Archive Belonging to an African American Military Family from Texas 1950s

Description: Archive Belonging to an African American Military Family from Texas, Including Correspondence from Several Different Girlfriends to a Soldier Training for the Air Force Title: Archive Belonging to an African American Military Family from Texas, Including Correspondence from Several Different Girlfriends to a Soldier Training for the Air Force Publication: Various Places: 1953 Description: A collection of letters, photographs, and ephemera belonging to the McAfee family, an African American military family from Tyler, Texas. According to government records, John McAfee served in the military, as did three of his children, John, Travis and Rudolph. The majority of these items belonged to Travis McAfee while training for the Air Force at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois, Marana Air Force Base in Arizona, and Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. These include a large manuscript Air Force communications training notebook, 38 black and white photographs depicting African American soldiers in uniform and life in camp (several with San Antonio photographer’s stamps), six illustrated booklets promoting the air force and other branches of the military, and 38 letters sent to Travis, including letters from three different girlfriends (who he was dating at the same time), plus a letter from his mother, and three letters from his brother, John McAfee who was training for the military at Fort Eustis, Virginia. The collection also includes two letters sent to Osborne McAfee, a bus driver in Houston, and a few greeting cards. Overall in very good condition, with tearing to envelopes, some envelopes with more significant damage.The letters sent to Travis McAfee by his girlfriends are particularly interesting in that they document the complex relationships that occurred between African American women and servicemen, who moved about the country to different training camps. Each of Travis’ three girlfriends expresses her love for him, her desire to see him, and her anxieties about him dating other women. Included are 20 letters from Phyllis W. Greene, an African American woman living in Missouri (they possibly met when Travis was stationed at Scott Air Force Base across the Mississippi River in Illinois). Phyllis worked night shifts in Missouri in winter and spring of 1953 (14 letters from this period), spent the summer of 1953 at a teacher’s workshop at the University of Illinois (two letters), and taught in fall 1953 at a high school in Louisiana, Missouri (4 letters). She writes about her daily life, including visits to the Y.M.C.A. circus, attending the “big show” to see Ella Fitzgerald, and hosting a party at the house of orchestra leader Tommy Dean. She also pens news about her family, and snippets about her time teaching high school, including this interesting passage:“the Freshman’s had a dance…the boys stayed on one side of the room and the girls on the other side…I like the school very much. I teach the 9th, 10th, 11th & 12th grade girls for Home Economics…We are organizing a girl’s basketball team…We have to practice at the white high school because we do not have a gym.” (September 20, 1953)The majority of the content, however, focuses on their relationship, particularly their compatibility, and Greene’s desire to marry him. In one letter, she includes a list of things that “I think you have wrong about me” including that “I don’t want to marry a serviceman” and “That I am not the marrying kind.” In another letter, she discusses her anxieties about Travis seeing other women:“Do you remember me telling you at the station something about my not minding you going out with other women far as I know I’m the main one?…I want to tell you that I definitely didn’t mean it. It would hurt me deeply imagining you even dating some one else.” (March 1, 1953)In another letter, she urges Travis to consider whether or not he actually wants to marry her:“When you left here, I had the understanding that you would like to marry me and want me to wait until you finish school. Well, you haven’t mentioned much about it since. I am wondering if you still want to marry me.” (June 2, 1953)Evidently, he said yes, as Phyllis writes a month later:“I was very glad to hear that you didn’t think I sound too bold in my letter…My ring size is 7 1/4 you said you thought I was going to quit you. I love you too much for that, that is why I want a ring for more insurance.” (June 15, 1953)The ensuing letters also include much content related to picking out the ring. Phyllis writes that she could be the one to pick it out, and writes about their anxieties at the price, although in the end she picks out a rather expensive ring on layaway, asking Travis to send in the payments. All this time, Travis was receiving letters from another girlfriend, Rubie Woods, an African American woman living in Houston. Ten letters from Woods are included, all from 1953; in one letter, she writes about a sexual encounter the two had: “I guess I wanted you to hold me in your arms just as much as you wanted to but I tried to feel different because I knew it not right to give myself to you without marriage…but when you hold me in your arms I forget about everything I guess I love you too much don’t feel bad about anything that happen in San Antonio because it was much my fault as it was yours.” (May 28, 1953)In another letter, she expresses regrets that he chose to marry someone else:“You said where would you be if you had married me…I wish more than anything in world you had married me but you didn’t. If you had I would have been the happiest girl in the world of course I always feel happy as long as you say you love me.” (July 28, 1953)The collection also includes three letters sent to Travis by a third girlfriend, Dilla M. Brown of Chicago. In one letter, she writes about him dating other women:“Travis you know I was angry about you not stopping over to see me…after all I am well aware of the fact that you have other girlfriends. And that you are corresponding with me only to break the lonely moment in your life. But it is ok. Because I don’t want you to feel lonesome for mail.” (February 2, 1953)The collection additionally includes a letter sent to Travis by his mother, LaBetha McAfee, a letter sent by a friend in El Paso, and three letters from his brother, John, documenting his army training experiences at Fort Eustis, Virginia. He writes in much technical detail about his training on the ham radio (“I have been having trouble with my transmitter the final tank arcs over some time and I can’t get it to oscillate above 14 MC it works ok on low frequency bands…”—February 23, 1953).Finally, the collection includes three letters sent to Travis’ brother Osborne, a bus driver in Tyler, Texas, all from 1953. These include a letter from a Leona Freeman in Houston, and two letters from Gladys Ashcroft, a schoolteacher in Chicago. She writes about their future lovemaking, and urges him to use protection when he sleeps with other women: “I want you to save all of my good loving for me until I come home, and we will make up for lost time…I hope we will get our junior then. Don’t let Miss Pennycost get him first…If you go out with some body please use something…I do want to be the one who will sleep with you every night and do the things that I should do for the one that I love.” (March 14, 1953). Seller ID: 10495 Subject: African American Caroliniana Rare Books Antiquarian and collectible books, primitives and antiques. Terms All orders ship within two business days. All items are guaranteed to be as described or they may be returned within 30 days of receipt for a full refund.This listing was created by Bibliopolis.

Price: 3000 USD

Location: Aiken, South Carolina

End Time: 2025-01-06T02:30:51.000Z

Shipping Cost: 11.5 USD