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“Man is what he thinks, not what he says, reads, or hears. By persistent thinking, however, in the right away, the way of truth, you can undo any condition which exists. You can free yourself from any claims, whether of poverty, sin, in health or unhappiness.”

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“Believing that Almighty God, in His infinite wisdom and boundless love for mankind, has endowed each normal being with infinite powers that only await development; and, that these powers are only developed by rigid self-discipline and self control; and, that through persistent effort one can develop all of his powers and successfully handle himself with all the powers which constitute a full and effective life, I hereby set forth some resolutions which I hope to build into permanent habits within my own being.
1. Daily reading of the Bible; prayer and meditation
2. Constant seeking for wisdom and understanding
3. Development of will-power and constructive thinking
4. Effective reading with development of memory
5. Concentration upon all matters at hand
6. Infinite pains unto the smallest detail
7. To look upward and onward – never downward nor backward
8. To properly value time and perseverance
9. Promptness and decision where needed
10. To speak clearly and express accurately”

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“Many of God’s greatest apostles of thought and feeling and action have come from the humblest stations. But the most insuperable difficulties have not long been obstacles to them. These greatest of difficulties are true men’s greatest helpers – they stimulate powers that might have lain dormant all though life, but often have readily yielded to the stout and reliant heart. There is no greater blessing in the world than poverty, which is allied to self-reliance and the spirit of self-help.”

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“When things get bad, so very bad that worse they could not be, hold fast to hope, cling hard to faith, that someway out you’ll see.”

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Charles Everett Ellis was the only black man living in an all-white small town in Illinois town during a violent period of America’s history, just before the Great Depression.

It was a time when African Americans faced threats of racial cleansing across the South and Midwest.

Thousands were murdered, tortured and publicly executed. Property was stolen. Towns destroyed, communities eliminated, overnight.

For most black men, the way to survive in those times was to remain invisible and never speak out.

Step off the curb when white people approached, avoid eye contact, stay in your place, never show emotion, always keep your thoughts to yourself, and your mouth shut.

For Charles Ellis … he had a wife and seven children to protect. He had a home. But, keeping his thoughts to himself was not an option.

He was a valuable asset in the white community – he was the town barber. He cut the hair of white men, gave shaves with a straightedge razor, and listened to white men in his shop talk, sometimes of hatred and racism.

And, then, Ellis voiced hope, and the dreams for all black Americans, like himself, during that time of the contemporary American black experience. He took up pen and paper, and kept a secret diary. The Barber’s Diaries.

An extraordinary man, self-educated in the classics … his writing is a celebration of life that rises above the violence and challenges of the time. His words inspire and endure to this day.

For the next 44 years, Ellis expressed his thoughts, his philosophy, his theology, his politics – his world-view.

“The Barber’s Diaries.”

The inner mind … and the powerful voice … of a visible man.

Special thanks to Mr. Pete Seeger for his storytelling guidance on the project, and to Mr. Alvin Oliver of Altamont, Illinois, for his invaluable assistance.

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The Barber’s Diaries is the true story of Charles Ellis, a black barber who secretly expressed his thoughts, philosophy, theology and world view throughout an era of dynamic racial change in America, from the 1920s through the civil rights movement.