist Sufi Abdul Hamid in the late 30s. They had a volatile marriage. He cheated, they opened a failed business, and she shot him. She ended up serving 10 years as a result. When she got out she became a newspaper columnist & continued educating the black community on their legal & voting rights & social justice.

References:

Madame Queen of Policy: Stephanie St. Clair, Harlem’s Numbers Racket, and Community Advocacy

Playing the Numbers: Madame Stephanie St. Clair and African American Policy Culture in Harlem