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Thanks to New York Public Library patron research database access, The Wikipedia Library https://wikipedialibrary.wmflabs.org/about/ which "allows active editors to access a wide range of collections of paywalled reliable sources for free", and the Internet Archive's ebook program, I followed a citation trail, from scholarly reviews of a Fletcher biography, to the biography itself, to Johnson's autobiography.

And I confirmed: it was true! And I edited https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Weldon_Johnson#Education_and_law_careers and Fletcher's bio accordingly.

Sumana Harihareswara

@brainwane@social.coop replied · 2 months ago

Thursday, April 25, 1912:

Mr. MARCONI.
The actual signs of the messages were received immediately.

Senator SMITH.
How much later?

Mr. MARCONI.
Theoretically, it should take, for 6,000 miles, one-twentieth or one twenty-fifth of a second. I did not measure it, but it did seem instantaneous.

Senator SMITH.
That is, it was received within a minute?

Mr. MARCONI.
Yes; under a minute; one-twentieth of a second. It traveled with the same speed as light, I should say.....

Sumana Harihareswara

@brainwane@social.coop replied · 2 months ago

(Context: This particular exchange concerns a successful experiment in which Marconi, in Argentina, received a message from Ireland. Also includes:

...It was not a reliable connection.

Senator SMITH.
When you got nothing did you think that the messages had been intercepted?

Mr. MARCONI.
No; I did not.

Senator SMITH.
At sea or other shore stations?

Mr. MARCONI.
They had been absorbed in the atmosphere. Another station can not intercept them so as to stop them; they can only get a copy.)

Sumana Harihareswara

@brainwane@social.coop replied · 2 months ago

A friend noticed that one of the Senators questioning Marconi was Duncan U. Fletcher, and pointed me to his English Wikipedia bio https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duncan_U._Fletcher .

Which noted that he was "a staunch supporter of the Confederate cause" in the 20th century -- but also that, in the 1890s, was one of three attorneys, all white, appointed to administer the bar examination to James Weldon Johnson, who was the first African-American admitted to the Florida Bar by examination. Huh.

#CivilRights #BlackHistory

Sumana Harihareswara

@brainwane@social.coop replied · 2 months ago

When I came across that claim, it had no citation, and I was pretty doubtful. I used WikiBlame https://wikipedia.ramselehof.de/wikiblame.php?user_lang=en&lang=en&project=wikipedia&tld=org&article=Duncan+U.+Fletcher&needle=weldon&skipversions=0&ignorefirst=0&limit=500&offmon=8&offtag=15&offjahr=2025&searchmethod=int&order=desc&user= and saw that a user had added this in 2007 along with many other no-citation claims.

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Duncan_U._Fletcher&diff=prev&oldid=153511909

So I started learning more about Fletcher and about Johnson, and editing the articles about them as I went.

#Wikipedia

Sumana Harihareswara

@brainwane@social.coop replied · 2 months ago

And I confirmed: it was true! And I edited https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Weldon_Johnson#Education_and_law_careers and Fletcher's bio accordingly.

Sumana Harihareswara

@brainwane@social.coop replied · 2 months ago

I left some pointers to sources on the Fletcher talk page so some future editor can improve that page.

And I started reading more of James Weldon Johnson's autobiography, because it's funny, & because he was amazing. This guy:

passed the Bar in a grueling and unfair 2-hour exam in front of a crowded courtroom of spectators

was the first black executive secretary of the NAACP

wrote the poem that became the song "Lift Every Voice and Sing"

served as a diplomat in Venezuela

#BlackHistory

Sumana Harihareswara

@brainwane@social.coop replied · 2 months ago

Example of the wry humor in "Along this way" (1933) (starting ~p. 140):

> In some way D — came to the attention of Mr. Stockton and was engaged by him to campaign for the Straightout ticket....

> D— came to me and said, "Mr. Stockton wants to carry out the promise he made to do something for me...." Mr. Stockton did carry out his pre-election promise, despite the fact that he had been defeated— which, perhaps, was evidence that he had no real aptitude for practical politics— ....

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