The Dark Side of Hopkinsville PDF
Preview The Dark Side of Hopkinsville
V THE DARK SIDE OF HOPKINGSVILLE STORIES BY TED POSTON Edited and Annotated by Kathleen A. Hauke The University of Georgia Press Athens and London © 1991 by the University of Georgia Press Published by the University of Georgia Press Athens, Georgia 30602 All rights reserved Designed by Erin Kirk Set in Berkeley Old Style by Tseng Information Systems, Inc. Printed and bound by Thomson-Shore The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources. Printed in the United States of America 95 94 93 92 91 5 4 3 2 Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Poston, Ted, 1906-1974. The dark side of Hopkinsville / by Ted Poston edited and annotated by Kathleen A. Hauke. xxxi, 107 p. ; 22 cm. Includes bibliographical references (p. 105–107). ISBN 0-8203-2387-X l. Segregation—Kentucky—Hopkinsville—History—20th century. 2. Hopkinsville (Ky.)—Race relations. 3. Afro-Americans—Kentucky—Hopkinsville—History—20th century. 4. Poston, Ted, 1906-1974—Childhood and youth. 5. Afro-Americans—Kentucky—Hopkinsville—Biography. 6. Hopkinsville (Ky.)—Biography. I. Hauke, Kathleen A. II. Title. F459.H8P67 1991 976.9'78-dc20 90-11251 CIP British Library Cataloging in Publication Data available The poem “Since Frazer Came to Hopkinsville” was made available by Professor Luther P. Jackson . Title page photo: Courtesy of William T. Turner ISBN for this digital edition: 978-0-8203-4238-2 For Henry John LaFarge Hauke, Henry Lee Moon, and Henry Allison Williams This page intentionally left blank CONTENTS Acknowledgments ix List of Hopkinsville Informants xiii Introduction xv 1. Mr. Jack Johnson and Me 1 2. The Werewolf of Woolworth's 9 3. Knee Baby Watkins 18 4. Cousin Blind Mary 31 5. Papa Was a Democrat 41 6. Mr. Beefer Jones 51 7. High on the Hog 60 8. The Birth of a Notion 72 9. Rat Joiner Whips the Kaiser 83 10. The Revolt of the Evil Fairies 92 Notes 97 Sources 105 This page intentionally left blank flCKNOWLE&QH The search for Ted Poston began in 1980. Trudier Harris and Thadi- ous Davis sent mimeographed letters to members of the College Language Association, stating that they were editing the Afro- American volumes of The Dictionary of Literary Biography and still needed critical essays on certain writers, including Ted Poston. I remembered a sprightly, vivid, action-packed article Poston had written on Langston Hughes for the New York Post. A gleaming, bespectacled black face had smiled out from the illustration of the article's author. I laughed. In those old days, his appearance and craft seemed incongruous; one rarely saw so black a reporter. 1 wrote editors Harris and Davis, "May I write the essay on Ted Poston? I would like to find out more about him." First came the critical essay for the DLB. I discovered that I had missed Ted Poston in life by six years, but his widow, Ersa Hines Poston, was listed in Who's Who. She directed me to the executor of Poston's estate, Henry Lee Moon, his boon companion and fellow journalist, who carefully retrieved Poston's papers. Among them were these ten stories. They seemed a find. Mr. Moon said no, they had not all been published, and yes, he would permit me to seek a publisher. A summer stipend from the National Endowment for the Hu- manities in 1984 enabled me to do research in New York City, the only location of microfilms holding the evidence of Poston's forty-two years in journalism. I spent many days in Harlem at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, part of the New York Public Library system, where, with Mr. C. Finney's help, 1 located and read the Pittsburgh Courier and the New York Amster- ix
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