These are my grandparents when they first met. His name was Clyde and hers Frances.
He was born in Alexandria, Louisiana. His family had lived there since before the civil war. He came from a somewhat mixed heritage that only Louisiana could provide. His mother was half Native American and half African American and what else he was mixed with I don't know. He joined the Army seeking advantages and experiences he could not get as black man in Louisiana in the 1940's.
It was not until a couple of years after World War II that he met my grandmother. He saw her doing a floor show for the soldiers. He found out who she was and persuaded a friend of hers to get her to come and meet him. From there they eventually had my mother, married and came to America.
Francis was born in Mannheim in 1928. Her parents were acrobats in a traveling circus and she was born right into it. In the picture above you see her parents. Frances is the young woman playing the xylophone; and Hildegard, her sister is the contortionist.
When the war started Frances was only eleven and her sister only six. Her father was drafted into civil service. He had clean up duty after the air raids. Meanwhile she and her mother worked, either performing using the acrobatic skills learned in the circus or as street car conductors. Eventually the war ended and they went beck to performing floor shows; occasionally they performed for the American soldiers now.
My grandfather Clyde died three years ago. My grandmother and my mother, their only child, told me much of what is here. This is only a part of their stories, which have become a part of my heritage. These stories lend a reality to history. They are now mine too.
By: Danielle Herman
Last Update: Sept. 10, 1995 11:40PM