Howard "Skippy" Smith became one of, if not the first, Black owner of a war time defense industry within San Diego. A small memorial wall erected by the Freemasons of San Diego at 1401 J Street in downtown San Diego, has a paragraph is dedicated to Smith and other Black entrepreneurs in San Diego. but Smith's story is not widely known outside of local historical societies and some community members. The city has had several opportunities to do more to recognize people like Smith, including an opportunity to dedicate part of the city to Black community members who have played an instrumental role in making Americans Finest City what it is. But the city has not seen men like Smith as significant enough to warrant proper recognition.
Born in Birmingham, Alabama Smith had been no stranger to racism, but throughout his life, he tried to peacefully deal with racism in his own way. Smith started his life under incredibly favorable odds for a Black man in the South, not only as the son of an instructor at the Tuskegee Institute but also as, a professional baseball player. (Keen, 384) Smith gave up all of that to move to California to fulfill his own dream of one day becoming an owner of a factory or a school principal. After working several odd jobs, Smith found his true passion, parachuting. "Smith pawned part of his meager wardrobe; borrowed $85; made a deposit on a $285 'chute and proceeded to learn how to use it," according to one journalist (Keen, 281 ) Smith would become a self-taught aerial acrobatics entertainer and quickly formed a partnership with Mack "Skip" Gravelle creating the "Skip and Skippy Show." According to one source. "Leaping from airplanes became his profession, once he discovered that as the only Negro parachute jumper(s) in exhibition meets he [and Gravelle] could draw from $75 to $250." (Keen, 381)
As Smith and Gravelle worked the air shows circuit around the country tragedy struck when, during a stunt Gravelle's parachute failed to open and he plummeted to his death. Smith decided to continue working the air show circuit alone which brought him to San Diego in 1940. "He was in San Diego helping promote a parachute show for a Hollywood aerial troupe. Some of his acquaintances suggested that he strike the Standard Parachute Corporation for a position." (Keen 381) Smith would head to Los Angeles forgetting about the application, until "a month later the concern offered him a job as 'chute packer and drop tester at a suburban airport." (Keen, 381).
Smith would quickly become one of Standard's best employees rising through the ranks to assistant Inspector and eventually to Inspector. But his bosses at Standard hesitated at offering him such a promotion "Defense production in San Diego has led to the migration of thousands of families from Oklahoma, Texas, and neighboring states. Standard has a good proportion of women power machine operators in whom southern prejudices were deeply rooted." (Keen 382) Once learning of their hesitation to promote him, Smith sprang into action asking his bosses not to fire the women who objected to him being placed into a position of authority over them, instead he asked them to allow him to handle it in his own way "His first step was to ask Johnny Mumma, the superintendent of the plant, to provide him with a book on parachutes written by his father J.V. Mumma. His next step was to go to every one of the 400 girls in the factory asking them for their autographs and for any sentiments they wished to express." (Keen, 382) the 400 workers in question had left nothing but positive sentiments about Smith in the book.
Smith used this to demonstrate that the workers he would be asked to lead respected him as a professional and understood that he brought experience to the table that they relied on as a part of their job, in short, he argued; they trusted him to lead them. Once securing the job Smith became friendly with all of his workers getting to know them at an individual level and refusing to separate or fire the women who had it in for him. Smith instead insisted on working alongside them and eventually they came around to his management style. Smith eventually broke the racial divide between himself and his workers showing his bosses at Standard he could be capable of leading.
How well he succeeded was demonstrated, when the time came by the desire of his fellow employees to see Skippy make good in his new factory. Once that [factory] was opened experienced operators from the Standard plant kept dropping in at Pacific Parachute Co. to give pointers to the comparative novices there. When Smith made known his plans to launch out on his own, offers of financial assistance, modest though they were, poured in on him from his former white colleagues at Standard. (Keen, 382)
Smith’s opportunity to run his own factory would come in 1942 when Col. C.E. Fauntleroy expressed a need to sub-contract Standard's pilot 'chute (a small parachute the deploys and drags the main parachute out of its container in mid-air) as well as sew together Standard's smaller flair and bomb parachutes. Col. C.E. Fauntleroy felt it nearly impossible to find a white company to do the work and so Fauntleroy went to bat for Smith to become a sub-contractor they needed.
Collecting his colleague’s meager donations as well as pouring his own life savings into the pot, Smith accepted Col. C. E. Fauntleroy's contract but knew he still needed a substantial amount of money for his new factory. According to San Dieog Union Tribune reporter Richard Crawford "so immediately he went to Los Angeles to see if an acquaintance, African American actor Eddie "Rochester" Anderson (known to almost everyone as Jack Benny's radio foil), would be interested. He agreed, and he invested $3,000 in the enterprise." (Peck, 136) Anderson insisted that Smith use the money for his factory and did not expect any money back on his investment. "There was little or no discussion of salary or financial return. Eddie Anderson loves planes. Intrigued it’s the idea of financing a war industry, he put in a large sum at the disposal of Skippy Smith, whom he had admired as an intrepid aerial daredevil." (Keen, 395) Though Anderson expected no money he did expect one thing from Smith and that was that race would not be a factor in hiring workers at Pacific Parachute Company. "From the first it was understood that no racial discrimination was to be show in favor of Negroes," according to Keen. (Keen, 395). Though Smith would face significant objection on this point amongst the Black community in San Diego, Smith would simply cite President Franklin Delano Roosevelts Executive Order 8802 banning discrimination in defense industry work and reply, “I came from Birmingham, Alabama where everyone is prejudiced and I’m not going to do the same thing.” (Mooney, V-29).
Smith requested workers directly from the sewing classes at the National Youth Administration (NYA) where he had observed:
"virtually all of the women had already graduated from high school or at the minimum had completed the tenth grade. In their work on the project(s), they had practiced on parachute silk for four hours; spent another four hours producing clothing or uniforms for the country welfare and Red Cross." (Keen 395)
The NYA women would also meet the unique requirement that Smith, and Anderson were looking for "Learning to work together, white and colored, at the NYA, the step to the Pacific parachute Co. proved a relatively simple one for them." (Keen, 395) Empowered with a diverse workforce, as well as the cash he had raised to start his factory Smith purchased used sewing equipment and put a first and last month’s rent deposit down on a three-story factory in downtown San Diego.
The Pacific Parachute Company officially opened its doors on March 27 1942 at 627 8th Avenue in San Diego, California with a brass band, Ambulance Auxiliary paratroopers and the local garrison of Black troops on hand to welcome Smith, the Mayor of San Diego Harley Knox, U. S. Army Sargent and famed heavyweight championship boxer Joe Lewis, and a police escorted Eddie "Rochester" Anderson to the factory to officially cut the ribbon.
Smith pushed his staff to work hard and to keep their eye on the ball creating quotas and a completion board that displayed each workers' contribution to the daily totals. The women quickly began to compete with each-other in the workplace. Oleaver Greer, a Black factory foreperson recalled when asked about race relations within the factory itself "we're too busy trying to increase our production to worry about race problems." (Keen, 395)
Though Smith created a safe multi-cultural place to work, the racial prejudice within the neighborhood affected both him and his workers "when a nearby café refused to serve one of the Negro girls, a group of white co-workers volunteered to accompany her back into the establishment for a showdown." (Keen, 395) Even Smith himself would face racial discrimination in the local neighborhood. According to Harold Keen's article in the Survey Graphic: Magazine of Social Interpretation "[Smith] had gone into a place for lunch one day with an army inspector. The proprietor refused to serve him to the disgust of his companion." (Keen, 395) Smith quickly suggested that they find another place to eat saying "He'll find out after a while that there's no harm serving a Negro, and then he'll be our friend for life. If we forced it on him, he'd be as bitter as ever in his heart. You can’t fight fire with fire in this sort of thing." (Keen, 395) Smith drew a very moderate salary of $25 per week and provided for not only himself but his daughter insisting that he could make his ends meet and put food on the table with his meager wages. Smith pumped every extra penny he had into the factory and into his workers.
During 1942 the Office of War Information approached Smith about taking a tour of the factory and taking pictures of the workers in action, and below are a handful of Lot 196 from the Library of Congresses' pictures of The Pacific Parachute Companies.
Born in Birmingham, Alabama Smith had been no stranger to racism, but throughout his life, he tried to peacefully deal with racism in his own way. Smith started his life under incredibly favorable odds for a Black man in the South, not only as the son of an instructor at the Tuskegee Institute but also as, a professional baseball player. (Keen, 384) Smith gave up all of that to move to California to fulfill his own dream of one day becoming an owner of a factory or a school principal. After working several odd jobs, Smith found his true passion, parachuting. "Smith pawned part of his meager wardrobe; borrowed $85; made a deposit on a $285 'chute and proceeded to learn how to use it," according to one journalist (Keen, 281 ) Smith would become a self-taught aerial acrobatics entertainer and quickly formed a partnership with Mack "Skip" Gravelle creating the "Skip and Skippy Show." According to one source. "Leaping from airplanes became his profession, once he discovered that as the only Negro parachute jumper(s) in exhibition meets he [and Gravelle] could draw from $75 to $250." (Keen, 381)
As Smith and Gravelle worked the air shows circuit around the country tragedy struck when, during a stunt Gravelle's parachute failed to open and he plummeted to his death. Smith decided to continue working the air show circuit alone which brought him to San Diego in 1940. "He was in San Diego helping promote a parachute show for a Hollywood aerial troupe. Some of his acquaintances suggested that he strike the Standard Parachute Corporation for a position." (Keen 381) Smith would head to Los Angeles forgetting about the application, until "a month later the concern offered him a job as 'chute packer and drop tester at a suburban airport." (Keen, 381).
Smith would quickly become one of Standard's best employees rising through the ranks to assistant Inspector and eventually to Inspector. But his bosses at Standard hesitated at offering him such a promotion "Defense production in San Diego has led to the migration of thousands of families from Oklahoma, Texas, and neighboring states. Standard has a good proportion of women power machine operators in whom southern prejudices were deeply rooted." (Keen 382) Once learning of their hesitation to promote him, Smith sprang into action asking his bosses not to fire the women who objected to him being placed into a position of authority over them, instead he asked them to allow him to handle it in his own way "His first step was to ask Johnny Mumma, the superintendent of the plant, to provide him with a book on parachutes written by his father J.V. Mumma. His next step was to go to every one of the 400 girls in the factory asking them for their autographs and for any sentiments they wished to express." (Keen, 382) the 400 workers in question had left nothing but positive sentiments about Smith in the book.
Smith used this to demonstrate that the workers he would be asked to lead respected him as a professional and understood that he brought experience to the table that they relied on as a part of their job, in short, he argued; they trusted him to lead them. Once securing the job Smith became friendly with all of his workers getting to know them at an individual level and refusing to separate or fire the women who had it in for him. Smith instead insisted on working alongside them and eventually they came around to his management style. Smith eventually broke the racial divide between himself and his workers showing his bosses at Standard he could be capable of leading.
How well he succeeded was demonstrated, when the time came by the desire of his fellow employees to see Skippy make good in his new factory. Once that [factory] was opened experienced operators from the Standard plant kept dropping in at Pacific Parachute Co. to give pointers to the comparative novices there. When Smith made known his plans to launch out on his own, offers of financial assistance, modest though they were, poured in on him from his former white colleagues at Standard. (Keen, 382)
Smith’s opportunity to run his own factory would come in 1942 when Col. C.E. Fauntleroy expressed a need to sub-contract Standard's pilot 'chute (a small parachute the deploys and drags the main parachute out of its container in mid-air) as well as sew together Standard's smaller flair and bomb parachutes. Col. C.E. Fauntleroy felt it nearly impossible to find a white company to do the work and so Fauntleroy went to bat for Smith to become a sub-contractor they needed.
Collecting his colleague’s meager donations as well as pouring his own life savings into the pot, Smith accepted Col. C. E. Fauntleroy's contract but knew he still needed a substantial amount of money for his new factory. According to San Dieog Union Tribune reporter Richard Crawford "so immediately he went to Los Angeles to see if an acquaintance, African American actor Eddie "Rochester" Anderson (known to almost everyone as Jack Benny's radio foil), would be interested. He agreed, and he invested $3,000 in the enterprise." (Peck, 136) Anderson insisted that Smith use the money for his factory and did not expect any money back on his investment. "There was little or no discussion of salary or financial return. Eddie Anderson loves planes. Intrigued it’s the idea of financing a war industry, he put in a large sum at the disposal of Skippy Smith, whom he had admired as an intrepid aerial daredevil." (Keen, 395) Though Anderson expected no money he did expect one thing from Smith and that was that race would not be a factor in hiring workers at Pacific Parachute Company. "From the first it was understood that no racial discrimination was to be show in favor of Negroes," according to Keen. (Keen, 395). Though Smith would face significant objection on this point amongst the Black community in San Diego, Smith would simply cite President Franklin Delano Roosevelts Executive Order 8802 banning discrimination in defense industry work and reply, “I came from Birmingham, Alabama where everyone is prejudiced and I’m not going to do the same thing.” (Mooney, V-29).
Smith requested workers directly from the sewing classes at the National Youth Administration (NYA) where he had observed:
"virtually all of the women had already graduated from high school or at the minimum had completed the tenth grade. In their work on the project(s), they had practiced on parachute silk for four hours; spent another four hours producing clothing or uniforms for the country welfare and Red Cross." (Keen 395)
The NYA women would also meet the unique requirement that Smith, and Anderson were looking for "Learning to work together, white and colored, at the NYA, the step to the Pacific parachute Co. proved a relatively simple one for them." (Keen, 395) Empowered with a diverse workforce, as well as the cash he had raised to start his factory Smith purchased used sewing equipment and put a first and last month’s rent deposit down on a three-story factory in downtown San Diego.
The Pacific Parachute Company officially opened its doors on March 27 1942 at 627 8th Avenue in San Diego, California with a brass band, Ambulance Auxiliary paratroopers and the local garrison of Black troops on hand to welcome Smith, the Mayor of San Diego Harley Knox, U. S. Army Sargent and famed heavyweight championship boxer Joe Lewis, and a police escorted Eddie "Rochester" Anderson to the factory to officially cut the ribbon.
Smith pushed his staff to work hard and to keep their eye on the ball creating quotas and a completion board that displayed each workers' contribution to the daily totals. The women quickly began to compete with each-other in the workplace. Oleaver Greer, a Black factory foreperson recalled when asked about race relations within the factory itself "we're too busy trying to increase our production to worry about race problems." (Keen, 395)
Though Smith created a safe multi-cultural place to work, the racial prejudice within the neighborhood affected both him and his workers "when a nearby café refused to serve one of the Negro girls, a group of white co-workers volunteered to accompany her back into the establishment for a showdown." (Keen, 395) Even Smith himself would face racial discrimination in the local neighborhood. According to Harold Keen's article in the Survey Graphic: Magazine of Social Interpretation "[Smith] had gone into a place for lunch one day with an army inspector. The proprietor refused to serve him to the disgust of his companion." (Keen, 395) Smith quickly suggested that they find another place to eat saying "He'll find out after a while that there's no harm serving a Negro, and then he'll be our friend for life. If we forced it on him, he'd be as bitter as ever in his heart. You can’t fight fire with fire in this sort of thing." (Keen, 395) Smith drew a very moderate salary of $25 per week and provided for not only himself but his daughter insisting that he could make his ends meet and put food on the table with his meager wages. Smith pumped every extra penny he had into the factory and into his workers.
During 1942 the Office of War Information approached Smith about taking a tour of the factory and taking pictures of the workers in action, and below are a handful of Lot 196 from the Library of Congresses' pictures of The Pacific Parachute Companies.
Entitled "Skippy Smith, manager of the Pacific Parachute Company, San Diego, California, subcontractors of Standard Parachute Company" (Lee). Howard "Skippy" Smith moved to San Diego in 1942 after a career of Ariel acrobatics and air shows. A self-taught parachutist, Smith began his career at Standard Parachute Company, becoming a jump tester, someone who ensures parachutes open properly, and worked his way to the facilities first Black parachute inspector. Smith began his own Pacific Parachute Company in 1942 becoming one of the first Black owners of a defense factory. Smith would receive several awards acknowledging his entrepreneurship.
Entitled "Employees of the Pacific Parachute Company, checking in for work. San Diego, California." (Lee) The Pacific Parachute Company opened its doors on March 27, 1942. Smith became determined to integrate his workforce, refusing to bow to local pressure to hire only African American employees Smith replied “I came from Birmingham, Alabama where everyone is prejudiced and I’m not going to do the same thing.” (Mooney, V-29) Smith hired workers of all races and genders citing President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Executive order 8802 banning discrimination in defense industry work. Most of Smith's factory workers were females from the National Youth Administration and had been taught how to sew using silk and producing clothing and uniforms for the Red Cross. (Keen, 395) Most of the women Smith hired were eager to start and had been working together at the NYA making race not an issue as they transitioned into their work environment at Smith's factory. Though Pacific Parachute Company was tasked with assembling both pilot chutes, as well as smaller bomb and flair parachutes themselves, the Standard Parachute Company would also sew the pilot chutes to the main parachutes that used for paratroopers.
Entitled "Pacific Parachute Company, San Diego, California. Negro, Mexican, and white girls are employed at this plant." (Lee) The women that comprise the racial makeup of Smith's workforce pose for a picture, note the giant propaganda posters reinforcing the need for American workers to get behind the war effort. Also note the racial makeup of the women in the picture to reinforce racial harmony and cooperation as essential to victory.
Entitled "Workroom of the Pacific Parachute Company, manufacturers of pilot parachutes. San Diego, California."(Lee) Smith rented a three-story factory at 627 8th Avenue in San Diego, California. the first story became reception area, the second-floor housed Smith's office, quality control, and various administrative offices, and the third floor served the factory workroom. Featured here is a wide shot of the assembly line used to manufacture the various parachutes at Pacific Parachute Company. Note the various propaganda posters around the room as well as the daily totals in the right corner to reinforce the need for the rapid production of war goods. Note the picture of Franklin Delano Roosevelt by the door on the left side of the picture at the end of the assembly line, and a copy of Executive Order 8802 next to the wall mounted light on the side of the factory.
Entitled "Negro, Mexican, and white girls are employed at the Pacific Parachute Company. San Diego, California." (Lee) Smith received a $3,000 investment from Eddie "Rochester" Anderson who expected nothing in return. Anderson reached fame as Jack Benny's radio and television sidekick. In order to start the Pacific Parachute Company Smith spent most of his own life savings as well as Andersons money on purchasing the building and equipment, leaving little left over for tables and chairs. Note that these women are inspecting this pile of parachutes on a card table and are utilizing folding chairs to sit on while doing their work.
Entitled "Putting the shrouds into a pilot parachute at the Pacific Parachute Company. San Diego, California." (Lee) this is a second shot of the card tables used for parachute inspection and attachment of para-cord, being completed by the workers at The Pacific Parachute Company. The pilot 'chutes were be attached to the main parachutes at Standard Parachute Company.
Entitled "Repairman working on a sewing machine at the Pacific Parachute Company. San Diego, California." (Lee) Smith's integrated work force seen here working together to solve a problem. Part of the propaganda that the Office of War Information, who took these original pictures, was trying to promote was racial unity and cooperation in the United States. Smith’s factory would become a gold mine of opportunities to showcase his inter-racial work force from NYA. Often staging pictures of racial harmony and cooperation, the Office of War Information visited the plant in 1942 to take pictures of Smith and his workers. Pictured here is a white repairman fixing the sewing machine of one of Smith's Latina workers, note the propaganda poster in the back with the word TOGETHER! reinforcing the idea that workers of all races are supposed to work together, in racial harmony, to win the war against Nazism and Fascism.
This photo, entitled "Lunch hour at the Pacific Parachute Company. San Diego, California." (Lee) reinforces the idea of racial harmony the Office of War Information is trying to showcase. Note the large copy of Executive Order 8802 in the photo above the table officially banning discrimination in war defense jobs. Despite the government's unity message, the women in the picture are separated by race with white women seated facing the camera, while their three Black colleagues are photographed with either their backs to the camera or sitting at another table entirely. The Latinex worker is photographed inside profile. Note the unfinished parachute on the table in the foreground. Though racial integration existed within the factory outside both Smith and his Black workers were refused service in local restaurants and lunch counters.
Entitled "Working on the main seams of pilot parachutes, Pacific Parachute Company. San Diego, California. A double-needle sewing machine is used." (Lee) A female worker assembling a parachute with large propaganda posters in the background, note Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Executive Order 8802 in large print next to an even larger America's Answer! Production poster.
Entitled "Hemming a pilot parachute on a double needle sewing machine at the Pacific Parachute Company. San Diego, California." (Lee) This poster also reinforces the need for all races of workers to come forward and take industrial defense jobs, it also promotes racial harmony against a common enemy. Note the smaller poster "what they won’t know won’t hurt you" next to larger posters promoting production and Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Executive Action 8802 banning racial discrimination within the war industries.
Smith's success became short lived after the war. in 1946 Smith moved his factory to Los Angeles and faded into obscurity. Over the years, the Pacific Parachute Company's building has been sold to various businesses and redevelopment corporations after Smith left San Diego. The most recent modification of the factory started with the splitting of the three-story structure into two businesses. Currently Bay City Brewing Company occupies the first and second floors and Mindgruve occupies the second and third story of the factory. A small memorial located at 1401 J Street has been dedicated to Black entrepreneurs in San Diego where Smith and the Pacific Parachute Company are mentioned.
Memorial Wall displaying Howard "Skippy" Smiths contributions to war time San Diego. |
A small memorial to memorable African Americans has been created at Lilian Place Properties 1401 J Street, San Diego, Ca. among the black persons featured on this monument is Howard "Skippy" Smith and his Pacific Parachute Company.
|
Pictured here is a portion of the wall dedicated to Howard "skippy" Smiths work at the Pacific Parachute Company.
|
Current use and location of the building used for Pacific Parachute Company
Sources Cited:
Associates, Mooney &. "Centre City Development Corporation Downtown San Diego African-American Heritage Study." San Diego Government. Last modified December 1, 2004. https://www.sandiego.gov/sites/default/files/ccdc_african-american_heritage_study.pdf.
Keen, Harold. "Rochester, Skippy Smith and Co." Survey Graphic: Magazine of Social Interpretation, Sept. 1942.
Lee, Russell, photographer. Workroom of the Pacific Parachute Company, manufacturers of pilot parachutes. San Diego, California. San Diego County United States San Diego. San Diego California, 1942. Apr. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2017829770/.
Peck, Wallace W. "San Diego’s Parachute Manufacturers: Visionaries and Entrepreneurs." The Journal of San Diego History. Last modified June 1, 2014. http://sandiegohistory.org/sites/default/files/journal/v60-3/v60-3peck.pdf.
Associates, Mooney &. "Centre City Development Corporation Downtown San Diego African-American Heritage Study." San Diego Government. Last modified December 1, 2004. https://www.sandiego.gov/sites/default/files/ccdc_african-american_heritage_study.pdf.
Keen, Harold. "Rochester, Skippy Smith and Co." Survey Graphic: Magazine of Social Interpretation, Sept. 1942.
Lee, Russell, photographer. Workroom of the Pacific Parachute Company, manufacturers of pilot parachutes. San Diego, California. San Diego County United States San Diego. San Diego California, 1942. Apr. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2017829770/.
Peck, Wallace W. "San Diego’s Parachute Manufacturers: Visionaries and Entrepreneurs." The Journal of San Diego History. Last modified June 1, 2014. http://sandiegohistory.org/sites/default/files/journal/v60-3/v60-3peck.pdf.