A story of Thomas Howard Jr.
As recorded by Walter Agnew Moore II
"Tomtom", my dad says, "I know I told
you about Bigdaddy and the chew of tobacco?"
"A chew of tobacco?" I say. "No."
"Well, you need to know this one."
-----
It was back in the 20s. John Howard wasn't ever going
to share-crop again. He had become a builder, roads,
bridges. Which for a white man in Mississippi meant
that he was a foreman, supervising gangs of workers
in the Egyptian heat.
There was a job in Birmingham, Alabama that he'd
heard about, and so he'd left Lucy and their little
daughter in Mississippi and had headed east on the
train into Alabama.
He had to change trains in Selma, near the middle
of the state. John's original train would stop long
enough to take on more coal and water and then continue
east towards Montgomery, the old river-city. Another
train would be along later to pick him up and head
north into the hills, to the industrial boom-town
of Birmingham.
John stepped down with his bag, to stretch his legs
at the depot and wait. There'd probably be a tavern
around the corner where he could pass the time. He
pulled out his pouch of tobacco and took out a chew.
"Pardon me, sir, but could you spare a bit of
that tobacco?"
John looked up at the man who had spoken-- a big
tall man, in a good suit. "Sure, have some."
They both had a chew, and the man thanked him and
said: "What brings you out this way?"
"They're hiring at the steel mills in Birmingham.
I plan on getting more construction work if I can,
like the jobs I ran in Mississippi."
"What's your name?" said the man.
"John Howard."
"Well, my name is Henry DuBose, and I am glad
to meet you."
-----
I look up at my dad: "DuBose?"
"That's right", says my dad. "The
DuBose as in DuBose Grocery Stores. The millionaire.
He was going from Mobile to Montgomery that day."
-----
Mr. Henry DuBose sized up John Howard and said: "You
know, if you're not dead-set on Birmingham, let me
make you an offer: I am on the board of directors
at Hurley College in Montgomery, and we are about
to start work on a new administrative building, and
what's more, we need somebody with the know-how to
supervise construction. What do you say to that?"
John looked across the street at the sun hitting
the brick fronts of the "colored" businesses
near the depot and nodded. The two men shook hands,
then they both got back on the train to Montgomery.
The train was probably up the river around Tyler
or Benton, loading cotton bails on the freight cars,
before the conductor got around to checking John Howard's
ticket again. Mr. DuBose would have set everything
to rights. The same with supper and a place to stay
in Montgomery, most likely.
-----
"And that's how it started," says my dad.
"They built the first building, and then Bigdaddy
stayed on to supervise another, then another. Then
they made him custodian of Hurley College, and he
and your Bigmama had that cottage on the edge of campus
where my brothers and sisters and I all grew up."
He says: "I remember Mr. DuBose, he would come
up evry few months for meetings. At some point, he'd
always say 'Well now, I need to go confer with Mr.
Howard and inspect the grounds.' Then he and Bigdaddy
would go off for a while, strolling under those pecan
trees that we'd planted all over the campus, 'deep
in discussion'."
"Tomtom, you know... They weren't discussing
anything. Mr. DuBose's doctor had forbidden him tobacco,
and his wife wouldn't let him near it. She even had
the secretaries spying on him when he'd visit Hurley.
He and my father were just sneaking off together to
chew tobacco. That's what they'd do, every time Mr.
DuBose came to town."
So there you have it. The worst of the Depression
comes and goes, and the whole time John Howard has
a steady job and a warm home for his children in the
best neighborhood of Montgomery. They go to the best
schools of the time, where my dad even meets and dates
the Governer's daughter. Children who might have been
trapped on God-knows-what Mississippi hill-farm get
a chance to jump ahead in life.
All for a chew of tobacco.
A
CHEW OF TOBACCO