Document text
Accession no.
WPA L. C. PROJECT _
Form -3
UNIT
s645
Date received
10/1U/40
Consignment no.
1
Shipped from
*ash. Office
Label
Amount
21p
Eakil:tril__Collection (or Type)
Title Robbins I11, A folklore In
zakta&
Place of origin Midlothian, 1119 Date 4L6139
Project worker .A.1fre3d 0. Philli.PP
Project editor
Remarks
STATE
NAME OF WORRIER
ADDRE54
DATE
SUBJECT
Forms to be Filled out for Each Interview
AMMAN FOIESTUFF
FORM A
Circumstances of Interview
Illinois
Alfred 0. Philipp
144th Ridgeway Ave., Midlothian, Ill.,
April 6, 1939
Negro folklore— Robbins,
FOLKLORE
CHICAGO
of -Words
a* 14 Y-0''
1, Date and time of Interview No interview. I was there for 18 mo. I swung a pick
and shovel in the ditches alongside these negros of
Robbins. As a consequence have 18 months of intimate
contact with them. I worked as "common laborer*
2 rlace of interview on '0
IPA Project No. 3278
WPA 9007
11(PA 9217
3. Name and address of informant
also, my own house, Niters I've lived for 12 years.)
is about 300 yds from. Robbins boundary.
Also, I organized the Unemployed
4. Name and address of person, if any, who put you in Council in Robbins in 1933.
touch with informant, So an writing at first hand.
5. Name and address of person, if any, accompanying you
6, Desoription of room, house, surroundings, etc.
(Use as many additional sheets as necessary, for any of the forms, each
Iwaring the proper heading and the number which the material refers,)
W3645
FORK C TEXT 1
ROBBINS, ILL. A FOLKLORE IN THE MAXIMO.
Robbins, Ill., the home of the suburban Negro here is a
new racial -social phenomenon in the making. The tenement dwelling city Negro
and the plantation Negro are alike comparatively well known. Then there is the
village or maall town Negro who lives in a hovel on the ragged edge of a small
oommunity entirely controlled by white officials. But the dweller in Robbins
is a true Negro suburbanite. This southwest suburb of Chicago is inhabited and
run exclusively by (and for) the colored race.
The village was inoorporated in 1917, and was named after
Eugene S. Robbins, the realtor and subdivider. It is situated directly 'out
west of the city of Blue Island, and is approximately one mileicest of Western
Ave. at 139th St. It has an area of more than four square milts, and the
boundary limits are: on the north, 135th St.; en the south, 141st. St.; on
the east, Sacramento Ave.; and on the west, Central Park Ave. The present
population is about 2,250.
The village officialdom comprises a Mayor and a Board of Trustees,
the latter being six in number. All are Negros. There is a Police Dept., a
Fire Dept., (volunteer, but possessing a standard fire truck) a post office,
and a fine grade all manned by Negros. Claire Boulevard (formerly
Rexford Road) is the connecting highway between the Midlothian Turnpike and
Crawford Ave., and runs directly through the center of the village. Here the
dusky village cops, equipped with speedy motorcycles, are over alert and
constantly on duty; and unwary speeders along this highway contribute very
largely to the coffers of the village treasury.
The town also has its business aspects; although there are no
Lions, Rotarians, or other high-pressure groups of go-getters. There are
grocery stores, barber shops, filling stations, beauty parlors, and taverns;
YORM C TEXT 2
ROBBBS, ILL. A FOIZLORE IN TM MAKING.
about in the same proportions as in the average town of two thousand population.
But the total volume of business is low, for the chain stores in Midlothian and
Blue Island get most of the grocery trade, while the bargain counters of Chicago
are also within easy commuting distance.
In the department of religion Robbins is outstanding, for the
town boasts sixteen churches; although there is little ground for boasting when
considering those temples of the Lord !loathe standpoint of architectural
beauty. The principal seats are Baptist, Methodist, Seven Day Adventist,
and Church of God in Christ. There are no Catholic or Episcopal churches,
but a small group of Robbins Negro Catholics attend services at the St. Christopher's
Church, in Midlothian. There are eighteen "regular" ministers in Robbins
(sixteen of them are on relief or I. P. AO and a number of "preachers" and
"deacons" of no recognized standing expept as purveyors of Bible lore and
"bringers of light."
As might be supposed from, the preponderance of churches there
is practically no lodge activity in Robbins, the church having supplanted
the lodge. This may be explained by the fact that fres seventy to eighty per
cent of the population is on relief. And lodges cost money, whereas religion
(as practised in Robbins) is almost as free as the air. Despite reports of
various "Surveys" there is no "Alpha and Omega Masonic Club" in Robbins, nor
any other official A. P. A. U. organization. There are a few Mesons, mostly
elderly men who in better days were employed in well paying occupations. There
are no jazz clubs, swing bands, or night clubs; and such limited social activities
as prevail are striotly those of a small home -loving community. For, as
previously stated* the Robbins Negro is a true suburbanite and has little in
common with the Harlem swingster or the South Side night club devotee.
ROBBINS, ILL. A FOLKLORE IN THEME:ENG.
The ladies have an organization which staggers along under the
cumbrous load of two different names, 1. e. The Community Welfare Club, and
The Women's Improvement Club. They meet every Friday, the place of assembly
being the parlor of a member's home. The village girls of about high school
age have a fast softball team which functions in natty romper -style uniforms
of vivid green. The village grade school, an excellent brick idifice aptly
named after the Great Emancipator "The Abraham Lincoln School" is located
on 139th. St. just west of Claire Boulevard. It is presided over by eight
colored teachers, and has an average attendance of about 500 pupils. The town
has no newspaper of its own, but there is a local agent for the Chicago Defender.
The village has definate topographical advantages; being a level
terrain dotted with four park -like lagoons. These are not abandoned quarries,
or clay holes, but natural ponds. Thus the town has all the natural facilities
for beautiful landscaping, despite the prevalence of shanties and dilapidated
houses which mar its potential beauty. One Federal Writer (ff. Flom) tersely
describes Robbins
appearance of the
being, of course,
as follows: "The side streets are mmdholes. The general
town is characteristic of a Negro settlement." The implication
that shabby houses and shanties are Negro characteristics. Let
me repudiate this insinuation most emphatically. Shanties and dilapidated houses
are not racial characteristics, but economic factors. Poor people all over the
world (regardless of race or color) live in hovels and inferior dwellings; while
rich people live in fine houses. And the Robbins Negro is striving mightily,
under the most adverse economic conditions, to create a home for himself in a
community of his own race. And he merits no little credit for his efforts. After
this outburst of applause I take the liberty of extending a little criticism
to my Robbins friends:- they might have exerted themselves a little more in the
ROBBINS, ILL. A FOLKLORE IN THE MAKING.
waY of weed eradication and tree planting.
Whence came the Robbins Negro? Well, many of them are naturally
from Chicago's teeming south side. They were motivated by the same objectives
that prompt the white apartment dweller to throw his accumulated rent receipts
into the landlords face as a final gesture of defiance and release, and hie
himself to a little home in the suburbs. A bumble dwelling with a small plot
of ground to raise corn, carnations, cabbages, and carrots; a few chickens; a
luscious goose or two; and perhaps a shoat to fatten for next winter's larder.
This is the perennial dream of the insipient surburbanite. But the Chico
suburban developments were restricted, and Negros were rigidly barred. Then, in
1917, Eugene S. Robbins subdivided this area and incorporated it for the express
purpose of providing a Chicago suburban village for the colored people. The
Negros of Chico were not slow to grasp the opportunity. Some of them were
workers skilled in the building trades, there was an ex -Pullman porter or two,
many common laborers, a few college graduates, and a sprinkling of share croppers
and plantation hands fresh from the south. Some purchased modest dwellings
hastily erected by the real estate firm, while many could only muster the down
payment for a lot. As there were no building restrictions these latter suburban
aspirants haphazardly gathered a quantity of second-hand lumber, (perhaps some old
car siding) some sheet tin, same cheap roofing paper, and assembled what was
merely intended to be a temporary abode. Later, when they worked and saved a
little money, they would build "real* homes. Certainly it was not their fault
that these fond hopes were but infrequently ounsumated.
Thus we find in Robbins a conglomerate of various Negro elements.
And in this melting pot of Suburbia these diverse elements are being welded into
a definate type the suburban Negro. That this classification bas already assumed
FORM C TEXT 5
ROBBINS, ILL. A FOLKLORE IN THE MAKING.
a concrete form is quite evident. A Chicago city Negro meets a friend from
Robbins and the following jovial dialogues ensues:
"Hi yak, plow chauffeur," greets the Chicagoan.
"G'long, yo' flat-footed State Street Susie Q4 answers
the suburbanite.
"Gtwan, yo Robbins hayseed."
From which we logically infer that the Robbins Negro is considered
as somewhat of a rustic as compared to the tenement dweller of the city. An
intermediate, bridging the gap between the plantation, Negro and the city Negro.
And Robbins manifests a social pattern which is becoming increasingly indicative
of a typical suburban Negro culture. But this racial -social pattern has not yet
of itself assumed a definate character. There are still various diverse elements
contributing to its formation.
W. P. A. Project NO. 900/ is digging a series of drainage
ditches much needed, but long deferred, in Bremen Township. A large part of the
labor gang is made up of Negros from nearby Robbins. It was a day of bright
sunshine in early spring. About twenty Negros of assorted ages were plying
their shovels in the bottom of the ditch. I had staked out the ditch some days
ago, and now had grade -lines drawn from stake to stake. At the moment I Was
walking along the ditch, drawing the lines taut, and confirming the slope with
a line -level. Suddenly Joey Parker, a stocky Negro of about 200 pounds, leaped
wildly up on the bank and commenced weilding his shovel as if in mortal
combat with a dangerous foe. Be had killed a small garter snake (eutoenia proxima)
ROBBINS, ILL. A FOLKLORE IN THE MAKING.
about fifteen inches long. In the early spring this species is found in great
numbers in the marshy, low-lying fields.
"Whassa matter? Whassa Matter?" shouted a fellow worker. "To'
gone plum' crazy, boy?"
"Its a snake:" panted Joey. "An' one o'dam dam stripped adders,
toot"
I perked up my big ears. It was the first time I'd heard a
common garter snake cakked a "stripped adder" since my boydhood days in New England.
"Say, bay, what part of the east are you from?" I asked, at a
venture.
"Ah comes fum Georgia," Joey answered.
Leaman Smith prodded the dead snake with his shovel. Smith was a
Negro graduate of the University of Iowa. His speech was always precise and
grammatical, although seemingly rendered with a concious effort.
"Are all the colored boys in Georgia such clowns?" inquired Smith.
"Nhadda yo' mean, boy?" snorted Zoey. "YO' jea' let one o' dam
stripped adders sting yo', an' yo'll be a doggone dead clown."
"Don't be silly, its just an inoffensive little little garter
snake," asserted Smith. "Its entirely innocuous and harmless."
"Aw, climb down often dat pile o' books," retorted Joey. "Ye
mean t' tell me die yere snake ain't poison?"
"Certainly, its a non -venomous species," affirmed Smith. "It
has no venom glands, and it has no fangs. If you'd just take the trouble to open
its mouth and look for yourself you could plainly see that there are no fangs
there."
FORM C TEXT
ROBBINS, ILL. A FOLKLORE IN THE MAID*
"Yeah, well how 'bout dat 111' stinger it shoots in and out? To'
pm' let one o' dam stripped adders git you' wid his stinger an' see."
"Why, that's just his tongue flicking in and out, through which
he senses vibrations," I told Xoey. "Sort of a substitute for hearing, in which
department snakes are said to be rather non plus, or smething."
Thus overwhelmed, two to one, Ioey had jumped baok into the ditch,
and was grumbling incoherently over his shovel. This was bad tactics on my part,
for with a little encouragement on my part I might have heard some tall snake
stories of the Georgia variety. There was some compensation, however, for a
few minutes later old Jenks remarked:
"Hey, if you' sees one o' dent lilt green snakes save 'in fo' me.
Ah needs medicine bad."
Old Jenks had been a carpenter of considerable skill. During the
war he had worked in the Government ship yards at Pascagoula, Miss. After the war,
attracted by the high wages that accompanied the building boom, he came to
Chicago, where he prospered for a time. He was about fifty-five years old, of
strong build, but he habitually wore the sodden and bleary look of a confirmed
drunkard. Clarence Peck, a retired Pullman porter now living in Robbins on a
small pension, told me about old Zemke.
"Ah uster know olt Jenks in Chicago," Peck told me. "Them was
th' days when th' olt buildin* boom was really boamin'. Be worked steady an'
made good money them days, an' he built hisself a right nice house in Robbins.
Then come 01' Man Depression, an' Jenks commenced slidin' down th' shuts. No
mo' work, his wife died, an' he done lost his house. Now he's jes* licked. No
mot chance fe an al' colored man in th' carpenter business, ah reokone An' ol'
Jenks is jes' licked, tha' all, he' jest licked."
FORA C TEXT 8
ROBBINS, ILL. A FOLKLORE IN Thh: MAKING.
"Well he's sure adding to the punishment with that bug -juice
he guzzles," I commented. "Re calls it whiskey. I tasted it the other del.
It sure as hell don't taste or smell like any whiskey I ever mat up with. Where
does he get it?"
"They sells it at a place on th' south side," Peck answered.
"A half-pint bottle to' twenty cents."
The next day old Jenks got his snake. One of his comrades
had massaged a tiny grass snake (liopeltis vernalis) with the flat side of
a shovel. The tail was still wriggling (the usual refiex action) when old
Jenks picked it up gingerly and steered it head first into a bottle of whiskey.
It reminded ma of museums specimens preserved in jars of formaldehyde.
"Boy, now ah got ms some real medicine," beamed old Jenks.
"Nuthin' lak' snake medicine to' misery in de stumik."
"Mast is that supposed to be?" I inquired, a serpent
slumgullion?"
"Nay, dat's medicine," old Jenks assured me.
"Medicine for what?"
"Fo' mah stumik. Ah got powerful pains in mah belly."
"I should think you would have, from what wood alcohol you
drink. All the snakes in the world couldn't counteract that twenty -cent
poison."
"Just what are the alleged curative properties of that mess of
crap you've got in the bottle?" demanded Smith.
"Lissen, smart an' loud, yo A don't know ever'thinis "old Jenks
answered. "Mali ol' Mammy was th' bee' doctor in mah part o' Mississippi. She
done cure ever' thin'. Ant fol misery in de stumik she allus mak' snake medicine.
FORM C TEXT 9
ROBBINS, ILL. A FOLKLORE IN THE MAKING.
Reckon some o' de 01' folks knowed mo'n some young college punks. Die yere's
real medicine."
Old Jenks ducked out of sight, into a clump of willowy, to
verify the potency of his new medicine.
"The old boy is in his dotage," said Smith, "and going back to
his childhood days."
"Which means, I suppose, going back to the superstitions of
the Mississippi swamps, or where ever he spent his childhood." Smith and I, it
should be explained, discussed all subjects without restraint, and with the
utmost candor.
A stalwart, mniling young chap standing nearby broke into the
conversation.
"Glad ah won't have far to go back when ah reaches mah second
childhood," he remarked.
"You've lived in Robbins about all your life, haven't you?"
asked Smith.
"Yeah, almost. Ah was born in Chicago, but we moved out here
when ah was only to' years old. So when ah gits old and foolish like old Jenks
ah only got a lilt way to go to git back to mah childhood place,. Zes' back to
lil' old Robbins."
And by that time Robbins will have assumed a definate suburban
Negro character of its own, a mixture of ingredients; comprising the culture,
superstitions, virtues, and evils of many Negroes from many sections of America;
each one contributing his or her little portion of sectional lore into the
community life of this most unique of Chicago suburbs.
FORM C TEXT 10
THE VILLAGE BOARD MOTS IN ROBBINS
It was the regular scheduled monthly "Village Board Meeting,"
which is held the first Tuesday of every month. So upon this particular Tuesday
evening (Why 2, 1939) we resolved to be present and match the village fathers
function, for here is a civic -political assembly unique in the Chicago region.
It is the only incorporated area in Illinois administered exclusively by Negros.
In the Village Board of Robbins we find the usual complement of elected office
holders, 1. e. the President of the Board of Trustees, six Trustees, and a
Village Clerk. But in Robbins the top functionary is never alluded to as "The
President of the Board," as is customary in towns of stailiar size. Bore he is
invariably known as The Mayor of Robbins, with capital letters. Since the
twenty odd years of its incorporation the town has elected a number of
individuals to the office of President of the Board of Trustees, a title reserved
exclusively for legal use. But to the constituency each and every one was known,
in turn, as The Mayor of Robbins.
The officially designated time for the monthly Village Board
Meeting is 8 p. 26 But no meeting held within the memory of the oldest inhabitant
has ever been known to start at that hour. 9.30 to 10 p. m. is the usual starting
time, and meetings have been known to last until two or three o'clock in the
morning. I was fully aware of this, but, being a paragon of punctuality I was
determined to be on time. Besides, I had no plaoe else to go. So shortly before
eight o'clock I strolled into the village of Robbins, and into the Village Ball.
The Robbins' Village Ball is located on the old Midlothian Turnpike about eighty
yards west of Claire Boulevard (formerly Rexford Road). The Midlothian Turnpike
was an historical dirt road (now graveled) of the old ox -cart days. But since
FORM C TEXT 11
THE VILLAGE BOARD MEETS IR ROBBINS
this region is now cries -crossed with fine state and county highways the old
Turnpike is no longer used, except by the villagers of Robbins.
The Village Hall is an edifice of historical interest. Built
of solid stone blocks, in 1875, it served for many years as the Bremen Township
public school. The building is about thirty by sixty feet, and appears rather
forlorn and dilapidated, showing a general lack of repair and upkeep. Here
the official business of the village is conducted entirely by Negros, elected
or appointed.
You enter the building through a small door and step into a
narrow passageway, which is flanked on either side by two small ante rooms.
In these two small chambers the reluctant brats of fifty years ago hung
their homespun jackets, headgear, and dinner buckets while undergoing the
severe process of "larnin'." They were all white children (except, perhaps,
behind the ears) for this was a fertile farm section; and there were but
few Negros in this region outside the city limits of Chicago.
Three or four steps brings you to another door, leading directly
into the Village Hall, a roam measuring about thirty by forty feet. immediately
at your right, as you enter, stands a rusty coal heater designed to furnish
the necessary warmth during the winter months. Sundry hunks of baling wire
keep the old stove from entirely falling apart...At the other end of the roam
is an old counter top resting upon two carpenter's horses. This is the
presidium of the Mayor during Board meetings. On court days it becomes the
local Bar of Justice, for then the Police Magistrate occupies the Mayor's chair.
Directly in front of this is another "tablet" two 15 -inch planks laid across
two smaller carpenter's horses; and here the six Trustees sit facing the Mayor,
their backs to the spectators. Two long benches and about eighty rickety folding
FORM C TEXT 12
THE VILLAGE BOARD MEETS IN ROBBINS.
chairs provide the seating arrangement, and this comprises all the furniture
of the roam.
On the wall above the Mayor's chair hangs a full length engraving
of Abraham Lincoln in a large gilt frame. No other picture or decoration adorns
the stained and grimy walls. Set into the walls are the four original blackboards,
venerable reminders of country school days in Cook County. These blackboards
are still in use. Where ones the faltering juvenile hand scrawled 15-8 9,
we now see chalked notices such as "THE LADIES AUXILIARY OF THE FIREMEN will
meet Friday afternoon."
Robbins is generally known as a suburban village of about two
thousand population. But nailed to the wall beside Lincoln's picture there is a
square of brown cardboard upOn which these statistics are marked in black crayon
according to the local version. It reads:
"Population of Robbins, Nov. 1, 1938.
Village 1,379
Suburbs 658
2,037"
This need not too greatly disconcert us, for it does make
biological sense. After all, ye are told that "small fleas have still smaller
fleas on them." So it logically follows that a small Chicago suburb can have
a "still smaller suburb of its own.
At the farther end of the building, behind the Board's tables,
another room has been walled off. This is the Police Department, including the
FORM C TEXT 13
TEE NrIljAGE BOARD MEETS IN ROBBINS.
village jail. It but seldom houses an involuntary guest, for most of the
arrests made by the village police are for minor traffic violations. And the
more serious offenders are tendered free board and lodging at the County hoosegow.
By eight o'clock there were about twenty men gathered in the
Village Ball. The Mayor was not present, nor were any of the Trustees. Many
of those present were old friends and acquaintances of the writer, so there was
nothing awkward in the fact of my being the only white man present. I simply
sat down, stoked and ignited my pipe, and prepared to wait.
"Do they always maintain night club hours at these meetings?"
I asked Bob Andrews, an old white-haired Negro.
"Aw, shot; don't no meetint nevir git started 'til 'long 'bout
nine-thutty," Uncle Bob answered. "Ah 'member one time, 'bout six years ago, we
done had a meetint didn't git started 'til 'most two o'clock in de mornin'o"
"What was the occassion?" I asked, although I already had
more than a faint suspicion.
'Dat was when evertbody done lost dey jobs, an' wasn't no W. P. A.
Everlbody on straight relief, which was just bags otcohn meal, beans, cracked
wheat, an' lilt olt dried-up prunes. 14 done orgtnized a Unemployed Council,
an' bout de same time fust govemint work program done started. But Mayor
an' Village Boand we had dat time didn't want no govtmint work job in Robbins,
an' all de unemployed folks did. So de Unemployed Council got itself all orenized
up to bring lots otpeople to de Boand Bastin' an' demand out real loud dat de
village 'ficials git a govtmint work program quick efoh we all done starved on
dam hog vittles an' wrinkled up prunes turn do relief station."
Leaman Smith, young College educated Negro, broke into the
conversation.
"Say, that vJa a meeting I'll never forget," Smith declared. "About
FORM C TEXT 14
THE VILLAGE BOARD MEETS IN ROBBINS.
a hundred of us jammed into the hall waiting for the Board to assemble. And I'm
telling you that we were really desperate. We meant business when we said
we would force the village officials to do something. Well, we sat and
waited around. Then we sat and waited some more. About eleven o'clock a couple
of Trustees showed up, sat around awhile, and then told the crowd that there would
be no meeting of the Board as there wasn't a quormn present, and besides the
Mayor was out of town."
nieh, heh," chuckled old Bob, "but we brung 'am to time."
"I'll say we did," Smith commented. "While some of the crowd
held the two scared Trustees in the hall, the rest of us went out to round up
the Mayor and the other Trustees. First we went over to the Mayor's house.
But he'd got wind of our coming and sneaked out by the back door. So then the
gang split up, half of them starting out to look up the missing Trustees, while
the rest of us stayed to hunt for the Mayor. We spread out and finally found
him out in the prairie, hiding in a clump of weeds. We dragged him back to the
hall, and pretty soon the rest of the gang showed up with three more Trustees.
"So we got ready for the belated meeting. But no sooner was it
called to order then the hall suddenly started to fill with smoke. One of the
Trustees had sneaked over to a corner and set fire to a pile of rags in an effort
to smoke out the meeting. And they sure succeeded for a while."
"Sho' was a mess o'stink," declared Uncle Bob. 'Nev'r did see
so much black smoke. Ever'body was wipin' day eyes, an' women was cryin', an'
de whole kaboodle scrambled out o' do's an' winders. Boy, nev'r will fergit
dat night."
"But the ruse failed," Smith continued. "We put out the fire,
then opened all the doors and windows to clear the smoke, and everybody piled
back into the hall again. And, believe ma, the Board went back in with us. I
FORM C TEXT 15
THE VILLAGE BOARD NIZIS IN ROBBINS
don't think a single person went home. It must have been about two o'clock
in the morning by that time. But the meeting finally got started, the Board
was duly informed what was expected of them, and it was almost four o'clock before
the meeting was ajourned. But the same day the Mayor was down in the County
Building, and before the next meeting we had an Illinois ftergency Relief work
program in the village."
"'Deg was a write-up 'bout dat Bastin' in de Chicago paper,"
Andrews stated. "An' I still got de clippint at home."
By 9.30 there were about one hundred people in the hall, of
which twenty were women. They had drifted in singly or in amall groups, and
everyone was engaged in amiable chatter. A leisurely and indolent atmosphere
pervaded the place. There was no impatient jerking out of watches and peevish
exclaiming of "this meeting is supposed to start at eight o'clock and here it
is nine -thirty already!" No one appeared concious of the sad, but immutable,
fact that somewhere watches were ticking off the precious minutes. The atmosphere
also had its material aspects. For every window and door was closed, and
practically every man in the crowded hall was smoking a cigarette, cigar, or
pipe. By this time Mayor Richardson and the village Trustees had arrived,
and were mingling with the crowd.
Mayor Richardson is a large smiling man with an impressive
personality, and he is perhaps the most popular Mayor Robbins ever had. Under the
present economic conditions his job is certainly not one to be envied. To cope
continually with the problem of maintaining water, electric, and transportation
service with the village broke and three-quarters of its population an relief
is a task which would tax the ingenuity of any man.
FORM C TEXT 16
THE VILLAGE BOARD MEETS IN ROBBINS.
As a rule the Village Board meetings are sparsely attended.
But this night was a special occassion. Trustees are elected for a term of
four years. Elections are held every two years, when three new Trustees are
elected. Thus, every two years there are three new Trustees. And to -night
there were to be three "outgoing Trustees" to be replaced by three "incoming
Trustees." Hence, this meeting attracted a larger crowd than usual.
At about 9.30 the village officials all retired into one of
the small ante rooms, and from behind the closed doors there came a low buzz
of voices in subdued conversation. At about 9.40 the door was cautiously
opened, and the officials keenly surveyed the hall with the appraising looks
of actors giving the bare stage a final "once over" before rushing out in
front of the footlights. Suddenly came tense exclamations of "Ready:" "Every-
thing O. E:.?" "Yeah:" "Let's Gol"
Out charged the brigade, -the six Trustees, Mayor, and Village
Clerk, down the center of the roost they marched in single file at a fast and
furious pace, and quickly to their seats. Outside of costuming, the only
other theatrical ingredient lacking was a circus band playing the "Entry Of
The Gladiators" march. A sudden hush fell over the crowd, and every cigarette
and cigar was immediately extinguished. I also snapped to attention, only to
learn (to m7 embarrassment) that I WAS still nonchalantly sucking on a pipe, and
the only person in the room smoking.
The mayor repped for order and every person in the roam arose
to his, or her, feet. I also stood up, without knowing why, until I observed
the bowed heads and heard Brother Zones address God and ask for guidance and
blessings upon the proceedings about to commence. Then, with bowed heads,
FORA C TEXT 1?
THE VILLAGE BOARD MEETS IN ROBBINS.
we all recited the Lord's Prayer in unison and sat down. Mayor Richardson
then called the meeting to order and instructed the Clerk to read the minutes
of the previous meeting. This was dome, and duly approved. There was no
correspondence read, or no committee reports.
Mayor Richardson then announced that it was the immediate
duty of the present Board to close all unfinished business, so that the new in-
coming Board could commence with a clean slate. He called upon the acting
Treasurer (one of the Trustees) for a report. Reading of the financial statue
of the village was short and sweet. It was zero. Most of the report consisted
of a list of names, people to wham the village owed certain stated sums of
money for various services rendered during the past two years. In the list
eight policemen were mentioned as having served the village at various times.
And it was the bounden duty of the present Board to wipe these names off the
books, as per the Mayor's instructions, so that the new Board could "start with
a clean slate." Tust how these debts were to be "wiped off the books" without
money I, being new to politics, was at a loss to comprehend.
But comprehension soon came. It was a cinch. Mayor Richardson
simply instructed the Board to vote the Treasurer an order for the issuance
of tax anticipation warrants to every person on the list, and for the sum
opposite the name. This was quickly done. The Mayor then announced that there
was nothing more to be done except to extend a vote of thanks to the outgoing
Board, and ajourn. The vote of thanks was extended, but with little enthusiasm.
The motion to adjourn was then made, seconded, and carried. Whereupon the Mayor
rapped upon the table, and proclaimed:
"I hereby declare this meeting adjourned."
FORM C TEXT 18
THE VILLAGE BOARD MEETS IN ROBBINS.
I was wondering if this was the cue to go hone and go to bed.
But not so. The three "outgoing Trustees" immediately got out of their seats
and left. And with the same speed and dispatch three Negro gentlemen emerged
from anong the spectators and took their plums. These were the "incoming
Trustees." As soon as they were seated, amid some slight applause, Mayor
Richardson again rapped on the table, and said:
"I hereby declare this meeting open agin."
First order of new business was the appointment of committees.
The Mayor handed each of the six Trustees a typed list with the explanation
that these were the committees for the next two years. There was a Judiciary
Committee, Water Committee, Transportation Committee, Electric Committee,
Streets and Sidewalks Committee, License Committee, and five or six others.
Three men on each committee. There were no committees nominated or elected.
The Mayor simply told them. Who had decided what Trustee was to serve on which
committee, and why, was not disclosed.
The next order of business was a little bawling out for the Mayor.
Trustee Brown charged that His Honor had issued licenses indiscriminately to
anyone who wanted to operate a tavern in the village, and people were actually
running taverns in their homes, contrary to the state laws. The Mayor entered
into an extended explanation. He explained that there was never a dollar in
the Village Bell with which to conduct the affairs of the tom, and when a
villager showed up with some loose change for a license he simply issued it
without investigation and took whatever money was offered, for the village needed
it. But he promised to be more discreet in the future. Infect, hereafter he
would turn all applications over to the License Committee to be investigated
before giving out a permit, thus passing the buck to the Board.
FORM C TEXT 19
THE VILLAGE BOARD WE'D:, IN ROBBINS.
Next came the matter of transportation. Robbins had no motor
transportation whatever. The Safeway company had a franchise with the village
and had agreed to run one of its OAK FOREST 119th. STREET buses through the
town. But it been years since the streets of Robbins had seen a Safeway bus,
the company claiming that there were not enough passengers in the village
to pay for the gas, let alone other operating expenses. And now it appeared
that everyone in town who awned a jallopy was operating it as a taxi whenever
he, or they, felt like it, or could pick up a jitney passenger; and usually with-
out the bothersome formality of securing a license.
Trustee Brown made a motion that only one individual (he had such
a one in mind) who could furnish a bus to run on schedule between Robbins and the
city limits and also a taxi to be in service at all times, should be given an
exclusive franchise to operate in Robbins, and -Trustee Reeves leaped to his
feet with strenuous objections. One man was as good as another, he declared,
perhaps even better. Any man who mimed an eligible car and the price of a license
was entitled to operate a taxi. Why should one man have the exclusive privilege,
etc.
There was a dreary hour of wrangling over this grave matter of
transportation. Finally, as it was approaching midnight, the evident restless-
ness of the spectators indicated that everyone was of the opinion that it was
about time to drop the matter for the present and go to bed. So the Board voted
unanimously to instruct the Treasurer to accept a dollar, for a 30 -day permit,
from anyone in Robbins who might desire to operate a taxi. The matter being thus
easily disposed of, until the next monthly meeting, it was decided to ajourn and
call it all things considered a good nights' work.
FORM C TEXT 20
THE VILLAGE BOARD larrs IN FOBBINS
SOURCES AND REFERENCES:
None. I simply went over and attended the meeting, then
wrote what I saw and heard.