Dr. Harry Irving, an African American in his autobiography Uncle Harry's Stories, Looking Back Blackly And Proudly, Growing up in America tells about his great grandparents, who were slaves and his parents Louise and James Irving, his father was illiterate and his mother who only had a fifth grade education, raised nine children. Dr, Irving attended racially segregated public schools in the 1940s and the 1950s in his native state of West Virginia. He served honorably in the United States Air Force during the Korean War. Dr. Irving earned his AA degree (1959) Los Angeles City College, BA (1962) and MA (1972) California State University, Los Angeles, and his Doctorate degree (1990) Pepperdine University.
Uncle Harry's STORIES
LOOKING BACK BLACKLY AND PROUDLY GROWING UP IN AMERICABy Harry R. IrvingTrafford Publishing
Copyright © 2012 DR. HARRY R. IRVING, Ed. D.
All right reserved.ISBN: 978-1-4669-2130-6Contents
Acknowledgement.....................vIntroduction........................viiPreface.............................xiChapter 1...........................1Chapter 2...........................4Chapter 3...........................8Chapter 4...........................11Chapter 5...........................14Chapter 6...........................16Chapter 7...........................18Chapter 8...........................20Chapter 9...........................21Chapter 10..........................26Chapter 11..........................28Chapter 12..........................30Chapter 13..........................32Chapter 14..........................36Chapter 15..........................40Chapter 16..........................43Chapter 17..........................45Chapter 18..........................47Chapter 19..........................49Chapter 20..........................52Chapter 21..........................54Chapter 22..........................56Chapter 23..........................59Chapter 24..........................62Chapter 25..........................65Chapter 26..........................68Chapter 27..........................70Chapter 28..........................77Chapter 29..........................79Chapter 30..........................83Chapter 31..........................88Chapter 32..........................90Chapter 33..........................93Chapter 34..........................97Chapter 35..........................98Chapter 36..........................100Chapter 37..........................103Chapter 38..........................105Chapter 39..........................108Chapter 40..........................110Chapter 41..........................114Chapter 42..........................117
Chapter One
Looking back, blackly, and proudly; let me enthusiastically and delightfully begin, by taking you on a journey back in time; remembering, revisiting and reliving some of the experiences and adventures, good and bad, that I have encountered in my life. Hope you enjoy.
First of all, let me serenely begin with a verse taken from one of my favorite songs, "Country Roads, take me home to the place I belong, West Virginia", by John Denver. Starting with my birth on planet earth and traveling up to the present, as a belated Christmas present to my parents, James Edward Irving and Louise Irving, I was born on December 28, 1933, in a small coal mining community in Laing, West Virginia.
Regressing back in time, the town of Laing, West Virginia, had a population of approximately 1,000 residents in 1933. This small coal mining community of Laing was located in a hollow, called Cabin Creek, approximately 60 miles east of the Capitol of the state West Virginia, Charleston.
Laing was accessible by a one way in and a one way out roadway and railroad. Cabin Creek Hollow consisted of about fifty different communities besides Laing. Laing was built around a coal mine, about 200 coal company houses, a company grocery store. In the community there were a black Baptist church, and a white Baptist church; however, there weren't a police or fire stations or a public library. Consolidated, separate white and black schools were school bus rides away.
At Laing, the coal miners who mined the coal one mile deep under the ground for the coal company, rented their houses, shopped, and bought food, clothing and furniture from the coal company's store; owning their "Souls to the Company Store" (Loretta Lynn 1980, Movie ("Coal Miner's Daughter"). In my opinion, this form of exchange for goods for services, enslavement, could be theoretically compared with sharecropping, that African Americans were forced to engage in during and after slavery.
Incidentally, the Laing coal mine played out in the late 1950's, mortally wounding Laing, WV, as she lay on her death bed, gradually, families one by one moved away. Unoccupied wooden houses, (including the house that I was born in), the company store, and the churches one by one were consumed for heating fuel.
Thus, today, Laing, West Virginia, an apocalypse caused by the demise of the coal mine, no longer exists, nothing but trees, bushes, and weeds (Gone With the Wind). Living proof, officially, Laing, WV, has been geographically eradicated from Planet Earth; she is no longer listed on current maps or GPS.
Chapter Two
Now let me turn my attention to my family, my dad was illiterate, I remember, that he would sign his paycheck with an X and my mom only had a fifth grade education.
My father had six brothers, Uncles, Howard, Frank, Richard, Virgil, Wilbur, and Ben, one sister, Aunt Leila (Nanny).
My mother had two brothers, Uncles William and Raymond.
My mother got married to James Irving, my father, when she was 24 years of age. My father was 26. My parents had nine children, seven boys and two girls. Their children were spaced apart, a baby arriving approximately every 2 1/2 years.
I was their eighth child. My mother was 42 years of age when I was born and 44 when my brother Kenneth was born.
My mom said, along with my brothers and sisters, I was born at home, a natural birth, (according to the records kept, 95% of births occurred at home, not in the hospitals) a natural birth and fortunately not a breech birth, which could have endangered my mother's life and mine also.
During those days; most expecting mothers didn't have prenatal visits with a doctor.
As my head emerged from my mother's vaginal opening, with the assistance of the community midwife, Ms. Carter, I now imagine me began singing and happily crying, "I'm Coming Out, I want the World To Know ... (Song, Miss Diana Ross) and joyfully declaring, I'm sick and tired of that nine months of uterine confinement, Free At Last! Free At Last! Thank God Almighty! (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.).
Oops, Mom thanks for not aborting me (Pro-Choice v. Right to Life) and choosing "Right to Life" and giving birth to me.
Before Roe v Wade (1973) abortions were totally illegal in the United States; however illegal abortions were performed and many women died from such abortions.
Family planning, Planned Parenthood (1976) contraceptives (1965) such as birth control pills, spermicides, and diaphragms, and IUDs were not available, only the condom was available, but infrequently used, in that men claimed that it took the enjoyment out of sex. In addition vasectomies and tubal ligations were not medically known.
According to my mother, I was a healthy breastfed baby; however when I was around about six months of age, I developed pertusis, whooping cough. One evening my whooping cough became severe and I stopped breathing. She had giving me up as dead, fortunately, my oldest brother, Robert performed artificial respiration on me and restored my breathing.
Chapter Three
The following below are the names, gender and year of birth of my parent's offspring:
Name Gender YOB
1. Edna Female 1918 Deceased 2. Robert Male 1919 Deceased 3. Clarence Male 1921 Deceased 4. Milton Male 1923 Deceased 5. Willard Male 1925 Deceased 6. Oliver Male 1927 Deceased 7. Jean Female 1930 8. Harry Male 1933 9. Kenneth Male 1936
Now, let's have a little sense of humor, to rectify or regain our African heritage, I'm going to replace our...
