Down the Up Staircase by Bruce D. Haynes

Author:Bruce D. Haynes
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Columbia University Press

George would never complete his degree at Bensalem. Like many of its students, he discovered the limits of self-regulation and became disillusioned with the lack of structure and direction. “It was a hippy-dippy place, something between a commune and a college. It was filled with artists and idealists but no real educators or professionals.” Another factor was money. “They said you could take classes anywhere you wanted but never explained that it would cost extra.” The classes at New York University hadn’t been included in the tuition.

Although many students thrived in that environment—going on to respected graduate schools, and some winning enviable fellowships—nearly half of the student body left before graduating, and most of the faculty fled within one or two years. George left in 1970, after just one year.

Soon, he and Sandy were expecting their first child. Money was tight, and he wouldn’t gain his inheritance from our grandfather for another few months, when he turned twenty-one. One day he was sitting in Wells Chicken and Waffles restaurant in Harlem’s valley when he struck up a conversation with a man from Chicago. They discussed the Black Arts Movement, which was thriving in Chicago, as well as new opportunities for black artists. His new acquaintance mentioned in passing that George should look him up if he ever went out that way. Within weeks, George boarded a bus to Chicago, carrying little more than his art portfolio. His intent was to assess the art scene and send for Sandy and the baby once he secured a job.

He never did connect with the man from Chicago or make any art connections. Over the next six months, he mingled, partied, and shacked up with an eclectic assortment of folks, from spiritualists who astral traveled to Mars to jazz musicians who partied with the likes of Herbie Hancock. George subsisted by working the phone banks at the National Opinion Research Center, headquartered at the University of Chicago campus, but he spent more time conducting research on ancient Egypt than on American attitudes and preferences. Within four months, he was fired.

He returned to New York and to Sandy and took a job with Davis & Warshow, a plumbing supply company on Ludlow Street, in lower Manhattan. One day, about a year later, when his boss took him out for lunch, George was sure he was getting a promotion and a raise. He was half right. The company planned to promote him to manager of the fittings department. But it had no intention of raising his salary from a trainee’s wages. George protested, respectfully at first, and the conversation turned testy. Even after he agreed to their terms, the relationship had soured. A few weeks later, he called in to request the next Saturday off and was told that if he took the day, it would be his last. He took the day.

Many young black men like George found themselves caught in dead-end jobs in the post–Civil Rights era. True, new federal legislation had brought massive

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.