Category: Civil Rights

A Radiating Presence: Looking back at a 1969 interview with James Earl Jones in the ODU student newspaper “The Mace and Crown”

By Special Collections and University Archives Graduate Assistant, Daniel Conner

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Photograph taken from the February 13, 1969 edition of the student newspaper the Mace and Crown picturing James Earl Jones during his 1968 The Great White Hope performance.

Few actors have a voice as recognizable and beloved as James Earl Jones. For many, or at least for myself, his career extended into childhood memories through his distinctively voiced roles of Mufasa in The Lion King and Darth Vader in Star Wars. Others may remember him from classic films like Coming to America, The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games, The Sandlot, and Field of Dreams. No one can deny his impact on American culture over the past 50 years.

Sadly, Jones passed in September of 2024, but he gifted the world an incredible legacy that I’d love to celebrate in this post. Specifically, I’ll be referring to a 1969 Mace & Crown article by Richard L. Lindell, II, “Jones: a radiating presence,” which includes his personal interview with Jones during his headline Broadway run with The Great White Hope in 1968.

Lindell began his article by contextualizing Jones, an actor yet to pierce into the mainstream. Prior to Jones’ massive cinematic successes, he was a renowned Shakespearean actor who starred in a variety of Joseph Papp’s New York Shakespeare Festival productions. From there, Jones managed to receive a few small roles in large films, such as Dr. Strangelove, but it was his theater performance in The Great White Hope that ultimately opened doorways for Jones, including the 1970 film of the same name. For those who have yet to explore the film or play, it’s a dramatic portrayal of Jack Johnson (renamed Jack Jefferson and played by Jones), a Black boxer widely considered to be an unstoppable force during the height of the Jim Crow era in the early twentieth century. At the time, white fans and journalists resented Johnson’s success against white boxers, leading to their search for a “Great White Hope.” Additionally, Johnson’s victories catalyzed race riots throughout the United States, bringing to question how a Black person could be successful in a world built in opposition to them. The boxer represented a trough of ideals that transcended the world of boxing, embedding him in American society for years to come.

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Photograph taken from the February 13, 1969 edition of the student newspaper the Mace and Crown picturing “Jane Alexander, James Earl Jones, and Jimmy Pelham (background) in The Great White Hope.

Taking a step out of the history and into the interview, James Earl Jones was incredibly keyed into the story of Jack Johnson and how vital he was as Black role model. In a world of integration, Jones sought the continuation of Black individuality and expression that could easily be suppressed in a society lacking Black representation.  Jones said, “That’s one of the things I like about playing Jefferson. He’s a Negro and makes no bones about it. He is not affected by the white man’s world around him until he wins the championship. By winning the championship, he is required to do things according to the white man’s way. He does not want to do this so, of course, he has a good deal of trouble in making the adjustment.” Jones preached the imbuement of Black culture into roles played by Black actors, in the hopes of increasing representation and relatability to these plays and films. Jones’ sentiments came from an observed loss of Black expressiveness from role models, pointing out civil rights activist Julian Bond as a prime example. Jones said, “But that Julian Bond. He’s something unreal. He doesn’t exemplify the Negro at all. All that cool and suave approach to things. A Negro has all these deep and inherent feelings of passion within and to stunt them with the Julian Bond approach doesn’t get it. There shouldn’t be all these attempts to shunt these feelings. Let them come out.” Many of his role models, such as Malcolm X and Otis Redding, were preachers of Black expression, and in X’s case, he feared the silence that came with integration. These influences played into his performance, but no experience likely had more impact than his childhood.

Jones was born into extreme poverty, only managing to escape it when his mother surrendered Jones to his grandparents. After his adoption, Jones remained virtually mute for years. It was precisely these painful experiences that fed into the passion Jones so confidently spoke of. For the final quote in Lindell’s interview, he asked Jones about a scene in The Great White Hope where Jones was required to completely break down. Jones said, “A whole battery of impulses hits me at that moment. I’m thrown back into my childhood. In a moment like that, I’m asked to bare myself, my soul, through acting. That’s not something I could fake. I know if I go, the audience goes. It has to happen.”

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Interviewer and Mace and Crown staff member, Richard L. Lindell, II (left) at work. Old Dominion University Photographic and Multimedia Collection

Sources:

Local History: Discovering The Fight For Desegregation In Norfolk

by Ethan Dykes, HIS368 Intern

As a resident of the Hampton Roads area I have always been fascinated by the region’s rich history. It’s been home to many important historical events, towns, buildings, and people. Jamestown and Williamsburg were some of the first successful colonial settlements. The first enslaved Africans believed to be brought to the Americas were deported on the coast of Point Comfort, not more than thirty miles from where I live. My own home town was the site of a battle in the Revolutionary War, where Virginia rebels pushed out British forces and helped secure key points in the area. The great city of Norfolk is home to the largest Navy base in the world and has long been an important city in America’s history. One aspect of my local history, however, that I have largely overlooked has been the fight against racism. We all know of Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Rosa Parks and others that fought so famously against segregation and racial oppression. We all know of the March on Washington, the events on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, and the many other great examples of the fight for justice. But so often do we forget the smaller victories against racism, so often do we not realize the local impacts these events have on us.

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Granby Street late 1960s

The Importance of Archives in Preserving Local History

Thanks to my experiences as an intern with the Special Collections Department at Old Dominion University, I have had the privilege of seeing some of this history firsthand. I was able to watch several videos from different news outlets from the 1960’s and 70’s. The videos included several interviews, statements, and images on desegregation, and many were focused on the city of Norfolk specifically. I saw President Eisenhower give a statement on desegregation and the closing of schools in several cities such as Norfolk. I saw the Virginia General Assembly issue a response to the  Brown vs. Board of Education decision by the Supreme Court, and their plans to implement the Massive Resistance policy to prevent desegregation. I also saw several videos of activists fighting for the desegregation of schools and other public buildings, such as the YMCA. Each video captured the feelings of Norfolk citizens at the time, and how the changes in government, such as the Brown vs. Board decision and the implementation of Massive Resistance, caused them to react. The fight against racism and segregation in Norfolk was captured and documented in these archives, and I of all people was given the opportunity to observe and organize them. I had never before now truly appreciated the rich history of Norfolk and its citizens who fought against racism. Norfolk and the rest of Hampton Roads has had a long and deep history, filled with ordinary people doing great things.

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Protest over the Norfolk YMCA’s segregation policies

Everyday Deeds

Until recently, I did not consider the area of Hampton Roads, and Norfolk specifically, to be of some importance in the fight against segregation. We are always told to study the big events and the people who had the most impact on the world. The people and events involved in the local history of Hampton Roads may not have been as memorable or had as large of an impact as other occurrences in their times, but their efforts were still felt and preserved in history. The civil rights movement in Norfolk may not have been the most noticed or impactful of efforts in America, but it nonetheless changed the city and its citizens for generations to come. This look into local history reminded me that even the smallest things can have large impacts. It was thanks to the cumulative efforts of ordinary people that the schools in Norfolk were reopened, desegregation was implemented, YMCA buildings and other facilities were opened to people regardless of color, all because the citizens of Norfolk and others willed it. When observing history in such a way, I can’t help but be reminded of the words of a famous grey wizard: “Some believe that it is only great power that can keep evil in check. But I have found that it is the small every-day deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay”. Despite what many may think history is not just made of people or events of major significance. Its foundations lie with the efforts of everyday people in everyday towns, creating a cumulative structure filled with local history and local people, of which we should strive to preserve and learn from.