And What Does An Influx of Black Men in Vermont Have to do with Harrisburg’s Lincoln Cemetery?

The Great Flood of 1927

In 1927 central Vermont was hit by a once-in-a-century storm. Long viewed as a primary source of food and wealth, the Winooski River, flooded. Eighty-Four people were killed along the river in the floods, and 55 of those were in the Winooski River Basin and the area suffered an estimated 30 million dollars in property damage. To prevent future loss a plan was hatched to build a series of dams, reservoirs, and bridges in East Barre, Middlesex, Montpelier, East Montpelier, and Waterbury. The Great Depression halted all prevention plans after The Great Flood.

Vermont’s lieutenant governor, Hollister Jackson, died in the flooding.

15 people who died when their boardinghouse went over Bolton Falls.

People had no time to evacuate themselves or their possessions.

When the river began over-flowing its banks—it rose at a rate of 4 feet an hour.

(Bushnell, 2016)

How Does A Flood Get A Black WWI Vet to Vermont?

Being A Black Man in the Vermont CCC

Integration in the Winooski River Local Protection Project

What was it like to be one of the Black Men in the C.C.C. to live in Central Vermont in the early 1930s?

On a July morning in 1933, “The citizens of Barre watched with open-mouthed amazement when the first contingent of the Civilian Conservation Corps climbed down from the train at Depot Square, comprised entirely of African-American veterans of the first World War, a colored company (“How the CCC changed central Vermont“),” disembarked from the train.

The citizens of Barre watched with “open-mouthed” amazement when the first contingent of the Civilian Conservation Corps climbed down from the train at Depot Square on a warm July morning in 1933. The initial detachment of company 1105, just over 125 men, was comprised entirely of African-American veterans of the first World War, a “colored company” from what was, at that time, a segregated army. The 1937 yearbook for the Sixth District recalled that the locals “stood around with wide eyes and open mouths, amazed at the sight before them. Most of the children had never seen a colored man before. But they were destined to see these new men for a long time to come, see them help in building the East Barre Dam, the value of which was demonstrated in last spring’s floods. And when these colored veterans departed on December 5, 1934, for Virginia, they took with them the well-wishes of the people of Vermont.”

Because Vermont was early in establishing New Deal work projects to combat flooding they were one of the few states that had integrated camps and crews. It was an experiment in integration that did not last, “after 1935 all CCC camps were segregated, as was the common practice in housing and employment at the time.” (“Accomplishments of African Americans in the CCC (1933-1942): Selected Examples”, p. 3)

---

In a letter to the Afro-American:

A black veteran talked about the popularity of baseball in central Vermont. “All towns have baseball teams and we are in demand as much as if we were the K.C. Monarchs or Baltimore Black Sox (teams in the Negro League). We play some small town every Saturday and Sunday. There is a lot of competition between athletic clubs, but we are weathering the storm, losing only one game out of five. Just beat the little town of Washington, Vermont, Sunday by a 12 to 2 score and they wanted to book a return game but at present we have games until August…. While the novelty of exposure to African Americans may have provided for more integration than what was typical for the Jim Crow South, differences in treatment by Command remained. White members of the C.C.C. were recognized as citizens outside of their work hours. But, leaders maintained a strict curfew for Black C.C.C. members.

(“How the CCC changed central Vermont”).

Who was James Young?

James Young was probably born 25 Jul 1897, but it could have been as early as 1894, in Newberry County, South Carolina.

His mother, Susie, was 24, and his father Ephraim Young, was a farmer close to his wife’s age. It’s unclear when James made his way to Harrisburg, but all of the accounts of his death report that he had been living in Harrisburg with his wife, Hattie, for some time before he enrolled in the CCC in 1933.

According to his gravestone, he served as a Corporal in the 1st Pioneer Infantry, 100th Regiment, Supply Company 8.

Unfortunately, other than his gravestone, and his obituaries, I found very little to document the life of Corporal James Young: I have not found his service records; his marriage certificate eludes me; and I am never entirely confident in census data.