Document text
Thomas J. henry, Jr.
250 Auburn Ave., N. S.
Lawyer.
By
Geneva -entail,
October, 1939.
The interview took place in ittr. H's law office which consists of
two rooms, simply furnished but attractive.
am a child of the late Flora (Thompson) and Thomas J.
Henry, Sr.
My mother moved to Georgia from South Carolina a few years after the War
Between the itates. She was a very ambitious woman and took advantage of
the meager opportunities offered for study and imnrovemant. She was among
the first students to attend Spelman College, when it was loceted in the
baseeent of Friendship Baptist Church. Her family was very noor. She was
unable to pursue her studies very long at Spelman. After a short atten,
dance in Spelman she then secured pork for the then ?resident of Atlanta
University, 3dmond esa are. While working for his family she lid nart-
time study in 4t1-nta University. This gave her a good background, slid se
wis able to write letters to her friends and relatives, a thing she liked
to do, and also to 10 some literary work in connection with her church and
clubs. 4n ardent Christian woman, she was a member of Big Bethel African
Methodist Church for more than sixty years and took a leading part in the
church work.
0.y father came to Atl-nta from lorgan County, Geo-gia, r few years
after the war. His father's name was Cudger, but after the war my father
and tee of his brothers went to the courthouse in eor an County and had
their names changed to Henry, as they didn't like the named C dger. His
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grandfather was one of the late slaves brought over from Africa and was a
man who never was conquered by slavery. It seems that father inherited some
of the courage of his ancestors because he was a man that always stood for
what he thought was right. He too took advantage of what schooling he could
obtain and attended night school under Mrs. Norris, the same woman who gave
Atlanta University the clock which is now in the tower of Stone Hall. With
this night school training and with the work which he did himself at home,
he was able to read well, a thing he liked to do, and out loud. I can pie.
tare him now sitting there at night by the lamr light with his newspaper,
reading aloud, unmindful of his disturbance to the other members of the
family, no matter what they were trying to concentrate on. The joy, however,
he got from his reading compensated us in pleasure, for we knew how nroud he
wan of his ability to read, so we didn't complain. He was also able to learn
enough mathematics, from his untiring efforts to get an educ,-!tion, to take
care of his business affairs.
"Very soon after coming to Atlanta my father obtained a job with a firm
known as the Franklin Plumbing and Tinning Company, for whom he worked more
than twenty years. During these years he was able to learn both the plumb-
ing and tinning trades well, as the Franklin Company did much work along
both lines. However, as he was colored he was very noorly raid for the work
he was doing and finally decided to go out and start business for himself.
After two or three years in business for himself and after having built up
a fairly good trade, a lax w s passed requiring all plumbers to get licenses.
He was ordered to reaort for an examination on several occasions, but for
one reason or another the examiners always found that he almast passed but
nerer ouite rassed Having a growing family at that time it was necessary
for him to work. He nave'- stoaaed working althoae he was violating the law.
Yinalla, one day while worlaimg for a white friend of his, Attorney n. A.
Fuller, he was arrested and thrown in jail.
"Attorney Fuller, reali7ing the injustice of his arrest and being a
of hies character, undertook his defense and was so successful that the
man
law was declared unconstitutional, and thus the door was opened not only
for my father to work at his trade but for a large number of other colored
and roor ahites who had been denied the .rivilege because of an unfair exami-
ning board.
".&t the time of this incident I was just entering high school, and I was
so imaresbed by what could be done by a lawyer that I decided then and there
if I ever had the chnnce I would study law. I wanted to be a greet lawyer
like ar. Fuller.
"V.y earliest recollections were when I was living in the neighborhood
clled 'south tlnta.$ This neighborhood as located just beyond the city
limit; in. Atlanta and was settled by a mixed ropuletien, having both white
anti colored reople living in. it. Ninety ner cent of the folks were in very
ordinara circumstances and the ether ten rer cent were what we might call
11002" folks and was about equally divided between white and black.
The olaymatee in the neighborhood were both white and colored and,
though there were occasional seats. all neighbors lived together fairly well.
"It was neceesary for me to attend Clerk University because I lived out-
side the city and from that school I finished the grammar school, or the
eight grades. Many af the teachers at the school were white and their chil-
dren attended the school along with the colored children. When I was in the
first grade, my very best friend and chum was lorman Thitkield, son of Bishop
Thitkield of the aethodist Npiscoral Church. Because of this friendship I
was able to go inside of a cultured home and really see what there was to be
had in life.
"My boyhood days ware quite harpy due to the fact I was not living in a
crowded city area but wee surrounded by woods, fields, branches, and streams.
There were berries to be picked in the spring, nuts in the fall, and trips
to be made to the woods for violets and other wild flowers. There was an
old wash hole in the branch where the boys would go and swim in their birth-
day suits. There was the Junior League at Clark University, which at that
time was headed by a Miss Marie Hardwick, a teacher there. This league had
very interesting meetings on Sunday afternoons and always had various social
functions, which were a source of delight to all of the children.
"Among my playmates at the time were Dr. Louis G. Wight, now head of
the Harlem Hospital; Mr. J. T. Arnold, on the staff of the T. M. C. A. in
Harlem; and Mr. W. T. Cunningham, a prominent business man and realtor of
Atlanta, Georgia.
"My mother had lived for a number of years on the west side of Atlanta
prior to her marriage and during the first years of her marriage and never
reconciled herself to living any other place, so in 1905 my father began
purchasing a two -room house on Mitchell Street in the southwest section of
Atlanta. In the year of 1906, when the famous riot occurred, the foully ad
de& three rooms to the two -room homes on Mitchell Street and moved from South
Atlanta.
NI than entered Atlanta University in the year of 1906 and seven years
liter was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts.
"The teacher who impressed me most while in school was George Howe, who
had charge of the manual training department of the school. So well did Mr.
Howe impress me with his ability that I undertook his course after completing
the high school department. I took the course of Inglish and &professional
teacher's course and became so oroficient that during my last two years in
college I was made instructor of the first year high school department.
"During the year of 1913, when I graduated, there was a depressioa in
the country Shich made jobs not only scarce but unprofitable. I first
taught manual training in Tessenden Academy in Florida and was paid $30.00
per month. Out of this salary I had to rey laundry fee and contribute to
the Sunday School at least $1 per week. Board was wanDosed to be free but
was
of such caliber that it was necessary to eurplement heavily the meals
served in the dining room. It was here that I learned about 'boardiag
school gravy which could be made without any sign or semblance of meat or
grease. I also found how one small hen could make dhidken stew for sixty
people and one pound of cheese was sufficient to make macaroni for the sane
number. After one year at this school I decided that teaching would not do,
so for the nett two years I followed, intermittently. plumbing work which I
had learned from my father as a boy. I also secured a job writing insurance
with the Standard Life Insurance Company, which had just been started by the
late HOMO Perry, one of the greatest financial geniuses that the colored
race has produced. During the second year with this ceipany I travelled a
great deal in the interest of the company in Georgia and Mississirpi.
"Old line insurance was new emong colored people at that time, and sell-
ing this class of insurance to colored people was really pioneering work.
Although the work was quite hard, there were certain compensations that made
the work worth while. One could learn such from travelling from county to
county and seeing the conditions under which colored people lived. Nagy fine
contacts were made during this period with people in various towns and cities
in Georgia Which have yielded pleasant and lasting friendships until today.
"Like the average boy, the question of the relation of the opposite sex
started quite early in life. Sweethearts began with Daisy, a brows -Skinned
girl, who came over the fence to play quite often, and ended with *mice. I
first met .unice in my junior year in caller, mad after a very regular court-
ship of four years, we were married in 1917, just as I was about to le,-vo for
the World War.
At the age of twenty I joined the church. Friendship laptist. and I
have always found something to do in connection with chureh work. For
several years orior to the war I was a Sumday School teacher and active in
the Young People's Union. I an reporter, at present, for the cher* and
make all of the general announcements at the regular church service on Sea
day.
the spring of 1917. While I was selling life insurance in Elbert
County, Georgia, my mother called me over long distance telephone to tell me
that she had heard of a plan for an officers' training school and she thought
it was good for as to come home at once to see what it was all about. I had
been registered under the draft law and, being adventurous, I decided to take
advantage of this training school. I felt if I had to serve in the army of
my country, it would be better to get commissioned if nossible. I was ac-
cepted by the recruiting officer and allowed to take an examination, physical
and mental, which one had to pass in order to gain admission to the training
school. Neither of these examinations was very difficult, so I had very little
trouble in being accepted for training.
"Although I was eager to experience the life of a eoldier, having read
quite a lot of the happenings of the World War, I must admit I was loathe to
leave ikinice behind, so after several conversations with her and a little
persuasion we decided to get married before I went away to war, and this we
did on May 27, 1917.
"About the 12th of June or maybe two weeks after our marriage, a crowd
of recruits from Atlanta and the surrounding territory left on special
train for Des Moines, Iowa, where the task of being a soldier for two years
began.
wasn't very much Impressed with the work to begin with, due to the
fact that many of our instructors were non-commissioned officers iron the
regular army who had very little literary training. I found out later, how-
ever. that the specialised training which they had in the matter of army
regulations, tactics, discipline, and so forth, was of the highest quality
and, although they could not speak Nadal& so will or spell correctly, they
really knew what it took to mak. a soldier. After the training period was
about over I took a real interest in the training, worked hard, and was given
a commission at the end of the training period as first lieutenant.
"From time to time during our training period quite a deal of confusion
and uncertainty arose among the cadets, &us to various rumors as to What was
being done with the officers after they completed their training. The school
in the first instance was to run three months, but just a week before the
school was supposed to close a riot occurred in Brownsville, Texas, in which
colored troops from the 24th Infantry participated. These troops had been
abused by prejudiced white citizens of Brownsville and were so aroused by the
unfair treatment aocorded them that they went to their barracks and got ser-
vice rifles and shot up the town. This incident caused the Var Department
to defer commissioning of colored officers at that time and so we were kept
in training for another month.
"Among those who investigated the riot was Sergeant Holland who had been
non-commissioned officer in charge of Company 7 to which I was attached.
Sergeant Rolland was one of the brightest non-commissioned officers at that
time in the army. He had been quarter -master sergeant for a long time and
knew the supply business exceedingly well. At no tine during the 18 months
that I served with Sergeant Rolland was his company without adequate food and
clothes even when in the front lines. Sergeant Rolland is now at the Veterans
Facility at Tuskegee Institute, Alabama, where he still has charge of quarter-
master supplies.
"Finally, at the end of our training we were given two weeks' absence
and then ordered to report to one of the cantonments for (intr. The various
captains selected their officers at the camp and I was quite surprised when
I was selected by Captain Holland. I hadn't thought that I had made the kind
of impression that would make him want me as an officer in nis company.
"The regiment to which I was attached was ordered to train at Camp Dodge,
which was located just a few miles from Des ,Iloines, Iowa. This camp was the
home of the ggth Division.
"The winter of 1917-18 was spent in training raw recruits for combat
service and for special training in the use of certain arms, and the officers
took turns in attending the school for machine gunners, while highly tealmical
problems were worked out in connection with theory of fire arms. This winter
was a very severe one, and in the course of the winter I contracted tonsilitis
which caused an impairment of my hearing which has persisted ever since."
It is very difficult to talk with Ior. ienry, for one ordinarily feels
he has to shout to make himself heard, but it is not true in his case, for he
watches the lips very closely and thus readily understands, and so I found my-
self trying one minute to tone down my voice and the next minute shouting.
It was late in the evening, about g:iO o'clock, and it seemed that Mr.
Howe hnd ilanned z)reviously to end his talk with ms by asking me to do some
work for his benefit. He looked at his watch and said, ,e11, its g:30 and I
have some documents I have to get out for court in the morning, Will you type
them for me, please?" As tired as I was, I could not very well refuse his re-
quest, for I had taken quite a deal of his time and, too, he had it all figured
out by saying, "This is my bread and meat and your getting my story is yours,
so you help me and I'll hel- you." I nut aside my pad and told him I'd do the
document. He explained that he didn't have a regular secretary but he hoped
to in the near future. I was very tired, as I had carried my work over into
the night, honing to get the entire interview. I consoled myself, however,
by saying, "This is my good deed for the day."
The document he gave me was a petition to a superior court judge by one
of his clients who was getting permission to sell some real estate to her
husband. He gave me a book and turned to a page where a similer document was
printed so I could ese just how it was to be formed, as I told him I know
nothing at all about forming law documents. I will writs out an example of
one of the documents on a separate sheet, for it isn't every day one has an
opportunity to get the inside of procedodures of law. Well, I did the work
in an hour and he ems quite pleased over his evening's work. He asked me
to return the next day to complete my interview with him.
mIt was thought that if I had remained in the United States and taken
regular treatment for the trouble with my hearing that it would have been
cared but, due to the scarcity of officers, I was sent along with the others
to France, where the rain and cold aggravated the trouble and left me perma-
nently impaired.
*After I got to France and had. undergone the general training period, our
regiment was sent to a so-called quiet sector in the Vosges Mountains. It was
customary to spend out patrols into No Man's Land each night, and because of my
impaired hearing I was unable to take my turn and for this reason I was re-
lieved from combat duty so that an officer could be put in my place who could
be put in my plans who could take his turn. This move lessened the amount of
danger to Which I would have been exposed a great deal. I was assigned as
company commander of the labor company which furnished work details for a
veterinary hospital that furnished first aid to horses. This soft was gaits
easy because the hospital was situated some distance behind the front lines and
life in the villages went on with ordinary routine, except that no lights were
allowed to be shown at night and we were constantly on the alert for air raids.
lufht armistice, on November 11, 19111, brought relief to all our minds and
it also brought the problem as to just what we would do after we returned to
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civilian life. After being discharged we all were sent ha* to the good old
U. S. A.
"After being discharged, the Standard Life Insurance Company, for whom
I was working at the time I entered the army, through its secretary. Harry N.
Pepe, offered me a position as attorney in the real betate and mortgage loan
deaertment. My service was to begin just as soon as I could qualify for same.
"With this commitment I was able to procure from the Government Rebabill-
tatinn Department first a course in lip reeding, followed by a course in law.
The ii,, reading was done in the kitchie Lip Reading School in New York, ehile
the law enures was completed at Brooklyn Law School.
nImmediately after graduation I started my duties with the Standard Life
Insurance Company, which was then affiliated with the Service Company and
other organisations under an interlocking board of directors. These organisaa
time had grown very rapidly, in fact so rapidly that the personnel of the
companies couldnit keep their records apace with the growing concern. There
was much work to be done in the department that I went in, seeing that all of
the proper papers in connection with the purChase and mortgage of estates
were in the files. I had to work hard and, by working overtime and on Sundays,
in the course of six months I was able to put my denartnent in very good order.
However, the fnct that the recnrris were not up to date caused a great deal of
confusion. Certain financial companies in Atlanta and Nashville, Tennessee,
censured this situation, connived with the insurance department of the State,
and, through political pressure and otherwise, obtained. control of the Standard
Life Insurances Company and the otLer companies associated with it. The incur-
ence company was first taken over by the Southern Insurance Company of Nashville,
end then the following year by the Standard Life Insurance of Arkansas. /t was
finally taken over by the National Benefit Insurance Company.
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The contents of the document follow:
Georgia, Fulton County, Oct. 1939.
To the Judo of Superior Court.
The petitioner, Geraldine wailer, respectfully shows:
1st. That she is a resident of said county.
2nd. That petitioner is the wife of F. M. Waller.
3rd. That the petitioner owas as a part of her separate estate the
following described property, to wit.
(The description was taken from the detids to property).
4th. That your petitioner desires to sell and her husband, the said
T. M. Waller, desires to purchase the said above described
property.
5th. That the reasonable value of said property is $1000.00, which
the said F. M. Waller has agreed to peg to your petitioner and
which your petitioner has agreed to accept.
iherefors, the premises considered, an order authorising and
allowing her to sell the shove described property to her hus-
band. F. M. faller, is preyed.
Petitioner's Attorney.
At Chambers.
Atlanta, Georgia, Oct. 11, 1939.
After reading the above, and foregoing petition having bees: presented
to as and after hearing evidence as to its value, it is considered, or-
dered and adjudged that the petitioner, Geraldine Waller, be allowed
and is hereby authorised to sell the property hereinafter described to
her husband, Y. M. Waller, for the sun of 4000.00.
(Description of property)
Jueise of Superior Court.
*Wow after you have done that document I'd like you do two affidavits
for the real estate agents and notary public to sign.