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JAN. 7, 1998
(Elie llortlanò ©bseruer
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To Be Equal
A Bountiful Legacy
B y H ugh B. P rice
P resident
N ational U rban L eague
The moment of meeting Jackie
Robinson, baseball Hall of Famer,
American icon, remains etched in
my memory as if it occurred yester
day, not way back in the early 1950s.
I don’t need to look at the black-and-
white picture I have ol an awestruck
nine-year-old beside whom the
Brooklyn Dodger star stands with an
arm round his shoulders and a smile
for the camera. Nonetheless, that pic
ture continues to occupy a place of
honor in my home.
It does so because Jackie Robinson
was not just a wondrous athlete. He
was a wondrous individual. H e’s not
some star we should put away on a
pedestal as the fiftieth-anniversary
year of his breaking baseball's color
barrier draws to a close. He is a man
whom we should rightly think of as
standing next to us, with an arm about
our shoulders, offering us encour
agement.
T h a t's part of the m essage I’ve
gotten from A rnold R am persad s
m asterful book. Jackie R obinson:
A B iography. P ublished last fall,
this book, to g eth er w ith those
published in 1996 by R o b in so n 's
w ife. Rachel R obinson, (Jackie
R obinson: An Intim ate P o rtra it,)
a n d h is d a u g h te r . S h a r o n
R obinson, (S tealin g H om e: An
Intim ate Fam ily P o rtrait by the
d au g h ter o f Jack ie R o b in so n ),
Jackie R obinson than ju st the
physical ab ility team m ates, o p
ponents and fans m arveled at
They tell us why it is that Jackie
Robinson's name resounds in twen
tieth-century American History:
he took after his mama
By that I mean that, beyond the
baseball statistics and feast of derring-
do, Jackie Robinson's character is
i
before the turn o f the century.
T horoughly docum ented account
is a rev elatio n of A frican A m eri
can c a p a b ilitie s and m otivations,
though only recen tly freed from
ch a tte l slavery. Sets one to w o n
der ‘ju st w hat did happen back
th e r e ’ to cut off black progress?
B. "T h e N o rth W ill R ise
A g a in ” ( I 1/6/97)
C . " T h e N o rth W ill R ise
A gain; c o n t’d (1 I/ 1 2/97)
T hese tw o a rtic le s provide an
e x c e lle n t ‘re a l’ m odel for the
research and design of m edium -
size com m unity b u sin ess o p e ra
tio n s (the actual ex p erien ce of
the au th o r). T his is an account of
an attem pt to im plem ent an "In
stitu tio n a l Food S u p p ly ” firm in
the ‘Old M asonic T em ple B u ild
i n g ’ , N . W . C o r n e r o f N .E .
A lb erta at 19th.
D. "W ho T old You That You
W ere N aked. Part II” ( I 2/1 8/96)
T his tim e a m uch older model
o f b u s in e s s e n te rp ris e in the
N o rth east C om m unity; the story
o f the black railroad w orkers who
^ o rtia n i» (O h e m w r
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really the reason he is so celebrated
today.
It was his character-bolstered by
the decency, and desire to win games,
of Branch Rickey, the Dodgers' gen
eral manager who signed him, and
some of his teammates—which en
abled him to endure the vicious taunts
anil threats of opposing players and
fans and press on.
That fortitude came from his
mother, Mallie McGriff Robinson.
She made it possible for Jackie
Robinson to have a future in which
achievement could be a possibility.
M allie R obinson, w ho lived
from 1892 to 1968. was an A fri
can-A m erican Everyw om an. Born
near C airo, G eorgia, her formal
education stopped at the sixth
grade. She married for love, and it
turned out to be a bad match. Her
husband was an illiterate share
cropper—the kind of farming which,
as Ram persad pungently observes,
“smelled like slavery.” He was bent
so low by the burden of oppression
that after ten years of mat riage and
five c h ild re n w ith M a llie , he
snapped. He deserted his family.
They never saw him again.
M allie, taking the advice o f a
h a lf-h ro th e r who had m oved to
P asadena, C a lifo rn ia som e years
before, left G eorgia in the spring
of 1920 with h e rc h ild rc n —Edgar.
M ack, F rank, W illa M ae, and
Jack, then, little more than a year
o ld --fo r that Los A ngeles su b
urb.
Pasadena was not the Promised
Land; racism was intensifying there,
loo. But there was more opportunity;
and that degree of difference be
tween California and southern ( ieoi -
gia was all Mallie Robinson needed
Io buy. on a dom estic's salary, a
spacious home and fashion a decent
life for herself and her children
í
C
t
V
e
s
The Best O f The Year?
BY
P roffessok
M c K innley
B urt
S ubscribe to
6
W ell, we d o n ’t know about all
o f that, hut it is the case that
recen tly there have been a num
ber o f req uests for the p a rtic u la r
P o rtla n d O b se rv e r a rtic le s of
mine listed here. It may be that
B lack H istory M onth is on the
ho rizo n , or just prep aratio n for
the b alance o f the school year.
I am subm itting a partial list
o f those 'm o st-re q u e ste d '' item s,
w ith the hope that the follow ing
p ro cess will fac ilita te the needs
o f te a c h e rs, stu d e n ts, h isto ry
buffs and the general readership.
For photo copies o f any three
a rtic le s of ch o ice, send $3.95
check or m oney o rd er to cover
han d lin g and postage: M cK inley
B urt. 1635 N.E. A lberta. P o rt
land. OR 9721 1.
A. "The T ruth A bout Black
labor land b ra in s]," (8/20/97).
T he sto ry o f the C o le m a n
M anufacturing Co, a huge black-
ow ned linen m ill and clothing
firm set up in N orth C a ro lin a ju st
pooled th eir sa la rie s to build the
real estate and business structure
that served black people so well
until the "U rban R enew al p ro
gram " d estro y ed it. C ritical ol
D r. C a r te r G . W o o d s o n 's
“ m ise d u c a te d .”
E. “T hat G ood Sum m er R ead
ing III” (8/13/97)
T his article gives a new p e r
sp e c tiv e to the role o f A frican
A m erican Seam an and naval o f
ficers in the com m ercial and m ili
tary o p eratio n s o f this n a tio n
beg in n in g w ith the R ev o lu tio n
ary W ar (“Old In ro n sid es” crew ).
E x cellen t availab le d o c u m e n ta
tion cited. F. “O re g o n ’s Black
Sm oke Ju m pers" (9 /20/97 i
T his was an ex trem ely in te r
esting story of a com bination U.S.
M ilitary and U .S. Forest Service
O p eratio n during W orld W ar II -
and w ith a N o rth w e s t b a c k
g round. T his p re v io u sly -h id d en
role of the "555th P arachute B at
ta lio n " ( T rip le N ic k e ls ) w as
based at P en dleton, O regon.
L ater, w hile c o n tra c tin g w ith
the Forest S ervice in a 'd iv e rsity
p ro g ra m '. I met the son o f one o f
these sold iers; I describ ed his
h e lic o p te r firm in S p o k a n e .
W ashington.
G. "How G ifted And D e d i
cated W ere O ur B eautiful S is
te rs” (8/2 7 /9 7 )
The title o f this article says it
all as we detail the illu strio u s
careers of tw o notable A frican
A m erican w om en at the turn of
the century (1 8 9 0 ’s). We have
Dr. H alle T an n er Johnson, "the
first lady, w hite or colored to
receive a c e rtific a te to p ractice
m edicine in the State o f A la
b am a.”
Our second w om an o f a cco m
p lish m e n t is ‘M iss H a ttie A.
G ib b s’ who en tered the O berlin
C onservatory o f M usic at age I I.
O ne o f ten black students out o f
a total o f five hundred, she e x
celled in piano, pipe organ, v io
lin and harm ony.
L ater, founded a conservatory
o f m usic of her own (strik in g
photos).
, M D
D u rin g the fall and w in ter
m onths, sore throat is one ot the
most com m on reasons for people
to visit their doctor according to
Mark Thompson. MD, a family
physician at Providence Family
M edicine - North Portland. Almost
all patients with any sort of head or
c h e s t c o ld w ill h a v e a dry,
“scratchy" or painful throat at some
point during their illness.
Sore th ro at (a lso know n as
"pharyngitis") is most often caused
by one of a variety of different
viruses, but can also be caused by
a bacteria named Streptococcus
pyogenes (G roup A Strep). It a
friend or family member has a sore
throat, you may be able to see some
of the signs of that infection. Red
ness, sw elling, and blisters may all
appear in the back of the throat.
and a thick w hite-colored film may
be found on the tonsils.
A lthough there is no medicine
to cure those sore throats caused
by viruses, penicillin is extrem ely
effective against the streptococcus
bacteria. Penicillin should be an
im portant part of the treatm ent of
any Strep Throat infection for two
reason. First of all, if your sore
throat is caused by Strep, then you
will probably start to feel better
m ore quickly if you are taking the
antibiotics. Secondly, untreated
S tre p T hroat can o ccasio n ally
progress to more serious infections
such as an abscess, ear infection,
sinusitis or pneum onia, and it may
m ore rarely lead to “Acute Rheu
m ade Fever” , an illness that can
cause permanent heart disease.
W hen you visit your doctor's
better
office for a sore throat, he or she
will check you for evidence o f in
fection with the Streptococcus bac
teria. They may need to perform
one or two simple tests. If Strep is
found, they will prescribe antibiot
ics that must be taken for a full ten
days to help clear your infection
and prevent it rare com plications.
If no Strep is found, then a virus
has caused your sore throat, and
antibiotics will not help.
You might w onder why doctors
do not treat all patients with sore
throats with penicillin. If the sore
throat is caused by a virus, it will
not be cured by any m edicine, and
the antibiotics may cause more
harm than benefit. "M inor" side
effects from the penicillin such as
nausea, diarrhea, and yeast infec
tions may only leave you feeling
worse than before you started the
medicine.
W hether y o u r do cto r has d e
cided that yo u r sore throat is
caused by S trep or not, there are
other things that you can do for
re lie f during the illness. It is im
p o rtan t to drink plenty o f fluids
and to eat w hen you feel able to.
R esting w ill help you save your
strength. Salt w ater garg les (one
teaspoon o f salt per cup o f warm
w ater) can help sooth your throat,
and pain re lie v e rs such as a c
etam inophen and ibuprofen arc
often helpful.
Mark Thom pson. MD, is a fam
ily physician practicing at Provi
dence Family m edicine North Port
land. Anyone with questions or
concerns can contact the office at
(503)285-7953.
'"Che CSJditor
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