Friday, July 19, 2019

ELPAPER #2


Posted by Chic Silber at 7/19/2019 11:56:00 PM

1 comments:

Roger Smith said...

In a first that had to have staggered the status quo in early 20th century America, Al. G. Barnes appointed a black man as his Superintendent of Elephants. Sidney Rink commanded the Barnes herd, having served a hard apprenticeship, from 1914 to roughly around 1920. More than that, Rink had his own paper for a starring turn with his comedy mules. Imagine white elephant men taking orders from a black man in that era. Imagine predominately white audiences finding the same black man bringing a first class act in a featured spot before them. It was an anomaly of history, rare indeed, but he was there for all to see, and Sidney Rink made that history.

20 July, 2019 18:19

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