sl609, t609-05, LIFT EVERY VOICE AND SING ORAL HISTORY PROJECT
ORAL HISTORY T609-05
INTERVIEW WITH SENATOR JOHN BASS
INTERVIEWED BY DORIS WESLEY
LIFT EVERY VOICE AND SING ORAL HISTORY PROJECT
WESTERN HISTORICAL MANUSCRIPT COLLECTION
UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-ST. LOUIS
JOHN F. BASS
Principal, Beaumont High School; Comptroller, City of St. Louis Missouri;
Missouri State Senator
I grew up in the Ville. My grandparents had property on
Easton Avenue and Aldine Avenue, which was originally
called Lucky Street. Easton Avenue had a lot of tenement
houses, probably four-room flats. We lived up over a
grocery store and a used furniture store. When we lived
on Fairfax we had three rooms with an outdoor toilet.
That was the last year before the city outlawed outdoor
plumbing.
I attended Cole School and Sumner High School. Those
years were years of development for me. Sumner High
School had some of the finest black minds in the country.
That was my first contact with black professionals, and
I was inspired by their knowledge, by the disciplined
people who were our role models. They gave me a sense
of what I wanted to be.
At that time, community life was different. There were
people on your block who were respected, whether because
of occupation, or because of their practical wisdom, or
because they were successful parents, or they had some
kind of success through what they were doing. Those were
the people who were your counselors. They took time,
and they took part in your growing up.
In high school I was on the track team, and I was in the
city neighborhood athletic program. I was boxing at the
Slaughter Athletic Club. I got into it because I was small
and because I lived in a tough neighborhood. We had
gangs back then, too. We had the Unmerciful Hulks, the
Termites, and the Swanks. I was part of a couple of those
groups. Gangs served a sort of social purpose. They
showed your neighborhood prowess. I also was a drum major for the Spirit of St. Louis Drum and Bugle Corps,
sponsored by American Legion Post No. 77. We marched
in the Annie Malone Parade every year.
I started teaching in the public schools in 1950. In 1968,
after a crisis about a flag burning at Beaumont High
School, I was appointed principal of Beaumont High
School. I was able to settle the student unrest because
I was young and had a lot of energy. I could keep up
with the students.
Then in 1970 some black politicians came to me and said
they were ready to run a black for mayor, a black who
could get white votes. They got me a job at City Hall as
the director of human resources. After two years in that
job I was ready to run. But Mayor Cervantes decided to
run again, and Poelker, the comptroller, ran against him.
I was not interested in running if it would be divisive,
because I already had a good job at City Hall, so I ran for
comptroller. I went to Mayor Cervantes and told him I was
going to run for comptroller, and he tried to discourage me.
He said that since he and Poelker were both Democrats
I would still have my job no matter who won. I told him
that the black community was ready to test its political
might. It was time for an African American to be part
of the decision-making process.
Getting into politics took a lot of image building, especially
in South St. Louis. We had help from Sorkis Webbe and
from the Pipe Fitters Union. I was the comptroller from
1973 to 1977, and then I worked at CEMREL, the think
tank, and I was a city alderman. In 1980 I was elected to
the state senate. My district ran from the Ville on the north
to Highway 44 on the south, and from Goodfellow on the
west to the Mississippi on the east. I represented the
business district, the hospital district, the Central West End,
the Grand Center arts district, and part of North St. Louis.
I represented blues, booze, and Bach; the Big River City
where the Good Times Flow.
Then Bill Clay asked me to come to Washington as the chief
of staff of the Subcommittee on Libraries and Memorials.
That included the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian
Institution, and the Kennedy Center. The Library of Congress
employs a large number of researchers, many of whom
have Ph.D.s, to do research for congressmen and senators.
Sometimes those researchers have to find out all about
some issue in twenty-four hours.
We need to ask ourselves, who are we going to turn the
gauntlet over to? Who will stand on the shoulders of those
who have gone before? Young people who get involved in
politics need to understand about coalition politics, about
working together with other groups. They need to develop
a council of elders to advise them. You must stay informed
about politics. Know who is representing you, who is
affecting your life.
WESTERN HISTORICAL MANUSCRIPT COLLECTION
222 THOMAS JEFFERSON LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-ST. LOUIS
1 UNIVERSITY BLVD.
ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI 63121
(314) 516-5143
whmc@umsl.edu
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