The Charles Wesley Ford's Life Photographs

The Day that the President died.
Forty seven years ago, November 22, 1963. I am writing this is on November 22, 2010. Next month I will be 70 years old.

The assassination changed the country. Individuals who were younger, or older, remember that event as it was yesterday. Everyone remembered exactly were they were and what they were doing when that horrific and tragic moment happened.

I was waiting to meet the Tennessee Parole Board. I had been sentenced to one to three years on a chain gang for assault on a police officer. This happened during a civil rights demonstration. The police with clubs as weapons started beating the demonstrators during a set-in near Memphis State University. I was being beaten when I tried to defend myself . I punched one of the police men who was attacking me. All this was recorded by the CBS affiliate TV station and broadcast that evening on the CBS news with Walter Cronkite.

I was arrested and later beaten by a number men who took turn to "teach the northern nigger his place." I remember that after a several hours of non-stop physical punishment, one young crew-cut officer pull out his revolver and said "let's kill the nigger". They could have and at that point in time, I was so beat up and numb that I didn't care. I didn't plea for my life . I was very young and the thought of someone putting a bullet in my brain didn't scare me at the time.

I was convicted and incarcerated at the Shelby County Penal Farm in Memphis, TN. I was a colored northern man from Boston, MA., in the deep south that was racially segregated and very prejudiced.
After nine months working on the chain gang, I was scheduled to meet with the parole board. The day of my hearing, the parole board recessed from the morning review and were going to lunch before it was my turn to meet with them.

I was waiting for the board to return, when a loud roar of jubilant erupted throughout facility from prison guards, staff and many of the white inmates.

I was wondering why this was happening. People were yelling and cheering and saying " I glad the "nigger lover is dead".

Someone had turned on the television in offices near where I was waiting. I saw Walter Cronkite reporting that John F. Kennedy had been shot and died in a Dallas hospital.

Here I was, a colored young man from Boston, MA, and I was the only one in that prison that had any sorrow or grief for the murder of the President.

Southerns hated JFK because of his beliefs in the civil and equal rights for colored Americans, and the majority of southern white people that hated JFK were happy that someone had killed him.

I will never forget those reactions from the people who were glad.
That was November 22, 47 years ago. The day that I was paroled.

Charles Wesley Ford
November 22, 2010,

The caption under the picture doesn't include the real details of all my African experience. The cruise was entitled "Solant Amity II", good-will tour of the African coast but it was also a Task Group to protect the minerals resources, financial and political interests of the United States. In 1958, many African countries were shedding their colonial control and where becoming independent nations. Our mission was to ensure that these new entities were going to be democracies and not be influence by the Russians. There was a "cold war" between the United States and Russia. The oil, minerals and the minds of the emerging African nations were up for grabs. Our task group was the America' military arm of the policy of stabilization in the region. The armaments and Marine detachment that we carried on board the vessels attested to that involvement and commitment.

I was in combat information center,CIC, on the bridge of the ship when we were ordered to advanced to the Persian Gulf, (1961), the Gulf of Aden, and continue to Kuwait. Sound familiar? I had no idea why we going there. What in the hell was so important in the small country that no one had ever heard of this place before? When we finally dropped anchor in the bay, I realized why we were sent there. British Petroleum, Texaco, Esson and my many other world oil companies that had oil rigs and platforms in the bay. I found out that there was an attempted coup of the Kuwait government. When the task group arrived, which included an aircraft carrier, the USS Boxer, 2 LSDs, several cargo ship, plus a cruiser and a few destroyers. The coup vanished.

We did encounter a Russian task group that was in the region, but at a respectable distance.

Thirty years later this region would become the major world news of the day.

My second experience is one that I am extremely proud to be involved . On our voyage the ship docked at Capetown, South Africa, the Apartheid capitol of the world at the time, 1961. Prior to stopping there, the ships had stopped in different countries. The article above the ship's picture states those countries.

I was the Task Group basketball team's player-coach. We formed this team back in Norfolk, VA and we were undefeated in the Naval league competition. The teams' mission was to participate in sporting events when we reached countries that we visited. We were going to bring American basketball as a part of our "good will" tour to the coastal African countries. When we arrived at South Africa, however, I was ordered by Athletic Officer that the Negroes and Whites were to be separated and form two teams. One black and one white. I tried to reason with the Lieutenant, that in America whites and blacks did play together and that we could set an example. I was from Boston and said that we should stand up for why we wear our uniforms, what we believe, that all men are equal or something to that ideal. I was so naive, I'm was 20 years old and I believed in the American ideals. It was this patriotic reason that I joined the military.

Obvious, I was living in another world. The America that I knew was supposed to be better than the Apartheid of South Africa. Who was I kidding? I was stationed in Memphis, TN. I experienced first hand the inequality between the Negroes and Whites. Some Black people in America could not even vote in late 50's and early 60's. In southern states Negroes sat in the back of the bus, could not set at lunch counters for meals and suffered the indignity of being second class citizens. The southern motto, at the time, was "segregation now, segregation forever". And, the Navy, at this point in time, was still the most segregated branch of the armed forces. (Reference the movie, "Men of Honor".) But that's another story for another time.)

I informed the players that the team was to be split up into two units. I had 10 players, five white and five black. The white sailors where glad that I wasn't their coach. They were all from the deep south. My problem became that I had to recruit five new black sailors to make up a team to play in South Africa. By the time we docked in Capetown, I had recruited five new players that hadn't practice or played together as a team.with the original five players.

Please bear with me. The English were turning over the country, Union of South Africa was to become the Republic of South Africa, the white Apartheid government . The Navy's black team was invited to play at the Gordon Institute, an English Institute. When we arrived the white Navy team was playing a team that wasn't very competitive. Old Navy white team beat them soundly. Their game was over and it was the old Navy black team's turn. We went through the traditional warm up at our end of the court getting ready for a game against some very tall black Africans.

There was a height disadvantage to any team that we were going to play. Our tallest player was 6'1" tall and I am 5'11 at best. I told our team that we would use our collective speed against there height advantage. This was going to be street ball, Harlem free style. Oh, I had my best friend, who was a white Marine, wanted to be with us. His name was Charles Dunn, from Yonkers, NY.

We were waiting but we didn't see any opponents at the other end of the court. And then they showed up. Their shortest players were taller than our tallest player and they were an all white team. The team was billed as the Capetown All-Stars. I was surprise not because they were white but because they were the best players in Capetown.

Charles and I represented our Navy team and met the Cape Town captains at center court. The referee gave us the rules and so forth. In the back of my mind I was wondering if this was right. I was very confused. Why would these athletics risk the chance of being arrested by involving themselves with black people? Could it be because that we were Americans and not black Africans and they were English? All of us then shook hands. It was a exciting game but we lost by 3 points which I thought was a victory for our team, in its own right.

After the game in the locker room we socialized with the All-Stars. The reason they wanted to compete against us, was that these South African English athletes had heard, seen newsreels and films about the Harlem Globe Trotters. They didn't call them the Harlem Globe Trotters for nothing. They were known all over the world.

The South African players wanted the opportunity to compete against black American players. I guess they thought that playing the black players from America would be an experience that they could tell their children. Later, after the game, they invited us to a Jazz club that had great black and white musicians. I image to this day that sports and music can bridge different ethic groups and cultures.

We were not the Harlem Globe Trotters but I am sure that they would have been proud of what we did. What we did was played in the first interracial basketball sporting event in the history of Capetown, South Africa. This sporting event was documented in the Cape Town Times Newspaper the next day.

The same next day the Lieutenant reprimand me for creating an international political incident. And said "what was I thinking?". I told him what I was thinking. That we were invited to the Gordon Institute, for what I thought was a game against black African players. When I found out that we were playing the Capetown All-Stars, I thought it would be rude that the United States Navy would refuse the hospitality of the people who invited us to play. I really said that. When the Capetown authorities read the article the next day in the sport section of the paper, they immediately sent the police to arrest any of the players who were involved when they left the ship.

We had broken the apartheid law and was subject to being arrested and incarcerate for a long time. Nelson Mandela had just been arrested six months earlier and served many long years imprisoned. Many years later Nelson Mandela became the President of South Africa.

I didn't get to see much more the city. I already had been on liberty several days before and had met some very beautiful people. The winner of Miss Colored Capetown beauty pageant and the runner-up, two sisters and one was named Maureen. They were at the Game as invited guest of our team.

(Both of these related articles appeared in the Cape Town Times, circa May 1961.

Years later, I researched and discovered the microfiche articles in the archives of Boston University Mugar Memorial Library, were I was employed as the Secretary to the Chief of Acquisition.)

In 2010, South Africa was the host nation to the World Cup.

ROOTS: as important as the stop at Capetown, was the visit to the nation of Gabon and the city of Lambaréné. Gabon is a state in west central Africa sharing borders with Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, and with the Republic of the Congo.

Besides my normal duties, I had three special responsibilities on board the Spiegel Grove (LSD-32). First, as I mentioned, I was the non-commission athletic officer. Second, I was Journalist Seaman First Class, responsible for press releases at port of entries; and third I was the Captain's personal driver. This entailed driving the Captain to every American embassies and state functions in the different countries that we visited which were either becoming newly independent nations or already established nations. I observed all the protocols of the governmental leaders of these countries, first hand.

One day I drove the Captain along with a large special shipment of medical supplies to a hospital. One of the many "goodwill" parts of the tour. At the hospital we were greeted by a elderly frail gentleman with white hair and white facial hair. He was introduced as Dr. Albert Schweitzer. So on behalf of the American government, a black American sailor was privileged to present the needed hospital supplies to Dr, Albert Schweitzer and his staff. I remembered that I actually shook his hand. It was an honor that is still a special vivid moment in my life. It certainly contrasted the South Africa experience.

At Lambaréné, Gabon, Schweitzer was doctor and surgeon in the hospital, pastor of a congregation, administrator of a village, superintendent of buildings and grounds, writer of scholarly books, commentator on contemporary history, musician, host to countless visitors, which I became. The honors he received were numerous, including the Goethe Prize of Frankfurt and honorary doctorates from many universities emphasizing one or another of his achievements. The Nobel Peace Prize for 1952, having been withheld in that year, was given to him on December 10, 1953. With the $33,000 prize money, he started the leprosarium at Lambaréné. Albert Schweitzer died three year later on September 4, 1965, and was buried at Lambaréné. I wonder if my family's roots came from this country.

I was very fortunate to visit Kenya, and all the coastal nations of Africa. I witnessed many of them becoming independent from years of European Colonial rule. I will always treasure this experience. I also crossed the
the equator at zero latitude and longitude.There are only a handful of people who can claim that they have ever crossed zero latitude and longitude. That too is a unique experience.

So for the generations who read this, these are just a little of the full and unique experiences that I have lived.

Much more to recall, much more to write about..

The Charles Wesley Ford's Life Photographs

The Charles Wesley Ford's Life Photographs: 1941 - Charles Wesley Ford

1969-10-02, The Charles A. McIsaac Recommendation Letter to Federal Court

2008-11, Pam Wilde's "King Of Dance", Page 1 of 5

Charles Ford - YouTube

2010-07, (1) @ The Boston Carlisle Arrival

2010-07, (2) @ The Discovery Place, @ The Woods, and @ The Kimball Farm....

2010-07, (3) @ Get Down..On the Farm.wmv

2010-07, (4) @ The Boston 4th of July Fireworks

2010-07, (5) @ The Fireworks, Part 2 and @ The Butterfly Place

2010-07, (6) @ On The Road With Not Kereouac.wmv

2010-07, (7) @ The Departure

jasannebcn.blogspot.com

1968-, Charles Wesley Ford, Hart Modeling Agency, Boston, MA

1958-08-23, Charles Wesley Ford - Graduation Review,

The Good Life

1961 - Charles Wesley Ford - The Africa Tour

Some Photographs from My Life, Charles Wesley Ford

1941 - Charles Wesley Ford

I C U

Photographs throughout My Life

The Charles Wesley Ford 's Photography Archive