Federal Writers' Project – Life Histories/2023/Fall/Section18/Henry Raymore

Henry Raymore

Biography:

Mr. Henry Raymore lived in Montgomery, Alabama. At the time of his interview, he was 75 years old, and frequently mentioned his faith and hopes of going to heaven soon. In his earlier life, Raymore worked as a sharecropper on a rural farm before pivoting careers to work in fortune telling. Raymore used this career shift as a way of reclaiming his power and independence. The interviewer, Adelaide Rogers, noted that, “instead of white folks working him, he works white folks.” Some of his services included seeing peoples’ futures through his crystal and connecting with his clients' lost loved ones. He also sold good luck powders and conjures. Oftentimes, this would include casting sickness spells on his clients’ enemies. Raymore claimed to have been a widower for twenty years and have two daughters, and asserted that he would leave all his possessions to his older daughter. His younger daughter had become involved with a gambling man that he did not approve of. These statements on his marital status, however, were contradicted by Raymore’s friends and family. They claimed that he had married a young woman who had been married twice before, and that she had left him because she didn’t agree with the “mumbo jumbo conjure stuff.” They said that he had gone by the name of Henry White and fled from Dallas County, Alabama after she left him. They also disputed his claim that his possessions would go to his daughter, insisting instead that his former wife would inherit his belongings as they were still legally married. When asked about his past, Raymore appeared to suffer a loss of memory.

Social Context:

Mystics in the 20^th Century:

Beginning with the ouija board, mystics and fortune telling became popularized in the early 20^th century following WWI as many people needed sources to turn to during this uncertain time. The term “fortune teller” held many different meanings for various communities. Oftentimes, “fortune tellers were grouped with soothsayers, spiritualists, prophets, healers, root workers, conjurers, black magic workers, witches, scammers, and many others." The rise of fortune telling coincided with the growth in popularity of magicians such as Harry Houdini. After his death, Houdini’s wife Bess held seances in attempts to connect with her deceased husband, a common practice at the time. Clairvoyants, or people who claimed to harbor an extra sense that allowed them to connect with the deceased, were frequently looked to in assisting with personal matters during the 20^th century. For instance, a man in Indiana named Lewis Stinglemire sent out a message in the newspaper about his daughter who had been missing for 7 years, to which a clairvoyant responded, telling him the exact location of his daughter’s body. Thomas Edison, the inventor of the light bulb, was also a part of this movement. Edison reportedly wanted to “develop a ‘spirit phone’ that would receive voices of the dead." However, many other people claimed to have been swindled by clairvoyants. Customers would sometimes be told that the larger piece of gold the clairvoyant grasps while contacting the dead, the more effective the communication will be. This led to complex and mixed public opinion about the accuracy of clairvoyants' approach, and fortune telling in general. Fortune telling set a very clear double standard as, “the poor who engage in games of chance are looked down upon, whereas the well-known had games of chance intentionally turned toward their advantage." This led to poorer customers being more easily taken advantage of, a prime example being the case of the gold-swindling clairvoyants.

Alabama in the Great Depression:

Alabama, like most states in the US, struggled economically during the Great Depression. To fix their financial issues, the state proposed some solutions. One such solution was to repeal prohibition. Prohibition made the sale and consumption of alcohol illegal. The state hoped that legalizing the sale of alcohol would stimulate the economy. Additionally, the state instituted a shift in taxation during the depression to ease financial burdens. The state also faced struggles in deciding where to allocate its spending.  Ernesto-Barrera notes that the state wondered if it should “increase its deficit by providing assistance for those hurt by the Depression, or should it focus on controlling its debt by increasing taxes and controlling its spending." Fueled by the Governor of Alabama’s hopes to fix the state’s deficit, the state chose to spend its money toward itself in order to control their personal debt. This allocation of spending to aid the state instead of its citizens shows the indifference that the Alabama state government felt towards the economic struggles of Alabama residents during the Depression. Thoughts of Communism within the black community in Alabama were on the rise during this time. Many residents were unhappy with the decisions being made by the state government along with blatantly racist acts and groups that it supported, and saw the party as an ally. David Roediger in “Where Communism Was Black” writes, “the role of the Communist-led International Labor Defense in mobilizing around the world against lynch law in the Scottsboro case and other Alabama miscarriages of justice helped to establish the Communist party’s image as such an ally." Alabama elected Benjamin Miller as governor in 1930, and he ran on a platform criticizing Governor Bibb’s spending (in aiding the state’s deficit instead of citizens). Along with this, he criticized the political power given to the Klu Klux Klan, and advocated against the Prohibitionist movement.

Footnotes

1. “Henry Raymore” Interview by Adelaide Rogers, undated 1936-1940. Folder 72, Federal Writers’ Project papers #3709, Southern Historical Collection, the Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
2. Notable Kentucky African Americans Database, “Fortune Tellers in Kentucky, Early 1900s,” (The University of Kentucky, 2022).
3. Keith Roysdon, “Seers, Mystics, and Scam Artists: Clairvoyants in the 20^th Century,” (Crime Reads).
4. Cody Delistraty, “The Surprising Historical Significance of Fortune-Telling,” (The American Journal of Sociology, 2016).
5. Sergio Ernesto-Barrera, “Alabama and The Great Depression,” (The University of Arizona, 2016) 14.
6. David Roediger, Review of “Where Communism was Black”, by Robin D. G. Kelley, (American Quarterly 44, no. 1, 1992) 123–28.

References

Ernesto-Barrera, Sergio. “Alabama and The Great Depression.” The University of Arizona, 2016. https://repository.arizona.edu/handle/10150/612545.

Roysdon, Keith. “Seers, Mystics, and Scam Artists: Clairvoyants in the 20^th Century.” Crime Reads. https://crimereads.com/seers-mystics-and-scam-artists-clairvoyants-in-20th-century-america/.

Roediger, David. Review of “Where Communism was Black”, by Robin D. G. Kelley. American Quarterly 44, no. 1 (1992): 123–28. https://doi.org/10.2307/2713184.

Notable Kentucky African Americans Database. “Fortune Tellers in Kentucky, Early 1900s.” The University of Kentucky, 2022. https://nkaa.uky.edu/nkaa/items/show/300004099.

Delistraty, Cody. “The Surprising Historical Significance of Fortune-Telling.” The American Journal of Sociology, 2016. https://daily.jstor.org/surprising-historical-significance-fortune-telling/.

“Henry Raymore” Interview by Adelaide Rogers, undated 1936-1940. Folder 72, Federal Writers’ Project papers #3709, Southern Historical Collection, the Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.