An October Evening in Osceola, Arkansas in Late June, 1938

On a Saturday night in late October of 1938, my father saw something at the local movie theater. This was so long ago that it was then called the "picture show." In those days, blacks sat in the balcony and whites sat down below. My father saw something that caught his eye. In his 15 years, he had never seen so many black men lined up to buy a ticket. It was not until the next day that he discovered the reason. That was the night the newsreel would show the replay of the second Joe Louis Max Schmelling championship fight. I feel sorry for anyone who got there late. The fight lasted only two minutes and eight seconds.