Tension between Himes's parents--attributed to his father's humble status and his mother's attempts at social climbing--soon caused a riff. Estelle Himes accepted an offer to teach in South Carolina and she took Chester and his middle brother, Joseph, Jr. However, less than a month later Estelle relocated again, this time to Augusta, Georgia. She taught music at the Haines Normal and Industrial School, which both her sons attended.
At the end of the school year the family was reunited, with the exception of the eldest son, Edward, who left home to attend Atlanta University and eventually made his way to New York. Himes's father took a position at the Branch Normal School in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, while his mother taught in local public schools. In June 1923 an accident during a chemistry demonstration on gunpowder left Joseph, Jr. blind, and Chester, who was forbidden to take part in the demonstration because of misbehavior, was despondent over his brother's injury. The family moved to St. Louis shortly thereafter, but by 1925 they were back in Cleveland.
In 1926 Himes graduated from Glenville High School in Cleveland.
This is a free page. This page contains 182 words. This
biography contains 2,037 words (approx. 7 pages at 300
words per page).
Read the rest of this Biography with our Chester Bomar Himes Access Pass.
