news-record.com

Whether folks want to admit it or not, everyone would like to be first at something. That one thing that says, “I was first and no one can change or take it away from me.”

Who can forget that first sweetheart, first kiss, first date, first spanking, first teacher, that first little white lie — the list could go on forever.

But most of all, we all would like to be first at something that is recognized by our peers and our community.

There are times when I e-mail various black history firsts to my Internet history gang or post it on Facebook, that I wish that could have been me. Think about the many trail blazers who have left that first mark on something and no one can take it away from them.

Years ago it was hard to find such information, but thanks to search engines such as Google, a first can now be discovered and shared around the world by simply typing in a subject and hitting the search key.

Since I began searching for facts regarding High Point’s local black community, it became apparent that lots of things and people have been proclaimed as the first, but in many cases there are no concrete facts to substantiate the claim.

I, too, have had to correct things that I proclaimed as gospel. I don’t mind correcting myself, but some folk would rather hold onto a piece of history that is incorrect than change it.

When I was growing up, the name George Washington McCorkle was synonymous with the words “poetry” and “writer” in my community. After all, he self-published a book of poems “Rhymes From the Delta” about 1945 and the second edition appeared about 1948.

For years, everyone in my community has proclaimed George Washington McCorkle as High Point’s first black published poet.

Well, move over, McCorkle, because that distinction belongs to Pauline Robinson. I discovered this little-known black history fact while working on my book of black history facts — which, by the way, should be available for purchase through the High Point Museum within the next week.

In one of the Colored News columns in the High Point newspaper, under the heading William Penn H.S., I found a list of activities that took place at a Friday assembly in 1930. There it was in black and white, “Pauline Robinson read from her recently self published book of poems “Memories of Meditation” at assembly on Friday.”

I didn’t publish my findings earlier because no one, including her family, had a copy of her book of 33 poems. So why start a battle of first until you have the facts to win the war? Well thanks to my grandmother, Hattie Leach, my family has three copies of Robinson’s book, and I can now proclaim Robinson as our first published black poet/writer. Mama Hattie saved three copies, which were found among the many items that she collected before her death, and they are in excellent condition. It doesn’t get any better than this!

The cover of Robinson’s book is blue with a black scroll design that surrounds the title and author’s name.

The introduction of the book was done by Gertrude P. Kendall, who made an interesting observation regarding Robinson. Gertrude says “after recovering from a serious illness, she became discouraged and felt that her life would be a failure; but within, a still sweet voice kept saying “Cheer up sad heart, cease repining, beyond each cloud lies a silver lining.”

Robinson must have found strength and hope in her writing because soon afterward she shared some of her poems with Gertrude, who encouraged her to publish her poems. By doing so, Robinson became High Point’s first black published writer. Actually she gets two firsts, because she was also the first black female. You go, girl!

Robinson was born July 25, 1905 in Asheville and died about 1969, according to her youngest sister Carolyn Robinson Etheridge, who lives in Washington. Robinson’s father, Carrous “C.W.” Robinson, moved his family to High Point about 1906 where he distinguished himself as our first black Realtor.

I was raised on Normal Street, and the Robinson family lived a block away on the corner of East and Normal streets. I knew the family well.

According to Carolyn Etheridge, Pauline Robinson continued her love of poetry, but Etheridge doesn’t recall her writing any more poems. So, over the years the family was left with only a few torn pages from her only book.

When I called Etheridge, I asked her if she had pictures of Pauline and C.W. which she could share with me. In return, I sent her an original copy of Pauline Robinson’s book. She was elated.
I read all 33 of Robinson’s poems, but the one that I enjoyed the most — “The Colored Race” — had a message that I cherish.

Glenn Chavis researches and writes about High Point’s black history. Contact him at Storytime40@aol.com