AMERICAN GRAFFITI: THE ILLEGAL TRADITION OF PUBLIC NAME WRITING IN THE UNITED STATES
The oldest known evidence of writing, the engraved name of a Jewish soldier in Syria, which dates back to 4000 BCE, is an act of public name writing. Its discovery in 1998 forced the academic community to recalculate the previously held start date for written language by almost 200 years (Hill, 1999). At major archaeological dig sites around the globe, researchers have unearthed collections of engraved signatures and inscriptions connecting authors to locations. All of this documented evidence points to a human tradition of public name-writing--a phenomenon that is also evident in the various illegal name-writing cultures that have grown in the United States since the late 1800s. Although such practices share a common ancestry with the graffiti of antiquity, over the decades it has evolved into a competitive fame culture that now covers the globe. Despite its pervasive reach and widespread acceptance, its importance is still a disputed topic among historians and property-conscious civic municipalities.
In the United States, the lineage of different subcultures involved in illegal name-writing movements goes back at least 130 years. Not all of these threads can be linked to a single point of emergence, but, in many cases, the phenomena developed simultaneously among various groups. Although each of the practices developed its system of prestige and style, they all have a very human propensity: the desire to express oneself and leave one’s mark in public places along the American landscape.
What follows is an illustrated chronology of some of the major illegal name-writing cultures in the United States, the origins of which can be traced to occurrences at a time when simply having the ability to write afforded a certain prestige as a formal education system was in its infancy. These earliest examples consist of signatures along the famed Oregon Trail, as well as wall writings done by soldiers during the Civil War. Just as many settlers marked their wagon journeys across the country, hobos such as “Bozo Texino” developed a similar method of documenting their cross-country travels on freight trains shortly thereafter. In the barrios of Los Angeles in the 1930s, Chicano gangs appropriated the practice as a way of marking territory. In World War II, the “Kilroy” phenomenon, which began in America, swept across the globe in another iteration of
U.S. travelers making public notations of their locations. This phenomenon from the 1940s was then mirrored in the 1960s by a group graffiti movement centered on the “Yossarian Lives” phrase that also occurred at the same time as a surge in street gang activity that brought with it more visual claims to territory. Finally, the more modern-day examples of illegal name writing, the hyperactive explosion of public graffiti sparked by a lone writer in Philadelphia named “Corn Bread,” demonstrates how far American movements have come--while also showing similarities to those original names scrawled along the Oregon Trail.
Basic English
During the Americans’ westward migration on the Oregon Trail from 1843 to 1869, it was common for travelers to engrave names, dates, and locations in the granite rocks of Wyoming’s mountain passes to mark the passage of their journey. These engravings, such as those at Signature Rock, a sandstone cliff north of the Shoshone River, forever connect them to the American landscape.
On the East Coast, numerous accounts of graffiti--usually consisting of name, rank, and regiment number--were written by soldiers who occupied forts and residences during the Civil War. One of the most famous collections of signatures was discovered in Brandy Station, Virginia at a location now known as the “Graffiti House.” On the second floor, the house's plaster walls are covered with charcoal and pencil markings left by soldiers from both armies.
One of the prized pieces in this collection is “The Maryland Scroll,” a pencil drawing of a scroll with an unfurling banner above it by some unknown members of James Breathed’s Battery, which was created the day before the unit fought at the Battle of Kelly’s Ford. The banner reads: “Rifle Gun” and “No. 1, Stuart Horse Artillery/ Breathed’s Battery / On Picket - March 16, 1863,” while the main vertical scroll lists the names of fourteen soldiers in the artillery unit along with its two officers. As with the engravings from the Oregon Trail, these pieces of illegal name-writing are considered national treasures.
Hobo Symbols and Rail Road Monikers
With the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869, a project that took 50 years to complete, America’s economic growth rushed along the tracks that now connected the nation. The workforce for the Union Pacific railroad primarily consisted of army veterans and Irish immigrants who had learned the trade of keeping trains running during the Civil War.
Out of this network of railroad tracks, a symbol and name-writing system emerged. Hobos, a term generally assumed to reference “hoe boys” or “homeward bound,” described a population of Civil War veterans, who rather than return home at the end of the war, chose to ride the rails in search of seasonal employment. While stowed away in boxcars, these men created and wrote a set of symbols to communicate the location and details of their travels. Their markings on the side of freight cars were usually done with chalk, crayon, and blade and consisted of written names or “monikers” as well as dates and symbols known by other “hoe boys” that communicated details of their travels such as which homes were charitable or would let you work your keep.
As many men had difficulty assimilating back into society following the Civil War, this hobo culture expanded as a growing number of men hitched illegal cross-country rides on the rails. Along the way, these men wrote and carved their names and symbols and, as a result, the name-writing phenomenon spread with the nation’s rail system. Similar to illegal name writing before it, dates and locations typically accompany names. Also, these monikers would go on to be accompanied by cartoon renderings and messages.
Although hobos who stowed away in boxcars pioneered this transient graffiti culture, by the late 1900s, employees of the railroad companies joined in the tradition that has now been practiced for over 100 years. Their works were viewable to anyone who spent time near train tracks and railroad depots. In his film Who Is Bozo Texino?, Bill Daniel explores the history of freight moniker writing, in particular the moniker “Bozo Texino,” which has been written for almost eighty years. Daniel, who began his study while photographing boxcar drawings in 1983, stated:
“I was already interested in urban graffiti when one day I noticed several chalk-drawn graffiti on a freight train. One name in particular, ‘Bozo Texino,’ fired my curiosity. In attempting to track down the source of this drawing, I uncovered a secret chapter of American folk art. As I tried to research the subject of hobo and rail worker graffiti I discovered there was very little written. I found documentation of a few early writers, ‘Jack London,’ for one. Another name, ‘J. B. King ESQ.’ was the work of many anonymous writers.” (Daniel, personal communication, March 5, 2009)
Chicano “Placas” and Gangs
In southern California, illegal name writing emerged in a much different way from the culture of freight car monikers. Segregated Latino barrios became the starting point for the practice of writing “placas,” a term referring to “plaques” symbolizing territorial street boundaries. According to Susan A. Phillips, author of WallBangin’, a contemporary look at California street gangs, barrios were generally located outside of city limits in areas some might describe as “the wrong side” of the tracks. Chicano gangs wrote placas on the walls of the barrio with sticks dipped in tar from nearby railroad tracks or burning them into surfaces with Zippo lighters.
In his article “Los Angeles ‘CHOLO’ Graffiti Art,” Charles “CHAZ” Bojorquez, who has studied and participated in the placa tradition since 1969, stated:
“I believe, and have heard stories that the practice goes back further than the 1930s. Some believe that this style goes back to the early part of the century with the shoeshine boys marking their names on the walls with their daubers. The most important and influential time comes from the early 1940s in Los Angeles, as the Latino Zootsuiters defined their Americanism.” (para. 2)
As in other name-writing movements, placa writers developed their writing system with symbols, rules, and levels of prestige, allowing the writers to enjoy notoriety for their work. Since the 1940s, thousands of writers have perfected the placa style in hundreds of barrios across California and its influence can be seen in various forms of popular art and design.
“Kilroy” and “Chad”
With the start of World War II, the name “Kilroy” and an accompanying cartoon character named “Chad,” began to crop up all over the globe. Although the phenomenon was worldwide, its origins were expressly American. Many U.S. soldiers recount stories of arriving in remote, faraway locations, sure in the fact that they were the first to arrive, only to be greeted by the familiar drawing of a nose hanging over an implied wall and the message “Kilroy Was Here.”
The graffiti soon gained an iconic status and was the focus of much debate in the media. In 1946, The New York Times published an article indicating that the originator of the “Kilroy” writing was
J.J. Kilroy, an American shipyard inspector in the Fore River Shipyard in Quincy, Massachusetts. Much of his job depended on checking the work of riveters who were helping construct massive ships. Previous accounting systems using chalk had proven ineffective, as workers would simply wipe away inspection notes. Kilroy began marking his riveters’ work with “Kilroy Was Here” in yellow wax crayon so they could not misrepresent the amount of work they had accomplished. As a result, his name appeared in the bowels and hard-to-access points of American ships that carried hundreds of thousands of troops to battle. Given the international reach of the U.S. military, Kilroy became a legend of global proportion.
Just as Kilroy proliferated with the spread of American soldiers, so did the “Chad” character that was popularly associated with the name. The image, a creation of British cartoonist George Edward Chatterton, actually originated before World War II and was very popular with the slogan, “Wot, no ?”, a satirical comment on shortages and rationing. Within Allied war camps, the Kilroy and Chad merged, but there is no clear evidence to pinpoint when or why that occurred.
While the Kilroy writings began as a utilitarian marking, they went on to inspire a communal graffiti movement. After World War II, the movement came back to the U.S. as cross-country highways and affordable automobiles allowed more Americans to travel. Ordinary citizens began to participate in the practice of illegal public name writing by plastering the famous phrase and cartoon character across the nation.
In an interview with Anne Rorich, 86, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, she described the period between the ages of eight and eighteen when she and her friends wrote Kilroy graffiti in her town (Rorich, personal communication, December 25, 2008). As the years went by, others like her began inserting their names into the infamous phrase. This form of “ was here” graffiti still exists today as a popular method of public name writing. In the decades after World War II, Kilroy and Chad became engrained in the consciousness of the world. As a testament, the famous graffiti is engraved on the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C.
Popular Forms of Illegal Public Name Writing
Within the context of illegal public writing, various forms emerged in the mid-20th century. While street gangs used the practice to denote their territory, other groups began writing that used association devices, and visual markers that imply an author’s wish to be seen as something or someone different.
Much like the placa movement in the Latino barrios of the 1930s, street gangs adopted illegal public name writing as the tool of choice for asserting their claim to turf--twenty years later. In the largest cities around the country, the dominant social structure for many disenfranchised young people consisted of gangs, youth groups made up of the same racial and economic background who banded together for socializing and protection from enemies. In his work, Gangs Across America and Their Symbols, Lou Savelli, vice president of the East Coast Gang Investigators Association, stated:
“As street gangs, influenced by mobsters such as [Al] Capone, flourished during the 1920s and 30s gangs became a symbol of lower-income neighborhoods and ethnic ghettos. America’s new immigrant communities and ghetto neighborhoods saw their youth forming gangs. African Americans, Asians, and Hispanics made up the majority of street gangs that sociologists would research but the majority of all communities were experiencing street gangs to some degree. During the early 1940s, Mexican gangs formed along the west coast of the United States. As the late 1940s and 50s came along, gangs like the Latin Kings and Vice Lords were formed in Chicago, Illinois.” (pg. 5)
In these urban environments, the groups sought to create and maintain identity. To do so, many used graffiti to create the appearance of dominance by replicating their names on sites deemed important to their activities. This was done with a variety of mediums, including spray paint and felt-tip permanent markers. These new tools allowed writers to create much larger versions of their names. It was in the midst of this gang culture that the tradition of illegal public writing gained notoriety.
In his groundbreaking 1972 photo essay “Golden Boy as Anthony Cool,” Herbert Kohl examined forms of illegal name writing by studying his pupil, Johnny Rodriquez, and the ways he represented himself on public walls. Johnny, 14, was writing around the time when street gang culture was on the decline. He used several forms of writing to communicate a variety of messages to the public. His chosen phrase, “Bolta as Johnny Cool,” was a reference to a nickname given by his family. Johnny’s assertion that “Bolta” was appearing as “Johnny Cool” has an apparent connection to the commercial prestige system built around movie stars of the time. In other examples of “as” graffiti, both names were often fictitious. This was true for the graffiti that inspired Kohl’s essay title.
“Also Known As” or “A.K.A.” graffiti also has its roots in street-level naming culture. Young people were given street names that their peers accepted (Kohl, 1972). This renaming aspect shows the authors taking on new identities, usually boisterous and inflated in importance, in turn allowing them to depict how they wish to see themselves. This form of illegal public name-writing continues to be popular, particularly among teens. Writers use the “A.K.A.” or the variation “B.K.A.” (“Better Known As) to associate their true identities with the one being fictionalized. For example, “Johnny A.K.A. Johnny Cool.” These forms of name writing employ an associative device that connects the authors to a particular place or group by adding “of ” and “as” to their names. By doing so, the writers can increase the amount of information that is communicated to the public.
Group Graffiti
In 1961, another communal graffiti effort involving names grabbed national attention as “Yossarian Lives” and the slogan “Catch 22” began appearing all over the country. These marks became as popular as the “Kilroy” group effort from almost two decades earlier. This graffiti draws its origins from Joseph Heller’s 1961 novel Catch 22 and its protagonist Yossarian, a character based on the author’s World War II experience. After 1964, as America’s inability to resolve its racial issues tore at the nation’s fabric, other displays of public group graffiti began appearing across the country. Some messages were racist writing; others urged the reader to think openly. Of note was Black Panther graffiti, much of which stayed on walls next to names like “Savage Nomads” and “Blood Stone Rangers,”
Modern Public Name Writing
The modern-day illegal name-writing culture began in 1967 when a writer named “Corn Bread” of Philadelphia was released from a juvenile correctional facility, the walls of which he had taken to writing his name on. His public work began as an attempt to impress a girl, as he would paint “Corn Bread” anywhere he assumed she would travel along with a message of adoration. His large, spray-painted names dwarfed any others that occupied the walls. Corn Bread’s exploits were documented by local news media, which only increased his fame. After Corn Bread, a line of thousands of illegal name writers emerged in Philadelphia and its surrounding areas. Many have developed their own writing scripts and style, known as “Philly tall print,” which itself has several variations, as well as character symbols called “wickets” that accompany names (Powers 1999).
In 1968, the name “Julio 204” began appearing around New York City. Soon, the name, “Taki 183” stamped the city as well. The numeral suffixes refer to the writers’ geographic address in the city, i.e. Julio is from 204th street while “Taki” is from 183rd street. In 1971, The New York Times found and interviewed Taki 183 and soon after the article appeared in print, the names of hundreds of writers began appearing across New York City (Chalfant and Cooper, 1984). That number quickly grew into the thousands as names swept onto subway trains, eventually covering every available space.
Akin to the freight train monikers of hobos in the 19th century, this illegal name-writing, now referred to as “graffiti art,” coursed through the city, sparking an illegal name-writing movement. The explosion of hip-hop music in the 1980s subsequently thrust the practice into the national spotlight as the visual representation of hip-hop culture. Given the widespread popularity of hip-hop, this form of illegal public name-writing has spread worldwide.
A Purview of the Illegal Name-Writing Tradition
Illegal name-writing has spread throughout the world and influenced numerous facets of Western culture including fashion, advertising, and visual art. From its beginnings along the nation’s infant rail system to the swelling barrios of Los Angeles in the 1930s to folks using illegal name writing as a tool to create identity in a society that had little use for the unknown, the practice has evolved from singular engravings used to mark one’s travels into an international fame culture. The presence of such a street-level writing system presented the opportunity for declarations of identity, association, discontent, and creativity. The code itself may appear to be secret, but through the decades it has told the stories of average Americans who did not want to be average.
In the United States, illegal public name writing has been woven into the national fabric and connected with various cultural revolutions. It was born of social disconnect and fostered within the fringes of the American promise, its lasting impression on our cultural identity begs recognition of its impact, not as fractured bits of folklore, but as an American tradition.
References
Bojorquez, C. (2009). “Los Angeles ‘CHOLO’ Graffiti Art.” Graffiti Verite’. Retrieved 23 March 2009 from http://www.graffitiverite.com/cb- cholowriting.htm).
Chalfant, H., & Cooper, M. (1984). Subway Art. London: Thames & Hudson Ltd.
Daniel, B. (Producer/Director). (2005). Who Is Bozo Texino? [Documentary]. USA: Microcosm Publishing.
Daniel, B. (2008). Mostly True. Bloomington: Microcosm Publishing.
Gastman, R., Sattler, I. & Rowland, D. (2006). Freight Train Graffiti. New York: HNA Books.
Kohl, H. (1972). “Golden Boy as Anthony Cool.” New York City: The Dial Press.
Hill, M. (Nov. 22 1999). “Graffiti cast new light on alphabet’s origins.” The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 23 March 2009 from http://www.trussel.com/ prehist/news166.htm.
Phillips, S. A. (1999). Wallbangin’: Graffiti and Gangs in L.A. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Powers, S. (1999). The Art of Getting Over. New York City: St. Martins Press.
Savelli, L. (2006). Gangs Across America and Their Symbols. New York: Loose Leaf Law Publications.
