The C.O.W.S. A FOOT IN EACH WORLD Part IV

The Context of White Supremacy hosts the fourth study session on Leanita McClain’s posthumously published A Foot In Each World. McClain was an outstanding representation of the potency and importance of black journalists. She had articles published in the Chicago Tribune and The Washington Post. She generally used her columns to examine how Racism impacted black people. She succumbed to suicide in May of 1984 at the age of 32. Her suicide note details the degree to which White Supremacy eviscerated her mental health. She wrote: “Do not try to pull my back into this world. I will never live long enough to see my people free anyway.” A Foot In Each World is a collection of her poetry and essays that was edited by her former husband Clarence Page. Examining her work chronologically offers insight on her evolving thoughts on Racism as well as her personal sorrow. It seems that her fear of being rejected or vilified by other black people was a constant source of tumult. She also seemed to harbor hopes and heartache over a few “Good Whites.” Last week we reviewed her support for pardoning Marcus Garvey and her defense against divulging classified documents on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Her piece, “The Wart On Chicago’s face,” reveals many of the well-founded fears that Black Chicagoans had about the Racist response to election of Mayor Harold Washington; in this essay, McClain captures the identical energy and anxiety of President Obama’s 2008 run for the White House.