Sunday, May 3, 2015

LEE OSWALD, JUDYTH VARY BAKER, AND REV. JAMES

(On the website debunked, there was an article, well researched, on a novelty shop in 1963 on South Rampart Street in New Orleans where, according to Judyth Baker, she and Oswald did part-time work.  The article by Trish and Zach, presented various reason why Baker's story was improbable - the roughness of the neighborhood, the legal obstruction to having whites work in a Black enterprise, etc.  I have in the past been generally sympathetic to Judyth Baker, but this has done much to change my mind.  Hugh Murray)

5 thoughts on ““Judyth, Lee, and the Reverend James Novelty Shop””

  1. 1) Was the neighborhood on 500 S Rampart so rough? A block away was McDonogh 35 High School, a public high for Blacks. I add from wiki article: "Prior to 1917, during the era of segregated school systems in the Southern US, no public high school existed in New Orleans for African-American pupils. Those interested in pursuing an education beyond the eighth grade had to attend one of the city’s three private secondary schools for blacks: Leland College, New Orleans University, or Straight College.
    "In 1917 a group of citizens met to petition the Orleans Parish School System to convert McDonogh 13 Boys’ School from a white elementary school to a secondary educational facility for black pupils. The petition was granted and in the fall of 1917, McDonogh 35 became recognized as a four-year high school. McDonogh 35 remained the only public four-year high school for African Americans until the L. B. Landry transitioned from an elementary into a High School in 1942. Booker T. Washington also open their doors in 1942 for African Americans.
    "Over the years, McDonogh 35 has changed its location three times. The original building at 655 South Rampart Street was destroyed when Hurricane Betsy struck New Orleans in 1965, and for the next four years the school was temporarily located in the former United States Federal Court House Building at 600 Camp Street."

  2. McD 35 had an excellent reputation. If the school were bad and the neighborhood rough, a nearby novelty store would have been looted weekly. Perhaps, at night it was rough, but I suspect it was OK in the day even for a young white gal to walk safely.
    The laws quoted in the article may have been on the books, but sometimes the reality may have been different. I taught at Dillard (a Black univ.) beginning summer 1964. I do not recall any separate rest rooms for whites. And I had sat in a class in the late 1950s – no separate toilets for B and W. This would also be true for the occasions when whites went to Dooky Chase or Whitey’s restaurants (Black eateries of the time). True, the day I was arrested in Woolworths in the first lunch counter sit-in in NO, that night when 3 of us went to finally eat, the waiter at Whiteys refused to serve me, but offered it to the Black and Hispanic with me. If Rev. James hired Judyth, he might not have had to have had a separate B and W ladies’ room.
    But if Rev. James were Black, how could Judyth NOT mention it? The only way I can see that happening is if she did not realize he were Black – even the leader of my sit-in, Ruth Dispenza was so light-skinned few realized she was Black. It seems like that topic would have come up. Also, why call him Rev. Jim?
  3. Mr. Murray, thank you for that interesting information. Primary source information is not only very useful, but also very valuable. Since you were there at the time, how likely do you think it was that a n African American man would have hired white people? We could find no information concerning such a scenario. Desegregation of public schools in Louisiana did begin in 1960, whereas the employment laws were not necessarily tackled in the same way.
    REPLY
  4. Hugh Murray
    There were whites teaching at Dillard in the 1950s when I sat in a history class a few times each week. There were no separate toilets for Black and Whites, just male and female. I think the assumption that any white who went there, or to a Black restaurant, would use the Black toilets. But for general areas, bus, train, stores, they might have to have 4 sets of toilets, and one reason Blacks found it hard to use bathrooms in many stores. There were no extra toilets for Blacks.
    To me the zinger is that Judyth did not mention Rev. James’ race. I find that difficult to believe. Dillard hired some white professors, but this was unusual. A minister involved in rehab, who knows? But that she did not mention his race at all, that to me is the difficulty. Are you sure Rev. James was Black? If she and Lee worked for him in 1963, then she would have had to recall it and mention it as it was so unusual, so remarkable. Not to remark about it is the dog that did not bark.
    I admire your research on this issue, and do not mean to be dismissive. But the law on race was not enforced at Dillard and other places where no white would object. The street may not have been so rough in the day.     But that Judyth does not mention the race of the Rev. James is telling. I have generally sympathized with her story, but am now more skeptical.
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