![]() ![]() Now equipped with both experience and two college degrees, the Rookie went to work. He was the first person in his family to graduate high school, and now he was on the verge of becoming an attorney. Although it was a struggle, the Rookie graduated with a law degree in 1955. He dedicated all of his off duty time to his education (and his family), using his GI bill to help pay his way. He enrolled at USC, to earn his second degree: in law. Hartsfield had developed a new plan for his life and the opportunity he felt presented with. What’s so important is how he went about pushing for change - and how his success resonates even today. He mingled with whites only when they were on scene, fighting fire.įormer Lieutenant and Rookie Hartsfield decided he wouldn’t tolerate the unequal and ignorant treatment he and his black comrades received. He performed “rookie” tasks, polishing poles, scrubbing toilets, and laying hose. Hartsfield was more fortunate than others, he still ate alone, and prepared his food with his own pots and pans. The transfers were mainly to stations in Battalion 8 and were referred to as “hate houses,” or “punishment houses.” It was a dangerous period of time, with unspeakable acts and hazing delivered against the single black fireman in each station. This back and forth political hot potato continued, and as the heat increased politically, it turned into a furnace for black firemen in the field.īlack firemen began to be transferred to stations previously occupied exclusively by whites. Supreme Court declared school segregation unconstitutional, and the City Fire Commission ordered Chief Engineer Alderson to study desegregation and report back to the commission. ![]() In 1953, court rulings and outspoken individuals began to open the public’s eyes to the idea that segregation was discriminatory. He was an intelligent, but stubborn and traditionally motivated individual, and he believed in segregation. In Los Angeles, the Fire Department’s Chief Engineer, John Adlerson was considered an innovator in the fire service, but equality among his firemen was not at the top of his list. Times were on the verge of change, but in many parts of the country, the idea of integration was a dangerous and unpredictable topic. It was a frustrating time for someone with a college education, military experience as a commissioned officer, and most importantly, someone who had grown up not knowing the hell that was segregation. He returned to Fire Station 30 and his peers – all black, and no officers above the rank of Captain. It was there that he faced segregation on a national level assigned to a black-only supply unit and sent to the pacific theater – to load and unload ships of their cargos.Īfter the war, he returned to Los Angeles and the LAFD. Because he was a graduate of ROTC at Manual Arts High School, he was soon called up for military service, and was commissioned as an Army infantry Lieutenant. Hartsfield was entering a profession long dominated by whites, and where black men were not welcome.Īssigned to all-black Fire Station 30, Rookie Fireman Hartsfield was working when Pearl Harbor was attacked in December of 1941. ![]() He became a Los Angeles fireman in 1940, just before America entered the second world war. He was the product of an interracial family – his grandfather was an Irishman from Belfast. Socially, it was dropped when the next rookie was assigned to the same station – or the rookie transferred to a new house.Īs a child, Arnett was a “ westsider,” growing up in a progressive neighborhood, where even as a minority, he was welcomed amongst his mostly white childhood friends. Officially, the probationary term was dropped after passing that one year period of initial training and experience. Nobody knows for certain when Arnett Hartsfield began calling himself “the Rookie.” It’s a term used for probationary firefighters – or in Mr. I will never forget him, and he is one of the most important people I’ve ever met. His story is important to not only the Los Angeles Fire Department, but to the fire service, and indeed to the fabric of our society. I listened to him speak on perhaps ten different days – at events, memorials, and at his old fire station in Los Angeles. I met Arnett Hartsfield on three occasions.
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