Lennie Birrone’s father, Marty Crutcher, is the focus of a Kitsap Sun February column “Your Turn” in honor of Black History Month. Read the article here. The columns and photos were submitted by Roosevelt Smith, a culture sensitivity trainer focusing on the African-American experience and collector of Black America. Smith will be hosting an exhibition at the Kitsap Historical Society Museum, 280 Fourth St. in Bremerton, beginning March 6.
While visiting with Marty Crutcher recently, I was introduced to his 8-year-old great-granddaughter, Layonna. She was full of energy and very inquisitive. So I asked her, “What do you want to be when you grow older?” She stated, “I want to be like my grandfather,” pointing to Mr. Crutcher.
She also stated that she will be going into the Navy, be a doctor, work at the airport, be a photographer, and a teacher. Mr. Crutcher hugged her and said, “that’s a lot of things to become, but knowing you, it will happen.” She smiled and walked into the kitchen to help her mom prepare dinner.
She also stated that she will be going into the Navy, be a doctor, work at the airport, be a photographer and a teacher. Mr. Crutcher hugged her and said, “that’s a lot of things to become, but knowing you, it will happen.” She smiled and walked into the kitchen to help her mom prepare dinner.
Mr. Shirley Marty Crutcher was born on a farm in 1934 and was birthed by a midwife in Madison County, Kentucky. There was only one black doctor that serviced Madison County as well as a part of Richmond, Virginia. Mr. Crutcher’s father was a tobacco farmer and his mom worked as a maid, cook, field worker, mother, and wife. The family worked the tobacco field; even Mr. Crutcher, at 4 years old, picked worms from the tobacco leaves.
In Madison County, as in Richmond, Jim Crow laws were strictly adhered to. The only place blacks and whites could be in the same building as groups would be the theater, with whites downstairs and blacks upstairs. There were occasions in which word would spread in the town of “a coon hunt,” which meant that whites were going to kill a black man that evening. The blacks would gather in certain houses or churches for protection. In order to show their power, white men would ride through the black area with guns drawn.
The Crutcher family moved to Richmond in 1939 for better employment opportunities and due to the deterioration of Marty’s mother’s health. She died at an early age from cancer, which also took the lives of many of his family members. In Richmond, Mr. Crutcher attended school. In the winter, he sold buckets of coal and in the summer, he sold ice remnants from the ice factory. He picked and sold berries, grew and sold watermelons. At the age of 11, he raised pigs for the family to be sold. He washed windows, cut grass, shined shoes and delivered papers.
From the age of 13 to 18, he worked in a pool hall, and as a drug store runner delivering prescriptions and performing janitorial duties. In 1952 he decided to leave Richmond and take a job at another drug store that promised better wages. The owner failed to pay him for 3 months. When young Mr. Crutcher demanded his wages, he was told by the boss, “I do not have to pay you, because you are a Negro.”
Mr. Crutcher was arrested for fighting and given a choice between going to jail or the military; he enlisted in the US. Navy in 1955 and was given a job as a steward. The military was integrated by President Truman in 1948 and many menial positions were only held by blacks. Mr. Crutcher attended College at night and advanced to become a submariner.
Mr. Crutcher retired as a Senior Chief from the Navy after 24 years. He worked in civil service with the Coast Guard and later at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard as a rigger and supervisor in the nuclear department. In 1986, he became the first of two African Americans (the other being Al Colvin) elected to the Bremerton City Council, where he chaired the parks and cable television commissions. The civic positions he held included 20 years PSNS Usher and President of Usher Council, Vice President of Sinclair Baptist Church Ushers, lifetime member of the NAACP, serving as vice president and chairman of the Legal and Housing Committee, Blacks in Government — Submariner Association, 50th Year Submariner Association, Community Action Program, and secretary of the Kitsap NABVETS. Currently, he leads a Bible study group at Sinclair Baptist Church.
Layonna can be like her grandfather and become all the things she wants to be because of the doors that were opened by Marty Crutcher. He overcame many injustices and is able to live his life without bitterness or hatred. He used love, hard work, determination, education and a strong belief in God to overcome all elements that stood in their way in search of the American Dream.
And as a final note to Layonna, your grandfather, Shirley Marty Crutcher, is a great American.
In honor of Black History month, the Kitsap Sun is running a column highlighting a notable black Kitsap County resident each Sunday in February, submitted by Roosevelt Smith, culture sensitivity trainer focusing on the African-American experience and collector of Black America. Smith will be hosting an exhibition at the Kitsap Historical Society Museum, 280 Fourth St. in Bremerton, beginning March 6.
Story and Photo by Roosevelt Smith, Bremerton
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