Black Bird Press News and Review: Henry Ramsey

The Life Story of Henry Ramsey, Jr.

An Autobiography;
Hardscratch Press 2008

“Henry Ramsey's open-ended conversation with his descendants is a gift for any reader. His frank and eloquent account of the journey from Jim Crow childhood to a life of activism, public service, and high achievement will be familiar to some, a revelation to others. The challenge he issues is for all: Never forget our past. Never stop working for our future. Always cherish our children.” —Benjamin Todd Jealous, president and CEO, NAACP

(The Life Story of Henry Ramsey Jr., of Rocky Mount, N.C., and Berkeley, Calif., is 6x9 inches, 600 pages, soft-cover, with many photographs and a full index; $25. ISBN: 978-0-9789979-3-9. For more information or to order, contact the author at hramseyjr@aol.com or the publisher at jrbpels@hardscratchpress.com. )

Stylistically, Henry's story is a hodge podge of genres. It could have been a conventional autobiography with the classic example"Up From Slavery” by Booker T. Washington. There are indications of this as Henry commences with his origins and upbringing in a South Carolina segregated small-town environment.

As Henry's story progresses we have all th trappings of a Horatio Alger, rags to riches, bootstrap pull-up that pervades Booker' story as Henry succeeded from a high school drop -out to law school graduate (Boalt Hall, U.C. Berkeley); attorney; superior court, Alameda County; and Dean of Howard University Law School.

Then again it could have been a coming of age piece in the vein of Salinger's “Catcher in the Rye” given that Henry reflects on growing up in the aforementioned environment as somewhat of a rebel who questioned the status quo and certain aspects of familial and societal authority. There is also the question of identity as he grew up thinking that his name was Charles Arthur Tillman, Jr., and at age 17 learned that his true name was Henry Ramsey, Jr.

This context includes a spirit of adventure for, during his boyhood, Henry is shuttled between Rocky Mount, South Carolina, and Philadelphia due to dysfunction in his nuclear family. Eventually he drops out of school and joins the U.S. Air Force which provides additional series of adventures in the dynamics of growing into manhood.

Another direction that Henry's story could have followed is the compilation of disconnected but somewhat related memoirs. On a broader scale we have the guidance for this genre provided by
Du Bois' “Souls of Black Folk”. After all, Henry expressly states in his introduction that his reason for writing and publishing the story is to leave his children and grandchildren a record of family history and, apparently, documentation of his thinking on the great issues of religion and politics, including his role as a social and political activist.

In this connection he also shares personal experience and thoughts about treating and coping with medical impairments. Of course, if Henry's only motive for writing was to leave a record for his family, there would be no need for producing such a polished tone or promoting public book signings. Fortunately, for us, he has made his story available to the public at large.

If Henry had placed his story in any one of he foregoing genres and created a cohesive framework for tying it into that genre we may have been spared the somewhat pedantic resort to rather copious, often gratuitous, footnotes throughout each chapter which made for awkward reading.

On balance, Henry's story includes compelling accounts of his representation during the 60's of Richmond's Black police officers' effort to combat white officers racist conduct perpetrated against members of Richmond's African-American community. Similarly Henry gives a detailed report of how he intervened following the death of George Jackson at San Quentin and mobilized the support of Willie Brown, Ron Dellums, the late Carlton Goodlet and Rev. Cecil Williams to access the prison for the purpose of observing the condition of inmates.

At that time Brown was a member of the California Assembly, Dellums a member of Congress, Goodlet a physician and publisher of the Sun Reporter and Williams, of course a Reverend at Glide Church.

Henry was candid throughout the writing of his story. This is especially true when he explains the two instances of regrettable past behavior resulting from poor judgment on his part that caused him to be denied appointment to a Federal Court judgeship.

Equally impressive is Henry's discussion of his battle with diabetes. What makes this discussion valuable is not only the telling of his personal ordeal but the rather extensive medial research that Henry amassed and furnished for the benefit of his readers.

One of the more controversial chapters includes Henry's argument against the existence of God. In doing so, he first sets forth the traditional philosophical and theological theories advanced to support God's existence. Then one by one he methodically spells out his own cogent arguments why these concepts are invalid and why God does not exist.

A significant portion of Henry's story tends to be tedious or esoteric. An example of the former is Henry furnishing an overly detailed list of objectives for his deanship or the bit too extensive account of negotiations related to law school personnel matters. In regard to esoteric, I suspect that much of Henry's discussion of his involvement with judiciary organizations as well as activities related to the Judicial Council and judicial procedure is more suited to the interest of his professional peers than to the average reader.

Overall, Henry's story is highly informative and exhibits the writing craft of a skilled technician. As a special bonus it includes some great photographs, particularly those from the period when Henry, Willie and Ron had heads that were covered with a substantial body of natural black hair.
--Aubrey LaBrie

A Black Dialogue Brother
January 2010