Eldred Kurtz Means (March 11, 1878 – February 19, 1957) was an American

Methodist Episcopal The Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) was the oldest and largest Methodist denomination in the United States from its founding in 1784 until 1939. It was also the first religious denomination in the US to organize itself nationally. In 1939, th ...

clergyman Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

, famed

public speaker Public speaking, is the practice of delivering speeches to a live audience. Throughout history, public speaking has held significant cultural, religious, and political importance, emphasizing the necessity of effective rhetorical skills. It all ...

, and author. A

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

man, he wrote

fiction Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying character (arts), individuals, events, or setting (narrative), places that are imagination, imaginary or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent ...

al stories about

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

characters who lived in an area of

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

which he named Tickfall. He described the characters in the most grotesque, comical and sensational terms. His magazine stories were compiled into books. He was a constant and prolific contributor to Frank A. Munsey's

pulp magazine Pulp magazines (also referred to as "the pulps") were inexpensive fiction magazines that were published from 1896 until around 1955. The term "pulp" derives from the Pulp (paper), wood pulp paper on which the magazines were printed, due to their ...

s such as ''

All-Story Weekly ''The All-Story Magazine'' was a pulp magazine founded in 1905 and published by Frank Munsey. The editor was Robert H. Davis; Thomas Newell Metcalf also worked as a managing editor for the magazine. It was published monthly until March 1914, ...

'', '' Argosy'' and its predecessors. His use of black

stereotype In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalization, generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can ...

minstrel show The minstrel show, also called minstrelsy, was an American form of theater developed in the early 19th century. The shows were performed by mostly white actors wearing blackface makeup for the purpose of portraying racial stereotypes of Afr ...

motifs,

Jim Crow The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws introduced in the Southern United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that enforced racial segregation, " Jim Crow" being a pejorative term for an African American. The last of the ...

characters, fantastical

mimicry In evolutionary biology, mimicry is an evolved resemblance between an organism and another object, often an organism of another species. Mimicry may evolve between different species, or between individuals of the same species. In the simples ...

and

impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

Negro dialect African-American English (AAE) is the umbrella term for English dialects spoken predominantly by Black people in the United States and, less often, in Canada; most commonly, it refers to a dialect continuum ranging from African-American Vernacu ...

made him a popular author with a niche of white audiences; but the implicit

racist Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...

message has not aged well.

Early life

Means was born in

Taylor County, Kentucky Taylor County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the population was 26,023. Its county seat is Campbellsville. Settled by people from Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and North Carolina after the Americ ...

, the son of Virginia (née Lively) Means and George Hamilton Means. He married Ella Q. Crebbin in

Monroe, Louisiana Monroe is the ninth-largest city in the U.S. state of Louisiana, and is the parish seat and largest city of Ouachita Parish. With a 2020 census-tabulated population of 47,702, it is the principal city of the Monroe metropolitan statistical ...

Ministry

Means received a

Doctor of Divinity A Doctor of Divinity (DD or DDiv; ) is the holder of an advanced academic degree in divinity (academic discipline), divinity (i.e., Christian theology and Christian ministry, ministry or other theologies. The term is more common in the Englis ...

Centenary College of Louisiana Centenary College of Louisiana is a private liberal arts college in Shreveport, Louisiana. The college is affiliated with the United Methodist Church. Founded in 1825, it is the oldest chartered liberal arts college west of the Mississippi Rive ...

. He had a far flung clerical career, involving more than a dozen posts: * 1899 Ordained ministry Methodist Episcopal Church, South, * 1899–1900, Pastor Ghent, Kentucky * 1901, Erlanger * 1902, Hodgenville * 1903–1905, Louisiana Avenue Church, New Orleans * 1905–1909, Baton Rouge * 1909–1913, Minden * 1913–1915, Shreveport * 1915–1917, Arcadia * 1917–1921, Monroe * 1922–1925, Galloway Memorial Church, Jackson, Mississippi * 1925–1929, Court St. Church, Lynchburg, Virginia * 1929–1933 Main Street Methodist Episcopal Church South, Danville, Virginia * 1933–1937, Travis Street Church, Sherman, Texas * 1937–1939, First Church, Helena, Arkansas * 1939–1944, Central Methodist Church, Rogers, Arkansas He was a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

Literary work

Over more than a half century, he wrote scores of short stories for pulp fiction magazines. A fairly complete listing of his published stories appears in the following reference. In 1924,

Irvin S. Cobb Irvin Shrewsbury Cobb (June 23, 1876 – March 11, 1944) was an American author, humorist, editor and columnist from Paducah, Kentucky, who relocated to New York in 1904, living there for the remainder of his life. He wrote for the ''New York Wor ...

, an American

humorist A humorist is an intellectual who uses humor, or wit, in writing or public speaking. A raconteur is one who tells anecdotes in a skillful and amusing way. Henri Bergson writes that a humorist's work grows from viewing the morals of society ...

, numbered Means’s “darky stories” among his favorites. In the

Fort Worth Star-Telegram The ''Fort Worth Star-Telegram'' is an American daily newspaper serving Fort Worth and Tarrant County, the western half of the North Texas area known as the Metroplex. It is owned by The McClatchy Company. History In May 1905, Amon G. Car ...

, he wrote: " eansis at home in Jackson, Miss. ... and pastor of Galloway Memorial Church M.E., South. ... He is a zealous clergyman, a gifted speaker, and a fluent writer, but being, as befits a clergyman, a truthful man also, Mr. Means would lay no claim to great personal beauty." Means defended his use of dialect, persons and places as being true-to-type with verisimilitude to a passing and important lifestyle and culture. He claimed a love for the people the musicality and rhythm of their language, and professed a

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

's and an

anthropologist An anthropologist is a scientist engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropologists study aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms, values ...

's intent to preserve transitory culture and cultural artifacts which were in imminent danger of extirpation, as the shadow of slavery waned in the distance. The publisher

G.P. Putnam's Sons G. P. Putnam's Sons is an American book publisher based in New York City, New York (state), New York. Since 1996, it has been an Imprint (trade name), imprint of the Penguin Group. History The company began as Wiley & Putnam with the 1838 part ...

promoted him as part of its stable of authors highlighting

white supremacy White supremacy is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White supremacy has roots in the now-discredited doctrine ...

over other races. In 1918, an Ebony Film Corporation advertisement teased a coming film based on one of his Tickfall Tales titled '' Good Luck in Old Clothes''. The film was produced and promoted as exemplifying "wholesome real droll Negro humor." In addition to his short stories, he had several books published. Edward Winsor Kemble well known for his racist (purportedly accurate and humorous) caricatures illustrated several of his books. His books were reviewed in several newspapers.

Reception

Reviews of his works at the time were mixed, with the ''

New York Tribune The ''New-York Tribune'' (from 1914: ''New York Tribune'') was an American newspaper founded in 1841 by editor Horace Greeley. It bore the moniker ''New-York Daily Tribune'' from 1842 to 1866 before returning to its original name. From the 1840s ...

'' giving a favorable report. In contrast, the ''

Brooklyn Daily Eagle The ''Brooklyn Eagle'' (originally joint name ''The Brooklyn Eagle'' and ''Kings County Democrat'', later ''The Brooklyn Daily Eagle'' before shortening title further to ''Brooklyn Eagle'') was an afternoon daily newspaper published in the city ...

'' wrote: “There are, among the better writers of today, three who can write negro stories with humor and understanding, and E.K. Means is not one of them”. Several of his books, having gone out of

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive legal right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, ...

, have been reproduced by various republishers. Means touted 'lack of titles' on three of his books was not universally welcomed. A ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' reviewer castigated the third in the series: "The crass lack of good taste, and worse than crass conceit shown by the title of this volume, are not-redeemed by any remarkable quality in its content." His story "At the End of the Rope" contains the earliest known usage of the saying: If it wasn't for bad luck I wouldn't have any luck at all. He was one of the earliest recognized users of the word
doodlebug
.

Works (in chronological order)

* * Means, E.K.; Kemble, Edward Winsor, Illustrator. (1918) ''E. K. Means: Is This a Title? It Is Not. It Is the Name of a Writer of ''Negro Stories'', Who Has Made Himself So Completely the Writer of Negro Stories That His Book Needs No Title'' New York, London: The Knickerbocker Press,

G. P. Putnam's Sons G. P. Putnam's Sons is an American book publisher based in New York City, New York. Since 1996, it has been an imprint of the Penguin Group. History The company began as Wiley & Putnam with the 1838 partnership between George Palmer Putnam an ...

* Means, E.K.; Kemble, Edward Winsor, Illustrator. (1919
''More E. K. Means: Is This a Title? It Is Not. It Is the Name of a Writer of Negro Stories, Who Has Made Himself So Completely the Writer of Negro Stories That His Second Book Needs No Title''
New York, London: The Knickerbocker Press,

* Means, E.K.; Kemble, Edward Winsor, Illustrator. (1920
''Is This a Title? It Is Not. It Is the Name of a Writer of Negro Stories, Who Has Made Himself So Completely the Writer of Negro Stories That This Third Book, Like the First and Second, Needs No Title''
New York, London: The Knickerbocker Press,

* * “At the End of the Rope” by E. K. Means, ''

Munsey's Magazine ''Munsey's Magazine'' was an American magazine founded by Frank Munsey in 1889 as ''Munsey's Weekly'', a humor magazine edited by John Kendrick Bangs. It was unsuccessful, and by late 1891 had lost $100,000 ($ in ). Munsey converted it into ...

'', New York (1927) * * Published in the year of his death. Writings on American History. United States: KTO Press, 1957.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * *

External links

* at

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(public domain audiobooks)
Eldred Kurtz Means
at

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.
Means, E.K.
at

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. {{DEFAULTSORT:Means, Eldred Kurtz 1878 births 1957 deaths 19th-century American clergy 20th-century American clergy 20th-century American short story writers American humorists American male short story writers American Methodist clergy American Protestant ministers and clergy Centenary College of Louisiana alumni Members of the Methodist Episcopal Church Pulp fiction writers