149 Liberty StreetThe early life story of Margaret Glascoe is similar in many respects to the African-American families who purchased or rented property around Turkey Swamp. But, soon after she moved to Westfield in 1925, her life took a turn that involved international travel and included the involvement of many prominent African-American social activists at the time.
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149 LIBERTY STREET
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Drawing of Margaret Glascoe
Stephen Glascoe
149 Liberty Street - Home of Margaret Glascoe. Photo taken 1943. Although it shows damage to the roof, the house was a significant structure.
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The images on the left show a drawing of Margaret Ann Glascoe, and her second husband, Stephen Glascoe.
Early LifeMargaret was born on a small farm in 1882 in the Piedmont region of Virginia, about 50 miles southwest of Charlottesville. She was the youngest daughter of the six children of Patrick and Sarah Hagar. Patrick was the son of a slave owner and enslaved mother.
Margaret’s mother died when she was 2 years old; her father died when Margaret was seventeen. By then, most of her siblings had already begun moving north. Before 1900, Margaret also moved to Manhattan, where her two brothers had found work. Her brother Charles was a barber and taught Margaret his barbering skill. In 1905, Margaret married Archie Patterson, who had moved north from North Carolina sometime after 1900. In 1910, they had a son, Lloyd Walton Patterson, while living in the Bronx with relatives. Archie died soon after Lloyd’s birth, but Margaret remained living with her in-laws and worked as a barber. Stephen GlascoeMargaret met Stephen Glascoe through her barber business, when he drove one of her clients to get a haircut. News accounts show that Margaret joined Stephen’s church, the A.M.E. Zion Church, in Poughkeepsie. They married on Christmas Eve, 1917, the day before Stephen reported for active duty in World War 1.
After basic training, Stephen was sent to France where he was assigned to the 369th Infantry Regiment, an all African-American unit, commonly referred to as the “Harlem Hellfighters”. The 369th spent 191 days in frontline trenches, more than any other American unit. After the War ended, Stephen returned home in February, 1919, and was honorable discharged, but suffering severely from exposure to poison gas during his time in the trenches. Stephen reunited with his wife Margaret and his stepson Lloyd at their home in the Bronx. Over time, Stephen’s health deteriorated. Margaret was advised that Stephen needed to move to an area that had better air quality. In the Spring of 1925, she purchased the home at 149 Liberty Street in Westfield for $4,000. Sadly, Stephen died just three months later, leaving Margaret once again to fend for herself and Lloyd, now fifteen years old. 149 Liberty Street, WestfieldMargaret had difficulty finding work as a barber in her new town. To make ends meet, she became a laundress and took in boarders. She also joined St. Thomas A.M.E. Zion Church, located just around the corner on Fanwood Avenue. Lloyd enrolled in Westfield High School.
In 1926, Margaret was notified by the High School that Lloyd was doing poorly and may have to repeat his grade. According to her autobiography, she mortgaged her home to send Lloyd to Hampton Institute, an African-American school located in Hampton, Virginia. Lloyd returned to Westfield in 1931 and reportedly found difficulty in finding steady work. By 1932, Margaret was active in her church and in the greater community of Westfield. She participated in food nutrition classes at St. Luke’s A.M.E. Zion Church on Downer Street; she helped form a local chapter for the “advancement of colored people”. |
Lloyd is in the rear row fourth from the left. Immediately below him is Langston Hughes, poet and social activist. Seated to the left of the Ship’s life ring is Louise Thompson Patterson, already a prominent social activist.
Margaret Glascoe and James - 1935 (?)
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Lloyd PattersonIn 1932, at the age of 22, Lloyd saw an ad in a New York newspaper that attracted his attention – a Russian film company was seeking African-American actors to travel to Russia to make a movie entitled “Black and White”. He applied and was accepted to join twenty other African-Americans who set sail on the SS Europa bound for Helsinki in the spring of 1932.
This is a 1932 photograph of the cast of “Black and White” onboard the SS Europa. Lloyd is in the rear row fourth from the left. Immediately below him is Langston Hughes, poet and social activist. Seated to the left of the Ship’s life ring is Louise Thompson Patterson, already a prominent social activist, former instructor at the Hampton Institute, and longterm friend of Langston Hughes who helped to recruit candidates for the film. Russia and VeraUpon arriving in Russia, the entourage was greeted with great fanfare, housed in one of Moscow’s best hotels, and introduced at elaborate parties to Russia’s elite. However, it soon became clear that the original screenplay meant to portray the racism and class war in a steel factory in Birmingham, Alabama was a hopeless caricature of life in the Southern States. Langston Hughes was engaged to rewrite the script.
Weeks passed and eventually the Communist Party organizers of the film decided to cancel the production, allegedly after pressure from the US Trade representatives. The actors were offered the option of a free tour of Eastern Russia, transportation home to the United States, or the opportunity to stay. Three in the entourage, including Lloyd Patterson, chose to stay and took up residence in Moscow. Less than a year later he had married a Ukrainian artist Vera Aralova and they had their first of three sons -James Lloydovich Patterson . In a letter to his mother in 1933, Lloyd wrote “Mother, life out here is simply bubbling over like the water in a tea kettle. There is so much work here that there is a lack of workers. They don’t even notice that I am black here. Leave everything and come to the Soviet Union.” |
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Letters from Margaret and Langston Hughes to LloydOn the left are two letters to Lloyd, the first from his mother Margaret who writes in part:
“Son, You tell me that Vera is such a wonderful mother and wife. I love that, and my heart swells within me when I think of what a wonderful husband and father you are. God bless my children. Lloyd, find out how much it will cost a{nd} best way for me to come.” The second letter is an excerpt of a letter from Langston Hughes to “Pat”, Hughes’ nickname for Lloyd Patterson. He writes: “Give my love and greetings to Vera and write me all about little Pat, Junior, or is that his name? All good wishes, Langston. He adds “I think Vera’s one of the grandest girls I ever met. I know you do, too.” A year later, Margaret answered her son’s invitation and traveled to visit her son, his new family, and this promised land. |
This is a portrait of Lloyd Patterson discovered in a Moscow shop by Andrew Leddy, an American antiques dealer, in 1992.
See https://hillwoodmuseum.org/exhibitions/portrait-lloyd-patterson
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Return to the USThis is a photograph of Lloyd Patterson holding his son James.
Margaret stayed with her son and his family for six months, but eventually sought and found work as an electric winder at the Stalin Automobile Factory. She wrote a story entitled “I am Among My own People in My own Country”, which appeared in a 1935 edition of “The Negro Worker”, a publication produced by the Communist Third International (COMINTERM). In it, Margaret relates how difficult life in the United States was for her and extols how good her life in Russia has been. She concludes by writing, “I now feel at home, I know the comrades, the factory, Moscow, and the whole country. I am beginning to live!” In 1937, Margaret returned to the United States, arriving by boat to New York City. It is not known what prompted her return. It is possible that the Great Purge instigated by Joseph Stalin in 1936 changed Margaret’s outlook on her newly adopted country. It is also not known if she ever returned to her home on Liberty Street. In 1941, Margaret, at the age of 59, married Samuel Banks in Virginia and lived with him in Rockland, Virginia, just a few miles from her family home at Massie’s Mill. Lloyd Patterson died in 1942 from injuries sustained during the German bombing of Moscow. Margaret died two years later, and was buried at Massie’s Mill. Her home at 149 Liberty Street was foreclosed by the Town of Westfield in 1956 for non-payment of taxes. Lloyd’s son James returned to the United States in 1981 and currently lives in Washington, D.C. |
The story of Margaret Glascoe and her family is more dramatic than most, but her story echoes the adversity which confronted most of the African-American families who lived near “Turkey Swamp”.
Like her, they came to Westfield in search of a better life for themselves and their families. And, like Margaret, they experienced successes and failures in that quest.
Like her, they came to Westfield in search of a better life for themselves and their families. And, like Margaret, they experienced successes and failures in that quest.