Oral history interview with Joffre Lamar Stewart, 2000

Biographical Note

Joffre Lamar Stewart was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1925. His mother was from Barataria, Louisiana, and his father was from Holly Springs, Mississippi. During World War II, Stewart registered for the draft at his mother's insistence, but he missed his induction and was arrested. It was during his incarceration that he was introduced to the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) by John Schurr. This meeting, along with the Chicago Defender's coverage of CORE, led Stewart to join the group. While enlisted in the service, Stewart became a conscientious objector. He went AWOL on multiple occasions. On the boat to Europe he stopped talking. Later, he got sick and ended his military in a hospital, ultimately receiving an honorable discharge with a Purple Heart from the Army. Stewart was a pacifist, anarchist, and poet. He was active in CORE, the Industrial Workers of the World, the Chicago Area War Resisters Support Group, and other organizations. His book Poems and Poetry was published in 1982. He is referenced in Allen Ginsberg's poem "Howl." Stewart died in 2019

Scope and Contents

In this interview with Sheila Michaels, Joffre Stewart discusses his family, military service, and involvement with the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). Stewart provides information on his parents and grandparents and discusses growing up on Chicago's West Side and South Side. He discusses his experiences in the Army during World War II, with an emphasis on his resistance. He discusses going AWOL multiple times, punishment for these absences, the white leadership of his all-Black unit, his decision to stop speaking while onboard a ship to Europe, and his discharge from the Army. He also discusses the theoretical underpinnings of his pacifism, religion and atheism, the influence of Joseph Heller’s Catch-22, and his pacifist activism following the war. Stewart discusses his activity with CORE’s Chicago Chapter and CORE’s efforts in Washington, DC and elsewhere. With CORE, Stewart participated in pickets, sit-ins, and other efforts to desegregate housing, barber shops, cafeterias, restaurants, ballrooms, swimming pools, a roller skating rink, and a bowling alley. Stewart also discusses the relationship between the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) and CORE and his work with James Farmer. He describes CORE's interracial workshops in 1947, 1949 and 1953 and the loss of CORE files in a fire in FOR's Harlem office. He also discusses the death of Dorothy Wetzel Hunt, wife of Howard Hunt, and Michelle Clark in an airplane crash on December 8, 1972 at Chicago Midway Airport and activites of the CIA

Subjects

• African American soldiers--History--20th century.
• Anarchists--Interviews.
• Civil rights demonstrations--United States.
• Civil rights movements--United States--History--20th century.
• Congress of Racial Equality.
• Congress of Racial Equality. Chicago Chapter.
• Interviews.
• Michaels, Sheila, 1939-2017, interviewer.
• Oral histories.
• Pacifism.
• Peace movements--United States--History--20th century.
• Stewart, Joffre, 1925---Interviews.
• United States--Race relations--History--20th century.