An Interesting Photo from 1964

from "Chess Life"  March 1964

Bill Slater was the respected daytime manager of the Marshall Club.  His wife Kathryn was one of the stronger women players of her day.  Walter Harris, as the blurb notes, pioneered the break-through for black chess players. A physics major at UCLA, he gave up chess in the 1970s.

From "Jet," April 1960:

from "Ebony," July 1960

from "Chess Life,"  Oct. 1965

Simply awesome.
It shows that there were indeed people who saw a different picture, even in times of huge prejudice and racism.
Chess knows no bonds and its good to have everyone willing to play the game, it is open to every mind, even though there are still some problems with the female gender.
Great finding. Thanks a lot.

Thanks!

"Chess life", "Jet", "Ebony", i think now it is a rare paper for one to get! LOL

Interesting thread.

from "Chess Life,"  December 1965

nice

One of course must put it in its historical and cultural context but we really should get away from describing people in constructs such as black or white, a person of colour etc etc.  We are human, surely it's enough.

Well said Robbie.  But sadly we live in a world of labels.

Yeah, with you totally robbie. 

Thanks for the post batgirl! 

It would be interesting to find out if Mr. Harris is still alive. He would be 75.

In the USCF Ratings database there is a Walter Harris with a 2239 out of Virginia.

Last active membership date was 2003.

As always Batgirl, cool article!

Chess doesn't recognize gender, skin color, beliefs or even morality (something for a future posting).   People do however and probably always will.  Really, history suggests that this baser aspect of man's nature isn't likely to ever change.   

I thought it was worthwhile to show some chess ground-breakers, at least here in the U.S.  1960 was near the very beginning of the Civil Rights Movement.  A story is told - I only know it third handed, from the Chess Drum - how during the 1959 US Open, being held at the Sheraton-Fontenelle Hotel in Omaha Nebraska, Harris wasn't allowed by the hotel management to stay there (over protests by Anthony Saidy) but had to find quarters elsewhere.    Freedom Riders, sit-ins, protests, riots, law changes all either were just starting or came later.  Following in the path carved out by Harris was Frank Street, who won the U.S. Amateur Tournament in 1965.  Notice Airman David Michael Lees in the extraneous photo from 1965, the blurb doesn't even mention color (something "Chess Life," "Jet" and "Ebony" all felt necessary just 5 years earlier).  More about Lees here:  https://www.chess.com/chessopedia/view/lees-david 

Here it is pretty common to call people by "black", "hairy" "fat" etc. I guess its a cultural thing and people really don't mind it too much. But that happens mostly in the productive sections of companies etc.
I worked two years as an offset pressman and it was commonplace to call people by nicknames or color/hairstyle/etc. No one really cares about it too much since you're just calling the person, not stating anything.
However it's bizarre to read it in a notice. It imposes a race distinction in between the lines, which is not fine, even though it might've been an usual thing back then.

Let's make a Hollywood movie about this story!

People existed in the 1900s??? I thought the world was created exactly in the year 2000

Actually I think its much more endemic than even culture or history because like you say people even self identify with being 'black', or 'white, or whatever.  Perhaps they draw strength from it, I don't know.  But yes the chessboard only cares about one thing, 'the march of logic', as Karpov once termed it

20 year old Frank Street, US Amateur Champion in 1965:

24 year old Kenneth Clayton, 1963 US Amateur Champion:

Ooh! Shinny!
Man I would be happy for years, earning a trophy like that for putting my mind to it's best shape in an ultimate intelect tournament!

Where is Obama?

Interesting article, a true pioneer. It's admirable how you come up with all of these little tidbits, Sarah.