Uncovering a Forgotten Life

Lynching, segregation, disfranchisement, poverty --- these are disturbing themes covered in broad strokes by most history texts when discussing the African American experience in the South early in the 20th century. But what was the experience of an average African American college-age youth? What did she care about in this era of extreme prejudice? What did he do for fun? What kind of work was available?

During her senior year Sarah Sherman '01 and assistant professor of history Michael Trotti (right), aided by a small faculty research grant from the College, explored just such questions. Their starting point was the diary of a young man in Richmond, Virginia, written in the years 1910 - 12. Eddie McClerg Drummond had recently graduated from a segregated high school, and he worked as a clerk in a white-owned shoe store in Richmond's busiest shopping district. A member of two fraternal orders, he wrote about his friends, the books he read, and the shows and movies he saw, as well as events in Richmond.

Eddie Drummond grew up in a time of violence and segregation --- at a time, in fact, when virtually all blacks in Virginia had lost their right to vote (through disfranchisement statutes enacted in 1902) --- but made much of his life. He was raised in a single-parent household and held a job from an early age.

In every diary entry, the young Drummond commented on the weather, and sometimes not much more: "N.O.I.," or "Nothing of Interest," was a recurring notation. But he recorded enough to make his diary intriguing, particularly regarding everyday concerns like his social life. "Arthur and I sat on the Globe Theatre stoop talking to a fellow from 'down south.' We had as much fun with him as we would have had in the theater." The diary illuminates the world he is creating for himself, showing that despite enduring racism in their daily lives, African Americans at that time in the South were able to enjoy satisfying, even blessedly unremarkable lives. In the words of Sarah Sherman, "Drummond was an average boy who appreciated much of what any white boy his age would enjoy."

Drummond was not unaware of the wider events going on around him, however. In 1910 Jim Jeffries, America's "great white hope," fought to retrieve the world championship from the black Jack Johnson in one of America's most hyped (and racialized) boxing matches. When Johnson defeated Jeffries, white Americans rioted. Eddie Drummond simply wrote: "went uptown & heard the fight returns. Johnson knocked Jeffries out in 15 rounds. The big dark skinned fellow is still champion of the world." It was a muted response, notes Trotti, "but you can almost feel him smiling." Drummond later saw President Taft as he visited the city, commented on airplanes flying above (a new and notable development in the era), and mentioned the electrocution (also a new development) of a local murderer. He later served overseas in World War I, and when he returned he started a printing business, which thrived in the segregated black business district of downtown Richmond. He married and did well enough to own his own home, in which he lived until his death in the 1960s.

Sherman reflected at the close of her work on Drummond's diary (a page is reproduced at left), "I wish that he'd described even more of everything --- the club, his church, the theaters he frequented, his work, what exactly he did 'uptown' or 'on the hill,' dances he attended, and his thoughts on the books he read." The diary project emphasized a familiar lesson --- how limiting for historians are the sources left behind. "We know so much about the powerful because they leave records, both public and private, that are preserved," says Trotti. "But records from someone like Eddie Drummond are rare. Little remains of his life. Our goal was to begin to build a context for making this terse diary more meaningful."

The process was painstaking. "I photocopied the diary, along with a ream of newspaper articles describing some of the events Eddie commented upon," explains Trotti. "Sarah transcribed the diary to make it useful to our work. She sifted through the entries to delineate the social world Drummond inhabited, noting every name he referenced. Using manuscript census records, we hope to track some of these people down, situating Drummond in the wider social world of black Richmond. It takes such minute archival work to make a rich but succinct document into a meaningful and legible historical resource."

Sarah Sherman is now applying to graduate schools to study history, and Trotti hopes for further collaboration with students as the project continues. He is currently working to complete a book on a series of murder stories sensationalized in the press in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. When he returns to the Drummond project, he plans to publish at least substantial portions of the diary, annotated to give a rich context for understanding all of Drummond's various references: the Johnson-Jeffries fight, the amusements he attended, his church and club life, his work experience. Trotti hopes that this will provide a resource for students to explore the experience of African Americans in the South in this difficult historical epoch.

It is a work in progress, but Trotti has been using this material in the classroom. His Ethnic America class last year evaluated a series of pages from the Drummond diary, showing how it added to their understanding of the African American experience. Three pages of the diary can be viewed at www.ithaca.edu/faculty/mtrotti/ ethnicventf.html.