Farrow Allen, Ralph Baker, and Kiplyn Primus
Recorded
September 18, 2022
Archived
September 18, 2022
21:37 minutes
0:00 / 0:00
Id:
atd002075
Description
StoryCorps Facilitator Kiplyn Primus [no age given] interviews Farrow Allen (80) and Ralph Baker (70). Both men are descendants of Black Americans affected by the Atlanta Race Massacre of 1906.Subject Log / Time Code
Kiplyn Primus asks Farrow Allen when he found out that the Atlanta Race Massacre of 1906 was part of his family history. Farrow Allen says his maternal grandfather is the late Luther Judson Price, who was the postmaster for South Atlanta in the early 1900s.
Farrow says his mother, who was born about two years after the riots, talked about what she had been told and what she had written down. He says she was very clear about what had happened to her father.
Farrow remembers being 12 years old when Luther Judson Price High School was built in Atlanta, Georgia. He remembers attending the dedication and unveiling his grandfather's portrait.
Kiplyn asks Ralph Baker when he became aware of his own family's connection to the 1906 riots. Ralph says he knew that his Great Uncle Jesse Maxwell Barber had been active during the Civil Rights Movement. He says he had never heard of the Atlanta Race Massacre of 1906.
Ralph says his great uncle, who published Voice of the Negro, was run out of Atlanta for refusing to bury the story. He says his great uncle wrote and published, "Atlanta race riots: a tale of man's inhumanity to man."
Ralph says he learned about the 1906 massacre about 5 weeks age when Emory University reached out to him.
Ralph says the family did know that Jesse Maxwell Barber was a founder of the Niagara Movement and that he was instrumental to the formation of the John Brown Memorial Association. He says his great uncle moved from Chicago, Illinois, to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he became a dentist.
Ralph talks about having some of his great uncle's manuscripts and papers. He says there was no mention of the Atlanta massacre in them.
Kiplyn says Price High School still exists as Price Middle School. She asks Farrow Allen if that is enough of a legacy. Farrow says there is more currently being done to bring this piece of history back to the forefront.
Kiplyn asks Farrow what happened to his family after the riots. Farrow says his grandparents stayed in Atlanta. He says all of their kids moved away to include his mother who went to live with an older sister in New York.
Ralph says he plans to keep pursuing the information Emory University put together about his great uncle and sharing it with the rest of the family. He mentions having a granddaughter.
Kiplyn brings up Atlanta calling itself, "The City too Busy to Hate." She asks Farrow how he shares the events from 1906 with others.
Farrow says a commemoration took place in 2006 to mark the 100th Anniversary of the Atlanta riots.
Kiplyn asks Ralph what he wants the world to know about the 1906 riots. He talks about the newspaper media fostering anger and anxiety back then and says it is still happening today.
Ralph says Black History is being pushed back along with critical race theory.
Kiplyn asks Farrow why it's easier to believe the myths of Black History rather than the truth. Farrow talks about the way information is passed on in families.
Farrow talks about positive changes he has witnessed since the 1950s.
Kiplyn asks Ralph and Farrow if they see a brighter future. Ralph says some businesses and institutes of higher education that profited from slavery are now giving back.
Participants
- Farrow Allen
- Ralph Baker
- Kiplyn Primus