Friends, family reflect on Percy and Anna Julian

A cross-section of the Oak Park community came out to honor Percy Julian Jan. 30, and preview a portion of a film debuting last night on PBS about his life and accomplishments.

Percy Julian Middle School, 416 S. Ridgeland Ave., hosted a 35-minute preview screening of Percy Julian, Forgotten Genius, which aired Feb. 6 on PBS’ NOVA science series. The film, part documentary, part drama, traces Julian’s life from childhood through his exploits in chemistry to his life in Oak Park. A reception in the cafeteria followed the night’s preview.

The event was sponsored by the Historical Society of Oak Park and River Forest along with a number of local educational institutions and organizations. The program included family, friends and admirers of Julian and his wife Anna, who shared memories of both.

Village of Oak Park President David Pope read a proclamation naming Feb. 6 Percy and Anna Julian Day in Oak Park. A resolution was also introduced in the U.S. House and Senate last week by Cong. Danny Davis (7th Dist.) and Sen. Barack Obama, honoring the Julians.

Among those speaking to a nearly packed auditorium were Julian associates and Oak Park residents Sherlynn Reid and Roberta Raymond Larson. Larson first met Percy Julian as a senior at Oak Park and River Forest High School in the 1950s while doing a research project on African-Americans living in Oak Park.

Bringing Percy Julian’s story to film, however, was a challenge, noted Stephen Sweigart, one of the film’s producers, who spoke at the event.

“There wasn’t a lot written about Mr. Julian,” said Sweigart. “It was a double challenge, bringing Percy Julian’s life to the screen with actors, and also making chemistry exciting. I think we have succeeded in doing both of those things.”

Character actor Ruben Santiago-Hudson portrays Percy Julian as an adult during the film’s dramatic moments. The rest of the film, running about two hours, features archival footage, testimonials and photographs from the Julian’s life. Percy Julian’s scientific discoveries led to the widespread use of medicines for such ailments as glaucoma and rheumatoid arthritis.

The half-hour preview, shown previously at other Percy Julian events around the country and in Chicago, was able to capture a good deal of Percy Julian’s life.

One of the most chilling involved Julian as a boy. Having a love of nature that would carry on into adulthood, Julian often walked alone in the woods in his native Birmingham, Ala. One day, he came across a black man lynched in a tree, which was not uncommon during the early 1900s in the South.

The preview also recounted the Julian’s move into Oak Park in 1950, which resulted in two attacks, first an attempted fire-bombing, followed by tossed dynamite. Neither did significant damage to the house, but they did damage Oak Park’s reputation.

The incidents are well known in Oak Park, but the film revealed lesser-known details about the attacks, such as the perpetrators filling two large jugs with gasoline and placing them in the home’s front foyer. They lit a fuse from the outside but because the front door was tightly sealed at the bottom, the gasoline never reached the jugs inside.

Percy Julian Jr. in the film recalled the incident, saying that his father was so upset he would patrol the grounds and sometimes sit in a tree near the home with a shotgun to keep watch. Percy Jr. said he would sometimes join his father in the tree, which he recalled as some of the best moments of his childhood because they rarely shared time together, due to his father’s busy schedule. He called it a blessing in disguise. The revelation drew laughter from the audience.

Much of the community rallied in support of the Julians after the attacks.

Daughter Faith Julian, who still lives in Oak Park, spoke to the audience, recalling many of her parents’ professional and academic accomplishments. But her personal reflections showed her parents in different light.

She recalled her father playing the saxophone and piano around the house, and at fraternity dances at his alma mater, DePauw University in Indiana to earn extra money. At home, she would dance with her father, she said, standing on the tips of his shoes while he guided her across the room. Her dad, she said, shared with her his love of music.

She recalled her father’s love and enthusiasm for gardening (The preview film opened with a shot of the hundreds of tulips planted by her father on the family’s grounds.)

Faith recalled walking with her father in the woods, as Percy Julian once did with his father. She said her father could name almost every tree just by the shape and color of its leaves.

“Once when he brought into the house a beautiful bouquet, I remember that he remarked, ‘Why can’t human beings of all colors live together just as flowers do?'” she said.

“My mother was not famous, but she was as brilliant as my dad, and was as great a woman as he was a man,” Faith said.

Both of her parents were generous to others, she added, noting that the family always kept two or three seats open at the dinner table for students without a place to stay during the holidays.

She also recalled a time while in college, spotting a female student crying. The young women was from Haiti and didn’t have enough money for that semester’s tuition, so she was not going to graduate. Faith told her mother the story, and she loaned the girl the tuition money. The student graduated the next semester along with Faith.

“She paid my mother back and was forever grateful for her kindness,” Faith said.

Jim Letton, a researcher at the Julian Laboratories, founded by Percy Julian in 1953, spoke about his mentor at the screening. Letton, who sometimes worked seven days a week at the laboratories, began taking Friday afternoons off, which sometimes rankled Julian.

“He would come out and see that I was gone and the other fellows would warn me, ‘He said he’s going to fire you the next time you do that.’ So they were taking bets to see if I would get fired,” Letton said as the audience laughed. Letton kept his job.

Julian gave Letton his first job out of college at a time when companies refused to hire blacks in the field of science. That was not uncommon, Faith noted.

“My father was a compassionate man, a champion of the underdog,” she said. “My dad believed in embracing his fellow man and loving your brother. And he believed that all men were brothers.”

CONTACT: tdean@wjinc.com