15–16 land transactions: CCR: I, 295–96; L, 229–30; Q, 69–70, 615–617; R, 269–270; S, 19–20, 306–307; V, 412–16; W, 258–59; CCR CC, 155–58. CCD 1: case 655, 317; case 900, 446. CCM 3: 113, 211, 249, 300, 365–66, 368, 378–80, 492–93, 510–11, 543–44, 582–83, 595–97, 628–29. CCM 4, 1893–1905: 33, 218, 221–23, 231–32. CCD [no number], Probate Side: 230, 510. CCI E: 282–85. white English partner: CCR L: 229–30; George Rudman: Ancestry.com, Incoming U.S. Passenger Lists, and 1880 U.S. Census.
17–18 Thomases donate land: CCR S: 306–7. blacks and churches: Aiken, 21; Lomax, 70; Wharton, 256–57, 262; Williamson, 47, 172–73. church a log cabin: Sydnor, 41. A.M.E. Church in Friars Point: Willie Oats Jr. to Florence Larson, Aug. 12, 1996, North. Cherry Hill church: Edwards, 1980; Edwards, in Mabry, 22; Nicholas, in Mabry, 33, 34; Brieger, 167. Cheairs brothers: Samuel and other family members are buried in the Cherry Hill Cemetery: Cemetery. churches in Mississippi: Williamson, 53; Aiken, 26; Wharton, 248; Weeks, 143. On white schools in Coahoma County in 1870, and the first white school in Clarksdale in 1884, see Weeks, 142. Bureau of Refugees: “Freedmen’s Bureau.” Black education: Wharton, 249; Margo, 6.
19–20 second major turning point: Dickerson v. Thomas (April 1890) and Dickerson v. Thomas (October 1890). Quoted phrases and specific details are drawn from the published reports. There are discrepancies between the state supreme court’s summary and the much more detailed account in CC; I have used both sets of documents. Dickerson’s wealth: Biographical and Historical Memoirs, 647–68. “it weren’t no use in climbin”: quoted by Sacks, 13.
21–22 Maynard and the Cutrer brothers: CCD 1: case 655, 317; Weeks, 92, 165–66. Cutrer’s crime was reported widely: “Slandered Once Too Often,” BDG, July 31, 1890, 4; “The Shooting of Editor F. F. Chew,” CDT, Aug. 1, 1890, 5; “An Editor Fatally Shot,” July 31, 1890, NYT, 5. Dickerson family’s roots: Weeks, vii, 73; U.S. Census Slave Schedule, 1860; U.S. Censuses, 1870, 1880. first scandaclass="underline" Dickerson et al. v. Brown; Wallenstein, 82–84; Bercaw, 158–61. Before the Civil War, it was illegal in Mississippi to emancipate a child born to a female slave. Cheairs et al. v. Smith et al. refused to confirm a will in which a white planter attempted to free two mulatto children. $115,000: U.S. Census, 1870.
23–24 newspaper in Jackson: quoted in Bercaw, 160. Dickerson clan: U.S. Censuses 1880, 1900. Lewis’s case against Dickerson: CCD 1: case 655, 317; CCM 3: 113, 211, 249, 300, 365–66, 368, 378–80, 492–93; case also summarized: Dickerson v. Thomas (April 1890). boardinghouse: TT. court’s decision on April 19, 1889: CCM 3: 378–80. “misrepresentations”: Dickerson v. Thomas (April 1890), 783. courthouse location: Weeks, 175. Clarksdale’s founder: “John Clark,” in Biographical and Historical Memoirs, 553–54. Daniel Scott, warring factions: “A Mob in Mississippi,” BDG, July 8, 1887, 1. Dickerson and train station: Weeks, 73.
25–26 court’s “Opinion”: Dickerson v. Thomas (April 1890), 784, 781. “writ of assistance”: CCM 3: 492–93.
27–28 Thomases deed half their farm: CCR CC: 155-58. “lynchingest” state: Cobb, 91. Thomases move to Memphis in summer of 1890: this can be deduced from TT; Dow’s Memphis, 1891, 120–21; in Coahoma County, the verdict’s aftershocks lasted from April 1889 until October 1890, with a peak in June 1890. A Shelby County death record indicates that Lewis had been a Memphis resident since 1887; this seems to be an error, although it is possible that he visited the city more than once.
29–30 sixty thousand, largest cotton market, 1866 race riot, lynchings increase. Dow’s Memphis, 1889, 47; Bond and Sherman, 46, 70–71. rented a house: Memphis Avalanche, Oct. 29, 1890, 1. Dow’s Memphis,1891, 920–921. house and its location: Insurance Maps of Memphis, 1888 and 1897. Lewis’s work: Dow’s Memphis, 1891, 920–21, and advertisement following 968; TT; Memphis newspaper articles (see below).
31–32 Frederick’s job: TT. Weir’s market: Dow’s Memphis,1891, 968. Howe Institute: TT, in which he refers to the school as “Howe’s University”; Bond and Sherman, 94; Annals, 162. Eastbrook was principal c. 1888–1892. Howe curriculum: Bond and Sherman, 42, 71, 94; LeMoyne Normal Institute, 1883–1884, which probably resembled Howe’s a half dozen years later.
33–34 boarders at Lewis and India’s house, events that followed: local newspapers provided extensive and often lurid coverage: Memphis Appeal, Oct. 29, 1890, 4; Oct. 31, 1890, 5; Memphis Avalanche, Oct. 29, 1890, 1; Oct. 31, 1890, 1; Nov. 2, 1890, 11; Memphis Public Ledger, Oct. 28, 1890, 1; Oct. 29, 1890, 2; Nov. 1, 1890, 5; Memphis Daily Commercial, Oct. 29, 1890, 5; Oct. 31, 1890, 5. There are some discrepancies among the accounts. In a number of instances, I quote or repeat the exact wording of the newspaper stories.
35–36 supreme court’s explanation: Dickerson v. Thomas (October 1890), 158. India’s petition: CCM: 510–11; CCD Probate Side: case 431, 230. her revival of lawsuit: CCM 3: 543-44. case’s convolutions: CCM 3: 595–97, 628–29; there is some confusion in the court documents regarding the size and location of the property. In 1891, India revived a second lawsuit that Lewis had begun against James A. Peace: CCR Q: 69–70; CCM 3: case 900, 582–83; Weeks, 32, 61, 63, 83. Dickerson’s death: CCM 4: case 655, 218; U.S. Census 1880. Coahoma County Chancery Court’s decision: CCM 4: 221–23, 231–32; CCI E: 282–85. India in Memphis: presumably with Ophelia, she moved to a smaller house at 417 Clay Street: Polk’s Memphis Directory for 1892, 963, 1108, 1148; Insurance Maps of Memphis, 1897. India moved to Louisville: she worked for the family of William C. Kendrick: Caron’s Directory 1893, 616, 1092; 1894, 616, 1089; 1895, 604, 1078; 1896, 646, 1154 (her name is given erroneously as “Indiana”). Frederick’s “desire to travel”: TT.
Chapter Two
1–2 Frederick left the South: in those years, young black men from the country who left home usually sought work in southern cities; Williamson, 59. Arkansas character: Nordhoff, 37. “drifted,” St. Louis, 1890: TT. St. Louis: http://stlouis.missouri.org/heritage/History69/#golden. Chicago’s history, character: Spear, 1–4, 140–41. blacks in Chicago: Reed, Black Chicago’s First Century, 65, 230, 241, 249, 359. Gallagher: TT; Chicago by Day and Night, 208; The Lakeside Annual Directory, 1889, 655; 1890, 2573; 1891, 843; 1893, 1947. Auditorium Hoteclass="underline" TT; “Two Jolts for Jack Johnson,” CDT, Nov. 2, 1912, 8; Auditorium, 11ff., 77, 86.