The Progress of Our People: A Story of Black Representation at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair
laid the concrete for three of those Helped fill them up too Real big job buildings Lorraine wriggled with excitement With all that water at the fairgrounds how’s there even room for any Ha There’s so many buildings Rainie Big beautiful fancy buildings Make the ponds and such look like little barrels of water Most of them aren’t built to last a long time though Just paste over a wood frame painted white That’s why they call it the White City All them huge buildings buildings are like castles When it’s sunny you have to squint your eyes And they got lights on them so they even glow in the night Too excited to hold her questions until she’d swallowed Lorraine asked with her mouth full You said your favorite building is Machinery Hall right Oh my that’s a fine one Papa said leaning back in his seat with a satisfied smile Got steeples on it like a fancy old church reaching right up to the sky And all these columns and arches lining the outside And curved roofs made out of glass 6
But you didn’t build that one did you Lorraine asked Nope So how come it’s your favorite Papa Maybe I enjoy it because I didn’t build it Ha I didn’t have a chance to get sick of it like I did the ones I worked on And the last few weeks I was mostly putting staff on the Agricultural Hall right across the South Canal What’s staff again Basically a mix of cement and plaster Nice and light but it isn’t meant to last It spreads pretty easily but my arms sure got tired But all day long I could look over and see that fine Machinery Hall rising up from nothing and turning into something so grand I can’t wait to see it Lorraine grinned Yeah I know Papa didn’t meet her gaze What I don’t know is why they call it Machinery Hall What kind of an ugly name is that for such a pretty building Jumping up from the table Lorraine cried out Ooh I know I know 7
Sit down now This is no way to behave on a Sunday Sorry Papa Lorraine returned to her chair They’re gonna put machines in Machinery Hall Machines Who in the world wants to go look at machines machines while they’re trying to have a nice day at the fair Not regular machines Special machines Lorraine tried to remember what her teacher Miss Kerry had told her class at school Like there’s a weaving machine where the spools of yarn move on their own without a person guiding them All the countries in the world are going to bring their most amazing machines to show off what they can do Papa chuckled and rubbed his head Well I’ll be And there will be incredible things to see in all those beautiful buildings And food from all over the world And music Oh Papa when can we go Suddenly he bowed his head avoiding her eyes Sure wish I could find some new work Rainie Almost two years I sweated on them fairgrounds I cleared the trees I drained 8
the swamps I laid the groundwork I raised the buildings Now all that work’s done what are we all supposed to do Maybe you could be a ticket taker at the Expo Lorraine pictured herself with free access for the whole six months the fair stayed open But the frown on her papa's papa's face told her she’d said the wrong thing She knew he couldn’t read or write very well and hadn’t learned much arithmetic either He’d dropped out of school in the fifth grade to help his family make ends meet There must be another building going up somewhere in Chicago she said more gently He shrugged Not that I’ve heard Last few years everybody and his brother was building something in this town Now it seems like nobody’s got any money left to build anything else Sitting up straight he gave her a weak smile But don’t you worry Rainie girl We’ll be okay Maybe we can even make it to the fair one of these days Now put your Sunday dress on young lady I’ll go make sure your brother didn’t fall asleep again Don’t want to be late for church 9
