Description
Name: Henry Horace Buford
Nickname: Some of the more conservative folk around town refer to Henry as "boy", as they do any other black man. Sometimes more vulgar names are applied.
Age: 21
Appearance: Henry is African-American and stands tall at 6'3" and has a heavy build that especially shows in his lower body and feet. Despite his young age, Henry's body has been weathered by years of hard labor and adversity tilling the fields, chopping wood, hauling top soil and other agricultural duties that are required of a farm hand. His working clothes are dull and dusty and his steely grey flat cap is stained with sweat. He has hard brown eyes that have seen too much hardship for someone so young but such is the nature of the black youth in these times.
Personality
Personality: Henry is a hard working, hard fighting member of the black working class. He was raised in a household where family, industriousness and self-respect were the core values; necessary bulwarks against the pressures of living in the segregated culture of the American South. Consequently Henry has very strong loyalty to his family, his people and himself knowing full well that in these times nobody is going to give him a helping hand, he must help himself. Henry has regularly been forced to deal with the discrimination against his people in public, in the workplace and even in private and as such has come to accept that prejudice is a given in American culture. Despite his pragmatic upbringing and views on racism Henry has an idealistic streak in him which holds that one day his people will be seen as Americans and that all Americans will be seen as equal. Until then though he must work hard to provide for himself and his family and he is determined to endure the cultural challenges thrown up against him.
Henry has very strong protective instincts regarding his community and family. He often can tell when danger is about and when his family is out of the house together he rarely let's his little sister out of his sight. Historically Henry has had some problems with the local white kids as although he can tolerate insults to his own person he won't let insults or threats pointed as his family go by unanswered. Although not confrontational by nature, Henry is very defensive and will never yield in the face of taunts and intimidation.
Although not very familiar or interested in domestic politics, Henry makes a habit of listening to president Roosevelt on the radio whenever possible at the local barber shop.
Family:
Garrett Buford (Father, stockyard worker)
April Buford (Mother, housekeeper/maid)
Jasmin Buford (Sister, pre-teen)
Status in Bedford Falls: Henry is currently a temp worker serving as a farm hand but is considering moving on since the Bedford Falls Shell Factory opened up. He'll be applying there soon. He is also considering trying to enlist in the U.S Army if America does indeed enter the war.
Thoughts on the War: Henry doesn't know a lot about what is going on over in Europe and Asia on account of the lack of access to information. He does know there is a war going on and believes that it is currently a white man's war yet he also believes that if the United States does enter the war in an official capacity he would support it as any American citizen should.
Relationships: Single
History
Born and raised in Bedford Falls within the dusty, rickety shacks of the local black community. From the day he could competently hold tools and bear loads Henry has been hard at work whether it be helping fix a neighbor's house, greasing automobile engines or shifting bails of hay on one of the local farms. As part of a community improvement program Henry and several other black children were taught by the local black pastor, Father William Hayes, to read and write, if only at an elementary level. Although Henry has never considered pursuing a career in academia this ability to read and write has aided him in avoiding some of the social pitfalls that many other African Americans fall into within white culture. For this Henry is both lauded within the black community and somewhat despised by parts of the white community. The established white community doesn't have a particular affection for "that clever negro" who insists that he can write his own signature. Because of this stigma Henry often avoids the town center of Bedford Falls and only ventures there when there is a very specific item on a shopping list that can only be purchased in the commercial hub of the town.
With the war revving up overseas Henry has been thinking more about things on a national scale (due in no small part to Roosevelt's "fireside chats") and often raises personal questions of nationhood and civic duties despite his pragmatic nature. Garrett keeps telling Henry that none of that holier than thou patriotism applies to blacks because no matter how high of a standard blacks hold themselves too, they will always be seen as "just a bunch of negroes". Henry is not convinced of this however, he believes that if America enters the war then whites will work together with blacks, asians, latinos and every other American minority to prevail over evil. Then after they have all toiled as one, American society will come to understand the value of the African American people.
