Harry Golden facts for kids
Harry Lewis Golden (born May 6, 1902 – died October 2, 1981) was an American writer and newspaper publisher. He was known for his strong opinions and his fight against unfair laws.
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Early Life and Challenges
Harry Golden was born Herschel Goldhirsch in a small town called Mikulintsy, which was part of Austria-Hungary at the time. His family moved to New York City in 1905. His father became an editor for a Jewish newspaper.
As a teenager, Harry sold newspapers on the busy Lower East Side of New York. He became interested in ideas about fair land use and spoke about them. He later worked as a stockbroker. However, he lost his job during the Great Depression in 1929, a time when many people lost their money and jobs. He faced a difficult time in his early career, but later received a special pardon from President Richard Nixon.
Fighting for Fairness
In 1941, Harry Golden moved to Charlotte, North Carolina. Here, he worked as a reporter. He bravely wrote and spoke out against racial segregation. This was a system where people of different races were kept separate, often unfairly, by laws known as Jim Crow laws.
From 1942 to 1968, Golden published his own newspaper called The Carolina Israelite. This newspaper was a place for him to share his political views. He also wrote about his childhood memories from New York City. He traveled a lot, even going to Germany and Israel to report on important events.
Golden was very clever and used humor to make his points. One of his famous ideas was called "The Vertical Negro Plan." He joked that if you removed all the chairs from a building, white people wouldn't mind standing next to Black people. This was because they often stood together at places like bank counters. He used this idea to show how silly segregation was.
He also told a story about a department store. He reportedly convinced the manager to put an "Out of Order" sign on the water fountain marked "White." Within a few weeks, everyone, both white and Black, was drinking from the fountain marked "Colored." This showed how easily people could get along if the rules were changed.
Harry Golden wrote several books. Many were collections of his essays from The Carolina Israelite. One of his books, Only in America, was even turned into a play. He also wrote a biography about his friend, the poet Carl Sandburg.
Personal Life
Harry Golden was married to Genevieve Gallagher, who was Irish Catholic. She passed away before him.
Honors and Legacy
Harry Golden is remembered for his work. There is a memorial honoring him at Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte.
Images for kids
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Only in America (1958) paperback, one of Golden's famous books.
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A collection of essays by Harry Golden from 1959.
