In that kind of atmosphere, Anne's openness and hospitality seem inevitable inclinations, to say nothing whatever of her inclination to reach beyond the limitations imposed by custom or circumstance. Similar generosity and independence are evident in Anne and Edward Spencer's children, the youngest of whom, Chauncey Edward, provides an arresting case in point. Proscriptions against black aviators in the Army aside, Chauncey Spencer became a private pilot, and flew from Chicago to Washington.

Dale White and Chauncey Spencer

(l to r) Dale White, Enoch P. Waters, Jr., editor for "Chicago Defender" newspaper, and Chauncey E. Spencer, on May 18, 1939, at Chicago Airport, after return from flight to Washington, DC.

In the halls of Congress, he and a colleague, Dale White, encountered Senator Harry Truman, who gave them his ear. Taken with what they had to say, the Senator subsequently made a successful argument for the authorization and commissioning of the Tuskegee Airmen. Like those of his parents and grandparents, Chauncey Spencer's story is remarkable. Doubtless Anne Spencer did not miss the broad implications of her son's having "slipped the surly bonds of earth." She had, after all, done the same thing on poetical wings rather than mechanical ones.

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