Duke Ellington was known for his sartorial and musical elegance as a celebrated pianist, composer and orchestra leader. But when a young Ulysses Whittaker Boykin met Ellington, the stylish, musical genius came to the door wearing a “bathrobe, pajamas and a stocking cap.”
And while the poetry and other writings of Langston Hughes — a central figure in the Harlem Renaissance — have been enjoyed by readers across the globe, it is unlikely that many people can say they received Hughes’ books in the mail, sent by the famous author himself, which was the case for Boykin, who began receiving the books after a face-to-face encounter with Hughes before Boykin’s 10th birthday.
Even the 1956 Republican National Convention was not out of the reach for a young Boykin, who that summer soaked up all of the convention action that took place within the Cow Palace in San Francisco.
Having close and sometimes intimate contact with important people long before he became a judge of the 3rd Circuit Court in Wayne County, was a common experience for Boykin. That was due to the time he spent as a young man on “business trips” with his father, Ulysses Wilhelm Boykin, who was pretty important in his own right as a Republican National Convention delegate; public relations and media trailblazer; and one of the driving forces behind the launch of Detroit’s WGPR-TV 62, the nation’s first Black-owned TV station.