Georgia Negro Weeps Open-Eyed at the Death of President Roosevelt

[mahatmakanejeeves]

I can't help it. I just love this picture.

Rerun from a year ago.

Itself a rerun.

April 12, 1945. The picture of Graham Jackson is the image of that event that I always think of.



The caption of the original photograph starts out:

On the afternoon of the day he died President Roosevelt was scheduled to attend a barbecue at Warm Springs. That afternoon he would have heard Chief Petty Officer Graham Jackson, a Georgia Negro, play his accordion. The President had enjoyed Jackson's songs many times in the past. The next day when the President's body was borne slowly past the main dormitory at Warm Springs, where often he used to wave at the patients convalescing in the sun's rays, Jackson stepped out of the watching circle, sadly fingered the strains of Going Home. As he played, C.P.O Jackson wept open-eyed to the mournful phrases of his own lament.

Graham Jackson, from the wonderful Atlanta Time Machine.

Please go to Google Books to see the coverage in the April 23, 1945 issue of Life magazine. You will be amazed. (I can't make the link directly.)

Roosevelt's Death:

http://books.google.com/books?id=wEkEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA19&dq=Roosevelt+funeral&hl=en&ei=TirDS4iHOIT7lwfx96jaBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CAoQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Roosevelt%20funeral&f=true

[Brickbat]

1. A truly great man. Thanks for the reminder.

K&R

[Waiting For Everyman]

2. Churchill said of FDR...

"Meeting Roosevelt was like uncorking your first bottle of champagne."

What a great thing to be said of someone! I can imagine what he meant, I wish we had an FDR right now, or two.

In the 50's and 60's, it was not a rare thing to see franed photos of him in homes. He meant a lot to people - understandably.

[AnneD]

10. Like seeing....

JFK and RFK in folks homes in my childhood. This is what GOP (and some DEMS)doesn't understand because they are so false and shallow. These politicians truly loved the people and were truly loved in return. They genuinely cared about the plight of the average guy and tried to make their burdens a little easier.

[struggle4progress]

3. H.T. Burleigh's Goin Home (Providence String Quartet)

[struggle4progress]

4. Dvorak's New World Symphony: Second Movement, First Part (Dublin Philharmonic)

[struggle4progress]

5. Goin Home (Deanna Durbin in "It Started with Eve", 1941)

[struggle4progress]

6. Goin Home (Jan Clayton in "The Snake Pit", 1948)

[struggle4progress]

7. Goin Home (Paul Robeson, 1958)

[Are_grits_groceries]

9. I love this hymn especially

by Paul Robeson. 'Amazing Grace' seems to be the default hymn at a lot of funerals I have attended. I don't mind it, but 'Going Home' is what I would like if anything is played.

[AnneD]

8. That pic....

has always been oneof my favs from that time period, like the Navy man kissing the Nurse or the mother in the migrant camp. They are honest pictures of real feelings.