January 2026

Unbreak My Heart

By Lora Harrington-Pride
Posted: 08/23/2025

During WW2, in which my father served, he met and befriended a man whom the authorities did not want to place with the Blacks in the segregated quarters because he looked Chinese.  He finally proved that he was Black and was placed.

         After the war Daddy and his friend remained close once they learned they were both from Ohio.  He became an honorary uncle to me and my siblings. 

(He was Uncle Julian to us.)  Uncle Julian moved to Washington D.C. where he met and married a surgical nurse, while he held a job as a waiter serving a restaurant frequented by the members of Congress.  He had high earnings due to the generous tips given to him by these men.

         He told my parents of an incident that took place where he worked, that confused and puzzled me when I eavesdropped, overhearing it.

         A group of Black men were denied entry and were tuned away at the door.  “Blacks were not allowed.”

         The offended men went to the African Embassy and registered their complaint.  It turned out that these men were Africans.

         The restaurant was contacted and informed, whereupon the African men were contacted, given profuse apologies, with the explanation that American Blacks were not allowed, and that they were unaware that they were not such, and the same.

         They were given entry and were served graciously.

         American Blacks were not allowed!  The ones who built America.  The ones who gave their lives on the front lines to protect and defend America, the Country where they were born, were not allowed?

                                                                Lora Harrington-Pride

                                                                8/8/25

 

*To see Lora's latest writings, see her Return to Writing post.