Thread by @VSJohnsonNYC

Let’s begin w/the pic that intrigued 1000s & CNN. Found it in a used book abt 15 yrs ago. No, don’t remember what book. Looked at pic often & asked myself—tried to ask them—who they were. Yes, I’m a historian, but it wasn’t professional curiosity. A sense of shared humanity. 1/

I tweeted it, hoping to find its owners. Many ppl kindly rt’d it. Some ppl got VERY involved in trying to help. One person digitally restored it. Another found a set of the same bookends on eBay. Another figured out what national park was in the photo on the wall. And so on. 2/

After 1000s of rt’s over 2 days, I got a tweet saying that’s my great-uncle. She put me in touch w/a cousin who knows a lot abt the family’s history, & we spoke on the phone! SHE put me in touch with the younger daughter in the picture, & when I heard that voice it was eerie. 3/

This wk the family has kindly sent me a lot of info, & I did some add. primary & secondary research. I want to tell you what I learned abt the dad in the pic, and about his family. It’s a deeply American story, full of long struggles & great joy (& more struggles & more joy). 4/

He was born to a White fthr & a mthr of Native Amer. & African ancestry in Coweta, OK, in 1909. He was called Beaut bc his grandmother thought he was so beautiful. His paternal grndfthr was mixed-race (Native Amer. & White) & his grndmthr was White. Here he is as a young man. 5/

Let's pause on THEM. Lucy was born out of wedlock to a White teen girl & given to the cook at a local Alabama plantation, where Wm. was enslaved; Lucy’s “owners” hid her race to keep her enslaved. Wm. & Lucy married in 1850s. After they were freed, they became sharecroppers. 6/

Back to their grandson Beaut. His fam moved to Topeka after a race riot; at 4yo he went to 1st kindergarten for Black children west of the Mssppi, in an area called Tennessee Town settled 1870s by formerly enslaved people. He learned to read & to play music. Here’s the band: 7/

Beaut’s teacher felt he would benefit from a more formal name and suggested that of the school’s founder, Dr. Charles Sheldon—a White social reformer and minister who preached equality of race and sex. Sheldon also popularized the question, “What would Jesus do?” 8/

Beaut became Charles Sheldon Sudduth & went by Sheldon. Another alum of the Sheldon Kindergarten: Elisha Scott, who became a prominent lawyer & head of Topeka NAACP. Scott’s two lawyer sons helped win Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, decided by Supreme Court in 1954. 9/

After high school, Sheldon Sudduth went to work for the local offices of the Santa Fe Railway as a janitor and eventually became the first Black foreman.
Here’s a picture of Sheldon (bottom right) with his eight siblings. (Beautiful family!) 10/

Sheldon formed the Gospel Four Quartet w/3 yng frnds. They sang 50 yrs in Black & White churches; Sheldon estimated that 90% were White. They meant for their concerts to improve race relations. They used the Green Book to stay safe. Here’s the group & one of their albums. 11/

Sheldon was widowed 2x when he married nurse Margaret Carter, a widow w/2 daughters. They met at their church; both were deeply religious. When they got engaged, Margaret told the girls they were going to have a new father & made them guess which man from the church he was. 12/

The pic I found was the first portrait of the new family! 1964. The yngr girl, Valerie (now 65yo), told me on the phone she looks so happy bc she was thrilled about her new dad. Sheldon was kind, funny, & gentle. He made her feel she could handle anything she set her mind to. 13/

After 30yrs w/ the railway, Sheldon founded his own company, a janitorial biz that employed Blacks & Whites. He was on Board of Directors of an insurance co. & was Board Chair of a Black college in TX. He said his work for Black education was the most meaningful of his life. 14/

In April 1993, Sheldon’s 84th bday was celebrated with a reception at the Kansas State Capitol as part of the 100th anniv. of the Sheldon Kindergarten and the upcoming Brown v. Board 50th anniv. Here’s his bday cake. He was also honored at the US House of Reps in June 1993. 15/

He died in 1995 at 86. From his obit:

“Margaret Sudduth said her husband believed racism would end—but not in his lifetime.”

A friend said, “He always told me no matter what to take the high road & that America will be all that it must be & all that it professes to be.” 16/

THANK YOU to the Sudduths for their generosity & for inviting me to the next family reunion! TY to all on Twitter who helped me find them & share their story, especially:
@DrinkSolaPop
@karenhunter
@LeviFetterman
@DevinCow
@DistractedCook
@jbf1755
@kelsiesmith (of CNN)
/17

Also let me credit the Kansas Historical Society for the photo of the Sheldon. Kindergarten band. Historical societies keep our history alive. Love to all archivists and librarians!