First Black Postal Worker at Bloomington Post Office
Francis Henson (1913-2003) was the first Black person hired at the Bloomington Post Office. Born in Mitchell, Indiana, Henson grew up in Bloomington and attended Bloomington High School South where he played on the football team. After Pearl Harbor was bombed in 1941, he was drafted by the Navy where he was assigned to amphibious forces in the Pacific, in charge of underwater demolition.
He returned home to his wife Beatrice in Bloomington in 1945. For a while he worked as a maintenance man for the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity house. He identified with the students and was a student himself at IU for a year. Seeking greater security to support his wife and two sons, he applied for work at the Bloomington Post Office, only to be told there were no openings for Blacks. Through his quiet persistence, though, he was hired anyway. He began his career as a janitor but was eventually promoted to clerk by proving to George Purcell, the local postmaster in the post-World War II era of rampant prejudice, that he could do more than just clean the building. Eventually Purcell ran out of excuses for not promoting Henson. From then on, Henson devoted himself to seeking peaceful remedies for segregation. He joined the Human Relations Board where he helped clear the path for others to lead a better life in Bloomington.