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5. Coramae Richey Mann
- State University of New York Press
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83 FIVE CORAMAE RICHEY MANN (1931– ) INTRODUCTION A latecomer to the world of academe at the age of forty-five, Coramae Richey Mann has made up for her late start with tremendous scholarly productivity. Over the past twenty plus years, Mann has been a consistent contributor to the criminology/ criminal justice literature in primarily three areas: female crime and delinquency, violence, and minorities and crime. Because of her significant efforts in these areas, she is generally viewed as one of the leading African American scholars of the contemporary era. Mann has also served as an advocate and mentor to countless African American and white graduate students and professors. We believe that in the future this contribution will be viewed as being as important as her scholarly endeavors. BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION The last of two children of Edward and Louise Richey, Coramae Richey Mann was born in a segregated Chicago hospital on a January morning in 1931 (Mann, 1995a). Although her family resided in Ohio, Louise Richey wanted to be with her mother in Chicago for the birth of her second child. Mann’s mother, a homemaker, gave up an opportunity for a career in the arts to raise Mann and her older brother. Her father was a teacher at a segregated high school in Dayton, Ohio, where he also coached several athletic teams (Mann, 1995a, p. 273). At the time of Louise’s death in 1987, the Richeys had been married sixty-three years. Mann has vivid recollections of her childhood. Early in her youth she decided that she wanted to be an artist or a writer. Exhibiting talents in both areas, she completed her first oil painting before she attended school. And later, while in grammar school, Mann would write and illustrate her first poem “Rabbit Tracks” (Mann, 1995a, p. 274). The Richeys lived in a predominantly white neighborhood, where Mann regularly had white playmates. On one occasion, after winning a childhood game with her white playmates, Mann recalls being called a “chocolate drop.” This remark was so hurtful that Mann ran home to her mother in tears. Although her mother attempted to put a positive spin on the incident, Mann “knew something cruel and wrong had occurred” (Mann, 1995a, p. 274). 84 Contemporary Scholars One of only two African American students in her integrated Ohio grammar school, Mann and her African American classmate were the best students in the class. On track for an outstanding future, two untimely family deaths had an impact on Mann’s life course. In 1943, Mann’s brother, Edward, passed away. His death was followed by that of Mann’s maternal grandfather the following year. Without her brother, Mann no longer had anyone to “protect her.” After the death of her grandfather , the family decided to move to Chicago. While Mann’s mother inherited all of her grandfather’s vast estate, the Richeys were leery of the bad influences awaiting Mann in the segregated African American schools of Chicago, so they sent her South to the Palmer Memorial Institute in North Carolina. At the Institute, however, Mann was taken under the guidance of two “big sisters” who taught her about boys. This discovery contributed to Mann engaging in uncharacteristic behavior. Now a status offender, Mann’s parents removed her from the institute and sent her to live with her aunt in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This, too, turned out to be a bad move. In Minneapolis, Mann became best friends with a “shoplifter” who taught her all the tricks of the trade. Mann was eventually caught by her aunt, who insisted she take all her “loot” back to the store and apologize to the sales clerks in each of the departments where she had stolen. This summarily ended her delinquent activities. Amazingly, Mann still managed to maintain an A average. In fact, during her senior year of high school, Mann was selected for the prestigious class yearbook editor position. However, after running home to call her parents to tell them the good news, the following day Mann’s teacher informed her that the school was not ready for an African American editor; therefore, she would have to be co-editor with a white classmate. Extremely disappointed over this incident, Mann invoked her revenge by ensuring that her African American face appeared early and often throughout the publication. Following her stint as editor of the yearbook, she was asked to pose for some pictures, one of which ended up as an early cover of Ebony...