The Early Days of Ellison

The Early Days of Ellison OKC nurtures literary great, jazz legends This month’s “100 Years of Pioneers” feature focuses on two of Oklahoma’s greatest contributions to the arts: Ralph Ellison and jazz. Born in Oklahoma City in 1914, Ralph Ellison is best known for his novel Invisible Man, which won the National Book Award in 1953. The novel is considered a literary masterpiece, and follows the trials of an un-named, black narrator as he makes his way through the racial landscape of 1940s New York City. Ellison’s early life in Oklahoma City shaped his writing and developed his life-long love of music. Bob Burke and Denyvetta Davis’s book, Ralph Ellison, A Biography, published by the Oklahoma Heritage Association, traces the entirety of Ellison’s life including his youth in Oklahoma and the ways in which it shaped his future. The following is an excerpt from chapters one and four of Ralph Ellison, A Biography. There was a housing and population boom in Oklahoma City after statehood. As far as the eye could see, houses and businesses sprang up. New immigrants arrived in the city daily. But there is another side of the story of early-day Oklahoma City—the rarely told history of black families that made the Run of 1889 and came later to establish their homes. Hard and fast rules of segregation forced blacks to live in groups on land others did not want. Black families built small, shotgun houses in places labeled Sand Town, West Town, Walnut Grove, and South Town—and the authorities made them stay there. Within a decade of statehood, the City Council of Oklahoma City passed an ordinance that made it a crime for blacks to build schools, churches, or community centers in any ward of the city that was at least 75 percent white. Intolerable were the living conditions in the black villages when spring rains flooded houses and washed away garden spots from which families were fed and sustained for the year. But the blacks held on to their spots, hoping for better times. That tinge of hope in the air was what brought Lewis Alfred Ellison and his wife, Ida Milsap Ellison, to Oklahoma City in 1910. Lewis was the son of a South Carolina former slave, Alfred Ellison, and his wife, Harriet Ellison. Ida also grew up in the deep South, in White Oak, Georgia, in a family of sharecroppers. The two met in Lewis’ hometown of Abbeville, South Carolina, when the Milsaps came calling on relatives. Lewis and Ida Ellison’s first son died as an infant. But their hopes of having a family were buoyed in the fall of 1913 when Ida became pregnant. A second son, Ralph Waldo Ellison, was born in the humble Ellison home on First Street on March 1, 1914. A third son, Herbert, was born in 1916. Lewis made a living for his family by selling coal and ice to residents of the black section of Oklahoma City. Although a common laborer, he loved poetry and insisted that his second son be named after the 19th century writer and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson—although Ralph Waldo Ellison abhorred his name because of constant kidding about who he really was—Emerson or Ellison. In fact, he later shortened his name to Ralph W. Ellison and pledged early in life that he would never read Emerson’s works. As long as Ralph Ellison could remember, he believed Oklahoma to be different for black children and their opportunity to succeed. He never dwelled on his family’s meager possessions or status in a majority-white city or the problems associated with visiting his favorite animals at the zoo. Instead, he focused on the positive things about growing up in Oklahoma. In Shadow and Act, he recalled, “Oklahoma had no tradition of slavery, and while it was segregated, relationships between the races were more fluid and thus more human than in the old slave states. My parents... had come to the new state looking for a broader freedom and had never stopped pushing against the barriers... It made for a tradition of aggressiveness and it gave us a group social goal which was not as limited as that imposed by the old slave states.” Ida Ellison gave her two sons hope for the future—emphasizing the possibilities of what they might become. On Sunday afternoons she took them on walks through the wealthy white sections of Oklahoma City and by shop-window displays of fine clothing, furniture, and elegant Lincoln automobiles. The intrinsic thought planted in young Ralph’s mind was, “For me none of this was hopelessly beyond the reach of my Negro world... because if you worked and you fought for your rights... you could finally achieve it.” To any reader of Ralph Ellison, there is little doubt that jazz was a major influence on his literature. It was not oppression of blacks or groping with his past in the poor sections of Oklahoma City that most influenced his soul—it was jazz. And the source of the jazz in Ralph’s life was found only four blocks from his teenage home. He found Deep Deuce. It was the era before television, and with little radio, live entertainment was sought by teens such as Ralph. Slaughter Hall became the most popular dance hall for blacks in Oklahoma City. Often Ralph earned a few dollars from delivering groceries or other merchandise for community retailers and spent his earnings at world-class cafes like Ruby’s Grill or the Midway Café. For a nickel, he could buy a large glass of tea. A quarter bought a plate lunch piled high with chitlins and peach cobbler. But it was the lure of jazz on Deep Deuce that made a huge difference in young Ralph’s life. On most nights, outstanding musicians who sometimes moved onto the national and international jazz scene, could be found playing along Second Street. Charlie Christian, Claude “Fiddler” Williams, Buddy Anderson, and Jimmy Rushing started their careers in the dance halls there. Oklahoma served as a melting pot for both the New Orleans “Dixieland” jazz and East Coast music. If a national jazz band needed a musician, it was not uncommon for the leader to head to Oklahoma City to scout some new artist who was nightly displaying his talent. Even Count Basie recruited band members from Deep Deuce nightspots. In his younger years, Ralph’s mother would allow him to go to Deep Deuce only on Saturday nights. However, he made friends with the musicians, often allowing some bandsman to use his mellophone in exchange for the right to sit in on a practice session. Such opportunities provided a music education that could not be obtained in any classroom. Ralph’s frequenting of Second Street somehow made his own poverty and the glum news of the Great Depression seem another world away. His friend, Jimmy Stewart, said, “The four-four beat on Second Street drove the feelings of hopelessness away—even if just for one night.” http://www.ok-living.coop