“BY MISTAKE WE WALKED INTO A COLORED RESTAURANT, BUT WE ENDED UP ALRIGHT.”

“BY MISTAKE WE WALKED INTO A COLORED RESTAURANT, BUT WE ENDED UP ALRIGHT.”

(Photo album - scrapbook - diary) Newer, Agnes Marie. A TRIP.

“A Trip. Our trip really started in August, 1944. At which time we started to plan and save for a trip to Cuba. Since that time the plans have expanded and matured. So on this 8th day of May, 1947, I set me down to write of the doings of this tour of you-shall-see-where.”

This amazing and well documented automobile trip of Agnes Marie Newer, age 16, and family, as they crossed the United States and into Cuba. 149 pgs, 1947, manuscript, 48 original photographs, RPPC’s, programs, pamphlets, newspaper clippings and magazine extracts. Nearly 450 photos, postcards and ephemeral pieces of which many are captioned in manuscript. One of the finest large folio contemporary travel itineraries offered, all neatly bound in a stamped gilt and blind, spine bound with two screws book. Rear board partially split, overall in vg cond.

Agnes Marie Newer, who at the age of sixteen departed on May 8th, 1947 from Denver, with her parents, on a trip full of adventure, excitement, interesting situations and educational experiences as they crossed the United States and Cuba.

Her trip would begin in Denver, Colorado and last for a period of four months. From Colorado Agnes and family would go through Oklahoma, Ozarks, Tennessee, Mississippi, New Orleans, Texas, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Cuba, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, New York City, Philadelphia, Maryland, Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin Iowa and Missouri. Many of the state capitals were visited, Governors were met, several of which gave their autographs to Agnes and historical places were highlighted.

Excerpts from the four month trip include:

“Leaving Pearl’s at 6 p.m. we started out again. Now some trouble developed so the car would go only 20 miles per hour. We stopped at two garages. After these visits the car would run alright for a time and then the same thing would happen. At last we made it into Syracuse, Kansas at 10 p.m. and got a cabin which turned out to be the poorest of the whole trip. And so ended the first day with all of us very tired.”

“We left Oklahoma City about noon. We drove east. There was a wild hog beside the road that we saw, also some funny-looking cattle that turned out later to be Brahmas….breakfast at Fort Smith. We crossed the Ozarks, There were logs of backward home’s and people.”

“Stayed in Memphis….More colored people than any southern town we were in.”

“Our next important stop that day was Vicksburg, Miss. There is where the last battle of the Civil War was fought. It is said to be the best marked battlefield in the world. Next stop was Natchez, Miss. Where we stayed all night. This is quite a historical town. It has 22 antebellum plantations homes. The town was like a mining town.

“On the morning of Wed. Feb. 12. we went through the antebellum homes in Natchez. We left there at noon and soon crossed the Louisiana state line. About 5 miles into Louisiana, we stopped and visited Afton Villa, which is undoubtedly the most beautiful home we visited. Word’s cannot describe it. From there we drove to Baton Rouge. We got a new cabin which was very nice.”

“Tuesday Feb 18 was Mardi Gras. Mama and I got up at 5:30 and went right down town to get a seat for the parade which came at 1:30 P.M. We got a seat on a newstand. Dad came to town later and saw the parade farther up town. There were at least a million people on Canal St. that day. There were worlds of pretty costumes and plenty of crazy ones too.”

“We went thru the White House of the Confederacy where Jeff Davis lived….We left Dothan, Ala. Early and drove to Bainbridge Geo. For breakfast. In Georgia there were lots of tobacco fields. We also saw lots of colored homes. The condition of these homes is beyond belief.”

“Next morning we took a few pictures of the fruit continuing southward. We saw lots of orange groves. We bought about 8 dozen oranges for 75 cents. One could have all the orange juice you could drink for a dime.”

“March 11, will also, always be an unforgettable day getting up at 5:30. We were still out of sight of land. I got a good movie of the sunrise on the water when we docked in Havana. There were some colored boys in that dirty murky water diving for money people on the boat would through into the water. Their cry was “EFEEEE Charlie – Oh, Lady”

It didn’t take us too long to go through immigration and get our baggage check. At the dock, there was a Brooks man to meet us. On the way from the immigration room to the waiting room we were besieged with pamphlets and all kinds of literature, asking us to trade at one store or another. In the waiting room there was a flood of shoeshine boys, finally we were whisked away in a taxi to our hotel. ….We walked through some of the narrow streets around the hotel. The side walks average from 12 – 30- inches wide. Some streets are wide enough for two cars, while in others, there is room for only one.

Each of our dinners was enough for four people and topped off with a pint of mamossa (coffee ice-cream) or other ice cream flavored with tropical native fruit.”

“At 9 P.M. that night we started on a tour of the night life. First we stopped awhile at the Grand National Casino. Here there was all kind’s of gambling going on. We watched the floor show and then went to Faraon, a typical Cuban night-club. Also saw Sloppy Joes Bar and we got home by 3 A.M. Ho hum.”

“ I never saw so many beggar's as there are in Havana. If the children at play see a tourist they come running with out stretched palm.”

“The next morning we looked over what St. Augustine had to offer. We went to the oldest house, the oldest school house, the oldest orange grove narrowest street and the Fountain of Youth.”

“Next day was Wednesday, March 12th. Visited the capitol in Atlanta. At that time they had two governors. We went to Talmadge’s office. He autographed this picture and everybody said that Talmadge was governor. Then we went down to Thompson’s office. Just as we entered his office the state militia came in baring word that the Supreme Court had decided 5 to 2 that Thompson should be governor. Oh, my goodness! What confusion. The Senate in session did not wait to adjourn, everybody left. The radio men, reporters, and photographers mobbed the place. We got out as soon as we could so we could keep life and limb together. I must not fail to say either, that the Geo. Capitol was the most friendly capitol we visited.”

In Tennessee “We looked up our colored college, a.k.a. Knoxville College, an HBCU funded by the Presbyterian Church.”

In Maine there were “Lots of factories and the towns are awfully dirty and smelly, but the countryside is nice.”

“That evening we walked up and down Fifth Ave and went over to Times Square where we watched the neon advertisements. For awhile we watched the people skating in Rockefeller Center. Then we rested awhile in the Lobby of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. Next day it was raining so we went through Radio City and Rockefeller Center. 14 buildings all connected underground. We ate dinner in an automate and was that fun. That’s where you put in nickels and get back food. We also looked over Madison Square Garden. After supper in an Automate we went to the Mutual Broadcasting Studio’s where we witnessed the “Mighty Casey.”

“Easter. April 6, 1947 in New York City. What an experience we got up early in the morning and took a subway to Battery Park. There we got on a thing called a boat and rode over to the Statue of Liberty then took elevator 16 stories up, then Mama and I walked up 12 stories or 120 feet to the Crown.”

“Thursday, April 24, 1947 we reached home shortly afternoon. Home seemed good and it was. For of all the places we went, Denver is the best. The End.”

Interestingly enough while they were in Dover, Delaware on April 7, 1947 they were met by a reporter "who wrote down our history." This interview was published in the Journal-Every Evening Newspaper, Wilmington, Delaware on Tuesday, April 8, 1947 and also in the Wilmington Morning News, Wilmington, Delaware on Tuesday, April 8, 1947. Both articles, of which are copies in the album, emphasize the reason for this trip. "...The visitors were effusive in their compliments for the arrangement of the Delaware buildings, particularly the well-kept state grounds, and they admired the colonial building. They expressed the opinion that the Cuban Capital and that of Pennsylvania at Harrisburg are outstanding in architecture. Mr and Mrs. Newer said their tour originated with a desire to have their daughter visit as many capitol buildings as possible before she enters college in the fall, She was graduated from high school in January, and, on the trip has taken 2,000 feet of color motion pictures of state capitols. She plans to write a book on these buildings.

In the realm of diaries – scrapbooks – photo albums...this comprehensive album is one of the best.