My dad floated over into Vance County on the prosperity boat of the 1950’s.
There were many positives that attracted him to the area to begin a business and family.
The mill was here and doing well. So well that it managed to create a shanty town for the multitudes of underpaid workers it employed. Cradle to grave for mill folk wasn’t uncommon in those days, it was an accepted way of life.
Roses was growing daily, adding stores in communities all over the southeast. Wal-Mart was still primarily an Arkansas enterprise that few if any folks in our area had ever heard of. Not sure how I would characterize the leadership that fought the Wal-Mart incursion of the sixties and seventies…..we kept them out of Henderson, by God…..sounded powerful at the time…..at least for a few years.
Tobacco was king. Many a wealthy plantation owner lived in Vance County. Health concerns over the golden belt crop were non-existent and chalked up to the inane rantings of a few nut-jobs. Black folk had a steady stream of work in those comfortable 100 degree plus summer days. And they made good money. Enough to have at least a couple of square meals a day. It was only tough on them the other ten months of the year.
Dad set up shop on Main St. Life in Henderson revolved around downtown and the businesses there. There was no such thing as “the Mall”. People would come out at night to walk up and down Main St perusing the window displays. Neighbors would stop and visit. Kids would walk the ledge around the Post Office, later to be monikered The Henry A Dennis Building.
I played in his store, running around on the wooden floors, hiding in the back alleys. Was I ever scared of someone hurting me in those back alleys? — get real.
Local government was handled by a group of aging well-to-do white men governing in the traditions that had been handed down since before the days of the Civil War. They knew what was best for the area, what was best for the town, what was best for you and your family. Back room deals were the grease that turned the wheels of the local economy in those days. Everyone knew it. Everyone expected it. Everyone wanted it. Life was good. They were taking care of all of us.
Had to keep the coloreds and the mill folk in their areas though. Couldn’t afford to let them infringe on the nice sections of town. After all, we had to think of our image and our comfortable way of life. And those folks didn’t mind. They knew we were looking after them too. Go to work in the mill or in the field, behave yourself on the weekends, stay in your sections of town, work ‘til your time came, die and be buried in your proper places.
We lived in the “Old West End”. I went to elementary school there. Got a pretty good education too. Classes were small, I knew all my classmates, knew their families, played at their homes after school and on the weekends. Didn’t have any colored folk in my school. Never was sure where they went to school but it was a good place for them to be. And it’s where they wanted to be. That’s what the School Board assured us…..and them. After all, they were a group of aging, well-to-do white men governing in the traditions that had been handed down since before the days of the Civil War.
Dad’s business was a small one. Just had a few employees. He worked really hard, was leveraged up to his eyeballs, but was doing what was expected of a small business man of the day. He worked long days, took care of his books at night, scrimped and cajoled to pay his bills, and provided for his family. I don’t know if he enjoyed what he did. I never heard him complain other than to say how tired he was when he came in at night. When I was in college and had an objective look at the life he was living I remember crying occasionally. It still hurts me today.
My wife and I raised our kids in Henderson. It was a different day in education then. Integration had been around long enough for my kids not to know it had ever been any other way. They did private school for a few years, usually when they’d had a rough time trying to get an education in the public venue. But they ended up graduating from Vance County’s school system, getting degrees from state universities, and have done okay in the real world.
I can’t say that my wife and I liked our life in Henderson during those early days, but we lived it as society wanted us to. Raised our kids like they wanted us to. Did Church and Community Service like we were expected to in small town polity.
We belonged to the Country Club too. No colored folk there either….except for the cooks, waiters, and golf course help. They did good work though. Nice to see that apartheid policy has changed now that we are in the 2000’s….it has, hasn’t it? But you can’t blame us for the way we ran the club. After all, it was under the watchful eye of a group of aging well-to-do white men governing in the traditions that had been handed down since before the days of the Civil War.
Yep, a lot has changed since those glory days of the fifties and sixties. The mill’s gone…but we’ve still got the shanty’s, in fact lots more now than then. Roses is gone….but they left their buildings so that new businesses could move into them and prosper…..we’re right on the verge I’m sure. The schools are a lot better now than they were then….we continue to make big gains when we compare ourselves to neighboring counties….like Warren. The Country Club is integrated….they have both Bermuda grass and winter rye. And our residential areas and churches are fully integrated…..why I’ve seen black folk jogging in West Henderson….and they weren’t running from anyone. And there has actually been a black church in town with a white minister, and I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before that happens at one of the big downtown white churches……a matter of time does still include eternity doesn’t it?
And all of this has been made possible by adhering mostly to the politics of the past…..well-to-do white men governing in the traditions that have been handed down since before the days of the Civil War. Isn’t it uncanny how that group still seems to know what is good for the rest of the community? It’s certainly understandable for them to get bent out of shape when an upstart group of Johnny-come-lately politicians step forward to say “we don’t think you were running things around here very well so we want to change it”. And they did. And now the aging well-to-do white men who have governed in the traditions that were handed down since before the days of the Civil War want their toys back…..and according to rumor are willing to do just about anything to make it happen.
I sure would like to hear my Dad’s take on how things have changed since those glory days of the fifties and sixties. He’d probably agree with me that the demise of most of the industries in our area, specifically textiles and tobacco was out of our control….the Democrats and their wonderful “NAFTA” treaties sealed the fate of many a southern community in that respect.
He probably would think like I do that Roses could possibly have been Wal-Mart today had they been blessed with adequate, progressive leadership. Too much small town thinking and small town politics doomed them I’m afraid.
The dynamics of the area in terms of race, well, I just don’t know how that would have been much different except to say the racial balance has become somewhat skewed due to white flight. In this case, not from the city to the suburbs but from the city to anywhere else. To be fair though, young educated black kids as well as young educated white kids have left the area to pursue careers and lives in more, shall we say, progressive areas of the state and country.
So where does that leave us in terms of making this a better place? Beats the hell out of me.
What have we got going for us in the vein of making this a better place? The hospital? Possibly, but they’ve had their financial problems of late….overspending I understand. Hmm, that rings a bell somehow…..new library maybe?
Retail center? Never have understood the EDC’s claims that this was good for the economy…..lots of minimum wage, few to no benefits, nowhere to go jobs….hardly the thing revitalized economies are built upon.
The public school system? Sure do hear lots of horror stories there. The private school system? I’ve always felt they were little more than legalized segregation, regardless of what their founders and leaders say.
Major industry possibilities? I don’t foresee that happening, re: see the previous three paragraphs.
So I don’t know. This piece wasn’t written to try and figure that out. It was written in a nostalgic vein and one that calls into question the politics of a group of aging, well-to-do white men who have governed in the traditions that were handed down since before the days of the Civil War.
Let us pray.
“Abe Lincoln”