By Jerome Pearson
At the end of my sophomore year in college, I traveled from Baltimore, Maryland to Buffalo, NY to spend the summer with my Uncle Isaac and Aunt Frances Pearson. I chose Buffalo, NY because I wanted to spend some time with my aunt and uncle and also because I thought I would have a better chance of finding a summer job in Buffalo than in South Carolina.
At the end of the school year most students would be leaving for home on the Friday before senior graduation. As for me, rather than leaving on that Friday I chose to spend the weekend at Morgan and not leave for Buffalo until the Sunday evening following senior graduation; I did this despite the fact that I had no intentions of attending graduation ceremonies. I don’t currently recall why I chose to spend the weekend in Baltimore before leaving for Buffalo; perhaps I didn’t want to arrive in Buffalo until the beginning of the week.
I remember on that Friday afternoon a man had chosen to run around the school’s track from Friday afternoon until that Sunday afternoon’s graduation. He was apparently doing this in honor of the recent graduates. Along with other spectators, I chose to run with him for a while. I was in exceptionally good shape during those days and could run for at least an hour without getting tired; especially at the pace he was running. After I was done, every so often I would revisit the stadium, sit in the stands, and just observe him running. Keep in mind, this man was attempting to run continuously from about 4pm Friday afternoon until approximately 1pm the following Sunday. That would have amounted to nearly 40 hours of continuous running.
After breakfast the following morning, I returned to the field and he was still running. Spectators continued to observe him run around the track. Unfortunately, sometime on that Saturday afternoon (nearly 24 hours later non-stop), he sprained an ankle and could not finish.
However, it was exciting to know that someone would even attempt such an endeavor.
Because I now had some money, I chose to purchase my own ticket for Buffalo. My uncle would have done it, but I insisted, since I now had a bank account resulting from refunds from an ROTC scholarship, I received at the beginning of my sophomore year. I was one of those kids who insisted on doing for himself if it were possible. However, rather than flying, I chose to take a bus which turned out to be a longer trip than I had imagined. I left Baltimore on that Sunday evening. I was travelling through towns in Western Pennsylvania and New York I had never heard of and after many hours of the bus ride, I became slightly ill.
Buses have this rather unfortunate requirement of stopping in every little town. The towns on this particular trip are considered “middle America” “steel mill” or “rust belt”. There were towns with names such as Harrisburg, Scranton, York, Ithaca; most appeared as boring as their names. Many years later residents of such towns would often get a chip on their shoulders and pretend that everything was being taken away from them, and therefore, become vulnerable to a con like Trump. Make America great again? I saw nothing great about those towns back then, so how could they possibly be great again! I could not wait for the bus to get the hell out of dodge!
I finally arrived in Buffalo at approximately 4pm on that Monday afternoon. Buffalo is the 2nd largest city in the state of New York. The city received its name from a nearby creek called Buffalo Creek. Some people believe that the creek got its name from the American Buffalo which roamed as far as Western New York. As one of the most populous cities of the 1950s, Buffalo’s economy revolved almost entirely on its manufacturing base. Major companies such as Republic Steel and Lackawanna Steel employed tens of thousands of Buffalonians. Integrated, national shipping routes would utilize the Soo Locks near Lake Superior and a vast network of railroads and yards that crisscrossed the city.
Because of its booming economy, before and after the 2nd world war, many folks from the South had begun migrating to Buffalo. I think that my mother’s oldest brother (Uncle Robert) arrived in Buffalo sometime during the early 50s and was followed by his younger brother, Uncle Isaac, in the early 60s.
This was my second time in Buffalo. I had been there during the previous thanksgiving, and I must say the weather was lot better this time. Although the city is known to have snowy winters, “Buffalo has the sunniest and driest summers of any major city in the Northeast, but still has enough rain to keep vegetation green and lush. Summers are marked by plentiful sunshine and moderate humidity and temperature.” Therefore, summers in Buffalo are often very pleasant.
The city is not far from the Canadian Border, and you can drive to Niagara Falls within a short time. Buffalo is 50 miles (80 km) south-southeast from Toronto.
The city has 78 public schools and 47 private schools. “The State University of New York (SUNY) operates three institutions within the city of Buffalo. The University at Buffalo is known as “UB” and is the largest public university in New York. The University at Buffalo is the only university in Buffalo and is a nationally ranked tier 1 research university. Buffalo State College and Erie Community College are a college and a community college, respectively. Additionally, the private institutions Canisius College and D’Youville College are within the city.”
My Uncle Isaac taught at the Public School for approximately 40 years. But during this time, in addition to teaching, he would often take on other jobs, such as the Republic Steel Company. My uncle was working at Republic Steel during the summer of my visit.
During those first several days in Buffalo that summer, I was often home alone as my Aunt and Uncle went to work. I would eventually get an interview at Republic Steel during the upcoming week. In the meanwhile, I began to do something I had never done in my entire life; I began watching Soap Operas. My favorites during this summer included the famous “Another World” and a relatively new one called “Guiding Light”. I would also watch daytime comedies such as “All in the Family”. This was my first time becoming familiar with Archie Bunker, and I must say I found him quite funny.
When not watching TV, I would study my vocabulary book. I purchased a book that contained 1000 big words, and it was my goal to learn the meaning of each. Other folks had their own hobbies. Reading a vocabulary book happened to be one of mines. Words would become my weapon, and I was planning to strategically deploy them when necessary, oftentimes out of context.
During my second week in Buffalo, I had an interview and a medical physical at Republic Steel Company. Built along the Buffalo River the Republic Steel Mill was one of several mills operated by Republic Steel along the Great Lakes, making the company the third largest steel producer in the United States for a time. This was not going to be your typical college intern job; it was truly a job that required much laborious investment. I think I did well enough during the interview, but the question was going to be whether I was physically capable of doing the job. At the time I weighed less than 120 pounds, but I was in excellent shape. After all, I had been a student in ROTC, both as a freshman and sophomore, and we had to be pretty decent shape.
When I left the interview, I think HR still had a question about whether I would be able to handle the job. My aunt Frances told me that perhaps I should eat a lot of bananas to increase my weight. In my mind, I was not likely to get the job. I began to turn my mind to other things.
About week later I had gone to the local store to purchase some items. When I returned, my Aunt greeted me at the door and said, “The Human Resources Manager from Republic Steel was here and you have the job!” I will not say that I was stunned, but I was pretty close to it. The HR Manager was a friend of Uncle Isaac, and he came by their home just to let them know I had the job.
Nearly a week later I began my new job at Republic Steel. There was another young man from Howard University who would also be starting. The job was hot, dirty, but fun in some ways. We wore work boots and hard hats. My primary job was loading scrap pieces of steel into a wheel barrel and transporting it to a local dump area. At the end of the day, everyone was required to take a shower. You would never want to leave the plant in work clothes or without showering.
We were paid on a weekly basis and the check I received following my first week was the most money I had ever made for week’s work. When I saw that first check, it did not matter to me how hot and how tough the job was, I was going to do an excellent job. The other student and I report to a little old many who was our foreman. The first appraisal he had given me was positive. He simply said that “you are always where you should be. I never have to go looking for you!”
This was the summer of 1978. And one of the hottest stars that summer was Buffalo’s own: Rick James. His family had lived not far from my uncle. As a matter fact, his young brother came by our home one day. One of the biggest disco hits that summer was “You and I”. That was followed up with “Mary Jane”. At the time I did not know that “Mary Jane” was actually referring to Marijuana. “I’m in love with Mary Jane; I’m not the only one. If Mary wanna play around, I let her have her fun.”
I would attend several concerts that summer! The first was the “Commodores” with their current hit “Three Times a Lady!” That is a beautiful song, but the album was not nearly as good as the one the year before. The Commodore would never be as great as they were in 1977 with such mega hits as “Zoom”, “Break House” and “Easy”.
I would also see the “O Jays” that summer with their current hits “She Used to be my Girl” and the beautiful “Brandy” which was inspired by a dog: “sittin by the open fire-place in my favorite dungarees; played a few balls of a melody and it sounded sweet to me!”
I recall one Saturday treating one of neighbor’s daughters to dinner at a steak restaurant since she had been so helpful to me. As we were driving to the restaurant, I saw my cousin “Anita” walking down the street. I pulled over and asked if she would like to join us for dinner. She said yes, so it was so wonderful treating these ladies to dinner with money from my big paycheck.
In late August of that summer, I returned to Baltimore to begin my junior year at Morgan. After returning to school my Aunt Frances mailed all of my savings and I deposited it in my bank account. Along with my ROTC Scholarship, which provided me with a monthly stipend, I made enough money that summer to last me for the remaining two years in college.
My decision to spend that summer in Buffalo was one of the best decisions I had ever made, and for that reason, I am forever grateful to the city of Buffalo.
But most importantly, I am forever grateful for the love and care i received from my Aunt and Uncle, Frances, and Isaac Pearson!
Jerome