Nebrasker Williams and the African Princess

One of the categories of old postcards that I collect is "walkers." Among postcard collectors, the genre of postcards portraying people who trekked long distances for reasons of health, publicity, competition, or personal objectives is known as “Walkers,” whether the journey was made by foot, bicycle, dogsled, goat cart, or other non-motorized means of conveyance. During the early part of the 20th century, "long-distance travelers," as they might be more accurately described, traveled to fulfill personal goals, promote political or social causes, advertise an upcoming event such as a state fair, or simply as a means of livelihood, raising money by selling postcards or pamphlets about themselves along the way. Occasionally, someone walking the highways today supports a religious or social cause.

There are a lot of engrossing stories and images of early "walkers."  Plennie L. Wingo walked from Abilene, Texas, to New York City in 1931 – backward!  In 1910, Fred Vaillancourt, a former railroad brakeman who had lost both legs in a railroad accident, traveled the country by dog cart. The husband and wife team, Mr. and Mrs. D. H. Woolf, walked thousands of miles across the United States in 1909 accompanied by Dolly, a little bay mare who pulled their baggage wagon.

One famous American walker whose story I will save for another occasion was Edward Payson Weston, often billed as the World's Greatest Walker, who was a "professional pedestrian" during the late 19th and early 20th century when long-distance walking was a popular spectator sport. See Kenneth Wilson, Snapshots and Short Notes, Images and Messages of Early Twentieth-Century Photo Postcards, University of North Texas Press, 2020, pages 143-144.

I have seen many postcards and photographs of such travelers, but recently, I came across an old printed blotter that advertised "Mr. and Mrs. Nebrasker Williams and their dog Big Boy."  The couple billed themselves as "World Champion Walkers and Explorers." The image of the couple on this card is striking, even if poorly printed.  For one thing, they were both black, and I am unaware of other photos or postcards of a person of color as a long-distance walker.   

The blotter's information asserts that the couple started from Shreveport, Louisiana, in 1926, intending to walk around the world. They sold blotters for 15 cents and solicited donations to finance their journey. While the printed information does not mention religion, Nebrasker is shown wearing a prominent Christian cross.

A quick internet search revealed very little about Nebrasker Williams and his wife, especially as the search engine kept trying to change "Nebrasker" to "Nebraska." After some time, I found an article in The California Eagle from 1945.  The Eagle was an African American newspaper in Los Angeles from 1879 to 1964.  It was founded by John J. Neimore, who had escaped slavery in Missouri before the Civil War.

The Eagle article was titled "African Princess and Husband Visit in City of Angels." According to that article, Mrs. Williams' name was "Princess Quenda Buranghingtore Williams," and she was from Zulatribi, Cape Town, South Africa. The source further claimed that she and her husband were guests at a turkey dinner at the St. Paul Baptist Church in Los Angeles. 

It was reported that the princess and her husband had been married for six years and that Mr. Williams had walked 37,000 miles and visited 51 countries, 48 states, and 10 islands, during which time he had worn out 840 pairs of shoes. Mr. Williams claimed to have once been the guest of Mahatma Gandhi.  Mrs. Williams described herself as "a native African girl," reported walking 9,000 miles, and said the couple had a collection of 521 scrapbooks.

Now, to me, that's a good story. I found no other references to Princess Quenda and only one more for Nebrasker; on a website titled "These Americans," which described itself as a visual narrative from the archives of American history and pop culture, was a single photo titled "Nebrasker Williams The Walking Preacher." However, this site seems to no longer exist on the web.

Nebrasker Williams, Walking Preacher

http://www.theseamericans.com/religion/press-collection-nebrasker-williams-the-walking-preacher/

(this site may no longer exist)

While we have some answers to the mystery surrounding Nebrasker Williams we don't seem to have all the facts. Is the Mrs. Williams portrayed in the blotter advertisement the same person as Princess Quenda?  The 1945 newspaper article says that he and the princess had been married for 9 years, but the blotter information says that the couple pictured on it started walking in 1926, and "... the history of our lives from 5 years old."   

What happened to the 521 scrapbooks? Where did Nebrasker walk next?  I wish I could have asked Nebrasker what it was like to travel this country on foot as a black man in the 1920s, 30s, and 40s.  So, there are still many unanswered questions to this narrative; if you know some of the answers, let us know.  In the meantime, keep on putting one foot ahead of the other.

2/1/12  Additional Information:
My sister, Joanne, who must be a better researcher than I am, found an article about "Nebraska" (rather than "Nebrasker") Williams, dated March 1, 1930, in The Afro American, a Baltimore newspaper. The article says that Williams passed through Baltimore in 1927 and was again in the city in 1930, along with his wife, a sister, and "Big Boy," his bulldog. The article's author seems to be a bit skeptical about Mr. Williams's walking claims.

In this article, Mr. Williams claimed to have begun his walk in London in 1926, rather than Shreveport, and he also claimed Montreal as a starting place.  The newspaper writer says that despite numerous letters about his walk from various US city officials, Mr. Williams failed to show any evidence of having hiked in any foreign countries as he claimed.   

The Afro American does mention some of the problems that the Williams couple had in the South, including being arrested and forced to work on a prison farm for a month.  Mrs. Williams stated that she made a key out of a spoon and enabled their escape!

So, more questions: Was Mr. Williams a preacher, a "world champion walker," a con man, or a bit of all three?  Was there really an African Princess wife?  So far, we don't have the whole story, but it's an interesting walk through history in any case.

"Home is everything you can walk to." ― Jerry Spinelli