I Am the American

About the Book

This memoir of the life of William "Earl" Williams is an inspiring personal saga of one black man´s trials and triumphs as well as a revealing account, rich in incident and insight, of the American society through which he journeyed from the 1930s through the 190s. As a story, Earl´s encounter with 20th century America is consistently informative and often compelling. He somehow ended up in places where "things" just happened. if there was a model for Forrest Gump it could easily have been Earl Williams. He actually discovered gold coins buried in snow which brought him and his mother out of poverty and up to Harlem. He was run down by a band of Irish toughs, stripped and tossed into the Hudson River to drown. He was shining shoes in f ront of a black-owned bar when mobsters sprayed machinegun fire all about. He delivered groceries to the famous of Harlem and looked on as Bojangles Robinson shot craps behind the stage door of the Apollo Theater. He was in Cuba when opposition forces stepped up their attacks against Batista and he befriended black baseball players in Havana who prayed they´d get a shot in the Major Leagues. He was one of the first blacks admitted to the Lithographers´ Union, printed the covers for TIME and LIFE Magazines, and was in the Army when it moved decisively to desegregate.

Beyond the stories is an immensely useful storehouse of information about American society over the last 50 years. His descriptions of the social, political, economic, criminal and street life of Harlem in the 130s and 140s are penetrating, as is his account of the working class black exodus to "suburban" Queens. The story of his mother (widowed at 14) is, in light of today´s concerns, instructive. His discussion of ethnic relations in New York City in this period is most valuable, as are his insights into the Lithographers´ Union. Earl was immersed in the Greenwich Village and the jazz club scene in the 140s and was viewed as a potential recruit by Socialists and Communists in that same period. His tales of the black soldier in the South are eye openers while his observations of gay activities in the Army are both poignant and perceptive. His detailed description of his two years with New York´s Sanitation Department may well represent the first full account of this "profession" ever written by a "garbage man." His recollection of his 18 years as a cop in New York City probably could stand alone. Rich in action and insight, they reveal an insider´s view of the metropolis only a policeman would see. In sum, this book offers readers both a highly original black voice together with a solid and fascinating narrative.

Earl Williams was, to all who knew him, a charming man of great compassion and exceptional wisdom. Despite the scars he bore, The looked forward with some confidence to a better America. That he was a wonderful friend for so many years will always remain for me a treasured memory.

About the Author

Richard Skolnik was born in New York City, graduated from Dartmouth College and received a Ph.D. in history from Yale University in 1964. Ever since, he has taught at the City College of New York, instructing students from the metropolitan area as well as those who´ve come from all over the world. As a professor of United States history he has long been engaged in presenting and explaining many of the uniquely progressive features of the American scene while accounting for those events and developments which have not been sources of national pride. He has written several books covering a broad range of subject areas -- from Baseball and Money to life in a Polish village as well as an account of the European holocaust of the 1940s. The present volume is an outgrowth of a twenty-five year friendship between author and Mr. William "Earl" Williams (1929-1996) which led the two to engage in hundreds of hours of taped conversations in the early 1990s. What emerged from these interviews was a most valuable body of personal memory and commentary which served as the basis for the present work.