The Progress of Our People: A Story of Black Representation at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair
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
Sunday April 30 1893 Dear Diary I don’t know what to do I want to go to the Expo so badly I could die But we don’t have any money We had stale bread for breakfast again because we had to get the day old from Carter’s Bakery And no margarine or jam either This is so unfair Papa worked and worked and worked to make the fairgrounds nice He was exhausted all the time plus he had those back pains And that one time he cut his arm on some metal tool but we couldn’t afford the doctor I sat with him pressing a towel on the cut while Bobby ran down the block to the Duprés house for help Good thing Mrs Dupré trained in first aid when she was a teen after the war Anyway the Expo should let Papa and all the workers come for free with their whole 10
families To say thank you you know I saw in the paper that ten thousand men built the fairgrounds Now I bet most of them are out of a job just like Papa Even if he finds work we’re behind on the rent and Bobby and I both need new shoes When will we ever have enough money for tickets to the Expo I have to go now because Papa wants to leave for church I guess I’ll pray for Papa to find a new job that pays lots of money Love Lorraine 11
