1
100
100
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/9c0fc4715f1d8b374f64962a4743a3e2.jpg
3dc879d9ad1734e96a1b0eff57b14b90
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People
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Henry Richardson, Jr.
Description
An account of the resource
Henry Richardson, Jr. was an Indianapolis lawyer and politician who spent his career fighting for Civil Rights in Indiana. He is best known for his legal battles against segregation and racial inequality in education and housing [1]. Richardson was born in Huntsville, Alabama in 1902. He moved to Indianapolis when he was seventeen in search of educational opportunities. While living at the YMCA, Richardson waited tables to support himself and graduated from Indianapolis Shortridge High School in 1921. He studied at the University of Illinois for two years before moving back to Indianapolis, earning his law degree from the Indiana University School of Law in 1928 [2].
By the early 1930s, Richardson was an established lawyer with an interest in politics. In 1930, he was appointed a temporary judge in the Marion County Superior Court [3] and ran for state representative. He did not win the nomination, but continued to build his reputation as a Democrat leader [4]. Richardson was elected to the House of Representatives in 1932, [5] becoming the first African American Democrat elected to the Indiana legislature [6]. During his first term, he sponsored a law requiring contracts for public buildings to contain “agreements not to discriminate because of race or color in the employment of workers" [7]. Richardson was re-elected to the House in 1934. During his second term, he and six other Democrats co-sponsored a bill to strengthen Indiana’s 1885 Civil Rights Law [8]. Richardson believed the existing law did not adequately protect African Americans from “discrimination and intimidation on account of race or color" [9]. However, the Indiana General Assembly did not introduce legislation that strengthened Civil Rights in the state until after World War II [10].
In 1947, Richardson and his wife Roselyn attempted to send their son to the neighborhood school. The school refused his enrollment, and instead, their son was sent to an all-black school located miles from their home. In response, Richardson presented a plan to the school board to end segregation in Indianapolis schools. Working with other Indianapolis lawyers and the NAACP, he took the time to build a strong case proving African American schools did not receive the same funds or facilities as white schools [11]. Two years later, Richardson coauthored a bill that sought to abolish segregation in Indiana schools. It passed quickly by the House of Representatives. The bill then went to the Republican-dominated Senate. Governor Schricker met with Democratic senators to ask for their support in passing the bill. Despite widespread support from the Indianapolis community and press, Republican senators still sought to restrict the bill with additional amendments. Finally, after some delaying tactics from the Republicans, the Senate passed the bill, becoming law [12].
In 1953, Richardson helped win a case for integrated housing in Evansville, Indiana [13]. Fulfilling his role as the Hoosier legal counsel for the NAACP, Richardson secured a court injunction against the Evansville Housing Authority. The order enforced integration of public housing “regardless of race, creed or color" [14].
In addition to his work fighting for desegregation in schools and housing, Henry Richardson was involved in a multitude of organizations. He organized the Indianapolis Urban League in 1965, worked for the Federal Civil Rights Commission throughout the 1960s, served as a board member of the Indianapolis Church Federation, supported the YMCA, and served on both the Mayor’s Advisory Council and the Greater Indianapolis Progress Committee [15]. In 1971, he received the key to the city of Indianapolis from Mayor Richard Lugar [16]. Richardson died in 1983 [17]. The Indianapolis Recorder boasted about his legal prowess and lifelong battle for racial equality, deeming him the “Father of Civil Rights in Indiana" [18].
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
[1] “Henry J. Richardson, Jr. Receives the Key to the City from Indianapolis Mayor Richard Lugar,” Indianapolis Recorder Collection, Indianapolis Historical Society, May 5, 1971, https://images.indianahistory.org/digital/collection/p0303/id/388.
[2] Ryan Schwier and Ravay Smith, “’Thirst for Justice’: Indiana’s Pioneering Black Lawyers,” Indiana Legal Archive, February 23, 2015, http://www.indianalegalarchive.com/journal/2015/2/18/thirst-for-justice.
[3] Ryan Schwier and Ravay Smith, “’Thirst for Justice.’”
[4] Emma Lou Thornburgh, Indiana Blacks in the Twentieth Century (Indiana University Press, 2000), 88.
[5] Thornburgh, 91.
[6] Henry Medge, “Who’s Who in the Community,” Indianapolis Recorder (Indianapolis, IN), November 23, 1974.
[7] Thornburgh, 91.
[8] Thornburgh, 91.
[9] Jae Jones, “Henry Richardson: Key Figure in Amending the State Constitution to Integrate the National Guard,” Black Then, June 16, 2020, https://blackthen.com/henry-richardson-key-figure-amending-state-constitution-integrate-national-guard/.
[10] Ryan Schwier and Ravay Smith, “’Thirst for Justice.’”
[11] Thornburgh, 145.
[12] Thornburgh, 146.
[13] Jae Jones, “Henry Richardson.”
[14] Henry Medge, “Who’s Who in the Community.”
[15] Ryan Schwier and Ravay Smith, “’Thirst for Justice.’”
[16] “Henry J. Richardson, Jr. Receives the Key to the City from Indianapolis Mayor Richard Lugar,” Indianapolis Historical Society.
[17] Ryan Schwier and Ravay Smith, “’Thirst for Justice.’”
[18] Henry Medge, “Who’s Who in the Community.”
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Student Author: Gwyneth Harris
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
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PHOTO & VIDEO:
Henry J. Richardson, Jr. Desk Portrait, Indiana Historical Society, P0472.
https://images.indianahistory.org/digital/collection/V0002/id/5923/rec/8
1900-1940s
1950s-present
Indianapolis
Integration
law
Marion County
Politics
-
Dublin Core
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People
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Thomas V. Barnes
Description
An account of the resource
Thomas V. Barnes was born in Arkansas in 1936. His family moved to Gary, Indiana when Barnes was only four weeks old. He graduated from African American Roosevelt High School in 1954 and earned his Bachelor of Science degree in 1958. He attended law school, obtaining his Doctorate of Jurisprudence from DePaul University in 1972 [1].
Barnes began his political career in Lake County, when he won the Democratic nomination for Calumet Township assessor in 1978. His campaign established Barnes as a man “dedicated to community development…and respect for people” and he served as assessor for a decade [2], [3]. In 1987, he announced his candidacy for Mayor of Gary. The Mayor at the time, Richard Hatcher, had endorsed Barnes’ election to Township assessor. Now, they were political opponents [4].
Barnes won the Mayoral election, defeating Hatcher and promising hope to a city whose economy had been devastated by the decline of the steel mills in the 1970s. He vowed to combat the city’s economic decline and address the growing crime issue by hiring more police officers and increasing their salaries. After his election, Barnes announced his commitment to the city, stating that he could “see a Gary that is clean, safe and working" [5]. Barnes was re-elected in 1991, serving another four-year term [6]. Many of his years in office were dedicated to bringing riverboat casinos to Gary to stimulate economic development. His “last official act” as Mayor was a groundbreaking ceremony for two riverboat casinos, the Majestic Star and Trump Indiana [7]. Barnes lamented the brief five-year existence of Trump Indiana in Gary, admitting that he did not want to accept Trump’s proposal in the first place. His decision was overridden by the state, who had the final say in the matter [8].
In addition to his time as Mayor, Barnes served in the U.S. Army, retiring as a Colonel in 1986. In 1988, he was elected Civilian Aide to the Secretary of the U.S. Army for the State of Indiana. He also served as Co-Chair of the World Health Organization Conference in Sweden in 1990. He was DePaul University’s Distinguished Graduate of 1993, and in 1994 was placed in Purdue University’s Hall of Fame. In 1995, he was also inducted into Gary’s Steel City Hall of Fame. He is a life member of the NAACP and AMVETS, a member of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, and a former advisor and board member of Brothers Keeper [9]. When his years as Mayor came to an end in 1995, Barnes returned to work at Barnes Washer Repair and Parts, continuing the family legacy of fine service and hospitality at the business his father had established upon moving to Gary in 1936 [10].
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
[1] “48th Annual Black History Month Program,” Gary Public Library, Gary Public Library and Cultural center, February 2020, http://www.garypubliclibrary.org/clientuploads/barnes_flyer_2020_.pdf.
[2] “Calumet Attorney Wins Nomination for Assessor,” Indianapolis Recorder (Indianapolis, IN) May 27, 1978.
[3] “48th Annual Black History Month Program,” Gary Public Library.
[4] Emma Lou Thornburgh, Indiana Blacks in the Twentieth Century (Indiana University Press, 2000), 194.
[5] Dirk Johnson, “Economic Decline Seen as Factor in Hatcher Loss,” New York Times (New York, NY), May 7, 1987.
[6] “48th Annual Black History Month Program,” Gary Public Library.
[7] Carole Carlson, “Gary Mayors Offer Glimpse into City Hall Politics at Forum,” Chicago Tribune, Post-Tribune, January 9, 2019, https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/ct-ptb-gary-living-mayors-st-0110-story.html.
[8] Lauren Cross, “Gary’s Living Mayors Reflect on City’s Past, Present, and Future,” NWI, The Times, December 14, 2019, https://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/lake/garys-living-mayors-reflect-on-citys-past-present-and-future/article_d445ce73-3112-582a-a6e1-a5960aa1d4fc.html.
[9] “48th Annual Black History Month Program,” Gary Public Library.
[10] Michael Puente, “Former Gary Mayor Remembers When trump Came to Town,” Will Radio TV, Illinois Public Radio, April 30, 2016, https://will.illinois.edu/news/story/former-gary-mayor-remembers-when-trump-came-to-town
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Student Author: Gwyneth Harris
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
1950s-present
Gary
Lake County
NAACP
Politics
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/c7162f9b59bcdd0e9644d54f0299116f.jpg
964ffa17b54853015196977e27c94f7a
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/a55221be0c3eb6b7c3a4f0684e4fea49.mp3
4981d7c407874765c84d8bf16e72880b
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Interview 5 with Allen Watson (Roger's Corner)
Subject
The topic of the resource
<a href="https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/items/show/119">Roger's Corner</a>
Description
An account of the resource
Allen Watson, a lifelong resident of Madison, Indiana, describes discrimination present at drugstores located in downtown Madison, where he and his family could not eat inside of the store and had to pick up their ice cream at the side entrance as opposed to the front.
<strong>***Transcript***</strong><br /><br /><em>Allen Watson</em>: My dad, he would have to go in to get the ice cream for us. He’d bring it out. We weren’t allowed to go to the front door at the drugstore. We had to go to the side door to get, my dad to get the ice cream and bring it out to us, and yeah, the other drug store on Main Street, we weren’t allowed to—we had to go through the front door because I think that was probably the only door that they had. The other side door I believe was used for deliveries, and we could go in there, but as far as sitting down to eat at the dining room tables, you could not do that as an African American, but you know, later on things started to change at the drug store. You know, there were people that had gone in, and they would sit there, but they would not be served,but then, you know, they just kept going back and finally they did serve them, and this was back in the [19]60’s it was, but at the other drugstore, later on, at the other drugstore where my dad would take us to get out ice cream, we were able to later, like the other drugstore, we were able to go in and sit in the booth, but at first, we were not allowed to do that.
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Places
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Rogers Corner
Description
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W.H. Rogers opened his drugstore in Madison, Indiana in 1847. Located on the corner of West and Main Streets, Rogers Drug Store quickly became a prominent business in downtown Madison. While the business changed ownership multiple times over the years, it primarily stayed in the Rogers family. By 1964, the drugstore had transformed to Rogers Corner. The updated store featured a soda fountain and served ice cream, while maintaining its original drugstore. It was a well-known, popular place for the people of Madison to visit before and after basketball games and movies [1]. Many people fondly remember the days when they could stop in to laugh with friends over a soda or milkshake [2]. For the first century after its creation, however, Rogers Corner did not welcome all Madison citizens. Many African Americans remember Rogers Corner differently than the white residents of Madison.
The African American community was well established in Madison. Before and during the Civil War, Madison was a “hotbed of antislavery activity,” playing an important role in the Underground Railroad. After the war, African Americans continued to build the Black community in the city, primarily settling in the Georgetown Neighborhood [3]. In recent years, African Americans have recalled the blatant racism and segregation they faced as children in mid-twentieth century Madison.
African Americans had designated, segregated seats in the local theater, and were forced to go in the side door at restaurants and stores. Rogers Corner is remembered as being particularly strict with the side-door policy. African Americans were not allowed to sit and enjoy their ice cream inside Rogers, but instead had to leave the store immediately after purchasing their treats [4]. Allen Watson, born in Madison in 1952, explained that “the people that ran the drugstore didn’t want Black people there…it’s like we were good enough to buy something and pay for it, but we weren’t good enough to sit at the counter or sit in a booth, like everybody else did" [5]. Denise Carter, born in Madison in 1959, admitted there was a “zone of infamy” around Rogers. “Black people didn’t like to go there,” she said, “I remember going in there once and being watched real close, like I was somewhere I wasn’t supposed to be” [6]. On one occasion, another Black Madison native was simply turned away from buying ice cream at Rogers Corner as a child [7]. Eventually, African Americans were allowed to sit in the store, although they could not be served. They continued frequenting Rogers, until finally, in the 1960s, African Americans were allowed to sit in a booth and be served like white customers [8].
Today, the storefront on the corner of West and Main still proudly displays the label “Rogers Corner.” The location housed Rogers Corner Diner from 2000 to 2010, then was bought by a sports bar that still serves out of the old Rogers Corner [9]. The building is located in the expansive 130-block Madison Historic District, noted in both the National Register of Historic Places and as a National Historic Landmark for its fine examples of nineteenth century architecture and historical significance [10].
<a href="https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/show/275">Interview 5 with Allen Watson</a>
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
[1] “Shooter’s,” Madison’s Treasures Tours, Pocket Sights, accessed March 22, 2021, https://pocketsights.com/tours/place/Shooter%27s-16411.
[2] Don Ward, “Ratcliffs Buy Rogers Corner, Plan to Rebuild Soda Fountain,” RoundAbout, April 2000, http://www.roundaboutmadison.com/InsidePages/ArchivedArticles/2000/0400RogersCorner.html.
[3] “Madison Historic District,” National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior, accessed March 22, 2021, https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/madison/Madison_Historic_District.html.
[4] Don Wallis, All We Had Was Each Other (Indiana University Press, 1998), 116.
[5] Don Wallis, 125.
[6] Don Wallis, 132.
[7] Don Wallis, xiii.
[8] Allen Watson, interview by Carrie Vachon, April 12, 2019, Ball State University.
[9] “Shooter’s,” Madison’s Treasures Tours.
[10] “Madison Historic District,” National Register of Historic Places Inventory – Nomination Form,” United States Department of the Interior National Park Service, May 25, 1973, https://catalog.archives.gov/id/132003437.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Student Author: Gwyneth Harris
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
Relation
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<a href="https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/73000020">National Register of Historic Places</a><br /><a href="https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/madison/Madison_Historic_District.html">Madison Historic District National Historic Landmark</a><br /><a href="https://www.in.gov/history/state-historical-markers/find-a-marker/madison-historic-district/"> Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker</a>
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PHOTO & VIDEO:
Mich Rd Start 19-10-16, attributed to Chris Light, Public domain, via Wikimedia commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mich_Rd_Start_19-10-16_221.jpg
1800s
1900-40s
1950s-present
Architecture
Entertainment
Indiana Historical Bureau Marker
Jefferson County
Madison
National Register of Historic Places
Oral History
Segregation
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/0984fe1fc628453f04784573f058b81e.jpg
fad189176e104f6e7d8c078ccdbe42a4
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People
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Robert Lee Bailey
Description
An account of the resource
Robert Lee Bailey was a successful Indianapolis lawyer and active member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). He fought tirelessly against segregation and discrimination throughout his life [1]. Bailey was born in Alabama in 1885. After graduation from Talladega College, he moved north for job opportunities. In 1912, he graduated from the Indiana University School of Law [2]. Prior to entering law school, he worked as a railway mail clerk. During this time, he founded the National Alliance of Postal Employees, and later served as their general counsel [3]. During the 1920s and ‘30s, he served as a special judge in the Marion Circuit Court, ran for state representative, and was involved with several organizations and movements [4]. Among his many activities, he was involved with the Bethel Church, Southern Cross Lodge, No. 39, F. and A.M., where he was past master. He was also the chairman of the committee on foreign relations for the Indiana Grand Lodge F. and A.M., chairman of the redress committee for the Indiana NAACP, and a local NAACP branch president [5].
During the height of Indiana’s Ku Klux Klan activity in the 1920s, Bailey helped lead the Indianapolis NAACP against the growing power of the Klan. Mirroring the Klan’s rapid growth during this decade, the Indianapolis branch of the NAACP grew considerably under the leadership of Bailey and fellow lawyers Robert Lee Brokenburr, W.S. Henry, and Freeman Ransom [6]. Bailey was involved in several critical moments in Indianapolis’s African American Civil Rights history.
In the early 1920s, Bailey represented NAACP in court, asking the Indianapolis school board to reconsider their decision to build an all-black high school. Bailey and two African American lawyers asked for an injunction, believing the proposed school promoted segregation and unequal opportunities for Indianapolis’s African American students [7]. Despite pleas from the NAACP, Crispus Attucks High School opened in September 1927 [8].
In 1931, Indiana Attorney General James Ogden appointed Bailey as the assistant attorney general. He was the first African American to hold the position. In the same year, Bailey faced one of his most difficult cases. Brokenburr and Bailey defended James Cameron, a sixteen-year-old boy from Marion, Indiana, who had been charged with murder. Cameron’s friends, Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith, were beaten and hanged in what is known as the last lynching in Indiana’s history. Cameron narrowly escaped the same fate. If found guilty by the all-white jury, he faced life in prison or the death penalty. Bailey and Brokenburr provided evidence to reduce Cameron’s charges. He was found guilty as an accessory to voluntary manslaughter and served two years in the Indiana State Reformatory [9]. While Cameron’s narrow escape from the lynch mob was unique, lynching in Indiana was not. Besides Shipp and Smith, at least seven other African American men were lynched in Indiana between 1890 and 1902 [10].
Robert Bailey died in 1940 [11]. Newspaper accounts of his death remembered him as “one of the most brilliant attorneys ever to practice in the Indiana courts,” and an “honorable, straightforward…splendid citizen" [12]. Robert Lee Bailey was most known for his love for battle in the courtroom, which was “surpassed only by his thirst for justice" [13].
Source
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[1] “Our Branch History,” Indy NAACP, accessed March 19, 2021, https://www.indynaacp.org/branch-history.
[2] Ryan Schwier and Ravay Smith, “’Thirst for Justice’: Indiana’s Pioneering Black Lawyers,” Indiana Legal Archive, February 23, 2015, http://www.indianalegalarchive.com/journal/2015/2/18/thirst-for-justice.
[3] “Great Man Who Had Thirst for Justice,” Indianapolis Recorder (Indianapolis, IN), March 9, 1940.
[4] Ryan Schwier and Ravay Smith, “’Thirst for Justice’: Indiana’s Pioneering Black Lawyers.”
[5] “Great Man Who Had Thirst for Justice,” Indianapolis Recorder.
[6] Emma Lou Thornbrough, Indiana Blacks in the Twentieth Century (Indiana University Press, 2000), 49. [7] Emma Lou Thornbrough, 57.
[8] Emma Lou Thornbrough, 58.
[9] Ryan Schwier and Ravay Smith, “’Thirst for Justice’: Indiana’s Pioneering Black Lawyers.”
[10] “Indiana Lynching Victims Memorial,” America’s Black Holocaust Museum, accessed March 22, 2021, https://www.abhmuseum.org/indiana-lynching-victims-memorial/.
[11] “Great Man Who Had Thirst for Justice,” Indianapolis Recorder.
[12] “Bailey’s Death Brings Grief to Multitudes,” Indianapolis Recorder (Indianapolis, IN), March 9, 1940.
[13] “Great Man Who Had Thirst for Justice,” Indianapolis Recorder.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Student Author: Gwyneth Harris
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
PHOTO & VIDEO:
Courtesy Indiana University https://indianamemory.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/IUPUIphotos/id/31228/rec/1
1800s
1900-1940s
Civil Rights Movement
Indianapolis
Integration
Ku Klux Klan
law
Marion County
NAACP
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/82f8aeca3cdb2293d58cc739ce0b8def.jpg
fa7f4103169954cdb8b82db869b1bf83
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Places
Dublin Core
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Title
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Julia Carson House
Description
An account of the resource
Julia Carson was born in Kentucky in 1938 and raised by her single mother. They moved to Indianapolis when Carson was young. She attended Crispus Attucks High School and married shortly after her graduation in 1955. Her two children, Samuel and Tonya, were still young children when their parents divorced, leaving Carson to raise the children on her own [1].
In 1972, Representative Andy Jacobs persuaded Carson into running for office in the Indiana legislature. She served in the Indiana House of Representatives from 1973 to 1977, when she was elected to the Indiana State Senate, serving until 1990. In 1996, she became the first African American and first woman to represent Indianapolis in Congress when she was elected as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Throughout her career, she was known for defending civil rights and the poor, determined to help those whose lives might have resembled her own childhood and early life as a single mother. She passed away in her Indianapolis home in 2007 [2].
During the last decades of her life, Carson lived in her Indianapolis home on North Park Avenue in Fall Creek Place. In 2015, Carson’s son, Samuel, contacted Indiana Landmarks for assistance in nominating his mother’s home for the National Register of Historic Places. The Partners in Preservation (PIP) National Register Program awarded funds to support nominations of ten Hoosier sites and districts to the National Register, including Julia Carson’s home. Samuel, who lived in the house at the time of the award, matched the $1,450 in PIP funding. Dr. James Glass of Historic Preservation and Heritage Consulting LLC wrote the nomination [3].
The home was listed in the National Register of Historic Places and State Register of Historic Places in October 2017 as both the Lovel D. Millikan House and the Julia M. Carson House [4]. It was built in 1911 by architect Frank Baldwin Hunter and is celebrated for its architectural significance. It represents the American Four Square house style popular between 1894 and 1930 and is an “especially fine example” of the early twentieth century style of home in Indianapolis [5]. The home is stately, unique, and an unforgettable part of Indianapolis history, much like Julia Carson herself.
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
[1] “Carson, Julia May,” United States House of Representatives, accessed March 15, 2021, https://history.house.gov/People/Detail/10693.
[2] “Carson, Julia May,” United States House of Representatives.
[3] “Landmarks Names Partners in Preservation,” Inside Indiana Business, August 18, 2015, https://www.insideindianabusiness.com/story/29823163/landmarks-names-partners-in-preservation.
[4] “Lovel D. Millikan House,” SHAARD, Indiana Department of Natural Resources, October 8, 2017, https://secure.in.gov/apps/dnr/shaard/structural_surveys.html?_flowExecutionKey=_cECD86AEA-87AA-F974-EAFF-0A73DC5C3997_kDF1B4068-2999-E826-5C96-A8F25E7377BA.
[5] Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology, accessed, March 15, 2021, https://www.in.gov/dnr/historic/files/hp_NR2.pdf.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Student Author: Gwyneth Harris
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
PHOTO & VIDEO:
Millikan House, attributed to Jon Roanhaus, Public domain, via Wikimedia commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Millikan_House2_NRHP_100001608_Marion_County,_IN.jpg
1900-40s
1950s-present
Architecture
Indianapolis
law
Legislator
Marion County
National Register of Historic Places
Politics
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/7129af08c726a29d25fe77f34ff6ac79.jpg
37734a3d1e9501b90ea3f4d4c5ac44a3
Dublin Core
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People
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George P. Stewart
Description
An account of the resource
George Pheldon Stewart was born in Vincennes, Indiana in 1874. As a young man, he moved to Indianapolis and joined Bethel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church. In his youth, George had learned a great deal of the printing trade from his brother, Charles [1]. At Bethel AME, Reverend D.A. Graham suggested Stewart take over the Church Recorder, hoping that the young man would expand the publication’s scope to include stories of African American involvement in Indianapolis fraternities and societies, in addition to existing church news [2]. In 1897, he took the advice of Graham and with his newspaper experience, cofounded the Indianapolis Recorder with Will Porter [3].
Stewart was a member of many Indianapolis organizations. His extensive involvement in the African American community allowed him to stay up to date with the latest news, which he published in the Recorder [4]. In addition to his religious ties to the AME Church, Stewart involved himself in political, business, and fraternal ventures.
On the political front, the paper’s creation coincided with the beginning of William McKinley’s presidency. Stewart was a Republican and, as a result, the Recorder highlighted his support of the Republican party [5]. His political involvement included chairman of the Colored Republican Committee, and membership in the National Negro Business League and Indiana Negro Welfare League [6]. Stewart was an officer of the Indiana Association of Colored Men, and used his print shop to supply handbills and printed items for their political cause [7].
Stewart was a part of many fraternal organizations as well, including the Waterford Lodge #13, F. & A.M. Marion Lodge #5, Persian Temple #46, Nobles Mystic Shrine, Indianapolis Camp of the American Woodsman, and Knights of Pythias [8]. He was most involved with the Knights, as he and Porter had been active in the Order since the creation of the black Pythians in Indiana [9]. Stewart’s devotion to his affiliations was evident in the ways he used his business and print shop to support them. He provided publicity to his fraternal and institutional connections in the Recorder and took care of the printing needs for many Black businesses, printing programs, handbills, cards, and stationary [10].
Stewart was well known and respected in Indianapolis’s Black community. His position as publisher and editor of the Recorder allowed him to serve as a mentor to many, and strangers and friends alike often sought his advice. He died in 1924 at age 50. His widow, Fannie Stewart, filled his roles as owner and publisher for the Recorder after his death. His family continued to work in various roles for the newspaper until 1988 [11]. Stewart’s hard work was essential in encouraging the Black community to become civically involved and to defend equality and Civil Rights in Indianapolis [12].
During George P. Stewart’s reign, the office for the Indianapolis Recorder moved multiple times. It was first located on New York Street, but was moved to Indiana Avenue in 1900. From there, it relocated to the Knights of Pythias building on West Walnut and by 1918 moved to a new location on Indiana Avenue, where it stayed until the 1970s [13]. The Indianapolis Recorder buildings during Stewart’s lifetime were all in the Ransom Place Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places (1992) for its association with influential African Americans in Indianapolis history [14].
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
[1] Wilma Gibbs, “George P. Stewart,” Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame, Indiana Historical Society, accessed March 15, 2021, https://ijhf.org/george-p-stewart.
[2] Marcus N. Mims, “The Recorder,” accessed March 15, 2021, https://www.marcusnmims.com/the-recorder.html.
[3] Wilma Gibbs, “George P. Stewart,” Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame, Indiana Historical Society, accessed March 15, 2021, https://ijhf.org/george-p-stewart.
[4] Wilma Gibbs, “George P. Stewart.”
[5] Connie Gaines Hates, “The Indianapolis Recorder; Still Strong after 96 Years,” Indianapolis Recorder (Indianapolis, IN), February 1, 1992.
[6] Wilma Gibbs, “George P. Stewart.”
[7] George P. Stewart Papers, 1894-CA. 1930s, 1990.0469. Indiana Historical Society Archives, Indianapolis, Indiana.
[8] Wilma Gibbs, “George P. Stewart.”
[9] George P. Stewart Papers, 1894-CA. 1930s, 1990.0469.
[10] Wilma Gibbs, “George P. Stewart.”
[11] Wilma Gibbs, “George P. Stewart.”
[12] “Living History, Every Week,” Indianapolis Recorder, March 12, 2020, https://indianapolisrecorder.com/ad6e0558-6468-11ea-b619-03b2fd7ecb47/.
[13] George P. Stewart Papers, 1894-CA. 1930s, 1990.0469.
[14] “Ransom Place Historic District,” Indiana Historical Bureau, accessed March 15, 2021, https://www.in.gov/history/state-historical-markers/find-a-marker/ransom-place-historic-district/.
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Student Author: Gwyneth Harris
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
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PHOTO & VIDEO:
George P. Stewart, Indianapolis Recorder Co-Founder, Indiana Historical Society, P0556.
https://images.indianahistory.org/digital/collection/p16797coll72/id/821/rec/53
1800s
1900-1940s
African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church
Entrepreneurship
Indianapolis
Marion County
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/f039c6ee9c5ad2f6ae816767982fcb2d.jpg
184f31d489fb4d67c1c84d9f438faea8
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Leon Lynch
Description
An account of the resource
Leon Lynch was born in Edwards, Mississippi, in 1935. He moved to Gary, Indiana, as a child, when his family migrated north for more promising job opportunities [1]. In his youth, he learned the bass violin, which he played in the Count Basie Orchestra in East Chicago. After graduating high school, he started working at Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. steel mill in 1956, where he met Joe Jackson. Lynch played bass in the band that backed up his co-worker’s sons’ musical group, The Jackson 5 [2].
While at Youngstown Sheet & Tube, Lynch became involved with the United Steelworkers (USW) Local 1011 [3]. He was a passionate activist and worked hard for Local 1011, serving as a Grievance Committeeman, Secretary of By-laws, Coordinator of Education, and in other positions [4]. In 1968, Lynch was appointed Staff Representative for United Steelworkers of America [5]. Lynch was sent to Memphis to work with Local 7655, which represented employees of the local Carrier air conditioner plant. In the wake of Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination in Memphis, Lynch was admired for his leadership skills and ability to conciliate black and white workers at Carrier [6]. His ambition and leadership skills were so well respected that Local 7655’s first union hall was declared “Leon Lynch Union Hall" [7].
At the 1976 USW convention, Steelworkers appointed Lynch to the newly created position of Vice President for Human Affairs [8]. In this position, he was responsible for the union’s Department of Civil Rights and the Wage and Arbitration Department, in addition to overseeing the Audit and Review Committee [9]. Lynch held his position of international Vice President for Human Affairs for six consecutive terms until his retirement in 2006. In addition to overseeing the union’s Civil Rights and human rights efforts, he also chaired the Steelworkers’ Container Industry Conference and Public Employees Conference [10]. Lynch was the first African American to hold such an important position in a major labor union [11].
In 1992, two hundred people gathered at the Genesis Convention center in Gary, to celebrate Lynch’s accomplishments and display the pride they felt for a local hero. Lynch’s admirable character and successful work for the USW raised him to the same status as other prominent, nationally known African American activists in the eyes of fellow Hoosiers. USW Local 1014 President Larry McWay said, “when you talk about great leaders like Martin Luther King, Jesse Jackson and others, you have to mention Leon Lynch, who was raised right here in the city of Gary and has done a lot for labor in this country" [12].
In 1995, Lynch was elected to the AFL-CIO Executive Council, where he lent his expertise to committees such as Civil and Human Rights, Immigration, Legislative/Public Policy, and Safety and Occupational Health [13]. During his career, he worked with the A. Philip Randolph Institute, the Democratic National Committee, Labor Roundtable of the National Black Caucus of State Legislators, and was elected by President Bill Clinton to the Advisory Council on Unemployment Compensation and the subcommittee of the Federal Aviation Administration’s Aviation Management Advisory Council. In East Chicago, the USW Local 1011 dedicated its member career development facility to Lynch in 2005. The Leon Lynch Learning Center is still active today and stands as a reminder of Lynch’s dedication to “standing up for working people, advocating for men and women who might otherwise not have had a chance at a fair, living wage.” Lynch died in 2012 after a lifetime of promoting Civil Rights [14].
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
[1] Bowdeya Tweh, “Labor, Civil Rights Activist with Local Ties Dead at 76,” NWI, The Times, May 8, 2012, https://www.nwitimes.com/business/local/labor-civil-rights-activist-with-local-ties-dead-at/article_ec00ffb5-2dcc-50ed-93af-bd3690ee2518.html.
[2] Ann Belser, “Obituary: Leon Lynch / First Black Vice President of a Major Labor Union,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. May 8, 2012, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/obituaries/2012/05/08/Obituary-Leon-Lynch-First-black-vice-president-of-a-major-labor-union/stories/201205080150.
[3] Bowdeya Tweh, “Labor, Civil Rights Activist with Local Ties Dead at 76.”
[4] Nancy Pieters, “Gary Native Lynch Enjoys Role as Top Union Official,” Times (Munster, IN), September 8, 1992.
[5] Bowdeya Tweh, “Labor, Civil Rights Activist with Local Ties Dead at 76.”
[6] “Leon Lynch,” AFL-CIO, March 4, 2008, https://aflcio.org/about/leadership/statements/leon-lynch.
[7] Ann Belser, “Obituary: Leon Lynch / First Black Vice President of a Major Labor Union.”
[8] “Leon Lynch,” AFL-CIO.
[9] “Union, Steel Officials to Speak at Import Rally,” Morning Call (Allentown, PA), October 5, 1982.
[10] “Leon Lynch,” AFL-CIO.
[11] Ann Belser, “Obituary: Leon Lynch / First Black Vice President of a Major Labor Union.”
[12] Louis Blackwell II, “USWA Official Get Hearty ‘Welcome Home’ in Gary,” Times (Munster, IN), April 8, 1992.
[13] “Leon Lynch,” AFL-CIO.
[14] Bowdeya Tweh, “Labor, Civil Rights Activist with Local Ties Dead at 76.”
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An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Student Author: Gwyneth Harris
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
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Image of Leon Lynch courtesy of United Steelworkers archive.
1950s-present
Gary
Lake County
Organization
Steelworker Union
-
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79baf7dda1675faa20cac8c85710759f
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Places
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Grant County Jail
Description
An account of the resource
In Marion, Indiana on August 7, 1930, the horrific lynching of Abram Smith and Thomas Shipp exemplified the deep-rooted racism that was still present in Indiana at the time. On the night of August 6, Shipp, age 18, and Smith, age 19, convinced 16-year-old James Cameron to participate in an armed car holdup. As the three African American teenagers approached the targeted car, Cameron recognized the man inside as Claude Deeter, one of his shoeshine customers. Cameron’s connection to Deeter inspired him to leave the scene. He made it two blocks before he heard gunshots [1]. Shipp and Smith shot Deeter with his fiancée, Mary Ball, still in the car. Shipp, Smith, and Cameron were charged for the murder of Deeter and the alleged rape of Ball. However, Ball later retracted her claim that the men had raped her [2].
The details of the crime spread quickly throughout Indiana. White people from all over the state began to arrive at the Grant County Jail in Marion. Deeter died that same afternoon, and the fury towards Smith, Shipp, and Cameron fueled the formation of a mob outside of the jail. The mob requested the three young men be handed over to them, but the Sheriff denied the demand. The mob broke into the jail by using sledgehammers to break down the door [3]. Shipp was the first man to be forcibly removed from his cell. He was beaten and hanged from the window bars of the jail. Next, the crowd dragged Smith to the courthouse square, about a block from the jail, and hanged him from a tree in the courthouse square [4]. The violent mob then moved Shipp’s body from the jail to the courthouse, where they hung it next to Smith’s body. Moments before Cameron’s murder, with a noose around his neck and a mob at his heels, a voice in the crowd quieted the mob by yelling that Cameron was not involved in the shooting of Deeter and the accused rape of Ball. Thanks to the anonymous savior, Cameron survived the horrific night [5].
Photographer Lawrence Beitler captured an iconic image of the lynching and later sold it as a postcard [6]. The photograph shows the hanging bodies of Smith and Shipp while a crowd of white men and women smile, laugh, and point towards the bloodied bodies hanging above them. Among the lynching cases remembered by the Memorial for Peace and Justice, which opened in Alabama in 2018, the murder of Shipp and Smith is especially important in the nation’s history. The Marion lynching in 1930 was later than most other lynchings in the United States. It is especially shocking that the lynching occurred in Indiana, defying the notion that such horrific racism and violence was limited to the Deep South. The lynching’s photographic evidence illustrates the racism and intolerance that was still present in Indiana less than 100 years ago. This event was so culturally significant that it inspired a poem Strange Fruit by schoolteacher Abel Meeropol [7]. The poem has been performed musically by famous artists such as Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, and others [8].
The only survivor of the lynching, James Cameron, spent four years in prison, where he began his memoir, “A Time of Terror.” Cameron dedicated his life to informing and educating Americans on lynching and racism, and founded several NAACP chapters in Indiana [9]. He founded America’s Black Holocaust Museum, which opened in 2003 in Milwaukee. He died in 2006, at age 92 [10].
In 2018, Grant County commissioners and a group from nearby Huntington University proposed the idea of a memorial for Abram Smith and Thomas Shipp. After the idea was proposed, Shipp’s family voiced their opposition due to concerns about vandalization to the memorial. Smith’s family also opposed, stating “the only people it should really matter to is the family.” [11].
Grant County Jail still stands proudly in downtown Marion, but it no longer serves are the county’s jail. In 1990, it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places for its architectural and political significance at the turn of the twentieth century [12]. A visit to the site today offers no clues to the harrowing lynching that occurred on August 7, 1930.
Source
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[1] Mark Johnson, “A Story That Needs to Be Told,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, JS Online, July 8, 2005, https://archive.is/20070318085613/http:/www.jsonline.com/news/metro/jul05/339097.asp
[2] Rozen-Wheeler, Adam. “Marion, Indiana Lynching (1930),”Black Past, October 19, 2017, www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/marion-indiana-lynching-1930/.
[3] Talbot, Peter. “Confronting Truth: Marion, Indiana Struggles to Face History of 1930 Lynching.” Indiana Daily Student, 10 Dec. 2018, www.idsnews.com/article/2018/12/confronting-truth-marion-indiana-struggles-to-face-history-of-1930-lynching.
[4] Talbot, Peter. “Confronting Truth: Marion, Indiana Struggles to Face History of 1930 Lynching.”
[5] “The Lynching of Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith, 1930.” Rare Historical Photos, March 16, 2014, rarehistoricalphotos.com/lynching-thomas-shipp-abram-smith-1930/.
[6] Dawn Mitchell and Maureen C. Gilmer. “Last-Known Lynching in Indiana Included in National Memorial for Peace and Justice.” The Indianapolis Star, IndyStar, 26 Apr. 2018, www.indystar.com/story/news/history/retroindy/2018/04/26/last-known-lynching-indiana-included-national-memorial-peace-and-justice/553199002/.
[7] Poletika, Author Nicole. “Strange Fruit: The 1930 Marion Lynching and the Woman Who Tried to Prevent It.” The Indiana History Blog, May 15, 2018, blog.history.in.gov/strange-fruit-the-1930-marion-lynching-and-the-woman-who-tried-to-prevent-it/.
[8] Rozen-Wheeler, Adam. “MARION, INDIANA LYNCHING (1930).”
[9] Talbot, Peter. “Confronting Truth: Marion, Indiana Struggles to Face History of 1930 Lynching.”
[10] Dawn Mitchell and Maureen C. Gilmer. “Last-Known Lynching in Indiana Included in National Memorial for Peace and Justice.”
[11] Press, by: Associated. “Family of Grant County Lynching Victims against Proposed Memorial - WISH-TV: Indianapolis News: Indiana Weather: Indiana Traffic.” WISH, June 7, 2018, www.wishtv.com/news/family-of-grant-county-lynching-victims-against-proposed-memorial/.
[12] “Grant County Jail and Sheriff’s Residence,” National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination Form, United States Department of the Interior Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service, October 1990.
Contributor
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Student Authors: Gwyneth Harris and Teagan Hayes
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
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PHOTO & VIDEO:
Grant County Jail and Sheriff's Residence, attributed to Nyttend, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Grant_County_Jail_and_Sheriff%27s_Residence.jpg
Relation
A related resource
<a href="https://catalog.archives.gov/id/132003135">National Register of Historic Places</a>
1900-40s
Grant County
Lynching
Marion
National Register of Historic Places
Violence
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/99ee5956d4cf52188b8e3c167d1d5d5d.jpg
d4157822a68dee96ba9fc4b795964ad9
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Resurgence of the KKK in Indiana
Description
An account of the resource
The Ku Klux Klan has had several resurgences throughout history, not limited to southern states. The first Klan was organized by a small group of men in Tennessee. Led by ex-Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest, it formally existed from 1865 to 1872. Klan members, mostly ex-Confederate soldiers, sought to assert their control over African American men who had gained political power under Reconstruction government. They used whipping, shooting, stabbing, and lynching as tools of intimidation, while defining themselves as protectors of white women and white property [1].
In 1915, Thomas Dixon, Jr. wrote The Birth of a Nation, which romanticized the work of the Klan, claiming that they defended the South’s honor during Reconstruction by punishing white and black criminals. When President Woodrow Wilson approved the subsequent film as true to reality, popularity soared [2]. In the same year, William Joseph Simmons from Georgia saw an opportunity to revive the Klan. The former Methodist-Episcopal minister and his friends created the “Invisible Empire” and the new Knights of the Ku Klux Klan [3]. Simmons’ goal was to create a “living memorial” to the original KKK by instilling a new wave of patriotism in Americans. His rules allowed any native-born Protestant white man over the age of eighteen to join. The Birth of a Nation supplied free advertising for the revived organization, and membership numbers skyrocketed. Simmons charged a $10 initiation fee in addition to selling white robes, hoods, and Klan life insurance. For Simmons, it was a money-making venture from the beginning [4]. By 1921, membership expanded from a few thousands to over one hundred thousand [5].
Meanwhile, the Klan grew significantly in northern states. The mission of the organization varied from state to state, yet all had components that formed the Klan’s foundation: immigrants were responsible for the ills of American society, female purity had to be protected, violators of Prohibition had to be punished, and, most importantly, Protestant whites were superior to African Americans, Jews, and other racial minorities. In Indiana, the Klan was also vehemently anti-Catholic [6]. During the first World War, Klan membership allowed men to contribute to the war effort by “protecting” America’s purity from Catholics, Jews, Socialists, and African Americans [7]. The Klan also appealed to fervently religious and evangelical Hoosiers, who cared deeply about preserving America’s “traditional” values [8].
By the early 1920s, Indiana was a center of Klan activity. At its height, the state had over 250,000 Klansmen [9]. In the 1920s, journalist and social critic H.L. Mencken commented “it is commonly reported now that the banner Ku Klux Klan State is not Georgia, but Indiana.” [10] The Indiana KKK quickly became a complex business organization that earned millions for Klan leaders. They infiltrated political positions of power at every level. In Muncie, alleged Klan members included the mayor, prosecuting attorney, chief of police, members of the police force, councilmen, county commissioners, and local officials, among others [11]. Membership was not limited to men, either. Daisy Douglas Barr reportedly led her husband into the Klan, showcasing the potential of strong female leaders in the organization. She was the vice-chair of the Indiana Republic party and a prominent leader in women’s KKK activity [12].
The substantial growth of the Indiana KKK faltered when Grand Dragon D.C. Stephenson was arrested for rape and murder. When Klan-supported politicians did not facilitate his release from prison, Stephenson revealed the unsettling, complex web of corruption in Indiana politics. Stephenson’s confession revealed that the Indiana Governor, Marion County Republic chairman, Mayor of Indianapolis, and Marion County commissioners, among other state and local officials used the Klan’s money and power to influence politics [13]. Hoosiers who had joined the Klan to keep America “safe” quickly realized the Klan did not exist solely to support hate crimes, but to line the pockets of their leaders. Membership quickly dropped, and the KKK lost the majority of its public power in Indiana [14].
In recent years, Indiana has seen another resurgence in Klan activity. In 2007, residents of Newburgh awoke to find Ku Klux Klan business cards in their driveways. The cards promised that the KKK watched the neighborhood while they slept [15]. In 2016, the oldest black church in Evansville was defaced with violent, racist graffiti. Nearby churches were also spray-painted with similar white supremacist messages that brought to mind the hate crimes of the KKK in the 1920s.16 Many towns in Indiana still hold reputations of being “sundown towns,” where unwritten policies and intimidation tactics make it clear that residents still do not welcome African Americans in their community [17]. The racist, harmful legacies of the KKK still exist throughout the Midwest. This is especially true of small Indiana towns, where deeply embedded racism deters racial diversity and inspires the continuation of harmful attitudes instilled by the Ku Klux Klan in Indiana’s past [18].
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
[1] “The Golden Era of Indiana,” The History Museum, accessed February 17, 2021, https://historymuseumsb.org/the-golden-era-of-indiana/.
[2] “The Golden Era of Indiana,” The History Museum.
[3] Charles C. Alexander, “Kleagles and Cash: The Ku Klux Klan as a Business Organization, 1915-1930,” The Business History Review 39, no. 3 (1965): 349.
[4] Charles C. Alexander, “Kleagles and Cash,” 350.
[5] Velma A. Frame, “Some Patterns of Ku Klux Klan Activities in Delaware County During the 1920’s” (master’s thesis, Ball State Teacher’s College, 1947), 13.
[6] David T. Goldberg, “Unmasking the Ku Klux Klan: The Northern Movement Against the KKK, 1920-1925,” Journal of American Ethnic History 15, no. 4 (1996): 33.
[7] “The Golden Era of Indiana,” The History Museum.
[8] Velma A. Frame, “Some Patterns of Ku Klux Klan Activities…,” 12.
[9] “The Golden Era of Indiana,” The History Museum.
[10] Val Holley, “H.L. Mencken and the Indiana Genii,” Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History 3, no. 1 (1991): 7.
[11] Velma A. Frame, “Some Patterns of Ku Klux Klan Activities…,” 28
[12] Dwight W. Hoover, “Daisy Douglas Hoover: From Quaker to Klan ‘Kluckeress,’” Indiana Magazine of History 87, no. 2 (1991): 172.
[13] “The Golden Era of Indiana,” The History Museum.
[14] Charles C. Alexander, “Kleagles and Cash,” 366.
[15] Stefanie Silvey, “KKK ‘Watching Over’ Another Tri-State Neighborhood,” 14 News, September 17, 2007, https://www.14news.com/story/7087491/kkk-watching-over-another-tri-state-neighborhood/.
[16] Cleve R. Wootson, Jr., “We’ve Never Had Anything Like This’: Racist, Threatening Message Left on Door of Black Church,” Washington Post, November 28, 2016, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2016/11/28/weve-never-had-anything-like-this-racist-threatening-message-left-on-door-of-black-church/?noredirect=on.
[17] Rebecca R. Bibbs, “Anderson Escapes Sundown Reputation,” Herald Bulletin (Anderson, IN), April 3, 2016.
[18] Grace A. Giorgio, “Whitewashing the Past: A KKK Display in a Small Rural Midwestern Town,” Qualitative Inquiry 23, no. 2 (2016): 136).
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Student Author: Gwyneth Harris
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
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Information about rights held in and over the resource
PHOTO & VIDEO:
Gathering Muncie Klan, attributed to Garaoihana, Public domain, via Wikimedia commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gathering_Muncie_Klan_No_4.jpg
1900-40s
1950s-present
Ku Klux Klan
Organization
Politics
Violence
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/42ffbcbb72227cb4bd244af143151586.jpg
a37938fec41c91313dfb4fff2affb56f
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People
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D.C. Stephenson
Description
An account of the resource
David Curtiss Stephenson introduced himself to fellow Hoosiers in 1920 as the son of a wealthy businessman from South Bend. He professed he had quit college to work in the coal business until his patriotism called him to volunteer for the Army during World War I, where he fought the Germans in France. After his valiant work in the war, he supposedly returned home to find himself a millionaire due to the high value of stocks he had bought before the war.
However, this story was a complete fabrication that perfectly highlighted Stephenson’s routine of spouting bold lies and bravado. In reality, he was born in Houston, Texas in 1891, son of a sharecropper. His family later moved to Oklahoma, where he finished his schooling after graduating eighth grade, and then married, lost his newspaper job, abandoned his pregnant wife, and divorced. Stephenson volunteered for the Army and moved to Iowa to work as a recruiter. After the war, he worked as a traveling salesman and married a second time. The couple moved to Evansville, Indiana, and Stephenson began work as a coal salesman [1]. It was in Indiana that he launched his infamous career as a member of the burgeoning Ku Klux Klan (KKK).
By the 1920s, the KKK was at the peak of its power in Indiana. Stephenson became a marketer for the Indiana Klan, raising enormous amounts of funds to increase membership [2]. He commanded political power from the beginning of his membership. Stephenson and the Klan had a controlling hand in Indiana Governor Ed Jackson’s election, and he manipulated state legislators by using his money and the influence of the KKK to push bills that would plant more money in his pockets. Stephenson also helped fund the campaign for the KKK’s handpicked choice for Indianapolis’ mayor [3]. Stephenson used his “natural” charisma and leadership skills to snag increasingly important Indiana Klan positions [4]. On July 4, 1923, nearly 200,000 Klansmembers gathered at Malfalfa Park in Kokomo to celebrate Stephenson’s ascension to Grand Dragon of Indiana. The gathering was the largest Klan rally in the history of the United States. As Grand Dragon, Stephenson entertained U.S. senators, congressmen, judges, governors, and other political leaders on his yacht [5]. His relationship with National KKK Imperial Wizard Hiram Evans, however, quickly soured. The men did not agree on financial matters and Klan priorities, and Stephenson eventually created a new Indiana Klan independent of the national group [6]. Stephenson appeared to be unstoppable. He believed his word was “the law” in Indiana [7].
His glory did not last long. Shortly after his arrival in Indiana, his drunken bouts of violence led to his second divorce. Soon after, he was charged with indecent exposure with his young secretary. Later, he drunkenly threatened and sexually assaulted a hotel manicurist [8]. In 1924, after a young actress relayed her story of being sexually attacked by Stephenson, Imperial Wizard Hiram Evans used Stephenson’s pattern of rape, physical abuse, and drunken violence as evidence against the man who had become his rival in the Klan. He published a fifty-page report on Stephenson’s questionable behavior in the hopes of having him dismissed, but Stephenson only responded that Evans’ accusations were fabricated by the southern Klan [9].
In January 1925, Stephenson met Madge Oberholtzer at a banquet in Indianapolis. After several dinners, Stephenson called her in March and insisted she come meet him at his Indianapolis home before he left for Chicago. He was wildly intoxicated upon her arrival. Stephenson, his chauffeur, and a third man forced Oberholtzer to drink alcohol against her will. Stephenson armed all the men with pistols and told Oberholtzer she had to accompany him to Chicago. She was forced into a car with the men while she begged to call home to her mother [10].
At the train station, Stephenson led Oberholtzer to a private compartment, where he sexually assaulted her, leaving her with bite wounds over her entire body. When they reached Hammond, Oberholtzer asked to leave to buy a hat and rouge to cover her bruises and ghastly bites. She bought mercury tablets instead and took them, intending to end her own life. Stephenson told her he would take her to the hospital if she agreed to marry him. She refused, and Stephenson had Oberholtzer driven 5 hours south to his home. After several days, she was taken to the doctor who discovered that several of her bites were badly infected. She died a few weeks later, after giving a lawyer every detail of her brutal assault. Although the official cause of death was mercury poisoning, her autopsy revealed that her body would have been able to fight the mercury had it not been for the infection in her bloodstream that resulted from Stephenson’s vicious bites [11].
In November 1925, D.C. Stephenson was sentenced to life in prison for her murder. He patiently waited for Governor Ed Jackson to get him out of jail. When Jackson offered no assistance, Stephenson started revealing names of people who were part of the intricate, corrupt web of Indiana Klan politics [12]. Stephenson’s arrest and revelations spread like wildfire, leading to the Klan’s rapid decline in Indiana [13]. By 1928, membership had dropped from half a million to 4,000 [14]. Stephenson was paroled in 1950, but was sent back to prison in Michigan City after breaking parole. Only six years later, he was released [15]. In 1962, he was arrested again for attempting to force a teenage girl into his car. After leading a life of lies, violence, and corruption, he died in 1966 in Tennessee [16]. His home in the Irvington neighborhood of Indianapolis still stands.
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[1] Karen Abbot, “’Murder Wasn’t Very Pretty’: The Rise and Fall of D.C. Stephenson,” Smithsonian Magazine, August 30, 2012, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/murder-wasnt-very-pretty-the-rise-and-fall-of-dc-stephenson-18935042/.
[2] Charles C. Alexander, “Kleagles and Cash: The Ku Klux Klan as a Business Organization, 1915-1930,” The Business History Review 39, no. 3 (1965): 359.
[3] Karen Abbot, “’Murder Wasn’t Very Pretty.’”
[4] Velma A. Frame, “Some Patterns of Ku Klux Klan Activities in Delaware County During the 1920’s,” (master’s thesis, Ball State Teachers College, 1947), 19.
[5] Douglas O. Linder, “The D.C. Stephenson Trial: An Account,” Famous Trials, accessed February 15, 2021, https://famous-trials.com/stephenson/74-home.
[6] Douglas O. Linder, “The D.C. Stephenson Trial: An Account.”
[7] “Facts Back Up Dying Story – Remy,” Indianapolis Times (Indianapolis, IN), November 12, 1925.
[8] Karen Abbot, “’Murder Wasn’t Very Pretty.’”
[9] Douglas O. Linder, “The D.C. Stephenson Trial: An Account.”
[10] Stephenson v. State, 179 N.E. 633, 205 (Ind. 141 1932).
[11] Stephenson v. State, 179 N.E. 633, 205 (Ind. 141 1932).
[12] Douglas O. Linder, “The D.C. Stephenson Trial: An Account.”
[13] Charles C. Alexander, “Kleagles and Cash,” 366.
[14] Karen Abbot, “’Murder Wasn’t Very Pretty.’”
[15] “Facts Back Up Dying Story – Remy,” November 12, 1925.
[16] Douglas O. Linder, “The D.C. Stephenson Trial: An Account.”
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Student Author: Gwyneth Harris
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
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PHOTO & VIDEO:
D. C. Stephenson Grand Dragon of the Klu Klux Klan in Indiana, c 1922, Public domain, via Wikimedia commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:D._C._Stephenson_Grand_Dragon_of_the_Klu_Klux_Klan_in_Indiana,_c_1922.jpg
1900-1940s
Evansville
Ku Klux Klan
Military
Politics
Vanderburgh County
Violence
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/c3c4bb389f5d400f11f7055fc20c9dc2.jpg
8b277d099e3e2df358073ff206d40499
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Malfalfa Park, Kokomo
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On July 4, 1923, approximately 200,000 members of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) met at Malfalfa Park in rural Kokomo, Indiana [1]. The crowd gathered to celebrate the state’s transition from a KKK Province to a Realm and to inaugurate a new Indiana Grand Dragon [2]. As the great number of attendees suggests, the Klan was well established in Indiana by the 1920s. The KKK originated in the South after the Civil War, but quickly spread to other states, where members pursued their mission to intimidate people that diverged from their profile of an ideal American. Their targets included African Americans, Jews, immigrants, and Catholics.
By the time of the mass gathering in Malfalfa Park in 1923, Indiana was home to the biggest Klan group in the United States [3] and half of Kokomo’s residents were members of the KKK [4]. “Klaverns”, local units of the KKK, were chartered in every county, and Indiana was the only state where the governor and U.S. Senators were controlled by the Klan [5]. Klan leaders thought Kokomo was a perfect site for the massive rally; the town already had enormous Klan support, and it serendipitously contained two Ks in its name [6]. The Malfalfa Park rally was unprecedented in its huge number of supporters and excessive displays. The park was owned by the Kokomo Klavern, so it typically hosted Klan activities [7]. Rallies and initiations were held at the park twice a week, with separate meeting nights for men and women [8].
The enormous rally on July 4, 1923 was well-planned. Train cars were specifically reserved to transport Klansmen and their families to Kokomo, and boys’ bands from Ohio traveled 300 miles to the rally, playing music to promote the event along the way [9].
The citizens of Kokomo who protested the Klan’s massive display of power did their best to dissuade the thousands of Klan members who drove into the city by manipulating road signs on the way to town. The Fiery Cross reported thousands of members were confused by road signs that had been changed to divert them 65 miles northeast to Bluffton, Indiana. Travelling Klansmen also met with violence and opposition on their way to Kokomo, admitting that “every petty thing that could be used was put into force” by those who wished to stop the massive assembly [10].
Despite the efforts of opposing forces, however, the rally went on in excess. A mountain of food was provided to the crowd, featuring hundreds of pounds of hamburger, five thousand cases of pop, two hundred fifty pounds of coffee, thousands of pies, and at least six tons of beef [11]. Still, the enormous amount of food was not enough. People were encouraged to bring their own food in addition to the hundreds of truckloads of food provided. Seven wagonloads of watermelon were bare by noon, showcasing the sheer mass of the crowd that flooded into Kokomo for the one-day event [12].
The man appointed as Grand Dragon that day was David Curtis Stephenson, a Republican politician from Evansville [13]. He arrived at the ceremony in an airplane proudly sporting the letters “KKK,” and emerged swathed in purple robes with the tell-tale eighteen-inch white pointed hood upon his head. His dramatic entrance reportedly elicited an explosion of cheers from the crowd, where several women fainted from excitement [14]. His boastful speech was hardly heard by the large crowd, but by the end of the inauguration, the cheering mob was tossing coins and jewelry onto the platform on which he stood [15].
In addition to the music, speeches, pie-eating contests, and a boxing exhibition, the event featured an elaborate parade. At least ten thousand masked Klansmen and five hundred Klanswomen marched through town, sporting giant American flags and electric fiery crosses [16]. There were floats made by the women and girls of the Klan, and Klansmembers on twelve-foot-high stilts wound through the streets, all marching to the tunes of bands who had travelled to Kokomo from throughout the Midwest [17]. When night fell, the crowd enjoyed an elaborate firework display in which fiery symbols exploded above the heads of thousands of Klansmembers, spelling out KKK-inspired messages and displaying specific scenes. One firework set featured Klansmen on horseback, clad in full regalia, surrounded by kneeling Klansmen and a giant fiery cross [18]. After the firework display, the crowd ended the evening by setting fire to an enormous cross that had cost over $2,000 to build [19].
The days of the Klan’s popularity and political power have faded in Kokomo, and the massive rally of 1923 is only a memory that reminds modern Hoosiers of the power of hate groups in Indiana history. Malfalfa Park, once the gathering place for the largest Ku Klux Klan rally in history, is now used by the YMCA of Kokomo to provide day camp activities for children [20].
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[1] “Kokomonians’ Perform a Big Undertaking,” Fiery Cross (Indianapolis, IN), July 13, 1923.
[2] Wyn Craig Wade, The Fiery Cross: The Ku Klux Klan in America (Oxford University Press, 1998): 215.
[3] “Kokomo Site of Largest KKK Gathering in History,” Kokomo Tribune (Kokomo, IN), May 2, 1999.
[4] Carson Gerber, “Study Identifies Kokomo as Home of KKK ‘Hate Group,’” Kokomo Tribune, February 28, 2017, https://www.kokomotribune.com/news/study-identifies-kokomo-as-home-of-kkk-hate-group/article_a66da288-fdfd-11e6-91a7-6bab5238e8d1.html.
[5] Wade, The Fiery Cross: 215.
[6] Wade, The Fiery Cross: 216.
[7] Wade, The Fiery Cross: 216.
[8] Kathleen M. Blee, Women of the Klan: Racism and Gender in the 1920s (University of California Press, 2008), 138.
[9] Blee, Women of the Klan: 136.
[10] “Kokomonians’ Perform a Big Undertaking,” July 13, 1923.
[11] Blee, Women of the Klan: 136.
[12] “Kokomonians’ Perform a Big Undertaking,” July 13, 1923.
[13] Karen Abbot, “’Murder Wasn’t Very Pretty’: The Rise and Fall of D.C. Stephenson,” Smithsonian Magazine, August 12, 2012, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/murder-wasnt-very-pretty-the-rise-and-fall-of-dc-stephenson-18935042/.
[14] Wade, The Fiery Cross: 217.
[15] Wade, The Fiery Cross: 218.
[16] “Hoosiers and Buckeyes in Celebration,” Fiery Cross (Indianapolis, IN), July 13, 1923.
[17] Blee, Women of the Klan: 136.
[18] “Hoosiers and Buckeyes in Celebration,” July 13, 1923.
[19] Wade, The Fiery Cross: 218.
[20] “Kokomo Site of Largest KKK Gathering in History,” May 2, 1999.
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Student Author: Gwyneth Harris
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
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PHOTO & VIDEO:
Announcing A Tremendous Ku Klux Klan Celebration, Indiana Historical Society.
https://images.indianahistory.org/digital/collection/V0002/id/1131/rec/10
1900-40s
Howard County
Kokomo
Ku Klux Klan
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/59fe3565c82ede814b2bc20240aa5b4b.jpg
977b38cab92e27f955780aeb74a01d79
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Rudolph Clay
Description
An account of the resource
Rudolph Clay was a renowned African American politician in Gary, Indiana. Clay was born in Hillsboro, Alabama, and following the death of his mother shortly after his birth, he was raised by his aunts in Gary [1]. He attended Israel Christian Methodist Episcopal (CME) Church and was a graduate of Roosevelt High School in 1953. He studied at Indiana University in Bloomington and was awarded a track scholarship. Clay’s civil rights activism began at a young age with his membership in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Youth Council. In 1959, he was drafted into the United States Army and received an Honorable Discharge after two years of service. He returned to Gary to work as an insurance agent before entering politics.
He greatly influenced the African American community in Gary, as well as the state of Indiana during his time as a politician, breaking many racial barriers [2]. Clay participated in many Civil Rights demonstrations in Gary, including boycotts, sit-ins, and freedom rides, as well as marching alongside Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rev. Jesse Jackson in the 1960s. In 1970, in recognition of his work with civil rights activism, Clay was awarded the Southern Christian Leadership Council Operation Bread Basket’s Outstanding Activist Award. From 1972 to 1976, Clay began his career in politics as Indiana’s first African American senator [3]. As an Indiana senator, Clay cast the deciding vote in 1974 to allow African Americans to serve as a Lake County Commissioner [4].
From 1978 to 1982, he served on the Lake County Council, and in 1984, he was elected as Lake County Recorder. In 1987, he was elected as Lake County Commissioner, the position that he had fought to integrate thirteen years earlier. For his continued work in politics and civil rights, Governor Evan Bayh awarded Clay the Outstanding Hoosier Award in 1994. In 2005, he was elected as the first African American Lake County chairman.
Following in the footsteps of Richard Hatcher, the first African American mayor of the city, Clay was elected mayor of Gary in 2006 [5]. As mayor, he worked to demolish dilapidated buildings, pave city streets, and improve public safety by increasing police presence. Education was always an issue of personal importance for Clay as well as the driving force for his political influence. He viewed education as a necessity to make things “better.” When asked about public and private education legislation, he responded that “education is everybody’s business” and promoted education as an avenue for bettering oneself and seeking out leadership roles [6].
Due to illness, Clay did not run for re-election as mayor in 2011. Upon his death in 2013, many who knew him remarked about his influence, not only as a politician, but also a political activist for over forty years, dedicating himself to civil rights [7]. Before his death, people would ask him what he hoped would be the outcome of his political influence in the city of Gary. "When all is said and done, I want Gary to become a better city, with better people, and better jobs" [8].
Source
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[1] Venisha Johnson, Ray Bernal, Mark Edwin Scoggins Sr., and Henrietta Tenney. "Rudolph Clay, Sr." RUDOLPH CLAY Obituary - Gary, IN | The Times. Accessed April 15, 2019. https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/nwitimes/obituary.aspx?n=rudolph-clay&pid=165211746&fhid=4986.
[2] "Rudolph M ‘Rudy’ Clay." Findagrave.com. 2019. Accessed April 15, 2019. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/112701339/rudolph-m-clay.
[3] Anthony Thigpen.
[4] Anthony Thigpen.
[5] Anthony Thigpen.
[6] Anthony Thigpen.
[7] "Rudolph M ‘Rudy’ Clay."
[8] Anthony Thigpen.
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Student Authors: Emma Cieslik and Robin Johnson
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
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PHOTO & VIDEO:
Genesis Towers & Gary State Bank, attributed to
Takingactioningary, Public domain, via Wikimedia commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Genesis_Towers_%26_Gary_State_Bank.JPG
1950s-present
Gary
Integration
Lake County
NAACP
Politics
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/f10129612af9255804b18efac4f30526.mp3
c4a0a0f2e5c8ea3d1e1b91f2ef81db07
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Interview 5 with Junifer Hall (Mayor Richard Hatcher of Gary)
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<a href="https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/items/show/108">Mayor Richard Hatcher of Gary</a>
Description
An account of the resource
Junifer Hall, a life-long resident of Gary, Indiana describes how Mayor Richard Hatcher promoted residents staying in the city and investing in the city with their dollars and how he impacted her experiences with racism.
<strong>***Trancript***</strong><br /><br /><span><em>Junifer Hall</em>: From a young child, I could hear Mayor Hatcher saying, “stay in Gary, buy in Gary. </span><span>You can be just as competitive. We have to control our own financial dollars,” and that is one of </span><span>the strongest memories I have from my childhood </span><span>because unfortunately, I did not have a lot of </span><span>the experiences of direct racism only because Mayor Hatcher has just pivoted to power.</span>
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/5e1f80e04b5ad80202ae6bb16e688ba8.mp3
7ef09e0c7d0248f605751216ed9f6033
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Interview 6 with Junifer Hall (Mayor Richard Hatcher of Gary)
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<a href="https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/items/show/108">Mayor Richard Hatcher of Gary</a>
Description
An account of the resource
Junifer Hall, a life-long resident of Gary, Indiana, shares how Mayor Richard Hatcher opened doors for more African American individuals to hold political office, including her mother Represenative Katie Hall. Junifer Hall also describes Hatcher's impact on city hall and blazing a trail of opportunity for others.
<strong>***Transcript***<br /><br /></strong><em>Junifer Hall</em>: And he opened the door for my generation, so we didn’t have to experience as overtly, and we thank him for that, especially myself. Every time now that I go to city hall to serve on the Gary Historic Preservation Commission because if it weren’t for a trailblazer such as Richard Hatcher, there could not have been a Katie Hall, there could not have been a mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson, and I might be biased on this, and I might be sounded a little arrogant, but if it were not for Richard Gordon Hatcher opening the door for all of these people to follow, we could not have had the opportunity to serve, and my mother would often say when she first came to Gary, at city hall there was a receptionist and maybe a janitor people of color, and Mayor Hatcher knocked down so many barriers for so many to hold political offices including Katie Hall.
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b4062d10611267bea339e0e99e4a7729
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Mayor Richard Hatcher of Gary
Description
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Richard Gordon Hatcher was born on July 10, 1933 in Michigan City, Indiana. He grew up during the Great Depression as the twelfth of thirteen children. His family went on welfare after his father lost his job with the Pullman Car Company [1]. Despite encouragement from his teachers to pursue a career in the trades, Hatcher aspired to be a lawyer, indicative of his future career in political office and civil rights activism. In 1951, Hatcher attended Indiana University on an athletic scholarship, with financial assistance from his older sisters. Hatcher began his activism as an active member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), participating in protests against segregated restaurants while still in college [2]. He earned a law degree from Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, Indiana, and then moved to East Chicago, Indiana, to practice law. While there, he served as a deputy prosecutor for Lake County.
In 1962, Hatcher moved to Gary, Indiana, to pursue a career in politics and civil rights. He ran for city council in the 1963 Democratic primary and won due to the large African American support in the city. He was then chosen to be council president. While in office, he helped pass a law to “end restrictive property covenants that forced blacks to live primarily in Gary's midtown section" [3]. In 1967, Hatcher ran for mayor and led a campaign that promoted racial unity and promised to rid the city of corruption and poverty, specifically among African American individuals. In November of that year, he won the election with the support of 96 percent of African American voters and twelve percent of white voters. His election made him the first African American mayor in Indiana and one of the first African American mayors of a large American city. He was elected despite the Democratic Party supporting his Republican opponent Joseph Radigan [4]. His campaign was largely funded by donors like Senator Robert Kennedy and Hubert Humphrey [5]. He appealed to voters as a “young, intelligent, a reputable lawyer, and a capable city council member" [6]. In order to appease white voters, he appointed a white police chief to help create a crime-free city. Hatcher served as mayor for twenty years and then went on to serve as chairman of Jesse Jackson’s Democratic presidential campaign in 1984 and as vice chairman of the Democratic National Committee in the early 1980s [7].
During his five terms as mayor, Hatcher was able to fundraise millions of dollars in order to change the face of Gary, Indiana, adding new public housing units, repaving streets, and coordinating regular garbage collection for multiple inner-city neighborhoods [8]. In supporting African Americans in political leadership, he appointed twenty-five African Americans as governmental department heads. Unfortunately, Hatcher could not resolve every problem Gary had, including the sharp decline in the steel industry, which caused many hardships within Gary and surrounding communities. By the early 1980s, about 25,000 people were laid off at U.S. Steel. Businesses closed down and crime increased [9]. By 1987, when Hatcher left office, about 50,000 people had left Gary, including considerable numbers of white individuals who moved south to Merrillville, Indiana [10].
As mayor, Hatcher fought against race-based inequalities in Gary. Hatcher was part of the lawsuit to allow African Americans to visit Miller Beach, a neighborhood on the southern shore of Lake Michigan. Despite pushback and eventual failure, Hatcher pushed for the development of a bank for Gary’s African American community and more regulations on gun usage. Hatcher also supported accessible housing, founding the $1 house program that allowed residents to purchase a house if they were able to improve it. He also brought African American leaders across the United States to Gary through as part of the first National Black Political Convention [11].
Hatcher continued to be recognized as a powerful voice for civil rights and African American representation in office throughout his life. According to former Lake Country Surveyor George Van Til, Former President Barack Obama personally thanked Hatcher during the 2008 presidential primaries for letting him stand on his shoulders and supporting African Americans running for American leadership position [12]. During his final years, Hatcher and his family lived in Chicago, Illinois. Richard Hatcher passed away on December 13, 2019 at the age of 86. He is still remembered in the African American community as someone who “did the impossible,” in the words of Democratic Representative Charlie Brown of Gary.
<a href="https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/show/235">Junifer Hall interview 4</a><br /><a href="https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/show/237">Junifer Hall interview 5</a><br /><a href="https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/show/239">Junifer Hall interview 6</a><br /><a href="https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/show/236">Junifer Hall interview 7</a>
Source
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[1] Emma L. Thornborough, Indiana Blacks in the Twentieth Century. Indiana University Press, Bloomington, 2000, pp. 175.
[2] Ibid, pp. 176.
[3] Associated Press. “Richard Hatcher, one of 1st black mayors of major city, dead at 86.” NBC News, 2019. Accessed May 1, 2020. Accessed at https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/richard-hatcher-gary-indiana-one-1st-black-mayors-major-u-n1102311.
[4] Craig Lyons. “1967 Gary election a ‘history marker’ with Richard Hatcher as Indiana’s first African-American major.” Chicago Tribune, 2017. Accessed February 2, 2021. Accessed at https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/ct-ptb-richard-hatcher-profile-st-1029-20171028-story.html.
[5] David Rutter. “Rutter: Hatcher still pays his dues for unforgiven ‘sins.’” Chicago Tribune, 2016. Accessed on February 2, 2021. https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/opinion/ct-ptb-rutter-hatcher-st-0309-20160308-story.html
[6] Emma L. Thornborough, Indiana Blacks in the Twentieth Century. pp. 177.
[7] Associated Press.
[8] Ibid.
[9] Ibid.
[10] David Rutter.
[11] Craig Lyons.
[12] Craig Lyons.
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Student Authors: Emma Cieslik and Robin Johnson
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
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PHOTO & VIDEO:
Richard Hatcher 1967, Public domain, via Wikimedia commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Richard_Hatcher_1967_(a).jpg
1950s-present
Civil Rights Movement
Gary
Housing
Lake County
law
NAACP
Oral History
Politics
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/5cb1c6337f8d4d1405c925c8cc2e0991.jpg
29775f0f2253a906528c3a038a6b4e93
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Reverend Julius James
Description
An account of the resource
Julius James was born in 1918 [1]. After serving in the U.S Army, James graduated from Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1952, and the Morehouse School of Religion in 1954 [2]. James was a close friend with fellow Morehouse classmate Martin Luther King, Jr. [3] Reverend James served as pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church and Zion Hill Baptist Church in Georgia, [4] before accepting the call to become the Pastor of St. John Baptist Church in Gary, Indiana in October 1955 [5]. From 1959 to 1960, James served as president of the Baptist Minister’s Conference in Gary [6]. He was also involved in labor movements in Gary, walking among the picketers in the 1959 Steel Strike and supplying meals to protestors [7].
Reverend James brought the Civil Rights movement to St. John Baptist Church by hosting meetings and planning sessions for civil rights organizations in the late 1950’s and early 1960s. He invited prominent African American leaders to speak, including Jesse Jackson and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. [8] His civil rights work in the community included serving as president of the Gary branch of the NAACP in the late 1950s [9]. James founded the “Gary Freedom Movement,” which coordinated economic boycotts of businesses that opposed civil rights legislation [10]. On posters, citizens were urged to “Sacrifice for Freedom in Gary. Don’t Buy Anything Anywhere for Easter. Wear Your Old Clothes for New Dignity. Boycott" [11]. In 1964, James organized a Christmas shopping boycott to protest businesses who opposed the Omnibus Civil Rights Bill [12].This organization later became the Gary Freedom Movement Council, and James served as chairman [13]. In the mid-1960s, he brought famous African Americans to the Gary for speaking engagements, including comedian and civil rights activist Dick Gregory, who encouraged 900 Gary residents to practice “selective shopping” at stores outside of Gary to protest continued racial injustice [14].
In recognition of his civil rights leadership, Reverend James was awarded the NAACP’s Mary White Ovington Award in 1964 for outstanding contributions to sustaining civil rights [15]. In March 1965, James bussed a group of congregants from St. John Baptist Church south to Atlanta to join the march from Selma to the state’s capital in Montgomery led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The protest march was in support of the supported the Voting Rights Act, prohibiting racial discrimination in voting. At home in Gary, James coordinated meetings between Dr. King and local Gary African American leaders. In 1966, Gary Mayor Richard Hatcher met Dr. King for the first time when Rev. James brought King to speak at St. John Baptist Church [16]. Dr. King spoke to 275 clergymen of various faiths at St. John Baptist Church, emphasizing interfaith solidarity [17].
Fair housing practices later became a focus of Reverend James’ activism. Under his leadership, St. John Baptist Church purchased a rundown housing complex at 22nd and Carolina Streets. Using government grants, the church remodeled the housing complex into the St. John Homes, which operated as one of the only viable non-profit housing developments in the U.S. until 1984 [18]. James founded the Fair Share Organization, focused on fair housing and employment practices, [19] with Cherrie White, secretary of the Gary NAACP, and Richard Gordon Hatcher, Gary’s first African America mayor [20].
Rev. James was inducted into the Steel City Hall of Fame in 1987, for making “broad, significant, and multiple contributions to the Gary community or to society at large" [21]. Rev. James died in 1994, after a lifetime dedicated to civil rights in Indiana and the nation [22].
Source
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[1] Correspondence from Julius James (Shiloh Baptist Church) to Martin Luther King, Jr, March 14, 1955. The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute. Accessed on February 5, 2021. https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/julius-james.
[2] Correspondence from Julius James, March 14, 1955.
[3] Becky Jacobs. “Man killed in Gary was great-grandson of pastor, civil rights activist.” Chicago Tribune, February 22, 2019. Accessed on February 5, 2021. https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/ct-ptb-julius-james-death-st-0213-story.html.
[4] Correspondence from Julius James, March 14, 1955.
[5] “Our Community.” St. John Baptist Church. Accessed on February 5, 2021. http://stjohnbcgary.com/community/
[6] Correspondence from Julius James, March 14, 1955.
[7] “Our Community.”
[8] “Our Community.”
[9] Correspondence from Julius James, March 14, 1955.
[10] James B. Lane. City of the Century: A History of Gary, Indiana. Indiana University Press, 1978, pp. 281.
[11] James H. Madison and Lee Ann Sandweiss. Chapter 11: Justice, Equality, and Democracy for All Hoosiers in Justice, Equality, and Democracy for All Hoosiers. http://indianahistory.org/wp-content/uploads/Hoosiers-and-the-American-Story-ch-11.pdf
[12] Becky Jacobs. “Man killed in Gary was great-grandson of pastor, civil rights activist.”
[13] “Gary woman heads Ind. Conference of NAACP.” Indianapolis Recorder, Indianapolis, Marion County, 6 November 1965, pp. 12. Hoosier States Chronicles. Accessed February 5, 2021. https://newspapers.library.in.gov/cgi-bin/indiana?a=d&d=INR19651106-01.1.12&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-------
[14] “Gregory Endorses Boycott.” Indianapolis Recorder, Indianapolis, Marion County, 23 January 1965, pp. 6. Hoosier States Chronicles. Accessed February 5, 2021. https://newspapers.library.in.gov/cgi-bin/indiana?a=d&d=INR19650123-01.1.6&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-------
[15] “Gary woman heads Ind. Conference of NAACP.”
[16] Joyce Russell. “Local residents recall the legacy of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on the 50th anniversary of his death.” NWI.com. Accessed February 5, 2021. https://www.nwitimes.com/news/history/local-residents-recall-the-legacy-of-the-rev-martin-luther-king-jr-on-the-50th/article_9eb318e4-92e1-5fcd-b0a1-27058351c345.html
[17] Nancy Coltun Webster. “MILK’s life remembered as Northwest Indiana leaders continue to struggle.” Chicago Tribune, April 4, 2018. https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/ct-ptb-king-anniversary-indiana-st-0404-20180403-story.html
[18] “Our Community.”
[19] Correspondence from Julius James, March 14, 1955.
[20] Carmen M. Woodson-Wray and Gary Crusader. “After 103 years Cherrie White has truly had a productive life.” Crusader. Accessed on February 5, 2021. https://chicagocrusader.com/103-years-cherrie-white-truly-productive-life/ [21] “Steel City hall of Fame.” Gary Public Library. Accessed February 5, 2021. http://www.garypubliclibrary.org/steel-city-hall-of-fame/
[22] “Our Community.”
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Student Author: Emma Cieslik
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
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PHOTO & VIDEO:
Sacrifice: Join Rev. Martin Luther King, Indiana Historical Society.
https://images.indianahistory.org/digital/collection/V0002/id/1148/rec/2
1900-1940s
1950s-present
Civil Rights Movement
Gary
Housing
Lake County
NAACP
Religious Leaders
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/2b8bfb4cb5725f4128060b15b142c3f5.jpg
440120bfd31e63aa1ba836d00f731022
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Events
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Richmond High School Protests
Description
An account of the resource
Although Indiana mandated that public schools be desegregated in 1949, African American students continued to be subjected to unfair and unequal treatment in desegregated schools for decades longer [1]. At Richmond High School in 1971, one such incident shut down the high school for a week as a result of the racial divisions felt within the community. With a population of 4,000 African American citizens compared to over 38,000 white citizens in Richmond in the early 1970s, racial hatred and acts of bigotry were not uncommon in the community and the public school system [2]. In March 1971, white Richmond High School teacher John Dechant reportedly “man handled” an African American student while using racial slurs and derogatory language. The next day, on March 7, nearly 100 protestors marched outside the school in pursuit of equality, justice, and permanent reform [3].
The sole African American on the Richmond school board, Paul Patterson, immediately handed in his resignation following the board’s decision to acquit Dechant. The school board alerted police officers about the protest and every on-duty police officer in Richmond became involved. The protest was organized and heavily orchestrated by members of nearby Earlham College. Close to 70 Richmond High School students marched on the first day alongside other members of the community [4]. The intensity of the protest and the number of demonstrators grew throughout the week . The school board closed the doors of Richmond High School indefinitely on March 8 to protect the rest of the students after demonstrations led to 89 arrests and a large number of student suspensions [5].
Countless Earlham College students and faculty were arrested alongside some prominent members of the community, including George E. Sawyer, the lawyer who had called for Dechant’s dismissal [6]. Numerous people realized waiting for some “legal magic from Washington” was futile. Instead of focusing on legislation and administrative programs, Dr. Rachel Davis DuBois of Earlham College proposed that Richmond work on their local, personal relationships first. She proposed the creation of a “resources center for promoting dialogue.” The proposed solution would help bridge gaps between people of different races, economic class, age, and religious affiliation by promoting open communication. This proposal also suggested that the community, Richmond High School, and Earlham College would work together to proactively promote diversity and discussions rather than allowing problems to escalate as they did during the protests [7]. Finally, after a one-week closure following three days of protest, Richmond High School opened its doors back up to its students [8]. Dechant, the teacher involved in the altercation, was allowed to keep his job at Richmond High School, and he later resigned on his own accord [9].
The site of these week-long protests, Richmond High School, stands today as a prime example of Colonial Revival architecture and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places for its significance in education, architecture, and art [10]. Richmond High School principal Rae Woolpy remarked “The attention to detail, the craftsmanship – it’s beyond words,” after learning that the building was taking its “rightful place on the National Register of Historic Places” in 2015 [11].
Source
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[1] Sydney Hough Solomon, “Civil Rights & Earlham Archives,” Earlham Exhibits. Accessed July 9, 2020. https://exhibits.earlham.edu/exhibits/show/civil-rights/crmidwestedu
[2] “Richmond Board,” Indianapolis Recorder, March 20, 1971. Accessed July 9, 2020. https://newspapers.library.in.gov/cgi-bin/indiana?a=d&d=INR19710320-01.1.13&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-------
[3] Sydney Hough Solomon.
[4] Sydney Hough Solomon.
[5] “Richmond High School Opened this Week,” Indianapolis Recorder, March 27, 1971. Accessed July 9, 2020. https://newspapers.library.in.gov/cgi-bin/indiana?a=d&d=INR19710327-01.1.15&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-------
[6] Indianapolis Recorder, March 20, 1971.
[7] “A Proposal-For A Resource Center for Promoting Dialogue and Cooperation along Racial, Age and Religious Groups,” 1971. Accessed July 9, 2020. https://exhibits.earlham.edu/items/show/209.
[8] Indianapolis Recorder, March 27, 1971.
[9] Sydney Hough Solomon.
[10] “Richmond High School,” National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, United States Department of the Interior National Park Service, August 2015.
[11] Louise Ronald, “Richmond High School makes National List of Historic Sites,” Indiana Economic Digest. October 5, 2015. Accessed July 9, 2020. https://www.pal-item.com/story/news/education/2015/10/05/rhs-makes-national-list-historic-sites/73386678/.
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Student Authors: Joel Sharp and Gwyneth Harris
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
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<a href="https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fnpgallery.nps.gov%2FAssetDetail%2FNRIS%2F15000602&data=04%7C01%7Ctlhayes2%40bsu.edu%7C09d8fccc215d41c36a7108d8cbd4f94b%7C6fff909f07dc40da9e30fd7549c0f494%7C0%7C0%7C637483463321963779%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=n5eBqaKJ6spGqwsxErGp%2FjLzgYcIqiHpBXycaFxawHE%3D&reserved=0">National Register of Historic Places</a>
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PHOTO & VIDEO:
Richmond High School, Richmond, IN, attributed to Warren LeMay, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Richmond_High_School,_Richmond,_IN_(48500522411).jpg
1950s-present
education
Integration
National Register of Historic Places
Protest
Richmond
School
Wayne County
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/bde97be0eff21f7dc1618d2c774fcf23.jpg
9a1a7038ffc1f135d54bd90b86f276b1
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Flossie Bailey Home
Description
An account of the resource
Katherine “Flossie” Bailey was born in Kokomo, Indiana in 1895 [1]. She graduated from Kokomo High School and married Dr. W. T. Bailey of Marion, [2] who was recognized as the city’s top African American physician [3]. She was also actively involved in the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in Marion, and was a member of women’s organizations and the Eastern Star [4].
Flossie Bailey’s legacy was as a civil rights leader and activist in Indiana, in an era when most civic leaders were white men. She founded the Marion branch of the Indiana National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1918 [5] and served as its first president [6] Under her leadership, the Marion NAACP had 100 members by 1930 [7]. She was elected as the Indiana NAACP president in 1930 and worked to organize the Indiana NAACP’s second annual meeting [8]. Her home at 1907 South Adams Street in Marion, Indiana served as the headquarters for the Indiana NAACP [9]. African American leaders in Indiana met at her home, and visiting African Americans stayed with her while traveling because the Spencer Hotel in Marion refused to welcome African American guests [10].
Bailey was instrumental in fighting for African American civil rights in Indiana. She notably called out discriminatory practices at Indiana University’s Robert W. Long Hospital, which did not allow black patients to receive care or black medical students to train at the facility. With her husband, she sued a theater in Marion for denying her admittance based on the color of her skin. Bailey also spoke avidly against school segregation [11].
As the president of the local NAACP, Bailey was integrally involved in seeking justice for the August 7, 1930 lynching of Tom Shipp and Abe Smith in Marion [12]. Shipp, Smith and their friend James Cameron were being held in jail in Marion accused of murder and sexual assault. Before they could stand trial, a local white mob removed the men from jail. They beat, mutilated and hanged Shipp and Smith outside the courthouse. As the crowd gathered outside the Marion courthouse, Bailey called Sheriff Jacob Campbell to warn him about the mob’s intention to lynch the young prisoners. After the Sheriff failed to respond, she reached out to Governor Harry G. Leslie to ask for troops to be sent to Marion, but was again ignored. After the lynching, Bailey worked to hold the mob accountable, imploring the Indiana NAACP to investigate the lynching. Bailey presented a formal resolution to Governor Leslie on behalf of NAACP leaders from Marion and Indianapolis asking for Sheriff Campbell’s immediate resignation [13].
In working to bring the mob to justice, Bailey and her husband received multiple death threats [14]. Bailey and her husband continued to collect the names of witnesses despite threats of violence. She also testified in court about her warnings to Sheriff Campbell. The National NAACP honored Bailey’s efforts to bring the lynchers to justice with the Madam C.J. Walker Medal [15]. Within months, she spearheaded anti-lynching legislation in Indiana. In 1931, when Democrats introduced an anti-lynching bill, Bailey orchestrated meetings and encouraged African Americans to reach out to their legislators [16]. Governor Leslie, despite spreading rumors about African American militancy in the aftermath of the lynching, signed the legislation into law, allowing the families of lynching victims to sue. After her success in Indiana, Bailey worked diligently to encourage national anti-lynching legislation. She penned editorials, wrote President Franklin Roosevelt, and shared educational materials [17]. Although futile in establishing a federal anti-lynching bill, her work raised national attention about the horrific realities of lynchings in both the North and South [18].
In 1952, Flossie Bailey died at the age of 55 [19]. Indiana University history professor James Madison wrote that Bailey “was a person of immense ability and dedication, a black women who showed a determination to persuade her town, state, and nation to recognize their professed ideas of equality and justice" [20].
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
[1] “Mrs. Flossie K. Bailey.” The Kokomo Tribune, Kokomo, Indiana, February 11, 1952, pp. 27. Newspapers.com. Accessed on February 4, 2021. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2239512/mrs-flossie-k-bailey-the-kokomo/; James M. Madison. “’What a Woman!:’ Bailey,” Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History, Winter 2000, Volume 12, Number 1, pp. 24. Indiana Historical Society. Accessed on February 4, 2021. https://images.indianahistory.org/digital/collection/p16797coll39/id/5735.
[2] “Mrs. Flossie Bailey.”
[3] James M. Madison. “’What a Woman!:’ Bailey,” pp.24.
[4] Order of the Eastern Star, 2018. Accessed on February 4, 2021. https://www.easternstar.org.
[5] “Strange Fruit: The 1930 Marion Lynching and the Woman Who Tried to Prevent It.” Indiana History Blog: Indiana Historical Bureau of the Indiana State Library. Accessed on February 4, 2021. https://blog.history.in.gov/strange-fruit-the-1930-marion-lynching-and-the-woman-who-tried-to-prevent-it/
[6] “Mrs. Flossie Bailey.”
[7] “Mrs. Katherine Bailey.” America’s Black Holocaust Museum. Accessed on February 4, 2021. https://www.abhmuseum.org/freedoms-heros-during-jim-crow-flossie-bailey-and-the-deeters/.
[8] James M. Madison. “’What a Woman!:’ Bailey,” pp.25.
[9] Ibid.
[10] “Strange Fruit.”
[11] James M. Madison. “’What a Woman!:’ Bailey,” pp. 26.
[12] “Strange Fruit.”
[13] Ibid.
[14] Ibid.
[15] Roberta Heiman and Evansville Courier & Press. “Suffragists and activists are among 10 influential women in Indiana.” South Bend Tribune, 2020. Accessed on February 5, 2021.https://www.southbendtribune.com/news/indiana/suffragists-and-activists-are-among-10-influential-women-in-indiana/article_2dd6cce8-dd4a-11ea-a27a-832ed46a55c9.html
[16] “From Strange Fruit to Seeds of Change?: The Aftermath of the Marion Lynching.” Indiana History Blog: Indiana Historical Bureau of the Indiana State Library. Accessed on February 4, 2021. https://blog.history.in.gov/tag/flossie-bailey/
[17] “From Strange Fruit to Seeds of Change?”
[18] James M. Madison. “’What a Woman!:’ Bailey,” pp. 25.
[19] “Mrs. Flossie Bailey.”
[20] James M. Madison. “’What a Woman!:’ Bailey,” pp.23.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Student Author: Emma Cieslik
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
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PHOTO & VIDEO:
Courtesy Marion Public Library https://www.chronicle-tribune.com/news/womens-history-flossie-bailey-created-lasting-change-in-indiana/article_bba4818b-7a2f-5a18-acea-91452c97bb3e.html/?sdfkljwelkj23lkjgd
1900-40s
1950s-present
African Methodist Episcopal (AME)
Grant County
Integration
Lynching
Marion
NAACP
Segregation
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/089e4c7068bcd95d98e082767a856f30.jpg
765338e36c88b46fedd83f8e84fd9f8c
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Benjamin Banneker School, Bloomington
Description
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Benjamin Banneker School, an African American elementary school, opened its doors in 1915 in Bloomington, Indiana. Three teachers taught 93 students [1]. The school’s first principal decided to name the institution after Benjamin Banneker, a freed slave originally from Maryland who went on to become a prominent scientist, inventor, and architect. The staff and board of Banneker school constantly sought to provide new opportunities for their students, culminating with the construction of a gymnasium in 1942 for the entire Bloomington community [2], [3]. In 1937, the school opened to the public as a community center offering after school clubs and programs for children of all ages, providing healthy, productive, and consistent after school programs to the entire community [4]. In 1951, Benjamin Banneker School reopened as the integrated Fairview Annex school, three years before the monumental Brown v. Board of Education ruling declared that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional [5]. This school building held integrated sixth grade classes for Fairview and Banneker students prior to the completion of the new integrated Fairview Annex school on 8th Street [6].
In 1954, the building closed as a school as students moved to the new Fairview Annex school, and the former Benjamin Banneker school building reopened in 1955 as Westside Community Center [7]. It provided community recreation programs for decades. In 1994, modern
repairs were made to the building, including the installation of central air conditioning and an elevator. The Westside Community Center was renamed as the Benjamin Banneker Community Center in order to keep the name of the original school alive. The new name honored the building’s rich African American history and continued importance within the community, as well as paid homage to Benjamin Banneker School’s first principal who decided on the original name. Today members of the community center remember the history and legacy of Benjamin Banneker School. In 2015, a ceremonial walk was held celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Benjamin Banneker Community Center and former school [8].
Today, the original site of Benjamin Banneker School sits behind a historical marker dedicated in 2008 by the Indiana Historical Bureau in honor of its historic importance as a once segregated school, as well as to honor the site for its rich and diverse past, and its important place in the community [9].
Source
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[1] Michael Tanner and Michelle Prichard. “Benjamin Banneker School (1915-1951) – Fairview Annex (1951-1954) – Westside / Benjamin Banneker Community Center,” January 18, 2018. Accessed July 8, 2020. https://www.theclio.com/entry/6740
[2] Ibid.
[3] “Banneker History Project Involves IU Education Students, City Government, Community Residents,” IU News Room, February 19, 2003. Accessed July 8, 2020. https://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/789.html
[4] Michael Tanner and Michelle Prichard.
[5] Ibid.
[6] “Benjamin Banneker School,” Indiana Historic Bureau, Accessed July 8, 2020. https://www.in.gov/history/markers/545.ht
[7] Ibid.
[8] Megan Banta. “Banneker Community Center Celebrating 100 Years,” December 2, 2015. Accessed July 8, 2020. https://www.hoosiertimes.com/herald_times_online/news/local/banneker-community-center-celebrating-100-years/article_f80e2c90-a18a-53ee-8e48-de1117477163.html
[9] “Benjamin Banneker School,” Indiana Historic Bureau, Accessed July 8, 2020. https://www.in.gov/history/markers/545.htm
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Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
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<a href="https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.in.gov%2Fhistory%2Fstate-historical-markers%2Ffind-a-marker%2Fbenjamin-banneker-school%2F&data=04%7C01%7Ctlhayes2%40bsu.edu%7C09d8fccc215d41c36a7108d8cbd4f94b%7C6fff909f07dc40da9e30fd7549c0f494%7C0%7C0%7C637483463321953783%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=lX7OO1bPOKbvFx8s63awcarF9RBVNDEAknHq6RdDYyA%3D&reserved=0">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker</a>
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PHOTO & VIDEO:
Seventh Street West 930, Banneker School, Bloomington West Side, attributed to Nyttend, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Seventh_Street_West_930,_Banneker_School,_Bloomington_West_Side_HD.jpg
1900-40s
1950s-present
Bloomington
education
Indiana Historical Bureau Marker
Integration
Monroe County
School
Segregation
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/cf942da8b5e33fb8408fe460a4520748.mp3
d75da6b3f3dcd772934b3ac1bab3f66b
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Interview 2 with Patricia Brown (Flower Mission Hospital)
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<a href="https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/items/show/103">Flower Mission Hospital</a>
Description
An account of the resource
Patricia Brown describes how St. John's Hospital in Anderson offered medical treatment to both African American and white patients, especially those in poverty who could not afford treatment elsewhere. This mirrored the integrated treatment at Flower Mission Hospital.
<strong>***Transcript***</strong><em><br /><br />Patricia Brown</em><span>: At St. John’s Hospital for blacks. They didn’t say for blacks. They said for anybody. They opened it up for anybody because see, during that time, not only were people being segregated from St. Mary’s Hospital and Methodist Hospital. There were people that were too poor to go there, so St. John’s Hospital was a place that they could come and be treated. </span>
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9d27985e8ea11fc46a1be300d4390c71
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Flower Mission Hospital
Description
An account of the resource
The Indianapolis Flower Mission was a women’s charity organization founded by Alice Wright in 1876 [1]. The organization met every two weeks to give the patients of Indianapolis City Hospital a wide variety of flowers and gifts [2]. Early activities also included setting up a boarding house for homeless boys in 1879 [3]. After years of maintaining and raising funds for the boarding home, members envisioned a hospital that specialized in the care of women and children [4]. Due to a lack of funding, this idea did not come to fruition; instead the Mission set up the country’s second training school for nurses, which they ran until the City Hospital took over in 1896 [5]. The Flower Mission also started the city’s first visiting nurse program, for which they hired a nurse to visit patients at home to provide care and supplies. The school closed in 1980, having offered nursing training for almost a century [6].
The Mission received needed funding in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, thanks to very generous donations from Colonel Eli Lilly, a local philanthropist and pharmaceutical entrepreneur [7] Eleanor Hospital, the mission’s first hospital which focused on the care of sick children, was named after the Colonel’s deceased daughter [8]. The mayor of Indianapolis at the time, John Holtzman, was another big supporter for the Mission. Upon the opening of the Mission’s first hospital for late-stage tuberculosis patients in 1903, Holtzman was quoted in a local newspaper as having said, “I want to assure the ladies of the Flower Mission that the present administration will give every assistance in the great work of earing for the sick and poor.” He claimed that any person that suffered from “the great white death” deserved the utmost care [9].
When it opened, The Flower Mission was one of the only medical institutions in Indiana that dealt with patients who were in the final stages of tuberculosis [10]. However, this quality of care was not available to African Americans. The early twentieth century surge of tuberculosis hit the black community particularly hard. Living conditions for African Americans in Indianapolis were already poor, and the effects of tuberculosis only made it worse. There was no medical facility in the city where black tuberculosis patients could receive the appropriate care they needed [11]. In 1916, the Indianapolis Women’s Improvement Club (WIC) appealed to the Flower Mission Hospital to accept African American patients. The WIC was organized by African American women to benefit the Indianapolis black community [12]. While the hospital did initially agree to WIC’s plea to accept black patients, a short time later, it rescinded this action and no longer accepted African Americans. A year later, the Flower Mission financially aided the WIC in employing a black social worker who provided at-home care to African American patients, much like their own visiting nurses. In 1918, WIC members were allowed to furnish a room in the Flower Mission Hospital to be used exclusively by black patients. When the Mission opened their final hospital on Fall Creek Boulevard in 1938, they provided a segregated ward for African American patients [13]. Years after the opening of the Mission’s first hospital in 1903, Mayor Holtzman’s words were true to the hospital’s purpose: any person who suffered from tuberculosis deserved care, and finally, African Americans were included, albeit still segregated from white patients. After the 1930s, activity slowed for the Indianapolis Flower Mission. The tuberculosis crisis was under control, and the Flower Mission primarily became a grant funding institution until they disbanded in 1993. The Flower Missions Memorial Hospital is now home to the Bellflower Clinic and the Wishard Memorial Nursing Museum, where the public can learn of the Flower Mission’s history [14].
<a href="https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/show/227">Interview 2 with Patricia Brown</a>
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
[1] Brittany D. Kropf, “Indianapolis Flower Mission,” Discover Indiana, last updated April 2, 2019, https://publichistory.iupui.edu/items/show/18.
[2] Kropf, “Flower Mission.”
[3] Indianapolis Flower Mission Records: 1884-1987, 1976.0206, 1997.0125. Indiana Historical Society Archives, Indianapolis, Indiana.
[4] Indianapolis Flower Mission Records.
[5] Indianapolis Flower Mission Records.
[6] Kropf, “Flower Mission.”
[7] Ibid.
[8] Ibid.
[9] “Mission Gives Hospital Keys to the Mayor,” The Indianapolis Star, November 27, 1903, https://www.newspapers.com/clip/4068531/flower-mission-hospital-opening-mayor/.
[10] Kropf, “Flower Mission.”
[11] Earline Rae Ferguson, “The Woman's Improvement Club of Indianapolis: Black Women Pioneers in Tuberculosis Work, 1903–1938,” Indiana Magazine of History 84, no.3 (1988): 237-61, http://www.jstor.org/stable/27791176.
[12] Ferguson, “The Woman's Improvement Club of Indianapolis”
[13] Ibid.
[14] Kropf, “Flower Mission.”
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Student Authors: Gwyneth Harris and Phillip Brooks
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
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PHOTO & VIDEO:
Flower Mission Tuberculosis Hospital, Indiana Historical Society, M0384.
https://images.indianahistory.org/digital/collection/tuberculosi/id/99/rec/13
1800s
1900-40s
1950s-present
Healthcare
Indianapolis
Integration
Marion County
Oral History
Organization
Segregation
Women
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/b3763180ea597bb22682599210f66201.jpg
809d4338a95bffd14ded75d117a79902
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Places
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Pryor’s Country Place, Fox Lake
Description
An account of the resource
In the early 1900’s, African American families often lived in poverty as they were forced to move wherever labor jobs were available, living off very modest wages for exhausting, and often dangerous, work. This left families with little to no extra money for things like vacations or luxury goods. While the majority of African Americans in the early twentieth century lived in poverty conditions, a number of African Americans emerged as wealthy, influential members of society with disposable income. Despite this market, few white businessmen were willing to sell them goods or services. The growing demand for luxury amenities and attractions in the African-American community was soon filled by wealthy white investors, who began developing land targeted at this market. One example is Fox Lake, which was purchased and developed in the late 1920’s exclusively for use by African-Americans [1].
Built in 1927, Fox Lake included a dance hall, tennis courts, horseback riding trails, watersports, a bathhouse, piers, a barn and a small farmhouse, which was converted into a quaint hotel, Pryor’s Country Place, featured in the Green Book [2]. The Green Book was a 20th century motorist guide to establishments and towns that were safe for African-Americans to visit [3]. Pryor’s Country Place sites on five acres overlooking Fox Lake and is especially significant to the past and current owners of 32 Fox Lake cottages [4]. The cottages, nearly all of which were constructed before World War II, hold great historical and personal significance for the families who have been coming to Fox Lake for multiple generations. Pryor’s Country Place was a source of lively entertainment for wealthy individuals who owned vacation homes at Fox Lake [5],[6]. Pryor’s Country Place served as a getaway for African Americans of all walks of life, including teenagers, soldiers, famous athletes, even heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis. It offered these individuals and African American families a chance to escape from the racism that confronted them in their everyday lives and lines of work [7],[8].
Pryor’s Country Place has interesting historical connections to the past and present. For example, during prohibition, there was a still near the lakefront that manufactured liquor so Pryor’s Country Place could operate as a speakeasy [9]. Today, many residents of Fox Lake live in cottages that have been passed down through generations, including the prominent families of Freeman B. Ransom and Carl Wilson Sr., who is remembered by past and present residents as “the Father of Fox Lake" [10]. Wilson purchased the first plots of land available at Fox Lake and built three cottages, all overlooked by Pryor’s Country Place. He and his son, Carl Wilson Jr., continued to dedicate a large portion of their lives and wealth from Wilson Sr.’s successful exterminator business to the development of this “sanctuary of sorts for African Americans in the Midwest" [11]. Wilson Sr. played a major role in overseeing Fox Lakes’ development. He worked diligently throughout his life to shift power and ownership of Fox Lake primarily to African-Americans, effectively helping to organize the amenities like wells and trash pickup routes that the community still enjoys today [12].
The unique history of Pryor’s Country Place, and its historical and personal significance to the modern African American community in Fox Lake, supported its nomination to the National Register of Historic Places in 2001 [13]. Since then, however, Pryor’s Country Place has ended up on Indiana Landmarks’ list of “Indiana’s 10 Most Endangered” places twice. The first listing was in 2016, when the five-acre plot of land including Pryor’s Country Place went up for sale. Pryor’s Country Place is located in an area where developable premium lakeside property is becoming scarce, which worried members of the community [14]. In 2017, Indiana Landmarks placed it on their endangered list for a second time, with the intent to “identify a preservation-inclined buyer” in order to preserve its unique history [15].
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
[1] Mark S. Foster. “In the Face of “Jim Crow”: Prosperous Blacks and Vacations, Travel and Outdoor Leisure, 1890-1945,” Spring 1999. PDF accessed July 9, 2020 via JSTOR.
[2] “Fox Lake: Angola, Indiana,” National Register of Historic Places, 2002. Accessed July 9, 2020. https://www.nps.gov/nr/feature/afam/2002/foxlake.htm
[3] “Road Tripping in the Era of the Green Book,” Indiana Landmarks, March 10, 2017. Accessed July 9, 2020. https://www.indianalandmarks.org/2017/03/road-tripping-in-the-era-of-the-green-book/ [4] Darrin Wright. “Angola Building Among “Most Endangered” Landmarks,” May 2, 2017. Accessed July 9, 2020. https://www.wowo.com/angola-building-among-endangered-landmarks/
[5] “Fox Lake: Angola Indiana.”
[6] Angelica Robinson. “Hidden History: Fox Lake Grew from Era of Racism, Segregation,” February 12, 2018. Accessed July 9, 2020. https://www.wane.com/black-history-month/hidden-history-fox-lake-grew-from-era-of-racism-segregation/
[7] Ibid.
[8] “National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Fox Lake,” United States Department of the Interior National Park Service, March 6, 2001. Accessed July 9, 2020. https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/0c6b54b7-921f-4e4f-89c1-fa0f2eacaa13
[9] Ibid.
[10] Angelica Robinson.
[11] Ibid.
[12] Ibid.
[13] “Announcing Indiana’s 10 Most Endangered,” Indiana Landmarks, June 27, 2016. Accessed July 9, 2020. . https://www.indianalandmarks.org/2016/06/announcing-indianas-10-most-endangered/
[14] Ibid.
[15] “Pryor Country Place Returns to State 10 Most Endangered List,” KPC News Service, May 1, 2017. Accessed July 9, 2020. https://www.kpcnews.com/news/latest/heraldrepublican/article_09a978a1-454a-5a69-b7ad-4d041d3069f2.html
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Student Authors: Joel Sharp and Emma Cieslik
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
Relation
A related resource
<a href="https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fnpgallery.nps.gov%2FAssetDetail%2FNRIS%2F01000360&data=04%7C01%7Ctlhayes2%40bsu.edu%7Ca9ad6f224e4a4311ddae08d8c87acbdd%7C6fff909f07dc40da9e30fd7549c0f494%7C0%7C0%7C637479777153547548%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=qw9CYViDvGC6dh8XfMmdgZyf4H1725p%2F9pNsSFG1gag%3D&reserved=0">National Register of Historic Places</a>
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Information about rights held in and over the resource
PHOTO & VIDEO:
Pryor's Country Place, Angola, attributed to Indiana Landmarks, Public domain, via Flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/historic-landmarks-foundation-indiana/26631702516
1900-40s
1950s-present
Angola
Entertainment
Housing
National Register of Historic Places
Recreation
Segregation
Steuben County
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/33cd83a64f128152dbd836a952d34e47.jpg
f9a771aafd0a9d5e189e8c8f7b405563
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Places
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Title
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Sheriff’s Residence and Jail, Evansville
Description
An account of the resource
Tensions between African Americans and white individuals were already high in Evansville in 1903, when they boiled over on July 3. An African-American man known as Robert Lee or Lee Brown, reportedly left a bar with an unpaid tab, intending to kill another man with whom he had quarreled with earlier in the day [1]. The bartender, who had followed Lee out of the bar, flagged down police patrolman Louis N. Massey and informed him about what he had witnessed. Massey followed Lee for a distance before attempting to arrest him, and when he grabbed Lee by the shoulder, Lee turned and fired at Officer Massey. Massey was able to fire back at and hit Lee, who was wounded and arrested [2]. Officer Massey died later that evening. When the Evansville community found out that one of its police officers was killed by an African American man, leaving behind his wife and children, riots ensued [3].
Early in the morning following Officer Massey’s death, 100 to 150 white Evansville residents surrounded the police station, demanding for the sheriff to hand over Lee to be hanged [4]. The sheriff refused, and secretly escorted Lee through the underground tunnel that ran between the police station and courthouse to send Lee on a train to the nearby Vincennes jail to be protected. Lee died several days later in custody as a result of the gunshot wound inflicted by Massey [5]. The white Evansville crowd, growing into the thousands, grew restless while waiting for Lee and became more violent as people swarmed the police station [6]. Mobs broke into hardware stores and stole guns and ammunition, along with tools to break open the windows and doors to the jail. On their way back to the jail, word spread that several African American men had gathered at two saloons nearby and were firing down on people as they passed on the street. The mob attacked both saloons and fired at the African American men, but nobody was injured in the attacks [7].
Fearing for the safety of the citizens in Evansville, the sheriff pleaded with the Indiana governor to send help. At the same time as more and more people gathered and became increasingly violent, the Wallace Circus was also coming to town, increasing the confusion [8]. By the time the mob returned to the jail, the Indiana governor had declared martial law and sent 300 members of the National Guard to wrest control from the mob and restore peace to Evansville. Following the mob’s slow advance towards the jail, the tension was finally broken by gunfire. Although there is debate about which side fired first, in the end, both the mob and the National Guard were using their weapons [9]. After the smoke had cleared and the shots ceased firing, “thirty-one wounded and dead laid on the pavement,” two of whom were 15-year old children, one a girl and the other a boy.10 The mob quickly dispersed, and finally, after several days of heated conflicts, the violence subsided as families grieved their losses and tended to those who were wounded.
Today, the jail and sheriff’s residence are still connected by a tunnel to the Evansville courthouse, which was built in 1890 [11]. The jail is made of Indiana limestone with 18th-century inspired architecture. In 1970, the old sheriff’s residence and jail were listed in the National Register of Historic Places, and in 2007, a historical marker commemorating the jail’s construction and its connection to the courthouse was installed by the Indiana Historical Bureau [12].
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
[1] “The City’s Crown of Shame: Evansville Awakens to the Awful Consequences of Her Seedtime of Folly,” Indianapolis Journal, July 8, 1903. Accessed July 8, 2020. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82015679/1903-07-08/ed-1/seq-1/#date1=1903&sort=relevance&rows=20&words=EVANSVILLE+Journal&searchType=basic&sequence=0&index=14&state=Indiana&date2=1903&proxtext=evansville+journal&y=6&x=10&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1
[2] Ibid.
[3] Kelley Coures. “Race Riot of 1903: Violence on Fourth Street Claimed 12 Lives,” Evansville Living, accessed July 8, 2020. http://www.evansvilleliving.com/articles/race-riot-of-1903
[4] “Race War Raging in Evansville: Indiana City is in the Hands of Mobs,” San Francisco Call, Vol 94(36). July 6, 1903. Accessed July 8, 2020. https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SFC19030706.2.4&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN--------1
[5] Kelley Coures.
[6] “Seven Killed in Evansville Riot: Mob, Bent upon Lynching of a Negro Murderer, is Met with Storm of Bullets and Retires,” Minneapolis Journal, July 7, 1903. July 8, 2020. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045366/1903-07-07/ed-1/seq-1/#date1=07%2F06%2F1903&index=8&rows=20&searchType=advanced&language=&sequence=0&words=EVANSVILLE+RIOT&proxdistance=5&date2=07%2F31%2F1903&ortext=&proxtext=&phrasetext=Evansville+Riot&andtext=&dateFilterType=range&page=1
[7] “The City’s Crown of Shame: Evansville Awakens to the Awful Consequences of Her Seedtime of Folly.”
[8] “Seven Killed in Evansville Riot: Mob, Bent upon Lynching of a Negro Murderer, is Met with Storm of Bullets and Retires.
[9] “They City’s Crown of Shame: Evansville Awakens to the Awful Consequences of Her Seedtime of Folly.”
[10] “Seven Killed in Evansville Riot: Mob, Bent upon Lynching of a Negro Murderer, is Met with Storm of Bullets and Retires.”
[11] “Sheriff’s Residence and Jail,” Indiana Historical Bureau, accessed July 8, 2020. https://www.in.gov/history/state-historical-markers/find-a-marker/sheriffs-residence-and-jail/
[12] “National Register of Historic Places Inventory – Nomination Form: Former Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Residence,” United States Department of the Interior National Park Service, July 1969. Accessed July 8, 2020. https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/c8581b91-c054-410a-816c-dea440b35a23/
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Student Authors: Mary Swartz, Joel Sharp, and Emma Cieslik
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
Relation
A related resource
<a href="https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fnpgallery.nps.gov%2FAssetDetail%2FNRIS%2F70000009&data=04%7C01%7Ctlhayes2%40bsu.edu%7Cf50cb3f79e4f468ffca508d8c874d982%7C6fff909f07dc40da9e30fd7549c0f494%7C0%7C0%7C637479751594079524%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=3H%2BK6TmUy0QQ4T6Gtqd%2BjVm%2FsEI8MF9pH%2F5rhu1LZ60%3D&reserved=0">National Register of Historic Places</a><br /><a href="https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.in.gov%2Fhistory%2Fstate-historical-markers%2Ffind-a-marker%2Fsheriffs-residence-and-jail%2F&data=04%7C01%7Ctlhayes2%40bsu.edu%7Cf50cb3f79e4f468ffca508d8c874d982%7C6fff909f07dc40da9e30fd7549c0f494%7C0%7C0%7C637479751594089515%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=iULSiUDdd162xPZ4iVeg7EQANsb37%2FDUtH4SbB0RnpI%3D&reserved=0">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker</a>
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PHOTO & VIDEO:
Former Vanderburgh County Sheriff's Residence, attributed to Nyttend, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Former_Vanderburgh_County_Sheriff%27s_Residence.jpg
1900-40s
Evansville
Indiana Historical Bureau Marker
National Register of Historic Places
Vanderburgh County
Violence
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/efc42f8fee21b3713ced3ace46fea093.jpg
de6d835620fd43fab9918dcbe57901c8
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The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
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Flanner Guild Settlement House
Description
An account of the resource
In 1898, the Charity Organization Society of Indianapolis established the Flanner Guild, a social service center dedicated to aiding Indianapolis’ African American population. The Guild originated as a center for black youth in the western part of Indianapolis as an attempt to create separate spaces for African American and white children. The guild was named after Frank W. Flanner, a white mortician from Indianapolis who offered the use of his land and cottage on Rhode Island Street to establish the “Negro Service Center" [1]. In Indianapolis specifically, racial prejudice and discrimination led to an absence of economic opportunity for the black community. The Flanner Guild’s solutions to the rise of unemployment and a lack of health care focused on “self-help” training and “the promotion of social, spiritual, moral and physical welfare of African Americans" [2]. The Flanner Guild social service program started in 1908, but lack of funding limited the abilities of the program. In the early 20th century, the Flanner Guild offered domestic training classes in millinery, sewing, and cooking [3]. Despite lack of funds, the Flanner Guild managed to care for unmarried mothers and their children in the Flanner Guild Rescue Home that opened in 1908 [4]. In 1909, the services of the Flanner Guild began to be recognized by the general public, and with the increase of donations, the Flanner Guild began to flourish. New programs emphaized children, including programs to prevent juvenile crime, boys’ and girls’ clubs, a day care nursery, and a Child Development Center [5].
Financial worry was further quelled in 1912, when Flanner Guild became affiliated with the Christian Women’s Board of Missions (CWBM). In the same year, Frank Flanner passed away, and the CWBM changed the name of the organization to Flanner House [6]. In 1918, Flanner House relocated to a series of buildings on north West Street, which allowed the organization to expand its services to help the Indianapolis black community in new ways [7]. Some of the new services included a settlement house for training domestic servants and providing more self-help training, as well as health programs and a tuberculosis clinic [8]. The clinic was especially helpful to the black community because diseases like tuberculosis were rampant in poor neighborhoods and African Americans were not welcome in white hospitals [9].
In 1935, Flanner House was rebranded as a non-profit organization by the newly appointed director, Cleo W. Blackburn [10]. Under the leadership of Blackburn, Flanner House managed to target key issues that were facing the black community at large. By 1944, the once small organization offered a large assortment of programs including social services, vocational aids, self-help services, and garden cultivation [11]. Flanner House did its best to fulfill any possible need the black community had. In 1950, Blackburn created Flanner House Homes, Inc., a housing project that provided low-cost homes to African American families. To make the houses affordable, men built their future homes with their own hands, all while keeping a full-time job. Ultimately, 181 houses were built as part of the Flanner Homes, Inc. project [12].
Today, Flanner House is located on Martin Luther King Jr. Street, where it was moved in 1979. The cluster of buildings include a child development center, a senior center, and the Flanner House Branch of the Indianapolis Public Library [13]. In the 1990s, the Flanner House Homes district was placed on the National Register of Historic Places for its significant contribution to Indianapolis’ African American history [14].
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
[1] Flanner House History in Highlights: 1898 to 1976. Manuscript. From Indiana Historical Society, Flanner House of Indianapolis. https://images.indianahistory.org/digital/collection/dc018/id/3772 (accessed January 27, 2021.
[2] Flanner House Records: ca. 1906-1979. Manuscript. From Indiana Historical Society, Flanner House of Indianapolis. https://indianahistory.org/wp-content/uploads/flanner-house-records.pdf.
[3] Flanner House Records: ca. 1906-1979.
[4] Flanner House History in Highlights: 1898 to 1976.
[5] Flanner House Records: ca. 1906-1979.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Britanny D. Kropf, “Flanner House,” Discover Indiana, Public History IUPUI, April 2, 2019, https://publichistory.iupui.edu/items/show/16.
[8] “Flanner House Homes,” National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, United States Department of the Interior National Park Service, October 1990. https://secure.in.gov/apps/dnr/shaard/r/235c6/N/Flanner_House_Homes_Marion_CO_Nom.pdf.
[9] Flanner House Records: ca. 1906-1979.
[10] “Flanner House Homes,” National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, United States Department of the Interior National Park Service, October 1990.
[11] Flanner House Records: ca. 1906-1979.
[12] “Flanner House Homes,” National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, United States Department of the Interior National Park Service, October 1990.
[13] Britanny D. Kropf, “Flanner House,” Discover Indiana, Public History IUPUI.
[14] “Flanner House Homes,” National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, United States Department of the Interior National Park Service, October 1990.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Student Authors: Gwyneth Harris and Phillip Brooks
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
Rights
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PHOTO & VIDEO:
Flanner House Guild Tea, Indianapolis Recorder Collection, Indiana Historical Society.
https://images.indianahistory.org/digital/collection/dc018/id/2659/
Relation
A related resource
<a href="https://catalog.archives.gov/id/132003839">National Register of Historic Places</a>
1900-40s
1950s-present
Healthcare
Housing
Indianapolis
Marion County
National Register of Historic Places
Organization
Segregation
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/a1c8b35156d8c668e634f6c104ad3f08.jpg
0b1b30008fa594b4eb1ec194e91b0b31
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Places
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The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
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Miller Beach
Description
An account of the resource
Nestled between a steel plant and the Indiana Dunes National Park, Miller Beach is a community on the easternmost side of Gary with a reputation of progressive attitudes. Fine sunsets and beautiful wilderness sanctuaries paint Miller Beach as a resplendent recreational getaway for anybody looking to escape the crowded and busy streets of Chicago. Miller Beach was not always a destination that welcomed everyone, however. Miller Beach began as a sundown town, where African Americans spent time as daytime workers and household servants but were expected to be out of town by dark [1]. In its infancy, Miller Beach had a long way to go before it encapsulated the progressive ideals for which it is known today.
Miller Beach began as the small town of Miller Station in 1865. Although a mere train stop in its beginning, it soon became a settlement for steel workers. In 1919 the town was annexed by Gary and became Miller Beach or, as it is often referred, Miller. Annexation was against the wishes of many who wanted to keep their clandestine beaches unspoiled. Quickly encroaching on the solitude of the community, people flocked to Miller on streetcars that connected downtown Gary to Lake Street in Miller Beach [2]. Miller rapidly became a hotspot for wealthy white Chicagoans to build summer cottages or luxurious landmark homes so they could spend their summers enjoying the dunes and lagoons of Lake Michigan. During this early period, the people of Miller Beach did not allow African Americans to live in the community [3]. War production of steel brought an era of economic prosperity in Gary. A labor shortage and company recruitment inspired a large number of black workers to move up from the south to find jobs. Barred from Miller Beach, they were forced to live in the Midtown neighborhood, overcrowding soon pushed African Americans to buy property in other neighborhoods. White residents in these nearby neighborhoods quickly became uncomfortable at the thought of integration and moved to Miller, where African Americans were not allowed to visit the beaches or bathe in the waters of the lake [4]. The racist attitudes of the affluent white people did not sit well with some of Miller’s residents.
In 1949, black and white Gary citizens banded together to march to the beaches of Miller. They planned to have the African Americans among them step into the waters of Lake Michigan in an act of defiance against racist attitudes. A white mob met the group at Marquette Park, armed with clubs and pipes. Only three black residents reached the water. Racist and violent incidents like this continued for years after the Gary residents marched for integration in Miller Beach [5].
The bleak reality of Miller’s racist reputation was not to last, however. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 pushed small communities like Miller Beach to address their overtly racist practices. In that same year, television writer Stanley Greenberg sold a Miller Beach house to a black family. It was an unprecedented decision that brought Miller closer to integration, but caused violent threats against Greenberg. A few years later, Richard Hatcher became the first African American mayor of Gary. He was a pro-civil-rights and antipollution activist [6]. White flight rapidly followed Hatcher’s election. Entire Gary neighborhoods were put up for sale as white residents with uncompromising attitudes about integration left the area [7].
In 1971, the residents of Miller Beach decided to act on the unrest in their community. The Miller Citizens Corporation, or MCC, was created by a group of primarily white, liberal residents who sought to bring stability to Miller Beach. The corporation’s goals were to welcome black families into the community and discourage the panic selling by white citizens that had afflicted the community since Hatcher’s election. They also set up a hotline to oust harmful, false rumors [8].
Davetta M. Haywood, a woman whose family moved to Gary during the Second Great Migration from the South, joined the MCC after moving to Miller as an adult. Describing the work of the group, she said “we wanted to work with our neighbors instead of pushing them away" [9]. The combined effort quelled white anxiety and led to racial stability in the area. By the end of the 1980s, Miller Beach was about 68% black, making a primarily black neighborhood out of a space that had been a prejudiced, exclusive white community only a couple decades earlier [10].
Today, Miller Beach is a bustling beach town that offers an abundance of diverse activities to residents and visitors. The community retains eco-friendly practices to preserve the Indiana Dunes while hosting a multitude of restaurants, breweries, and small businesses. The arts are alive at the Miller Beach Arts and Creative District, where music events, artist talks, and gallery showings offer a unique experience [11]. In 2016, the Arts and Creative District hosted an exhibit at the Marshall J. Gardner Center for the Arts. Vanguards: Moving “Out Here” to Miller was an exhibit showcasing “black perspectives on joining the Miller community in the ‘60s and ‘70s" [12]. The exhibit gave voices to the African Americans whose efforts changed Miller Beach from an exclusive, segregated beach spot to the integrated community known for its progressive ideals. Due to the perseverance of African Americans against prejudice and blatant racist attitudes, Miller’s fine sunsets and beaches can now be enjoyed by anyone who wishes to dip their toes into the tranquil waters of Lake Michigan.
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
[1] Matthew A. Werner, “Miller Station to Miller Beach & Everything in Between,” DigTheDunes, February 2, 2018, https://digthedunes.com/miller-station-miller-beach-everything/.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Grant Pick, “Now Comes Miller’s Time: An Island of Integration and Natural Beauty in Gary, Indiana,” Chicago Reader, June 29, 1989, https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/now-comes-millers-time-an-island-of-integration-and-natural-beauty-in-gary-indiana/Content?oid=874093.
[4] Matthew A. Werner, “Miller Station to Miller Beach & Everything in Between.”
[5] Grant Pick, “Now Comes Miller’s Time: An Island of Integration and Natural Beauty in Gary, Indiana.”
[6] Ibid.
[7] Matthew A. Werner, “Miller Station to Miller Beach & Everything in Between.”
[8] James B. Lane, “Moving to Miller,” Northwest Indiana Historian James B Lane, Blogspot, April 28, 2016, http://northwestindianahistorianjamesblane.blogspot.com/2016/04/moving-to-miller.html.
[9] Ibid.
[10] Grant Pick, “Now Comes Miller’s Time: An Island of Integration and Natural Beauty in Gary, Indiana.”
[11] “Visit Miller Beach.” South Shore Indiana, South Shore Convention and Visitors Authority, January 25, 2021, https://www.southshorecva.com/listing/visit-miller-beach/2997/.
[12] Bob Kostanczuk, “Nina Simone Doc Highlights Miller Beach Exhibit on Gary’s Past,” Chicago Tribune, February 16, 2016, https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/ct-ptb-nina-simone-gary-st-0219-20160216-story.html.
Contributor
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Student Author: Gwyneth Harris
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
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PHOTO & VIDEO:
Miller Beach Sign, attributed to Visviva, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/20/Miller_Beach_Sign.jpg
1800s
1900-40s
1950s-present
Civil Rights Movement
Entertainment
Gary
Integration
Lake County
Segregation
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/72897f1d2513a1a85e827d345f242e12.jpg
bf60d10fb1f25dbd22fbf6f1a489dfb4
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Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church
Description
An account of the resource
The Hammond Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church was established around 1919. The church began with a small, humble congregation that grew considerably under Reverend William Davis [1]. For thirty years after its creation, Mt. Zion’s church leaders and congregates met in temporary spaces. In 1949, Mt. Zion established its permanent home in a one-story brick building designed by a local architectural firm [2]. Not only did Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church play a role in the religious, political, social, and civic life of Hammond’s African American community, but their long time preacher Reverend Albert R. Burns was a significant figure in Hammond [3].
Reverend Albert R. Burns was the great-grandson of slaves and grew up in Enterprise, Mississippi, where segregation limited his freedom and access to quality education. Despite these restrictions, Burns loved reading works by Booker T. Washington, who inspired him to turn his ill feelings toward his hometown into compassion. This compassion, in addition to a promise to God during a terrible illness, pushed Burns to “spread [God’s] word" [4]. Beginning in 1935, Burns preached in Mississippi until the early 1940s. Burns moved to Hammond and continued his education, and in the winter of 1944 when the pastor of Mt. Zion became ill, Burns was ordained and filled in for the pastor. Burns’ position became permanent after the pastor passed away [5].
From 1945 to 1998, Reverend Burns served as the Mt. Zion’s pastor. Together, Burns and Mt. Zion worked continuously to challenge racial injustice, often with the help of the local Chapter of the NAACP and the Hammond Human Relations Commission [6]. Burns’ passion for racial justice and his leadership inspired Mt. Zion congregants to fight for civil rights, quality housing, and job opportunities for Hammond’s African American community [7].
In 1958, in a court case against local school officials, Burns fought for the right for African-Americans to teach in Hammond schools. The next year, his daughter, Annie Burns-Hicks, a graduate of Ball State Teachers College, filled the very position for which her father had fought. Burns-Hicks was Hammond’s first African American teacher [8].
Reverend Burns aspired to provide quality housing for the elderly in Hammond [9]. The opening of Mt. Zion Pleasant View Plaza in 1983 attests to Burns’ ability to manifest his hopes into concrete benefits to his community [10]. Mt. Zion Pleasant View Plaza continues to provide affordable senior housing with 127 one-bedroom rental units.
In 1996, at the age of 85, Burns criticized Hammond Mayor Duane W. Dedelow Jr. for breaking his campaign promise to hire more African American police officers [11]. This is just one example of the civil rights work that Reverend Burns was doing in Hammond late into the 1990s, before retiring in 1998 after 53 years at Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church [12].
In 2019, the Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church was honored with an Indiana Historical Bureau historical marker. The marker “celebrated Mt. Zion’s place in the community as both a religious and civic leader and comes as the church celebrates its centennial anniversary" [13].
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
[1] “Historic Marker: Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church.” Indiana Historical Bureau. Indianapolis, Indiana. 2019. Accessed October 7, 2020. https://www.in.gov/history/markers/4477.htm
[2] “Mt. Zion Church Marks History as a Hammond Mainstay.” Indiana Landmarks. Indianapolis, Indiana. February 26, 2020. Accessed October 7,2020. https://www.indianalandmarks.org/2020/02/mt-zion-church-marks-history-as-a-hammond-mainstay/
[3] “Mt. Zion Church Marks History as a Hammond Mainstay.” Indiana Landmarks. Indianapolis, Indiana. February 26, 2020. Accessed October 7,2020. https://www.indianalandmarks.org/2020/02/mt-zion-church-marks-history-as-a-hammond-mainstay/
[4] Franklin, Lu Ann. “A Fisher of Men.” The Times. March 8, 1998. Accessed October 7, 2020 .https://www.nwitimes.com/uncategorized/a-fisher-of-men/article_8889ea0c-3a45-5cd0-97a5-b4e7210fc498.html
[5] Franklin, Lu Ann. “A Fisher of Men.” The Times. March 8, 1998. Accessed October 7, 2020 .https://www.nwitimes.com/uncategorized/a-fisher-of-men/article_8889ea0c-3a45-5cd0-97a5-b4e7210fc498.html
[6] “Historic Marker: Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church.” Indiana Historical Bureau. Indianapolis, Indiana. 2019. Accessed October 7, 2020. https://www.in.gov/history/markers/4477.htm
[7] “Mt. Zion Church Marks History as a Hammond Mainstay.” Indiana Landmarks. Indianapolis, Indiana. February 26, 2020. Accessed October 7,2020. https://www.indianalandmarks.org/2020/02/mt-zion-church-marks-history-as-a-hammond-mainstay/
[8] Yovich, Daniel J. “East Hammond pastors deal with city’s divisions.” The Times. October 2,1996. Accessed October 7, 2020. https://www.nwitimes.com/uncategorized/east-hammond-pastors-deal-with-city-s-divisions/article_b3aa6155-dfcd-5003-b4b2-4325887408fd.html
[9] Steele, Andrew. “State Marker Honors Black Church’s Commitment to Service.” The Times. July 20, 2019. Accesses October 7, 2020. https://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/lake/lake-newsletter/state-marker-honors-black-church-s-commitment-to-service/article_cb31e201-55fe-5484-baf5-85d6d6c868cf.html
[10] “Historic Marker: Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church.” Indiana Historical Bureau. Indianapolis, Indiana. 2019. Accessed October 7, 2020. https://www.in.gov/history/markers/4477.htm
[11] Yovich, Daniel J. “East Hammond pastors deal with city’s divisions.” The Times. October 2,1996. Accessed October 7, 2020. https://www.nwitimes.com/uncategorized/east-hammond-pastors-deal-with-city-s-divisions/article_b3aa6155-dfcd-5003-b4b2-4325887408fd.html
[12] Franklin, Lu Ann. “A Fisher of Men.” The Times. March 8, 1998. Accessed October 7, 2020 .https://www.nwitimes.com/uncategorized/a-fisher-of-men/article_8889ea0c-3a45-5cd0-97a5-b4e7210fc498.html [13] “Indiana State Marker Honors Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church for its Longtime Commitment to Service in the African-American Community.” Black Christian News Network One. July 21, 2019. Accessed October 7, 2020. https://blackchristiannews.com/2019/07/indiana-state-marker-honors-mt-zion-missionary-baptist-church-for-its-longtime-commitment-to-service-in-the-african-american-community/
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Student Authors: Gwyneth Harris and Molly Hollcraft
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
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A related resource
<a href="https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.in.gov%2Fhistory%2Fstate-historical-markers%2Ffind-a-marker%2Ffind-historical-markers-by-county%2Findiana-historical-markers-by-county%2Fmt-zion-mb-church%2F&data=04%7C01%7Ctlhayes2%40bsu.edu%7C5ed160245b3244a2680208d8c6c04bf9%7C6fff909f07dc40da9e30fd7549c0f494%7C0%7C0%7C637477876498563775%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=vwuNi1hBtbWgz49GDxxP8ZlQpV64avn5xDIpPfB5yC0%3D&reserved=0">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker</a>
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PHOTO & VIDEO:
Courtesy Indiana Landmarks https://www.indianalandmarks.org/2020/02/mt-zion-church-marks-history-as-a-hammond-mainstay/
1900-40s
1950s-present
Church
education
Equality
Hammond
Indiana Historical Bureau Marker
Lake County
religion
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/568a062081196b852ecf1382aa8b6c88.jpg
25e397a9105c9ab1312e5485a55ea2df
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The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
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Allen Chapel AME Church, Terre Haute
Description
An account of the resource
The Allen Chapel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church was founded in 1837 as the first African American church in Terre Haute and in western Indiana. It is named after Richard Allen, a former enslaved person who founded the AME Church in Philadelphia in 1787.[1] During slavery, Allen Chapel AME was part of the Underground Railroad, as its location near the Wabash River provided fugitive slaves food and shelter before moving further north.[2] ,[3] In 1845, before African American children were permitted to attend public schools, Allen Chapel was one of the oldest buildings used to educate African American children in Indiana. [4] Allen Chapel played an integral part in early civil rights and equal representation of African Americans. The minister who started the Allen Chapel school, Hiram Rhoads Revels, later served as the first U.S. African American senator, representing Mississippi. James Hinton, the first African American in the Indiana legislature, attended Allen Chapel school.[5] In 1886, abolitionist leader Frederick Douglass visited Terre Haute on two occasions to help raise funds for Allen Chapel. [6]
In 1913, lightning struck the church, causing a fire. Church members were able to rescue some pews and altar pieces, as well as save the entire lower level. Church services were conducted in a tent while the church underwent reconstruction. Allen Chapel was considered the leading African American church in Terre Haute through the 1960s. Many from the surrounding neighborhood attended the church, with a congregation reaching over 200. The church building provided the surrounding community a place to gather and meet. [7] Allen Chapel hosted baseball star Jackie Robinson, who spoke to the congregation about his experience as the first African American player in Major League Baseball. [8]
In recognition of its historical and cultural significance, Allen Chapel was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.[9] During the last half of the twentieth century, the number of congregants sharply declined, due mostly to the urban redevelopment of the surrounding neighborhood that began in the1960s. [10] The dwindling congregation could not keep up with the needed building repairs, and demolition of the historic building became likely. Various community members came together to save Allen Chapel, which was an irreplaceable symbol of the African American heritage of the community. In 1997, the Friends of Historic Allen Chapel AME formed to raise the necessary funds in order to preserve the building. [11] The Friends group was awarded a Historic Preservation Fund grant in 2017 from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Division of Historic Preservation & Archaeology to help preserve the building. In 2019, the Friends received the Outstanding Grant-Assisted Rehabilitation award for their restoration work.[12] To this day, Allen Chapel remains an active place of worship and open to the public.
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
[1] Yaël Ksander, “Neighborhood Church, Living Monument,” Moment of Indiana History – Indiana Public Media, October 11, 2010, https://indianapublicmedia.org/momentofindianahistory/neighborhood-church-living-monument/.
[2] Sue Loughlin, “Allen Chapel AME Celebrates Milestone of 175 Years,” Tribune-Star, Updated January 11, 2015, https://www.tribstar.com/news/local_news/allen-chapel-ame-church-celebrates-milestone-of-175-years/article_2c83c8f7-bc7c-5299-8dbe-28ca7130868a.html.
[3] Yaël Ksander
[4] Sue Loughlin
[5] Yaël Ksander
[6] Sue Loughlin
[7] Sue Loughlin
[8] Yaël Ksander
[9] National Register of Historic Places, Allen Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church, Terre Haute, Vigo County, Indiana, National Register #75000030. https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/75000030
[10] Allen Chapel A.M.E. Church in Wabash Valley Profiles, July 28, 2005. Indiana Memory Hosted Digital Collections. https://indianamemory.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/vchs/id/392
[11] Sue Loughlin
[12] Lisa Trigg, “Friends of Allen Chapel AME to Be Honored,” Tribune-Star, April 3, 2019, www.tribstar.com/news/local_news/friends-of-allen-chapel-ame-to-be-honored/article_3204c66d-8ad1-52a4-9b2f-60eb32112e75.html.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Student Author: Phillip Brooks
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
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PHOTO & VIDEO:
Allen Chapel AME in Terre Haute, attributed to Nyttend, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Allen_Chapel_AME_in_Terre_Haute.jpg
Relation
A related resource
<a href="https://catalog.archives.gov/id/132005029">National Register of Historic Places</a>
1800s
1900-40s
1950s-present
African Methodist Episcopal (AME)
Church
National Register of Historic Places
religion
Terre Haute
Underground Railroad
Vigo County
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/6b20843a61c8c8b86994f6621fba3f55.jpg
3f9024495bec31fe55e9a0b194a4c2ef
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Places
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Indianapolis Recorder Newspaper
Description
An account of the resource
The Indianapolis Recorder was founded in 1895 when co-publishers, George P. Stewart and Will Porter, decided that their church newsletter could have a far greater outreach within the African American community.[1] They expanded the Indianapolis Recorder to cover local news stories that directly, and specifically, affected African American lives. In 1899, Porter sold his ownership of the newspaper to Stewart, who quickly took control of the African American news scene in Indianapolis.[2] In its early years, the Indianapolis Recorder reported largely on community and local stories, however it later began dedicating more resources to covering national events that impacted African American communities all over America. Columns were written for and about African Americans in Indianapolis, and they often attempted to spread hope and positive news to their readers to inspire individuals, and to remind the African American community of their own prominence in a society that often worked diligently against them.[3]
Before the First World War, the Indianapolis Recorder encouraged African Americans to support the war effort however they could in an attempt to display their patriotism, so that the African American community would in turn be able to enjoy a collective improvement in their quality of life in America.[4] Following the war, however, Indiana’s African American population, and throughout the United States, were instead faced with the resurgence of Ku Klux Klan activity, race riots, and an increase in lynching. When these issues began to escalate throughout American society, the Indianapolis Recorder started covering violent stories and incidents of racially inspired crimes, even when other daily newspapers did not.[5] In a continual attempt to also include stories that spread good news and the accomplishments of African Americans, an emphasis was placed on athletics, which soon became a common sense of pride for the community. This collective pride came in large part thanks to the accomplishments of athletes at Crispus Attucks High School, including Oscar Robertson, but also from other nationally renowned African American athletes emerging at the time, like Jackie Robinson and Willie Mays, who broke many racial barriers.[6] The Indianapolis Recorder also reported on the Civil Rights movement and profiled key figures that many within the African American community looked to for support and encouragement. [7]
The Indianapolis Recorder played an active role in the local Civil Rights movement, while at the same time keeping their readers informed of national Civil Rights events. The front page of the September 15, 1962 edition reports on Mrs. Rebecca Wilson from Georgia, whose husband Roy had been working in Indianapolis for two months. Mrs. Wilson had shot and killed “one of a group of masked white night marauders” who attempted an armed invasion of her family’s Georgia home. The “Ku Klux Klan was suspected” as they had previously shot at the house and burned an eight-foot cross in the yard to try to drive out “the only Negro in the community”. The Indianapolis Recorder offered to pay for Mrs. Wilson’s trip from Georgia to Indianapolis so she could be with her husband. The front page contained other news of local and national significance including a feature story on a northern Indiana professor and minister who was jailed for participating in a “prayer vigil” organized by Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. in Albany, Georgia. An adjoining column reported on King’s calls for President John F. Kennedy to take action to curtail the “Nazi-like reign of terror in Southwest Georgia” referring to church bombings, violence, and cross burnings. Details of U.S. Attorney Robert F. Kennedy’s visit to Indianapolis the next week to speak at the Governor’s Conference on Civil Rights to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation rounded out the front page.[8]
In the late 1990s, the Indianapolis Recorder focused on returning to the overall positive tone once used to unite the African American community. [9] By refocusing the paper’s tone on “positive, educational and empowering news that would offer encouragement and support to the community,”[10] the Indianapolis Recorder was able to survive, and has since expanded its influence to nearly 100,000 readers. [11]
The enduring legacy of the Indianapolis Recorder runs deep within the African American community, especially with respect to the enduring opportunities that the Indianapolis Recorder offers for nearby high school students, community directed financial efforts, and aspiring African American journalists.[12] Today, the Indianapolis Recorder building still stands at 2901 N. Tacoma Ave., and is a part of the Ransom Place Historic District listed in the National Register of Historic Places.[13]
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
[1] “Black and White and Read all Over: The Indianapolis Recorder,” Moment of Indiana History, February 18, 2009, https://indianapublicmedia.org/momentofindianahistory/black-white-read-overthe-indianapolis-recorder/
[2] “About Us,” Indianapolis Recorder Newspaper, Accessed June 25, 2020, http://www.indianapolisrecorder.com/site/about.html
[3] “Eyewitness to a Century: The Indianapolis Recorder,” The Indianapolis Recorder, September 2, 2005, https://newspapers.library.in.gov/?a=d&d=INR20050902-01.1.8&srpos=2&e=-------en-20-INR-1--txt-txIN-indianapolis+recorder------
[4] “About Us”
[5] Ibid.
[6] “Eyewitness to a Century: The Indianapolis Recorder”
[7] “Recorder,” Indianapolis Recorder Newspaper, February 16, 2001, https://newspapers.library.in.gov/?a=d&d=INR20010216-01.1.51&srpos=1&e=-------en-20-INR-1--txt-txIN-indianapolis+recorder+history------
[8] Indianapolis Recorder Newspaper, September 15, 1962, https://newspapers.library.in.gov/?a=d&d=INR19620915-01.1.1&srpos=3&e=-------en-20-INR-1--txt-txIN-%22civil+rights%22+robert+kennedy------
[9] “Eyewitness to a Century: The Indianapolis Recorder”
[10] “Recorder”
[11] “About Us”
[12] Ibid.
[13] “Ransom Place Historic District,” Indian Historical Bureau, Accessed June 25, 2020, https://www.in.gov/history/markers/216.htm
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Student Author: Joel Sharp
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
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PHOTO & VIDEO:
Indianapolis Recorder Office on Indiana Avenue, Indianapolis Recorder Collection, Indiana Historical Society.
https://images.indianahistory.org/digital/collection/p0303/id/69/rec/14
Relation
A related resource
<a href="https://catalog.archives.gov/id/132004020">National Register of Historic Places</a>
1800s
1900-40s
1950s-present
Civil Rights Movement
Indianapolis
Ku Klux Klan
Marion County
National Register of Historic Places
Newspapers
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/877d44e0376f8d254bedb038e788b77f.jpg
840f7a125adf1ab78e56c882efd880f3
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Events
Dublin Core
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Lockefield Place Riots
Description
An account of the resource
In June of 1969, the Lockefield Place neighborhood of Indianapolis erupted in violent protests in response to an alleged incident of police brutality. Lockefield Place, located northwest of downtown, was the most prominent African American neighborhood in Indianapolis. At the center of this residential area stood Lockefield Gardens, a large public housing complex built by the Public Works Administration during the Great Depression. Lockefield Gardens served Indianapolis’ African American community as a social hub, cultural center, and place of residency for many families. During the early-to-mid twentieth century, Indianapolis enforced discriminatory public policies that resulted in decades of inadequate housing, segregation of public facilities, and the lack of educational and employment opportunities for African Americans.[1] By the 1960s, the glaring issue that plagued Indianapolis’ African American residents and the Lockefield Place neighborhood was the growing friction between the African American population and the police.[2] Throughout the 1960s, this tension would mount until it exploded in a violent riot at the end of the decade.
Racial unrest tore throughout the United States during the 1960s, sparking both peaceful and violent demonstrations. Fearing violent clashes in Indianapolis, officers of the Indianapolis National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) called on Mayor John Barton and other city officials to train police officers in effective riot control, identify potential hot spots where unrest was most likely to break out, and create a program of action in the event of violence in 1966. The NAACP’s efforts to improve relations among African Americans and police officers and prevent riots proved ineffective, as city leaders failed to implement their demands. The Indianapolis Police Department had looked on black militarism with great suspicion since the beginning of the Civil Rights movement, and as the Black Panthers arrived in Indianapolis following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., police presence was increased in Lockefield Gardens.[3]
In June 1968, three members of the Indianapolis Black Panther chapter were arrested on charges of burglary and conspiracy to murder Indianapolis police chief Winston L. Churchill and head of the police vice squad Richard Jones.[4] The three men were arrested while stealing ammunition from the Marine Corp Training Reserve. According to prosecution, they were planning to use the weapons to incite a “racial outbreak.” The three were held under bonds of $20,000 a person- almost ten times the normal bond amount for this type of offense- for almost a year. In March 1969, two of the accused were convicted of burglary and conspiracy to murder and received two to 14-year sentences in prison.[5] The decision of the court was met with outrage in Indianapolis’ African American community. The Indianapolis Reporter, an African American newspaper, accused the police officer whose testimony was used to convict the two men of entrapment. Working undercover, the young African American officer had infiltrated the Black Panther group and helped members organize the burglary. [6] Mozell Sanders, a local Baptist reverend, urged the community to fight the conviction and raise funds to appeal the case.[7]
In the months following the sentencing, tensions ran high among police officers and the inhabitants of Lockefield Place. On Thursday, June 12, 1969, hostilities boiled over into a massive demonstration. The violence began after two white officers were ambushed by twenty young African American men while responding to an alleged fight in Lockefield Place. Although police denied the allegation, witnesses of the incident claimed that one police officer shot three volleys at a group of children playing while he was trying to halt a youth who had stolen a police revolver. As backup police officers arrived at Lockefield Place, a crowd of about 300 African American residents gathered and pelted them with bricks and bottles. The violent encounter erupted into a full-scale riot that lasted for two days and resulted in the arrests of over one hundred demonstrators, multiple riot-related injuries, and looting and damage to nearby businesses, including the total destruction of the Lockefield Big Ten Market.[8]
African American community leaders, including Reverend Sanders, called for peace from the mob. The Indianapolis Black Panthers and youth working for the neighborhood center “Our Place” were able to quell the riot by June 14. The solution proposed was that most police patrols be removed and only African American officers should be allowed in Lockefield Place. The Indianapolis NAACP also called on Indianapolis city leaders to create more educational and employment opportunities for the African American population. The riots in Indianapolis brought to light the issue of police brutality in African American neighborhoods and sparked disturbances in other Indianapolis cities, including in Kokomo and Marion.[9] Today, many buildings in Lockefield Place are listed on the National Register of Historic Places for their importance to the history of Indianapolis’ African American community.[10]
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
[1] Mary Giorgio, “The Many Lives of Indy’s Historic Lockefield Gardens,” Orangebean, March 20, 2020, https://orangebeanindiana.com/2020/03/20/the-many-lives-of-indys-historic-lockefield-gardens/.
[2] Emma L. Thornbrough, Indiana Blacks in the Twentieth Century (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2000), 185.
[3] Ibid, 186.
[4] “Black police said he heard plans of assassination plot,” The Indianapolis Recorder, June 29, 1968, 1, 13.
[5] “Two get terms, third freed in armory burglary,” The Indianapolis Recorder, March 22, 1969, 1, 10.
[6] “Black police said he heard plans of assassination plot,” The Indianapolis Recorder. 1, 13.
[7] “Two get terms, third freed in armory burglary,” The Indianapolis Recorder, 1, 10.
[8] “Two nights of disorder rack Westside; calm restored Sat.,” Indianapolis Recorder, June 14, 1969, 1.
[9] Thornbrough, Indiana Blacks in the Twentieth Century, 187.
[10] Giorgio, “The Many Lives of Indy’s Historic Lockefield Gardens.”
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Student Authors: Robin Johnson and Natalie Bradshaw
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
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PHOTO & VIDEO:
Lockefield Big 10 Market Looted and Burned,
Indianapolis Recorder Collection, Indiana Historical Society.
https://images.indianahistory.org/digital/collection/p0303/id/178/rec/1
1950s-present
Civil Rights Movement
Indianapolis
Marion County
NAACP
Police
Protest
Violence
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/922cc810ba616c02ca1d1f0948d78029.jpg
63ac588be2ceab71a71ace43fbd19e2f
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
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Places
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Title
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Freeman Field / African American 477th Bombardment Group
Description
An account of the resource
The United States declared war on Japan on December 8, 1941 following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Immediately, the country was thrust into an international war that required the mobilization of American people and resources. Many new military bases and training facilities were founded throughout the country, including Freeman Army Air Field, a pilot training school constructed southwest of Seymour, Indiana. Named after the distinguished Army Air Corps pilot Richard S. Freeman, Freeman Field was activated on December 1, 1942. The impressive facility contained 413 buildings and four 5,500-foot runways.[1]
World War II was not only a time of international conflict; within the United States, domestic tensions grew as the war highlighted the racial inequality African Americans endured. Segregation persisted in the military, forcing African American service men into segregated units, limiting their opportunities for promotions, and barring their entrance to officer’s clubs. [2] Segregation was strictly enforced at Seymour’s Freeman Field under the command of Col. Robert Selway. Freeman Field’s discriminatory treatment of African American airmen gained national attention in 1945, as members of the all-African American 477th Bombardment Group staged a non-violent demonstration to protest the Army Air Corps racist practices. This event, now called The Freedmen Field Mutiny, was instrumental to the fight for the desegregation of the U.S. armed forces. [3]
The 477th Bombardment Group was formed by the Army Air Corps in 1945. First assigned to Selfridge Field, near Detroit, the 477th trained at fields in Michigan, Kentucky, and Indiana. At every base, the African American unit faced discrimination and racism. Upon their arrival at Freeman Field in March 1945, the 400 African American officers that made up the 477th were listed as “trainees,” while their white counterparts were listed as “instructors” to maintain segregated base protocols. Because they were designated as “trainees,” the African American airmen were forbidden from utilizing comfortable Officer’s Club #2 and forced into Officer’s Club #1, a run-down building lacking amenities. [4]
Frustrated by their unequal facilities, the African American airmen decided to stand up for their rights and try to enter Officer’s Club #2. Led by Lt. Coleman Young, a group of African American officers requested permission to enter the all-white club on April 5, 1945. The group was told to leave, and a second group attempted to enter the building a few minutes later. Again, the airmen were denied entry, but this group refused to turn away. Pushing past the on-duty officer, the leader of the group entered Officer’s Club #2, and the rest of the demonstrators followed. The next evening, more than 60 African American officers were arrested for trying to enter the white club. Col. Selway punished the African American unit by instituting Regulation 85-2, which officially segregated housing, dining facilities, and officer’s clubs by race and gave him the right to confine any violators of the order. Despite the fact that the segregation of public facilities on military bases was forbidden by US Army Regulation 210-10, Selman tried to force the African American officers to sign a statement saying that they had read and agreed with Regulation 85-2. [5]
More than 100 of the officers refused to sign the statement. The arrested officers were sent away to Godman Field, where they were guarded by armed men and dogs. As the incident began gaining national attention, the War Department felt pressured to drop the charges against the officers. On April 23, Army Chief of Staff General George C. Marshall ordered the release of the 101 African American officers. Although free from military prison, each officer involved in the mutiny had letters of reprimand placed in their military files. [6]
In response to the demonstration, Col. Selway was relieved of his duties and replaced at Freeman Field by Col. Benjamin O. Davis Jr.[7] By the time the facility was deactivated in 1948, over 4,000 pilots had graduated from training. [8] The U.S. armed forces were officially desegregated by Executive Order 9981, enacted by President Harry S. Truman on July 26, 1948.[9] The reprimands were removed from the military files of the African American officers under President Clinton in 1995. [10] Today, parts of Freeman Army Air Field are preserved as a museum, and Freeman Field Mutiny is marked with a plaque from the Indiana Historical Bureau. [11] The air men’s quest for equal rights was an important turning point in the early years of the Civil Rights Movement that paved the way for non-violent sit-in protests in the following decades and pushed the United States military to desegregate. [12]
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
[1]“Freeman Field,” Indiana Historical Bureau, accessed June 23, 2020, https://www.in.gov/history/2501.htm.
[2] Nicole Poletika, “‘Blacks Must Wage Two Wars:’ The Freeman Field Uprising & WWII Desegregation,” Indiana History Blog, July 31, 2017, https://blog.history.in.gov/blacks-must-wage-two-wars-the-freeman-field-uprising-wwii-desegregation/.
[3] “The Freeman Field Mutiny,” National Park Service, accessed June 23, 2020, https://www.nps.gov/tuai/learn/historyculture/stories.htm.
[4] “The Freeman Field Mutiny,”
[5] Ibid.
[6] “The Freeman Field Mutiny,”
[7] Ibid.
[8]“Freeman Field.”
[9]Poletika, “Blacks Must Wage Two Wars.”
[10] “The Freeman Field Mutiny.”
[11] “Freeman Field.”
[12]“History,” Freeman Army Airfield Museum, accessed June 23, 2020, http://www.freemanarmyairfieldmuseum.org/about.html.
[13] Poletika, “Blacks Must Wage Two Wars.”
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Student Authors: Mary Swartz and Natalie Bradshaw
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
Relation
A related resource
<a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/366.htm">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker</a>
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Information about rights held in and over the resource
PHOTO & VIDEO:
Freeman Field Mutiny, attributed to Master Sergeant Harold J. Beaulieu, Sr., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Freeman_Field_Mutiny.jpg
1900-40s
Indiana Historical Bureau Marker
Jackson County
Segregation
Seymour
war
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/086ab8473c1150c5c6e38c342bbfbb33.jpg
dc262b2a7f652d12e7afb03bb90db2a7
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
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Places
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Douglass School, Kokomo
Description
An account of the resource
Douglass School, positioned at 1104 N. Bell Street in Kokomo, was named after freed slave and abolitionist Frederick Douglass and opened its doors to African American students in 1920.[1] The school was designed by the well-known architectural firm Elmer Dunlap and Company, and was praised in local papers as “a modern building in every particular, with all the conveniences and appliances of any other school in the city”.[2] However, the reality of the school’s construction was far bleaker and came with a great deal of ambiguity. Prior to the construction of Douglass School, African American students simply went to the school that was closest to their home. For nearly three decades following Douglass School’s construction, until Indiana’s anti-segregation law was passed in 1949, African American students throughout the entire district were forced to exclusively attend Douglass School, which, for many African American students, meant walking past one or more schools that were designated for “white students only” on their long treks to and from class. [3]
Douglass School did provide “four classrooms, a community room, and a gymnasium”, [4] which gave African American students a way to participate in extracurricular activities without persecution and helped the school maintain a high quality of education, even without the same level of funding that all white schools received. A turning point for Douglass School came in 1926, when now Howard County Hall of Legends recipient Reverend H.A. Perry took over as its principal.[5] Reverend Perry, along with other members of staff at Douglass School, persistently reached out to then First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt with letters, phone calls, and telegraphs in an attempt to align themselves with the First Lady’s agenda to support the quality and “importance of education for all Americans.” [6],[7] The Kokomo community was ecstatic by the First Lady’s visit to Kokomo in March 1940, and some community members were awestruck that she chose to visit Douglass School of all the schools in Kokomo. Reverend Perry built on the community excitement to receive more funding for Douglass School and later to construct the Carver Community Center. The community center offered recreational opportunities specifically for African American children facing fervent racism and daily segregation throughout the community. [8]
Following its 1950’s merger with Willard School, a neighboring all-white school, Douglass School slowly declined before eventually closing its doors to students in 1968.[9] For the next four decades, the building had a myriad of owners and uses, ranging from an employment center to a nursing school, before purchased by the city of Kokomo on August 19, 2019.[10] The original wooden lockers, floors, and blackboards that were present during Roosevelt’s visit in 1940 are still part of the Douglass school building.[11]
Today, Douglass School is under the ownership of Pastor Rev. William Smith Jr., who has been working diligently with the surrounding community to preserve the immense historic value that the building holds for Kokomo.[12] Indiana Landmarks has recently allocated a $10,000 grant for the restoration of Douglass School, and the building is also being considered for a nomination to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places. [13]
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
[1] “Kokomo Plans to Revitalize Douglass School,” Indiana Landmarks, October 28, 2019, https://www.indianalandmarks.org/2019/10/kokomo-plans-to-revitalize-douglass-school/
[2] Ibid.
[3] “Douglass School: Mute Reminder of Past Segregation,” Howard County Historical Society, February 2019, https://howardcountymuseum.org/subpage/douglass-school-mute-reminder-of-past-segregation-id-6
[4] Ibid.
[5] Ibid.
[6] “Kokomo Plans to Revitalize Douglass School”
[7] “As She Enters Hall and Hearts of Hosts,” Hoosier State Chronicles, March 29, 1940 https://newspapers.library.in.gov/?a=d&d=INR19400330-01.1.9&srpos=3&e=-------en-20-INR-1--txt-txIN-%22douglas+school%22+kokomo------
[8] “Local Pastor sees new Life for Douglass School,” Kokomo Tribune, February 11, 2020 https://www.kokomotribune.com/news/local_news/local-pastor-sees-new-life-for-douglass-school/article_bd0346a4-4c3f-11ea-b5fd-f34512ccb370.html
[9] Ibid.
[10] “Historic Sites in Kokomo, Including Douglass School, Targeted for Preservation.” Kokomo Tribune. September 15, 2019. https://www.kokomotribune.com/news/local_news/historic-sites-in-kokomo-including-douglass-school-targeted-for-preservation/article_ab00c168-d578-11e9-b735-9f814f97a760.html
[11] “Local Pastor sees new Life for Douglass School"
[12] Ibid.
[13] “Historic Sites in Kokomo, Including Douglass School, Targeted for Preservation”
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Student Author: Joel Sharp
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
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PHOTO & VIDEO:
Courtesy Indiana Landmarks https://www.indianalandmarks.org/2021/04/historic-schools-provide-ties-to-african-american-experience/
1900-40s
1950s-present
education
Howard County
Kokomo
Segregation
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/02aeacead59903046bc5ccd7e8764b26.jpg
30a9853f597251d349aaf4216c83f98b
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The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
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Dublin Core
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Title
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Curtis Strong
Description
An account of the resource
Born in 1915 to the “son of the slave owner who had owned his mother’s family”,[1] Curtis Strong was no stranger to racism or the effects that segregation had on African American lives. Born in Mississippi, Strong grew up in Dixon, Illinois, before moving to Gary, Indiana, with hopes of joining the Air Force as a pilot. [2] However, because of the same racism and segregation that he would fight his whole life, he was unable to become a pilot and instead began working in a Gary tin mill in 1937.[3] The same year that Strong became a member of Steelworkers Union Local 1014, he witnessed the Memorial Day Massacre; a Chicago incident where police rioted and fired on unarmed, protesting steelworkers, killing 10. [4]
Strong was appointed as the first African American union griever at the Gary Works coke plant, handling union members’ grievances and complaints against their employer. He quickly began working with other African American factory workers to form “independent organization” within the union.[5] Strong also knew that, given the time and power dynamics within the union, if African American workers wanted to see change they would need to align their own goals with those of their white coworkers. Consequently, Strong spent a great deal of time “building Black-White unity”, and worked together with others in the factory so that changes would benefit all workers.[6] Strong pushed for changes in discriminatory practices, including desegregating jobs and locker rooms, and worked with various union members to encourage other changes, like internal hiring preferences, that benefitted all workers regardless of race. [7] His approaches were not without opposition, however, and he narrowly escaped death after two “union goons” once threw him from the third story window of a hotel. Curtis was eventually appointed to the International Union, where he worked to improve work conditions for not only African American steelworkers, but factory workers everywhere. [8]
Curtis and his wife, Jeannette, were both very involved with the NAACP throughout their lives. Jeannette was a steelworker activist like Curtis, but she also worked with her husband and the Gary NAACP to combat segregated medical treatment, housing, and nearly an entirely white Gary police force.[9] With the support of other NAACP members and resources, the Strongs helped desegregate hospitals where, as Curtis recounts, “one woman delivered a baby in the hallway because she was black.”[10] Curtis Strong not only picketed outside predominantly white hospitals, but simultaneously helped plan for 500 Gary citizens to participate in the 1963 March on Washington, partook in the march, and then returned to picketing as soon as he returned to Gary. [11],[12]
Strong worked throughout his life to pave a path to a better future for the African American community. He played a key role in the 1968 campaign that saw Richard Hatcher become the first African American mayor of Gary, where he served for 20 years.[13] Strong died on September 16, 2003 as one of the most influential labor and civil rights leaders in America’s history, and his legacy and voice live on in the policies of labor and union workplaces, as well as in the hearts of all those impacted by the Gary NAACP. [14]
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
[1] “Black Freedom Fighters in Steel: Black Workers Commemorated on Broadway,” The Chicago Crusader, October 8, 2018. https://chicagocrusader.com/black-freedom-fighters-in-steel-black-workers-commemorated-on-broadway/
[2] “Remembering Curtis Strong, 1915-2003,” People’s World, October 3, 2003. https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/remembering-curtis-strong-1915-2003/
[3] “Black Freedom Fighters in Steel: Black Workers Commemorated on Broadway”
[4] “Remembering Curtis Strong, 1915-2003”
[5] “Black Freedom Fighters in Steel: Black Workers Commemorated on Broadway”
[6] “Remembering Curtis Strong, 1915-2003”
[7] Ibid.
[8] Ibid.
[9] “Physicians Recall Integrating Hospitals,” The Post-Tribune, May 2, 1996.
[10] Ibid.
[11] Ruth Needleman. “Black Freedom Fighters in Steel: The Struggle for Democratic Unionism,” 2003.
[12] “Physicians Recall Integrating Hospitals”
[13] “Remembering Curtis Strong, 1915-2003”
[14] Ibid.
Contributor
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Student Author: Joel Sharp
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
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PHOTO & VIDEO:
Gary Steel Works, United States Steel Corporation, 1959, attributed to Steven R. Shook, Public domain, via Flickr.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/shookphotos/4219006672/in/photostream/
1900-1940s
1950s-present
Civil Rights Movement
Gary
Integration
Lake County
NAACP
Organization
Politics
Steelworker Union
Union
Violence
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/788e98b7ba620c49a925844dce0e643a.png
3af30f527214c7098334c09c95e2cf7d
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Jeannette Strong
Description
An account of the resource
Jeannette Strong played instrumental roles in the desegregation of both housing and hospital care in Gary, Indiana, throughout the 1960’s, and served as a major leader within the Gary chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Following a Gary City Council vote in July of 1962 that rejected moving towards desegregated housing, Strong and the NAACP helped organize a peaceful march to City Hall in protest of the “ghettoized housing conditions” that were being imposed on the African American community. [1] The protests were successful, and early in 1964 a “26-member Advisory Committee on Human Relations” was established to help protect the rights and relations of Gary’s African American community. [2]
In 1963, following the majority of her work to desegregate housing, Strong turned much of her attention to the disproportional hospital care that African Americans received when compared to the white population. Dr. Benjamin Grant, the first African American doctor to work for primarily white Gary Methodist Hospital, recounts times where African American patients would be forced to “die in the hall” while beds in dual occupancy rooms lay empty, for the sole reason that a white patient was already occupying one of the beds in the room. [3] Strong began working closely with the NAACP and other organizations, diligently attempting to form a picketed protest that could not be overlooked. In a letter directed to Gary clergy members, she urged them to take action and to support this cause by announcing information about the movement to their congregations. [4] Strong assured the clergy that their demonstrations would be held to the “highest level of Christian conduct”, and asked that they dedicate a portion of their offerings that month to her cause. [5] Her call was answered, and the clergy endorsed the cause by condemning segregation, which allowed Strong to turn her attention to Indiana Governor Matthew Welsh. She wrote to the Governor, insisting that the hospital’s refusal to release clear statements about how they planned to correct their unequal and heavily segregated healthcare was of the utmost importance for the growing population of African Americans in Gary. [6]
Following negotiations with the Methodist Hospital, it was understood that new protocol would be implemented over time at the hospital, eventually moving to a “first-come first-serve” basis with patients. [7] The hospital, despite agreeing to these terms, did not begin implementing new policies right away, which prompted Strong to once again reach out and request a meeting with the hospital committee. She was met with nearly a month of waiting while the hospital pushed aside her requests, insisting that they could not discuss it until their next committee meeting. [8] Finally, after much deliberation and years of unequal hospital treatment, Methodist Hospital implemented their new “first-come first-serve” policy. The committee was even convinced, thanks to a determined and resolute Strong, that “there should be more African American representation on the board. [9]
Strong was also a driving factor in key police reform that emerged following an incident in 1973 where a state trooper wrote “NIG” in the box meant for race while processing an African American’s paperwork. [10] This blatant act of racism sparked immediate outrage from the community and Strong. She not only sought fervently for the immediate termination of the involved officer’s job, but also for serious and permanent police reform. The NAACP demanded that reform include updated screening processes, hiring practices, and the elimination of discriminatory practices. [11] Strong also pointed out that of the total 1,400 Gary police department employees, a mere 14 were African American; “and four of those were janitors." [12]
On October 9, 1981 Jeannette Strong passed away at 61 years of age after serving in the NAACP for over 20 years, and as an active Democratic politician who acted as 1st District vice chairman. [13]
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
[1] James B. Lane, “City of the Century: A History of Gary, Indiana,” 1978, 279.
[2] Ibid.
[3] “Physicians Recall Integrating Hospitals”, The Post-Tribune, May 2, 1996.
[4] Jeannette Strong, “Letter to the Clergymen of Gary,” July 19, 1963.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Jeannette Strong, “Letter to Indiana Governor Matthew Welsh,” July 25, 1963.
[7] “Report of Meeting Between Members of Methodist Hospital Follow-Up Committee and Bishop Richard C. Raines,” February 19, 1964.
[8] “Civil Rights Co-Ordinating Committee,” The Methodist Hospital of Gary, INC, October 5, 1963.
[9] “Report of Meeting Between Members of Methodist Hospital Follow-Up Committee and Bishop Richard C. Raines”
[10] “State Police Charged with ‘Blatant Discrimination’, The Post-Tribune, January 26, 1974.
[11] Ibid.
[12] Ibid.
[13] “Jeannette Strong, Former NAACP Chief, Dies at 61,” The Post-Tribune, October 9, 1981.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Student Author: Joel Sharp
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
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Information about rights held in and over the resource
PHOTO & VIDEO:
Courtesy Chicago Tribune https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/ct-ptb-virtual-civil-rights-st-0405-story.html
1950s-present
Civil Rights Movement
Gary
Healthcare
Integration
Lake County
NAACP
-
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e7bd1e267f4dcd04735a94d819cdf41a
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St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church, Gary
Description
An account of the resource
The St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church in Gary, Indiana, was founded in 1916, with six members. Less than a year later in July 1917, the church acquired two lots at 1938 Adams Street to erect a building and provide their African American congregation with a sanctuary for worship.[1] Within nine years, the congregation expanded to 3,500 people under Reverend Martin Van Buren Bolden, who founded the Northern Indiana District Association as well as the State Convention while serving as pastor of St. Paul.[2] Following Bolden’s lead in forming a relationship with the Gary community, his successor Reverend William Franklin Lovelace continued the church’s community outreach. Throughout the Depression era St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church served the public with hot meals, medical expenses, funerary expenses, and was always available to serve as a roof over anyone’s head; regardless of skin color. [3], [4]
Following Lovelace’s passing in 1942, Dr. Lester Kendel Jackson took over as pastor, and he continued the Church’s community-focused legacy. Jackson was very vocal in the community regarding discrimination and the adverse effects of segregation. He shared his own powerful accounts of persistent discrimination with the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America. As a result, for the first time in history, such a council publicly and almost unanimously voted to condemn racial discrimination.[5]
In 1963, the church burned down, despite being less than a block away from a local fire station. Many suspected the tragic event was a result of Jackson’s outspoken approach to combating racism and discrimination. [6] Although the fire was never investigated by authorities, many church members believe that it was an act of retaliation in response to the work Jackson did to integrate businesses including the Gary National Bank, Marquette Park, Littons Clothing Store, and the Post-Tribune.[7] As Jackson stated “We lost everything we had. They intended it for evil, but God used it for good [8]”. Jackson and the church refused to be silenced, and in 1966 hosted a two-service event at their new building. The first service was for the congregation, as they had been waiting three years for their new sanctuary, but the second service drew the most attention. The second service involved incredibly prominent members of the community, including Robert Gasser and Dale Belles, the president of the Gary National Bank and head publisher of the Post-Tribune, respectively.[9] St. Paul continued to host prominent figures, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., as it worked with the community to eradicate racist policies and to integrate jobs previously unavailable to African Americans, such as conductors and motormen at the Gary Transit Company. [10]
St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church continues to hold services at its historic building on Grant St., built after the suspicious fire in 1963. The congregation continues its legacy of community outreach and activism, and improving the lives of Gary’s African American community. [11]
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
[1]History of St. Paul Baptist Church. Reverend L. K. Jackson Papers, Indiana University Northwest Library, Calumet Regional Archives,
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Jerry Davich. “Gary Church Turns 100, Faces New Challenge,” Post-Tribune, March 4, 2016. https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/opinion/ct-ptb-davich-gary-church-turns-100-st-0304-20160304-story.html
[5] History of St. Paul Baptist Church
[6] “St. Paul Missionary Baptist Continues 100th Anniversary Events in August,” The Chicago Crusader, August 4, 2016. https://chicagocrusader.com/st-paul-missionary-baptist-continues-100th-anniversary-events-august/
[7]Ibid.
[8] Jerry Davich
[9] “Two Services to Open St. Paul Baptist Church Sunday,” The Gary Post-Tribune, January 15, 1966.
[10] “Gary Church Turns 100, Faces New Challenge.”
[11] “St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church,” Facebook, accessed July 2, 2020. https://www.facebook.com/StPaulMBGary/
Contributor
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Student Author: Joel Sharp
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
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PHOTO & VIDEO:
Courtesy Chicago Tribune https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/opinion/ct-ptb-davich-gary-church-turns-100-st-0304-20160304-story.html
1900-40s
1950s-present
Church
Gary
Integration
Lake County
religion
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/f574ba0c30954573d9fc40871454ff2d.mp3
ba5b8112e7b22cdb0b50959e297a9b8f
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Interview 1 with Patricia Brown (Indianapolis NAACP Branch 3053)
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<a href="https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/items/show/89">Indianapolis NAACP Branch 3053</a>
Description
An account of the resource
Patricia Brown, a life-long resident of Anderson, describes her mother's involvement in different Civil Rights organizations in the late twentieth century, including NAACP, Urban League, and LEOC along with her work in the PTA. She describes her mother's efforts to connect and impact others.
<strong>***Transcript***</strong><em><br /><br />Patricia Brown</em>: "The organizations that she was representing from those three different positions, never a paid position, always as a volunteer. She was a PTA individual, present in other PTAs for years. She took it to a state level and to a national level. She was the library association. She was NAACP. She was Urban League. She was LEOC. She was—oh, can I name them. I’m thinking how they sent the different wreaths at our funeral because I didn’t even know she was involved in a lot of these organizations, but that’s the type of person she was. She was touching wherever she could touch,in order to help people."
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/084c2e7edad3b7e0c03eb8877590f76a.jpg
af19c2ad3523702a87822313f409d07f
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/82626a38b602897c8ed7fe7312e491e3.jpg
224ba23a0d13b2be51fc0c90e6c73eb7
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Places
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Indianapolis NAACP Branch 3053
Description
An account of the resource
In 1912, Mary Cable, then president of the Colored Women’s Civic Club, organized the Indianapolis branch of the National Association for the Advancement for Colored People (NAACP) to help the African American community of Indianapolis organize themselves in their struggle, on various fronts, against discrimination and racism.[1] Cable served as the founding president of the Indianapolis NAACP, the first NAACP branch in Indiana. After an all-woman board served the Indianapolis NAACP branch for 13 months, they then asked the men to take over as officers because “the men had more time.[2]”
In the 1920’s, the Indianapolis NAACP turned their focus to combating the Ku Klux Klan’s (KKK) rising political power. This was no easy task given the KKK’s vast influence on politics, city and state education, employment practices, and housing regulations throughout Indiana.[3] Without the organization of the NAACP or the collection of resources that it offered the African American community, the effects of the KKK’s overt segregationist and racist policies throughout the 1920’s would likely have been far worse. The NAACP worked tirelessly against the KKK’s agenda, and supported the Independent Voter’s League (IVL), an “Anti-Klan Organization” founded in 1924, to encourage African Americans to register to vote in favor of the Democratic Party. The efforts of the NAACP and IVL dramatically altered the future Indiana political landscape in favor of desegregation and improving racial equality.[4] , [5]
Early NAACP efforts failed to prevent the construction of a segregated African American high school for Indianapolis. However, the resulting Crispus Attucks High School quickly became a collective sense of pride for the African American community. With highly qualified teachers, partial funding for extracurricular activities, and an NAACP branch fighting fervently for the equality and desegregation of all school districts, Crispus Attucks High School became a centerpiece of the NAACP’s agenda in Indianapolis.[6] Robert Lee Brokenburr, the first African American Indiana state legislator and a former president of the Indianapolis NAACP, was successful in passing legislation that allowed African American student athletes to participate in state high school sports tournaments. Efforts like these paved the way for the iconic 1955 Crispus Attucks Tigers basketball team, starring Oscar Robertson, to become the first African American high school in the nation to win a state championship.[7]
In the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, the Indianapolis NAACP began fighting to end de facto segregation in all public schools.[8] The NAACP also demanded police reform in 1966, when members met with the Indianapolis mayor in an attempt to reform racist and discriminatory hiring practices. Thanks to serious reforms that helped prevent systemic racism in the Marion County police department, Captain Spurgeon Davenport was able to become the first African American Inspector in Indianapolis Police Department history. [9]
The Indianapolis NAACP Branch #3053 is now located at 300 E. Fall Creek Parkway, and remains active in the Indianapolis community. One member claims, “no one should be fooled into believing that the NAACP no longer has a purpose.[10]” In 2009, the organization represented hundreds in a major lawsuit against discriminatory practices at Eli Lilly and Company, and, in 2020, they have been working with Indiana Governor Holcomb to protect low-income families from eviction in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic that has caused statewide unemployment.[11],[12] The Indianapolis Branch of the NAACP continues to act as a catalyst for improving the lives of the African American community, and helps protect their rights in the workplace, in equal housing opportunities, and educational settings.
<a href="https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/show/226">Interview 1 with Patricia Brown</a>
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
[1] “Our Branch History,” Indy NAACP, accessed July 2, 2020. https://www.indynaacp.org/branch-history
[2] Ibid.
[3] William W. Griffin. “The Political Realignment of Black Voters in Indianapolis, 1924,” June 1983, Vol. 79(2) Pp. 134(5). Accessed via Indiana University Press (JSTOR).
[4] Ibid.
[5] “Our Branch History.”
[6] Indy WIN Committee of the Greater Indianapolis NAACP Branch #3053. “Greater Indianapolis Branch #3053’s History, 1912-2009.”
[7] Ibid.
[8] “Our Branch History.”
[9] Ibid.
[10] Perry A. Brandon. “Don’t Count NAACP Out: 100-Year-Old Organization Still Viable and Much Needed,” Indianapolis Recorder, July 9, 2020. http://www.indianapolisrecorder.com/news/features/article_fd7e85a7-4ec4-5d4b-b1ef-f268fa8d49aa.html
[11] Ibid.
[12] “Indianapolis NAACP Branch #3053,” Facebook, accessed July 2, 2020. https://www.facebook.com/indynaacp.org/
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Student Author: Joel Sharp
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
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PHOTO & VIDEO:
NAACP leaders with poster, attributed to Al Ravenna, Public domain, via Wikimedia commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NAACP_leaders_with_poster_NYWTS.jpg
NAACP Freedom Rally March, Indianapolis Recorder Collection, Indiana Historical Society.
https://images.indianahistory.org/digital/collection/p0303/id/387/rec/57
1900-40s
1950s-present
Indianapolis
Integration
Ku Klux Klan
Marion County
NAACP
Oral History
Organization
Segregation
Women
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/759f5ba7d8084f0335d6d699b1b39b21.jpg
c363d1b9c57149587b9e00a95b07db24
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People
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J. Chester Allen J.D. and Elizabeth Fletcher Allen J.D.
Description
An account of the resource
J. Chester Allen and Elizabeth Fletcher Allen were African American attorneys in South Bend, Indiana who fought for civil rights in both their personal and professional lives. J. Chester Allen was born in 1900 in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. After graduating with a law degree from Boston College, he moved to South Bend in 1929.[1] Elizabeth Fletcher was born in Chicago in 1905, and married J. Chester Allen in 1928.[2] The couple were noteworthy trailblazers in both civil rights and opportunities for women. The two created the Allen & Allen Law firm, and they were one of the first husband and wife law partners in the area. Elizabeth Fletcher Allen was the first female attorney in St. Joseph County and the state of Indiana.[3] J. Chester Allen paved the way for African American representation in South Bend as the first African American to serve on the City Council and the school board. He was elected as president of the St. Joseph County Bar Association and to the Indiana state legislature, the first African American in both of those positions.[4] Elizabeth Fletcher Allen was a member of the many civic and African American community organizations, including the South Bend chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Black Business and Professional Women’s Association.[5] While the two had many significant contributions to the community, they are perhaps best known for their civil rights work in South Bend, specifically fighting to desegregate the Engman Natatorium.
It was common for public parks and playgrounds, and other recreational facilities to be segregated in the mid-twentieth century, and the Allen’s helped fight for desegregation in South Bend. The South Bend Engman Public Natatorium was built in 1922, and for the first 14 years, only the white public could enjoy the pool. In 1931, African American leaders, including the Allen’s, began to take action to gain access to the pool. In 1936, when the South Bend Common Council levied a special tax on the residents of South Bend for pool repairs, African American community leaders demanded access to the pool if they were going to be taxed. A petition presented to the state tax commission pointed out that tax money would be used to repair a facility that was not allowed to be used by some of the community that was paying the tax. The state tax commissioner agreed with them, and after 16 years, the facility was finally open to African Americans. However, African Americans were only allowed to use the pool on Mondays with no whites present.[6] After working for over two decades to end the city pool’s segregationist policies, in February 1950, J. Chester Allen, Elizabeth Fletcher Allen, and Maurice Tulchinsky represented the NAACP before the South Bend Park Board “threatening action, unless the Board ruled to integrate the Engman Natatorium immediately.”[7] This threat would finally be a turning point, and the Parks board would relent and desegregate the Natatorium.
The Engman Natatorium closed its door is 1970, and the building sat empty for years.[8] What was once known as the Engman Public Natatorium, a public recreation facility once caught in a fight for desegregation, is now the Civil Rights Heritage Center in South Bend.[9] In 2018, the Engman Natatorium was designated as a local historic landmark. The landmark status protects the building and ensures that the building remains as close to its original form for generations to come. The Civil Rights Heritage Center is an active learning center in the community and attracts more than 5,000 visitors each year.[10]
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
[1] “J. Chester Allen and Elizabeth Fletcher Allen Papers.” Indiana University South Bend Libraries. Accessed August 26, 2020. https://library.iusb.edu/search-find/archives/crhc/ChesterElizabethAllen.html
[2] “Eliz Fletcher Allen obituary 28 Dec. 1994, p. 15.” Accessed August 26, 2020 https://www.newspapers.com/clip/28608792/eliz-fletcher-allen-obituary-28-dec/
[3] “Local African American History: African Americans in the Workplace.” The History Museum. Accessed August 26, 2020. https://historymuseumsb.org/local-african-american-history/
[4] “J. Chester Allen.” The South Bend Tribune. Accessed August 26, 2020.
https://www.southbendtribune.com/news/local/keynews/community/j-chester-allen-sr/article_4855292c-9240-11e3-b4e5-001a4bcf6878.html
[5] “Eliz Fletcher Allen obituary.
[6] Harris, Dina. Divided Water: “Healing a Community’s Past,” 2013. https://clas.iusb.edu/centers/civil-rights/
[7] “Ruth Tulchinsky, Short Statement on Visiting the South Bend Civil Rights Heritage Center,2010,” St. Joseph County Public Library Michiana Memory, March 22, 2016 Accessed August 26, 2020. http://michianamemory.sjcpl.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p16827coll4/id/2452/rec/6.
[8] Harris, Dina. Divided Water: “Healing a Community’s Past,” 2013. https://clas.iusb.edu/centers/civil-rights/
[9] “J. Chester Allen.”
[10] Baierl, Ken. “Engman Natatorium Designated Historic Landmark.” Indiana University of South Bend, October 16, 2018.
Contributor
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Student Author: Molly Hollcraft
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
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PHOTO & VIDEO:
J. Chester and Elizabeth Allen, South Bend Tribune https://www.southbendtribune.com/story/news/local/2021/09/18/south-bend-historical-marker-honors-black-husband-wife-lawyers/8400790002/
1900-1940s
1950s-present
Integration
law
NAACP
Segregation
South Bend
St. Joseph County
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/66be5ba570b0f921cfad836d673e978d.jpg
86d04df9bf58d2d5f978f03cd028b676
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Places
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Jeffersonville Colored High School
Description
An account of the resource
Jeffersonville Colored High School was built in 1891 to educate Clark County’s African American students from grades 1 to 12.[1] The building included 10 classrooms, and separate entrances and stairways for girls and boys. The building lacked indoor plumbing, central heating, and a gymnasium, all of which were typically found in neighboring schools serving white students. Flora Clipper, who attended the school from 1936 to 1940, recounted her time at the school. “We had no kind of gyms, we had no kind of extracurriculars… We were always very unhappy about the condition of the segregated schools… We wanted an education equal… to the white schools.”[2] The school was renamed Taylor High School in 1924 after Robert Taylor who served as principal of Jeffersonville Colored School for 40 years.
The building was remodeled in 1949. [3] In June of 1951, 14 students graduated from Taylor High School. The students were honored guests at a Sunday service at Trinity Baptist Church before their Tuesday commencement. Reverend L.F. Burton preached to the graduates, parents, and friends on the principles of right living. “Every student of this class should keep his eye on the stars by striving to be as perfect as possible. As you go through life you should never lose sight of your ultimate aim."[4] Corden Porter, Taylor High School teacher and principal since 1928, was master of ceremonies at commencement exercises, held at the local fieldhouse.
Indiana banned segregated schools in 1949, and in 1952 Taylor School was officially desegregated.[5] It was renamed the Wall Street School.[6] However, even after official desegregation, African American students found that there was still discrimination. African American students were often ignored in the classroom, and were discouraged from participating in extracurricular activities. African American students were not allowed to play sports at Taylor High until 1955.[7]
After desegregation, African American teachers at Taylor High School were also discriminated against. The non-tenured African American teachers were fired and the tenured teachers were given two options: they could accept reassignment to non-teaching jobs or they could quit. With the loss of their former teachers, African American students lost important role models and mentors.[8] Even Principal Porter was reassigned. According to the Indianapolis Recorder, the “integration of the schools at Jeffersonville created a new position in the Jeffersonville Schools, and Mr. Porter was appointed to assist in the keeping of records in the superintendent's and high school principal’s offices."[9]
At the end of the 1950s, the Wall Street School closed. In 2009, a historical marker was erected by the Taylor High School Alumni Association, Inc. in front of the school building. The historical marker honored former principals Robert Taylor and Corden Porter. The building is still in good condition, and is privately owned.
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
[1] “Taylor High School.” Indiana Historical Bureau: Historic Marker. Jeffersonville, IN. 2009.
[2] Reel, Greta. “The History and Legacy of Jeffersonville's Taylor High School,” May 12, 2020. Accessed August 31,2020. https://thehyphennews.com/2020/05/12/taylor-high-school-jeffersonville/
[3] Indiana Historical Society. “Jeffersonville (Town).” Early Black Settlements by County. Accessed August 31, 2020. https://indianahistory.org/research/research-materials/early-black-settlements/early-black-settlements-by-county/
[4] “14 Students in Taylor Hi Class, Jeffersonville.” The Indianapolis Recorder. June 2, 1951 (pg. 5).Accessed August 31, 2020.
https://newspapers.library.in.gov/?a=d&d=INR19510602-01.1.5&srpos=1&e=------195-en-20--1--txt-txIN-%22Taylor+High+School%22------
[5] Indiana Department of Natural Resources: Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology.“Jeffersonville Colored School Supporting Documentation.” Indiana Historic Sites and Structures Survey: Structures.
[6] “Taylor High School.” Indiana Historical Bureau: Historic Marker. Jeffersonville, IN. 2009.
[7] Indiana Department of Natural Resources: Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology. “Jeffersonville Colored School Supporting Documentation.” Indiana Historic Sites and Structures Survey: Structures.
[8] Ibid.
[9] Blaha, Paula. The Indianapolis Recorder. November 1, 1952 (pg. 7).Accessed August 31, 2020. https://newspapers.library.in.gov/?a=d&d=INR19521101-01.1.7&srpos=3&e=------195-en-20--1--txt-txIN-%22Taylor+High+School%22------
Contributor
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Student Author: Molly Hollcraft
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
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PHOTO & VIDEO:
Courtesy Indiana Landmarks https://www.indianalandmarks.org/2021/04/historic-schools-provide-ties-to-african-american-experience/
1800s
1900-40s
Clark County
education
Integration
Jeffersonville
School
Segregation
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/5325e8997ce8c7ae3a388e8137ad3d9b.jpg
596194c253bbe1e9127f06932e446c11
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Lyles Consolidated School
Description
An account of the resource
Lyles Station, an African American town in Gibson County, was founded by Joshua and Sanford Lyles in 1849. The two were freed men, formerly enslaved in Tennessee. At the turn of the twentieth century, Lyles Station was at its peak, with a population of 600, and boasted a railroad station, a post office, a lumber mill, two general stores, two churches, and elementary school. Much of the town was destroyed by a flood that occurred in 1912. [1] Even after the floods, Lyles Station still remained one of the most intact African American settlements in the state,[2] as one of the few communities in Indiana where freed African Americans bought land and settled before the Civil War. [3]
In 1865, the first schools were created in Lyles Station. There were a total of three subscription schools, where each student’s family paid a monthly “subscription” or tuition directly to the teacher. This monthly fee could range from $1 to $1.50.[4] Lyles Consolidated School was built in 1919 merging the three subscription schools. Lyles Consolidated School produced high-achieving graduates until it closed in 1958, including Alonzo Fields, chief butler for Presidents Hoover, Roosevelt, Truman and Eisenhower[5] , and Matthias Nolcox, the first principal of Indianapolis’ Crispus Attucks High School.[6]
Lyles Consolidated School enrolled white students in 1922. That same year, a white student was punished by an African American teacher, setting off disagreements about the severity of the punishment. Soon after, all white students were transferred to school in nearby Princeton. Due to desegregation issues such as this, Lyles Consolidated School remained a segregated African American school until 1958.[7]
A very dark chapter of Lyles Consolidated School’s history occurred in 1928. Ten African American students were chosen by county health officials to be part of what was touted as a treatment study for ringworm of the scalp. Unbeknownst to their parents, the students were not given ringworm treatment, but instead were experimentally exposed to high levels of radiation. The extreme radiation caused disfiguring scars, head malformations, physical complications, and emotional trauma that many of the victims dealt with the rest of their lives.[8] Like the 40-year Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the African American Male study[9] , the radiation treatment of these 10 students is an example of how minority and underrepresented populations were part of unethical and illegal experimentation in the early twentieth century. [10] Many years later one of the Lyles Consolidated School radiation victims, Vertus Hardiman, spoke out about his ongoing physical and mental trauma from the radiation. His story was featured in the 2011 documentary Hole in the Head: A Life Revealed. [11]
After closing in 1958, the school became a collapsing ruin over the next decades. Community members formed the Lyles Station Historic Preservation Corporation in 1998 to rescue the building, which was listed as one of Indiana’s Ten Most Endangered Places by the Historic Landmarks Foundation. The schoolhouse was listed in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1999, and building restoration began in 2001.[12] The schoolhouse now operates as the Lyles State Historic School & Museum. It tells the story of rural African American life in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and functions as a living-history classroom, [13] The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture recognized the community of Lyles Station in 2016, and features artifacts from the community. [14]
In addition to being on the NRHP, Lyles Station and Lyles Consolidated School were commemorated with an Indiana Historical Bureau marker in 2002. As then Senator Evan Bayh said in 2001, when announcing a major federal grant for the restoration of Lyles Consolidated School, “At its peak, Lyles Station was renowned as a place for African American freedom and equal opportunity in education and commerce. As one of Indiana’s most valuable treasures, it is vitally important that we preserve Lyles Station and help maintain it as a living symbol of African American pride, determination, and accomplishment.” [15]
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
[1] “Telling the Story of Lyles Station, a Rural African American Community” Indiana Landmarks. March 7, 2017. Accessed September 7, 2020. https://www.indianalandmarks.org/2016/06/telling-the-story-of-lyles-station/
[2] “Lyles Station Historic Marker.” Indiana Historical Bureau. Accessed September 7, 2020. https://www.in.gov/history/markers/424.htm.
[3] Montgomery, David. “A Pre-Civil War Haven for Free Blacks Is Now Honored in the African American Museum.” The Washington Post. WP Company, September 25, 2016. Accessed September 7, 2020. https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/for-the-people-of-lyles-station-ind-a-trip-to-the-african-american-museum-lets-them-witness-their-legacy/2016/09/25/1e84db02-8279-11e6-b002-307601806392_story.html .
[4] “Once Thriving Predominately Black Town, Lyles Station, Ind., Revisited.” Indianapolis Recorder, January 18, 1984. (pg. 21). Accessed September 7, 2020. https://newspapers.library.in.gov/?a=d&d=INR19840218-01.1.21&srpos=2&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-%22Lyles+Consolidated+School%22------
[5] “Telling the Story of Lyles Station, a Rural African American Community”
[6] “Once Thriving Predominately Black Town, Lyles Station, Ind., Revisited.”
[7] Zent, Julie. National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form: Lyles Consolidated School. Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana. November 15,1998. Accessed September 7, 2020. https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/67f3c96f-a888-4036-8a10-1341ed50b682
[8] “VUJC to Show Documentary on Horrific Radiation Experiments That Occurred in Southern Indiana.” Dubois County Free Press, October 29, 2012. Accessed September 9, 2020. https://www.duboiscountyfreepress.com/vujc-to-show-documentary-on-horrific-radiation-experiments-that-occurred-in-s-indiana/
[9] The Tuskegee Timeline. U.S. Public Health Service Syphilis Study at Tuskegee. Accessed October 4, 2020. https://www.cdc.gov/tuskegee/timeline.htm
[10] “VUJC to Show Documentary on Horrific Radiation Experiments That Occurred in Southern Indiana.”
[11] Lim, Vincent. “A Documentary with the Power to Save Lives.” USC News. University of Southern California, March 5, 2013. Accessed September 9, 2020. https://news.usc.edu/47522/a-documentary-that-has-the-power-to-save-lives/
[12] “Lyles Station Historic Marker.”
[13] “Telling the Story of Lyles Station, a Rural African American Community”
[14] “National Museum of African American History and Culture to Visit Historic Black Indiana Family Community for Collection Event”, April 27, 2016. Accessed October 4, 2020. https://nmaahc.si.edu/about/news/national-museum-african-american-history-and-culture-visit-historic-black-indiana-farming
[15] “Bayh, Lugar and Carson secure funds for historic Lyles Station School.” The Muncie Times. November 1, 2001. Accessed October 4, 2020, https://newspapers.library.in.gov/?a=d&d=BALLMT20011101-01.1.28&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-------
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Student Author: Molly Hollcraft
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
Relation
A related resource
<a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/424.htm">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker </a><br /><a href="https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/99001111">National Register of Historic Places</a>
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
PHOTO & VIDEO:
Lyles Station School, Indiana Historical Society, P0500.
https://images.indianahistory.org/digital/collection/p16797coll72/id/746/rec/100
Lyles Station, attributed to Kmweber, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8a/Lyles_Station.jpg
1800s
1900-40s
education
Gibson County
Indiana Historical Bureau Marker
Integration
Lyles station
National Register of Historic Places
Segregation
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/0213a9b0debf429ac5f16e15b17d716d.jpg
69c4a3c2d7549141143e496af982d4cc
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Places
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Division Street School, New Albany
Description
An account of the resource
In 1869, an Indiana law mandated that the public education of African American children be separate but equal.[1] To adhere to this law, in June 1884, the New Albany School Board authorized a new elementary school to serve the growing number of African-American children. Division Street School opened in 1885, a simple one-story wooden building with two classrooms.[2] Enrollment ranged from anywhere between 60 and 70 students in first through sixth grades. Improvements were made to the building over the years, including repairs after two fires in 1913 and 1922.[3] As in many segregated Indiana school districts in the early 20th century, former pupils recount how they had to walk past white schools on their way to their African American-only Division Street School. [4]
In 1944, the Division Street School was expanded to include seventh grade. In May 1946, the New Albany School Board voted to close the school and transferred the students to a different segregated elementary school.[5] Upon closing as a school, the building was used as a Veterans’ Affairs office. After a few years of vacancy, the New Albany-Floyd County Consolidated School Corporation used the building for a storage and maintenance facility for 40 years until 1999.[6]
After the community heard there were plans to tear the school down, they banded together to restore and preserve one of the oldest remaining African American schools in Indiana.[7] , [8] Organizing as the Friends of Division Street School, the restoration became a joint project with the New Albany-Floyd County School Corporation. The building was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2002, and was given a historical marker by the Indiana Historical Bureau in 2005. [9] One of the former classrooms houses an African American heritage museum, hosting educational programs and focusing on the importance of African American education in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The other room is set up as a 1920s classroom. The Division Street School still serves its educational function, as every fourth-grader in the New Albany-Floyd School District spends a day in the 1920s classroom to experience its history and significance on-site.[10] The Division Street School also serves as a community building and is a source of pride for New Albany residents as one of the most visible preservation efforts in New Albany.[11] “We think it is a real crown jewel for race relations and goodwill in this community,” said Victor Megenity, director of Division Street School. [12]
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
[1] “Division Street School Historic Marker.” Indiana Historical Bureau. Accessed September 14,2020. https://www.in.gov/history/markers/479.htm
[2] Alex Covington, Jacob Burress, Trish Nohalty, and Tommy Skaggs, “Division Street School,”Discover Indiana, accessed September 14, 2020, https://publichistory.iupui.edu/items/show/111.
[3] Dreistadt, Laura. National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form: Division Street School. Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana. Jeffersonville, Indiana. October 15, 2001. Accessed September 14, 2020. https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/a2459f57-29ba-4162-a9b0-56c2c078cb31
[4] Goforth, Melissa. “At New Albany’s Division Street School, unity is found: Ice cream social celebrated historic significance.” News and Tribune. Jeffersonville, Indiana. July 8, 2018. Accessed September 14, 2020. https://www.newsandtribune.com/news/at-new-albanys-division-street-school-unity-is-found/article_fb2d70a2-82e3-11e8-b2ae-4f0c4fbf9b50.html and https://www.newsandtribune.com/multimedia/video-inside-division-street-school/video_a3d7a838-b3c2-5f5d-b567-0675a1d521e4.html
[5] Dreistadt, Laura.
[6] Alex Covington, Jacob Burress, Trish Nohalty, and Tommy Skaggs.
[7] Goforth, Melissa.
[8]“2-Room school being revived.” The Indianapolis Star. January 6, 2001.
[9] “Division Street School Historic Marker.” Indiana Historical Bureau. Accessed September 14,2020. https://www.in.gov/history/markers/479.htm
[10] Goforth, Melissa.
[11] “Preserve America: New Albany, Indiana.” Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. Accessed September 14, 2020. https://www.achp.gov/preserve-america/community/new-albany-indiana
[12] Goforth, Melissa.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Student Author: Molly Hollcraft
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
PHOTO & VIDEO:
Division Street School, attributed to Bedford, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Division_Street_School.jpg
Relation
A related resource
<a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/479.htm">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker</a><br /><a href="https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/02000193%20">National Register of Historic Places</a>
1800s
1900-40s
1950s-present
education
Floyd County
Indiana Historical Bureau Marker
National Register of Historic Places
New Albany
School
Segregation
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/4d26327d8b0f5a093cb2cca48b2ae82a.jpg
4483dbcbdbf3841d4091ad2bac46ae92
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Places
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Riverside Amusement Park
Description
An account of the resource
Riverside Amusement Park opened in May 1903, [1] on 30th Street, between the White River and the Central Canal in Indianapolis. [2] The park originally opened with only two attractions, but soon expanded with a new manager to “build a bigger, better, more thrilling park in Indianapolis” re-opening in 1906. Entrance was free, with rides and attractions costing a nickel or dime. In 1910, Riverside added a “bathing beach” as one of its attractions, which became the focus of the park. [3] Riverside Amusement Park remained open until 1971.
Until the mid-1960’s, Riverside Amusement Park was segregated, officially admitting African Americans to the park only one day a year. [4] This day was racistly named “Colored Frolic Day” and normally held at the end of the season. [5] These days were also known as Milk Day Picnics, “colored Milk Day” [6] or “milk cap day”, as they were sponsored by the Milk Council and The Milk Foundation of Indianapolis. Admission included a milk cap per guest. [7] Thursday August 31, 1939, was the 4th Annual Milk Day for “Colored People Only” as advertised in the Indianapolis Recorder. [8]
On the rare occasions that African Americans were admitted on a non-designated “Colored” day, they experienced discrimination throughout the park. Writing a column in The Indianapolis Recorder on the occasion of Riverside’s closing in 1971, Andrew Ramsey recounts his experience going to the park as boy with his friend in the early 1920’s. As African Americans, the two boys were not allowed to ride the amusements with white children, and would be the only passengers on the roller coaster or Ferris wheel during their visit while white children watched them rid. As Ramsey recalled, signs throughout the park and large signage outside the park reading “White patronage only solicited” were a mainstay of the park for decades. [9]
Throughout the years, groups including the NAACP, The Indianapolis Recorder, and other organizations protested the discrimination African Americans experienced at Riverside Amusement Park. In 1954, The Indianapolis Recorder reported that three members of Kappa Alpha Psi, an African American national fraternity, visited the park without any problems. The Recorder cautioned the premature celebration of the end of discrimination as the “White patronage only solicited” signs were still displayed prominently throughout the park. They were proclaimed to be “an affront to every decent resident of Indianapolis, white or Negro, and a stench in the nostrils of the city” and “they must come down”. [10]
In 1962, a meeting was held at the Riverside Park Methodist Church, sponsored by the NAACP. Those in attendance were informed by the director of the Indiana Civil Rights Commission, Harold O. Hatcher, that the “white patronage only” signs in the amusement park had been removed. [11] According to The Indianapolis Recorder, “This development appears to have followed others in keeping with the campaign against discrimination in the use of the amusement facilities in the park." [12]
The last vestiges of formal discrimination at Riverside Amusement Park were soon undone. In 1963, the NAACP Youth Council picketed the park, using posters to highlight discriminatory practices and human rights violations. In 1964, the park changed its admission policy, and African Americans and other minorities were finally admitted to the park without restriction. The victory was short-lived as the amusement park closed in 1971. [13]
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
[1] Zeigler, Connie J. “Worlds of Wonder: Amusements Parks in Indianapolis.” Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History. Summer, 2008, Volume 20, Number 3. Indiana Historical Society. Accessed September 28, 2020. https://images.indianahistory.org/digital/collection/p16797coll39/id/6509/rec/19
[2] “Riverside Amusement Park: From heyday to demo day.” The Indianapolis Star. June 25, 2017. Accessed September 28, 2020. https://www.indystar.com/videos/news/history/retroindy/2017/06/25/riverside-amusement-park-heyday-demo-day/102920630/
[3] Zeigler, Connie J.
[4] Mullins, Paul. “Romanticizing Racist Landscapes: Segregation and White Memory in Riverside Amusement Park,” June 22, 2020. Accessed October 1, 2020. https://paulmullins.wordpress.com/2020/05/06/romanticizing-racist-landscapes-segregation-and-white-memory-in-riverside-amusement-park/ .
[5] Mullins, Paul R. “Archaeology and Urban Renewal of Indianapolis’s West Side.” Black History News & Notes. February 200, Volume 28, Number 1. Indiana Historical Society. Accessed September 28, 2020. https://images.indianahistory.org/digital/collection/p16797coll66/id/34/rec/10
[6] Mullins, Paul. “Romanticizing Racist Landscapes: Segregation and White Memory in Riverside Amusement Park,”
[7] Mullins, Paul R. “Archaeology and Urban Renewal of Indianapolis’s West Side.”
[8] Advertisement in The Indianapolis Recorder. August 23, 1939. Accessed October 13, 2020. https://newspapers.library.in.gov/?a=d&d=INR19390826-01.1.5&srpos=2&e=------193-en-20-INR-1--txt-txIN-%22milk+day%22----1939--
[9] “Tears for Riverside bastion of local racism”. The Indianapolis Recorder. August 7, 1971. Accessed October 13, 2020. https://newspapers.library.in.gov/?a=d&d=INR19710807-01.1.9&srpos=3&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-%22Riverside+Amusement%22------
[10] “Riverside Hate Signs Must Come Down.” The Indianapolis Recorder. Marion County, Indiana. August 21, 1954. Accessed September 28, 2020. https://newspapers.library.in.gov/cgi-bin/indiana?a=d&d=INR19540821-01.1.10&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-------
[11] “Public Facilities, To Be, Or Not --?” The Indianapolis Recorder. Marion County, Indiana.August 18, 1962. Accessed September 28, 2020. https://newspapers.library.in.gov/?a=d&d=INR19620818-01.1.10&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-------
[12] “Public Facilities, To Be, Or Not --?” August 18, 1962. Accessed September 28, 2020. https://newspapers.library.in.gov/?a=d&d=INR19620818-01.1.10&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-------
[13] Benedict Brown, Tiffany. “Backtrack: Riverside Amusement Park.” Indianapolis Monthly. July
26, 2016. Accessed October 1, 2020. https://www.indianapolismonthly.com/arts-and-culture/riverside-amusement-park
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Student Author: Molly Hollcraft
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
PHOTO & VIDEO:
Picketing Riverside Amusement Park, Indianapolis Recorder Collection, Indiana Historical Society.
https://images.indianahistory.org/digital/collection/p0303/id/445/rec/1
1900-40s
1950s-present
Festivals
Indianapolis
Integration
Marion County
NAACP
Segregation
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/ce5084554e048c0e83d9c813807a2daf.jpg
b716119f57960b1ead9176485c2394d8
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Places
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Corydon Colored School (aka Leora Brown School)
Description
An account of the resource
In 1891, the Corydon Colored School was constructed at a cost of $1100. [1], [2] The school was built to educate the increasing number of African American school-aged children living in Corydon and Harrison County. These children were descendants of about 100 enslaved African Americans who migrated into the Corydon area in the early nineteenth century with a white couple, who eventually gave the group their freedom.[3] Corydon Colored School served both elementary and secondary students and held its first graduation in May 1897.[4] In 1925, the high school closed due to lack of enrollment.[5] The elementary school remained open until 1950,[6] when African American students from Corydon were sent to nearby previously all white schools.[7] The closure of the Corydon Colored School greatly affected the African Americans who taught there, as very few African Americans were hired to teach at segregated schools within the school district.[8]
After sitting unused for decades, the school was purchased in 1987 by Maxine Brown, who created the Leora Brown School, Inc., a non-profit organization named in honor of her aunt. Leora Brown Farrow graduated from Corydon Colored School in 1923, and then spent a year studying education at Madame Blaker’s Teachers College in Indianapolis. She returned to teach at the Corydon Colored School from 1924-1950,[9] becoming the longest serving teacher at the school. Even though she had tenure, Leora Brown was one of the African American teachers who was not retained by the school district when Corydon Color School closed in 1950.[10]
Leora Brown School, Inc. used funding from individuals, foundations, and corporations to rehabilitate and preserve the building. The Leora Brown School opened to the public as a cultural and educational center in 1993, and is used for community functions and to promote tourism in Harrison County.[11] As perhaps the oldest African American educational institution still remaining in Indiana[12] , the Leora Brown School was commemorated with an Indiana Historical Bureau marker in 1995, listed on the Indiana Register of Historic Places,[13] and is part of the Indiana African American Heritage Trail. [14]
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
[1] “Leora Brown School Marker Text Review Report.” Indiana Historical Bureau. October 21, 2013. Accessed September 21, 2020. https://www.in.gov/history/files/31.1995.1review.pdf
[2] “Leora Brown School.” Journey Indiana. February 28, 2016. Accessed September 21, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eWWoGuL5mk
[3] Brown, Maxine F. “Mitchems of Harrison County.” Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History. Spring 2009. Volume 21, Number 2. Indiana Historical Society. Indianapolis, Indiana. Accessed September 21,2020. https://images.indianahistory.org/digital/collection/p16797coll39/id/6623/rec/1
[4] “Leora Brown School Historical Marker.” Indiana Historical Bureau. Corydon, Indiana. 1995. https://www.in.gov/history/markers/132.htm.
[5] “Leora Brown School.”
[6] Esarey, Jenna. “Ind. African American Heritage Trail Gets Boost,” February 20, 2015. Accessed, September 21, 2020. https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/local/indiana/2015/02/19/ind-african-american-heritage-trail-gets-boost/23693067/.
[7] “Leora Brown School Marker Text Review Report.”
[8] Wilson, Carrol. “Leora Brown School.” Indiana Historical Bureau. November 17, 2013. Accessed September 21, 2020.https://www.in.gov/history/4226.htm
[9] “Leora Brown School Fund.” Accessed October 5, 2020. https://hccfindiana.org/esDonations/details/41/Leora-Brown-School-Fund.
[10] “Leora Brown School.”
[11] Esarey, Jenna.
[12] Indiana Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology, “Leora Brown School,” Discover Indiana, accessed September 21, 2020, https://publichistory.iupui.edu/items/show/338.
[13] “Leora Brown School Fund.”
[14] Esarey, Jenna.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Student Author: Molly Hollcraft
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
PHOTO & VIDEO:
Leora Brown School, attributed to Cool10191, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Leora_brown_school1.jpg
Relation
A related resource
<a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/132.htm">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker</a>
1800s
1900-40s
1950s-present
Corydon
education
Harrison County
Indiana Historical Bureau Marker
School
Segregation
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/bdc73e89ba949aefd12fc011c282793a.jpg
c47974ca5e739399ea3f9eb5ab4cc921
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Places
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Longacre Swimming Pool
Description
An account of the resource
<p>Longacre Swimming Pool was once a popular spot for summer recreation in Indianapolis. Established by attorney Edwin Thompson in 1927, the pool was located on the southside of the city and was urban stop 6 on Madison Avenue. Longacre Swimming Pool was the centerpiece of Longacre Park, a massive recreational area that boasted baseball diamonds, basketball courts, tennis courts, picnic areas, a golf fairway, croquet, pony rides, a sand beach, paddle boats, a dance hall, and a playground.[1] The park’s impressive swimming pool was 400 feet long and 185 feet wide and was naturally supplied by Lick Creek.[2] Although Longacre Swimming Pool and Park are remembered fondly by many residents of Indianapolis as places for summertime fun, the history of the facility is plagued by discrimination. Like most public pools and recreational facilities in Indianapolis at the time, Longacre Swimming Pool enforced segregation and barred African American families from enjoying its many amenities.</p>
<p>During the early-to-mid twentieth century, swimming pools and beaches were among the most segregated public spaces in the country.[3] White residents of Indianapolis advocated for segregation of public pools by spreading false rumors that African American swimmers would spread diseases to white swimmers and by perpetuating the stereotype that allowing African American men into integrated swimming areas would pose a threat to white women’s safety.[4]</p>
<p>Additionally, Indianapolis city leaders feared that integrated pools would lead to violence among white and African American pool-goers. This fear was not unfounded, for white residents staged many attacks on African American patrons at swimming pools. In Cincinnati, for example, white attackers installed nails at the bottom of swimming pools to prevent African American patrons from swimming. White assailants in St. Augustine, Florida poured bleach and acid into pools occupied by African American swimmers. These incidents of racial violence were met with major protests in cities including Baltimore, Washington D.C. and Louisville. Although the violent outbreaks at swimming pools were incited by white pool-goers, African Americans were often blamed for the disorder. The fear of such unrest caused park owners to either ban admittance to African Americans or admit African Americans at their discretion, based on the “safety risks” the patrons presented.[5]</p>
<p>It was not until 1964 that the Civil Rights Act desegregated public swimming pools and parks. Although the law called for integration of swimming pools, some municipalities created clubs with membership fees to prevent African American patrons from entering. Others simply closed the city pools and filled them with concrete. During the 1960s and 1970s, many White families left Indianapolis in favor of neighborhoods outside the city. The rise of these affluent neighborhoods saw a dramatic increase in the number of gated communities, homeowners’ associations, and informally segregated private pools. As private swimming pools became more popular, cities began to decrease their funding to public recreational facilities, further preventing African American patrons from enjoying these amenities.[6]</p>
<p>Longacre Swimming Pool and Park, once a glaring example of Indianapolis’ segregated swimming pool policy, is now Longacre Mobile Home Park. Rufus Dodrill Jr., the second owner of the park, began developing the mobile home park in the 1960s with the hope that residents would frequent the pool and park amenities. As more Hoosiers invested in air conditioning and home pools and attendance dwindled, however, the cost of maintaining the facility became too heavy a burden.[7] Dodrill sold the facility in 1972, and the enormous pool was plowed a few years later.[8] All that remains of the impressive recreation park now are Longacre Mobile Home Park and the park’s original lake.[9]</p>
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
[1] <span>Rick Hinton, “Longacre Swimming Pool,” The Southside Times, November 23-29, 2017, https://ss-times.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/sstimes_nov23-29_2017-web.pdf<br />[2] Dawn Mitchell, “Whatever happened to: Longacre swimming pool,” Indy Star, September 8, 2017, https://www.indystar.com/story/news/history/retroindy/2017/09/08/whatever-happened-to-longacre-swimming-pool/641864001/<br />[3] Victoria W. Wolcott, “The forgotten history of segregated swimming pools and amusement parks,” The Conversation, July 9, 2019, https://theconversation.com/the-forgotten-history-of-segregated-swimming-pools-and-amusement-parks-119586<br />[4] Ibid.<br />[5] Ibid.<br />[6] Ibid. <br />[7] Mitchell, “Whatever happened to: Longacre swimming pool.”<br />[8] Hinton, “Longacre Swimming Pool.”<br />[9] Mitchell.</span>
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Student Authors: Mary Swartz and Natalie Bradshaw
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
PHOTO & VIDEO:
Longacre Pool, Bass Photo Co. Collection, Indiana Historical Society.
https://images.indianahistory.org/digital/collection/dc012/id/13298/rec/2
1900-40s
1950s-present
Indianapolis
Marion County
Park
Segregation
Swimming Pool
Violence
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/faf2388f3c9ab7929c9bb6c2cf4943f2.jpg
808aec862d2265a84890c280c4276c11
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Places
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Ralph Waldo Emerson High School
Description
An account of the resource
<p>Ralph Waldo Emerson High School was the first high school built in Gary, Indiana. Emerson High School was constructed in 1909 by St. Louis architect William Ittner.[1] William A. Wirt, superintendent of Gary school systems, played a large part in designing the building. Desiring to implement his innovative “Work-Study-Play” philosophy of education, in which students took vocational and athletic classes along with traditional high school courses, Wirt required the building to contain amenities such a foundry, large gymnasium, and printing shop. The three-story school building was intended to be a “total learning environment,” separated physically from the growing industrial city by a park and surrounding athletic fields.[2] While the design and teaching methods employed at Emerson were cutting edge for the time period, the school largely failed to provide for the educational needs of Gary’s growing population. Upholding policies of segregation, the school prevented most African Americans from joining the student body. In 1927, when 18 African American students transferred to Emerson High School, tensions boiled over, and white students staged a school walkout to protest the admittance of their African American classmates.[3]</p>
<p>Since Gary’s founding by the United States Steel Corporation in 1906, the city’s public schools had been segregated by residential boundaries and school board policies. As the African American population began to grow during the 1920s, African American families were sequestered into crowded, low-income neighborhoods. “The Patch,” later named Midtown, was one such neighborhood. The only school in The Patch, located on Virginia Street, could not meet the needs of its many students and was overcrowded by the late 1920s. In an effort to alleviate the school and push educational reform, Superintendent Wirt decided to allow 18 African American honor roll students to transfer to Emerson High School.[4]</p>
<p>On September 19, 1927, the 18 African American students entered Emerson High School for the first time. Superintendent Wirt did not expect the strong backlash that quickly followed. Within the first week, the new students began receiving harsh threats from their white classmates. According to former student Hazel Bratton Sanders, “the white students would line up on both sides of the sidewalk and stretch their arms over us.” As the African American students were forced to walk under them like an arch they yelled insults like “'Go away, darkies. This isn't your school.'”[5] The students were also subject to verbal abuse, and many were pushed and spit on by white students.[6]</p>
<p>Fearing that the admittance of the African American students would lead to more integration, white students and families planned a mass demonstration. On September 26, 1927, approximately 600 white students staged a school walkout at Emerson High School and refused to return until the African American students were removed. Protests continued for multiple days, and by Wednesday, over 1350 participants were involved.[7] Superintendent Wirt attempted to threaten the strikers, but the all-white school board sided with the demonstrators. The protests ended when the school board struck a deal with white protesters. Rather than integrating Emerson High School, the city would build an all-African American school and send the African American students back to their old school in “The Patch.”[8]</p>
<p>Three students appealed the decision to gain re-admittance into Emerson High School, but their appeal was denied. The new school for African American students, Theodore Roosevelt High School, was built in the center of Midtown and opened in 1931. For the students mistreated at Emerson in 1927, Roosevelt High School came too late. Although Roosevelt was a beautiful facility with many amenities, the decision to build the all-African American school in favor of integrating existing schools perpetuated the segregation of Gary public schools.[9]</p>
<p>Emerson High School was officially integrated in 1948, but the trauma sustained by the African American students never faded.[10] Due to Superintendent Wirt’s pioneering work in educational reform, Emerson High School has been deemed historically significant and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1995.[11] Declining enrollment in the 1970s, was the impetus for the transition into a magnet school in the early 1980s. With inadequate funds to maintain the building, the school board made the difficult decision to close Emerson School for the Visual and Performing Arts in 2008, just one year shy of the building’s centennial anniversary. Since its closure, the historic school has stood empty, quickly decaying due to the weather and vandalism.[12] While the building is listed under the National Register, there are currently no plans to restore the Emerson High School.[13]</p>
Source
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[1] Jerry Davich, “Is writing on wall for Gary's Emerson school?” Chicago Tribune, July 9, 2015, https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/opinion/ct-ptb-davich-dead-body-emerson-st-0710-20150709-story.html
[2] National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, “Emerson, Ralph Waldo, School,” United States Department of the Interior National Park Service, 1995, https://secure.in.gov/apps/dnr/shaard/r/217fb/N/Emerson_School_Lake_CO_Nom.pdf
[3] Carole Carlson, “Gary’s Roosevelt High was built for a growing city’s black students when schools resisted integration. Now it’s shuttered with an uncertain future,” Chicago Tribune, February 28, 2020, https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/ct-ptb-gary-roosevelt-history-st-0301-20200228-duwcmtbiqbeqpko76y7uw7u2mm-story.html
[4] Ibid.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Ibid.
[7] “Emerson School,” American Urbex, 2011, http://americanurbex.com/wordpress/?p=1370
[8] Carole Carlson, “Gary’s Roosevelt High was built for a growing city’s black students.”
[9] Ibid.
[10] Ibid.
[11] “Emerson, Ralph Waldo, School,” United States Department of the Interior National Park Service.
[12] “Emerson School of Gary, Indiana,” Sometimes Interesting, June 12, 2013, https://sometimes-interesting.com/2013/06/12/emerson-school-of-gary-indiana/
[13] Davich, “Is writing on wall for Gary’s Emerson school?”
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Student Author: Mary Swartz
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
Relation
A related resource
<a href="https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/95000702">National Register of Historic Places</a>
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PHOTO & VIDEO:
Ralph Waldo Emerson School in Gary, attributed to Nyttend, Public domain, via Wikimedia commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ralph_Waldo_Emerson_School_in_Gary.jpg
1900-40s
1950s-present
Architecture
education
Gary
Integration
Lake County
National Register of Historic Places
Segregation
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/c6fc0dd797dd211617eb6dab1395c304.jpg
054723b57755ceaea5b43e9c0579f1bb
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Places
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Title
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Gary Methodist Church
Description
An account of the resource
<p>Constructed in 1925, Gary Methodist Church once towered as the largest Methodist Church in the Midwest.[1] Originally named City Church, the impressive structure is located on 6th Avenue and Washington Street.[2] Development of the church was headed by Dr. William Grant Seaman, who had served as the pastor of Gary Methodist Church since 1916. Pastor Seaman intended the new building to serve as a place of religious revival for Gary’s citizens. Disliking the prominence of brothels and bars in the area, he hoped that the church would be the first step in shifting the community’s focus back to Christian culture and religion and building a larger congregation. U.S. Steel, the primary provider of jobs in Gary at the time, donated the plot of land and half the money needed for construction, approximately $400,000 of the $800,000 total cost. A well-known and reputable company, Lowe and Bollenbacher constructed the building in 21 months.[3] Once completed, the Gothic nine-story church contained stained glass windows, a magnificent vaulted sanctuary, oak-carved chancel and altar, and four-manual Skinner organ donated by Elbert Gary.[4] Seaman Hall, the second building on the property, included a fellowship hall, staff offices, a kitchen and dining area, a gymnasium, Sunday school rooms, a theater-sized screen, and a stage for concerts and community productions.[5]</p>
<p>The first service was held in the newly constructed Gary Methodist Church on October 3, 1926. After only a year, the congregation at Gary Methodist Church had grown to include over 1,700 individuals. The congregation reached its peak in the 1950s with over 3,000 members.[6] Despite Gary Methodist Church’s location in the heart of Gary’s industrial community, the congregation remained largely middle-class and white for its entire existence. Pastor Seaman sought integration and claimed that the church had the responsibility to minister to the immigrant populations and African American residents of Gary. He encouraged diverse civil and religious gatherings and hosted a race relations service in 1927, where members of nearby African American churches visited Gary Methodist Church to share services. Pastor Seaman’s beliefs about race were paternalistic however, and he believed that only white citizens should serve as leaders in the church. Although Pastor Seaman held racist beliefs himself, his admonishment of the Ku Klux Klan and aims to promote diversity provoked disdain in many white church members. As a result, Pastor Seaman was forced from Gary Methodist Church and transferred to an Ohio ministry in 1929.[7]</p>
<p>After Pastor Seaman’s expulsion, Gary Methodist Church ministered less to the city’s African American and immigrant populations. While few African Americans had actually attended church at Gary Methodist Church when Seaman was pastor, Seaman Hall had been utilized as a place for social gatherings and events. As the challenging years of the Great Depression and World War II threw Gary’s citizens into turmoil, churches became instrumental support services. Gary Methodist Church provided public relief and entertainment, such as theater shows and musical performances on Seaman Hall’s beautiful stage, but the events were likely restricted to white workers of Gary.[8]</p>
<p>While Gary Methodist Church made a few half-hearted attempts to promote membership among immigrant and African American families through events like Race Relations Sundays, the church did not come close to fulfilling Pastor Seaman’s mission of diversity until Reverend S. Walton Cole took over leadership. Under Reverend Cole’s pastorship, church members were encouraged to confront their own prejudices and welcome new members from diverse backgrounds. Reverend Cole was awarded the first Roy Wilkins award by the NAACP for his work promoting civil rights.[9]</p>
<p>The push to expand and revitalize Gary Methodist Church did not last long, however. For decades, the church had been dwindling in attendance. Following World War II, there were large number of layoffs in the steel working industry.[10] By 1973, most white families had moved to suburbs outside of Gary, and only around 320 members remained a part of the congregation. As the neighborhoods around Gary Methodist Church started being occupied by African American families, the church was unable to draw new members. Segregated since its construction in 1926, the church could not escape its history of discrimination. In addition to its shrinking congregation, the church became unable to foot the great cost of maintaining the massive building. After only 50 years of use, the Gary Methodist Church finally closed its doors in 1975.[11]</p>
<p>Gary Methodist Church, once the most magnificent church building in the Midwest, now stands in ruins. Seaman Hall was used as a satellite campus of Indiana University for a time, but the sanctuary was completely abandoned. Unattended, weathering the elements, the church quickly fell into disrepair. The damage was made worse when a fire destroyed parts of the building in 1997. In 2008, a large section of the roof caved, leaving only the shell of the structure.[12] Only as recently as 2019 was the church site granted a historical marker, signifying the great mark it left on the city of Gary.[13] Currently, the city is planning to transform the area around the church into a park and keep Gary Methodist Church as a historical centerpiece.[14]</p>
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
[1] “Gary's Abandoned City Methodist Church,” Architectural Afterlife, last modified October 24, 2018, https://architecturalafterlife.com/2018/10/24/garys-abandoned-city-methodist-church/ <br />[2] <span>“City United Methodist Church of Gary, Indiana,” Sometimes Interesting, last modified June 16, 2013, https://sometimes-interesting.com/2013/06/16/city-united-methodist-church-of-gary-indiana/<br />[3] “Gary’s Abandoned City Methodist Church.”<br />[4] “City United Methodist Church of Gary, Indiana.” “City Methodist Church,” Atlas Obscura, accessed June 10, 2020, https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/city-methodist-church.<br />[5] “City United Methodist Church of Gary, Indiana.”<br />[6] “Gary’s Abandoned City Methodist Church.”<br />[7] Nicole Poletika, “City Church: Spirituality and Segregation in Gary,” Indiana History Blog, May 13, 2019, https://blog.history.in.gov/city-church-spirituality-and-segregation-in-gary/<br />[8] Ibid.<br />[9] Ibid.<br />[10] “Welcome to City Methodist Church: About the Church,” City Methodist Church, accessed June 10, 2020, http://www.citymethodistchurch.com/CityMethodistChurch-about.htm<br />[11] Poletika, “City Church: Spirituality and Segregation in Gary.”<br />[12] “Gary’s Abandoned City Methodist Church.”<br />[13] Pete S. Joseph, “Gary's City Methodist Church gets historical marker.” The Times of Northwest Indiana, September 18, 2019, https://www.nwitimes.com/business/local/garys-city-methodist-church-gets-historical-marker/article_c606c730-f210-584a-a098-6315a504cca8.html<br />[14] “Gary’s Abandoned City Methodist Church.”</span>
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Student Authors: Mary Swartz and Natalie Bradshaw
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
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PHOTO & VIDEO:
Gary City Methodist Church, attributed to Takingactioningary, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gary_City_Methodist_Church.JPG
1900-40s
1950s-present
Church
Gary
Integration
Lake County
NAACP
religion
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/d0ed920a55cfacf6cf6f7f367234509e.jpg
29f546bd746accc4eecc72ebdb137899
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Places
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Martin University, Indianapolis
Description
An account of the resource
<p>Martin University is Indiana’s only predominately African American institution of higher education. Founded by Reverend Father Boniface Hardin and Sister Jane Shilling in 1977, the private, non-for-profit university is named after two influential “Martins”: Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and St. Martin de Porres, a Peruvian saint who dedicated his life to serving the poor and became the first bi-racial Catholic saint. Originally located at 35th Street and College Avenue, Martin University is now situated on North Sherman Drive in the Martindale-Brightwood neighborhood of Indianapolis, Indiana.[1]</p>
<p>Most historically African American colleges and universities, such as Tuskegee University and Bethune-Cookman University, were established in the mid-to-late nineteenth century to provide valuable knowledge and skills to African Americans in order to promote equality and provide opportunities for formerly enslaved people. Although Martin University was established a century after many of these historical institutions, it was founded on the same values of freedom. Established in 1977, during a time when educational opportunities were limited for African Americans who lived in the inner city of Indianapolis, the original mission of the University was “to serve low-income, minority, and adult learners” in the Indianapolis community.[2]</p>
<p>Martin University is known for its home-like atmosphere, supportive staff, and dedication to service. The institution has produced over 1,500 alumni, many of whom have become recognized leaders in Indianapolis. Notable Martin University graduates include “a former Deputy Mayor for the City of Indianapolis, an Administrator for the Pike Township Fire Department, a former Marion County Sheriff, a Marion County Chaplain, a McDonald's Franchise Owner, a Pastor of a 16,000 member church, clergymen, social workers, daycare workers and owners, police officers, and published authors.”[3]</p>
<p>Co-founder Boniface Hardin was the first president of Martin University and led the institution from 1977 until he retired thirty years later in 2007. Under Hardin’s leadership, the small university earned accreditation and became a fixture in Indianapolis. Following Hardin’s retirement, Martin University went through a period of unstable leadership, as three presidents passed through the institution in a five-year period. The university had also been struggling with funding for many years, even during Hardin’s presidency, and by 2013, Martin University was in danger of closing.[4] The university desperately needed a strong and dedicated leader to restore its finances and credibility.</p>
<p>Dr. Eugene White, former superintendent of Indianapolis Public Schools and friend of Boniface Hardin, came out of retirement to assume the position of president of Martin University in August 2013. Under his stable leadership, the institution put a strategic plan in place to get out of debt and improve its standing with the government and local community. While the first years of White’s presidency were very challenging, with the cutting of programs and revaluation of everything from curriculum to budget, White found inspiration in the dedication of Martin University’s staff. Between 2013 and 2016, White’s strategic restoration plan successfully restructured the school and saved it from the brink of closure.[5]</p>
<p>Martin University celebrated the fortieth anniversary of its founding in 2017, a triumph made even greater by the institution’s recent rejuvenation. Dr. Sean L. Huddleston, former Vice President and Chief Equity & Inclusion Officer for the University of Indianapolis, succeeded Dr. Eugene White as president of Martin University in 2019.[6] The institution is currently working toward expanding its catalog of degree programs, providing salary increases to staff, and increasing its student population.[7] Martin University has long-served Indianapolis as an urban educational center of excellence and is on the path for continued growth in the coming years.[8]</p>
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
[1] <span>“About Martin University,” Martin University, accessed June 1, 2020, https://www.martin.edu/about-martin.<br />[2] “Martin University History,” Martin University, accessed June 2, 2020, https://www.martin.edu/history.<br />[3] “Martin University History.”<br />[4] Amber Stearns, “The rise, fall and resurrection of Martin University,” NUVO News, July 26, 2017, https://www.nuvo.net/news/the-rise-fall-and-resurrection-of-martin-university/article_88bc5f06-7209-11e7-abee-ab81a1d1ced2.html<br />[5] Ibid.<br />[6] “Huddleston Named President Of Martin University,” WFYI News, January 7, 2019, https://www.wfyi.org/news/articles/huddleston-named-president-of-martin-university. “President Huddleston’s Bio,” Martin University, accessed June 2, 2020, https://www.martin.edu/office-of-the-president<br />[7] Stearns, “The rise, fall and resurrection of Martin University.”<br />[8] Ibid.</span>
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Student Author: Natalie Bradshaw
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
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Information about rights held in and over the resource
PHOTO & VIDEO:
Father Boniface Hardin, President of Martin University, Public domain, via Wikimedia commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Father_Boniface_Hardin,_President_of_Martin_University.jpg
1950s-present
education
Entrepreneurship
Indianapolis
Marion County
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/86b7c599044cc0b5879be2d75cc1b3d2.jpg
dcd19a1efa9a3fe28a3a6f25bb018642
Dublin Core
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Title
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Events
Dublin Core
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Title
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South Bend Washington High School Walkout
Description
An account of the resource
<p>On September 20, 1968, 200 African American students staged a walkout at Washington High School in South Bend, Indiana. The walkout was a protest of the lack of representation of African Americans students in the school’s sports teams and extracurricular activities. The center of the conflict revolved around the fact that there was not a single African American cheerleader on Washington High School’s “all white” cheerleading squad. The walkout was organized and carried out by the Student Organization for Unity and Leadership (S.O.U.L.), a student-run organization that advocated for the representation of African American students in all areas of student life at Washington High School. Prior to the walkout, S.O.U.L. held two meetings to plan the demonstration at the LaSalle Park Center on Western Avenue. The pep assembly walkout involved many students and gained the attention of the South Bend African American newspaper The Reformer, where it made the front page of the September 29, 1968 edition.[1]</p>
<p>As one of the last Northern states to officially desegregate public schools, Indiana has a long history of racial inequality in its educational systems. The move to integrate public schools came in 1949, only five years preceding the landmark 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision, when the Indiana General Assembly passed the Indiana School Desegregation Act in 1949.[2] Although the law required schools to start integrating, segregation persisted throughout the state due to residential zoning. South Bend’s public school system had never officially been segregated; however, the city enforced extremely discriminatory housing practices that made it very difficult for African Americans to become property owners, forced African American families into segregated neighborhoods, and perpetuated unofficial segregation in public schools.[3]</p>
<p>Even in school buildings that were officially integrated, African American students were often denied access to recreational facilities and discouraged from participating in school teams and clubs in South Bend.[4] These discriminatory practices caused African American students to feel unrepresented in their schools and culminated in a large public protest at Washington High School. In its coverage of the 1968 Washington High School walkout, The Reformer reported that one student demonstrator said, “We’ve been given frustration in place of equal representation.”[5] Despite the large African American population at Washington High School, African American students felt unable to participate fully in their school community. Marching out of the all-school pep assembly, over 200 students mobilized in order to upend the school’s prejudiced operations.</p>
<p>The year 1968 saw many school walkouts staged by students seeking to promote civil rights. The largest and most influential demonstration was the East Los Angeles School walkouts of March 1968.[6] It is likely that the 200 students who walked out of Washington High School on September 20, 1968 were inspired by this and similar walkouts earlier in the year.</p>
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
[1] Val Maxwell, “Washington Students Stage Walkout,” The Reformer, September 29, 1968, 1.
[2] “A Look Back: Hoosier inequality,” South Bend Tribune, January 18, 2016, https://www.southbendtribune.com/news/local/history/a-look-back-hoosier-inequality/article_14aff11b-7be0-5594-a12d-499a0c02e67d.html
[3] Annette Scherber, “’Better Homes wants to have a fair shake:’ Fighting Housing Discrimination in Postwar South Bend,” Indiana History Blog, last modified May 18, 2017, https://blog.history.in.gov/tag/housing/
[4] “Segregation in South Bend,” St. Joseph County Public Library, accessed June 1, 2020, https://sjcpl.org/node/7579.
[5] Maxwell, “Washington Students Stage Walkout,” 1.
[6] “The Walkout — How a Student Movement in 1968 Changed Schools Forever (Part 1 Of 3),” United Way Greater Los Angeles, last modified February 26, 2018, https://www.unitedwayla.org/en/news-resources/blog/1968Walkouts/.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Student Author: Natalie Bradshaw
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
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PHOTO & VIDEO:
Washington High School South Bend 2015, attributed to IH Havens, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Washington_High_School_South_Bend_2015.jpg
1950s-present
Civil Rights Movement
education
Integration
South Bend
Sports
St. Joseph County
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/f4a0da160fc1d5b8e4aab68bc3378741.jpg
c4d9c2863de561c34db4149cd050b8be
Dublin Core
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Title
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Places
Dublin Core
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Title
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Ransom Place Neighborhood, Indianapolis
Description
An account of the resource
<p>Ransom Place Neighborhood is a historic district located northwest of Monument Circle in the center of downtown Indianapolis. Bounded by 10th, St. Clair, West, and Camp Streets, this area includes subdivisions platted 1865 and 1871, and features historic homes built in the eclectic Queen Anne architectural style that was popular at the end of the nineteenth century. Ransom Place Neighborhood is considered the most intact neighborhood associated with the African American population of Indianapolis.[1] Named after prominent resident Freeman Briley Ransom, the district was listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1992.[2]</p>
<p>As early as the 1830s, the area that is now Ransom Place Neighborhood was identified as an African American settlement.[3] The land was originally developed by free African Americans and former slaves who moved north to find prosperity during the nineteenth century. This western section of Indianapolis, close to Fall Creek and the White River, was notoriously marshy and prone to flooding. The undesirable land was the only land that early African American settlers were permitted to purchase. Over the course of the nineteenth and early twentieth century, a thriving African American community formed in Ransom Place Neighborhood, and the area was converted into a residential area and profitable business district for African American families. Ransom Place Neighborhood was also the site of the first public housing project in Indianapolis, Lockefield Gardens.[4]</p>
<p>Many prominent professionals lived in Ransom Place Neighborhood, including African American community leaders, doctors, and attorneys. Churches, schools, and businesses provided for the needs of the residents.[5] Freeman Briley Ransom (1882-1947), the namesake of the neighborhood, lived with his family at 828 N. California St.[6] F. B. Ransom was a successful lawyer, business man, and civic leader who moved to Indianapolis in 1910. Most notably, Ransom served as the corporate attorney and manager of the Madam C. J. Walker Manufacturing Company, a pioneering African American cosmetics company. In addition to his legal work for Madam C. J. Walker, Ransom was an accomplished community leader who served as legal counsel for the Senate Avenue YMCA, Phyllis Wheatley YWCA, Indianapolis branch of the NAACP, and the Frederick Douglass Life Insurance Company, helped found the National Negro Business League and the Marion County Bar Association, and served on the Indianapolis City Council from 1939-1942.[7] F. B. Ransom’s son, Willard Ransom, was also a noted attorney and resident of Ransom Place Neighborhood.[8]</p>
<p>Ransom Place Neighborhood was expanded in 1945 when the Indianapolis Redevelopment Commission selected the area as its first redevelopment project. Helping repair houses in older parts of the neighborhood and constructing new homes in surrounding areas, the assistance of the Indianapolis Redevelopment Commission revitalized Ransom Place Neighborhood.[9] During the early 1960s, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) began buying property in order to develop a downtown Indianapolis campus. Between 1960 and 1980, IUPUI had obtained nearly 1,000 properties and had effectively surrounded Ransom Place Neighborhood.[10] The university’s pressures to redevelop the area for their own purposes, combined with the flight of many prominent African Americans to more prosperous Indianapolis neighborhoods in the early 1970s, led to a period of denigration for the historic neighborhood. In 1976, Lockefield Gardens, a major source of pride for Ransom Place’s community, was closed and converted into private apartments for IUPUI students.[11] Construction of the United Life Building in the 1980s removed a portion of Indiana Avenue, effectively blocking access from Ransom Place to downtown Indianapolis furthering marginalizing the African American community.[12]</p>
<p>Following a period of decline in the 1970s and early 1980s, Ransom Place Neighborhood was revitalized in the late 1980s when Jean Spears, an African American community leader who worked with the Indiana Avenue Association helped to renovate African American homes and businesses in Indianapolis, moved into 849 Camp Street in Ransom Place Neighborhood.[13] Spears started a campaign to promote the African American history of the neighborhood and, with a team of other community leaders, officially named the district Ransom Place Neighborhood in memory of the successful attorney Freedman Briley Ransom.[14] Following the naming, the Ransom Place Historic District was accredited by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, and the Ransom Place Neighborhood was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.</p>
<p>While Ransom Place Neighborhood is protected as a historic landmark, many locals fear that the neighborhood- a symbol of African American persistence and ingenuity- could be erased by gentrification. With much of the land surrounding Ransom Place being developed for private businesses and apartments, it is becoming increasingly expensive for long-time residents to remain in the area. Unless the gentrification includes local African American families, many fear that the African American community that built and sustained the neighborhood for generations will disappear.[15]</p>
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
[1] <span>“Ransom Place Historic District,” National Park Service, accessed May 25, 2020, https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/indianapolis/ransomplace.htm.<br />[2] “Ransom Place Historic District,” Indiana Historical Bureau, accessed May 25, 2020 https://www.in.gov/history/markers/216.htm.<br />[3] “Ransom Place Historic District,” National Park Service.<br />[4] Richard Essex, “A changing neighborhood: Ransom Place,” Indianapolis WISH-TV, February 15, 2019, https://www.wishtv.com/news/a-changing-neighborhood-ransom-place/.<br />[5] “Ransom Place Historic District,” National Park Service.<br />[6] “Ransom Family Papers, 1912-2011,” Indiana Historical Society, accessed May 26, 2020, https://indianahistory.org/wp-content/uploads/ransom-family-papers.pdf.<br />[7] Ibid.<br />[8] “Ransom Place Historic District,” National Park Service.<br />[9] Ibid.<br />[10] Essex, “A changing neighborhood.”<br />[11] Ibid.<br />[12] National Park Service."Go Diagonal." Indianapolis: Discover Our Shared Heritage Travel Itinerary. Accessed May 31, 2020. https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/indianapolis/textonly.html#diagonalessay.<br />[13] “Spears Family Papers, 1930-1986,” Indiana Historical Society, accessed May 26, 2020, https://indianahistory.org/wp-content/uploads/spears-family-papers-1930-1986.pdf. “Historical Ransom Place,” City of Indianapolis, accessed May 26, 2020, https://sites.google.com/view/city-of-indianapolis/home/ransom-place.<br />[14] Ibid.<br />[15] Essex, “A changing neighborhood.”</span>
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Student Author: Natalie Bradshaw
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
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PHOTO & VIDEO:
Camp Street in Ransom Place, attributed to Nyttend, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Camp_Street_in_Ransom_Place.jpg
Relation
A related resource
<a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/216.htm">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker</a>
1800s
1900-40s
1950s-present
Entrepreneurship
Housing
Indiana Historical Bureau Marker
Indianapolis
Marion County
NAACP
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/6c7099b0194aa732bed6e60dbc4e0819.jpg
b601ed2201b3f7aad34495e83f219d5e
Dublin Core
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Places
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Andrew Means Park Manor
Description
An account of the resource
<p>Born in Alabama, Andrew Means graduated from the Tuskegee Institute in 1918. He studied under George Washington Carver and was befriended by Tuskegee Institute President Booker T. Washington. After graduation, Means spent a few years in the US Army and subsequently worked as a railroad porter.[1] Means then traveled north to Gary, Indiana, in order to work in the steel mills, a path taken by many African Americans at the time.[2] This influx of African Americans moving north for fair and equal jobs, and to escape segregation in the South was known as the Great Migration. From the 1910s to 1970, over 6 million African Americans from the rural South migrated to northern cities, including Gary.[3]</p>
<p>In 1922, Andrew Means and his brother, Geter, created a homebuilding business with $90 and a borrowed typewriter. Means Brothers, Inc. became one of the Midwest’s largest African American real estate development companies.[4] The brothers created 11 housing developments with nearly 2000 homes and/or rental properties in Gary alone. They created homes for African Americans using African American employees and sub-contractors.[5] In addition to housing developments, Andrew Means also constructed the Gary First Baptist church, where he was a member, within the Andrew Means Park Manor neighborhood.[6]</p>
<p>Of all the housing the brothers developed, Andrew Means Park Manor, also known as “Means Manor”, was the most impactful to the Gary community and still exists today. The neighborhood consists of nearly 150 homes[7] including Andrews Means’ own home. At the time of construction in the early 1950s, Means Manor provided African American families safe affordable single family housing at a time when many neighborhoods did not welcome African Americans and Gary was deeply segregated.[8] Remembered by a former resident “I think the community flourished because everyone there was there under the same circumstances. A lot of the families that came, that lived in my neighborhood, their parents came from the South and they were there primarily because of the steel mills, because those were guaranteed jobs, that was guaranteed income.”[9] At the time of its construction, the homes in Means Manor were priced from $15,000 to $75,000.[10]</p>
<p>Means Manor is located in Gary’s Midtown neighborhood. When Means Manor was constructed, 97% of Gary’s African American population lived in the Midtown neighborhood. The neighborhood was mostly self-contained with many retail outlets as African Americans were excluded from Downtown Gary prior to desegregation in the 1960s and 1970s.[11] Means Manor remains as a legacy to Andrew Means and his brother’s achievements of providing affordable and equal housing to Gary’s African American community.</p>
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
[1] <span>Indiana Landmarks. African American Landmarks. Indiana Landmarks, 2019. Accessed May 21, 2020. https://www.indianalandmarks.org/2019/02/andrew-means-gary-developer/<br />[2] Allison Shuette. Didn’t Want Us To Grow Up Thinking the World Was Terrible. Welcome Project, 2017. Accessed May 21, 2020. https://welcomeproject.valpo.edu/2017/01/27/didnt-want-us-to-grow-up-thinking-the-world-was-terrible/<br />[3] The Great Migration, 2020. https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/great-migration. Accessed May 22, 2020.<br />[4] Indiana Landmarks.<br />[5] African American businessman, Andrew Means,of Gary Indiana. He is successful in real estate and construction. https://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675045071_Negro-Americans_Leslie-Builders-and-Contractors_construction-site_buildings. Accessed May 22, 2020.<br />[6] Indiana Landmarks.<br />[7] Leroy W. Jeffries. Blueprint for better negro business. Negro Digest. December 1961. Accessed May 21, 2020. https://books.google.com/books?id=b7MDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA62&lpg=PA62&dq=%22means+park+manor%22+gary&source=bl&ots=Qgmdcz3Y7Z&sig=ACfU3U1sL9M0rnOo3H_srKnYBY2JdKQ-fg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiHnMC4nZrpAhXGKM0KHYMUAfIQ6AEwB3oECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=%22means%20park%20manor%22%20gary&f=false<br />[8] Indiana Landmarks.<br />[9] Allison Shuette.<br />[10] Leroy W. Jeffries.<br />[11] Andrew Hurley. Environmental Inequalities: Class, Race, and Industrial Pollution in Gary, Indiana, 1945-1980. 1993. University of North Caroline Press.</span>
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Student Author: Mary Swartz
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
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PHOTO & VIDEO:
Courtesy Indiana Landmarks https://www.indianalandmarks.org/2019/02/andrew-means-gary-developer/
1900-40s
1950s-present
Entrepreneurship
Gary
Housing
Integration
Lake County
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/42d92e4525c9d714165d223a15b170ea.jpg
9fad549b7daa654bb09c99e2ac1bfb08
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Clifford E. Minton, Gary
Description
An account of the resource
<p>Gary’s Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) was located in a massive stone building that faced north on Fifth Avenue. Funded by Elbert Gary and designed by architect Joseph Silsbee in 1909, the impressive structure served as a sporting and recreation center, dining facility, library, and temporary dormitory until its closure in 1976.[1] Although the YMCA was intended to provide entertainment and support for the young men of Gary, a large portion of Gary’s male population was excluded from enjoying the facility. The Gary YMCA, like many YMCAs throughout the United States, enforced strict segregation during the first half of the nineteenth century, barring African American men from membership. It was not until the 1960s that the Gary Urban League won the right to integrate Gary’s branch of the YMCA.[2]</p>
<p>African American communities throughout the country had long embraced the mission of the YMCA. Anthony Bowen, a freedman from Washington D.C., founded the first YMCA for African Americans in 1853. Although the YMCA movement was stalled by the social and financial hardship African Americans faced in many areas of the United States during nineteenth century, many cities had constructed African American YMCA branches by the early 1910s. These facilities served as meeting spots for African Americans to openly discuss politics, safe resting places for African American travelers, and learning centers where young African American men received education in business and management.[3]</p>
<p>In the early 1900s, almost all business and entertainment establishments in Gary were owned by white proprietors. Gary’s large African American community, prohibited from entering these establishments, was deprived of recreation facilities. At the recommendation of clergyman John W. Lee, who conducted a survey of the social and economic conditions of Gary’s African American neighborhoods for the Calumet Church Federation, Gary’s First Baptist Church established an African American YMCA community center at 19th Avenue and Washington Street in 1919.[4] This new symbol of recreation and opportunity only operated for a few short years, however, as the facility was forced to close when the Great Depression hit Gary. After the shuttering of the African American YMCA, pressure to integrate Gary’s main YMCA building mounted.[5]</p>
<p>The YMCA’s national policy of segregation ended in 1946 “when the National Council passed a resolution calling for local associations to ‘work steadfastly toward the goal of eliminating all racial discriminations,’ dissolved its Colored Work Department and abolished racial designations in all its publications.”[6] Local YMCAs responded to these institutional changes with varying degrees of compliance. At Gary’s branch of the YMCA, harsh segregation persisted for decades after the national policy of segregation ended. Clifford E. Minton, an active leader in Gary’s Civil Rights Movement and the long-time executive director of the Gary Urban League, spearheaded a campaign to integrate the facility.[7] Under Mayor George Chacharis, Minton successfully integrated Gary’s YMCA in the early 1960s.[8]</p>
<p>Unfortunately, Clifford Minton’s YMCA victory was short-lived, as the Gary YMCA closed only a few years after its integration. Facing competition from for-profit recreational centers, Gary’s YMCA was unable to stay afloat during the recession of the mid-1970s and shut down operations in 1976.[9] While the old YMCA building was demolished after the closure of the facility, postcards bearing its striking image can be viewed on the Digital Commonwealth website today.[10] The integration of Gary’s YMCA was only one of Clifford Minton’s many accomplishments as a Civil Rights leader and executive director of the Gary Urban League.</p>
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
[1] <span>“Y.M.C.A. Building for Gary Indiana,” Searching for Silsbee, last modified November 6, 2010, http://jlsilsbee.blogspot.com/2010/11/y-m-c-building-for-gary-indiana.html. Melissa G. Burlock, “The Battle Over a Black YMCA and its Inner-City Community: The Fall Creek Parkway YMCA as a Lens on Indianapolis’ Urban Revitalization and School Desegregation 1959-2003” (M.A. diss., Indiana University, 2014), 72.<br />[2] Calumet Regional Archives, “Clifford E. Minton Papers,” Indiana University Northwest, accessed May 19, 2020, https://cra.sitehost.iu.edu/cra_records/cra160.shtml. Dharathula H. Millender, Gary’s Central Business Community, (Charleston: Acadia Publishing, 2003), 102.<br />[3] “A Brief History of the YMCA and African American Communities,” University of Minnesota Libraries, accessed May 19, 2020, https://www.lib.umn.edu/ymca/guide-afam-history.<br />[4] James B. Lane, City of the Century: A History of Gary, Indiana, (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1978), 70. Neil Betten and Raymond A. Mohl, “The Evolution of Racism in an Industrial City, 1906-1940: A Case Study of Gary, Indiana,” The Journal of Negro History, Vol. 59, No. 1 (January 1974): 59, https://www.jstor.org/stable/2717140.<br />[5] Indiana History Blog, “City Church: Spirituality and Segregation in Gary,” Indiana Historical Bureau of the Indiana State Library, accessed May 19, 2020, https://blog.history.in.gov/city-church-spirituality-and-segregation-in-gary/<br />[6] “A Brief History.”<br />[7] Calumet Regional Archives, “Clifford E. Minton Papers.”<br />[8] Millender, Gary’s Central Business Community.<br />[9] Burlock, “The Battle Over a Black YMCA.”<br />[10] “YMCA Gary, Indiana, ‘the steel city’” Digital Commonwealth Massachusetts Collection Online, accessed May 19, 2020, https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth:6w929s87c.</span>
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Student Author: Natalie Bradshaw
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
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PHOTO & VIDEO:
Y.M.C.A., Gary, Indiana, "The Steel City", attributed to Springfield College Archives and Special Collections, Public domain, via Picryl.
https://picryl.com/media/ymca-gary-indiana-the-steel-city-9ec6fb
1900-1940s
1950s-present
Gary
Integration
Lake County
Organization
Segregation
YMCA
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/8b959d1cc5a2fb23ddf988b626b3f9bc.jpg
a862821672612a789c4d74d84be6e0a4
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Juanita and Benjamin Grant, M.D.: Mercy Hospital, Gary
Description
An account of the resource
<p>Juanita C. Grant and her husband Benjamin F. Grant were community leaders who promoted racial equality in Gary, Indiana during the Civil Rights Movement. The Grants sought to improve conditions for the African American population of Gary by establishing community organizations, helping gain access to essential resources, and organizing a coalition of leaders to serve the city’s African American community. Most notably, Benjamin and Juanita Grant successfully lobbied Gary’s oldest hospital, Mercy Hospital (now St. Mary Medical Center) to allow African American doctors admitting privileges in 1945.[1]</p>
<p>Juanita Grant has been described as a “bold and unique voice” in the early years of the Civil Rights era, who transformed her community in ways that can still be seen in Gary today.[2] Despite losing her mother at a young age and attending school at a time when it was difficult for African American students to find support in Indiana, Juanita Grant was an ambitious learner who earned her bachelor’s degree at Indiana State College in Terre Haute and her master’s degree in Social Work at Ball State University. As a resident of Gary and leader in the African American community, she co-founded and established the Jack and Jill of America Inc. chapter in Gary, organized local Girl Scouts and Brownies groups, and supported Gary’s historic Stewart Settlement House.[3] Benjamin Grant was also a very influential Civil Rights leader among Gary’s African American population. He was a lifetime member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and served as the co-chair of Gary’s branch of the organization during the 1940s. A practicing physician and surgeon, Dr. Grant launched a campaign to advocate for the medical rights of African American medical professionals and patients.[4]</p>
<p>During the early twentieth century, medical facilities were heavily segregated in Indiana. African American doctors, nurses, and patients faced severe discrimination. In Indianapolis, training facilities for nurses were separated by race, and finding employment at a public hospital was virtually impossible for African American doctors. Indianapolis City Hospital, the only hospital in the Indianapolis that admitted African American patients, turned away African American doctors seeking internships and pressured African American nurses to receive training outside Indiana.</p>
<p>The hostility that African American doctors and nurses encountered was also felt by African American patients seeking medical care in Indianapolis. At Indianapolis City Hospital, African American patients were sequestered in a “Jim Crow wing” in the basement of the building, where they were often crowded into small areas and given inadequate care.[5] Segregation in the medical system was worse in other areas of Indiana, however, for outside the state capital, “there were no public hospitals in Indiana that admitted African Americans; blacks were entirely dependent on private medical institutions.”[6]</p>
<p>Like most hospitals outside of Indianapolis, Gary’s Mercy Hospital refused to admit African American patients when it first opened. Established in downtown Gary by the Gary Land Company in 1907, Mercy Hospital was a white-owned, private hospital staffed first by the Sisters of St. Francis and later by the Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ.[7] It was not until the 1930s that Mercy Hospital began to accept African American patients, and even then, they were placed in segregated wards.[8] African American doctors employed at Mercy were denied admitting privileges.</p>
<p>As a practicing doctor in Gary, Benjamin Grant was aware of how limited medical resources were for the city’s large African American population. In 1945, with the help of his wife, Dr. Grant began lobbying to integrate Mercy Hospital and permit African American doctors admitting privileges. The Grant’s effort to provide better healthcare for Gary’s African American population was successful. In 1945, Mercy Hospital granted African American doctors admitting privileges, a move that provided Gary’s African American community with more access to medical care and better treatment within the hospital.[9]</p>
<p>In the immediate years after the hospital’s integration, Mercy Hospital thrived as Gary’s premier medical institution. The hospital trained nurses and interns, built specialized departments, and gained international recognition as the birthplace of musician Michael Jackson. As U.S. Steel jobs declined in the 1970s, Mercy Hospital began to suffer, as much of Gary’s white community relocated to neighboring cities. In an attempt to revitalize the medical facility, Mercy Hospital underwent a restructuring in the mid-1970s. The West Wing of the hospital was built, and Mercy Hospital was renamed St. Mary Medical Center. These updates, however, were not enough to stave off the decline of the aging building. By the early 1990s, St. Mary’s had lost millions of dollars and was in danger of closing.[10] In 1993, Summit Medical Management purchased St. Mary Medical Center, renaming it Northwest Family Hospital. After two years of economic loss and unsuccessful restructuring attempts, Summit “declared the situation terminal” and decided to close St. Mary Medical Center.[11] Although the Mercy Foundation fought to keep the hospital open, and private interests attempted to purchase the building, no one could afford to maintain costly hospital operations. In November 1995, St. Mary Medical Center was closed. While much of the building stands abandoned today, the newest addition of the hospital, the West Wing built in the mid-1970s, serves as the headquarters of Gary’s police department.[12] The remains of St. Mary Medical Center, or “Mercy” as longtime residents call it, stands as a monument to Gary’s oldest hospital and a legacy of the pioneering work of Juanita and Benjamin Grant.[13]</p>
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
[1] “Juanita C. Grant Foundation,” Juanita C. Grant Foundation. Accessed May 12, 2020, https://www.jcgfdn.org/history1. Times Staff Report, “St. Mary hospital for sale. Gary medical center lost $3.6,” The Times of Northwest Indiana, March 18, 1993, https://www.nwitimes.com/uncategorized/st-mary-hospital-for-sale-gary-medical-center-lost/article_ddf6c861-694d-57b0-9d6b-ec6159a40a52.html.
[2] “Juanita C. Grant Foundation.”
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Emma Lou Thornbrough, Indiana Blacks in the Twentieth Century (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2000), 64.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Downtown Gary Scattered Sites (19001-680).
[8] Thornbrough, Indiana Blacks in the Twentieth Century, 64.
[9] “Juanita C. Grant Foundation.”
[10] Ursula Bielski, Haunted Gary (Charleston: The History Press, 2015), 30.
[11] Robin Biesen, “Hospital closes. Gary’s Northwest Family succumbs to its,” The Times of Northwest Indiana, November 22, 1995, https://www.nwitimes.com/uncategorized/hospital-closes-gary-s-northwest-family-succumbs-to-its/article_2908a57a-0d3e-58f9-92c0-e9917e41422a.html
[12] Bielski, Haunted Gary, 31.
[13] Times Staff, “St. Mary.”
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Student Author: Natalie Bradshaw
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
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PHOTO & VIDEO:
Hoosier State Medical Association Meeting 1956, Indiana Historical Society, M0510.
https://images.indianahistory.org/digital/collection/dc018/id/3389/rec/5
1900-1940s
1950s-present
Civil Rights Movement
Gary
Healthcare
Integration
Lake County
Segregation
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/bd782ac322021e30251eb539e63917c4.jpg
725dbc9c60634f23188e4207f88f5cf1
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Places
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Froebel School, Gary
Description
An account of the resource
<p>Built in 1912, Froebel High School was one of the first schools in Gary, Indiana to accept African American students, decades before most other schools were desegregated. By 1944, approximately 40% of the school’s students were African American. Despite being an integrated school, African American students were still expected to remain in certain areas of the building, could not participate fully in extracurricular activities, and were often disliked and mistreated by many of their white classmates. Tensions continued to rise, until September 18, 1945 when around 1,400 white students took part in a massive walkout protest against the integration policies of Froebel High School.[1]</p>
<p>In their protest, white students pleaded that Froebel High School become a school designated for white students only, threatening to transfer schools if their demands were not met.[2] As a result of the ongoing protest, Gary African American ministers of all faiths banded together to form the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance (IMA) and defended the principal’s decision to maintain an integrated environment within the school.[3][4] The IMA released an appeal to Gary’s citizens, saying “It is indeed regrettable to note that after the nation has spent approximately 190 billion dollars, the colored citizens of Gary have sent about 4,000 of their sons, brothers, and husbands to battlefields around the world and have supported every war effort that our government has called upon us to support, in a united effort to destroy nazism and to banish from the face of the earth all that Hitler, Mussolini, and Tojo stood for; to find in our midst those who are endeavoring to spread disunity, race-hatred, and Hitlerism in our community.”[5]</p>
<p>Despite the support of the IMA in favor of the school’s integration decision, otherschools joined the walkout. The Gary Post-Tribune reported that some members of the Froebel neighborhood supported the strike as they “feel their homes and churches have depreciated in value” with the influx of African American home-owners in the neighborhood.[6] The hate strike lasted well into November, but threats to continue the strike lasted into the following year. On August 27, 1946, the Gary Board of Education issued a policy technically ending segregation. However, in all practicality segregation within Gary schools continued to exist, supported by discriminatory policies. Lower grades at Froebel School more quickly adjusted to integration, while in 1948, African American students in grades 8-12 at Froebel still faced persistent discrimination when it came to the swimming facilities, band, theater, class offices, and other extracurricular activities.[7]</p>
<p>In 1951, Froebel School enrolled 56% African American students. After a transfer policy was enacted that allowed children to transfer to other schools for “better social adjustment”, Froebel School enrollment was 95% African American by 1961, while the district it served was 65% African American. The transfer policy in effect allowed segregation to continue. Other practices, such as offering fewer academic courses, hiring less qualified teachers, and overcrowding at predominately African American schools, coupled with school feeding patterns based on race, perpetuated de facto segregation.[8]</p>
<p>Due to declining enrollment and after several reductions of grade levels served, Froebel School finally closed in 1977 as part of district cost-cutting measures. The location of Froebel School and its role in school desegregation is commemorated with an Indiana Historical Bureau marker.[9]</p>
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
[1] D.L. Chandler. Little Known Black History Fact: Froebel High School. Black America Web. Accessed April 30, 2020. https://blackamericaweb.com/2018/09/18/little-known-black-history-fact-froebel-high-school/
[2] Casey Pfeiffer. A Challenge to Integration: The Froebel School Strikes of 1945. Indiana History Blog, 2017. Accessed April 30, 2020. https://blog.history.in.gov/a-challenge-to-integration-the-froebel-school-strikes-of-1945/
[3] Casey Pfeiffer.
[4] D.L. Chandler.
[5] Casey Pfeiffer.
[6] Students’ Walkout Mixed in Race Hate. The Indianapolis Recorder. September 29, 1945.
[7] Ronald Cohen. The Dilemma of School Integration in the North: Gary, Indiana, 1945-1960. June 1986. Indiana Magazine of History 82(2), pp. 161-184.
[8] Max Wolff. Segregation in the Schools of Gary, Indiana. February 1963. Journal of Educational Sociology 36(6), pp. 251-261.
[9] Indiana Historical Bureau. State Historical Marker, Froebel School. Accessed May 7, 2020. https://www.in.gov/history/markers/4109.htm
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Student Author: Mary Swartz
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
Relation
A related resource
<a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/4109.htm">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker</a>
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Information about rights held in and over the resource
PHOTO & VIDEO:
Froebel High School, Gary, Indiana, attributed to Tichnor Brothers, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Froebel_High_School,_Gary,_Indiana_(75204).jpg
1900-40s
1950s-present
education
Gary
Indiana Historical Bureau Marker
Integration
Lake County
School
Segregation
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/c040e35be3b23096c829f79719c257e2.jpg
4b3791cb27a9eabebe3ae6465f481afb
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
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Places
Dublin Core
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Lincoln High School, Evansville
Description
An account of the resource
<p>Lincoln High School in Evansville was built as an exclusively African American high school in Evansville, Indiana.[1][2] When classes were first held in 1928, the Lincoln hosted grades K-12, with an enrollment of 300. Students were bussed in from surrounding Vanderburg, Posey, and Warrick counties to attend Lincoln, including the communities of Mt. Vernon, Rockport, Newburgh, and Grandview.[3]</p>
<p>The school included 22 classrooms, a gym, auditorium, sewing room, and other vocational training areas. However, the school did not contain a cafeteria. Compared to white schools at the time, Lincoln received less funding and students had decreased educational opportunities. Despite having a library, the school did not receive enough funding to purchase books. Lincoln’s first librarian, Mrs. Alberta K. McFarland Stevenson stocked the library shelves by collecting used books and monetary donations door-to-door from local residents.[4]</p>
<p>This was not the only inequality experienced by Lincoln students. Discrimination was rampant in Indiana high school sports in the 1930s and early 1940s, directly affecting the successful athletes at Lincoln. African American high school teams in Indiana were not allowed to compete in contact sports with white schools until 1943 when the Indiana High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) was ordered by the Indiana legislature to open membership to all schools. This order was only six years before state law declared segregation of Indiana schools illegal.</p>
<p>Because Lincoln High School students were excluded from competing with white teams in Indiana, athletes traveled to Gary and Indianapolis to play teams from African American schools (Roosevelt and Crispus Attucks). They also traveled out of state to Dayton, Louisville, Missouri, Nashville, and St. Louis for athletic competitions. George Flowers, who was a member of the school’s track team, recalled “That’s the one time segregation was kind of a fun thing, because it allowed our young men to go to bigger cities.”[5]</p>
<p>Despite the lack of school funding, the teachers were held in high esteem for providing quality education and turning students into respectful young people. Dawn Whitticker, whose mother was a teacher at Lincoln, recounts “The teachers were excellent. They were really strong disciplinarians,” she said. “Even if you were a student who wasn’t as up to speed, they made sure you learned. We were all forced to stay together, even during our entertainment. My teacher would probably see my mother in the grocery store and the beauty shop.” This strong sense of community and the bond between African American residents and teachers created an atmosphere where students wanted to do well and created a Lincoln legacy that continues to this day.[6]</p>
<p>In 1949, Indiana state law opened the doors to all schools for African Americans. However, in many areas of the state there was no mechanism to promote integration while there many policies enacted to continue de facto segregation. Very few Lincoln students integrated to the previously all-white schools.[7] In 1962, the final solely African American class graduated from Lincoln High School, and the school was then converted into a K-8 facility as part of the school corporation’s integration plan.[8] The original Lincoln School building still stands and as of 2020, serves K-8 students.[9] The Lincoln Clark Douglass Alumni Association keeps the legacy of Lincoln High School alive, and as part of their mission they resolve to “encourage high culture, intellectual and moral standards among its members” and “to inspire such traits of character among the African American community members…. and throughout the community at large.”[10]</p>
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
[1] Nathan Blackford. Gone But Not Forgotten. Evansville Living, 2014. Accessed May 4, 2020. http://www.evansvilleliving.com/articles/gone-but-not-forgotten
[2] Charles E. Loflin & Virginia P. Vornehm-Loflin. Center on the History of the Indianapolis Public Schools. Gary Roosevelt, Indianapolis Attucks, and Evansville Lincoln, 2018. Accessed May 8, 2020.http://vorcreatex.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/1927-1928-Indianas-1920s-Jim-Crow-high-schools-Gary-Roosevelt-Indianapolis-Attucks-and-Evansville-Lincoln-What-do-they-have-in-common.pdf
[3] Lincoln School. About Us: History. Lincoln Lions, n.d. Accessed May 8, 2020. https://lincoln.evscschools.com/about_us/history
[4] Charles E. Loflin & Virginia P. Vornehm-Loflin.
[5] Chad Lindskog. 57 years after closure, Evansville's Lincoln High School's rich sports history remains. Courier & Press, 2019. Accessed May 8, 2020. https://www.courierpress.com/story/sports/high-school/2019/02/21/evansvilles-lincoln-high-schools-rich-sports-history-remains/2803388002/
[6] Chad Lindskog.
[7] Chad Lindskog.
[8] Evansville Museum. AN OVERVIEW OF THE 1960S IN EVANSVILLE. Evansville Museum, n.d.. https://emuseum.org/blog/an-overview-of-the-1960s-in-evansville
[9] Lincoln School. About Us: History.
[10] Lincoln Clark Douglass Alumni Association, Mission Statement, n.d. https://www.lincolnclarkdouglassaa.org/mission-statement
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Student Author: Mary Swartz
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
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PHOTO & VIDEO:
Lincoln High School, attributed to Harley Sheets Collection, Public domain, via Indiana Album
https://indianaalbum.pastperfectonline.com/photo/F194F4A9-4DED-4651-A624-768304442100
1900-1940s
1950s-present
education
Evansville
Integration
School
Segregation
Vanderburgh County
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/07db3b3df3d3e862898962521534962a.jpg
34fccce8b234ced8560088a64fb34e63
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Title
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Events
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Robert F. Kennedy Speech on Death of MLK, Jr.
Description
An account of the resource
<p>On April 4, 1968, Civil Rights leader Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. News of his passing spread throughout the country, sparking multi-day riots in over 100 cities including Washington DC, Kansas City, Los Angeles, and Detroit. The city of Indianapolis did not experience riots related to King’s assassination, in part because of an impromptu calming and unifying speech by Robert F. Kennedy.[1] The brother of the late President John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy was vying for the Democratic Party presidential nomination in 1968. Earlier that day, Kennedy had delivered speeches at Notre Dame University in South Bend, and Ball State University in Muncie while campaigning in Indiana. He spoke of typical campaign topics including poverty, racism, and the Vietnam War.[2]</p>
<p>Muncie attorney Marshall Hanley told Kennedy about King’s assassination before his plane left for Indianapolis for the last campaign stop of the day. A 1969 Indianapolis Star article recorded Hanley’s recollection: “I heard the news flash over the radio and told the senator as he came to the airplane ramp…. He seemed stunned and dropped his head. ‘Is he dead?’ he asked. I said I didn't know and then he went on up the ramp to the plane."[3]</p>
<p>Kennedy was scheduled to speak at a rally at 17th and Broadway Streets in Indianapolis, in the heart of the African American community. After arriving in Indianapolis and confirming King’s death, Kennedy proceeded to the rally spot at 9:00 pm, climbed on the back of a flatbed truck, and delivered his remarks despite fears of race riots erupting.[4] About 2,500 African Americans, many members of groups such as the Black Panthers and the Black Radical Action Project, had gathered to hear Kennedy speak. Most in the crowd had not heard of King’s death until Kennedy broke the news.[5] Instead of his planned campaign speech, Kennedy delivered personal and compassionate thoughts, uniting the crowd. Kennedy’s speech is often believed to be the reason riots did not break out in Indianapolis. He was able to calm the public, particularly the African American community, who were in shock and deeply mourning Dr. King’s death. In an act of empathy, Kennedy spoke about his own brother’s death in 1963, the first time he had done so in public. Kennedy stated: “So I ask you tonight to return home, to say a prayer for the family of Martin Luther King -- yeah, it's true -- but more importantly to say a prayer for our own country, which all of us love -- a prayer for understanding and that compassion of which I spoke.” The crowd erupted in applause after his speech.[6]</p>
<p>The speech did not grab immediate media attention. Publisher Eugene C. Pulliam of the Indianapolis Star and Indianapolis News was not a fan of Kennedy and gave the speech as little coverage as possible. In addition, the coverage of Dr. King’s death, funeral, and ensuing nationwide riots overshadowed coverage of Kennedy’s remarks. The 637-word speech is now often listed as one of the greatest speeches in American history.[7] Robert F. Kennedy himself was assassinated on June 5, 1968 while on a California primary stop in Los Angeles, just two months after announcing Dr. King’s death to the African American community in Indianapolis.</p>
<p>The unifying message delivered by Kennedy on April 4, 1968, is still remembered years later by those who heard his remarks in person. Jim Trulock, an Indianapolis autoworker at the time, reminisced 50 years later. “He spoke from the heart. At the time a good half of the crowd hadn’t heard of Dr. King’s assassination, so when he made that announcement you could hear this gasps amongst the crowd. I’ve heard a lot of speeches in my life, I’m 80 years old, but it was the best speech I’ve heard to this date.”[8] An Indiana Historical Bureau marker at the corner of 17th and Broadway Streets in Indianapolis commemorates the site of Kennedy’s speech.[9] The Dr. Martin Luther King Park & Landmark for Peace Memorial is also on the site and honors both King and Kennedy.[10]</p>
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[1] <span>Straw, John B. “RFK in Middletown: Robert Kennedy’s Speech at Ball State University on April 4, 1968.” Robert F. Kennedy Speech Collection, Ball State University Libraries, 2005. Accessed April 21, 2020, https://dmr.bsu.edu/digital/collection/RFKen/id/23<br />[2] Thornbrough, Emma. Indiana Blacks in the Twentieth Century. Indiana University Press, 2000. Pp. 185.<br />[3] Straw, John B.<br />[4] Higgins, Will. “April, 1968: How RFK Saved Indianapolis.” Indy Star, April 2, 2015. Accessed April 17, 2020, https://www.indystar.com/story/life/2015/04/02/april-rfk-saved-indianapolis/70817218/<br />[5] Ibid.<br />[6] “Robert F. Kennedy: Remarks on the Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr delivered on April 4th, 1968.” American Rhetoric. Accessed April 17, 2020, americanrhetoric.com/speeches/rfkonmlkdeath.html<br />[7] “Top 100 American Speeches of the 20th Century”, Texas A&M University. Accessed April 21, 2020, http://highered.mheducation.com/sites/dl/free/007256296x/77464/top100_only.html<br />[8] King, Brittany. “Indianapolis and the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.”. Indianapolis Recorder, March 29, 2018. Accessed April 21, 2020, http://www.indianapolisrecorder.com/recorder_headlines/article_edfc8ee2-3359-11e8-81d7-7f8b9b25810b.html<br />[9] Indiana Historical Bureau, “Robert F. Kennedy on Death of Martin L. King”. Accessed April 21, 2020, https://www.in.gov/history/markers/470.htm<br />[10] Visit Indy, “Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Park & Landmark for Peace Memorial”. Accessed April 21, 2020, https://www.visitindy.com/indianapolis-dr-martin-luther-king-jr-park-landmark-for-peace-memorial</span>
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Student Authors: Robin Johnson and Sydney Schrock
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
Relation
A related resource
<a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/470.htm">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker</a>
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PHOTO & VIDEO:
Robert F Kennedy, attributed to Warren K. Leffler, Public domain, via Wikimedia commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Robert_F_Kennedy_crop.jpg
1950s-present
Civil Rights Movement
Indianapolis
Marion County
Politics
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/8de170357942be1ecb9f31df8ecb087e.jpg
8902eb4761f805ba3ba1f308faebe82e
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The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
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Places
Dublin Core
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Jim Jones and The Peoples Temple
Description
An account of the resource
<p>James Warren Jones was born on May 13, 1931 in Crete, Indiana[1] and the family moved to Lynn, Indiana in 1934.[2] He was invited to church by his neighbors, and it was those sermons that sparked Jones’ interest in religion and leadership. He studied various leaders including Marx, Gandhi, Hitler, and Stalin, noting their strengths and weaknesses.[3]</p>
<p>As a teenager, Jones was convinced that his father was a member of the Ku Klux Klan, as Lynn had a large KKK membership. Believing in equal rights and in reaction to his father’s actions, Jones became a strong advocate for racial equality and civil rights. Jones attended Indiana University and Butler University, and in 1952, became a student preacher for the Somerset Methodist Church in Indianapolis.[4] In 1956, he established the Peoples Temple of the Disciples in Christ in Indianapolis, and became ordained in 1964. Due to Jones’ passion for civil rights and his support for the underdog and downtrodden since his childhood, the Peoples Temple welcomed congregants from various racial backgrounds, the majority being African American. Jones and his wife adopted children of different races and claimed to be the first white couple in Indianapolis to adopt an African American child. Jones referred to his children as his “rainbow family”, with the Joneses receiving death threats towards their African American son.[5]</p>
<p>The Peoples Temple directly participated in the Civil Rights Movement in Indiana, including helping to desegregate movie theatres, hospitals, restaurants, and police departments. The Temple also created a “free restaurant, and homes for the mentally ill.” In 1961, Mayor Charles Boswell appointed Jones as head of the Indianapolis Human Rights Commission.[6]</p>
<p>Jones moved his Peoples Temple to San Francisco in the 1970s. The Temple attracted members of lower and middle classes of all races to hear Jones’ message of equality and anti-discrimination. Jones continued to donate to local causes such as the NAACP, and developed connections with politicians to spread his message and gain followers. California State Assembly Speaker Willie Brown was said to compare Jones to figures including “Martin Luther King, Angela Davis, Albert Einstein, and Chairman Mao.”[7]</p>
<p>Jones portrayed himself as someone with extraordinary powers, such as telepathy, faith healing, and clairvoyance. In reality, he had other Temple members search through “garbage cans and medicine cabinets for private information” or pretend to be disabled to make Jones’ powers look real. Jones controlled his congregants with abuse, beatings, sleep deprivation, constant work, and humiliation[8] This abuse caused some of even Jones’ most trusted members to leave the Temple and contact the media.[9] In 1974, threatened by an imminent media investigation, he moved his entire congregation to Guyana. There, the Temple sought to create a society where they were free to do as they wished without prejudice and hatred, and control by the US government. By 1977, “Jonestown” had nearly a thousand residents.[10]</p>
<p>Jones continued to maintain control over Jonestown residents by physical punishment and humiliations. Communication from inside and outside Jonestown was heavily controlled and censored. Phone calls were scripted, with Jones telling his followers what to say to their relatives in the US. He convinced his followers that staying in Jonestown was for their own safety, by falsely declaring that nuclear war was impending and concentration camps were being formed in the US. Despite these “warnings”, some members did leave Jonestown. As a test of loyalty, Jones even made his followers practice “revolutionary suicide” by drinking water said to be poisoned. Meanwhile in the US, relatives of the Jonestown population contacted the authorities to start an investigation into the Peoples Temple. Former members informed the media of the abuses and mass suicide threats that occurred in Jonestown.[11]</p>
<p>California Representative Leo Ryan, relatives of Temple members, and American journalists arrived in Jonestown on November 1978 to investigate. Jones and the residents put on public festivities to welcome their guests, but in private, Jones complained to Ryan about the American government interfering with the Peoples Temple.[12] The next day, a reporter handed Jones a note that was given to him by a Temple member reading “Help us get out of Jonestown.” Despite his anger, Jones told Ryan and the media that anyone who wanted to leave Jonestown could do so. As several groups of people prepared to leave the settlement, Peoples Temple members opened fire, killing Ryan and three others, and injuring 11.[13] In Jonestown, Jones convinced his congregation to drink from vats of Flavor-Aid that were laced with cyanide as a “revolutionary act.” A total of 918 people died by mass suicide that day, a third of them children.</p>
<p>Jones himself was found dead with a gunshot wound to the head, leaving an incomprehensible and tragic legacy of using civil rights and religion as a cover to further his political ideology resulting in human rights abuses and mass murder.[14]</p>
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
[1] “Jonestown, The Life and Death of the People’s Temple: Jim Jones.” PBS. Accessed April 2, 2020. <br />[2] Hall, John R. (1987). Gone from the Promised Land. Transaction Publishers. Pg. 5. Accessed April 6, 2020.<br />[3] Reiterman, Tom; Jacobs, John (1982). Raven: The Untold Story of Rev. Jim Jones and His People. E. P. Dutton. P. 24. Accessed April 6, 2020.<br />[4] <span>“Ordination Service of Jim Jones into Disciples of Christ.” Alternative Considerations for Jonestown & Peoples Temple. San Diego University, 2019. Accessed April 3, 2020.<br />[5] “Jonestown, The Life and Death of the People’s Temple: Jim Jones.”<br />[6] “Jonestown, The Life and Death of the People’s Temple: Jim Jones.”<br />[7] ”Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple: The Peoples Temple in Guyana.” PBS. Accessed April 8, 2020.<br />[8] Ibid.<br />[9] Kildiff, Marshall and Phil Tracy. “Inside Peoples Temple.“ New West Magazine, August 1977. Accessed April 7, 2020.<br />[10] ”Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple: The Peoples Temple in Guyana.”<br />[11] Ibid.<br />[12] “Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple: November 18, 1978.” PBS. Accessed April 8, 2020. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/jonestown-nov-18-1978/<br />[13] Ibid.<br />[14] Ibid.</span>
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Student Author: Robin Johnson
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
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Information about rights held in and over the resource
PHOTO & VIDEO:
Jimjonesfirstchurch, attributed to Indytnt, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jimjonesfirstchurch.jpg
1950s-present
Civil Rights Movement
Indianapolis
Ku Klux Klan
Marion County
NAACP
religion
Violence
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/e4716236586c699b58ea6cf484b26f39.jpg
12b51dd66edb5a981707db6c53fc2433
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Title
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Places
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North Gleason Park, Gary
Description
An account of the resource
<p>North Gleason Park in Gary was first developed in 1920. Originally named Riverside Park, it was renamed after the U.S. Steel Superintendent and park board president William P. Gleason in 1933. The park board segregated the park into north and south parcels using the Little Calumet River as a divider. The north section of the park was designated for African American patrons, the south for Gary’s white residents.[1] The funding for the two sides of the park was never equal, with the south side of the park enjoying more and better quality amenities than the north side, including an 18-hole golf course in South Gleason as opposed to the 9-hole course in North Gleason. Despite the inequality, the African American community in Gary embraced North Gleason Park as their own place to unwind and enjoy.[2]</p>
<p>One of the most popular attractions in North Gleason Park was the 9-hole golf course. Bonded by the love of the sport, golfers at North Gleason Park developed the “Par-Makers” in 1949, a social club that enjoyed hosting tournaments and encouraging competition. The Par-Makers developed a scholarship fund, created a youth golf program, and contributed their time to support local causes within the African American community. The club worked to eliminate exclusion at South Gleason Park’s 18-hole golf course, even using professional boxer Joe Louis to persuade the Gary park board to allow African Americans to play at the South Gleason course.[3] Ann Gregory from Gary, who became the first African American golfer to play in a USGA Championship, also helped break the racial barrier at Gleason Park. After being told she could not play at South Gleason Park by a staff and a groundskeeper, Gregory remarked that “My tax dollars are taking care of the big course and there's no way you can bar me from it. Just send the police out to get me" and she proceeded to play all 18 holes on the south side.[4] Through persistent efforts by African American golfers, the South Gleason Park golf course became integrated by the 1960s.[5]</p>
<p>The North Gleason Park pavilion was another popular space for Gary’s African American community and was used primarily as a boxing gym, but also for meetings and gatherings. Boxing greats such as Angel Manfredy (a popular contender in the 1990s) and “Merciless” Mary McGee (Women's Super Lightweight Champion of the World in December of 2019)[6] were trained in the pavilion under the instruction of retired police officer, John Taylor. Taylor was known for bringing young people in off the streets and turning them into boxing champions.[7] Today, efforts are being made to add the North Gleason Park pavilion to the National Register of Historic Places. Currently, the pavilion is in severe disrepair after years of neglect.[8] However, multiple groups and individuals from Gary have stepped up to offer their labor in hopes of repairing the pavilion for use once again.[9][10]</p>
Source
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[1] <span>Indiana Landmarks. Divided History. Indiana Landmarks, 2018. Accessed May 5, 2020. https://www.indianalandmarks.org/2018/11/seeking-a-save-for-gary-north-gleason-park-pavilion<br />[2] Indiana Landmarks. Divided History.<br />[3] Indiana Landmarks. Divided History.<br />[4] Rhonda Glenn. Pioneer Gregory Broke Color Barriers. USGA, 2005. Accessed May 7, 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20090826005546/http://www.usga.org/news/2005/February/Pioneer-Gregory-Broke-Color-Barriers<br />[5] Indiana Landmarks. Divided History.<br />[6] Joseph Phillips. Gary’s First boxing champion “Merciless” Mary McGee looks to successfully defend her title on Saturday Night, February 8. Accessed May 7, 2020. https://chicagocrusader.com/garys-first-boxing-champion-merciless-mary-mcgee-looks-to-successfully-defend-her-title-on-saturday-night-february-8<br />[7] Joseph Pete. Preservationists fighting to save historic boxing gym at Gary's North Gleason Park Pavilion. NWI Times, 2019. Accessed May 7, 2020. https://www.nwitimes.com/business/local/preservationists-fighting-to-save-historic-boxing-gym-at-gary-s/article_b56b9379-41b1-5bbe-8383-aefbdfacd040.html<br />[8] Joseph Pete. Groups hope to save historic Gary site. The Journal Gazette, 2019. Accessed May 7, 2020. https://www.journalgazette.net/news/local/indiana/20191117/groups-hope-to-save-historic-gary-sit<br />[9] Indiana Landmarks. Cleanup Kicks Off North Gleason Pavilion Preservation. Indiana Landmarks, 2019. Accessed May 5, 2020. https://www.indianalandmarks.org/2019/12/cleanup-kicks-off-north-gleason-pavilion-preservation<br />[10] Indiana Landmarks. Cleanup Kicks Off North Gleason Pavilion Preservation.</span>
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Student Author: Mary Swartz
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
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PHOTO & VIDEO:
Courtesy Indiana Landmarks https://www.indianalandmarks.org/2018/11/seeking-a-save-for-gary-north-gleason-park-pavilion/
1900-40s
1950s-present
athletics
Attraction
Gary
Integration
Lake County
Segregation
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/86e1528ed75b8f6229c9d93611650645.jpg
0ec650da7141e934d006207fbe264cb5
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Events
Dublin Core
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MLK: The Future of Integration Speech at Manchester University
Description
An account of the resource
<p>The 1960s were a time of great change and turmoil. The Civil Rights movement was at its height in the late 1960s, following the March on Washington in 1963, the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the passing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The leader of the Civil Rights movement was Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who traveled the country giving speeches, often on college campuses, calling for social justice and equal rights.</p>
<p>On February 1, 1968, King delivered a speech at Manchester University in North Manchester, Indiana, a private university associated with the Church of the Brethren. King had led campaigns for racial justice in the South and delivered similar speeches at colleges around the country, including in nearby Fort Wayne in 1963.[1] His Manchester speech was on the future of integration in the United States, highlighting a hope that race relations and equality in this country would get better in the years to come. “We have come a long, long way, but we must honestly face the fact that all over America we still have a long, long way to go before the problem of racial injustice is solved.”[2]</p>
<p>Manchester’s religious founder, the Church of the Brethren, is “committed to peace” and is one of the historic peace churches along with the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) and Mennonites.[3] Manchester University’s Peace Studies Institute and Program for Conflict Resolution was the first undergraduate Peace Studies program in the world. King’s message of non-violence was expected to resonate with Manchester faculty and students.[4] However, Dr. King’s speech was not met with all peaceful reactions. In preparation for an influx of demonstrators during King’s visit, tight security was imposed amid high tensions on campus and in the community of Manchester.[5] The President of the university, A. Blair Helman, received hate mail prior to and following Dr. King’s appearance.[6] Much of the negative reactions stemmed from King’s stance on the Vietnam War. In his speech, Dr. King mentioned his opposition to the war, stating that, “I am afraid that our national administration is more concerned about winning an ill-considered war in Vietnam than about winning the war against poverty right here at home. I raise my voice against that war because I have seen what it has done to our nation...It has diverted attention from civil rights.”[7]</p>
<p>Two months later, on April 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr was shot and killed in Memphis, Tennessee. His fight for civil rights and his powerful voice for social justice were silenced, but his legacy and message speak loud and clear today. Dr. King’s remarks at Manchester University was his last speech at a college campus, and the event is commemorated, with a bust in the likeness of King near the spot that he gave his address in 1968.[8]</p>
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
[1] <span>“Editorial: Half a Century Later, His Relevance Remains.” The Journal Gazette, 2018. Accessed April 22, 2020. https://www.journalgazette.net/opinion/editorials/20180115/half-a-century-laterhis-relevance-remains.<br />[2] Ibid.<br />[3] “Church of the Brethren peace heritage: A brief history”. Church of the Brethren. Accessed May 5, 2020. http://www.brethren.org/peace/heritage.html.<br />[4] “In the News, Black History Month: Where was MLK’s last campus address?” Manchester University, 2017. Accessed May 5, 2020. https://www.manchester.edu/about-manchester/news/news-articles/mlk-black-history-month-2018<br />[5] “Honoring Manchester’s Tradition of Peace and Justice.” Manchester University. Accessed April 22, 2020. https://www.manchester.edu/mlk50.<br />[6] Ibid<br />[7] King, Martin Luther, Jr. “The Future of Integration.” University Press of Kansas, Pp. 64. Accessed April 23, 2020. https://www.lib.kstate.edu/sites/default/files/documents/MLKatKState.pdf.<br />[8] “MC to dedicate Martin Luther King sculpture on speech site Feb 28”. Manchester University. Accessed May 5, 2020. https://www.manchester.edu/news/Archives/MLKbust0207.htm.</span>
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Student Author: Robin Johnson
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
Rights
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PHOTO & VIDEO:
Martin Luther King, Jr., attributed to Nobel Foundation, Public domain, via Wikimedia commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Martin_Luther_King,_Jr..jpg
1950s-present
Civil Rights Movement
Integration
North Manchester
Violence
Wabash County
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/e7a441f7868c743c34ebab3924519a06.jpg
6b197d1259dd7fd81051effaddb1f7b5
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Places
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African American Civil Conservation Corps (CCC)
Description
An account of the resource
<p>The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was one of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s most popular New Deal relief agencies, employing approximately three million men between the ages of 17 and 23, from 1933 to 1942, in 57 camps across the United States.[1] The CCC was heavily responsible for the creation of many structures and infrastructure within Indiana state parks and forests, as well as many other public works across the state.[2] Eight Indiana CCC companies were comprised solely of African Americans. Company 517-C, formed in 1934 with 250 men and based outside of Corydon, became the largest and most enduring African American CCC company.[3] The “-C” in the name designated it as a “colored” group.[4]</p>
<p>One member of Company 517-C, Francis Crowdus, recounted his experience in the CCC, saying “there was a sense of high expectation. We worked hard and were expected to do it right. We used our muscles…we built barracks, dams, fought forest fires, reclaimed streams, and planted forests. Even though the CCC was one of President Roosevelt’s job programs, I never felt I was on welfare.”[5] In addition to the work described by Crowdus, the 517-C worked in natural stone quarries, as well as helped in rescue efforts following the flood of 1937.[6]</p>
<p>The time spent in segregated camps afforded the men opportunities they would not have otherwise had. At Corydon, Company 517-C was isolated from the surrounding white community, cementing a sense of belonging for those in 517-C. Another former member of Company 517-C claimed “I’ve never seen such camaraderie anywhere, not even in a fraternity or a church. It’s like blood brothers.” With this strong sense of teamwork, Company 517-C coined the phrase “We Can Take It!” as their motto, highlighting their hard work and friendship.[7]</p>
<p>While New Deal historians argue that race relations did not see improvement on a national level as a result of the CCC, it can be argued that race relations did improve on a local level by the brotherhood developed among African American young men following the Great Depression. Many white farmers and landowners of southern Indiana openly accepted and appreciated the help of the African American CCC groups.[8][9]</p>
<p>However, members of the 517-C were the subject of great prejudice in other areas of Indiana. Company 517-C moved to Portland in Jay County in the fall of 1939 to repair a drainage system. Their arrival caused much anxiety throughout the community. An editorial in The Sun & Commercial asked local citizens not to be alarmed assuring that “during the few months they will be kept under strict discipline by their white officers.”[10] With no diversity in Portland, the men of 517-C traveled to Muncie or Fort Wayne for their weekend social activities. With Camp Portland close to town, the local community cultivated a growing distrust of the CCC workers.</p>
<p>One of the 517-C crew, Marshall Carter, walked through an alley on his way out of town one evening in December 1939. A local resident yelled at him to stop, then open fired without warning, severely wounding Carter, and he was rushed to the local hospital. The attack was initially ignored in the national CCC paper Happy Days, greatly upsetting many of the African American CCC members.[11] However, the December 1939 issue of Ditch Dots and Dashes, published by 517-C members, blared the headline “Local Citizen Shoots C.C.C. Boy, Marshall Carter is Victim”. Subsequent issues included submissions from 517-C crew lamenting racial injustice in the form of testimonials and poetry, including Carter with a poem titled So You’re the Judge.[12] It was reported in the February 1940 issue that Carter had recovered from his wounds.[13]</p>
<p>In 1942, the CCC disbanded nationally as young men were needed to fight in WWII. Many members of the 517-C met for annual reunions at their camps in Corydon and Portland until the last CCC reunion in 1994.[14]</p>
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
[1] <span>Barbara Quigley. CIVILIAN CONSERVATION CORPS COMPANY 517 PHOTOGRAPHS, CA. 1934. Indiana History, 2004. Accessed May 4, 2020. https://www.indianahistory.org/wp-content/uploads/civilian-conservation-corps-company-517.pdf<br />[2] Katie Martin. “We Can Take It!” Race and the Civilian Conservation Corps in Indiana, 1934‒1941. Journal of Purdue Undergraduate Research, 2014. Accessed May 4, 2020. https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1124&context=jpur<br />[3] Barbara Quigley.<br />[4] Katie Martin.<br />[5] Barbara Quigley.<br />[6] Barbara Quigley.<br />[7] Katie Martin.<br />[8] Katie Martin.<br />[9] Barbara Quigley.<br />[10] Katie Martin.<br />[11] Katie Martin.<br />[12] Ditch Dots and Dashes, December 1939, pp. 12, 19. Accessed May 7, 2020. https://dds.crl.edu/crldelivery/20158.<br />[13] Ditch Dots and Dashes, February 1940, p. 3. Accessed May 7, 2020. https://dds.crl.edu/crldelivery/20158.<br />[14] Katie Martin.</span>
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Student Author: Mary Swartz
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
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PHOTO & VIDEO:
Ditch dots and dashes, attributed to
Civilian Conservation Corps (U.S.), Public domain, via Indiana State Library
https://indianamemory.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16066coll49/id/632/rec/15
1900-40s
Civil Conservation Corps
Indianapolis
Marion County
Organization
Segregation
Violence
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/0a10c5fb9af90d2e11bf826876f1e25c.jpg
51bf00d8e4e4a981bfe5458c54f604d8
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Places
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Indiana Avenue Jazz Scene
Description
An account of the resource
<p>The jazz scene in Indianapolis was born during a time of segregation and Jim Crow laws, when African Americans could not attend musical concerts and shows, nor perform, in certain clubs and theatres. As a result, African Americans created their own venues and businesses in many cities in the pre-Civil Rights era. Indiana Avenue was the economic and cultural center of the African American community in Indianapolis. Jazz became big during the 1920s Harlem Renaissance in New York, and then spread to the rest of the country. Indiana Avenue, or simply “The Avenue”, became the capital of jazz in Indiana from the 1920s to the 1960s.[1] Night clubs and live music spots lined Indiana Avenue “from one end of it to the other, from Ohio Street to Lockefield.”[2]</p>
<p>Nightclubs and theaters such as the Washington, Sunset Terrace Ballroom, Columbia Theater, and the Walker Theatre hosted renowned African American musicians and entertainers, such as Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald and Cab Calloway.[3] Local musicians cut their teeth jamming onstage with jazz legends, and some became legends of their own right, like Wes Montgomery, Slide Hampton, David Baker, and many others.[4] Live performances were announced in the African American Indianapolis Recorder, with colorful headlines such as this one: “Ella Fitzgerald, Sunset Thurs. Nite: Jamtown’s Jumpiest Jivers With That Savage Rhythm, Fiery Beats, Torrid Tempos Will Put You in the Groove and You’re [sic] Feet Just Gotta Move!”[5]</p>
<p>Among the musicians who performed on The Avenue were the Montgomery Brothers. Born in Indianapolis, the Montgomery Brothers (Monk, Buddy, and Wes) were each a talented musician in his own right. Monk was the first to record on an electric bass and played in Lionel Hampton’s band. Buddy, a pianist, performed with trombonist Slide Hampton and later with Miles Davis. Wes, who is considered to be one of the most influential jazz guitarists, started out experimenting with different techniques after initially being taught by older brother Monk, but received no formal training.[6]</p>
<p>In many ways, jazz helped set the stage for the Civil Rights movement, as many musicians spoke out against racial inequality. Duke Ellington, for example, had in his contracts that he would not play for segregated audiences. While touring the South in the 1930s, he rented three train cars for his band to avoid Jim Crow laws that limited African American options for overnight lodging. Ellington’s fight for civil rights and African American pride was most evident in his music, which he referred to as “African American classical music.”[7]</p>
<p>Locally, the creation of segregated Crispus Attucks High School in 1927, a public school for Indianapolis’ African American students, coincided with the jazz explosion. Attucks’ highly regarded music department and the openness of Indiana Avenue combined to provide opportunities for young local African Americans musicians at a time when many Indianapolis music venues were not open to them. David Baker, a Crispus Attucks graduate and famed jazz composer, conductor, and musician reflected on the Indianapolis jazz scene and his experience as a young African American musician. "People tend to excel in the areas that are open to them. At that time, a black was expected to play religious music, R & B or jazz. I can remember auditioning for the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and being told, in no uncertain terms, that even though my audition was the best, there was no chance that I'd become a member."[8]</p>
<p>In 1994, an Indiana Historical Bureau marker was placed on Indiana Avenue to commemorate the area’s role as an African American social, cultural, and economic center in the first half of the 20th century.[9]</p>
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
[1] <span>Johnson, David. Along the Avenue: the Legacy of Indianapolis Jazz. Indiana Public Media, 2007. Accessed March 26, 2020.<br />[2] Fenwick, Tyler. Indiana Avenue: The Grand Ol’ Street. Indianapolis Recorder, 2019. Accessed March 25, 2020.<br />[3] Utz, Rollins, and Gulde, National Register of Historic Places Nomination Indiana Avenue Historic District: 9.; “3 Big Nights of Dancing Next Week – Z. Whyte Coming,” Indianapolis Recorder (Indianapolis, IN), Oct. 26, 1929.; “’Stormy Weather’ At Walker Sunday,” Indianapolis Recorder (Indianapolis, IN), Jan. 26, 1946.<br />[4] David Leander Williams, Indianapolis Jazz: The Masters, Legends, and Legacy of Indiana Avenue, (Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2014): 11, 16.<br />[5] “Ella Fitzgerald, Sunset Thurs. Night,” Indianapolis Recorder (Indianapolis, IN), May 17, 1941.<br />[6] Williams, David Leander. Indianapolis Jazz: The Masters, Legends, and Legacy of Indiana Avenue. The History Press, 2014. Pp. 86.<br />[7] Verity, Michael. “Jazz and the Civil Rights Movement: How Jazz Musicians Spoke Out for Racial Equality.” Live About, 2018. Accessed March 31, 2020.<br />[8] Johnson, David. “The Sunset Terrace Ballroom brought jazz legends to Indianpolis.” Night Lights Classic Jazz with David Brent Johns, September 18, 2007. Accessed March 31, 2020, http://www.indianapolisrecorder.com/aroundtown/article_f340f4fa-9358-11e9-bb78-9f4f3a75ee01.html<br />[9] Indiana Historical Bureau, Indiana Avenue Historical Marker. Accessted March 31, 2020, https://www.in.gov/history/markers/219.htm</span>
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Student Authors: Robin Johnson and Sydney Schrock
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
Relation
A related resource
<a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/219.htm">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker</a>
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
PHOTO & VIDEO:
Montgomery Brothers and Willis Kirk Perform on Indiana Avenue, Indiana Historical Society, P0507.
https://images.indianahistory.org/digital/collection/V0002/id/3896/rec/7
1900-40s
1950s-present
arts
Entertainment
Indiana Historical Bureau Marker
Indianapolis
Jazz
Marion County
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/ab61404f88681143b970b730e920e02f.jpg
3d3326d5c1ec6f841ecf42d949477cb4
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Places
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Fox Lake Resort
Description
An account of the resource
<p>Fox Lake Resort was the first and only resort established in Indiana catering to African American families, and one of only a few in the Midwest. In September 1924, a group of white Fort Wayne businessmen purchased land in Angola, Indiana, under the name of the Fox Lake Land Company. Their intention was to market the land to the growing Indiana African American community, specifically to African Americans in search of an independent resort where they would not be excluded. Almost all summer resorts at the time in Indiana excluded or severely limited the participation of African Americans. Advertisements described the resort as “a place of their own where they could escape the heat of the cities and enjoy the pleasures of summertime activities.”[1]</p>
<p>The first African American family to vacation there was that of Viola Reynolds in 1927. Reynolds was secretary at the Madam C.J. Walker Company, an Indianapolis cosmetic manufacturing business, which was the largest and most successful African American-owned business in the nation at that time. The Reynolds family was invited to buy a cottage from the Boyd family, a white family who had purchased land from the Fox Lake Land Company. News quickly spread about the resort, initially bringing in African American clientele mostly from Indianapolis, but soon bringing in visitors from cities within a day driving distance such as Detroit, Chicago, Toledo, Marion, and Fort Wayne.[2]</p>
<p></p>
<p>The Fox Lake resort was listed in the Negro Motorist Green Book, a book published annually by Victor H. Green that listed establishments that served African American patrons. The Green Book was published from 1936 to 1966, during which that resort was listed as “ANGOLA: Fox Lake Resort - 1 1/2 miles S. W. of Angola” in the 1941 edition.[3]</p>
<p>In its initial decade, Fox Lake residents were required to use a community water pump until wells could be built on the properties. Finally, in 1936 electricity arrived and 1938 saw the arrival of the Fox Lake Property Owners Association which organized trash removal, road maintenance, and the like. By the 1940s, the resort’s clubhouse hosted many well known musicians. The resort also boasted recreational amenities including tennis courts, horseshoe pits, and basketball hoops.[4] Saddle horses were also available until the early 1950s. Other activities included trap shooting matches, weekly Family Night at the restaurant, and Sunday school held on the beach under the trees.[5]</p>
<p>For the African American youth that lived within driving distance, the resort served as a recreational destination for beach swimming, dancing, and socializing. During World War II, African American troops stationed at nearby Baer Field in Fort Wayne were invited to enjoy the resort on their free weekends. In addition, a variety of meetings of African American fraternal organizations, churches, and alumni groups were also held at the resort.[6]</p>
<p>In the present day, Fox Lake Resort is still a flourishing African American community. Traditions dating back to the 1930s remain upheld by second and third generation lake cottage owners.[7] A portion of Fox Lake Resort, with 27 contributing single dwelling cottages, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (since 2001) as a historic district.[8]</p>
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
[1] Ronald J. Stephens. FOX LAKE, ANGOLA, INDIANA (1927- ), 2014. Accessed April 29, 2020. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/fox-lake-angola-indiana-1927/ <br />[2] Ronald J. Stephens. <br />[3] Smithsonian Institution. The Negro Motorist Green Book, 2017. Accessed April 29, 2020. https://edan.si.edu/transcription/pdf_files/7955.pdf <br />[4] Ronald J. Stephens. <br />[5] National Register of Historic Places. Fox Lake Angola, Indiana, 2002. Accessed April 29, 2020. https://www.nps.gov/nr/feature/afam/2002/foxlake.htm <br />[6] National Register of Historic Places. <br />[7] National Register of Historic Places. <br />[8] United States Department of the Interior. National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, 2001. Accessed April 29, 2020. https://secure.in.gov/apps/dnr/shaard/r/22fce/N/Fox_Lake_Steuben_CO_Nom.pdf
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Student Author: Mary Swartz
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
Relation
A related resource
<a href="%20https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/01000360">National Register of Historic Places</a>
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
PHOTO & VIDEO:
Fox Lake Resort, 760 Lane 130, attributed to MrHarman, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fox_Lake_Resort,_760_Lane_130_(NRHP),_Angola,_IN.jpg
Fox Lake, West End, (Angola), Ind., Indiana Historical Society, P0408.
https://images.indianahistory.org/digital/collection/p16797coll72/id/1038/rec/45
1900-40s
Angola
Attraction
National Register of Historic Places
Segregation
Steuben County
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/b8943a604790c9d4ea3b0a8f33b77df7.jpg
f6af3bd85d62755f2b9102b00d1a709a
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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People
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Evangeline Harris Merriweather
Description
An account of the resource
<p>Evangeline E. Harris was born in 1893 and raised in Terre Haute, Indiana. She attended Oberlin College in Ohio, Columbia University, and was an accomplished opera singer at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, before earning her master’s degree in education from Indiana State Normal School, now Indiana State University, in Terre Haute. Harris was a school teacher and music supervisor at various elementary schools in the Terre Haute area.[1] In 1936, she married Charles Merriweather and they remained in Terre Haute. Harris Merriweather continued to teach elementary school and perform as an opera singer both locally and across the nation.[2]</p>
<p>As part of her master’s thesis in the late 1930s, Harris sent out 500 questionnaires to African American elementary school officials throughout the Unites States, asking whether they had access to materials that highlighted the importance of African American culture, African American people of high achievement, or showed African American families. Only a handful of schools had materials that presented African Americans accurately and fairly. In response, she began writing the first of many editions of “Stories for Little Tots”, published in 1940, which was a collection of biographies of important African American individuals, specifically targeted for school-aged children. During this time, she was befriended by Dr. George Washington Carver who helped her promote “Stories for Little Tots”, which featured a biography of Carver.[3]</p>
<p>Harris Merriweather also wrote “A History of Eminent Negroes”, highlighting accomplished African American individuals. Each of her books, including her three-part “The Family” elementary reader series and “Stories for Little Tots”, went on to become highly useful educational tools for African American schools across the nation. Her books were an unprecedented form of literature designed for African American young people. According to Terre Haute resident James Flinn, “All the reading material at that time was written by whites for whites about whites.”[4] In fact, most of the authors writing about African American culture at the time were white as well, creating a skewed perspective and fostering African American stereotypes amongst their readers.</p>
<p>The small number of African American children literature authors in the 1940s had a limited reach and a very small audience, contributing to the prejudice and the self-fulfilling prophecies of the African American children who read of themselves mostly in a negative stereotypical light and portrayed by white authors.[5] One of Merriweather’s former students, Carolyn Roberts, who became a elementary teacher herself, remarked on the importance of Merriweather’s readers. “The first time to open up a book and see an African-American, and see what they had done, was so important.”[6] It was writers such as Harris Merriweather that greatly contributed to the shift in African American children’s literature and education, from harmful prejudiced views to those that inspired hope and motivation amongst young African American readers.</p>
<p>Evangeline suffered a fatal cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 57, while still in the prime of her writing, educational, and singing career. Her contributions to African American children’s literature and culture are memorialized by an Indiana Historical Bureau marker on the campus of Indiana State University (formerly Indiana State Normal School).[7]</p>
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
[1] Mike McCormick. Evangeline Harris Merriweather. Terre Haute Tribune-Star, 2001. Accessed May 4, 2020. https://digital.library.in.gov/Record/WV3_vchs-562 <br />[2] Vigo County Public Library. Evangeline Harris Merriweather Collection, N.D. Accessed May 4, 2020. https://www.vigo.lib.in.us/archives/inventories/aa/merriweather1.php <br />[3] Vigo County Public Library.<br />[4] Mike McCormick. Evangeline Harris Merriweather. <br />[5] Horn Book. The Changing Image of the Black in Children's Literature. The Horn Book, 1975. Accessed May 4, 2020. https://www.hbook.com/?detailStory=the-changing-image-of-the-black-in-childrens-literature <br />[6] Mike McCormick. Evangeline Harris Merriweather. <br />[7] Indiana Historical Bureau. Evangeline E. Harris. IN.gov, 2018. Accessed May 4, 2020. https://www.in.gov/history/markers/4414.htm
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Student Author: Mary Swartz
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
Relation
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<a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/4414.htm">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker</a>
Rights
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PHOTO & VIDEO:
Evangeline Harris Merriwether 1949, public domain, via Indiana Album Inc., http://indianaalbum.pastperfectonline.com/photo/82D69F28-E9A9-40A5-BF87-981528434361
1900-1940s
education
Indiana Historical Bureau Marker
Segregation
Terre Haute
Vigo County
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/0b71b8bf54d29b6cba08da7a9192fca2.jpg
a1efcbd591251b7394c7e831915eaf57
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Places
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Crispus Attucks High School
Description
An account of the resource
<p>Crispus Attucks High School, located in Indianapolis, Indiana, opened in 1927. Originally, it was to be named after President Thomas Jefferson. However, the idea of a school built explicitly for African American students named for a white slave owner invoked multiple petitions from the African American community. The name changed to Crispus Attucks to honor the runaway slave who is said to have been the first person to die in the American Revolution, during the Boston Massacre.[1]</p>
<p>The 1920s marked a great resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan in Indiana, which pressured for segregated education. There was much pushback from African Americans regarding Crispus Attucks being segregated. The Better Indianapolis League, as well as African American churches such as the Bethel AME Church in Indianapolis, strongly opposed segregating the school.[2] Despite this, the school board voted unanimously on segregation. African American students who had previously attended integrated Indianapolis high schools, such as Arsenal Technical, Washington, and Shortridge, moved to Crispus Attucks upon the school’s opening, and were no longer allowed to attend any other public high school in the city. The Indianapolis Recorder reported on this incident, stating: “About two dozen of boys and girls who appeared at Shortridge, Manual and Technical High Schools...were refused admission...The Negro citizens are now faced with the circumstance, voiced by opponents of a Negro High School in the past. The great establishments as Technical, Manual, and Shortridge, offer subjects or works, and facilities that Negro boys and girls will never have at the Attucks High School, some parents declare.”[3]</p>
<p>Many Crispus Attucks’ teachers held master’s degrees or PhDs, which was unusual for a high school at the time. Richard Pierce in Polite Protest states, “By 1934, seven years after opening its doors, the sixty-two-member faculty held nineteen master’s degrees and two Ph.D.s. The percentage of advanced degrees held by Attucks’s faculty far exceeded that of any other high school in the city.”[4] With the amount of highly educated faculty, Attucks provided quality education despite the lack of quality resources compared to the city’s white high schools. The school also found success in sports. In the 1950s, the Attucks Tigers won two consecutive state basketball championships. The 1955 championship made the Tigers the first segregated black high school team in US history to win a state title.[5] Notable athletes who played on the team included future NBA Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson.[6]</p>
<p>Statewide desegregation was enacted into law by the Indiana General Assembly in 1949, five years before the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision. However, Crispus Attucks continued to be a segregated African American high school. In 1965, the president of the NAACP requested an investigation into why Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) were still segregated. In 1968, the Department of Justice “directed IPS to begin taking voluntary steps toward actual integration.” IPS ignored this directive, which was met with protests from the African American community, and from whites who refused to let their children attend Attucks High School. The school would remain segregated until September 7, 1971 “under court-ordered desegregation”.[7]</p>
<p>Recognized for both its architecture and its role in African American education and civil rights, Crispus Attucks High School was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1989. In 1992, the Indiana Historical Bureau erected a historical marker in front of the school, recounting its history and its importance to the Indianapolis African American community.</p>
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
[1] <span>“Crispus Attucks High School.” National Park Service National Register of Historic Places. Accessed March 20, 2020, https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/indianapolis/crispusattucks.htm.<br />[2] Glass, James A. “AME Church has proud history in Indiana.” Indy Star, 2016. Accessed March 20, 2020.<br />[3] “Students Barred From High Schools,” Indianapolis Recorder, September 24, 1927, 2. Accessed March 24, 2020.<br />[4] Pierce, Richard B. Polite Protest: The Political Economy of Race in Indianapolis, 1920-1970, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 32.<br />[5] Crispus Attucks High School IHB Marker Review. Indiana Historical Bureau, 2014, 3. Accessed March 24, 2020, https://www.in.gov/history/files/49.1992.1review.pdf.<br />[6] Robertson, Oscar. How an all-black high school team starring Oscar Robertson changed Hoosier Hysteria. Accessed March 24, 2020, https://theundefeated.com/features/oscar-robertson-crispus-attucks-tigers/<br />[7] Crispus Attucks High School IHB Marker Review.</span>
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Student Authors: Robin Johnson and Emma Brauer
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
Rights
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PHOTO & VIDEO:
Crispus Attucks High School, attributed to Nyttend, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Crispus_Attucks_High_School.jpg
Relation
A related resource
<a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/211.htm">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker</a><br /><a href="https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/88003043">National Register of Historic Places</a>
1900-40s
1950s-present
education
Indiana Historical Bureau Marker
Indianapolis
Marion County
National Register of Historic Places
Segregation
Sports
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/bd8c0cdc80b0992c4a68b0b000626a7e.jpg
9fefff9d5e66e513e0b563cc63f4ff9a
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
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People
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
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Aaron Fisher
Description
An account of the resource
Aaron Richard Fisher was born on May 14, 1895 in Lyles Station, one of Indiana’s earliest African American settlements. His father, Benjamin, served in the 6th Colored Calvary Regiment in the Union Army during the Civil War.[1] Fisher attended public school in Lyles Station before attending segregated African American Lincoln High School in nearby Princeton. After graduating, Fisher enlisted in the Army at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri in 1911.[2] After training in Texas and Ohio, he was promoted to Corporal. Fisher transferred to New Mexico in 1916, where he and his unit were stationed until the United States entered World War I in 1917. <br /><br />During WWI, the US military maintained segregated white and African American units, both serving under white officers.[3] African American soldiers were usually sent overseas for non-combat roles such as building roads and railroads, repairing ships, and grave digging. The Indianapolis Freeman stated that “The cry has gone forth that the Negroes will do the laboring part, while white men carry the guns.”[4] World War I starkly illustrated the need for equal rights, as African Americans were fighting for a nation that treated them as second-class citizens. Freedoms they were fighting for as soldiers were not available to them at home, and instead, African Americans in Indiana and across the country experienced segregation, discrimination, and racial violence. In response to President Wilson’s war declaration address in 1917 that “The world must be made safe for democracy”, the editor of the African American newspaper The Messenger remarked that “We would rather make Georgia safe for the Negro.”[5] <br /><br />The American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) Commander General John Pershing approved the African American 92nd and 93rd divisions for combat duty in France. The 92nd would fight under American officers while the 93rd would fight under French command.[6] Fisher, who had been promoted to 1st Sergeant, and then 2nd Lieutenant, was part of the 92nd division in the African American 366th Infantry Regiment. In 1918, Fisher and his unit were sent overseas to St. Nazaire, France. On September 3, Fisher commanded his unit during a German trench raid near Lesseux, France, where he led a counterattack despite being severely wounded.[7][8] After being sent to the hospital for recovery, he would stay in Europe until the end of the war and returned to the US in February 1919.[9] <br /><br />For his bravery and leadership in battle, Fisher was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and the Purple Heart. The French government awarded him the Croix de Guerre with gold star, as an “officer of admirable courage”.[10] He was “among the most decorated American soldiers in WWI” and the most highly decorated WWI African American soldier from Indiana.[11] On March 17, 1919, Fisher was honorably discharged from service with the rank of Captain in the Army Reserve. He reenlisted several months later and was subsequently stationed in the southwest, Hawaii, and the Phillippines.[12] After returning to the US, Fisher was transferred to Wilberforce University in Ohio, the nation’s oldest historically black University owned by African Americans. At Wilberforce, he was an instructor in their ROTC military tactics unit and trained African American officers who would serve in World War II. He lived in Wilberforce until his retirement from the Armed Forces on December 31, 1947.[13] Fisher moved to Xenia, Ohio, and worked at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base until his retirement in 1965. Fisher passed away on November 22, 1985, at the age of 90.[14]
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
[1] McBride, Connor. “Aaron R. Fisher.” United States World War I Centennial Commission. Accessed April 10, 2020. <br />[2] Ibid. <br />[3] “Hometown Boys from Indiana: Information and Statistics About WWI Service Members.” American Battle Monuments Commission, 2018. Accessed April 14, 2020. <br />[4] Thornborough, Emma Lou. Indiana Blacks in the Twentieth Century. Indiana University Press, Bloomington, Indianapolis. Pp. 45. <br />[5] Williams, Chad. African-American Veterans Hoped Their Service in World War I Would Secure Their Rights at Home. It Didn’t. https://time.com/5450336/african-american-veterans-wwi/. Accessed April 16, 2020. <br />[6] McBride, Connor.<br />[7] Ibid. <br />[8] Thornborough, Emma Lou. Pp. 45. <br />[9] McBride, Connor.<br />[10] Ibid. <br />[11] "Hometown Boys from Indiana: Information and Statistics About WWI Service Members.”<br />[12] McBride, Connor. <br />[13] Ibid. <br />[14] Reike, Greg. “Aaron Richard ‘Cap’ Fisher.” Find A Grave. Accessed April 16 2020.
Contributor
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Student Author: Robin Johnson
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
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PHOTO & VIDEO:
Aaron R. Fisher, attributed to U.S. Army, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aaron_R._Fisher.jpg
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<a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/424.htm">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker</a>
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Willard B. Ransom
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Willard B. (Mike) Ransom was born in Indianapolis in 1916. He attended Crispus Attucks High School, newly opened as an African American high school in 1927. As an athlete at Attucks, he and his teammates were barred from competition against white schools by the Indiana High School Athletic Association.[1] Ransom graduated from Talladega College in Alabama in 1932 with summa cum laude honors and earned his Juris Doctorate from Harvard in 1939, as the only African American in his law school graduating class.[2]<br /><br />Just a few years after earning his law degree, Willard Ransom was appointed Indiana’s assistant attorney general. Only two months into his four-year term, he was drafted into the US Army in 1941. Ransom was eventually deployed to Belgium and France, and worked in the Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Office. During his service, Ransom, along with other African American service men, experienced “blatantly discriminatory and humiliating treatment.” He recalls, “We were fighting discrimination. Black officers couldn’t go into officers’ clubs, enlisted men couldn’t go into the noncommissioned officers’ clubs.”[3] <br /><br />After the war, he returned to Indianapolis where he experienced prejudice and discrimination, as nearly all downtown restaurants, hotels, theaters, and other public places were segregated and closed to African Americans, which he considered an “overt slap in the face.”[4] During a 1991 interview, he said, “the contrast between having served in the Army and running into this discrimination and barriers at home was a discouraging thing.”[5] In order to fight the racial discrimination he and others experienced in Indiana in the 1940s, Ransom reorganized the state chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and served five terms as its chairman. He served as an Indiana delegate at the 1948 Progressive Party national convention, befitting his aggressive and relatively radical approach to leadership in the 1940s Civil Rights movement. Ransom organized local protests against businesses, before many of the marches and sit-ins that took place in the South.[6] He organized small sit-ins at a White Castle hamburger stand, drugstores, department stores, and restaurants.[7] He led over 50 protesters at a sit-in at the segregated bus station restaurant at the former Traction Terminal Building in downtown Indianapolis. Ransom recalls, “There was a big restaurant there, and there were so many blacks traveling on buses. We were insulted in that place because no one would serve us.”[8] His efforts to end segregation through protests and sit-ins lead to several arrests for Ransom.[9] <br /><br />Ransom worked closely with NAACP’s chief lawyer (and future Supreme Court Justice) Thurgood Marshall in the late 1940s regarding school desegregation in Indiana. He wrote Marshall in 1948 “we are going to approach the various school boards again with petitions asking abolition of segregated schools….” He was part of a group of lawyers who drafted the “Fair Schools” bill which was passed by the Indiana General Assembly in 1949, legally ended segregated schools in Indiana.[10] The African American Indianapolis Recorder proclaimed “we assert this is the greatest forward stride in democracy made by the Hoosier State since the Civil War.”[11] <br /><br />Willard served as the assistant manager of Madame C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company, the highly successful and well-known African American-owned cosmetics company, from 1947 to 1954, and then became the general manager until 1971, as well as Trustee of the Walker Estate. After the sale of the Walker Manufacturing Company in 1986, he served as a board member of the Madame C.J. Walker Urban Life Center, a non-profit organization which operated the Walker Building for educational, charitable, and cultural functions benefiting the African American community in Indianapolis.[12] <br />In 1970, Ransom co-founded the Indiana Black Expo and served as chair of the Finance Committee. He served on the board of directors of the National Conference of Christians and Jews, now known as the National Conference for Community and Justice. Ransom helped create the Concerned Ministers of Indianapolis, a group who focused on the integration of African Americans into the business world; in 1993, he received the organization’s Thurgood Marshall Award in 1993 for his dedication to civil rights.[13] Ransom became the first African American director of the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce and board member of the Merchants National Bank and Trust Company.[14] Ransom was a partner in the Indianapolis law firm Bamberger & Feibleman from 1971 until his death at the age of 79 in November 1995.[15] <br /><br />Willard “Mike” Ransom was recognized on numerous occasions for his influence on Civil Rights in Indiana, and the Hoosier state would have looked very different for African Americans if not for his and his father’s (Freeman Ransom) ceaseless activism and pursuit of equal rights. The family lived in segregated downtown Indianapolis in what is now known as the Ransom Place Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992, honoring the family for their contributions to Civil Rights in Indiana.[16]
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[1] Madison, James. “’Gone to Another Meeting’:Willard B. Ransom and Early Civil Rights Leadership”. Indiana Magazine of History, 114 (September 2018).<br />[2] Jones, Jae. Willard Ransom: Pioneer in Civil Rights Movement in Indianapolis.December 9, 2017. Accessed February 12, 2019.<br />[3] St. Clair, James E. and Linda C. Gugin. Indiana’s 200: The People Who Shaped the Hoosier State.Indiana Historical Society Press. 2015. Accessed March 9, 2020. <br />[4] Madison, James.<br />[5] Henry Hedgepath, “Who’s Who,” The Indianapolis Recorder(1982), 3.<br />[6] Ransom family papers show attorneys' work to end discrimination.March 9, 2016. Accessed February 12,2019. <br />[7] Madison, James.<br />[8] Hedgepath, “Who’s Who,” 3.<br />[9] Madison, James.<br />[10] Madison, James.<br />[11] Indianapolis Recorder,March 12, 1949.<br />[12] Madison, James<br />[13] Pattillo, Rebecca. Ransom Family Papers, 1912-2011, 4. Indiana Historical Society. December 2015. Accessed March 9, 2020. <br />[14] Pattillo, Rebecca. Ransom Family Papers, 1912-2011, 4. Indiana Historical Society. December 2015. Accessed March 9, 2020. <br />[15] Pattillo, Rebecca. Ransom Family Papers, 1912-2011, 4.Indiana Historical Society. December 2015. Accessed March 9, 2020. <br />[16] Ransom Place Historic District, National Park Service. Accessed March 13, 2020. https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/92001650.
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Student Authors: Melody Seberger and Robin Johnson
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
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<a href="https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/92001650" target="_blank" rel="noopener">National Register of Historic Places</a><br /><a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/216.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker</a>
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PHOTO & VIDEO:
Willard Ransom, Indianapolis Recorder Collection, Indiana Historical Society.
https://images.indianahistory.org/digital/collection/p0303/id/180/rec/2
1900-1940s
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athletics
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Indiana Historical Bureau Marker
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law
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Madam C.J. Walker
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<p><span data-contrast="auto">Madam C.J. Walker, originally named Sarah Breedlove, was born </span><span data-contrast="auto">in</span><span data-contrast="auto"> 1867 in Louisiana to former slaves.</span><span data-contrast="auto"> At the age of </span><span data-contrast="auto">seven</span><span data-contrast="auto">, she became an orphan and lived with her older sister Louvenia</span><span data-contrast="auto">.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">1]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> Breedlove married Moses McWilliams at the age of 14 and </span><span data-contrast="auto">in 1885, </span><span data-contrast="auto">they had a daughter Lelia</span><span data-contrast="auto">. </span><span data-contrast="auto">Widowed </span><span data-contrast="auto">two years later, </span><span data-contrast="auto">Sarah </span><span data-contrast="auto">Breedlove McWilliams and her daughter moved to St. Louis, where she worked as a laundress and studied at night school.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">2]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">Breedlove McWilliams</span><span data-contrast="auto"> suffered from hair loss, which inspired</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">experiment</span><span data-contrast="auto">ation</span><span data-contrast="auto"> with homemade hair care remedies, resulting in products that promoted </span><span data-contrast="auto">healthy </span><span data-contrast="auto">hair growth.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">3]<br /></span><span data-ccp-props="{"335559740":480}"><br /></span><span data-contrast="auto">In 1906, while living in Denver, Colorado, Breedlove McWilliams married </span><span data-contrast="auto">Charles Joseph</span><span data-contrast="auto"> Walker</span><span data-contrast="auto">, who worked in advertising</span><span data-contrast="auto">. </span><span data-contrast="auto">She became known as Madam C.J. Walker and</span><span data-contrast="auto"> decided to sell her</span><span data-contrast="auto"> own hair care</span><span data-contrast="auto"> products under </span><span data-contrast="auto">her new moniker</span><span data-contrast="auto">.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">4]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">The </span><span data-contrast="auto">new name</span><span data-contrast="auto"> evoked a French flair </span><span data-contrast="auto">to make her products more impressive to potential buyers</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">as opposed to a</span><span data-contrast="auto"> “condescending name like ‘Aunt Sarah</span><span data-contrast="auto">.</span><span data-contrast="auto">’”[</span><span data-contrast="auto">5]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">In 1908, </span><span data-contrast="auto">while living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, </span><span data-contrast="auto">Walker founded Lelia College, named for her daughter, which offered a course in her</span><span data-contrast="auto"> hair care and beauty</span><span data-contrast="auto"> methods</span><span data-contrast="auto"> to aspiring “hair culturists”</span><span data-contrast="auto">.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">6]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">In 1910, </span><span data-contrast="auto">the Walkers </span><span data-contrast="auto">moved to Indianapolis, Indiana, where she opened a laboratory and a beauty school. </span><span data-contrast="auto">Walker and her husband </span><span data-contrast="auto">divorced</span><span data-contrast="auto"> in 1912.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">7]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-ccp-props="{"335559740":480}"> <br /><br /></span><span data-contrast="auto">The Madam C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company included a factory, and along with the laboratory and beauty school, </span><span data-contrast="auto">manufactured </span><span data-contrast="auto">Walker’s beauty products and train</span><span data-contrast="auto">ed</span><span data-contrast="auto"> her nationwide sales force of “beauty</span><span data-contrast="auto"> culturi</span><span data-contrast="auto">sts” using the “The Walker System”. </span><span data-contrast="auto">With </span><span data-contrast="auto">the factory employees</span><span data-contrast="auto"> and</span><span data-contrast="auto"> thousands of </span><span data-contrast="auto">African American women sales </span><span data-contrast="auto">agents across the country, Walker ran a successful </span><span data-contrast="auto">line of </span><span data-contrast="auto">cosmetic and </span><span data-contrast="auto">hair care products that not only promoted hair growth, but hair </span><span data-contrast="auto">and skin </span><span data-contrast="auto">beautification as well</span><span data-contrast="auto">. </span><span data-contrast="auto">Her agents made sales and educated customers on the importance of hygiene and presenting oneself in a </span><span data-contrast="auto">clean </span><span data-contrast="auto">and </span><span data-contrast="auto">proper </span><span data-contrast="auto">manner.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">8]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> In 1916, her agents organized into the National Beauty Culturist and Benevolent Association of Madame C.J. Walker Agents</span><span data-contrast="auto">, </span><span data-contrast="auto">later </span><span data-contrast="auto">known as</span><span data-contrast="auto"> the Madam C.J. Walker Hair Culturists Union of America</span><span data-contrast="auto">, holding annual conventions</span><span data-contrast="auto">.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">9]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">Walker encouraged her sales agents to give back to improve society, </span><span data-contrast="auto">giving</span><span data-contrast="auto"> rewards to the sales agents </span><span data-contrast="auto">who made the largest philanthropic contributions in their African American communities. </span><span data-ccp-props="{"335559740":480}"> <br /><br /></span><span data-contrast="auto">Walker</span><span data-contrast="auto"> was </span><span data-contrast="auto">an active philanthropist and social activist in </span><span data-contrast="auto">Indianapolis. </span><span data-contrast="auto">In all areas of her life, she strove for and demanded</span><span data-contrast="auto"> equal rights,</span><span data-contrast="auto"> including</span><span data-contrast="auto"> filing suit against</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">the</span><span data-contrast="auto"> Isis Theater </span><span data-contrast="auto">for charging a higher admission rate (25 cents vs. 15 cents) </span><span data-contrast="auto">for African American patrons</span><span data-contrast="auto">. She</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">protested </span><span data-contrast="auto">segregation within the military during World War I</span><span data-contrast="auto"> and advocated for an African American army officer training camp</span><span data-contrast="auto">.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">10]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> Madam Walker </span><span data-contrast="auto">donated </span><span data-contrast="auto">to multiple </span><span data-contrast="auto">African American </span><span data-contrast="auto">charities</span><span data-contrast="auto"> and community organizations</span><span data-contrast="auto"> in Indianapolis </span><span data-contrast="auto">such as the Senate Avenue YMCA,</span><span data-contrast="auto"> the Bethel AME Church, Flanner House, and Alpha Home. </span><span data-contrast="auto">On a nationwide level, she contributed to campaigns to stop </span><span data-contrast="auto">lynching</span><span data-contrast="auto"> and supported the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), which was newly- formed in 1909.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">11]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-ccp-props="{"335559731":720,"335559740":480}"> <br /><br /></span><span data-contrast="auto">Throughout her life, Madam C.J. Walker worked tirelessly to create a better life for herself</span><span data-contrast="auto">,</span><span data-contrast="auto"> her family</span><span data-contrast="auto">, an</span><span data-contrast="auto">d her African American community in a segregated Indianapolis</span><span data-contrast="auto">. </span><span data-contrast="auto">The</span><span data-contrast="auto"> hard work</span><span data-contrast="auto"> and hardship</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">took its toll</span><span data-contrast="auto">, and she</span><span data-contrast="auto"> developed </span><span data-contrast="auto">health issues</span><span data-contrast="auto"> in her </span><span data-contrast="auto">late </span><span data-contrast="auto">forties</span><span data-contrast="auto">.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">12]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">In</span><span data-contrast="auto"> April 1919, </span><span data-contrast="auto">she </span><span data-contrast="auto">passed away on May 25, 1919 at the age of 51.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">13]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">At the time of her death, she was worth an estimated $600,000 (over $6 million in 2020 dollars), and was considered the wealthiest African American woman in America.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">14]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">She is often lauded as the “America’s first self-made female millionaire."[15]<br /></span><span data-ccp-props="{"335559740":480}"><br /></span><span data-contrast="auto">The legacy of Madam C.J. Walker </span><span data-contrast="auto">is exemplified</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">in the</span><span data-contrast="auto"> personal</span><span data-contrast="auto"> pride</span><span data-contrast="auto">, entrepreneurship, and </span><span data-contrast="auto">sense of </span><span data-contrast="auto">civic </span><span data-contrast="auto">responsibility</span><span data-contrast="auto"> that her products, business, and personal life instilled in</span><span data-contrast="auto"> African American</span><span data-contrast="auto">s, especially</span><span data-contrast="auto"> African American</span><span data-contrast="auto"> women</span><span data-contrast="auto">,</span><span data-contrast="auto"> throughout the country</span><span data-contrast="auto">. </span><span data-contrast="auto">After Walker’s death, her daughter took over the </span><span data-contrast="auto">Walker Manufacturing Company</span><span data-contrast="auto"> and in 1927, moved the factory and headquarters to the newly built Walker Building</span><span data-contrast="auto"> in Indianapolis. The building included</span><span data-contrast="auto"> a ballroom, theater, hair salon, </span><span data-contrast="auto">other</span><span data-contrast="auto"> public</span><span data-contrast="auto"> spaces</span><span data-contrast="auto">,</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">and became an African American community cultural center.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">16]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> The Walker Building</span><span data-contrast="auto">, </span><span data-contrast="auto">and the surroundi</span><span data-contrast="auto">ng Indiana Avenue </span><span data-contrast="auto">neighborhood,</span><span data-contrast="auto"> became a hub for the</span><span data-contrast="auto"> African American arts, culture, and jazz scene in </span><span data-contrast="auto">segregated Indianapolis through the 1960s.</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">A tangible reminder of her legacy,</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">The</span><span data-contrast="auto"> Madame C.J.</span><span data-contrast="auto"> Walker Building </span><span data-contrast="auto">was listed in</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">the </span><span data-contrast="auto">National Register for Historic Places in 198</span><span data-contrast="auto">0 and was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1991</span><span data-contrast="auto">.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">17]</span><span data-ccp-props="{"335559740":480}"> </span></p>
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<span>[1] </span><span>Moore, Wilma, Alan Rowe, Lyndsey Blair, Rebecca Pattillo, and Maire Gurevitz. </span><span>“</span><span>Madam C.J. Walker Papers Addition, 1911</span><span>-</span><span>2005 (Bulk1950s</span><span>-</span><span>80s).</span><span>”</span><span>Indiana Historical Society. December 2017. Accessed March 12, 2020.<br /></span><span>[2] </span><span>Ibid.<br /></span><span>[3] </span><span>Latham Jr., Charles. “Madam C.J. Walker & Company.” </span><span>Traces</span><span>1989, Vol. 1, No.3, pp. 29.<br />[</span><span>4] </span><span>Michals, Debra. Madam C.J. Walker. National Women’s History Museum, 2015. Accessed March 12, 2020. <br /></span><span>[5] </span><span>Moore, Wilma, Alan Rowe, Lyndsey Blair, Rebecca Pattillo, and Maire Gurevitz. <br /></span><span>[6] </span><span>Mo</span><span>ore, Wilma, Alan Rowe, Lyndsey Blair, Rebecca Pattillo, and Maire Gurevitz. <br /></span><span>[7] </span><span>Ibid.<br />[8] Latham Jr., Charles. pp. 29.<br />[9] Ibid, 30-31.<br />[10] Ibid, 31.<br />[11] Latson, Jennifer “How America’s First Self-Made Female Millionaire Built Her Fortune”, accessed March 15, 2020.<br />[12] Latham Jr., Charles.pp. 32. <br />[13] Ibid.<br />[14] “Madam C.J. Walker”. The Philanthropy Hall of Fame. Philanthropy Roundtable, accessed March 13, 2020.<br />[15] Latson, Jennifer.<br />[16] Latham Jr., Charles. pp. 32.<br />[17] National Register of Historic Places, Madame C.J. Walker Building, accessed March 13, 2020.<br /><br /></span>
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Studen Authors: Robin Johnson and Sydney Schlock
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
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PHOTO & VIDEO:
Madam C.J. Walker, attributed to Scurlock Studio, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Madam_CJ_Walker_face_circa_1914.jpg
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Women
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https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/1ac91cd2011a5a8d869fb015aba29b94.png
9722f6a4062e0b4f977663d9e6494d1b
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Charles Gordone
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<p><span data-contrast="auto">Charles Gordone was born on October 12, 1925 in Cleveland, Ohio. </span><span data-contrast="auto">Born Charles Edward Fleming, he took the </span><span data-contrast="auto">sur</span><span data-contrast="auto">name </span><span data-contrast="auto">Gordon</span><span data-contrast="auto"> when his mother remarried. </span><span data-contrast="auto">When he was two years old,</span><span data-contrast="auto"> he and his family moved to his mother’s hometown of Elkhart, Indiana.</span><span data-contrast="auto"> As an African American growing up in Indiana in the 1930s, Gordon experienced discrimination both because of his race (white children would not associate with him) and</span><span data-contrast="auto"> due to</span><span data-contrast="auto"> cultural norms (</span><span data-contrast="auto">other </span><span data-contrast="auto">African Americans shunned the family because they lived on the “white” side of Elkhart).[</span><span data-contrast="auto">1]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> He</span><span data-contrast="auto"> graduate</span><span data-contrast="auto">d</span><span data-contrast="auto"> from Elkhart High School in 1941</span><span data-contrast="auto">.</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-ccp-props="{"335559740":480}"> <br /><br /></span><span data-contrast="auto">I</span><span data-contrast="auto">n 1942, Gordon joined the U.S. </span><span data-contrast="auto">Air Force</span><span data-contrast="auto"> after spending a semester at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).[</span><span data-contrast="auto">2]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> After two years of service, Gordon returned to</span><span data-contrast="auto"> Los Angeles</span><span data-contrast="auto"> to study music and drama.</span><span data-contrast="auto"> It was there that he first experienced racial discrimination in the performing arts as “I </span><span data-contrast="auto">was </span><span data-contrast="auto">always cast in subservient or stereotypical roles.”[</span><span data-contrast="auto">3]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">These experiences with</span><span data-contrast="auto"> racial</span><span data-contrast="auto"> discrimination in Elk</span><span data-contrast="auto">h</span><span data-contrast="auto">art and Los Angeles would influence the rest of his career as he worked for civil rights in the performing arts</span><span data-contrast="auto"> and theatre industries</span><span data-contrast="auto">. </span><span data-contrast="auto">After graduating from California State University, he relocated to New York City to pursue an acting career. </span><span data-contrast="auto">It was then that he added an “e” to his surname</span><span data-contrast="auto">, to become Gordone,</span><span data-contrast="auto"> to avoid confusion with another </span><span data-contrast="auto">actor </span><span data-contrast="auto">with the same name.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">4]</span><span data-ccp-props="{"335559731":720,"335559740":480}"> <br /><br /></span><span data-contrast="auto">In the 1950s and 1960s, Gordone became a director in addition to acting. He directed productions such <em>Rebels and Bugs (1958), Peer Gynt (1959), Faust (1959), Tobacco Road (1960), </em>and <em>Detective Story (1960)</em>.[5] From 1961 to 1966, he performed in the play <em>The Blacks: A Clown Show</em>, directed by Jean Genet, with </span><span data-contrast="auto">other </span><span data-contrast="auto">talented</span><span data-contrast="auto"> African American</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">actors such as </span><span data-contrast="auto">James Earl Jones, Maya Angelou, and Cecily Tyson.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">6]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> It was this play, according to Gordon</span><span data-contrast="auto">e</span><span data-contrast="auto">, that changed his life</span><span data-contrast="auto">. The</span><span data-contrast="auto"> play’s theme of African Americans waging war against the white power structure and becoming the oppressor instead of the oppressed enabled Gordone, in his own words, to acknowledge the “hatred and fear I had inside me about being black”</span><span data-contrast="auto">.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">7]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">He</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">founded a theatre in Queens, New York and in 1962, he founded the Committee for the Employment of Negroes. This organization helped increase </span><span data-contrast="auto">career opportunities in theatre for</span><span data-contrast="auto"> African Americans. </span><span data-contrast="auto">He </span><span data-contrast="auto">organized </span><span data-contrast="auto">protest</span><span data-contrast="auto">s against</span><span data-contrast="auto"> Broadway theaters</span><span data-contrast="auto"> to provide</span><span data-contrast="auto"> better opportunities for young African American actors.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">8]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">He </span><span data-contrast="auto">was </span><span data-contrast="auto">also involved in a committee for the Congress on Racial Equality. In 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Gordone to the Commission on Civil Disorders. </span><span data-ccp-props="{"335559740":480}"> <br /><br /></span><span data-contrast="auto">Inspired by his personal experiences, he wrote what would become his </span><span data-contrast="auto">most famous play, </span><i><span data-contrast="auto">No Place to be Somebody</span></i><span data-contrast="auto">.</span><span data-contrast="auto"> It opened in May of 1969 at the New York Shakespeare Festival Public Theatre.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">9]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">Set in the Civil Rights-era, t</span><span data-contrast="auto">he play highlights racial and cultural pressures in context of the characters</span><span data-contrast="auto">’</span><span data-contrast="auto"> ambitions and limitations because of their race.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">10] </span><span data-contrast="auto">The play would go </span><span data-contrast="auto">on to win a Pulitzer Prize for D</span><span data-contrast="auto">rama, </span><span data-contrast="auto">making</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">the play the first off-Broadway production to win</span><span data-contrast="auto"> a Pultizer</span><span data-contrast="auto"> and making </span><span data-contrast="auto">Gordone the</span><span data-contrast="auto"> first African American to win </span><span data-contrast="auto">a Pulitzer for drama</span><span data-contrast="auto">.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">11]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-ccp-props="{"335559731":720,"335559740":480}"> <br /><br /></span><span data-contrast="auto">Gordone continue</span><span data-contrast="auto">d</span><span data-contrast="auto"> his </span><span data-contrast="auto">civil rights activism</span><span data-contrast="auto"> throughout the </span><span data-contrast="auto">rest of his career.</span><span data-contrast="auto"> In 1981, he helped form The American Stage, </span><span data-contrast="auto">a theatre production company </span><span data-contrast="auto">with the purpose of casting minorities into non-traditional rules, such as</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">starring</span><span data-contrast="auto"> two Mexican-American actors as George and Lenny</span><span data-contrast="auto"> in </span><i><span data-contrast="auto">Of Mice and Men</span></i><span data-contrast="auto">.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">12]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto"> In 198</span><span data-contrast="auto">7</span><span data-contrast="auto">, he </span><span data-contrast="auto">began teaching theatre and theatre history </span><span data-contrast="auto">at Texas A&M University</span><span data-contrast="auto">, advancing racial diversity through theatre at the predominantly white campus</span><span data-contrast="auto">. He passed away </span><span data-contrast="auto">in</span><span data-contrast="auto">1995 at the age of 70 in College Station, Texas. <br /></span><span data-ccp-props="{"335559740":480}"> <br /></span><span data-contrast="auto">In 2009, t</span><span data-contrast="auto">he Indiana </span><span data-contrast="auto">Historical Bureau erected a marker in front of </span><span data-contrast="auto">Gordeon’s</span><span data-contrast="auto"> hometown </span><span data-contrast="auto">Elkhart Public Library to highlight</span><span data-contrast="auto"> and honor</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">his </span><span data-contrast="auto">achievements and contributions to civil rights and theatre.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">13]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-ccp-props="{"335559731":720,"335559740":480}"> </span></p>
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<span>[1] </span><span>Taylor, John. "Charles Gordone: Finding His Place To Be Somebody." The Indiana History Blog. October 20, </span><span>2017. Accessed April 12, 2019. <br /></span><span>[2] </span><span>Tolly, Victor. "Charles Gordone (1925</span><span>-</span><span>1995) • BlackPast." BlackPast. December 07, </span><span>2007. Accessed April 12, </span><span>2019. <br /></span><span>[3] </span><span>Taylor, John. <br /></span><span>[4] </span><span>"Charles Gordone, Actor, Playwright, Pursued Multi</span><span>-</span><span>racial Theater and Racial</span><span>Unity." African American Registry. </span><span>Accessed April 12, 2019. <br />[5] "Gordone, Charles." Notable Black American Men, Book II. Encyclopedia.com.(April 12, 2019). <br />[6] African American Registry. <br />[7] Taylor, John.<br />[8] Ibid.<br />[9] Tolly, Victor. <br />[10] Taylor, John.<br />[11] Tolly, Victor.<br />[12] Taylor, John.<br />[13] "Charles Gordone." Indiana Historical Bureau: Charles Gordone. Accessed April 12, 2019. <br /></span>
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Student Authors: Robin Johnson and Sarah Smith
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
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<div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/4332.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker</a></div>
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PHOTO & VIDEO:
Pulitzer Prizes, attributed to Daniel Chester French, Public domain, via Wikimedia commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pulitzer_Prizes_(medal).png
1900-1940s
1950s-present
Elkart County
Elkhart
Entrepreneurship
Indiana Historical Bureau Marker
Theater
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/2614eca6adfee88e232ee460c9ef3aea.jpg
25b976936844d10cedac36701fe25ead
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Samuel Plato
Description
An account of the resource
<p><span data-contrast="auto">Samuel Plato was an African American architect that lived</span><span data-contrast="auto"> and worked</span><span data-contrast="auto"> in Marion, Indiana between 190</span><span data-contrast="auto">2</span><span data-contrast="auto"> and 1921. He was born in Alabama in 1882 when Jim Crow laws legalized segregation and</span><span data-contrast="auto"> often</span><span data-contrast="auto"> incited</span><span data-contrast="auto"> racial violence. </span><span data-contrast="auto">He</span><span data-contrast="auto"> broke </span><span data-contrast="auto">racial barriers by</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">graduating from</span><span data-contrast="auto"> State University Normal School in Louisville</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">in 1902.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">1]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> He was a member of Phi Beta Sigma, an African American fraternity. He then completed a program in architecture with International Correspondence Schools.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">2]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-ccp-props="{"335559740":480}"> <br /> <br /></span><span data-contrast="auto">Plato moved to Marion</span><span data-contrast="auto"> in 1902 to work as an architect, at a time when the Ku Klux Klan recorded around half a million of members in Indiana</span><span data-contrast="auto">.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">3]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> He quickly found support from</span><span data-contrast="auto"> wealthy Marion</span><span data-contrast="auto"> business owners John Schaumleffel and </span><span data-contrast="auto">J. </span><span data-contrast="auto">Wood</span><span data-contrast="auto">row</span><span data-contrast="auto"> Wilson.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">4] </span>Plato<span data-contrast="auto"> worked</span><span data-contrast="auto"> to open up building trade unions</span><span data-contrast="auto"> in</span><span data-contrast="auto"> Marion to </span><span data-contrast="auto">African American </span><span data-contrast="auto">workers, </span><span data-contrast="auto">who were previously excluded from the unions</span><span data-contrast="auto">.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">5]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">Plato</span><span data-contrast="auto"> was the first African American</span><span data-contrast="auto"> architect</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">to acquire a </span><span data-contrast="auto">government </span><span data-contrast="auto">contract to build a post office</span><span data-contrast="auto">, and during </span><span data-contrast="auto">his career, he would build </span><span data-contrast="auto">38 post offices across the country</span><span data-contrast="auto">.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">6]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> He promoted social progress in a white-dominated field by hiring both black and white workers on his projects</span><span data-contrast="auto">, creating training and jobs for African Americans.</span><span data-contrast="auto">[</span><span data-contrast="auto">7]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> <br /><br /></span><span data-contrast="auto">His most notable work</span><span data-contrast="auto">s in Indiana</span><span data-contrast="auto"> included the J. Woodrow Wilson House, </span><span data-contrast="auto">completed </span><span data-contrast="auto">in 1922. This 15-room mansion, located in Marion, was built for business owner J. Woodrow Wilson. It </span><span data-contrast="auto">has also been</span><span data-contrast="auto"> known as the Hostess House and the Wilson-Vaughan House.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">8]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">Plato designed the</span><span data-contrast="auto"> Second Baptist Church in Bloomington</span><span data-contrast="auto"> which</span><span data-contrast="auto"> opened in 1913 and was “the first church built of stone by African Americans in Indiana.”[</span><span data-contrast="auto">9]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">He also designed the</span><span data-contrast="auto"> Swallow-Robin dormitory at Taylor University in Upland. This building was </span><span data-contrast="auto">slated for demolition</span><span data-contrast="auto"> in 1986 until it was found that Plato was the architect.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">10]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">His</span><span data-contrast="auto"> success </span><span data-contrast="auto">as </span><span data-contrast="auto">an architect and </span><span data-contrast="auto">his </span><span data-contrast="auto">f</span><span data-contrast="auto">ight for equality in the business sector brought him fame</span><span data-contrast="auto"> throughout Indiana.</span><span data-contrast="auto"> I</span><span data-contrast="auto">n August 1913, the </span><span data-contrast="auto">Indianapolis </span><span data-contrast="auto">African American newspaper </span><span data-contrast="auto">from Indianapolis</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><i><span data-contrast="auto">The Freeman </span></i><span data-contrast="auto">described Plato as a “colored man engaged in business (…), a contractor, who has built some of the finest houses in Marion.”[</span><span data-contrast="auto">11]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-ccp-props="{"335559731":708,"335559740":480}"> <br /><br /></span><span data-contrast="auto">In the early 1920s, Plato returned to Louisville, Kentucky to continue his architectural career. While there, Plato built the Temple AME Zion Church[</span><span data-contrast="auto">12]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> and the Virginia Avenue Colored School[</span><span data-contrast="auto">13]</span><span data-contrast="auto">, both on the National Register for Historic Places.</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">During World War</span><span data-contrast="auto"> II</span><span data-contrast="auto">, Plato moved back to Alabama.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">14]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> During this time, he was one of the few black contractors to build federal housing projects.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">15]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> His work was acknowledged and rewarded by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt in 1943 while she was on an inspection tour of </span><span data-contrast="auto">federal dormitories for war </span><span data-contrast="auto">workers in Washington, D.C.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">16]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> Plato revolutionized the architecture field </span><span data-contrast="auto">by helping to </span><span data-contrast="auto">end racial discrimination</span><span data-contrast="auto"> in architecture and the building trades</span><span data-contrast="auto">. </span><span data-ccp-props="{"335559731":708,"335559740":480}"> <br /><br /></span><span data-contrast="auto">His projects changed the face of Marion</span><span data-contrast="auto"> and Indiana</span><span data-contrast="auto">. </span><i><span data-contrast="auto">The Freeman, </span></i><span data-contrast="auto">declared</span><span data-contrast="auto">, “There is no more successful contractor in Grant County, yes, I dare say Indiana, than Mr. Plato.”[</span><span data-contrast="auto">17]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> Two of his Indiana buildings, the Wilson-Vaughan home in Marion[</span><span data-contrast="auto">18]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> and Second Baptist Church in Bloomington[</span><span data-contrast="auto">19]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> are on the National Register of Historic Places.</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">He is honored with an Indiana Historical Bureau marker in Marion that emphasizes his work sec</span><span data-contrast="auto">uring equal rights for African American workers in the building t</span><span data-contrast="auto">rades.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">20]</span><span data-ccp-props="{"335559731":708,"335559740":480}"> </span></p>
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Student Authors: Emma Guichon and Robin Johnson
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
Relation
A related resource
<a href="https://www.hostesshouse.org/our-story" target="_blank" rel="noopener">J. Woodrow Wilson House</a><br /><a href="https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/95001108" target="_blank" rel="noopener"></a><a href="https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/95001108">National Register of Historic Places: Second Baptist Church</a><br /><a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/4184.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker</a><br /><a href=" https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/80001596 " target="_blank" rel="noopener">National Register of Historic Places: Temple Zion AME Church</a>
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<span>[1] </span><span>“Plato, Samuel M.,” in</span><span>Encyclopedia of Louisville</span><span>, edited by John E. Kleber (Lexington: University Press of </span><span>Kentucky, 2001), </span><span>P.</span><span>708<br /></span><span>[2] </span><span>Bogert, Pen. “Samuel M. Plato: Building a Dream.” The Filson Historical Society. Accessed February 26, 2020.</span><span><br /></span><span>[3] </span><span>Jon Charles Smith,</span><span>The Architecture of Samuel M. Plato: The Marion Years, Grant County Projects, 1902</span><span>-</span><span>1921. </span><span>P.13<br /></span><span>[4] </span><span>Kielisch, Erik (March 4, 2005), "Plato's Influence Remains on </span><span>Campus: Works of Swallow Robin's Architect </span><span>Comes to the Archives",</span><span>The Echo: The Taylor University's School Newspaper</span><span>, Upland, IN, p.1 <br />[</span><span>5] </span><span>Bogert, Pen. <br /></span><span>[6] </span><span>Ibid. <br />[</span><span>7] </span><span>”Samuel Plato.” Indiana Historical Bureau. Accessed February 27, 2020.<br />[8] Hostess House. “Our Story.” Accessed February 26, 2020. <br />[9] "Our History." Second Baptist Church. Accessed February 27, 2020. <br />[10] Duke, Serena, Rachel Elwood, and David Kaspar. ”Finding Plato.” Taylor: A Magazine for Taylor University Alumni and Friends (Summer 2004). Taylor University. P.24.<br />[11] “Samuel M. Plato,”The Freeman (Indianapolis, Indiana), 9 August 1913<br />[12] Broadway Temple AME Zion Church. National Register for Historic Places. National Park Service. Accessed February 27, 2020. <br />[13] Virginia Avenue Colored School. National Register for Historic Places. National Park Service. Accessed February 27, 2020. <br />[14] Bogert, Pen. “Samuel M. Plato: Building a Dream.” The Filson Historical Society. Accessed February 26, 2020. <br />[15] “Plato, Samuel M.,” inEncyclopedia of Louisville, edited by John E. Kleber (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2001)<br />[16] ”First Lady inspects war worker’s homes.” Library of Congress. Accessed February 27, 2020. <br />[17] “Samuel M. Plato,”The Freeman (Indianapolis, Indiana), August 9, 1913<br />[18] J. Woodrow Wilson House. National Register for Historic Places, National Park Service. Accessed February 26, 2020. <br />[19] Second Baptist Church. National Register for Historic Places, National Park Service. Accessed February 27, 2020. <br />[20] ”Samuel Plato.” Indiana Historical Bureau. Accessed February 27, 2020. <br /></span>
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PHOTO & VIDEO:
J. Woodrow Wilson House, attributed to Nyttend, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:J._Woodrow_Wilson_House.jpg
1900-1940s
Architecture
Bloomington
Entrepreneurship
Grant County
Indiana Historical Bureau Marker
Marion (City)
National Register of Historic Places
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/64408b4e80b6d2e11d9e2eabaee2e452.jpg
306a20deaf5d9182797ccacbdc788064
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/6b6b850b39871aac303ba44613a6baf2.jpg
98d2a6e316cfbd92beeb2e393bc79054
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Gary Roosevelt High School
Description
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<p><span data-contrast="auto">Theodore Roosevelt </span><span data-contrast="auto">H</span><span data-contrast="auto">igh </span><span data-contrast="auto">S</span><span data-contrast="auto">chool</span><span data-contrast="auto"> in Gary, Indiana,</span><span data-contrast="auto"> also known as Gary Roosevelt,</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">can trace its origins to 1908 when </span><span data-contrast="auto">the Gary</span><span data-contrast="auto"> school board </span><span data-contrast="auto">issued the segregation of all public schools. The first school for African American children in Gary </span><span data-contrast="auto">was built</span><span data-contrast="auto"> that same year. </span><span data-contrast="auto">As the population grew</span><span data-contrast="auto">, African American students were</span><span data-contrast="auto"> also</span><span data-contrast="auto"> educated in other segregated schools and in portable classrooms, and by </span><span data-contrast="auto">1921,</span><span data-contrast="auto"> those portable classrooms were located at</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">the </span><span data-contrast="auto">present location of</span><span data-contrast="auto"> Gary </span><span data-contrast="auto">Roosevel</span><span data-contrast="auto">t</span><span data-contrast="auto">.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">1]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">Public school segregation remained in effect</span><span data-contrast="auto">, but a few African American students </span><span data-contrast="auto">were</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">allowed to enroll</span><span data-contrast="auto"> in white schools</span><span data-contrast="auto"> (in segregated classes)</span><span data-contrast="auto"> if space</span><span data-contrast="auto"> existed. </span><span data-contrast="auto">Under this plan</span><span data-contrast="auto">, 18 African American high school students </span><span data-contrast="auto">were transferred</span><span data-contrast="auto"> to white Emerson School</span><span data-contrast="auto"> in 1927</span><span data-contrast="auto">. </span><span data-contrast="auto">In protest, o</span><span data-contrast="auto">ver 600</span><span data-contrast="auto"> white</span><span data-contrast="auto"> Emerson</span><span data-contrast="auto"> students conducted a four-day walkout known as the Emerson Strike.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">2]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> The strike </span><span data-contrast="auto">was ended</span><span data-contrast="auto"> when the Gary City Council agreed to </span><span data-contrast="auto">allocate</span><span data-contrast="auto"> funds to create an African American high school, to be named after President Theodore Roosevelt.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">3]</span><span data-ccp-props="{"335559739":160,"335559740":480}"> <br /> <br /></span><span data-contrast="auto">Theodore Roosevelt High School </span><span data-contrast="auto">was built</span><span data-contrast="auto"> in 1930</span><span data-contrast="auto"> exclusively for African American students.</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">The </span><span data-contrast="auto">Gary Roosevelt </span><span data-contrast="auto">building</span><span data-contrast="auto"> features design elements inspired by </span><span data-contrast="auto">Independence Hall</span><span data-contrast="auto"> in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.</span><span data-contrast="auto"> Additional classroom wings </span><span data-contrast="auto">were added</span><span data-contrast="auto"> in 1946 and 1968.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">4]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">The </span><span data-contrast="auto">physical design of the</span><span data-contrast="auto"> Gary Roosevelt</span><span data-contrast="auto"> building </span><span data-contrast="auto">support</span><span data-contrast="auto">ed what </span><span data-contrast="auto">was known</span><span data-contrast="auto"> as the Gary System of Education or the Gary Plan. </span><span data-contrast="auto">Developed by Dr. William A. Wirt, the city’s first superintendent </span><span data-contrast="auto">of schools</span><span data-contrast="auto"> from 1907-1938</span><span data-contrast="auto">, the Gary Plan was a Progressive Er</span><span data-contrast="auto">a educational concept, with some elements of the system playing </span><span data-contrast="auto">a role in how schools function today.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">5]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> The Gary Plan emphasized both vocational training and college preparatory classes, </span><span data-contrast="auto">a lengthened school day</span><span data-contrast="auto"> that kept students “off the streets”</span><span data-contrast="auto">, and emphasized “work-study-play” </span><span data-contrast="auto">incorporating</span><span data-contrast="auto"> academics, vocational, and recreational activities into each school day.</span><span data-contrast="auto"> The Gary Plan</span><span data-contrast="auto"> maximized the utilization and capacity of the building, and even advocated students attending school on Saturday.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">6]<br /></span><span data-contrast="auto"> <br /></span><span data-contrast="auto">Although the official school board policy of public school segregation ended in 1947[</span><span data-contrast="auto">7]</span><span data-contrast="auto">, Gary Roosevelt, like virtually all of Gary public schools, remained segregated by the adjustment of school district and individual school boundaries.</span><span data-contrast="auto"> The school district boundaries </span><span data-contrast="auto">were based</span><span data-contrast="auto"> on the racial </span><span data-contrast="auto">mix</span><span data-contrast="auto"> of the various neighborhoods.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">8]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">Wirt’s</span><span data-contrast="auto"> Gary </span><span data-contrast="auto">Plan </span><span data-contrast="auto">was </span><span data-contrast="auto">mostly </span><span data-contrast="auto">abandoned</span><span data-contrast="auto"> in favor of more mainstream educational ideas</span><span data-contrast="auto"> and in response to severe overcrowding due to a post-WWII population explosion in Gary. Adherence to segregation</span><span data-contrast="auto"> enforced</span><span data-contrast="auto"> by neighborhood racial boundaries, no matter the amount of population growth, meant that for almost 20 years, Gary Roosevelt students attended classes in rented portable classrooms or attended half-day sessions</span><span data-contrast="auto"> in an effort to ease the extreme overcrowding</span><span data-contrast="auto">.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">9]<br /></span><span data-ccp-props="{"335559731":720,"335559739":160,"335559740":480}"> <br /></span>Teachers at Gary Roosevelt have educated generations of African American children for nearly a century. The school is now known as the Theodore Roosevelt College and Career Academy, a charter school for grades 7-12. The building formerly known as Theodore Roosevelt High School is listed on the National Register of Historic Places for its architectural importance, its role in the Progressive Era in education, and the integral part it played in Gary's segregated public school system.[10]</p>
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<span>[1] </span><span>Indiana NPS Roosevel</span><span>t, Theodore, High School. National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. National </span><span>Park Service</span><span>. Accessed February 21, 2020.<br /></span><span>[2] </span><span>“Protest Walkout Grows” </span><span>Gary Post Tribune</span><span>, 27 September 1927.<br /></span><span>[3] </span><span>Cohen, Ronald D., </span><span>The Dilemma of School Integration in the North: Gary, Indiana, 1945</span><span>-</span><span>1960</span><span>. </span><span>Indiana Magazine of History </span><span>Vol. 82, No. 2 (June 1986):161</span><span>-</span><span>184.<br />[</span><span>4] </span><span>Indiana NPS Roosevelt, Theodore, High School.<br />[5] Wirt manuscripts, 1899-1957. Archives Online at Indiana University. http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/findingaids/view?doc.view=entire_text&docId=InU-Li-VAD7202. Accessed February 26, 2020.<br />[6] The Public School System of Gary, Indiana. Public Administration Service 1955. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015039523116&view=1up&seq=25. Accessed April 2019.<br />[7] “A Challenge to Integration: The Froebel School Strikes of 1945.” Indiana History Blog. https://blog.history.in.gov/a-challenge-to-integration-the-froebel-school-strikes-of-1945. Accessed February 26, 2020.<br />[8] Cohen, Ronald D.<br />[9] Ibid.<br />[10] Indiana NPS Roosevelt, Theodore, High School. </span>
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Student Authors: Jake Bailey and Robin Johnson
Faculty Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
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PHOTO & VIDEO:<br /><br />Theodore Roosevelt High School, attributed to T. Tolbert, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons <br />https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Theodore_Roosevelt_High_School,_Gary_Indiana.jpg <br /><br />PHOTO & VIDEO:<br />Roosevelt High School, attributed to Nyttend, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Roosevelt_High_School,_Gary.jpg
Relation
A related resource
<a href="https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/12001059" target="_blank" rel="noopener">National Register of Historic Places</a>
1900-40s
1929
1950s-present
education
Gary
Lake County
National Register of Historic Places
Segregation
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/18beef51d9ad44df8c85ba4ce4c399e4.jpg
112c757f668c204720d34f0bdb1229d1
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Places
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Lincoln Gardens
Description
An account of the resource
In Evansville, Indiana, the early 20th century proved to be a time of hardship for its African American residents. In the early 1900s, due to the increase of racial segregation within the city, the majority of the African American population resided in an area known as Baptistown. By 1916, overcrowding and unsanitary conditions became an issue, to the point where over a third of Baptistown residents had no access to sewage systems.[1] Segregated Evansville had few good-paying jobs for African Americans and white neighborhoods did not welcome those African Americans that could afford better homes. To accommodate for the growing population of African American residents in Baptistown, dilapidated buildings were torn down and streets were extended and repaved.[2] None of the city’s actions proved enough to improve what was described by the African American newspaper The Evansville Argus as “slum” and “an area dominated by filthy shacks without sanitary facilities.” [3] <br /><br />Under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the Public Works Administration (created in 1933 during the Depression as part of the New Deal) made Evansville’s Lincoln Gardens its second housing project. As with most Public Works Administration housing projects, Lincoln Gardens was built for a specific community, and in Evansville, it was for low-income African American residents. Because of segregation and other racist policies at the time, African Americans needed their own community with their own businesses in order to succeed and prosper. Many groups in the city were in favor of the project, but there were some concerns. It was debated whether new low-income housing located on vacant land on the edge of the city was more cost effective and efficient that building in the central city. It was finally decided that the central city option was the best fit with the planning engineer’s description that “the federal government is interested in slum clearance in connection with low-cost housing.”[4] <br /><br />Construction of the Lincoln Gardens complex began in June 1937 and was dedicated by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt who visited the building site in November 1937.[5] Four city blocks, nearly eleven acres, of Baptistown “slum” housing was razed and residents temporarily relocated. In its place, 16 apartment buildings were constructed. Lincoln Gardens opened on July 1, 1938.[6] The Evansville Argus, proclaimed Lincoln Gardens as the “Pride of City”, “rising as a monument to the relentless spirit and efforts of the public spirited citizens of Evansville.” Lincoln Gardens reported 100% occupancy rate as of November 23, 1938.[7] <br /><br />Lincoln Gardens included 191 “modern sanitary” homes for 500 African American residents. It included a social room, and four rooms used for recreation, youth classes, and adult education. The housing project included “beautiful wide lawns, shrubbery, plenty of fresh air and ample supervised play.” Residents were considered low income with a family income that did not exceed five times the rental charge.[8] Initial average monthly rents including electricity and gas ranged from $12.65 to $20.20 depending on room size and location within the apartment buildings.[9] Renters were chosen by need, character, and priority of application.[10] Lincoln High School, Evansville’s only African American high school and constructed in 1928, was directly across the street from Lincoln Gardens. During WWII, Lincoln Gardens had its own United Service Organization (USO), welcoming African American troops.[11] In the 1930s and 1940s, Lincoln Gardens became a center of African American social life within the bigger neighborhood, revitalizing Baptistown, which became a de-facto African American social hub within segregated southwestern Indiana. <br /><br />By the 1990s, Lincoln Gardens had fallen into disrepair and eventually all buildings except one were demolished. Sondra Matthews, who grew up in Lincoln Gardens felt that it was important to save this legacy. “The basis of our economic life was going to be torn down as well. I just thought that if this happens, our grandchildren will not know what we had, the life we lived in the Lincoln Gardens area. They would not know how successful and prosperous we were.”[12] Lincoln Gardens’ surviving building was deeded to the board of the Evansville African American Museum. The museum opened in 2007, dedicated to retelling the story of African American culture in Evansville. One of the featured exhibits includes a restored one-bedroom Lincoln Gardens apartment, which typically housed a family of six.
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[1] Tamera L. Hunt and Donavan Weight. Rediscovering “Baptistown”: A Historical Geography Project on Local African American History. University of Southern Indiana and Texas A&M International University. P.389.<br />[2] Ibid. <br />[3] “New Lincoln Gardens, Pride of City, Now 100 Percent Occupied,” The Evansville Argus, 3 December 1938, 1,<https://newspapers.library.in.gov/cgi-bin/indiana?a=d&d=EA19381203. Accessed February 2020. <br />[4] Robert G. Barrows. New Deal Public Housing in the Ohio Valley: The Creation of Lincoln Gardens in Evansville, Indiana. Ohio River Valley, P. 56<br />[5] Ibid., P.72<br />[6] "Lincoln Gardens Housing Project-Evansville IN." Living New Deal. Accessed April 2019.<br />[7] “New Lincoln Gardens, Pride of City, Now 100 Percent Occupied,” The Evansville Argus, 3 December 1938, 1. Accessed February 2020.<br />[8] Ibid. <br />[9] Robert G. Barrows. New Deal Public Housing in the Ohio Valley: The Creation of Lincoln Gardens in Evansville, Indiana. Ohio River Valley, P. 66.<br />[10] “New Lincoln Gardens, Pride of City, Now 100 Percent Occupied,” The Evansville Argus, 3 December 1938, 1. Accessed February 2020.<br />[11] “Moment of Indiana History: Evansville African American Museum.” Accessed April 2019.<br />[12] "Preserving History." Preserving History | Evansville Living Magazine. Accessed April 22, 2019.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Student Authors: Emma Brauer and Robin Johnson
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
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<a href="https://evvafricanamericanmuseum.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Evansville African American Museum</a>
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PHOTO & VIDEO:
Courtesy Indiana Landmarks https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.indianalandmarks.org%2F2020%2F10%2Fevansville-marker-is-countys-first-to-recognize-african-american-history%2F&data=04%7C01%7Clsajewski%40bsu.edu%7C5033ca60161d4b3199cd08d9ec0369c1%7C6fff909f07dc40da9e30fd7549c0f494%7C0%7C0%7C637800323632758953%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=Hdlz7PlV2DpAdE9Z%2FE9XNK%2BaDX76ZIS%2Byy5jHK09ABs%3D&reserved=0
1900-40s
1938
1950s-present
Evansville
Housing
Segregation
Vanderburgh County
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/3546ce99f050f2906fae52790d8c825e.jpg
8cb3dcc57886080c858a9960782ccd22
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Title
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Places
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Indiana Federation of Colored Women's Clubs/Minor House
Description
An account of the resource
African American women’s clubs in the twentieth century were created following the model of women’s rights and literary societies that were famous in the 1800s. The goal of African American women’s clubs was to unite black women to fight racial oppression and to promote moral and religious values. They believed the status of African American women in America could improve through the education of their youth and providing health and social services. <br /><br />To join forces in the late nineteenth century, the leaders of several African American women’s clubs in Indiana decided to merge into the National Association of Colored Women of Indiana. In 1896, the Young Ladies of Trilby Club of Evansville, the National Federation of Afro-American Women and the Colored Women’s League formed a united Association of Colored Women’s Clubs.[1] Lillian Thomas Fox, the first African American newspaper reporter for the Indianapolis News, was the state organizer for the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs in Indiana. She persuaded local clubs to form a state federation.[2] In April 1904, a state convention of African American women’s clubs was held at the Bethel AME Church in Indianapolis in order to form a state federation. A total of 19 key women’s organizations from Indianapolis, South Bend, Anderson, Marion, Muncie, and Terre Haute formed the Indiana State Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs (ISFCWC).[3]<br /><br />The federation’s local clubs undertook various projects to improve life for their African American communities. For instance, the Woman’s Club of Indianapolis established an outdoor tuberculosis camp from 1905 to 1916, ran a tuberculosis home for patients until 1935, and then funded financial assistance for African American families affected by the disease.[4] Clubs provided food, clothing and housing for flood victims and to low-income families who lacked those necessities.[5] During World War I, ISFCWC members distributed Bibles to departing African American soldiers at the Thursday Afternoon Coterie Club in Indianapolis.[6] The ISFCWC helped fund the Frederick Douglass Home in Washington, D.C. They also set up scholarship funds for African American students, such as those from Crispus Attucks High School in Indianapolis, to help with college tuition and expenses.[7] In addition, the ISFCWC organized local day schools and kindergartens for African American children.[8]<br /><br />There were 97 clubs and over 1,500 ISFCWC members by 1914, and membership increased to over 1,600 with 89 clubs a decade later. By 1933, the number of ISFCWC chapters declined to 56 clubs from 49 cities throughout Indiana. In 1927, the ISFCWC purchased an existing family home in Indianapolis to serve as its clubhouse and state headquarters. Known as the Minor House, after its original owners who built it in 1897, the headquarters is still in use today. Because of its architectural integrity and its significant role in African American history in Indiana, the Minor House was added to the National Register for Historic Places in 1987.[9] In 1997, the Indiana Historical Bureau and the ISFCWC erected a historical marker in front of the Minor House in recognition of the civil rights contributions the Indiana State Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs made to Indiana.[10]
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<span>[1] </span><span>King, Lou Ella. </span><span>The History of Indiana State Fede</span><span>ration of Colored Women’s Clubs. Gary: Harris Printing Company</span><span>, 1953. </span><span>P.53<br /></span><span>[2] </span><span>NACWC. </span><span>A History of the Club Movement Among the Colored Women of the United States of America. </span><span>Was</span><span>hington, D.C.: </span><span>NACWC, 1902. P.101.<br />[</span><span>3] </span><span>Indiana State Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form, 1987. National </span><span>Park Service. A</span><span>ccessed March 10, 2020.<br />[4] King, Lou Ella. P.57.<br />[5] National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form.<br />[6] Ibid.<br />[7] Hine,Darlene Clark (1981). When the Truth is Told: A History of Black Women's Culture and Community in Indiana, 1875–1950. Indianapolis, Indiana: National Council of Negro Women. p. 36<br />[8] Leslie, LaVonne. The History of the National Association of Colored Women’sS Clubs, Inc.: A Legacy of Service. Xlibris Corporation, 2012. P.22<br />[9] National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form.<br /></span>
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Student Authors: Emma Guichon and Robin Johnson
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
Rights
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PHOTO & VIDEO:<br />Indiana State Federation of Colored Women, attributed to Nyttend, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Indiana_State_Federation_of_Colored_Women%27s_Clubs.jpg
Relation
A related resource
<a href="https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/9ae99284-d9ef-4096-a3e4-8ef5f8dfcd00/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">National Register of Historic Places</a><br /><a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/227.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker</a>
1800s
1900-40s
1904
1950s-present
Indiana Historical Bureau Marker
Indianapolis
Marion County
National Register of Historic Places
Organization
Women
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/aa217bc3cf7c02abf491e3c2ae68216b.jpg
f160f7a28e1e0ff468093e4135bb8990
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Title
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People
Person
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Reverend Lester K. Jackson, St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church
Description
An account of the resource
<p>Reverend Lester K. Jackson, who served at the St. Paul Baptist church in Gary, Indiana, was a twentieth century Civil Rights leader known for his outspoken nature in all matters related to racial equality. Jackson, like many Civil Rights leaders, focused his efforts on areas of discrimination both locally and throughout the country. His drive and ambition helped bring about multiple Civil Rights advancements in the post-World War II era.</p>
<p>In 1946, Jackson worked tirelessly on a court case alongside the New Jersey chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to overturn law that prohibited African Americans from swimming in the Atlantic Ocean. This case was tried all the way to the Supreme Court and was a major victory for Jackson and the early Civil Rights movement.<span>[1]</span></p>
<p>In Gary, Jackson fought for the integration of Marquette Park.<span>[2]</span> In 1949, he endorsed an organization called “Beachhead for Democracy”, organizing a march from Gary City Hall to Marquette Park to commemorate the anniversary of black troops landing at Salerno Beach, Italy during WWII.<span>[3]</span> Gary mayor, Eugene Swartz, although agreeing with the notion that African Americans had the “right to use all city facilities,” refused to let police protect the demonstration.<span>[4]</span> Reverend Jackson called out businesses and other organizations within the city for their racist and discriminatory policies.<span>[5]</span> Jackson forced the Gary Transit Company to hire black conductors and motormen.<span>[6]</span> He would help to integrate the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA), public beaches, and all public transportation. Jackson and the St. Paul Missionary Church fought for equality and justice in Gary, and “it was [their] integral efforts to improve employment opportunities and living conditions for African Americans and the Civil Rights struggles in the City of Gary that many whites in the community literally had problems with.”<span>[7]</span></p>
<p>Jackson’s efforts in Gary put him in a national spotlight, especially with President Dwight D. Eisenhower, with whom Jackson had met with other African American ministers of the period to discuss their movement toward equality. He corresponded with other leaders including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., President John F. Kennedy, and President Lyndon B. Johnson. Jackson would congratulate or criticize these leaders for their success or failure on Civil Rights matters. In his letter to President Johnson, dated March 12, 1965, he criticized the President for his actions toward Vietnam and his lack of attention for his own citizens being beaten and segregated in the South. Jackson urges the President to take action for the people and not to turn a blind eye to domestic affairs.<span>[8]</span></p>
<p>Jackson communicated with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in January 1966, inviting Dr. King to speak at a service for St. Paul Missionary Church’s new building. Jackson exemplifies his nature in these letters, very outspoken regarding all matters of civil rights. Dr. Martin Luther King Sr. supported this testament at a banquet honoring Jackson in 1973, referring to him as “the Daddy of the militant civil rights movement”<span>[9]</span> Many would consider Jackson just that, an outspoken leader, militant when he deemed necessary, calculated in his efforts, and relentless in his never-ending battle for civil liberties and equal rights.</p>
Jackson passed away on March 2, 1977. He lived a life dedicated to his church, his people, and defending civil rights for all. Jackson was relentless in his Civil Rights efforts and his actions impacted generations of African Americans.
<p></p>
<p><a href="#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1"><span></span></a></p>
Source
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[1] “Obituary” March 1977. Accessed April 8, 2019. <br />[2] Indiana Landmarks. “The Many Surprises of Gary’s Marquette Park. Accessed February 14, 2020. <br />[3] Lane, James B. ""The Old Prophet" Reverend L.K. Jackson of Gary, Indiana." Traces, Fall 2017, 29-35. Accessed April 7, 2019. <br />[4] Ibid. <br />[5] Davich, Jerry. “Gary church turns 100, faces new challenge.” Chicago Tribune. March 4, 2016. Accessed February 14, 2020. <br />[6] Lane, James B. ""The Old Prophet" Reverend L.K. Jackson of Gary, Indiana." Traces, Fall 2017, Page 35. Accessed April 7, 2019. <br />[7] Woodson-Wray, Carmen M. “St. Paul Missionary Baptis continues 100th Anniversary events in August”. Accessed February 19, 2020. <br />[8] Jackson, Lester K. Letter to President Lyndon B. Johnson. March 12, 1965. Accessed April 8, 2019 <br />[9] Lane, James B. ""The Old Prophet" Reverend L.K. Jackson of Gary, Indiana." Traces, Fall 2017, Page 35. Accessed April 7, 2019.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Student Authors: Jake Bailey and Robin Johnson
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
PHOTO & VIDEO:
Marquette Park Pavilion (Gary, Indiana), attributed to chicagogeek, Public domain, via Wikimedia commons.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Marquette_Park_Pavilion_(Gary,_Indiana).jpg
1900-1940s
1950s-present
Civil Rights Movement
Gary
Integration
Lake County
law
NAACP
religion
Religious Leaders
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/4a218092aee376db501a20b98b03c6cf.jpg
87487413a606132a83f2600a4ad5a581
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/b0f5b6ea3c8bbbe5ceaff6a5dcf2b99e.mp3
079bb0b1155d635c3899022bf401bd77
Dublin Core
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Title
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Interview 1 with Junifer Hall (Congresswoman Katie Hall)
Subject
The topic of the resource
<a href="https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/items/show/53">Congresswoman Katie Hall</a>
Description
An account of the resource
Junifer Hall, the daughter of Representative Katie Hall, describes her mother's childhood in Mound Bayou, Tennessee, including the racial profile of the community and her mother's financial circumstances growing up.
<strong>***Transcript***</strong><em><br /><br />Junifer Hall</em>: Katie Beatrice Green Hall was born on April 3rd, 1938 in the small Delta Mississippi town of Mound Bayou, Mississippi, and Mound Bayou is located approximately 100 miles south of Memphis, Tennessee. Mound Bayou was founded by two former slaves of the brother of Jefferson Davis, who we know was the president of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War, and my mother grew up very poor. Her family were cotton farmers in Mound Bayou. They didn’t have a lot of resources, fame or wealth, very poor as she liked to describe herself during those years. Mound Bayou is the only African American, all-African American town in the United States of America, even until this day. You will have a few Asians, but 99.9% African American, and during the days of my mother’s youth, Mound Bayou was a thriving town with African American-owned banks and businesses. A hospital was located in Mound Bayou, and even though she did not experience racism directly, she was very well aware of the segregated times in which she lived.
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/6cd32e9fd34cfbfd16b7475562c99f9e.mp3
f33cf8bc497995eec199a36229e3afbb
Dublin Core
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Interview 2 with Junifer Hall (Congresswoman Katie Hall)
Subject
The topic of the resource
<a href="https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/items/show/53">Congresswoman Katie Hall</a>
Description
An account of the resource
Junifer Hall, the daughter of Representative Katie Hall, shares how her mother attended Mississippi Vocational College despite struggling economic circumstances, enrolling in college with $5 from her mother.
<strong>***</strong><strong>Transcript***</strong><br /><br /><span><em>Junifer Hall</em>: And her mother, Mrs. Bessie May Hooper Green, told her, “I can only spare five </span><span>dollars. This is all I have to enroll you in college,” so my mother said, “Let’s go. We’re going to </span><span>go over to the newly formed college,” Mississippi Vocational Co</span><span>llege, as it was called at that </span><span>time. It was founded in 1950, so five years later, in 1955, she and her mother went to Mound</span><span>—</span><span>to </span><span>Mississippi Valley, and during those days, you didn’t need an appointment to talk to the college </span><span>president or any of the officia</span><span>ls, so my mother and her mom went to President White’s office. </span><span>James Herbert White was the newly founded president, and they said, “I only have five dollars,” </span><span>my grandmother told him, “my daughter really wants to go to college. Would you take the five </span><span>doll</span><span>ars, and I can pay on a payment plan?” And he said, “of course.” And she could enroll,<br /><br /></span><span><em>Carrie Vachon</em>: Wow.<br /><br /></span><span><em>Junifer Hall</em>: and my mother often even likened herself to Mary McClay [McLeod] Bethune who </span><span>started Bethune College [Bethune</span><span>-</span><span>Cookman University in </span><span>Dayton Beach, Florida] in Florida </span><span>with only one dollar and fifty cents. </span>
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/b3c547e344babe059e876800cf0d4c21.mp3
2fd560483d6f5210f5256b2593fb0e0a
Dublin Core
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Interview 3 with Junifer Hall (Congresswoman Katie Hall)
Subject
The topic of the resource
<a href="https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/items/show/53">Congresswoman Katie Hall</a>
Description
An account of the resource
Junifer Hall, the daughter of Representative Katie Hall, details her mother's move to Gary, Indiana and her work as a substitute teacher and eventual work as a social studies educator at Edison High School in Gary.
<strong>***Transcript***</strong><br /><br /><em>Junifer Hall</em>: A lot of people think, well, you were in Congress, you were in the Indiana General Assembly, but it was a long, difficult road before in the very early years. So after arriving in Gary, my mother was a political science major. She substituted for about two to three years in the Gary school system because at that time, you could not get a part-time, full-time job if you were pregnant or if you had small kids, so in the early 1960’s, I was born on March 12th, 1961, and she was still subbing, and in 1963-64, she was able to secure a position at Edison High School on Gary’s West Side teaching U.S. government and U.S. history, and during those days, Mrs. Hall, as the students fondly called her, was the second African American to teach social studies at Edison High School, which later became a junior high school.
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/10c3cf514a083e1d39406db30ea8b3be.mp3
ab328658c4c5c220cd86a2dcf108b5d4
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Interview 4 with Junifer Hall (Congresswoman Katie Hall)
Subject
The topic of the resource
<a href="https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/items/show/53">Congresswoman Katie Hall</a><br /><a href="https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/items/show/108">Mayor Richard Hatcher of Gary</a>
Description
An account of the resource
Junifer Hall, the daughter of Representative Katie Hall, shares how her mother broke down barriers as one of the first African American leaders in the Gary, Indiana and statewide community. She describes the previous two African American elected officials in the 1950s and the limited representation at city hall outside of Mayor Richard Hatcher.
<strong>***Transcript***</strong><br /><br /><em>Junifer Hall</em>: She told her mother as a young child that “one day I want to go to Washington. I want to serve in the United States Congress,” so as most children, my grandmother thought that was such a noble dream at that time because it was not a reality for children of color in the Deep South in the [19]50s, [19]40s and [19]50s, and even when she moved North to Gary, there were not any major Black elected officials like there are today. As fate would have it in 1967, Richard Gordon Hatcher ran for mayor of the city of Gary, but when my mother and father first came to the city—well, she would come during college vacations starting around [19]57, [19]58. Gary was very segregated at that time, and even after she moved here in 1960, Gary was very segregated, and African Americans were limited to places where they could live, and it wasn’t the city that it is today, and before Mayor Hatcher was elected mayor, of course he was elected to the Gary City Council at large, and he introduced an ordinance which passed, the Open Door Housing that allowed African Americans to live anywhere they chose in the city of Gary, but unfortunately, that was not the case because of the severe racism, and with his election in 1967 as mayor, blacks on paper could live anywhere, but the reality was totally different for them, so there were no African American elected officials, mayor elected officials. I think she said, my mother would mention, there was Mr. Mitchell, who was in the fourth district in Gary, and then there was in the fifth district, there was Cleo Westin, who was elected in the late [19]50s, but there were not a lot of African American elected officials in the city of Gary, Indiana, and she told me at the mayor’s city hall, there was one African American lady who worked the switchboard, but she was very fair in complexion and demeanor, and you could barely tell that she was African American, so city hall was even something that was far-fetched. There were no black commissioners, no elected officials, no state representatives, none of that, so the role models were very, very limited.
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/3761293d085ee96a29d7311ce3902eee.mp3
cf2005f1a1bd826a7bcb979cae895d59
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Interview 7 with Junifer Hall (Congresswoman Katie Hall)
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<a href="https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/items/show/53">Congresswoman Katie Hall</a><br /><a href="https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/items/show/108">Mayor Richard Hatcher of Gary</a>
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An account of the resource
Junifer Hall, the daughter of Representative Katie Hall, details her mother's work writing legislation in support of the Genesis Convention Center spearheaded by Mayor Richard Hatcher of Gary and her work on the education committee supporting educational programs for all people in Indiana.
<strong>***Transcript***</strong><em><br /><br />Junifer Hall</em>: The big building, the Genesis Convention Center. She wrote the legislation for the Genesis Convention Center, Gary Deputy Mayor’s law. Chaired, while over the education committee, she wrote over 100 bills for education for all people in the state of Indiana, so it was a lot to help people, working class people, authored or co-authored a lot of legislation to help people in Indiana cities and towns, so we were very proud of her efforts here in the city of Gary. At that time in the [19]70’s, the business elite in this city did not want Gary to have a convention center, but Mayor Hatcher felt that the time was right for citizens to have something in this city that we could go to and be proud of because again, when they venture South, there were racism there, even in entertainment going to shows and things like that, and with Gary’s minority population, and for all people, not just for minorities, but for everybody to have something here that was very nice. He thought the Genesis Center would add to tourism, business and things of that nature, so it was a fight in Indianapolis just to get the Genesis Gary Center built, but eventually we got it built.
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Congresswoman Katie Hall
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<p>Katie Hall was born in 1938 in Mound Bayou, Mississippi. She graduated from Mississippi Valley State University in 1960. She then moved to Bloomington, Indiana to start her master’s degree at Indiana University.<span>[1]</span> She later taught social studies in Gary, Indiana, where she lived with her husband and their three children. Hall took part in local Gary political campaigns in the 1960s.<span>[2]</span> She was elected to the Indiana House of Representatives from 1974 to 1976, and to the Indiana Senate from 1976 to 1982. In 1982, Hall was nominated to represent her district from northern Indiana in the United States House of Representatives. White Democrats were concerned about her electability because of her race.<span>[3]</span> Gary’s population was primarily black, but Hall’s district was 70% white.<span>[4]</span> She nonetheless won with 56% of the vote and became the first black woman from Indiana elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.<span>[5]</span> Veteran lawmaker William Gray III stated: “She brought freshness of approach, a spirit of reconciliation to what had sometimes been a bitter battle.”<span>[6]</span> </p>
<p>Hall supported the reduction of urban and industrial unemployment in her district, and also supported a number of measures to solve crime, alcohol and drug abuse, particularly in cities. She endorsed the Fair Trade in Steel Act, a measure designed to revitalize Gary’s crumbling steel and manufacturing industry.<span>[7]</span> In addition to domestic concerns, Hall became involved in the fight against famine in Africa after a visit to Ethiopia.<span>[8]</span></p>
<p>In 1983, Hall introduced a bill to make Martin Luther King’s birthday a federal holiday stating that for him “equality always prevailed.”<span>[9]</span> This bill had detractors that criticized the large cost of a paid holiday for federal employees, and several Republican senators questioned the legitimacy of King’s legacy. President Ronald Reagan signed the bill into law in November 1983, and the first Martin Luther King, Jr. Day occurred in January 1986.<span>[10]</span></p>
<p>After retiring from Congress, she served as the vice chair of Gary’s housing board and became the city clerk in 1985. Hall passed away on February 20, 2012 in Gary, Indiana. Her work and legacy is immortalized in a marker from the Indiana Historical Bureau, installed in 2019, highlighting her effort to make Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day a reality.</p>
<a href="https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/show/232">Junifer Hall interview 1</a><br /><a href="https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/show/233">Junifer Hall interview 2</a><br /><a href="https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/show/234">Junifer Hall interview 3</a><br /><a href="https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/show/235">Junifer Hall interview 4</a><br /><a href="https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/show/236">Junifer Hall interview 7</a>
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<p><span>[1]</span> United States Congress. "Katie Hall (id: H000058)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. P.124<br /><span>[2]</span> House Office of History and Preservation. <em>Black Americans in Congress, 1870-2007</em>. Edited by Matthew Wasniewski. Third edition. Washington: United States Congress, 2008. P.530<br /><span>[3]</span><span> Ibid. P.532<br /></span><span>[4]</span> Catlin, Robert A. "Organizational Effectiveness and Black Political Participation: The Case of Katie Hall." Phylon 46 (September 1985). P.179<br /><span>[5]</span> Ibid. P.190<br /><span>[6]</span> House Office of History and Preservation. <em>Black Americans in Congress, 1870-2007</em>. Edited by Matthew Wasniewski. Third edition. Washington: United States Congress, 2008. P.530<br /><span>[7]</span> Ibid.<br /><span>[8]</span> United States Congress. "Katie Hall (id: H000058)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.<br /><span>[9]</span> House Office of History and Preservation. <em>Black Americans in Congress, 1870-2007</em>. Edited by Matthew Wasniewski. Third edition. Washington: United States Congress, 2008. P.532<br /><span>[10]</span><span> Origin of MLK Day Law. </span>Indiana Historical Bureau. Accessed February 10, 2020.</p>
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Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
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Katie Beatrice Hall, attributed to U.S. Congress, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Katie_Beatrice_Hall.jpg
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<a href="http://www.state.in.us/history/markers/4447.htm">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker</a>
1950s-present
Gary
House of Representatives
Indiana Historical Bureau
Lake County
law
Oral History
Politics
Women
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https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/15e8f137dd0efcc480bfcd373d259962.jpg
c31a63342bbeaceebfc1da3ce3368c51
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Kappa Alpha Psi
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<p>Greek life and its associated activities is a dominant thread in many college students’ lives. Kappa Alpha Psi was one of the first African American social fraternities in the United States.<span>[1]</span> The fraternity was founded in 1911 at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, a predominantly white institution at a time when racism and prejudice were high. Kappa Alpha Psi has since dedicated their efforts to an equal brotherhood, bound only by a willingness to succeed and not by skin color, race, or background.</p>
<p>Its founders, ten African American students at Indiana University, first organized the fraternity (originally named Kappa Alpha Nu until 1915) in January 1911<span>[2]</span>. The men often gathered at the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Bloomington before they had their own fraternity house. The original motto, “Achievement in every field of Human Endeavor” formalized their goal of helping members to attain high “intellectual, moral and social worth”.[3] Kappa Alpha Psi gave African American men at Indiana University a way to participate in campus social events. In Indiana University in the 1910s, African Americans were not allowed to reside in campus housing, were denied use of university facilities, and could not participate in contact sports, leaving only track and field as athletic options.<span>[4]</span></p>
<p>Kappa Alpha Psi, like many other Greek organizations across colleges and universities in the United States, has evolved over time. Over the years, Kappa Alpha Psi has sponsored national programs under its name feeding the homeless, funding youth and after-school programs, providing scholarships, and sponsoring other philanthropic efforts.<span>[5]</span> It now has over 700 chapters and 125,000 collegiate members worldwide.<span>[6]</span> <span> </span>Kappa Alpha Psi takes pride in the fact that their Constitution has never included any language that “either excluded or suggested the exclusion of a man from membership merely because of his color, creed, or national origin”.<span>[7]</span> Notable Kappa Alpha Psi members include Hollywood director John Singleton (University of Southern California), former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick (University of Nevada), author and television personality Marc Lamont Hill (University of Pennsylvania), political author on race relations Charles Blow (Grambling State University)<span> [8]</span>, and former president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Dennis Hayes (Indiana University).<span>[9]</span></p>
<p>The alpha Kappa Alpha Psi chapter at Indiana University dedicated its fraternity house as the Elder Watson Diggs Memorial in 1961, honoring founder and first Grand Polemarch Elder W. Diggs. In 2008, the Indiana Historical Bureau and Indiana University installed a historical marker on the site of the Elder Watson Diggs Memorial chapter house. The marker commemorates the formation of Kappa Alpha Psi and the role it played in race relations and civil rights in Indiana.<span>[10]</span></p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1"><span></span></a></p>
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<p><span>[1]</span> Kappa Alpha Psi. “A Brief History.” Kappa Alpha Psi, Inc. <span>https://kappaalphapsi1911.com/page/History</span>. Accessed February 7, 2020.<br /><span>[2]</span> "Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity." Original People. January 24, 2014. Accessed April 12, 2019.<br /><span>[3]</span> Ibid.<br /><span>[4]</span> Kappa Alpha Psi. “A Brief History.” Kappa Alpha Psi, Inc. Accessed February 7, 2020.<br /><span>[5]</span> Kappa Alpha Psi. “A Brief History.” Kappa Alpha Psi, Inc. Accessed February 7, 2020.<br /><span>[</span><span>6</span><span>]</span> "Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity." Original People. January 24, 2014. Accessed April 12, 2019.<br /><span>[7]</span> Kappa Alpha Psi. “A Brief History.” Kappa Alpha Psi, Inc. Accessed February 7, 2020.<br /><span>[8]</span> Ibid.<br /><span>[9]</span> <em>Kappa Alpha Psi to make a historic 'pilgrimage' to IU Bloomington to mark its centennial. </em>Indiana University, IU News Room. Accessed February 10, 2020.<br /><span>[10]</span> Indiana Historical Bureau, Indiana Historical Markers. Accessed February 10, 2020.</p>
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Student Authors: Emma Brauer and Robin Johnson
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
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Kappa1, attributed to Wilberforce University, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kappa1.jpg
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<a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/555.htm">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker</a>
1900-40s
1911
1950s-present
Bloomington
education
Indiana Historical Bureau Marker
Indiana University
Integration
Monroe County
Organization
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https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/3afb6f786b600ddd44bcaa0261f678b8.jpg
03c8947448ae5f9410331a1cd73cae28
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H. Theo. Tatum, Principal Gary Roosevelt High School
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Harbart Theodore Tatum, known as H. Theo. Tatum, was born January 18, 1894 in Columbus, Texas. At the age of 15, he graduated as valedictorian of his class at Charlton-Pollard High School in Beaumont, Texas.[1] He continued his education at Wiley College, then Columbia University where he graduated with a Master of Arts in Educational Administration, with post-graduate study at the University of Chicago.[2] Tatum was first a teacher and later vice-principal of McDonough High School in New Orleans, Louisiana. <br /><br />In 1925, he moved to Gary, Indiana and served as principal of Virginia Street School and East Pulaski High School. In his book,<em> Children of the Mill: Schooling and Society in Gary Indiana, 1906-1960</em>, Ronald D. Cohen says that, “Virginia school principal H. Theo Tatum epitomized the mixture of racial pride and integrationist principles.”[3] In 1931, the East Pulaski school had an enrollment of 998 pupils and 27 teachers, and “H. Theodore Tatum, the principal has been here nearly ten years…[4] It is generally conceded by both races that Mr. Tatum has very few equals and no superiors among the administrators of the Gary school system.”[5] Tatum was an administrator in the Gary Public School System for 36 years.[6] Tatum was said to have “represented pride within the black community.”[7]<br /><br />In 1933, H. Theo. Tatum became principal of Roosevelt High School, an all-black school, and he world serve that role for over 20 years. Tatum was “a firm advocate of integration as promoted by the NAACP.”[8] Theodore Roosevelt High School (also popularly known as Gary Roosevelt) was the first and only exclusively African American high school in Gary. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012, both for its architecture and design, and for the role it played with the development of the city’s African American community.[9]<br /><br />In 1961, Tatum retired as principal of Gary Roosevelt High School. He served as the local chairman of the National Negro College Fund,”[10] and he had a life membership in the NAACP. He was also the President of United Council of Negro Organizations in Gary.[12]<br /><br />Tatum died at the age of 89 on June 16, 1983. After his death, his son-in-law, Randall Morgan Sr. and former teachers under Tatum, remembered him and his contributions to his community. Morgan stated, “Many local people did not know it, but Mr. Tatum had quite a national reputation. For about 12 years, he taught a graduate course at Hampton Institute during the summer. Black schoolteachers and administrators from all over the country came there to hear him. His classes were filled to capacity, giving lessons on administration. He was one of only a few blacks with that kind of expertise in education.”[13]<br /><br />Mrs. Ida B. King, a teacher under Tatum, said, “he wanted to expose the community to artists of color, to give incentive to graduating seniors and those growing up- since Roosevelt was kindergarten through 12th grade at the time.”[14] She goes on to say that, “young blacks were inspired during those years - in the 1940s and 1950s- to see their own people progress in spite of obstacles that racism tossed in their path.”
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[1] “The Service of Worship In Memory of H. Theo. Tatum. June 1983. <br />[2] Ibid. <br />[3] Cohen, Ronald D. <em>Children of the Mill: Schooling and Society in Gary, Indiana, 1906-1960,</em> 98. <br />[4] Bethea, Dennis A."The Colored Group in the Gary School System." <br />[5] Ibid. <br />[6] Woodson-Wray, Carmen M. "Retired Educator H. Theo Tatum to Be Honored." <br />[7] Cohen, Ronald D. <em>Children of the Mill: Schooling and Society in Gary, Indiana, 1906-1960.</em> <br />[8] Abell, Gregg. <em>National Register of Historic Places Nomination Roosevelt High School.</em> <br />[9] Ibid. <br />[10] “H. Theo Tatum Biographical Sketch.” <br />[11] “The Service of Worship In Memory of H. Theo. Tatum. June 1983. <br />[12] “H. Theo. Tatum Personal Information.” <br />[13] Williams, Vernon A. “Tatum a Roosevelt Tradition.” [14] Ibid.
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Student Authors: Molly Hollcroft and Robin Johnson
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
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<a href="https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/12001059">National Register of Historic Places</a>
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Theodore Roosevelt High School, Gary Indiana, attributed to T. Tolbert, Public domain, via Wikimedia commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Theodore_Roosevelt_High_School,_Gary_Indiana.jpg
1900-1940s
1950s-present
education
Gary
Integration
Lake County
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Places
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Bethel AME Church, Indianapolis
Description
An account of the resource
In 1787, the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church was founded in Philadelphia by Richard Allen and Absalom Jones, after they left the Methodist Church due to racial prejudice. Allen and Jones retained some of the teachings and beliefs of the Methodist denomination, but the AME leaders were all African Americans. Through the AME Church, African Americans were able to form and lead their own congregations. In 1836, the first AME congregations in Indiana appeared in Richmond and Indianapolis. Revered William Paul Quinn, who settled in Richmond and served as the bishop of its AME church in 1844, established both churches. Richmond provided opportunities and a higher chance of equal treatment for African Americans because of the large Quaker population.[1] <br /><br />Bethel AME Church was founded in Indianapolis in 1836, at a time when nearly five percent of the city was African American. Augustus Turner, a local barber, came up with the idea to form an AME congregation while overhearing the conversations of his customers. The church began meeting in Turner’s log cabin, and after petitioning the Philadelphia AME Conference, the group was recognized as an AME church. Reverend Quinn from Richmond was sent as a circuit rider to what was known at the time as “Indianapolis Station.” A small frame house used as a church building was built five years later on Georgia Street, between the Canal and modern-day Senate Avenue.[2] In 1848, the church grew to 100 members. Indianapolis Station hosted the Annual AME Conference in 1854, and during the nine-day conference, the Constitution of the William Paul Quinn Missionary Society was adopted. Other benevolent societies and self-improvement groups were connected to Bethel AME Church, including several literary and temperance societies.[3] Three years later, the Bethel AME congregation bought the shuttered Christ Church building and physically moved it from the Indianapolis Circle area to Georgia Street as their new place of worship.[4] <br /><br />Beginning in 1858, Bethel AME Church organized the first school for African American children, as African Americans in Indianapolis were not allowed to attend public schools. This AME-sponsored school taught geography, grammar, history, physiology, reading, writing, and arithmetic. The African American community in Indianapolis was able to keep the school operating through donations and tuition.[5] The Bethel congregation was also active in the Underground Railroad, helping runaway slaves on their journey to Canada. Because of their involvement, some believed that slavery sympathizers started the fire which destroyed the church in the summer of 1862; others suggested that disgruntled African Americans, who had been cast out of the church, had set the fire.[6] The fire and the Civil War led to financial troubles, and unrest within the congregation led to several members leaving Bethel and forming their own church, Allen Chapel. After purchasing land on Vermont Street for $5,000, construction of a new Bethel AME Church building began in 1867. Two years later, the congregation occupied the partially completed building.[7] <br /><br />By the 1880’s, the church’s membership had grown to 600, and Sunday School pupils numbered 300.[8] However, the congregation had to sell the church building because of debt; the purchaser gave them one year to redeem the property or it would be lost to them forever. The African American community of Indianapolis helped Bethel to recover, and an increase in membership led to a remodeling of the building. In 1894, a pipe organ was installed, and electric lights, stained glass windows, and steam heat were added, and the parsonage was converted to a Parish House with a Prayer Chapel.[9] <br /><br />Church leadership changed throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and other renovations and additions took place. In the early 1900s, the Indianapolis Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the State Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs were organized at the church.[10] The Ethical Culture Society, an organization devoted to the enlightenment of young people, met at the church for over four decades. In 1957, Bethel AME became involved with feeding the hungry and offering counseling services to the community, and in 1973, a Human Resources Development Center was established to aid youth and senior citizens. Bethel AME Church, in partnership with the Riley-Lockerbie Association of Churches, maintains a food and clothing pantry.[11] The church has also had a credit union, a well-baby clinic, an adult daycare program, and other social programs. <br /><br />Bethel AME is known as the “Mother Church” of African Methodism in Indiana, as Allen Chapel, Coppin Chapel, Saint John, and Wallace (Providence) were all AME churches that were off-shoots of Bethel AME.[12] In 1991, the Bethel AME Church was added to the National Register of Historic Places.[13] Bethel AME Church continues not only to improve the lives of its members, but also to help to those in Indianapolis who are in need from its new location north of the city.[14] The Bethel AME Church building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009 and is commemorated by an Indiana Historical Bureau historical marker, installed in 2009.
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<p><span>[1]</span> National Register Nominations: Bethel A.M.E. Church, Marion County, 12-19-90, Elisabeta Goodall, Author, 7.<br /><span>[2]</span> B.R. Sulgrove, <em>History of Indianapolis and Marion County</em> (Philadelphia: L. H. Everts, 1884), 404-05.<br /><span>[3]</span> Earline Rae Ferguson, “In Pursuit of the Full Enjoyment of Liberty and Happiness: Blacks in Antebellum Indianapolis, 1820-1860,” <em>Black History News and Notes,</em> no. 32 (May 1988), 7.<br /><span>[4]</span> B.R. Sulgrove, History of Indianapolis and Marion County (Philadelphia: L. H. Everts, 1884), 404-05.<br /><span>[5]</span> Ferguson, “In Pursuit of the Full Enjoyment of Liberty and Happiness: Blacks in Antebellum Indianapolis, 1820-1860,” 6.<br /><span>[6]</span> Stanley Warren, “The Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church,” <em>Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History</em>, 19 no. 3 (2007), 33.<br /><span>[7]</span> Ibid, 34.<br /><span>[8]</span> Sulgrove, <em>History of Indianapolis and Marion County, </em>405.<br /><span>[9]</span> National Register Nominations: Bethel A.M.E. Church, Marion County, 12-19-90, Elisabeta Goodall, Author, 9.<br /><span>[10]</span> Aboard the Underground Railroad. “Bethel AME Church”. National Park Service.<br /><span>[11]</span> National Register Nominations: Bethel A.M.E. Church, 9-10.<br /><span>[12]</span> Warren, “The Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church,” 35.<br /><span>[13]</span> Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church. Indiana Historical Bureau. Accessed January 29, 2020. <br />[14] Warren, “The Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church,” 35.</p>
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Student Authors: Melody Seberger and Robin Johnson
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
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PHOTO & VIDEO:<br />Bethel A.M.E. Church Organizations and Clubs, Indiana Historical Society, M1270.<br /><br />
<table width="529">
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<td width="529"><a href="https://images.indianahistory.org/digital/collection/p16797coll9/id/2456/rec/109">https://images.indianahistory.org/digital/collection/p16797coll9/id/2456/rec/109</a></td>
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<a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/Bethel.htm">Indiana Historic Bureau: Historical Marker</a><br /><a href="https://npgallery.nps.gov/pdfhost/docs/NRHP/Text/00000925.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">National Register of Historic Places</a>
1800s
1836
1900-40s
1950s-present
African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church
Church
education
Indiana Historical Bureau Marker
Indianapolis
Marion County
National Register of Historic Places
religion
Underground Railroad
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National Black Political Convention and West Side High School
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<p>For three days in March 1972, the city of Gary, Indiana hosted approximately 8,000 black political leaders and citizens from across the nation.<span>[1]</span> These delegates came together to form the National Black Political Convention, “a distinctly black political movement” independent from both major American political parties.<span>[2]</span> Throughout the weekend, delegates aimed to discuss the future of African American people in America and to create a National Black Agenda that would address nationwide poverty and high unemployment rates of African Americans, along with the general alienation of African Americans from the political system across party lines.<span>[3]<br /></span> <br />The city of Gary was chosen to host the convention despite its relatively small size and few accommodations.<span>[4]</span> Gary had only one hotel at the time, but was chosen “because it was a predominantly black city governed by an elected black mayor, who was able to ensure a welcoming environment for the thousands of black delegates and visitors to the convention.”<span>[5]</span> In 1972, Gary had a population of about 175,000, half of which were African American.<span>[6]</span> Mayor Richard Gordon Hatcher had been elected in November 1967, and was the first African American mayor in Indiana’s history.<span>[7]</span> Along with Mayor Carl Stokes of Cleveland, elected the same year, Hatcher was also the first African American mayor “to head a major American city.”<span>[8]</span> Hatcher was the chair of the planning conference for the convention held on September 24, 1971, and offered Gary as a host city, saying that “We should do it at a place where Black people from all over the country could feel comfortable. Wouldn’t have to worry about the police beating them. Wouldn’t have to worry about getting cooperation from city officials.”<span>[9]</span></p>
<p>The National Black Political Convention took place in the gymnasium at Gary’s West Side High School, now called West Side Leadership Academy. West Side High School, built in 1968 to integrate students within the Gary School System, was the largest high school in Indiana at the time.<span>[10]</span> The convention hoped to cultivate a neutral space for its diverse delegates, where everyone “from members of Congress to street gang members from Chicago would feel welcome.”<span>[11]</span> The slogan “unity without uniformity” was the rallying cry of the convention, whose leaders hoped to create a united black political front without necessarily agreeing on methods of strategy or implementation.<span>[12]</span> The National Black Political Agenda which was ratified during the convention was supposed to be representative of the collective political will of African Americans nationwide.<span>[13]</span> From there, leaders of the convention “would then take this agenda to the Democratic and Republican National Conventions to determine which one of the two presidential candidates was more sympathetic to blacks.”<span>[14]</span> Then, the agenda was hoped to serve as a guide for the president in order to “guide his relationship with black Americans.”<span>[15]</span> However, the convention was plagued by division, especially over the issues of integration versus black nationalism, busing of African American children to white schools in order to end school segregation, and a controversial anti-Israel amendment to the agenda.<span>[16]</span></p>
<p>At a time when the country was still experiencing violent protests and racism, managing to host a black political convention of more than eight thousand African Americans represented empowerment and progress. Among the leaders was Reverend Jesse Jackson Sr., an activist who had worked alongside Martin Luther King, Jr. in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. He delivered a passionate speech on the significance of the convention. Other speeches focused on African American political and economic freedom, and also on tumultuous events such as the violence in Selma, Alabama, the Voting Rights Act and the deaths of major African American political figures like Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X. One of the major subjects of discussion was Pan-Africanism, an intellectual movement which sought to unite people from Africa or from African descent in a collective movement internationally.<span>[17]</span></p>
<p>The National Black Political Convention issued the Gary Declaration, a document which served as “an initial statement of goals and directions for [the delegates’] own generation, some first definitions of crucial issues around which Black people must organize and move in 1972 and beyond.”<span>[18]</span> For the delegates at the National Black Political Convention, the only way to implement a real change for African Americans nationwide was to develop an independent black politics and to ensure an equal representation of African American representatives in the government.<span>[19]</span> As the Gary Declaration states, the delegates at the National Black Political Convention found that historically, “both parties have betrayed [black Americans] whenever their interests conflicted with [black Americans’] (which was most of the time).”<span>[20]</span> The Gary Declaration ends with a clear call to action for all African Americans: “We begin here and now in Gary. We begin with an independent Black political movement, an independent Black Political Agenda, and independent Black spirit. Nothing less will do. We must build for our people. We must build for our world. We stand on the edge of history. We cannot turn back.”<span>[21]</span></p>
<p>The National Black Political Convention in Gary was a euphoric event, filling its delegates with hope for the future and a sense of true empowerment.<span>[22]</span> It represents a distinct moment in American history in which “a formidable collection of black Americans were energized by the possibility of stepping outside the confines” of mainstream white American politics.<span>[23]</span> However, the National Black Agenda and Gary Declaration were “more romantic than pragmatic,” creating an idealistic stance that was “so unrealistic as to be unrealizable.”<span>[24]</span> The convention failed in its goals of creating a clear consensus and energizing a nationwide coalition of black citizens which could influence mainstream American politics. Nevertheless, the energy the convention created in Gary has had a clear legacy in African American politics in the United States. The National Black Political Convention is credited with the organization of black voters and candidates which would lead to significant growth in the number of African American politicians elected nationwide; from 2,200 at the time of the convention in 1972 to more than 5,000 just ten years later.<span>[25]</span></p>
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[1]Michael Puente, “Gary’s National Black Political Convention, 40 Years On,” WBEZ News Chicago, last modified March 9, 2012. <br />[2] Jerry Gafio Watts, Amiri Baraka: The Politics and Art of a Black Intellectual (New York, NY: New York University Press, 2001), 401. <br />[3] Puente, “Gary’s National Black Political Convention, 40 Years On,” 2012. <br />[4] Ibid. <br />[5] Watts, Amiri Baraka, 401. <br />[6] Puente, “Gary’s National Black Political Convention, 40 Years On,” 2012. <br />[7] Craig Lyons, “1967 Gary Election a ‘History Maker’ with Richard Hatcher as Indiana’s First African-American Mayor,” Chicago Post-Tribune (Chicago, IL), Oct. 28, 2017. <br />[8] Ibid. <br />[9] Watts, Amiri Baraka, 401.; Leonard N. Moore, The Defeat of Black Power: Civil Rights and the National Black Political Convention of 1972 (Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 2018), 65. <br />[10] Puente, “Gary’s National Black Political Convention, 40 Years On,” 2012. <br />[11] Moore, The Defeat of Black Power, 66. <br />[12] Watts, Amiri Baraka, 403. <br />[13] Ibid., 406 <br />[14] Ibid. <br />[15] Ibid. <br />[16] Ibid., 408-411. <br />[17] Robert Charles Smith, We Have No Leaders: African Americans in the Post-Civil Rights Era (New York, NY: State University of New York Press, 1996), 48. <br />[18]“(1972) Gary Declaration, National Black Political Convention,” BlackPast, last modified January 21, 2007. <br />[19] Ibid. <br />[20] Ibid. <br />[21] Ibid. <br />[22] Puente, “Gary’s National Black Political Convention, 40 Years On,” 2012. <br />[23] Watts, Amiri Baraka, 410. <br />[24] Ibid. <br />[25] Puente, “Gary’s National Black Political Convention, 40 Years On,” 2012.
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Student Authors: Allison Hunt and Emma Guichon
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
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PHOTO & VIDEO:
Pinback button for the Black National Political Convention, Public domain, via Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
https://nmaahc.si.edu/object/nmaahc_2013.201.1.23.7?destination=explore/collection/search%3Fedan_q%3Dthe%2520north%26edan_local%3D1%26edan_fq%255B0%255D%3Dtopic%253A%2522Civil%2520rights%2522
1950s-present
1972
Gary
Integration
Lake County
Politics
Segregation
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083df12d03aae268ac78c542dab480f8
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Madam Walker Theatre Center
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<p>The Walker Theatre is a part of the Madam C.J. Walker Building constructed in 1927 at 617 Indiana Avenue in Indianapolis.<span>[1]</span> The building opened to fanfare on December 26, 1927, with presentations of the feature film <em>The Magic Flame</em> and performances of a Chicago-based dance ensemble set to an orchestra both showing at various times throughout the week for 25 to 40 cents.<span>[2]</span> The Walker Theatre was regularly advertised and reviewed in the black newspaper, <em>Indianapolis Recorder</em>, promoting its “Vaudeville and First-Run Pictures.”<span>[3]</span> The theatre joined a vibrant culture of African American entertainment along Indiana Avenue, known for its dance halls, taverns, and jazz clubs.<span>[4]</span></p>
<p>The Walker Theatre was named after Madam C.J. Walker, a successful African American entrepreneur who developed a revolutionary line of beauty and hygiene products for African American women. Her profits from the Madam C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company made her one of the wealthiest people in the nation, but Walker’s recognition as the first black female millionaire in the United States is a myth; her estate was worth approximately $600,000 at the time of her death in 1919.<span>[5]</span> Nevertheless, Walker used her success and wealth to advocate for African American rights and improve the lives of black women in her community. As her business expanded, it began to outgrow its original Indianapolis headquarters, and Madam Walker started planning the Walker Building, constructed after her death.<span>[6]</span></p>
<p>The building, designed by the premier Indianapolis architectural firm Rubush and Hunter, held a new factory and office space for the Walker Company, as well as a casino, drugstore, coffee shop, and additional offices for rent.<span>[7]</span> The Walker Theatre was a special project of Madam Walker’s, intended as a place of entertainment for the local African American community.<span>[8]</span> The movie theater was a particularly notable addition to the building, as Madam Walker herself had experienced discrimination in Indianapolis movie theaters.<span>[9]</span> In 1915, she sued the Central Amusement Company, which owned the Isis Theatre in Indianapolis, for its discriminatory pricing; African American patrons were required to pay an extra 15 cents for admission.<span>[10]</span> Soon after its opening, the Madam CJ Walker Theatre Center developed into a lasting cultural cornerstone on historic Indiana Avenue.</p>
<p>The Walker Building was constructed by the William P. Jungclaus Company.<span>[11]</span> It was lavishly built in the style of the Art Deco movement, popular during the 1920s. The Walker Building is significant because it is decorated heavily with African elements, using terra cotta accents of African, Moorish, and Egyptian symbols.<span>[12]</span> Sphinxes, Yoruba masks, shields and spears are found throughout the building, especially in the extravagant ballroom and theater, marking the building as a source of racial pride for African Americans, something Madam Walker strove to create in all of her endeavors.<span>[13]</span></p>
<p>The Madame C.J. Walker building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.[14] From 1979-1988, the Madame Walker Urban Life Center, the not-for-profit organization that owns the building, oversaw extensive renovations to the Madam C.J. Walker Building, including the Walker Theatre.[15] The renovated site is now known as the Madam Walker Legacy Center. In 2018, the Madam Walker Legacy Center partnered with Indiana University and began another round of renovations of the building, funded by a 15 million dollar Lilly Endowment Grant.[16] This partnership will not only ensure the continuation of the Walker Theatre as a cultural landmark, but also equip the Madam Walker Legacy Center with the resources and means to revitalize the heritage of Indiana Avenue. As Stephanie Nixon, the former chair of the board of the Madam Walker Legacy Center, stated, “It is truly the start of a new day for the Walker.”[17]</p>
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[1] U.S. Department of Interior, National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Walker, Madame C.J. Building, (Indiana 1986), page 1. <br />[2] “Grand Opening!” Indianapolis Recorder (Indianapolis, IN), Dec. 24, 1927. <br />[3] “Walker Theatre: Indianapolis’ Newest and Most Beautiful Amusement Edifice,” Indianapolis Recorder (Indianapolis, IN), Jan. 7, 1928. <br />[4] Emma Lou Thornbrough, Indiana Blacks in the Twentieth Century, ed. Lana Ruegamer, (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2000): 31. <br />[5] A’Lelia Bundles, On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C.J. Walker, (New York, NY: Scribner, 2001): 277. <br />[6] U.S. Department of Interior, National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Walker, Madame C.J. Building, (Indiana 1986), page 10. <br />[7] Ibid., 4.; Charles Latham, Jr., “Madam C.J. Walker & Company,” Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History 1, no. 3 (1989): 34. <br />[8] U.S. Department of Interior, National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Walker, Madame C.J. Building, (Indiana 1986), page 10. <br />[9] Bundles, On Her Own Ground, 161. <br />[10] Wilma L. Gibbs and Jill Landis, “Madam C.J. Walker (1867-1919) Papers, 1910-1980. Indiana Historical Society. August 13, 1993. Bundles, On Her Own Ground, 161. <br />[11] U.S. Department of Interior, National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Walker, Madame C.J. Building, (Indiana 1986), page 4. <br />[12] Ibid., 3-4. <br />[13] Ibid., 1-2.; Charles Latham, Jr., “Madam C.J. Walker & Company,” Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History 1, no. 3 (1989): 31. <br />[14] U.S. Department of Interior, National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Walker, Madame C.J. Building, (Indiana 1986). <br />[15] Wilma Gibbs, “Madame Walker Urban Life Center,” in The Encyclopedia of Indianapolis, ed. David J. Bodenhamer, Robert G. Barrows, and David G. Vanderstel (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1994), 953. <br />[16] “Madam Walker Legacy Center,” Madam Walker Legacy Center, accessed November 26, 2019, Amber Denney, “Madam Walker Theatre Center and IU Begin Partnership to Continue Rich Legacy of Madam C.J. Walker,” Indiana University, January 18, 2018, <br />[17] Ibid.
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Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
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<a href="https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/62762a1d-b804-482f-84c0-e4d5929dad2c?branding=NRHP" target="_blank" rel="noopener">National Register of Historic Places</a>
1900-40s
1927-2019
1950s-present
Entertainment
Entrepreneurship
Indianapolis
Marion County
National Register of Historic Places
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https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/2d73f0880756cba25eca5825dc91c323.jpg
7bf6060c3f4494ed7782ea930bfaf7c7
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Indianapolis ABCs and Washington Park
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<p>Baseball has been considered America’s past time for over a century. It has been played by people of all ages and all races since its creation. As more African Americans began to move to Indianapolis around the turn of the twentieth century, many African American athletic teams were created.<span>[1]</span> The Indianapolis ABCs, a professional baseball team established in 1902, was sponsored by the American Brewing Company in its early years.<span>[2]</span> As the team traveled around the country to play exhibition games, the American Brewing Company would supply kegs of beer for fans’ refreshment as a marketing tool.<span>[3]</span> Early on, the ABCs played their home games at Indianapolis’ Northwestern Park which was located at 18th Street and Brighton Boulevard at a field surrounded by wooden grandstands.<span>[4]</span> Most opponents were local, but they did play regional teams on major holidays in the summer.<span>[5]</span> Not only did the ABCs gain the attention of the local African American community, they were also recognized nationally through the coverage of journalist David Wyatt in the <em>Indianapolis Freeman</em>.<span>[6]</span> </p>
<p>In 1914, one of the best African American baseball managers at the time, Charles “C.I.” Taylor, moved to Indianapolis and bought a half-interest in the team.<span>[7]</span> Taylor began to search across the country for some of the best African American baseball players to join the ABCs.<span>[8]</span> As the team improved and traveled, it gained many African American followers and even some white fans.<span>[9]</span> One of the most famous ABCs fans was Indianapolis African American businesswoman Madam C.J. Walker. She attended many games at Northwestern Park and later Washington Park, after the team signed a lease to use the stadium.<span>[10]</span> Washington Park was the site of the first game in the National Negro League in 1920 between the Indianapolis ABCs and the Chicago Giants. The lease with Washington Park allowed the ABCs to play more home games than other teams in their league, which allowed fans around the city more opportunities to see the ABCs in action.<span>[11]</span> </p>
<p>As Ku Klux Klan activity increased in the 1920s, the KKK attempted to suppress opportunities of African American sports teams by making it harder for those teams to receive a stadium lease for ballparks owned by whites.<span>[12]</span> Even though the ABCs were able to secure a stadium lease, there were other instances of discrimination. In 1914, the Hoosier Federals of the whites only Federal League was one of the best teams in the state, and many people wanted to the ABCs and Federals to play in an exhibition game. However, Federals owner W.H. Watkins denied the decision, afraid if his team lost to an African American team it may ruin their reputation as a strong opponent.<span>[13]</span> This decision by white teams not to play the ABCs frustrated many of the ABCs players. In response, Wallace Gordon, the second baseman for the ABCs, wrote a poem to the <em>Indianapolis Ledger</em> where he stresses that he just wanted these teams to give them a chance and meet them “face to face.”<span>[14]<br /><br /></span>In 1920, the Negro National League was formed, with the ABCs one of the original teams.<span>[15]</span> By joining the Negro National League, the team was able play league opponents such as the Kansas City Monarchs, gaining a much larger regional following.<span>[16]</span> The ABCs continued to face discrimination as they traveled across the country. Often times, the ABCs would not be able to find hotel or restaurant accommodations in the cities they visited.<span>[17]</span> The third baseman of the ABCs mentioned how “you could find places, but they wouldn’t serve you and that was rough…. I’d just go somewhere and get me a loaf of bread and a can of sardines…. I don’t know sometimes I wonder myself what kept us going?”<span>[18]</span> </p>
<p>After being one of the top teams in the Negro National League between 1920 and 1923, the ABCs had difficulties in the late 1920s and 1930s.<span>[19]</span> Many of the better ABC players moved to the Eastern Colored League, due to better financial opportunities in larger markets.<span>[20]</span> The Great Depression hit the nation in 1929; the ABCs were also affected by the economic collapse. In order to save money on bus fare, the team began to take road trips in cars loaded with passengers and gear. Sadly, this led to a tragedy in 1935 when six ABCs were in a car that flipped, killing first baseman Carl Lewis.<span>[21]</span> The team continued playing through the Depression, operating at a semi-professional level starting in 1935 because of financial struggles.<span>[22]</span> The Indianapolis ABCs would play their last game in 1940 at Perry Stadium in Indianapolis, later known as Bush Stadium.<span>[23]</span> </p>
Despite the collapse of the ABCs, the team was an influential part of the African American community in Indianapolis. They gave African Americans a home team to cheer for and take pride in for over 30 years. The significance of Washington Park, the home field of the Indianapolis ABCs and the location of the first game of the Negro National League, is commemorated with a historical marker erected by the Indiana Historical Bureau and the Society for American Baseball Research, Negro Leagues Research Committee in 2011.<span>[</span><span>24]</span> The ABCs would pave the way for another African American baseball team in the city: the Indianapolis Clowns. The Clowns would play during a time of great change in the world of baseball, namely racial desegregation within Major League Baseball.
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[1] Paul Debono, The Indianapolis ABCs (Jefferson: McFarland & Company, 1997), 82. <br />[2] Paul Debono, “The Pride of the Negro League,” Traces 11, no. 4 (Fall 1999):6 <br />[3] Ibid. <br />[4] Geri Strecker and Christopher Baas, “Batter UP! Professional Black Baseball at Indianapolis Ballparks,” Traces 23, no. 4 (Fall 2011): 27.<br />[5] Debono, “The Pride of the Negro League,” 6. <br />[6] Debono, Indianapolis ABCs, 44. <br />[7] Debono, “The Pride of the Negro League,” 7 <br />[8] Debono, Indianapolis ABCs, 51.<br />[9] Debono, “The Pride of the Negro League,” 6. 6.<br />[10] Strecker and Baas, “Batter Up!,” 27-30 <br />[11] Ibid, 20.<br />[12] Ibid, 31.<br />[13] Debono, Indianapolis ABCs, 56 <br />[14] Ibid, 57. <br />[15] Debono, “The Pride of the Negro League,” 10 [16] Debono, Indianapolis ABCs, 86 <br />[17] Debono, “The Pride of the Negro League,” 11 [18] Ibid. <br />[19] Ibid, 10 <br />[20] Ibid, 11 <br />[21] Ibid. <br />[22] Debono, Indianapolis ABCs, 101.<br />[23] Debono, “The Pride of the Negro League,” 11. [24] Indiana Historical Bureau, Washington Park Baseball.
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Student Authors: Ben Wilson and Robin Johnson<br />Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson<br />Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
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PHOTO & VIDEO:<br />1904 Indianapolis, Indiana photographs, attributed toIndiana State Library and Historical Bureau, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1904_Indianapolis,_Indiana_photographs_-_DPLA_-_b744c3ac0fe67b5e9bb59e06dd412500_(page_55)_(cropped)_2.jpg
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<a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/4126.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker</a>
1897-1940
1900-1940s
Indiana Historical Bureau Marker
Indianapolis
Ku Klux Klan
Marion County
Negro League
Segregation
Sports
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dbeedf59abb519f93809fbef1d9bf2cd
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Indianapolis Clowns and Bush Stadium
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In the 1920s, America’s past time of baseball was racially segregated across the country. In response to this divide in society, African Americans created the Negro National League in 1920.[1] The league provided a competitive atmosphere and entertaining games for both African American players and fans. The Indianapolis ABCs were one of the original teams of the Negro National League and played their home games in Perry Stadium, later known as Bush Stadium.[2] In the 1930s, the ABCs faced financial issues and played its last game in 1940.[3] <br /><br />As the Indianapolis ABCs declined, a new team began to make a presence in Indianapolis. In the late 1930s and early 1940s, the Ethiopian Clowns, an independent African American barnstorming team, was known for both show business and baseball. They relocated to Cincinnati in 1943, becoming part of the Negro American League and played games in both Cincinnati and Indianapolis. The team relocated a final time, becoming the Indianapolis Clowns in 1946.[4] What made the Clowns iconic was their comedy routine before and during games.[5] Often times this routine would include using oversized bats and gloves, wearing costumes, and playing “shadow ball” where members of the Clowns would go through the motions of throwing the ball across the field without using the ball.[6] Players such as Reese “Goose” Tatum would make scenes throughout the game, such as praying on their knees near the batter’s box immediately before they were up to bat.[7] <br /><br />The Clowns considered their home field to be Indianapolis’ Perry Stadium, which was renamed Bush Stadium. The stadium was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1995. During the 1930s and 1940s, Bush Stadium was home to many Negro National and American League teams in addition to the Clowns, including the ABCs, American Giants, Athletics, and Crawfords. <br /><br />The Clowns were also a barnstorming team that traveled across the country to play exhibition games.[8] Despite being known for their jokes and pranks during games, they were also very competitive in the Negro American League.[9] While in the league, the clowns continued to travel around the country and played against African American baseball legends such as Satchel Paige.[10]<br /><br />Similar to other African American teams around the country the Clowns faced many cases of discrimination. While they were traveling they would often not be allowed to enter certain establishments, and had to leave many “sundown towns” before they were forced out by the local authorities.[11] Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier of Major League Baseball in 1947 by joining the Brooklyn Dodgers.[12] This milestone was a pivotal moment for African Americans in history, but it led to the start of the decline of the Negro American League and Negro National League. Major League Baseball drafted the best African American players, causing the quality of play to suffer in the two African American baseball leagues. The Negro National League disbanded in 1948.[13]<br /><br />The Indianapolis Clowns and the Negro American League had many more years of quality baseball. For the Clowns, the 1950s were actually their best years as a franchise, winning the Negro American League pennant in 1950, 1951, 1952, and 1954.[14] In 1952, one of the best players in the history of baseball played for the Clowns. After not earning a spot with the Brooklyn Dodgers, 18-year old Hank Aaron from Mobile, Alabama, was signed by the Indianapolis Clowns.[15] The future home run record holder only played for a short time before the Major Leagues’ Boston Braves signed him to a contract. He was with the Clowns for such a brief period that Indianapolis fans never got the chance to see him play.[16] Not only did the Clowns sign future Major League Baseball all-stars, they also signed African American women. At different times in their history, they signed Mamie “Peanut” Johnson and Connie Morgan to the team, and both of them proved that they could compete at the same level as men.[17] <br /><br />Even after the Negro American League came to an end in the early 1960s, the Indianapolis Clowns continued their barnstorming and reverted to even more of a comedic routine.[18] The Clowns had some players to solely entertain the audience, and other players who earned a stipend and were looking for the opportunity to be seen by major league scouts.[19] The team became known more as a comedy routine than a baseball team in the 1970s and 1980s. The owner of the Clowns during this period, Dave Clark, called the team a “professional comedy baseball club, that also trained and developed players who had been overlooked by organized baseball.”[20] As the team began to decline in popularity, the Indianapolis Clowns played their final season in 1989, the last professional team of any of the Negro Leagues.[21]
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[1] Paul Debono, “The Pride of the Negro League,” Traces 11, no. 4 (Fall 1999):10. <br />[2] Ibid. <br />[3] Ibid, 11. <br />[4] Paul Debono, The Indianapolis ABCs (Jefferson: McFarland & Company), 123. <br />[5] Bill Traughber, “Looking Back: Indianapolis Clowns Visit The Dell,” MiLB.com, May 14, 2012. <br />[6] Debono, The Indianapolis ABCs, 120. <br />[7] “NEGRO LEAGUES BASEBALL 1946: Reece ‘Goose’ Taylor Tatum,” Indianapolis Clowns, Kansas City Moncarchs,” Youtube, 3:40.<br />[8] Paul Debono, “The Pride of the Negro League,” Traces 11, no. 4 (Fall 1999):32. <br />[9] “The Indianapolis Clowns,” Negro Leagues Baseball Museum eMuseum.<br />[10] Ibid.<br />[11] “The Incredible legacy of the Indianapolis Clowns,” WISHTV, February 15, 2019. <br />[12] Ibid, 121. <br />[13] Ibid. <br />[14] Heaphy, Negro League, 241. <br />[15] Debono, The Indianapolis ABCs, 121. <br />[16] Ibid. <br />[17] Heaphy, Negro League, 218.<br />[18] Debono, The Indianapolis ABCs, 123.<br />[19] Ibid. <br />[20] Ibid, 124. <br />[21] Williams, “The Incredible legacy of the Indianapolis Clowns.”
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Student Authors: Ben Wilson and Robin Johnson <br />Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson<br />Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
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<a href="https://catalog.archives.gov/id/132003791" target="_blank" rel="noopener">National Register of Historic Places</a>
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PHOTO & VIDEO:
Bush Stadium Indianapolis, attributed to Xti90, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bush_Stadium_Indianapolis.JPG
1900-1940s
1946-1962
1950s-present
Indianapolis
Marion County
National Register of Historic Places
Negro League
Recreation
Segregation
Sports
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/178c5152e46bf6ee8e704c03f762bc05.jpg
4b36b17a35099ec538bf7e1f7cde5e4b
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Senate Avenue YMCA
Description
An account of the resource
<p>At the turn of the twentieth century, discrimination around the country was still a dominant factor in American society. This included Indiana, which had segregated schools, neighborhoods, and gathering places. To continue with the idea of “separate but equal,” many white officials in Indianapolis attempted to create a separate YMCA for African Americans in 1900.<span>[1]</span> In response to this, two African American physicians, Henry Hummons and Dan Brown, organized a group of black citizens to discuss the need for “wholesome” recreational facilities.<span>[2]</span> They wanted to create a “permanent quarters with which there will be connected a reading-room, educational classrooms, a gymnasium and bathrooms” for the African American men living in Indianapolis.<span>[3]</span> After discussing this need, the men created the Young Men’s Prayer Band as a stepping stone toward an African American YMCA in the state capitol.<span>[4]</span> Two years later, the Young Men’s Prayer Band was recognized by the YMCA after John Evans arrived to oversee the organization and help it move towards this status.<span>[5]</span> <br /><br />In the early years of the organization, Indianapolis African Americans would meet in private homes, churches, and a deserted neighborhood house called the Flanner Guild because they did not have a designated location in the city.[6]<a name="_ftnref6" href="#_ftn6"><span></span></a> Despite this setback, the community began to become more involved with the Young Men’s Prayer Band, and in 1910, it became an official YMCA for African Americans in the city.<span>[7]</span> Even after this milestone, the branch did not have its own facility until three years later in 1913 when a new building at the corner of Senate Avenue and Michigan Street opened its doors to the African American community with a dedication speech given by civil rights activist Booker T. Washington.<span>[8]</span> This was a major accomplishment for African Americans living in Indianapolis. By having a place where black men could learn and interact with each other, the Senate Avenue YMCA was improving the lives of African Americans in Indianapolis.<br /><br />As the building opened, Faburn DeFrantz arrived in Indianapolis from Washington D.C. to serve as the physical director of the Senate Avenue YMCA, and three years later as the executive secretary of the branch.<span>[9]</span> As the leader of the Senate Avenue YMCA, DeFrantz developed classes in athletics, Bible study, school subjects, automotive repairs, and many more to help African American men prepare for jobs and improve their lives.<span>[10]</span> In addition, DeFrantz continued one of the most influential programs at the Indianapolis branch since 1904: the “Monster Meetings.”<span>[11]</span> These meetings discussed a variety of topics including education, religion, science, and politics to help the African American community have a better understanding of news from around the country.<span>[12]</span> Some of these meetings were led by famous speakers such as W.E.B. DuBois, Madam C.J. Walker, and Eleanor Roosevelt.<span>[13]</span> Under DeFrantz, the Senate Avenue Branch was also politically active by attempting to end school segregation and promoting job opportunities for African Americans in the city.<span>[14]</span> Along with pushing for civil rights, the branch also assisted African American families during the Great Depression by providing housing and food for men and boys. At the start of the Depression, from January to October of 1931, the Senate Avenue YMCA provided 4,827 nights of free lodging and 3,200 free meals for the African American community to help them get through the hard times.<span>[15]</span> </p>
<p>In 1946, the national YMCA leadership decided to desegregate facilities across the country.<span>[16]</span> Despite this change in policy, the Senate Avenue YMCA membership remained predominantly African American.<span>[17]</span> Under DeFrantz, the Senate Avenue YMCA grew from 350 members in 1913 to 5000 members when he retired in 1951.<span>[18]</span> During this time, he helped develop the largest African American YMCA in the country and a better sense of community among blacks living in Indianapolis.<span>[19]</span> The Senate Avenue branch would continue succeed following DeFrantz’s retirement until activities would later be moved to a new facility at Fall Creek Parkway and 10<sup>th</sup> Street on September 13, 1959.<span>[20]</span><br />Over its 46-year history, the Senate Avenue YMCA gave opportunities to African Americans living in Indianapolis that they may have not received anywhere else in the city. They provided classes and the tools needed for African Americans to be professionally prepared and socially aware of the changes occurring in American society. By having a designated facility to meet, a stronger sense of community developed among African Americans living in the state capitol. The Senate Avenue YMCA branch closed in 1959, but its legacy continued through the twentieth century with the construction of the Fall Creek YMCA, which remained open until the fall of 2003.<span>[21]</span> In 2016, the Indiana Historical Bureau and the YMCA of Greater Indianapolis installed a historical marker at the site.<span>[</span><span>2</span><span>2]</span></p>
<p></p>
<p><a name="_ftn1" href="#_ftnref1"><span></span></a><a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/4325.htm"></a></p>
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A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<p><span>[1]</span> David J.Bodenhamer and Robert G. Barrows, and David Gordon Vanderstel, <em>The Encyclopedia of Indianapolis</em> (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1994), 1249.<br /><span>[2]</span> Ibid.<br /><span>[3]</span> “Colored Y.M.C.A.,” <em>Indianapolis News</em>, March 31, 1902, 2, https://newspapers.library.in.gov/?a=d&d=INN19020331-01.1.2&srpos=2&e=31-03-1902-----en-20-INN-1-byDA-txt-txIN-Colored------.<br /><span>[4]</span> Bodenhamer and Barrows and Vanderstel, <em>The Encyclopedia of Indianapolis</em>, 1249.<br /><span>[5]</span> Nina Mjagkij, <em>Light in the Darkness : African Americans and the YMCA, 1852-1946</em>(Lexington, Ky: University Press of Kentucky, 1994), 58.<br /><span>[6]</span> Bodenhamer and Barows and Vanderstel, <em>The Encyclopedia of Indianapolis</em>, 1249.<br /><span>[7]</span> Bodenhamer and Barows and Vanderstel, <em>The Encyclopedia of Indianapolis</em>, 1249.<br /><span>[8]</span> Stanley Warren, "The Monster Meetings at the Negro YMCA in Indianapolis." <em>Indiana Magazine of History</em> 91, no. 1 (1995).<br /><span>[9]</span> Joseph Skvarenina, “Farburn E. DeFrantz and the Senate Avenue YMCA,” <em>Traces</em> 20 no. 1 (2008): 37<br /><span>[10]</span> Ibid, 38<br /><span>[11]</span> Bodenhamer and Barows and Vanderstel, <em>The Encyclopedia of Indianapolis</em>, 1250<br /><span>[12]</span> Skvarenina, “Faburn E. DeFrantz,” 37.<br /><span>[13]</span> Ibid.<br /><span>[14]</span> Skvarenina, “Faburn E. DeFrantz,” 38.<br /><span>[15]</span> Mjagkij, <em>Light in the Darkness</em>, 117.<br /><span>[16]</span> “YMCA Adopts Recommendation to Drop Racial Segregation,” <em>Indianapolis Recorder</em>, March 23, 1946, 1.<br /><span>[17]</span> Bodenhamer and Barows and Vanderstel, <em>The Encyclopedia of Indianapolis</em>, 1250.<br /><span>[18]</span> Skvarenina, “Faburn E. DeFrantz,” 39.<br /><span>[19]</span> Bodenhamer and Barows and Vanderstel, <em>The Encyclopedia of Indianapolis</em>, 1250.<br /><span>[20]</span> “Sunday Set For Official ‘Y’ Dedication,” <em>Indianapolis Recorder</em>, September 12, 1959, 1.<br /><span>[21]</span> Sara Galer, “Fall Creek YMCA to be demolished,” WTHR, May 6, 2010, last updated April 15, 2016. <br /><span>[22]</span> Indiana Historical Bureau, Senate Avenue YMCA. </p>
Contributor
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Student Authors: Ben Wilson and Robin Johnson <br />Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson<br />Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
Relation
A related resource
<a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/4325.htm " target="_blank" rel="noopener">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker</a>
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Information about rights held in and over the resource
PHOTO & VIDEO:
Senate Avenue YMCA, Madam C.J. Walker Collection, Indiana Historical Society.
https://images.indianahistory.org/digital/collection/m0399/id/212/rec/2
1900-1940s
1900-1959
1950s-present
athletics
Indiana Historical Bureau Marker
Indianapolis
Integration
Marion County
Organization
religion
Segregation
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/35412382db7e790fa70911bb25b45c95.jpg
f3cad7ec33c3e4b9a1517933422c4ff8
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Better Homes of South Bend
Description
An account of the resource
<p>Better Homes of South Bend was a corporation created in May 1950 in an effort to combat housing discrimination against African Americans. African Americans who worked at the South Bend Studebaker plant started the group. Most members lived in World War II-era prefabricated houses on Prairie Street near the Studebaker factory. They established a corporation to provide a better chance of securing homes outside of the slums near the factories.The members “wanted to find homes away from the factories and slums that surrounded them and give their children a better start in life than they themselves had."[1] Better Homes of South Bend’s attorney, J. Chester Allen, kept the location of potential neighborhoods a secret in an effort to get families moved into anew area with as little resistance as possible. In the 1950s, not everyone was open to the idea of African American families living in their neighborhood.[2] <br /><br />The members of Better Homes of South Bend all had Southern roots. Either they or their parents had moved to the North to escape Jim Crow laws that enforced racial segregation. Although the members had moved to South Bend looking for a better lifeamid relatively good paying manufacturing jobs, they were unable to escape discrimination. Two of the biggest challenges they faced were discrimination in housing and employment. Reverend B.F. Gordon attested to the discrimination of African Americans in South Bend in his 1922 book The Negro in South Bend: A Social Study. “Give him the same recreational opportunities, the same educational opportunities, the same industrial advantages (in particular those advantages that call for better education, and personal conduct,) and the same privileges to buy and sell, land or commodities...”[3]<br /><br />African Americans in South Bend were seeking equal opportunities.On June 25, 1941, President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8802, which states,“I do hereby reaffirm the policy of the United States that there shall be no discrimination in the employment of workers in defense industries or government because of race, creed, color, or national origin.”[4] However, as was evident in South Bend, public opinion was strong enough to disregard the executive order in the workplace. Gabrielle Robinson addresses the employment discrimination of African Americans in the book, The Better Homes of South Bend. “Yet they had not found the equal treatment in the North for which they had hoped. Many factories in South Bend did not hire African Americans.”[5] The Studebaker plant was the biggest employer of African Americans in South Bend. <br /><br />After World War II, housing discrimination intensified. White families moved to the suburbs and the west side of South Bend by the factories became almost exclusively African American. Better Homes of South Bend members lived primarily on Prairie Avenue, defined as “slum” in the Fact Sheet on Housing in 1952.[6] "This white flight took with it private and public investment in housing, schools, roads and infrastructure, leaving a deteriorating center to the poor."[7] This deterioration of infrastructure drove Better Homes for South Bend members to secure land to buildhousing in a less developed part of the city. The corporation settled on the 1700-1800 block on North Elmer Street as their housing destination, where a handful of white families currently resided. The collective power of the corporation enabled the members to secure land, loans, and contractors for 22 houses.[8] After extensive discrimination and hardship, the group was able to secure a contractor, Max Meyer, at a reasonable price. Three years after Better Homes of South Bend was created, the members finally had houses built and ready to occupyon North Elmer Street. The discrimination that Better Homes of South Bend members faced was notisolated to South Bend. Housing discrimination against African Americans occurred in Indianapolis as well. An article in the 1944 Indianapolis Recorder discusses the utter lack of acceptable housing for African American workers in the city.[9] Many of these workers migrated to Indianapolis as part of The Great Migration. From 1916 to 1970, over six million African Americans migrated from the South to cities in the North, including Indianapolis and South Bend. The first wave occurred prior to World War I and the second wave prior to World War II. “African Americans sought an alternative to sharecropping, disenfranchisement, and racial injustice in the South.”[10] <br /><br />Before the Better Homes of South Bend formed in 1950, Congress passed the Housing Act of 1949. “In passing the Housing Act of 1949, Congress defined the policy of the United States to include the requirements of a decent home and a suitable living environment for every American family.”[11] However, this Act did not change the living situation for Better Homes of South Bend members; they fought and improved their situation themselves. For instance, in order to build homes for black members, a competent contractor was needed, one that would use the same quality of material that was used to build white homes. Margaret Cobb stated “the contractors they met with ‘only wanted to give us substandard materials’ to build their homes because members were black.”[12] Fortunately, Better Homes for South Bend were able to hire contractors who were willing to build homes with high-quality materials regardless of the race of the occupants-to-be. Many of those 22 homes still stand today on North Elmer Street, a testament to one group’s efforts to fight racial discrimination.[13]</p>
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<p><span>[1]</span> Gabrielle Robinson, <em>Better Homes of South Bend</em> (Charleston: The History Press, 2015), 26.<br /><span>[2]</span> Ibid, 14.<br /><span>[3]</span> Reverend B.F. Gordon, <em>The Negro in South Bend</em> (South Bend: 1922), 2.<br /><span>[4]</span> Executive Order 8802 dated June 25, 1941, General Records of the United States Government; Record Group 11; National Archives.<br /><span>[5]</span> Gabrielle Robinson, <em>Better Homes of South Bend</em> (Charleston: The History Press, 2015), 14.<br /><span>[6]</span> “Fact sheet on housing, South Bend, circa 1952” (South Bend, 1952), 1.<br /><span>[7]</span> Gabrielle Robinson, <em>Better Homes of South Bend</em> (Charleston: The History Press, 2015), 48.<br /><span>[8]</span> Better Homes for South Bend Historical Marker. Indiana Historical Bureau, 2017. Accessed January 14, 2020. <br /><span>[9]</span> “Local Housing Evils Cited to FHA Officers,” <em>Indianapolis Recorder 48,</em> 20 (1944): 2, accessed April 5, 2019.<br /><span>[10]</span> Joe William Trotter, "The Great Migration," OAH Magazine of History 17, no. 1 (2002): 31.<br /><span>[11]</span> “Discrimination Against Minorities In The Federal Housing Programs,” <em>Indiana Law Journal 31</em>, 4 (1956): 501, accessed April 5, 2019, <br /><span>[12]</span> Annette Scherber, “‘Better Homes Wants to Have a Fair Shake’: Fighting Housing Discrimination in Postwar South Bend” Indiana History Blog. Accessed January 7, 2020.<br />[13] Better Homes for South Bend Historical Marker. Indiana Historical Bureau, 2017. Accessed January 14, 2020. </p>
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Student Authors: Jordan Girard and Robin Johnson <br />Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson<br />Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
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PHOTO & VIDEO:
Houses on North Shore Drive, attributed to Patrick Walter Collection, Public domain, via The Indiana Album, Inc.
https://indianaalbum.pastperfectonline.com/photo/5FDE7EBF-F9DF-4450-BB21-101123584988
Relation
A related resource
<a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/4365.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker</a>
1950
1950s-present
Housing
Indiana Historical Bureau Marker
Organization
Segregation
South Bend
St. Joseph County
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/d73eddb60bb5b12e68dbcf9f623fd31c.jpg
55a873541b4e26158990f1219b06a326
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/33fe1aa4ce6f527be8157d2b00c87ebf.jpg
33e9d0fc46caaf8578fdeef31da87189
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Places
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Lockefield Gardens
Description
An account of the resource
The Public Works Administration (PWA) proposed to improve living conditions for African Americans in 1934, and the Housing Division administrators “named the city [Indianapolis] as recipient of a slum-clearance public housing project.”[1] The Lockefield Garden Apartments, also known as Lockefield Gardens, were “one of the first group of peace time projects, initiated, funded, and supervised by the Federal Government as part of the recovery programs of the New Deal.”[2] The project also involved considerable local initiative as the first public housing project in Indianapolis.[3] The Lockefield Garden Apartments were built between 1935 and 1938.[4] Bounded by Indiana Avenue, Locke, Blake and North Streets, the 24 buildings, and 748 apartment units required the clearing of 22 acres of land. The apartments replaced “more than 350 unsightly and unsafe structures” that originally were on the site.[5] The apartments were located in a traditional African American neighborhood known for its black-owned businesses and jazz clubs, and were built specifically for low income African Americans.[6] <br /><br />The goals of the Lockefield Garden Apartments project were to demolish substandard housing and make new public housing available, while providing jobs in the construction industry.[7] Groundbreaking for Lockefield Gardens occurred on July 31, 1935. The complex was designed “to maintain the spirit and vitality of its constituent African American community while offering a modern, modestly priced place to live.”[8] Lockefield Gardens cost “approximately $3 million, or $899 per room, which was less than the national average.”[9] <br /><br />The buildings were finished by the summer of 1937. However, construction problems delayed occupancy of the buildings by half a year. By the spring of 1938, the construction issues were resolved and residents began to move in as individual buildings were certified. “Lockefield was a model of thoughtful design, providing plenty of light and air, open spaces for recreation, and stores and shops to serve its residents.”[10] <br /><br />In 1964, the federal government transferred the property to the City of Indianapolis with a deed stipulation that Lockefield Gardens would be used for public housing until 2004 or would revert to the federal government.[11] As the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s progressed, “residential segregation waned.”[12] Indianapolis city officials made the claim that “Lockefield Gardens had declined in quality, and other housing options for low-income residents existed.”[13] The city proposed demolishing the housing project using federal funds to expand campus housing for Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis (IUPUI) in the 1970s. The apartments officially closed in 1976, and several of the buildings were demolished in the early 1980s, replaced by IUPUI campus housing. Seven original buildings were rehabilitated and brought up to modern living standards, and 11 new buildings were designed. The apartment complex is still known as Lockefield Gardens.[14] <br /><br />In 1983, the Lockefield Garden Apartments was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The structures of the original Lockefield Garden Apartments that still stand today are located on Blake Street.
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<p>[1] Drenovsky, Rachel L. "A Community within a Community: Indianapolis's Lockefield Gardens." <em>Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History.<br /></em>[2] "Lockefield Gardens Apartments--Indianapolis: A Discover Our Shared Heritage Travel Itinerary." National Parks Service.<br />[3] Barrows, Robert G. "The Local Origins of a New Deal Housing Project: The Case of Lockefield Gardens in Indianapolis." <em>Indiana Magazine of History.<br /></em>[4] Historic District: Lockefield Gardens." Indy.gov. Accessed April 10, 2019.<br />[5] Drenovsky, Rachel L. "A Community within a Community: Indianapolis's Lockefield Gardens." <em>Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History<br /></em><span>[6]</span>"Historic District: Lockefield Gardens." Indy.gov. Accessed April 10, 2019.<br />[7] Ibid.<br />[8] “106 Success Story: New Deal Public Housing Gets New Life.” Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. Washington, D.C., n.d.<br />[9] Ibid.<br />[10] Staff, WFIU. "Lockfield Gardens." Moment of Indiana History - Indiana Public Media. February 14, 2005.<br />[11] “106 Success Story: New Deal Public Housing Gets New Life.” Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. Washington, D.C., n.d.<br /><span>[12]</span> Jaynes, Gerald D. Encyclopedia of African American Society, Volume 2. Sage Publications. 2005.<br />[13] “106 Success Story: New Deal Public Housing Gets New Life.” Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. Washington, D.C., n.d.<br /><span>[14]</span> "Lockefield Gardens Apartments--Indianapolis: A Discover Our Shared Heritage Travel Itinerary." National Parks Service.</p>
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Student Authors: Caitlin Maloney and Robin Johnson <br />Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson<br />Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
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PHOTO & VIDEO<br />Lockefield Garden Apartments Buildings 18 and 16, attributed to Nyttend, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lockefield_Garden_Apartments_buildings_18_and_16.jpg<br /><br />Lockefield Gardens- central mall looking northwest, 1983, attributed to Ray Hartill, National Park Service, for the Historic American Buildings Survey, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lockefield_Gardens_-_central_mall_looking_northwest,_1983.jpg
Relation
A related resource
<a href="https://catalog.archives.gov/id/132003952" target="_blank" rel="noopener">National Register of Historic Places</a>
1900-40s
1934-1976
1950s-present
Entrepreneurship
Housing
Indianapolis
Marion County
National Register of Historic Places
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/6ce739452ac8017bc12d310bc7779f9d.jpg
68a8176676b2a5b0515fc6311c1b1f32
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Events
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Unigov: Unifying Indianapolis and Marion County
Description
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In 1969, the government of Indianapolis, along with the Indiana General Assembly, passed sweeping legislation to unify the governments of Indianapolis and Marion County into a single municipal government. As whites fled deteriorating cities for the suburbs, cities across the nation faced an erosion of their tax bases. Indianapolis was vastly affected by this exodus, which prompted Mayor Richard Lugar and the City Council to propose the merger of the City of Indianapolis and Marion County under “Unigov,” a term coined by Beurt SerVaas, an Indianapolis city councilman. [1] Upon the enactment of Unigov, Mayor Lugar became the head of the combined executive branch of the city and Marion County. A new City-County Council became the sole legislative body of Unigov, as the original City and County councils were dissolved. This new Council consisted of 29 members, with 25 representing single member districts and four elected at large. [2]
However, this merger of the city and county governments was not all-encompassing, with emergency services and various other governmental resources unable to combine. Unigov also did not consolidate any incorporated cities other than Indianapolis, nor incorporated towns with a population larger than 5,000. [3] This resulted in the categorization of “the cities of Beech Grove, Lawrence, and Southport, and the town of Speedway as separate jurisdictions,” [4] which “continued to elect their mayors and councils as they had before Unigov, while at the same time voting for the Unigov mayor.” [5] While the plan was intended to revive the city of Indianapolis and streamline overlapping governmental agencies, Unigov created serious political backlash.
In January 1969, before the passage of Unigov, members of the Indiana Conference for Civil and Human Rights met to discuss the proposed merger and the impact it would have on the city’s voting population. [6] The members released a statement lambasting Unigov, voicing a concern that neighborhoods predominantly populated by “those who are black and/or poor” may become “so gerrymandered as to dilute their political strength.” [7] At the time, the population of Marion County was 753,500, with a 16% non-white demographic, while the population of Indianapolis was 513,500 with a 23% non-white demographic. [8] The Indiana Conference for Civil and Human Rights were correct in their predictions; after the passage of Unigov by the General Assembly without a public referendum, the incorporation of white suburbanites weakened the strength of what had been a politically powerful, though still economically disadvantaged “growing black minority” in Indianapolis. [9]
Furthermore, “while consolidating some city and county agencies,” Unigov “expressly omitted school corporations” from any consolidation efforts. [10] In fact, the exclusion of schools from the merger was integral to the passage of the law. The proponents of Unigov specifically avoided the creation of a unified school district and widely advertised that fact, so as to “eliminate certain and strong opposition of any of the eleven school districts” in the majority-white suburbs. [11] The previous year, the Justice Department had filed a lawsuit against Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) in federal district court for overtly segregating the city’s schools by “assignment of pupils and teachers” in order to create “one-race schools,” wherein schools with a majority of white students employed white faculty and majority-black schools employed black faculty. [12] Though the case was not fully settled until 1981, the passage of Unigov was representative of the existing segregation in Indianapolis Public Schools, for which the courts found the district guilty.
The suburban school systems excluded from the Unigov merger only had 2.62% black enrollment, and “out of more than three thousand teachers only fifteen were African Americans.” [13] As such, it was found that “UniGov was an act of legislative gerrymandering that denied minority students educational opportunities equal to those that students were offered in the township schools.” [14] Because there were “virtually no black students in the suburbs,” Judge Samuel Hugh Dillin “concluded that a lasting remedy to segregation in IPS was impossible without including the suburban schools,” and ruled in 1973 that black students should be bused “from IPS to suburban schools.” [15] This anti-segregation measure fell entirely upon the shoulders of those who had been discriminated against; “only black students were bused out to the townships—white students were not ordered to come into IPS or to help remedy the divide.” [16] Busing was implemented in 1981, and continued until 2016, when the court order which mandated it expired. [17]
“By incorporating the suburbs in Marion County into the city,” Unigov “widened the city’s tax base, thus helping to stabilize city finances” in Indianapolis. [18] However, these economic benefits were achieved only by disadvantaging the city’s racial minorities and poor population. When Unigov was adopted, “African Americans in Indianapolis lost significant power” as their political influence was diluted with the incorporation of majority-white suburban voters. [19] While Indianapolis prospered under Unigov, the city’s black communities paid the price.
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[1] Yaël Ksander, “Unigov, Indiana Public Media, June 11, 2007, https://indianapublicmedia.org/momentofindianahistory/unigov/. <br />[2] Emma Lou Thornbrough, Indiana Blacks in the Twentieth Century, ed. Lana Ruegamer, (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2000): 178. <br />[3] William Blomquist and Roger B. Parks, “Fiscal, Service, and Political Impacts of Indianapolis-Marion County’s Unigov.” Publius: The Journal of Federalism 25, no. 4 (1995): 41. <br />[4] Ibid. <br />[5] Emma Lou Thornbrough, “The Indianapolis Story: School Segregation and Desegregation in a Northern City,” 1989 [Manuscript and Visual Collections Department]; BV 2631; William Henry Smith Memorial Library; Indiana Historical Society Collections Department at Indianapolis, IN, [Accessed September 18, 2019, https://www.indianahistory.org/wp-content/uploads/emma-lou-thornbrough-the-indianapolis-story-school.pdf], 254. <br />[6] “UNIGOV Plan Proposed by Mayor Gets Lashing; Minority Voting Strength Will Be ‘Weakened,’” Indianapolis Recorder (Indianapolis, IN), January 18, 1969. <br />[7] Ibid. <br />[8] Ibid. <br />[9] Thornbrough, Indiana Blacks in the Twentieth Century, 178. <br />[10] Thornbrough, “The Indianapolis Story,” v. <br />[11] Thornbrough, “The Indianapolis Story,” 260. <br />[12] Thornbrough, Indiana Blacks, 155. <br />[13] Ibid., 156. <br />[14] Ibid., 158. <br />[15] Ibid. <br />[16] Shaina Cavazos, “The End of Busing in Indianapolis: 35 Years Later, a More Segregated School System Calls it Quits,” Chalkbeat, June 30, 2016, https://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/in/2016/06/30/the-end-of-busing-in-indianapolis-35-years-later-a-more-segregated-school-system-calls-it-quits/#.V6IDiWNwOQ2. <br />[17] Ibid. <br />[18] William H. Hudnut, III, “The Civil City: An Interview with William H. Hudnut, III,” Indiana Magazine of History 102, no. 3 (2006): 261. <br />[19] Thornbrough, Indiana Blacks, 225.
Contributor
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Student Authors: Allison Hunt and Jake Bailey <br />Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson<br />Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
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PHOTO & VIDEO:
City-County Building (Indianapolis), attributed to Momoneymoproblemz, Public domain, via Wikimedia commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:City-County_Building_(Indianapolis)_exterior.jpg
1950s-present
education
Indianapolis
Integration
Marion County
Organization
Politics
School
Segregation
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/21abac5c442aab46fb66904198603639.jpg
912fe46585849ca20b0702ed60b552de
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Places
Dublin Core
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Shaffer Chapel
Description
An account of the resource
Shaffer Chapel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church was established in Muncie in 1919 by 48 founding members. Reverend J. P. Q. Wallace, a church elder from Richmond, presided over this initial meeting. [1] By 1929, the congregation had outgrown its first property and moved to its current location, a former elementary school on Highland Avenue. [2] Though Bethel AME Church had been established in downtown Muncie nearly 50 years earlier, the founders of Shaffer Chapel sought to serve African Methodist Episcopal congregants living in the primarily African American Whitely neighborhood. [3]
Throughout its history, ministers at Shaffer Chapel played a major role in the greater black community of Muncie. During the 1920s, Reverend John E. Johnson helped to defeat an attempt to “develop an all-colored elementary school” in the Whitely neighborhood, fighting instead to maintain the integration of Muncie schools. [4] Reverend Anthony J. Oliver crusaded against discriminatory hiring practices at Muncie businesses during the 1960s. [5] With the help of his congregants and other members of the black community, Reverend Oliver successfully integrated Muncie banks and industrial employers, including “Warner Gear Transmission Plant, […] Indiana Michigan Electric, Indiana Central Gas Co., Muncie Water Co., Pepsi-Cola Bottling Co., and many more.” [6]
One incident is remembered with particular prominence in the church’s history. In July 1930, three black teenagers, Abram Smith, Thomas Shipp, and Herbert James Cameron, were arrested in Marion after being accused of the rape of Mary Ball and the murder of Claude Deeter. [7] The white citizens of Marion were outraged and gathered in a mob outside the jail where the young men were being held, eventually forcing their way in. Cameron was spared as the mob eventually died down, but Shipp and Smith were brutally murdered that night, with their bodies left hanging for all to see beneath the statue of Lady Justice atop the Grant County courthouse. [8] The lynch mob and the significant crowd of sightseers included men, women, and children; “perhaps the majority of the inhabitants of Grant County” were represented that night on the courthouse lawn. [9] Because there was no black mortician in Marion, Shaffer Chapel’s Reverend John E. Johnson, who also operated as a mortician in Muncie, drove to Marion and brought the bodies of the young men to Muncie to be embalmed. [10] According to local oral histories, rumors spread throughout Muncie that a white mob was planning to storm the mortuary and further desecrate the lynching victims’ bodies. In response, members of Muncie’s black community gathered using Shaffer Chapel as the “headquarters of the hastily formed militia.” [11] Though the mob never formed, Muncie’s black community “made a show of strength and solidarity in the face of hostile racism” at Shaffer Chapel, and ensured the safety of Shipp and Smith’s embalmment and return to Marion for burial. [12]
Like most black churches during the twentieth century, Shaffer Chapel was not used solely for spiritual purposes. Not only in Muncie, but across the nation, “the church was the center of social and cultural life and of benevolent and welfare activities in black communities.” [13] The church was a safe haven from ever-present racism and prejudice, and the site of community organizing in much of black American history. At Shaffer Chapel, black Muncie residents could fill leadership roles with dignity and without the supervision and judgment of whites. Furthermore, they could gather to talk about political issues such as segregation without arousing suspicion.
Shaffer Chapel AME was and still is a crucial place for the African American community of Muncie. Its ministers and congregants have worked throughout its history to make Muncie a safer and more progressive city. In doing so, they have created a space that takes care of the needs of the community, spiritually, politically, and economically. The Whitely Community Council raised funds to restore the church in 2011, ensuring that this historic site will continue to serve the neighborhood and the wider Muncie black community for years to come. [14]
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A related resource from which the described resource is derived
[1] Hurley Goodall and J. Paul Mitchell, A History of Negroes in Muncie, (Muncie, IN: Ball State University, 1976): 11. <br />[2] “18.1996.1 Shaffer Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church Delaware County Marker Text Review Report,” Indiana Historical Bureau, 2014; Goodall and Mitchell, A History of Negroes in Muncie, 11. <br />[3] Goodall and Mitchell, A History of Negroes in Muncie, 11. <br />[4] Ibid. <br />[5] Luke Eric Lassiter, Hurley Goodall, Elizabeth Campbell, and Michelle Natasya Johnson, The Other Side of Middletown, (Lanham, MD: AltaMira Press, 2004): 211. <br />[6] Hurley Goodall, “Rev. Oliver, Profile of a Determined Man Who Helped Desegregate Muncie,” The Muncie Times (Muncie, IN), Feb. 6, 1997. <br />[7] James H. Madison, A Lynching in the Heartland: Race and Memory in America, (New York: Palgrave, 2001): 5. <br />[8] Ibid., 32. <br />[9] Emma Lou Thornbrough, Indiana Blacks in the Twentieth Century, ed. Lana Ruegamer, (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2000): 67. <br />[10] Lassiter, et al., The Other Side of Middletown, 210. <br />[11] Ibid., 211. <br />[12] Ibid. <br />[13] Thornbrough, Indiana Blacks in the Twentieth Century, 17. <br />[14] “April 2014 Newsletter,” Whitely Community Council, April 2014, https://whitelycc.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/wcc-newsletter-april-2014.pdf.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Student Authors: Allison Hunt and Emma Guichon <br />Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson<br />Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
Relation
A related resource
<a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/79.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Markers</a>
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
PHOTO & VIDEO:
Shaffer Chapel AME, attributed to Dale Winling, Public domain, via Flickr.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/urbanoasis/2693346375/
1950s-present
African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church
Church
Delaware County
Indiana Historical Bureau Marker
Lynching
Muncie
religion
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/7bdb388a2b5224838238e9f2bbe1a0f1.jpg
19519b423549936f2eaffe5e6c912274
Dublin Core
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People
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The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
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Lawyer Robert Lee Brokenburr,
Senate Avenue YMCA
Description
An account of the resource
Robert Lee Brokenburr was born in Phoebus, Virginia, on November 16, 1886, to Elizabeth Bakker Brokenburr and Benjamin Brokenburr, who was formerly enslaved. [1] Brokenburr attended the alma mater of Booker T. Washington, Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute in Hampton, Virginia, and graduated from the private black college in 1906. [2] He then studied law at Howard University where he earned his degree in 1909. [3] Following his graduation from Howard, Brokenburr moved to Indianapolis upon the advice of George L. Knox, owner of the illustrated black newspaper the Indianapolis Freeman. [4] He quickly established himself as a practicing attorney after being admitted to the Indiana Bar in 1910. [5] <br /><br />Soon after he arrived in Indianapolis, Brokenburr was introduced to successful black cosmetics business owner Madam C.J. Walker by George L. Knox, and he later became her general counsel. [6] While working with Walker, Brokenburr became a more visible figure in the city and the African American community. His association with Walker, who was quickly becoming a celebrity across black America, helped Brokenburr make a name for himself early in his law career. He was also a very active presence in the black institutions of Indianapolis. Brokenburr frequently supported African American organizations such as black fraternity Kappa Alpha Psi, the Senate Avenue YMCA, and the Flanner House, and served as the second president of the Indianapolis chapter of the NAACP. [7] <br /><br />During his first decade in Indianapolis, Brokenburr’s various activities around the city helped him to rise to a place of prominence within the black community of Indianapolis. One of his biggest contributions came in 1922, when he helped to organize the Better Indianapolis Civic League, which protested the construction of a segregated high school in Indianapolis. [8] In a petition brought before the Indianapolis School Board of Commissioners by Brokenburr on behalf of the League, he stated that the segregation of schools was “unjust, un-American, and against the spirit of democratic ideals.” [9] Despite the Better Indianapolis Civic League’s efforts, the school board voted to build Crispus Attucks High School, which served as a segregated black school for decades after its construction in 1927. [10] Although the fight was unsuccessful, Brokenburr garnered the attention of both black and white citizens of Indianapolis. <br /><br />After gaining this recognition, Brokenburr began to take on the legal struggles for civil rights in Indiana. As support for white supremacy rose in the 1920s with the rise of the KKK in Indiana, he took on many cases to protect African Americans. One such case was Gaillard v. Grant, in which he argued against a zoning ordinance that enforced segregation in Indianapolis neighborhoods. [11] In 1926, this ordinance was found to be unconstitutional, as a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment. [12] Brokenburr also represented the plaintiffs in Bailey v. Washington Theatre Company, a case where a black couple—civil rights activists Katherine “Flossie” and Dr. Walter T. Bailey—was denied entry into a Marion movie theater. [13] Unfortunately, the couple’s case ended with a 1941 Indiana Supreme Court decision which upheld the right of a private business to arbitrarily exclude patrons. [14] <br /><br />Perhaps Brokenburr’s most important legal contribution to civil rights in Indiana was his decision to represent Herbert James Cameron quid pro quo in July 1931. Sixteen year old Cameron had been arrested with two other black teenagers the previous summer on charges of murder and rape in Marion, Indiana. [15] The other two teens, Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith, had been murdered in a brutal lynching on August 7, 1930, and while Cameron escaped the wrath of the abating lynch mob that night, he still faced charges for the alleged crimes. [16] As Cameron stood trial under the shadow of the electric chair, Brokenburr and fellow black Indianapolis attorney R.L. Bailey successfully delayed the trial and changed its venue in order to grant Cameron a more objective jury. [17] After more than a week of passionate arguments, the jury found Cameron guilty of being an accessory to voluntary manslaughter, a verdict which carried a maximum sentence of two to ten years in the Indiana State Reformatory. [18] Thanks to the efforts of attorneys Robert L. Brokenburr and R.L. Bailey, the teenaged lynching survivor had been “snatched from the jaws of death” a second time. [19] <br /><br />Brokenburr not only served Indianapolis as a lawyer, but also as a legislator. In 1912, 1932, and 1934, he ran for a seat in the Indiana House of Representatives, but lost each election. [20] However, in 1940 he won his race for State Senate, making him the first African American to be elected to that chamber. [21] During his terms in the senate from 1941 to 1947 and from 1953 to 1963, Brokenburr fought for progress towards civil rights in Indiana. [22] While in office, he authored more than 50 bills focusing on issues such as equality in housing opportunities and proportional representation of black officers in police forces across the state. [23] He also authored a bill that desegregated the Indiana National Guard in 1941. [24] Because of his success as a statesman in the Indiana Senate, Brokenburr was appointed by President Eisenhower and confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve as an alternate delegate for the United States at the United Nations General Assembly in 1955. [25] <br /><br />During his career, Robert Lee Brokenburr’s accomplishments advanced the livelihoods of not just the African American community, but of all Hoosiers. After serving the Indianapolis community for over half a century, Brokenburr retired in 1971. [26] In 1974, he passed away at the age of 87. [27] Brokenburr truly lived by the motto “live to serve,” as he dedicated his entire life to the fight for equality in Indiana. [28] Brokenburr, like countless other black lawyers across the country, devoted his career to helping “America move toward realization of its professed commitment to legal equality.” [29] Through his considerable efforts, Robert Lee Brokenburr improved the lives of all Hoosiers. [30]
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
[1] Stephen F. Thompson and Curtis R. Barsic, “Robert Lee Brokenburr Papers and Photographs, ca. 1937-1973,” last modified August 2010, https://indianahistory.org/wp-content/uploads/robert-lee-brokenburr-papers-and-photographs.pdf.
[2] Ibid.; “History,” Hampton University, accessed November 1, 2019, http://www.hamptonu.edu/about/history.cfm.
[3] Stephen F. Thompson and Curtis R. Barsic, “Robert Lee Brokenburr Papers and Photographs, ca. 1937-1973,” last modified August 2010, https://indianahistory.org/wp-content/uploads/robert-lee-brokenburr-papers-and-photographs.pdf.
[4] Stanley Warren, “Senator Robert L. Brokenburr: He Lived to Serve,” Black History News and Notes no. 83 (2001): 4.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Ibid, 5
[8] Emma Lou Thornbrough, Indiana Blacks in the Twentieth Century, ed. Lana Ruegamer, (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2000): 57.
[9] Connie A. McBirney and Robert M. Taylor, Peopling Indiana: the Ethnic Experience (Indianapolis, IN: Indiana Historical Society, 1996): 22.
[10] Thornbrough, Indiana Blacks in the Twentieth Century, 57-58.
[11] Ibid., 53.
[12] Ibid.
[13] James H. Madison, A Lynching in the Heartland: Race and Memory in America (New York, NY, Palgrave, 2001): 97.
[14] Bailey v. Washington Theatre Co., 218 Ind. 513 (Ind. 1941).
[15] Thornbrough, Indiana Blacks in the Twentieth Century, 67.
[16] Ibid., 67-69.
[17] Madison, A Lynching in the Heartland, 106
[18] Ibid., 106-107.
[19] Ibid., 108.
[20] Warren, “Senator Robert L. Brokenburr,” 4
[21] Stephen F. Thompson and Curtis R. Barsic, “Robert Lee Brokenburr Papers and Photographs, ca. 1937-1973,” last modified August 2010, https://indianahistory.org/wp-content/uploads/robert-lee-brokenburr-papers-and-photographs.pdf.
[22] Ibid.
[23] Warren, “Senator Robert Lee Brokenburr,” 6.
[24] “Brokenburr Guard Bill Becomes Law,” Indianapolis Recorder (Indianapolis, IN), Mar. 15, 1941.
[25] Warren, “Senator Robert Lee Brokenburr,” 7.; United States Department of State, U.S. Participation in the UN: Report by the President to the Congress for the Year 1955, (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1956): 271.
[26] Stephen F. Thompson and Curtis R. Barsic, “Robert Lee Brokenburr Papers and Photographs, ca. 1937-1973,” last modified August 2010, https://indianahistory.org/wp-content/uploads/robert-lee-brokenburr-papers-and-photographs.pdf.
[27] “Illustrious, History-Making Career Ends With Death of Atty. Robert L. Brokenburr,” Indianapolis Recorder (Indianapolis, IN), Mar. 30, 1974.
[28] Warren, “Senator Robert Lee Brokenburr,” 7.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Student Author: Allison Hunt <br />Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson<br />Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
Relation
A related resource
<a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/4325.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker for Senate Avenue YMCA</a><br /><a href="http://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/items/show/45" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hoosier Civil Rights Museum - Senate Avenue YMCA</a><br /><a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/211.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker for Crispus Attucks High School</a>
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Information about rights held in and over the resource
PHOTO & VIDEO:
Willard Ransom and Robert Lee Brokenburr, Indianapolis Recorder Collection, Indiana Historical Society.
https://images.indianahistory.org/digital/collection/p0303/id/85/
1900-1940s
1950s-present
Indianapolis
Integration
law
Lynching
Marion County
NAACP
Segregation
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/f689aaf6f53766579dcd7dd3750e194a.jpg
f44204d673ce326bf89ce19cafcf5e03
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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People
Person
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The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Reverend Dr. Andrew J. Brown, Jr.,
St. John's Missionary Baptist Church
Description
An account of the resource
Reverend Dr. Andrew J. Brown, Jr. was born in Mississippi in 1921, and would go on to become one of the most influential civil rights leaders in Indianapolis. [1] After graduating high school, Brown attended the historically black Bishop College in Marshall, Texas, where he studied Baptist ministry. [2] Upon receiving his degree, Reverend Brown served in World War II in both the European and Pacific theaters, as one of the few field chaplains who specifically sought to provide “spiritual guidance for Black soldiers.” [3] In 1947, Brown and his wife Rosa Lee settled in Indianapolis where he preached at St. John Missionary Baptist Church, and the couple “immediately became active in the civil rights struggle which was beginning to come to light” in the city. [4]
When Reverend Brown first came to St. John Missionary Baptist Church, its small congregation of just 57 members were worshipping in a basement. [5] Under Brown’s leadership, the church was soon able to move to its own building in central Indianapolis, where the congregation would grow to become “one of the largest, most progressive Black churches in the United States.” [6] From this thriving church on Martindale Avenue, Reverend Brown preached his social gospel, calling for his congregation to rise up against injustice in Indianapolis.
Rev. Brown quickly earned a reputation as a powerful orator, and was invited to Baptist churches across the South to perform revivals—daily sermons given to a congregation by a visiting preacher over a week or longer to renew the faith of believers and to convert new members. [7] It was on one of these revival trips that Rev. Brown met a young Martin Luther King, Jr. as he finished up doctoral studies in the early 1950s. [8] Throughout the next decade, Rev. Brown and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. became friends and colleagues; at one point, Rev. Brown fell ill on a revival trip to Atlanta and was taken in by King’s mother. [9] When King visited Indianapolis for speaking engagements, he stayed at the home of Reverend Brown. [10]
As the efforts of the Civil Rights Movement in the South came to national attention during the late 1950s and early 1960s, Reverend Andrew J. Brown, Jr., along with other black community leaders in the North, were inspired to take similar action. [11] Rev. Brown used his pulpit to attract national civil rights leaders to Indianapolis, hosting Coretta Scott King and Dr. Kelly Miller Smith at St. John Missionary Baptist Church. [12] Additionally, after his term as the president of the Indianapolis NAACP chapter, Rev. Brown formed his own organization to fight for civil rights in the city. [13] The Indianapolis Social Action Council (ISAC) arose at St. John Missionary Baptist Church during memorial services for assassinated Mississippi NAACP President Medgar Evers in 1963, with Rev. Brown as the group’s chairman, Local 117 Union President Herman Walker as executive director, attorney Willard B. Ransom as vice president, William Porter as treasurer, and Faye Williams as secretary. [14] ISAC’s initial goals were to increase black voter registration and to provide better opportunities “in the fields of employment, housing, education, citizenship participation, public accommodations, and all areas of health, welfare, and social action” for black Indianapolis residents. [15] The organization’s voter registration drive was especially impressive, resulting in “unprecedented numbers of African Americans voting in the city elections in November 1963,” which elected two African Americans to the City Council for the first time in 16 years. [16] Rev. Brown also established the Indianapolis Christian Leadership Conference as a Northern affiliate of the major civil rights organizing group, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. [17]
Reverend Brown and his congregants did not just fight for civil rights in Indianapolis, however. In August 1963, ISAC members bused to Washington, D.C. to participate in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. [18] In March 1965, Rev. Brown joined civil rights activists from across the country to march in Selma, Alabama, in protest of what has come to be known as “Bloody Sunday,” the beating of peaceful protestors by police on the Edmund Pettus Bridge as they planned to march from Selma to Montgomery. [19] Just four days after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination on April 4, 1968, Rev. Brown joined Coretta Scott King and other national figures in a march in Memphis, Tennessee, in solidarity with striking sanitation workers, and in memory of King. [20] The next month, Rev. Brown urged the black community of Indianapolis to join him in the Poor People’s March on Washington, to honor the memory and continue the legacy of Dr. King. [21]
Reverend Brown was also instrumental in creating lasting cultural institutions, which served the black community in Indianapolis and across the state. In 1970, Reverend Brown, alongside other Indianapolis African American religious and civil rights leaders, created the Indiana Black Expo (IBE), a charitable organization that empowers black Hoosiers through economic, educational, and medical assistance. [22] The IBE’s flagship event, the Summer Celebration, is an annual festival that celebrates black history and culture in Indiana. Reverend Brown was also the founder of the long-running Indianapolis radio program Operation Breadbasket. The popular program aired every Saturday morning on WTLC, and Brown used the platform to speak about civil rights issues and community interests, and to provide economic advice and spiritual messages for his listeners. [23]
Reverend Andrew J. Brown, Jr. retired from his position at St. John Missionary Baptist Church in 1990. [24] He passed away in 1996 at the age of 75, leaving behind an extraordinary legacy. Brown was remembered by Indiana Congressman Andrew Jacobs, Jr. on the floor of the House of Representatives as “Mr. Civil Rights in Indiana.” [25] From the moment he arrived in Indianapolis, Rev. Brown fought for the rights of not only his own congregation, but of people across the city, the state, and the country. In tribute to his foundational work, which made the city a far more inclusive place, Indianapolis has renamed Martindale Avenue, the location of St. John Missionary Baptist Church, to Dr. Andrew J. Brown Avenue in his honor. [26]
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
[1] Tyler Fenwick, “Dr. Andrew J. Brown Brought National Civil Rights to Indianapolis,” Indianapolis Recorder (Indianapolis, IN), Feb. 22, 2019. <br />[2] “Rev. A.J. Brown, Prexy, Speaker Sunday at Bethel,” Indianapolis Recorder (Indianapolis, IN), Oct. 26, 1963; Amy Bertsch, “Bishop College,” East Texas History, accessed October 4, 2019, https://easttexashistory.org/items/show/141. <br />[3] “Rev. A.J. Brown, Prexy, Speaker Sunday at Bethel,” Indianapolis Recorder (Indianapolis, IN), Oct. 26, 1963; “A.J. Brown, Jr.: The Man and the Liberating Theology,” Indianapolis Recorder (Indianapolis, IN), Aug. 10, 1996. <br />[4] Tyler Fenwick, “Dr. Andrew J. Brown Brought National Civil Rights to Indianapolis,” Indianapolis Recorder (Indianapolis, IN), Feb. 22, 2019; “Rev. Brown Praised for Religious, Civic Contributions at Testimonial,” Indianapolis Recorder (Indianapolis, IN), Oct. 7, 1972. <br />[5] “A.J. Brown, Jr.: The Man and the Liberating Theology,” Indianapolis Recorder (Indianapolis, IN), Aug. 10, 1996. <br />[6] “Rev. Brown Praised for Religious, Civic Contributions at Testimonial,” Indianapolis Recorder (Indianapolis, IN), Oct. 7, 1972; “A.J. Brown, Jr.: The Man and the Liberating Theology,” Indianapolis Recorder (Indianapolis, IN), Aug. 10, 1996. <br />[7] Wilson Fallin, Uplifting the People: Three Centuries of Black Baptists in Alabama, (Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press, 2007,) 83; Andrew J. Brown, Jr., “‘I Walked With Martin,’” Indianapolis Recorder (Indianapolis, IN), Apr. 13, 1968. <br />[8] Ibid. <br />[9] Ibid. <br />[10] Tyler Fenwick, “Dr. Andrew J. Brown Brought National Civil Rights to Indianapolis,” Indianapolis Recorder (Indianapolis, IN), Feb. 22, 2019. <br />[11] Emma Lou Thornbrough, Indiana Blacks in the Twentieth Century, ed. Lana Ruegamer (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2000), 164. <br />[12] “Freedom Concert Featuring Mrs. Martin Luther King,” Indianapolis Recorder (Indianapolis, IN), Apr. 18, 1964; “Noted Rights Leader to Speak at Rally Sunday,” Indianapolis Recorder (Indianapolis, IN), Dec. 14, 1963. <br />[13] “A.J. Brown Jr.: The Man and the Liberating Theology,” Indianapolis Recorder (Indianapolis, IN), Aug. 10 1996. <br />[14] Thornbrough, Indiana Blacks, 174. <br />[15] “Rev. A.J. Brown Named Chairman of Organization,” Indianapolis Recorder (Indianapolis, IN), Jul. 6, 1963. <br />[16] Thornbrough, Indiana Blacks, 175; “Noted Rights Leader to Speak at Rally Sunday,” Indianapolis Recorder (Indianapolis, IN), Dec. 14, 1963. <br />[17] Thornbrough, Indiana Blacks, 164. <br />[18] “Goldstein Joins 200,000 in D.C. March,” Jewish Post and Opinion (Indianapolis, IN), 30 Aug. 30, 1963. <br />[19] “ISAC Prexy Tells Why ‘I Had to Go to Selma, Alabama,’” Indianapolis Recorder (Indianapolis, IN), Mar. 13, 1965. <br />[20] Andrew J. Brown, Jr., “‘I Walked With Martin,’” Indianapolis Recorder (Indianapolis, IN), Apr. 13, 1968. <br />[21] “A.J. Brown Jr.: The Man and the Liberating Theology,” Indianapolis Recorder (Indianapolis, IN), Aug. 10 1996. <br />[22] Ibid. <br />[23] Rob Schneider, “Rights Leader Rev. Andrew J. Brown Dies,” Indianapolis Star (Indianapolis, IN), Aug. 3, 1996. <br />[24] Ibid. <br />[25] Andrew Jacobs, Jr. “Honoring Andrew J. Brown,” Congressional Record 42, no. 125 (1996): 329. [26] “Contact Us,” St. John’s Missionary Baptist Church, accessed October 10, 2019, http://www.saintjohnsindy.net/contact/.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Student Authors: Allison Hunt and Jake Bailey <br />Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson<br />Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
PHOTO & VIDEO:
Reverend F. Benjamin Davis, Father Boniface Hardin and Reverend Andrew J. Brown, Indianapolis Recorder Collection, Indiana Historical Society.
https://images.indianahistory.org/digital/collection/p0303/id/465/rec/31
1900s-1940s
1950s-present
Christianity
Civil Rights Movement
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Indianapolis
Marion County
NAACP
Politics
religion
Religious Leaders
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https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/9839d67d230a6126ac5b8b6a85a38091.jpeg
f8f0c3d780f4e723df7c8111c0324167
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Description
An account of the resource
Lucy Higgs Nichols was born in Halifax County, North Carolina on April 10, 1838. [1] Lucy, along with her family, was held in chattel slavery by farmer Reubin Higgs. During this time, the Higgs family moved to Mississippi, then to Tennessee, taking Lucy and other enslaved people with them. In 1862, Lucy learned that she was to be moved south again, even further from freedom. Instead, she escaped with her young daughter, Mona, to the camp of the Indiana 23rd Volunteer Regiment. According to some sources, Lucy was accompanied by her husband as well, who was said to have died later after enlisting in the Union Army. [2] Lucy managed to travel “some twenty or thirty miles” to the camp of the 23rd Regiment in Bolivar, Tennessee. [3] <br /><br />After making it to the camp of the Indiana 23rd Volunteer Regiment, Lucy was pursued by her former master. However, under the Confiscation Acts of 1861 and 1862, she was able to beg protection from the regiment, who ensured that she would not be sent back to slavery. [4] These acts declared that any property, including enslaved people, which was being used to aid the Confederate rebellion was to be seized by the federal government. [5] The Confiscation Act of 1862 went even further in describing the new protected status of enslaved people, declaring that: "All slaves of persons who shall hereafter be engaged in rebellion against the government of the United States, or who shall in any way give aid of comfort thereto, escaping from such persons and taking refuge within the lines of the army; and all slaves captured from such persons or deserted by them and coming under the control of the government of the United States; and all slaves of such person found on or being within any place occupied by rebel forces and afterwards occupied by the forces of the United States, shall be deemed captives of war, and shall be forever free of their servitude, and not again held as slaves." [6] <br /><br />Although these acts were intended to deprive the Confederacy of labor, it was also a step towards emancipation, which thoroughly benefitted Lucy and her family and allowed her to escape slavery with the help of the 23rd Regiment. To show her gratitude to the Indiana 23rd Volunteer Regiment, Lucy, 30 years old at the time, “remained with the Twenty-third as hospital nurse, cook, laundress and sewing woman.” [7] She followed the regiment throughout the rest of the war, caring for soldiers on the front lines and on many long, arduous marches. [8] Lucy was present at such critical battles as the Siege of Vicksburg and the Siege of Atlanta, then followed the 23rd Regiment through General William Tecumseh Sherman’s March to the Sea. [9] Lucy even remained with the regiment after her daughter Mona, no older than five, died just after the surrender of Vicksburg. Mona was apparently well-loved by the soldiers, and was given an “elaborate funeral” by the 23rd Regiment, as they covered her body with flowers and laid her to rest “in a long trench on the hillside above the city, where many a silent figure in blue was stretched out” in their own final resting places. [10] Lucy was heartbroken and “left absolutely alone, but she still clung to the regiment.” [11] <br /><br />After the war, Lucy followed the 23rd Regiment to Washington, D.C., where she proudly marched with them as part of the “grand review of the Federal armies.” [12] When the regiment was mustered out of service, the men invited her to return with them to New Albany, Indiana, where many of them were from. [13] There, she was “employed as a servant in the families of several of the officers” of the 23rd Regiment. [14] In 1870, she married laborer John Nichols, and they lived together on Nagel Street in New Albany until his death in 1910. [15] After her husband’s death, Lucy remained in the city “as a boarder and a laundress.” [16] <br /><br />While living in New Albany, Lucy maintained contact with her fellow members of the 23rd Regiment. She attended every regimental reunion and marched in each Memorial Day parade. [17] Lucy provided care for ill former troops, nursing them “as she did in war times,” while they cared for her in times of sickness and need as well, affectionately calling her “Aunt Lucy.” [18] Lucy became a member of the New Albany chapter of the Grand Army of the Republic, a fraternal organization of veterans of the Union forces. [19] Despite the remarkable recognition for her service by her immediate compatriots, Lucy was not recognized for her work as a Union Army nurse by the federal government. In 1892, Congress passed an act granting pensions to “all women employed by the Surgeon General of the Army as nurses, under contract or otherwise, during the late war of the rebellion” who were in need of financial assistance. [20] Lucy applied for pension, citing medical issues which impacted her ability to work, but was rejected twice. [21] Finally, in December 1898, a special act of Congress was passed and Lucy was approved for a $12 per month pension for the rest of her life. [22] After the death of her husband John, Lucy was admitted to the Floyd County Poor Farm on January 5, 1915. [23] She died there just weeks later, on January 29, 1915, and was buried with military honors in an unmarked grave in West Haven Cemetery in New Albany. [24] The exact location of her grave is unknown because there was no written documentation and no tombstone. On July 3, 2019, a statue of Lucy Higgs Nichols and her daughter Mona was erected in New Albany, Indiana. [25] It joined a 2011 state historical marker outside the Second Baptist Church, where Lucy was a member of the congregation. [26] These monuments stand as a testament to her valor, from escaping slavery, to serving as a nurse on the front lines of the Civil War, to fighting for her right for compensation. <br /><br />Unfortunately, Lucy Higgs Nichols was not the last black American veteran to be barred from receiving the benefits earned through their service. In 1944, Congress passed the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act, popularly known as the G.I. Bill of Rights. [27] This landmark legislation provided American veterans with four major entitlements: special job placement services, unemployment compensation, home and business loans, and educational subsidies. [28] While there was no language in the bill that definitively excluded black veterans on the basis of race, the G.I. Bill was unequally implemented to the benefit of white veterans. Black World War II veterans, especially those living in the south, experienced difficulties when they attempted to access the benefits due to them through the G.I. Bill, “because of a combination of racial discrimination and the poor administration of the bill’s benefits.” [29] Like Lucy Higgs Nichols, many black veterans fought for their benefits after World War II, but many found that access blocked by racist white administrators, and unlike Nichols, were unable to appeal their mistreatment. [30]<br /><br />An Indiana Historical Bureau historical marker, installed in 2011, in New Albany, Floyd County, commemorates Lucy Higgs Nichols' life.
Title
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Lucy Higgs Nichols, New Albany
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[1] Pamela R. Peters, Curtis H. Peters, and Victor C. Megenity, “Lucy Higgs Nichols: From Slave to Civil War Nurse of the Twenty-Third Indiana Regiment,” Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History 22, no. 1 (2010): 36. <br />[2] “A Female Civil War Veteran,” The New York Times (New York, NY), Dec. 27, 1898. <br />[3] “Why Aunt Lucy got a Pension,” The Denver Sunday Post (Denver, CO), Dec. 18, 1898. <br />[4] Peters, Peters, and Megenity, “Lucy Higgs Nichols,” 38. <br />[5] Matthew Pinsker, “Congressional Confiscation Acts,” Dickinson College Emancipation Digital Classroom, July 14, 2012, http://housedivided.dickinson.edu/sites/emancipation/2012/07/14/congressional-confiscation-acts/. <br />[6] Steven F. Miller, “The Second Confiscation Act,” University of Maryland Freedmen & Southern Society Project, last updated August 26, 2019. http://www.freedmen.umd.edu/conact2.htm. <br />[7] “Why Aunt Lucy got a Pension,” The Denver Sunday Post (Denver, CO), Dec. 18, 1898. <br />[8] Ibid. <br />[9] Peters, Peters, and Megenity, “Lucy Higgs Nichols,” 38-39. <br />[10] “Why Aunt Lucy got a Pension,” The Denver Sunday Post (Denver, CO), Dec. 18, 1898. <br />[11] Ibid. <br />[12] “Negress Who Nursed Soldiers is a Member of the G.A.R.,” The Freeman, (Indianapolis, IN), Sep. 3, 1904. <br />[13] Peters, Peters, and Megenity, “Lucy Higgs Nichols,” 39. <br />[14] “Why Aunt Lucy got a Pension,” The Denver Sunday Post (Denver, CO), Dec. 18, 1898. <br />[15] “Lucy Higgs Nichols,” Indiana Historical Bureau, accessed October 18, 2019, https://www.in.gov/history/markers/4121.htm. <br />[16] Ibid. <br />[17] “Negress Who Nursed Soldiers is a Member of the G.A.R.,” The Freeman, (Indianapolis, IN), Sep. 3, 1904. <br />[18] Ibid. <br />[19] Peters, Peters, and Megenity, “Lucy Higgs Nichols,” 35. <br />[20] Fifty-Second Congress. Sess. I. Chs. 375,376,379. (1892). Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/law/help/statutes-at-large/52nd-congress/session-1/c52s1ch379.pdf. <br />[21] “Lucy Higgs Nichols,” Indiana Historical Bureau, accessed October 18, 2019, https://www.in.gov/history/markers/4121.htm. <br />[22] Peters, Peters, and Megenity, “Lucy Higgs Nichols,” 39. <br />[23] Ibid. <br />[24] Ibid.; Amanda Beam, “New Albany Bicentennial: Floyd County Poor House,” News and Tribune (Jeffersonville, IN), Jul. 3, 2013. <br />[25] John Boyle, “Celebrating an Icon: Statue of New Albany’s Lucy Higgs Nichols Unveiled,” News and Tribune (Jeffersonville, IN), Jul. 3, 2019. <br />[26] “Lucy Higgs Nichols,” Indiana Historical Bureau, accessed October 18, 2019, https://www.in.gov/history/markers/4121.htm.; John Boyle, “Celebrating an Icon: Statue of New Albany’s Lucy Higgs Nichols Unveiled,” News and Tribune (Jeffersonville, IN), Jul. 3, 2019. <br />[27] David H. Onkst, “’First a Negro…Incidentally a Veteran’: Black World War Two Veterans and the G.I. Bill of Rights in the Deep South, 1944-1948,” Journal of Social History 31, no. 3 (1998): 524. <br />[28] Ibid., 518. <br />[29] Ibid. <br />[30] Ibid., 519.
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PHOTO & VIDEO:
Lucy Higgs Nichols, attributed to 1898 photo, Public Domain, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lucy_Higgs_Nichols_head_shot.JPG
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Student Authors: Allison Hunt and Jordan Girard <br />Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson<br />Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
Relation
A related resource
<a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/4121.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker</a>
1800s
Civil War
Floyd County
Healthcare
New Albany
Slavery
Women
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https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/031a8d6dff60600fc1673c5fc413e730.jpg
9965b2d5b7384d166f009c3fd855f38c
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Events
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Lasselle v. State,
Harrison County
Description
An account of the resource
The 1820 Indiana Supreme Court Case State v. Lasselle centered upon Polly Strong, a black woman enslaved in Vincennes, Indiana, who asserted her freedom from her master, Hyacinthe Lasselle. Before reaching the Indiana Supreme Court, the case was first tried in Knox County as Polly v. Lasselle. The suit began after Polly’s lawyer, Amory Kinney, petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus, which the court granted on July 15, 1818, “directing Lasselle to bring Jim and Polly to the court to explain why he held them against their will.” [1] Jim was another enslaved person whom Lasselle had inherited from his father. [2] However, his case did not make it to the Indiana Supreme Court.<br /><br />Lasselle contended that he held Polly as an indentured servant, not as a slave. However, the indenture contract Polly had signed was a direct response to the writ of habeas corpus, dated two days after the court’s order. The date, along with the fact that Polly continued to pursue legal action after the contract was signed, showed that the document was a fraudulent attempt by Lasselle to avoid further legal action. [3] Furthermore, Polly’s lawyer argued that she had most likely signed the indenture under duress. As Kinney stated during the court proceedings, Polly “was imprisoned by the said Hyacinthe Lasselle and others in collusion with him […] until by the force and duress of imprisonment,” she signed the indenture. [4] <br /><br />Prior to statehood in 1816, Indiana Territory operated under the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, which established rules of governance for all territory northwest of the Ohio River. Article Six of the Northwest Ordinance stated that “there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said territory.” [5] However, the Knox County Circuit Court ultimately ruled in favor of Lasselle, claiming that because Polly’s mother had been enslaved before the passage of the Northwest Ordinance, Polly had been born a slave and as such, her status was grandfathered in. [6] With this ruling, the court refused to acknowledge the authority of the Northwest Ordinance and the Indiana Constitution of 1816 to emancipate anyone already enslaved before the adoption of either document. <br /><br />In 1820, the case was appealed and argued before the Indiana Supreme Court as State v. Lasselle, although Polly and Kinney were still the plaintiffs. The Indiana Supreme Court had only been established three years earlier, and State v. Lasselle was the Court’s first time hearing a case on the issue of slavery. [7] During this trial, Lasselle abandoned the argument that Polly was his indentured servant and instead claimed that he had the right to keep any enslaved people purchased before the Treaty of Greenville of 1795. [8] Lasselle’s attorney argued that before the passage of the treaty, the territory was still occupied by Native Americans, and thus not subject to any federal legislation such as the Northwest Ordinance. [9] Therefore, Lasselle claimed that because Polly had been born into slavery before the Treaty of Greenville, her enslaved status had been grandfathered in and could not be altered by the passage of any later legal code. <br /><br />The Indiana Supreme Court unanimously ruled against Lasselle’s argument of his “preexisting right” to own Polly, reversing the ruling of the Knox County Circuit Court and declaring Polly free. [10] She was also “awarded $26.12 in costs for her trouble.” [11] The Court found that the 1816 Indiana Constitution’s prohibition of slavery applied to Polly’s case, immediately emancipating her as well as all other enslaved people in Indiana. Justice James Scott’s opinion states that “it is evident that by these provisions, the framers of our Constitution intended a total and entire prohibition of slavery in this State; and we can conceive of no form of words in which that intention could have been more clearly expressed.” [12] <br /><br />While State v. Lasselle was being argued before the Indiana Supreme Court, the nation was also facing the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and the issue of the expansion of slavery into new states. In order to maintain a balanced Congress, the Missouri Compromise admitted Maine as a free state and Missouri as a slave state. It also banned the creation of any new slave states north of the latitude 36°30′. While this measure solved the immediate problem, it marked the beginning of the road towards the Civil War and the struggle between the North and the South over the expansion of slavery. This temporary solution “all but determined that the United States would never peaceably solve the problem of slavery’s expansion.” [13] The issue of slavery was not solved at a national level until the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863, but the decision in State v. Lasselle ensured that slavery would be abolished in Indiana more than 40 years before Lincoln’s definitive executive order. <br /><br />State v. Lasselle was one of the final blows against slavery in Indiana. The decision set an important precedent for later cases regarding slavery and indentured servitude in the state, establishing the Indiana Supreme Court’s “remarkably strong and usually steady affirmation of human rights” throughout the nineteenth century. [14] The case is also an early example of the importance of the legal system in the fight for civil rights. Courts have been some of the most decisive battlegrounds in the civil rights movement, with individuals like Polly able to sue for equal treatment under the law. In Indiana and across the nation, the courts became integral during the modern civil rights movement, forcing the issue on desegregation and equal opportunity in such famous cases as Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka and Loving v. Virginia.<br /><br />This court case is commemorated with an Indiana Historical Bureau historical marker, installed in 2016, on the site of the first Indiana State Capital building in Harrison County.
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[1] Paul Finkelman, "Almost a Free State: The Indiana Constitution of 1816 and the Problem of Slavery," Indiana Magazine of History 111, no. 1 (2015): 79. <br />[2] Ibid. <br />[3] Ibid., 82. <br />[4] Polly v. Lasselle, 90 116 4F, 2104 (Knox Co. 1818). <br />[5] “Northwest Ordinance”, July 13, 1787; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M332, roll 9); Miscellaneous Papers of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789; Records of the Continental and Confederation Congresses and the Constitutional Convention, 1774-1789, Record Group 360; National Archives. <br />[6] Paul Finkelman, "Almost a Free State: The Indiana Constitution of 1816 and the Problem of Slavery," Indiana Magazine of History 111, no. 1 (2015): 83. <br />[7] Sandra Boyd Williams, “The Indiana Supreme Court and the Struggle Against Slavery,” Indiana Law Review 30, (1997): 305. <br />[8] Paul Finkelman, "Almost a Free State: The Indiana Constitution of 1816 and the Problem of Slavery," Indiana Magazine of History 111, no. 1 (2015): 84. <br />[9] Ibid. <br />[10] Ibid. <br />[11] Randall T. Shepard, “For Human Rights: Slave Cases and the Indiana Supreme Court,” Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History 15, no. 3 (2003): 36. [12] State v. Lasselle, (Indiana Supreme Court, 1820). <br />[13] John Craig Hammond, Slavery, Freedom, and Expansion in the Early American West (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2007). 8.
Contributor
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Student Authors: Allison Hunt and Jordan Girard <br />Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson<br />Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
Relation
A related resource
<a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/4267.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker</a>
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PHOTO AND VIDEO:
U.S. Supreme Court assignment of errors in Polly v. Lasselle, 1820 July 27, Digital Collections, Indiana State Library.
https://indianamemory.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16066coll38/id/26
1800s
Court Case
Indiana Historical Bureau Marker
Knox County
law
Slavery
Vincennes
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https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/15cba328eb5b085e91cafaa84ed47044.jpg
d8609074e002d7c9ac22dca12a358224
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People
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Congresswoman Julia Carson
Description
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Julia May Porter Carson was born on July 8, 1938, in Louisville, Kentucky. [1] She was raised by her single mother, Velma V. Porter, and the two moved to Indianapolis when Julia was still very young. Velma worked as a domestic and Julia, in addition to attending school, worked various part time positions including “waiting tables, delivering newspapers, and harvesting crops” to supplement the family income. [2] She graduated from the all-black Crispus Attucks High School in 1955, and shortly after graduation was married. [3] She and her husband had two children, then divorced, and Julia Carson raised her family as a single mother. [4]
In 1965, Carson was working as a secretary for the United Auto Workers local chapter #550 when she met newly elected Indiana Representative Andrew Jacobs, Jr. [5] The Democratic Congressman was searching for a caseworker for his district office and hired Carson. [6] Working for Rep. Jacobs set Carson’s own political career in motion. After working at his district office for seven years and eventually becoming his congressional office manager, Representative Jacobs encouraged Carson to run for the Indiana House of Representatives in 1972. [7] Carson ran as a Democratic Party candidate representing Indianapolis and won the election, becoming the only black woman in the chamber. [8] She served two terms in the Indiana House of Representatives from 1972-1976, where she was the Assistant Minority Caucus Chair. [9] Carson was then the first black woman elected to the Indiana Senate, serving from 1976-1990, and eventually holding the powerful Minority Whip position. [10] She was a founding member of the Indiana Black Legislative Caucus in 1979. [11] From 1972-1982, as she was legislating in the Indiana General Assembly, Carson was also working as the Public Affairs Manager for Cummins Engine Co. to make ends meet. [12] In 1991, Carson was elected as Center Township trustee in Indianapolis, where she served from 1990-1997. [13] In that role, she assisted Indianapolis residents in need “by distributing relief and connecting residents to helpful resources when necessary,” including overseeing welfare payments. [14] Carson was instrumental in helping Indianapolis residents escape the cycle of poverty through her “workfare” program, which gave training and employment opportunities. The “workfare” program resulted in fewer necessary welfare payments, helping Carson erase a $20 million deficit in Center Township. [15]
After Representative Andrew Jacobs, Jr. retired, he endorsed Carson as his successor. [16] She successfully ran for his seat, and was elected to the 105th Congress in 1997. She was the first woman and first African American to represent Indianapolis, and only the second black woman to represent Indiana in the House of Representatives after Congresswoman Katie Hall of Gary. [17] While serving in Congress, Carson “championed children’s issues, women’s rights, and efforts to reduce homelessness.” [18] As a member of the Progressive Caucus, “the most liberal faction of the House Democrats,” Carson was also a “reliable supporter of organized labor, environmental protections, abortion rights, gun control, and health care programs.” [19] In 2002, Carson voted against the “request for broad authority to wage war against Iraq” presented to Congress by President George W. Bush. [20]
Perhaps Carson’s most well-known legislation in Congress were efforts to commemorate Civil Rights Movement hero Rosa Parks. On February 4, 1999, Parks’ 86th birthday, Carson introduced a successful resolution which awarded Parks the Congressional Gold Medal. Carson was one of the speakers at the ceremony in 1999, along with President Bill Clinton. [21] Her efforts to commemorate Parks as “a living icon for freedom in America” did not stop there. [22] After Parks’ death on October 24, 2005, Carson helped to pass legislation allowing Rosa Parks to lie in honor in the Capitol Rotunda, making her the first woman ever to be given this honor. [23] By doing so, Carson joined a legislative tradition initiated in 1983 in the 98th Congress in which “African American Members of Congress often used their influence to pass legislation commemorating great leaders and seminal events in the civil rights movement and to call attention to unrecognized black contributions to American history.” [24]
Julia Carson was elected to the United States House of Representatives six times, and died in office on December 15, 2007 of lung cancer. [25] Her grandson, current U.S. Representative André Carson, won the special election to fill her seat and has represented Indiana’s 7th Congressional district since 2008. [26] Julia Carson defied political odds, rising from poverty to become one of the first African American women to represent Indiana in Congress. Despite her national prominence, Carson still remained popular in her district; her constituents “spoke of her as if she were a family member.” [27] On January 16, 2014, a bronze bust of Julia Carson was unveiled as part of a permanent black history exhibit in the Indiana State House, cementing her place in Hoosier history. [28]
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
[1] Alys Beverton, “JULIA MAY PORTER CARSON (1938–2007),” Black Past, November 8, 2009, https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/carson-julia-1938-2007/. <br />[2] “Carson, Julia May,” United States House of Representatives, accessed October 29, 2019, https://history.house.gov/People/Detail/10693. <br />[3] Ibid. <br />[4] Ibid. <br />[5] “Carson, Julia May,” United States House of Representatives, accessed October 29, 2019, https://history.house.gov/People/Detail/10693.; “CARSON, Julia May, (1938-2007),” Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, accessed October 29, 2019, http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=c000191. <br />[6] "Carson, Julia May,” United States House of Representatives, accessed October 29, 2019, https://history.house.gov/People/Detail/10693. <br />[7] “Woman Power Needed in State Legislature—Vote for Trio,” Indianapolis Recorder (Indianapolis, IN), Apr. 29, 1972.; Schneider, Rob, “She Never Forgot: Compassion for Those in Need Grew Out of Her Childhood Experiences,” Indianapolis Star (Indianapolis, IN), Dec. 16, 2007. <br />[8] “Legislative Discussion,” Indianapolis Recorder (Indianapolis, IN), Feb. 10, 1973. <br />[9] “Carson, Julia May,” United States House of Representatives, accessed October 29, 2019, https://history.house.gov/People/Detail/10693. <br />[10] “C. Delores Tucker Speaks at Brunch for Rep. Carson,” Indianapolis Recorder (Indianapolis, IN), Oct. 23, 1976.; “Carson, Julia May,” United States House of Representatives, accessed October 29, 2019, https://history.house.gov/People/Detail/10693. <br />[11] Hurley C. Goodall, “Julia Carson: A Very Special Kind of Lady,” Muncie Times (Muncie, IN), Dec. 20, 2007. <br />[12] “Carson Through the Years,” Indianapolis Star (Indianapolis, IN), Dec. 16, 2007. <br />[13] “Carson, Julia May,” United States House of Representatives, accessed October 29, 2019, https://history.house.gov/People/Detail/10693. <br />[14] “Township Trustees,” Indy.gov, accessed October 29, 2019, https://www.indy.gov/agency/township-trustees.; “Carson, Julia May,” United States House of Representatives, accessed October 29, 2019, https://history.house.gov/People/Detail/10693. <br />[15] Schneider, Rob, “She Never Forgot: Compassion for Those in Need Grew Out of Her Childhood Experiences,” Indianapolis Star (Indianapolis, IN), Dec. 16, 2007.; “Carson, Julia May,” United States House of Representatives, accessed October 29, 2019, https://history.house.gov/People/Detail/10693. <br />[16] Ibid. <br />[17] “Julia Carson Papers, 1978-2007,” Indiana University Purdue University Ruth Lilly Special Collections & Archives, accessed October 29, 2019, http://www.ulib.iupui.edu/collections/general/mss079. <br />[18] Alys Beverton, “JULIA MAY PORTER CARSON (1938–2007),” Black Past, November 8, 2009, https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/carson-julia-1938-2007/. <br />[19] “Carson, Julia, D-Ind,” in CQ's Politics in America 2004 (the 108th Congress), edited by David Hawkings and Brian Nutting, (Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly Press, 2003): 373. <br />[20] Ibid. <br />[21] “Carson, Julia May,” United States House of Representatives, accessed October 29, 2019, https://history.house.gov/People/Detail/10693. <br />[22] Julia Carson, “Legislation to Award a Congressional Gold Medal to Rosa Parks,” Congressional Record 145, no. 20, (1999): 31-32. <br />[23] “Carson, Julia May,” United States House of Representatives, accessed October 29, 2019, https://history.house.gov/People/Detail/10693. <br />[24] “Legislative Interests,” History, Art, and Archives: House of Representatives, accessed April 20, 2019, https://history.house.gov/Exhibitions-and-Publications/BAIC/Historical-Essays/Permanent-Interest/Legislative-Interests/. <br />[25] “Carson, Julia May,” United States House of Representatives, accessed October 29, 2019, https://history.house.gov/People/Detail/10693. <br />[26] John Lambkun, “Andre Carson Wins Indy Congressional Seat Once Held by His Late Grandmother,” Muncie Times (Muncie, IN), Mar. 20, 2008. <br />[27] Matthew Tully, “Carson Formed Deep Bond With Supporters,” The Indianapolis Star (Indianapolis, IN), Dec. 16, 2007. <br />[28] “Busts of Julia Carson and James S. Hinton Dedicated in the Indiana State House,” Indiana Historical Bureau, January 23, 2014, https://www.in.gov/history/4227.htm.
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PHOTO & VIDEO:
Carson, Julia, attributed to U.S. Congress, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Carson_julia.jpg
Contributor
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Student Authors: Allison Hunt and Jordan Girard <br />Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson<br />Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
Relation
A related resource
<a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/211.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker for Crispus Attucks High School</a>
1950s-present
Civil Rights Movement
Indianapolis
law
Legislator
Marion County
Politics
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/c6c670f2fcc22001b66284cc3d885cec.jpg
2b1c889ac24057e6c006b3019330e243
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
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Places
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
John H. and Sarah Tibbets Home
Description
An account of the resource
John Henry Tibbets was born in Clermont County, Ohio, to Dr. Samuel and Susanna Combs Tibbets circa 1820. [1] He was the last son born in the staunchly abolitionist family. The Tibbets were motivated “to help fugitive slaves by personal religious conviction,” as part of their Baptist faith. [2] In the fall of 1838, John aided his “first fugitive from slavery,” riskily escorting the man on horseback at nighttime to a safe location about 15 miles away, with the help of his cousin Thomas Coombs. [3]
In 1843, John H. Tibbets moved to Jefferson County, Indiana, which already boasted a strong community of abolitionists. In 1839, 73 men and women, led by abolitionist Methodist minister Louis Hicklin, established the Neil’s Creek Anti-Slavery Society just north of Madison, Indiana. [4] One of the founding members of this society was Sarah Ann Nelson, who was just 19 at the time the group was formed. [5] In the fall of 1844, John H. Tibbets married Sarah Ann Nelson, and the couple moved to Neil’s Creek to reside with Sarah’s parents, who were also “strong Anti-slavery people” and fellow founders of the Neil’s Creek Anti-Slavery Society. [6] The couple worked together as conductors on the Underground Railroad from their advantageous location just north of the Ohio River. Other prominent conductors operating out of the free black Georgetown neighborhood in nearby Madison, such as George DeBaptiste, Elijah Anderson, and John Carter, were their colleagues in helping fugitive slaves escape northward toward freedom.
In 1853, John and Sarah Tibbets, along with their three young sons, James, Samuel, and Charles Francis, moved just miles northwest of Madison to Lancaster, Indiana where a “whole abolitionist community” of families was gathering. [7] The Tibbets, along with several other families involved in the Neil’s Creek Anti-Slavery Society, which later became Neil’s Creek Abolitionist Baptist Church, founded the Eleutherian College in Lancaster. [8] This institution provided higher education to students regardless of race or gender, and was one of just two schools “west of the Allegheny Mountains to offer its students college-level experience in an integrated atmosphere prior to the Civil War.” [9] Segregation in public schools was not legally prohibited in Indiana for nearly a century, until the Indiana General Assembly enacted a law doing so in 1949. [10] Though the enrollment at Eleutherian College was quite small, the school attracted black students from across the country, including some who had been born into slavery. [11]
In 1870, John, then 52, and his wife Sarah, then 50, moved their family to Labette County, Kansas. Here, he built a small Baptist Church, and set aside land for a cemetery. John and Sarah are buried in that cemetery on their homestead which was located four miles south of Mound Valley, Kansas. [12] The church and graves still stand today.
John H. Tibbets is remarkable in that he recorded significant evidence of his work as a conductor in the Underground Railroad in his 18 page memoir, Reminiscence of Slavery Times. Although the memoir was written in Kansas three decades after his work on the Underground Railroad, Tibbets recalls details of incidents spanning more than 20 years, from 1837 to 1858. [13] The “account overflows with names and places,” and specifications of “dozens of locations that can be traced today on the landscape of southern Ohio and southeastern Indiana,” along with details of each journey undertaken to help at least 37 people towards freedom. [14] Unlike other memoirs of Hoosier Underground Railroad conductors, such as Levi Coffin, Tibbets’ Reminiscence of Slavery Times recounts more than just his own efforts. He documents the network of people working together in Jefferson County to aid freedom seekers, and names 34 of his compatriots. [15] Tibbets’ memoir recalls harrowing situations on his journeys, vividly illustrating “the unexpected difficulties that members of the Underground Railroad faced and solved.” [16]
The Tibbets home still stands in Madison, Indiana today. In 2006, the Indiana Historical Bureau dedicated a Historical Marker in front of the house, honoring the family’s place in Hoosier history. [17] John H. and Sarah Tibbets dedicated their lives to the pursuit of not only the abolition of slavery, but also to providing equal treatment and opportunity to black people in Indiana.
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
[1] “John H. and Sarah Tibbets,” Indiana Historical Bureau, accessed October 15, 2019, https://www.in.gov/history/markers/521.htm. <br />[2] Cox, Stephen F. “Twenty Years on the Underground Railroad: John H. Tibbets's ‘Reminiscence of Slavery Times’” The Hoosier Genealogist: Connections 46, no. 4 (2006): 164. <br />[3] “Reminiscences of Slavery Times,” Tibbets Family Antislavery History, accessed October 15, 2019, https://fordwebtech.com/tibbets-history/JohnTibbetsLetter.php. <br />[4] Cox, “Twenty Years on the Underground Railroad,” 164. <br />[5] Ibid. <br />[6] “Reminiscences of Slavery Times,” Tibbets Family Antislavery History, accessed October 15, 2019, https://fordwebtech.com/tibbets-history/JohnTibbetsLetter.php.; Cox, “Twenty Years on the Underground Railroad,” 164. <br />[7] Ibid., 166. <br />[8] Jeffrey D. Bennett, National Historic Landmark Nomination Eleutherian College Classroom and Chapel Building, Lancaster, IN, Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana, 1996. <br />[9] Ibid. <br />[10] Dwight W. Culver, “Racial Desegregation in Education in Indiana,” The Journal of Negro Education 23, no. 3 (1954): 296. <br />[11] Emma Lou Thornbrough, The Negro in Indiana Before 1900 (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1993): 179. <br />[12] Cox, “Twenty Years on the Underground Railroad,” 168. <br />[13] Ibid., 166. <br />[14] Ibid. <br />[15] Ibid. <br />[16] Ibid., 165. <br />[17] “John H. and Sarah Tibbets,” Indiana Historical Bureau, accessed October 15, 2019, https://www.in.gov/history/markers/521.htm.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Student Author: Allison Hunt <br />Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson<br />Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
Relation
A related resource
<a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/5.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener"></a><a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/521.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker for John H. and Sarah Tibbets</a><br /><a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/5.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker for Eleutherian College</a><br /><a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/521.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></a>
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Information about rights held in and over the resource
PHOTO & VIDEO:
Eleutherian College, Public domain, via Wikimedia commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eleutherian_College.jpg
1800s
1900-40s
Abolition
education
Indiana Historical Bureau Marker
Jefferson County
Madison
Underground Railroad
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/191a169d412494f2cae72b21872d43fa.jpg
062d9d9e54354a414ddf96e037c98455
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Events
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Indiana Black Expo,
Indiana Convention Center
Description
An account of the resource
Each summer since 1971, Indiana has celebrated its African American history through the Summer Celebration, a ten-day festival of food, entertainment, religion, education, and culture hosted by the Indiana Black Expo (IBE). The Summer Celebration, held at the Indianapolis Convention Center and other locations throughout the city, is the IBE’s flagship event, drawing hundreds of thousands of visitors from across the country. [1] The festival features a large exhibition hall showcasing black artists, businesses, and vendors from across the country, a film festival, concerts, boxing matches, basketball games, religious services, and a minority health fair which provides “free health screenings, education, and information on how to prevent chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, stroke, hypertension, and cancer.” [2] Summer Celebration also hosts a number of panels and speeches presented by activists, celebrities, and politicians, ranging from rapper Tupac Shakur in 1993 to President George W. Bush in 2005. [3] Since 1983, the Indiana Black Expo has also drawn crowds back to Indianapolis in the fall with its annual Circle City Classic, a football game held between a rotating roster of historically black colleges and universities. [4] <br /><br />Though the Summer Celebration and Circle City Classic are its most well-known endeavors, the Indiana Black Expo also serves as a nonprofit charitable organization aiming to serve as “a voice and vehicle for social and economic advancement” and to improve “the quality of life for all.” [5] With 12 affiliate chapters across the state, IBE serves the educational, economic, and medical needs of thousands of Hoosiers from pre-kindergarten to adulthood. [6] IBE has awarded more than $4.6 million to Indiana students seeking post-secondary education since 1984 with funds raised from the Circle City Classic alone. [7] The organization also provides networking and career-building opportunities for Indiana residents through its annual Business Conference and Employment Fair. [8] Furthermore, IBE has expanded upon its Summer Celebration minority health fair to provide healthcare to Hoosiers year-round. Indiana Black Expo runs a statewide anti-tobacco initiative, campaigning to “educate the public on the dangers of tobacco use and the perils of second-hand smoke,” especially fighting against the marketing of tobacco products to “young people–particularly in the black and brown communities” of Indiana. [9] Prostate cancer has “about a 60 percent higher incidence rate” among African American men than white men, so IBE also provides screenings across Indiana through its Reverend Charles Williams Mobile Prostate Cancer Unit, named after the Expo’s first president who died of the disease in 2004. [10] <br /><br />Indiana Black Expo was founded in 1970 by Reverend Andrew J. Brown, James C. Cummings, Jr., Willard Ransom, and other civic and religious leaders, hosting its first Summer Celebration the following year. [11] The IBE’s founders were inspired by Reverend Jesse L. Jackson’s Operation PUSH in Chicago, which sought to uplift the city’s black community by providing economic and educational opportunity. [12] The Expo was entirely run by volunteers representing “several black organizations in Indianapolis” [13] until 1983, when funding was secured for a full-time staff. [14] The Indiana Black Expo is the largest and longest-running organization of its kind in the United States. [15] It has its roots in the Black Arts Movement, which arose from black nationalism in the 1970s and emphasized black pride and the beauty of the black aesthetic. [16] The Expo has celebrated African American culture and achievement for nearly fifty years, defining the black community “for themselves and others without interference or interpretation.” [17] <br /><br />Since its inception, Indiana Black Expo has experienced rapid growth; the Summer Celebration began as a three day event held at the Indiana State fairgrounds, but has now evolved into ten days of celebration spread throughout the city. [18] With this growth came a place of prominence among black organizations in Indianapolis. In 2014, Mayor Greg Ballard appointed IBE President Tanya Bell to co-chair the Your Life Matters Violence Prevention Task Force to address a surge in murders across the city which “disproportionately involved Black men.” [19] The task force is a direct response to the Black Lives Matter movement spurred by the 2014 death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and aims to bridge the “persistent opportunity gaps” faced by young black men not only in Indianapolis, but across the country. [20] Indiana Black Expo’s work to uplift the black community showcases to its youngest members “the world of possibilities available to them.” [21]
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
[1] “Events,” Indiana Black Expo, accessed August 28, 2019, https://www.indianablackexpo.com/events/. <br />[2] “Exhibition Hall, Indiana Black Expo, last modified July 2019, https://summercelebration.net/exhibition-hall-friday/. <br />[3] Greg Carr, “Meeting Tupac Shakur: A Moment With a Flash of Our Spirit,” Hilltop (Howard University), Sept. 15, 2016; George W. Bush, “Remarks at the Indiana Black Expo Corporate Luncheon in Indianapolis, Indiana,” Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents 41, no. 28 (2005): 1158-1163. <br />[4] “Rev. Charles Williams,” Circle City Classic, accessed August 28, 2019, https://www.circlecityclassic.com/revwilliams/. <br />[5] “About IBE,” Indiana Black Expo, accessed August 28, 2019, https://www.indianablackexpo.com/about-ibe/. <br />[6] Ibid. <br />[7] “Scholarships,” Circle City Classic, accessed August 28, 2019, https://www.circlecityclassic.com/scholarships/. <br />[8] “Economics,” Indiana Black Expo, accessed August 28, 2019, https://www.indianablackexpo.com/programs/economics/. <br />[9] “Health,” Indiana Black Expo, accessed August 28, 2019, https://www.indianablackexpo.com/programs/health/. <br />[10] Michael Dabney, “The Legacy of the Rev. Charles Williams,” NUVO (Indianapolis, IN), Jul. 11, 2007. <br />[11] Richard Pierce, “We’ve Been Trying to Tell You: African American Protest in Indianapolis,” Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History 25, no. 3 (2013): 38; “Indiana Black Expo,” Ebony 43, no. 1 (1987): 76. <br />[12] Ibid.; “Brief History,” Rainbow Pu$h Coalition, accessed August 30, 2019, https://rainbowpush.org/brief-history. <br />[13] Richard Pierce, “We’ve Been Trying to Tell You: African American Protest in Indianapolis,” Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History 25, no. 3 (2013): 39. <br />[14] “Rev. Charles Williams,” Circle City Classic, Accessed August 30, 2019, https://www.circlecityclassic.com/revwilliams/. <br />[15] Richard Pierce, “We’ve Been Trying to Tell You: African American Protest in Indianapolis,” Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History 25, no. 3 (2013): 40. <br />[16] Ibid. <br />[17] Ibid. <br />[18] “Indiana Black Expo,” Ebony 43, no. 1 (1987): 78. <br />[19] Your Life Matters Task Force, “Your Life Matters Report to the Mayor” (report, Indianapolis, IN, 2014), 3. <br />[20] Indiana Black Expo, Inc., “Your Life Matters Plan of Action” (report, Indianapolis, IN, 2015), 1. <br />[21] Ibid.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Student Author: Allison Hunt <br />Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson<br />Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
PHOTO & VIDEO:
President Discusses Education, Entrepreneurship & Home Ownership at Indiana Black Expo, attributed to Eric Draper, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:President_Discusses_Education,_Entrepreneurship_%26_Home_Ownership_at_Indiana_Black_Expo.jpg
1950s-present
Entertainment
Indianapolis
Marion County
Organization
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/57b3792049f0b2bb6460863d4e04ff13.jpg
2db700a077543ff9ed9b21359d1eee54
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/8f7b92b0beaeffc22c6e45593416d62d.jpg
f2280e6d94f3796741daae69169f00ee
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Places
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Indiana Avenue Historic District
Description
An account of the resource
The Indiana Avenue Historic District is at the 500 block of Indiana Avenue, a diagonal street located between West Street, North Street, Michigan Street, and the Central Canal. [1] The Avenue was intentionally designed in the 1821 Indianapolis plat by surveyor Alexander Ralston. As one of the four diagonal streets which intersected the city’s regular rectangular grid, it provided a thoroughfare from the four quadrants of the city straight into the heart of Indianapolis. [2] Indiana Avenue was the home of several landmarks significant in Indianapolis’s black history, including the Lockefield Gardens public housing projects, the Ransom Place historic district, Walker Theatre, and the offices of the Indianapolis Recorder, the fourth longest running black newspaper in the United States. [3]
Due to a fear that the swampy White River near Indiana Avenue was the origin point of the mosquitos that had caused a devastating malaria outbreak in 1821, most of the area remained unsettled during the mid-1800s. [4] This cheap, unwanted land was then settled by immigrants and African Americans who could not afford to live in other areas of the city. After Reconstruction, the Avenue’s population rapidly increased as hundreds of thousands of African Americans migrated from the South to Northern cities during the Great Migration. Indiana’s black population more than doubled as a result of the Great Migration, and the population of Indianapolis saw a fivefold increase. [5] The immigrant and African American populations of Indiana Avenue peacefully integrated, with immigrant and black-owned businesses working alongside one another throughout the second half of the nineteenth and into the early twentieth century. As the black population continued to increase in the twentieth century, and downtown white-owned businesses refused service to African Americans, the 500 block of Indiana Avenue became the cultural center of Indianapolis’s black community. [6]
Indiana Avenue was its own self-sufficient neighborhood nestled within a segregated Indianapolis. In 1916, “everything that a person might need could be purchased in an eight-block segment along the avenue,” which included “33 restaurants, 33 saloons (including taverns and clubs,) 26 grocery stores (including meat and poultry shops,) 17 barbershops and hair stylists, 16 tailors and clothing retailers, 14 cobblers, 13 dry goods stores, as well as drugstores, pawnbrokers, pool halls, funeral parlors, and offices of lawyers, physicians, dentists, and real estate agents.” [7] The full physical needs of the black community were provided along Indiana Avenue, as well as their spiritual needs. In 1836, Bethel A.M.E. Church was established, and by 1848, the congregation had their own building. [8] In 1862, “supporters of slavery” burned the original building but by 1867, the Bethel A.M.E. congregation had raised enough funds to build a new site, which was the city’s longest-running black church until it was sold in 2016 after falling into disrepair. [9] Additionally, the Avenue was renowned as a “center of entertainment and recreation,” and its numerous clubs, dance halls, and taverns were a point of division among the black community. Many people enjoyed the various types of recreation provided along the Avenue, while others, especially black clergymen, decried the area as “a center of vice.” [10]
During the 1920s, Indiana Avenue became the home of an internationally recognized jazz scene that continued well into the 1940s and 1950s. Nightclubs and theaters such as the Washington, Columbia Theater, and the Walker Theatre exhibited renowned African American musicians and entertainers, such as Ella Fitzgerald and Cab Calloway. [11] Local musicians cut their teeth jamming onstage with jazz legends, and some became legends of their own right, like Wes Montgomery, Slide Hampton, David Baker, and many others. [12] Live performances were announced in the Indianapolis Recorder, with colorful headlines such as this one: “Ella Fitzgerald, Sunset Thurs. Nite: Jamtown’s Jumpiest Jivers With That Savage Rhythm, Fiery Beats, Torrid Tempos Will Put You in the Groove and You’re [sic] Feet Just Gotta Move!” [13]
In 1982, Indiana Avenue was cut off from the heart of downtown Indianapolis when the construction of the American United Life Insurance Co. building, now known as One America Tower, required the demolishment of the Avenue’s 200 block. [14] Indiana Avenue had originally extended down to Ohio Street just north of Monument Circle, but now ends at New York Street. Furthermore, many of the historic buildings along Indiana Avenue have been demolished to allow for the expansion of the Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis campus, which now occupies all but the 300 and 400 blocks of the Avenue. [15] The cultural hub of the Avenue began gradually fading as Indianapolis slowly desegregated and the black community could spend their time and money elsewhere. [16] What was once a bustling cultural center is now largely a string of modern office buildings and parking lots. The Walker Theatre is one of the few buildings in the Indiana Avenue Historic District that still stands after a significant restoration project, and as such is one of the only indications of the Avenue’s heritage. [17]
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
[1] F. Eric Utz, Suzanne T. Rollins, and William Gulde, National Register of Historic Places Nomination Indiana Avenue Historic District, (Indianapolis, IN, Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana): 2. <br />[2] Ibid., 3. <br />[3] “The Indianapolis Recorder Newspaper Celebrates 120 Years,” Indianapolis Recorder (Indianapolis, IN), Jul. 1, 2015. <br />[4] Steve Hall and Wanda Bryant-Wills, “A Stream of Hopes, of Dreams, of Promise,” Indianapolis News (Indianapolis, IN), Jun. 28, 1982. <br />[5] Emma Lou Thornbrough, The Negro in Indiana Before 1900: A Study of a Minority (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1993): 211.<br />[6] Utz, Rollins, and Gulde, National Register of Historic Places Nomination Indiana Avenue Historic District: 3,9. <br />[7] Emma Lou Thornbrough, Indiana Blacks in the Twentieth Century, ed. Lana Ruegamer, (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2000), 15. <br />[8] “Bethel A.M.E. Church Collection,” Indiana Historical Society, accessed October 18, 2019, http://images.indianahistory.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/p16797coll9. <br />[9] “Bethel AME Church,” National Parks Service, accessed October 22, 2019, https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/underground/in1.htm.; Olivia Lewis, “Indy’s Oldest African-American Church Sold for Hotel Space,” Indianapolis Star (Indianapolis, IN), Apr. 8, 2016. <br />[10] Thornbrough, Indiana Blacks in the Twentieth Century, 31. <br />[11] Utz, Rollins, and Gulde, National Register of Historic Places Nomination Indiana Avenue Historic District: 9.; “3 Big Nights of Dancing Next Week – Z. Whyte Coming,” Indianapolis Recorder (Indianapolis, IN), Oct. 26, 1929.; “’Stormy Weather’ At Walker Sunday,” Indianapolis Recorder (Indianapolis, IN), Jan. 26, 1946. <br />[12] David Leander Williams, Indianapolis Jazz: The Masters, Legends, and Legacy of Indiana Avenue, (Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2014): 11, 16. <br />[13] “Ella Fitzgerald, Sunset Thurs. Night,” Indianapolis Recorder (Indianapolis, IN), May 17, 1941. <br />[14] Joan Hostetler, “Indianapolis Then and Now: West Ohio Street at Indiana Avenue/OneAmerica Tower,” HistoricIndianapolis.com, July 26, 2012. https://historicindianapolis.com/indianapolis-then-and-now-west-ohio-street-at-indiana-avenue-oneamerica-tower/. <br />[15] Williams, Indianapolis Jazz, 13. <br />[16] Ibid., 194. <br />[17] “Looking for Things to Do or See in Indianapolis?” Indianapolis Recorder (Indianapolis, IN), Mar. 28, 1997.
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Information about rights held in and over the resource
PHOTO & VIDEO:
Indiana Ave Restored, attributed to Kaxsalla, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:518_Indiana_Ave_Restored.jpg
Sunset Terrace on Indiana Avenue, Indiana Historical Society, M0513.
https://images.indianahistory.org/digital/collection/dc018/id/59/rec/3
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Student Authors: Allison Hunt and JB Bilbrey <br />Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson<br />Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
Relation
A related resource
<a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/219.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker</a><br /><a href="https://catalog.archives.gov/id/132003899" target="_blank" rel="noopener">National Register of Historic Places</a>
1800s
1900s-40s
1950s-present
Entertainment
Indiana Historical Bureau Marker
Indianapolis
Jazz
Marion County
National Register of Historic Places
Segregation
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/a0dd14ee197bcc072549726cff86a8a2.jpg
d012d2ab9d6f416d7ec921f296c23d82
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Places
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Engman Natatorium
Description
An account of the resource
In 1922, the city of South Bend celebrated its first swimming pool opened to the public. The Engman Public Natatorium drew nearly ten thousand admissions in its first 60 days, even accounting for a 12 day period in which “a ‘clogging’ of the sterilization machinery forced the closing” of the pool. [1] Despite the pool’s location in an integrated neighborhood and the prominent placement of the word “public” in the name of the facility, the Engman Natatorium served a very specific public: the white citizens of South Bend. [2]
As early as 1931, black community leaders in South Bend began organizing efforts to end this segregation. [3] Black youths in the city had very limited options when it came to recreational activities; some restaurants, stores, and privately owned parks refused to cater to South Bend’s black community, or severely restricted the hours or activities they were allowed to partake in. [4] The levying of a tax in 1936 by the South Bend Common Council “in order to repair cracks in the building” of the Natatorium inspired legal pushback from the black community. [5] Although they were not allowed to enjoy the accommodations at Engman, black citizens of South Bend had to pay the tax. [6] Black lawyer J. Chester Allen “led the charge to file a successful petition to desegregate the facility,” protesting to the state that since the pool was taxpayer-funded, it should not be segregated. [7] The result of this legal battle was the opening of Engman Natatorium to black swimmers on Mondays only, beginning in October 1936. [8]
For 14 years, Engman Public Natatorium was still a largely segregated space where black swimmers could be denied entrance when it was “not their day.” [9] In 1950, lawyers J. Chester Allen, Elizabeth Fletcher Allen, and Maurice Tulchinsky represented the local NAACP branch at a meeting of the South Bend Parks Board. [10] There, they threatened legal action unless the facilities were integrated immediately, and the Parks Board relented. [11] Beginning in 1950, Engman Public Natatorium became a truly public institution, serving all citizens of South Bend. After years of use, the pool fell into disrepair and required costly maintenance, and was closed by the South Bend Parks Board in 1978. [12]
Since 2010, the former Engman Public Natatorium building has housed the Indiana University South Bend Civil Rights Heritage Center (CRHC). [13] The CRHC functions as a community space, and also serves as “a living museum that simultaneously preserves and honors past struggles for civil rights and social justice in the northern Indiana region while initiating and supporting contemporary efforts to advance the unfinished fight for justice.” [14] The CRHC houses a permanent exhibition which discusses the struggle to integrate Engman Public Natatorium. In a collaboration with the Franklin D. Schurz Library at Indiana University South Bend, the CRHC has worked to gather and preserve oral histories, historical documents and artifacts, and other primary source materials that trace the social, cultural, and political contributions of underrepresented communities in South Bend and northern Indiana. [15] Where the divisive pool once stood in the Engman Public Natatorium building, the Civil Rights Heritage Center has planted a peace garden, creating a unifying space for all residents of South Bend from a place of historic segregation. [16]
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
[1] “City’s Youth Finds Pleasure Daily at the Natatorium,” The South Bend News-Times (South Bend, IN), Sept. 10, 1922. <br />[2] “A Look Back: Civil Rights for All,” South Bend Tribune (South Bend, IN), Jan. 16, 2017. <br />[3] Ibid. <br />[4] “Civil Rights Pioneer Barbara (Vance) Brandy 1,” St. Joseph Public Library Michiana Memory, January 18, 2017, http://michianamemory.sjcpl.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p16827coll13/id/132/rec/15. <br />[5] “A Look Back: Civil Rights for All,” South Bend Tribune. <br />[6] Ibid. <br />[7] Ibid.; “Civil Rights Heritage Center,” Indiana University South Bend, accessed October 1, 2019, https://clas.iusb.edu/centers/civil-rights/index.html. [8] “A Look Back: Civil Rights for All,” South Bend Tribune. <br />[9] “Ruth Tulchinsky, Voice of the People, February 13, 2009,” St. Joseph County Public Library Michiana Memory, February 23, 2016, http://michianamemory.sjcpl.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p16827coll4/id/2451/rec/10. <br />[10] “Ruth Tulchinsky, Short Statement on Visiting the South Bend Civil Rights Heritage Center, 2010,” St. Joseph County Public Library Michiana Memory, March 22, 2016, http://michianamemory.sjcpl.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p16827coll4/id/2452/rec/6. <br />[11] Ibid. <br />[12] “Civil Rights Heritage Center,” Indiana University South Bend. <br />[13] Ibid. <br />[14] Ibid. <br />[15] Ibid. <br />[16] “Ruth Tulchinsky, Short Statement on Visiting the South Bend Civil Rights Heritage Center, 2010,” St. Joseph County Public Library Michiana Memory.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Student Author: Allison Hunt <br />Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson<br />Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
PHOTO & VIDEO:
Courtesy South Bend Tribune, https://michianamemory.sjcpl.org/digital/collection/p16827coll15/id/3871/rec/28
1900-40s
1950s-present
Integration
Recreation
Segregation
South Bend
St. Joseph County
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/f2a8ecd9cb14eeb430f9d854e66f718f.png
655d2e088af711b802ef98c0a86ca934
Dublin Core
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Title
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Title
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Historian Emma Lou Thornbrough
Description
An account of the resource
Born in Indianapolis in 1913, Dr. Emma Lou Thornbrough became one of the leading historians in African American history. After graduating from Shortridge High School, she attended Butler University where she obtained her bachelor’s in 1934, then her master’s degree in 1936. [1] She later received a Ph.D. in history from the University of Michigan in 1946. [2] After completing her education, Thornbrough began her career as a professor of American history, black history, and ancient Mediterranean history at Butler University in 1946. [3] She remained there until her retirement in 1983. During her tenure at Butler, she was appointed the McGregor Chair in History in 1981, and awarded an honorary doctorate in 1988. [4] She also received prestigious awards including the 1965 Outstanding Professor Award, given to “faculty members who excelled in all areas of their professional responsibilities,” and the Butler Medal, which recognizes Butler University Alumni who have provided “a lifetime of distinguished service to either Butler or their local community while at the same time achieving a distinguished career in their chosen profession and attaining a regional or national reputation.” [5] She also held visiting professor appointments at Indiana University and Case-Western Reserve University during her career. [6] <br /><br />Thornbrough’s interest in black history began during her doctoral studies at the University of Michigan. [7] Her dissertation, <em>Negro Slavery in the North: Its Constitutional and Legal Aspects</em>, became the basis for her first book, the seminal <em>The Negro in Indiana Before 1900: A Study of a Minority</em>. [8] Thornbrough was a pioneer in her profession, both as an established female academic in history during the mid-twentieth century, and as one of “few people of either sex … working in what was then called Negro history.” [9] She was remarkable in that she studied “the story of the Negro minority in a Northern state, Indiana,” while most black history at the time was focused on Southern states or major Northern cities, which had much larger African American populations. [10] Throughout her career, Thornbrough focused much of her research on black Hoosier history, publishing accounts of individual events, treatises covering centuries of the state’s history at a time, and biographical sketches of black community leaders. [11] However, she also published biographies of nationally renowned figures in black history, including educator and author Booker T. Washington and journalist T. Thomas Fortune. [12] <br /><br />Thornbrough’s work, though still objective, clearly demonstrates her views about the plight black Americans have faced. She describes “the discrimination and indignities” African Americans fight, along with “the gradual and uneven progress of the Negro minority toward equality” in the preface to <em>The Negro in Indiana Before 1900</em>, showing “that she perceives racial discrimination as a violation of morality and common sense.” [13] Furthermore, Thornbrough’s research on her still unpublished manuscript held at the Indiana Historical Society, <em>The Indianapolis Story: School Segregation and Desegregation in a Northern City</em>, was used by lawyers and Federal Judge Samuel Hugh Dillin in a Justice Department lawsuit which found Indianapolis Public Schools guilty of overt segregation. [14] <br /><br />Emma Lou Thornbrough not only wrote about the struggle for civil rights, but actively participated in the movement as well. She used her privileged position as a white, upper-middle-class “elegant lady scholar” to work against racism in Indianapolis. [15] After an unsuccessful run for the Indiana General Assembly in 1952, Thornbrough fought for civil rights through working with local organizations, serving on the executive boards of the Indiana Civil Liberties Union and the Indianapolis NAACP branch. [16] She also helped to organize the Indianapolis Human Relations Council, a diverse group which aimed to “foster and promote amicable relationships, mutual understanding, and mutual respect among ethnic, racial, national, religious, and other forms of groups” across the city. [17] <br /><br />Dr. Thornbrough worked to preserve and protect black Hoosier history up to her death on December 19, 1994. [18] Her final book, <em>Indiana Blacks in the Twentieth Century</em>, was published posthumously in 2000 after historian Lana Ruegamer Eisenberg edited the existing text and finished the final chapter. [19] As Eisenberg noted, “in both her scholarly work and her life as a reformer, Thornbrough worked to shape Indiana history.” [20] Emma Lou Thornbrough did the important, yet painstaking, work of piecing together a history of black Indiana from few and disparate primary sources. In the 1957 preface to The Negro in Indiana Before 1900, Thornbrough humbly acknowledges the limitations of her research, while displaying hope for the future of black Hoosier history: <br /><br />"The account which I have written of the gradual and uneven progress of the Negro minority toward equality is admittedly spotty and incomplete in some respects because materials necessary for a more complete treatment are not available. Sources showing what the white population thought about the Negro and his position are abundant, but those which reveal the thoughts and activities of Negroes themselves are meager. … In view of the limited educational opportunities and the low economic status of most members of the race during the period covered by the book it is not surprising that manuscript materials such as letters and diaries are almost nonexistent, at least in public collections. Undoubtedly some papers have been destroyed because they were regarded as worthless, while others still in private hands are unknown to me. I hope that the publication of my research may have the effect of bringing to light hitherto unused materials and inspiring more intensive research in aspects of Negro life and thought with which I was unable to deal adequately." [21]
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[1] Lana Ruegamer Eisenberg, “Thornbrough, Gayle,” in Indiana’s 200: The People Who Shaped the Hoosier State, ed. Linda C. Gugin and James E. St. Clair, (Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society Press, 2015): 702.; Lana Ruegamer Eisenberg, “Thornbrough, Emma Lou,” in Indiana’s 200: The People Who Shaped the Hoosier State, ed. Linda C. Gugin and James E. St. Clair, (Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society Press, 2015): 699. <br />[2] Ibid. <br />[3] Robert G. Barrows, Paul R. Hanson, and Peter J. Sehlinger, “Memorial Tribute to Emma Lou Thornbrough,” Indiana Magazine of History 91, no. 1 (1995): 2. <br />[4] Ibid. <br />[5] Ibid.; Marc Alan, “Outstanding Butler Faculty Honored,” last modified August 16, 2018, https://stories.butler.edu/content/outstanding-butler-faculty-honored.; “Butler Medal,” Butler University, accessed November 8, 2019, https://www.butler.edu/pastalumniawards. <br />[6] Barrows, Hanson, and Sehlinger, “Memorial Tribute to Emma Lou Thornbrough,” 2. <br />[7] Emma Lou Thornbrough, Indiana Blacks in the Twentieth Century, ed. Lana Ruegamer, (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2000): i. <br />[8] Ibid. <br />[9] Eisenberg, “Thornbrough, Emma Lou,” 701. <br />[10] Emma Lou Thornbrough, The Negro in Indiana Before 1900: A Study of a Minority, (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1993): xi. <br />[11] Leigh Darbee and Wilma L. Gibbs, “Books and Articles by Emma Lou Thornbrough,” Indiana Magazine of History 91, no. 1 (1995): 16-17. <br />[12] Ibid. <br />[13] Thornbrough, The Negro in Indiana Before 1900, xiv; Wilson J. Moses, “Emma Lou Thornbrough’s Place in American Historiography,” Indiana Magazine of History 91, no. 1 (1995): 5. <br />[14] Emma Lou Thornbrough, “The Indianapolis Story: School Segregation and Desegregation in a Northern City” (unpublished manuscript, Indiana Historical Society, 1993), i.; Eisenberg, “Thornbrough, Emma Lou,” 698. <br />[15] Ibid., 699. <br />[16] Ibid., 698. <br />[17] Ibid.; “City’s Human Relations Council Program Aimed at Reactivation,” Indianapolis Recorder (Indianapolis, IN), Jan. 17, 1959. <br />[18] Eisenberg, “Thornbrough, Emma Lou,” 697. <br />[19] Thornbrough, Indiana Blacks in the Twentieth Century, ix. <br />[20] Eisenberg, “Thornbrough, Emma Lou,” 701. <br />[21] Thornbrough, The Negro in Indiana Before 1900, xiv-xv.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Student Author: Allison Hunt <br />Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson<br />Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
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PHOTO & VIDEO:
The Indianapolis Story School Segregation and Desegregation in a Northern City, Indiana Historical Society, BV2631.
https://images.indianahistory.org/digital/collection/p16797coll72/id/76/rec/167
1900-1940s
1950s-present
historian
Indianapolis
Marion County
Politics
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/8c547fe0ceb5ed8e122606d4ee21907a.jpg
2c3b757e7974b9a81d055d9d39e4d745
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/d3f8c32f5be989fae74d8df12d81c729.jpg
66651658d2bc489a68494043592c2678
Dublin Core
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Title
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People
Person
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Title
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"Mr. Basketball" Bill Garrett, coach at Crispus Attucks High School
Description
An account of the resource
One of the most pivotal moments in sports history was when Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball, joining the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. [1] The same year, a similar barrier was being broken in one of the Hoosiers state’s most beloved sports. In the fall of 1947, Bill Garrett became the first African American to join the Indiana University basketball team, which also marked him as the first to integrate the Big Ten Conference. [2] <br /><br />Bill Garrett was born in 1929 in Shelbyville, Indiana, and grew up playing basketball in his hometown. [3] In high school, Garrett played for the Golden Bears of Shelbyville High School. During his senior season, the team had three African American starters. Garrett’s senior season in 1946 and 1947 was a breakout year for the Golden Bears, who defeated Garfield High School of Terre Haute for the state championship. Garrett scored 21 points overall, pushing Shelbyville to victory with a final score of 68 to 58. [4] For his efforts as a senior, Garrett was awarded the title of “Indiana Mr. Basketball” for being the best player in the state during the 1946-1947 season. [5] <br /><br />Despite his success in high school, Garrett was not offered a scholarship from the basketball powerhouse schools in Indiana. The Big Ten Conference had barred integration based upon an “unwritten ‘gentlemen’s agreement’” to keep black players out of sports. [6] Garrett was not the first talented player to face this problem. The 1946 Indiana Mr. Basketball, Johnny Wilson, also an African American, never received an offer from Purdue University or Indiana University. However, he did not let this discrimination keep him from playing the sport entirely, and joined the team at Anderson University, a much smaller school. [7] <br /><br />To prevent Garrett from the same fate, Faburn DeFrantz, the director of the Senate Avenue YMCA in Indianapolis, met with President Herman Wells of Indiana University to convince him to allow Garrett to play for the Hoosiers. [8] After many conversations between DeFrantz, Wells, and head basketball coach Branch McCracken, Garrett was admitted to Indiana University in the fall of 1947. [9] Once Garrett arrived on campus, things did not get any easier for him. Indiana University’s campus was segregated in the 1940s. Black students were barred from on-campus housing, prohibited from swimming in the university pools, and could not join fraternities and sororities. [10] The surrounding city of Bloomington was segregated as well, and black IU students even had difficulty finding an accepting barber. [11] <br /><br />As a player for the Hoosiers, Garrett, like all freshmen, was not allowed to play on the varsity team but as soon as he got his chance in 1948 as a sophomore, he made an impact. Garrett officially became the first African American to play for a Big Ten varsity basketball team in the first game of the season, against DePauw University on December 11, 1948. [12] Garrett had an incredibly successful college career as a center for the IU Hoosiers. He graduated in 1951 as the school’s all-time leading scorer with 792 points. [13] During his entire college career, Garrett was the only black basketball player in the Big Ten Conference, but the year after his graduation, “there were six African-Americans playing in the league.” [14] <br /><br />After his collegiate career came to an end, Bill Garrett set his sights on playing professionally, and was drafted by the Boston Celtics in the second round of the National Basketball Association (NBA) draft. He made history again as only “the third-ever African American to drafted” into the NBA. [15] Despite earning this opportunity, Garrett never had the chance to play an NBA game, because he was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1951 to fight in the Korean War. [16] After returning home two years later, Garrett was notified that he no longer had a position on the Celtics team. There was an unspoken quota across NBA teams for African Americans, and the Celtics had drafted two other black players, which fulfilled the quota. [17] Even though Garrett never had the opportunity to play in the NBA, he still played professionally with the Harlem Globetrotters entertainment team for two years. [18] <br /><br />After travelling with the Globetrotters, Garrett decided to return to the Indianapolis area where he became the head basketball coach for Crispus Attucks High School. [19] Garrett led the Attucks team to the 1959 Indiana High School State Championship, where Garrett became the first Indiana Mr. Basketball to win a state championship as both a player and a coach. [20] Crispus Attucks High School was built in 1927 as a black high school, and was integrated in 1970 under court order. Crispus Attucks is commemorated with an Indiana Historical Bureau historical marker and listed on the National Register of Historical Places.<br /><br />Following his 10 years as the coach at Crispus Attucks, Garrett worked as the Athletic Director and Assistant Dean of Student Activities at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. [21] Shortly after taking the job, Garrett passed away at the age of 45 from a heart attack on August 7, 1974. <br /><br />Throughout his career, Bill Garrett continuously broke down barriers in Indiana basketball. As the first African American to play for a Big Ten Conference basketball team, Garrett paved the way for others to follow in his footsteps. As a coach, Garrett influenced the lives of the next generation of basketball players. Garrett’s place of prominence in Indiana basketball was recognized in 1974 when he was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame. [22] However, Garrett’s impact on basketball was not just felt in Indiana. His integration of the Big Ten Conference affected black athletes across the Midwest, and opened the door for African Americans to compete at the highest levels in basketball for over 70 years.
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[1] Rachel Graham Cody, “Fair Play That Changed the Face of the NCAA,” Indianapolis Monthly, November 12, 2012. https://www.indianapolismonthly.com/arts-and-culture/sports/fair-play-that-changed-the-face-of-the-ncaa. <br />[2] Kyle Neddenriep, “Bill Garrett to be honored for integrating Bit Ten basketball 70 years ago,” IndyStar, last updated April 7, 2017, https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/high-school/2017/04/07/bill-garrett-honored-integrating-big-ten-basketball-70-years-ago/100100312/. <br />[3] Janet Williams, “Garrett, Shelbyville basketball great, deserves more acclaim,” TheStaehouseFile.com, December 27, 2018, http://thestatehousefile.com/garrett-shelbyville-basketball-great-deserves-acclaim/37398/. <br />[4] “IHSAA Boys Basketball State Champions,” IHSAA, accessed Monday April 1, 2019, http://www.ihsaa.org/Sports/Boys/Basketball/StateChampions/tabid/124/Default.aspx. <br />[5] Neddenriep, “Bill Garret to be honored.” <br />[6] Ibid. <br />[7] Cody, “Fair Play.” <br />[8] Ibid. <br />[9] Charles S. Preston, “Mr. Basketball of 46-47 Bill Garret, Enters I.U.” Indianapolis Recorder October 4, 1947, https://newspapers.library.in.gov/?a=d&d=INR19471004-01.1.11&srpos=1&e=04-10-1947-25-08-1951--en-20-INR-1-byDA-txt-txIN-%22bill+garrett%22------. <br />[10] Williams, "Garrett, Shelbyville.” <br />[11] Ibid. <br />[12] “I.U. Squat Beats DePauw Quintet In Opener, 61-48,” Indianapolis Recorder, December 11, 1948, https://newspapers.library.in.gov/?a=d&d=INR19481211-01.1.11&srpos=1&e=11-12-1948-25-08-1951--en-20-INR-1-byDA-txt-txIN-%22bill+garrett%22------. <br />[13] Neddenriep, “Bill Garrett to be honored.” <br />[14] Williams, “Garrett, Shelbyville.” <br />[15] Ibid. <br />[16] “’Yanks’ Get Bill Garrett,” Indianapolis Recorder August 25, 1951, https://newspapers.library.in.gov/?a=d&d=INR19510825-01.1.1&srpos=1&e=04-10-1947-25-08-1951--en-20-INR-1-byDA.rev-txt-txIN-%22bill+garrett%22------. <br />[17] Williams, “Garrett, Shelbyville.” <br />[18] Ibid. <br />[19] Neddenriep, “Bill Garrett to be honored.” <br />[20] Williams, “Garrett, Shelbyville.” <br />[21] Neddenriep, “Bill Garrett to be honored.” <br />[22] “Bill Garrett,” Hall of Fame Inductees, Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame, https://www.hoopshall.com/hall-of-fame/bill-garrett/?back=HallofFame.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Student Authors: Ben Wilson and Allison Hunt <br />Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson<br />Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
Relation
A related resource
<a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/211.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker</a><br /><a href="https://catalog.archives.gov/id/132003769" target="_blank" rel="noopener">National Register of Historic Places</a><br /><a href="https://nam05.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.in.gov%2Fhistory%2Fmarkers%2F4338.htm&data=02%7C01%7Crnjohnson3%40bsu.edu%7C1b7af88d47674e0dcbbf08d7cb9c91df%7C6fff909f07dc40da9e30fd7549c0f494%7C0%7C0%7C637201745628410218&sdata=f8%2BFNOlkgnI4FFzWhBkLF%2F5EM9vM96C5%2BpD6KRlUUGA%3D&reserved=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker</a>
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PHOTO & VIDEO:
Crispus Attucks High School, attributed to Nyttend, Public domain, via Wikimedia commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Crispus_Attucks_High_School.jpg
Bill Garrett Coaches Crispus Attucks High School Basketball Team to 1959 State Championship, Indianapolis Recorder Collection, Indiana Historical Society.
https://images.indianahistory.org/digital/collection/p0303/id/458/rec/7
1900-1940s
1950s-present
Basketball
Indianapolis
Integration
Marion County
Segregation
Sports
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/148a467d1acabbe5c416a34b6835bd62.jpg
81bc18dbd9d7609aaacf1b26646a375e
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/9444f82497f947c3dcd299547aeec3d3.mp3
1b3d14d55914c577f0b165f247d5d2b2
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Interview 1 with Allen Watson (Georgetown Historic District)
Subject
The topic of the resource
<a href="https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/items/show/28">Georgetown Historic District</a>
Description
An account of the resource
Allen Watson, who has lived in Madison, Indiana his entire life, describes mass migration out of Madison to find better paying jobs, particularly to industrializing cities in the northern United States.
<strong>***Transcript***<br /><br /></strong><em>Allen Watson</em>: They had to. To find good paying jobs, they pretty much had to leave town here and go to the bigger cities, like go North, you know, and that’s where most of them ended up, like Indianapolis and Toledo, Ohio, and some of those areas. They didn’t go too far South. They went mostly North.<strong><br /></strong>
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/7296da74e7aabca2b950f9e79bfb99fc.mp3
53c5f083df404bec6f492f4bd825a261
Dublin Core
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Interview 2 with Allen Watson (Georgetown Historic District)
Description
An account of the resource
Allen Watson describes discriminatory practices towards African American patrons at his local theater in Madison, where African Americans had to sit in the balcony or in the back rows of the theater as the result of race-based discrimination against Black patrons.
<span><strong>***Transcript***</strong><br /><br /><em>Allen Watson</em>: You know, I was telling about the pool and the restaurants, but also, you know, </span><span>our theater was that was also, you know, our theater was, you know, you could sit in the very </span><span>back, you had to sit in the back three or four rows of the </span><span>theater, and sometimes you had to sit in </span><span>the balcony. If you sat downstairs, you had to sit there, but in the balcony, you could sit </span><span>anywhere in the balcony, and even, you know, the drinking fountains, they had white and black. </span><span>You know, I remember that, a</span><span>nd I wasn’t very old, you know, I was probably ten years old, and I </span><span>remember seeing stuff like that. You know, at ten years old, you can read, you know, white or </span><span>black or whatever. “Colored” is what the word they used back then.</span>
Subject
The topic of the resource
<a href="https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/items/show/28">Georgetown Historic District</a>
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/f8bcf19857cdc97fa2222e04b142d8e1.mp3
0f00441c8658d2e36e3bb43db6ab1a2c
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
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Interview 3 with Allen Watson (Georgetown Historic District)
Subject
The topic of the resource
<a href="https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/items/show/28">Georgetown Historic District</a>
Description
An account of the resource
Allen Watson details when and how his parents discussed racism in his community with him at the age of 10 to 12. He also discusses discriminatory practices at the swimming pool in Madison, along with the drugstores located downtown.
<strong>***Transcript***</strong><br /><br /><em>Allen Watson</em>: When we was probably around eleven or so, ten or eleven or twelve years old, you know, even when my dad would take us to get ice cream, and we were set out on the curb, we just thought, well, you know, it’s a nice pretty day, you know, we don’t go inside and sit, but later on, we found out why we couldn’t. We weren’t allowed inside the drugstore because of the color of our skin, so we couldn’t go in, so my dad went in and got it for us, and then the pool, it’s the same thing at the swimming pool, you could not swim.
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/43d52b22ab45850502e6d525fce06712.mp3
a60fbf5b3f3ddd7d45f485744077e078
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
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Interview 4 with Allen Watson (Georgetown Historic District)
Subject
The topic of the resource
<a href="https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/items/show/28">Georgetown Historic District</a>
Description
An account of the resource
Allen Watson, a resident of Madison, Indiana, shares the story of a local hospital's intentional expansion into a Black neighborhood on Poplar Street. Many houses were destroyed along with the Black community in that area for a parking lot.
<strong>***Transcript***</strong><br /><br /><em>Allen Watson</em>: The hospital, and I haven’t told this story much at all, but I think it’s a story that needs to be told. Back in the early [19]70’s, they started their expansion to the hospital. Well, they bought up some property on Poplar Street, and there was probably about nine homes on Poplar Street that they had bought and destroyed.<br /><br /><em>Carrie Vachon</em>: Just tore them down.<br /><br /><em>Allen Watson</em>: Just tore them down. Nice homes. I mean, it’s just like all the other homes in downtown Madison on Second Street, Third Street and whatever, East Street, but they wanted that property, so the Black community was just destroyed, it was torn down. I mean, you didn’t have a say. I mean, they wanted that property. Most of the property that they bought is used for parking, a parking lot, a parking garage and a parking lot.
Dublin Core
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Places
Dublin Core
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Title
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Georgetown Historic District
Description
An account of the resource
Located in Madison, Indiana, the Georgetown neighborhood, now known as the Georgetown District, became home to free African Americans as early as 1820. [1] Madison is situated directly on the Indiana-Kentucky border at the Ohio River, and Georgetown “became a place in which many freedom seekers found a community of safe houses and conductors willing to give them aid to reach the next station toward freedom.” [2] Eventually, the neighborhood would develop into the central hive of Madison’s bustling Underground Railroad activity, becoming an “important settlement of free Blacks who assisted hundreds of enslaved African Americans to freedom.” [3]
Across several decades, Georgetown’s African American community continued to grow. In the 1820 census, there were 48 free black families listed as living in Madison, and by 1850, the number had increased to 298. [4] Along with the population increase came the additions of several black-run institutions including schools, churches, and businesses. [5] Several free black Georgetown business owners rose to a place of prominence in the community during this time, and used their influence to aid freedom seekers north along the Underground Railroad.
One such prominent resident was George DeBaptiste, who settled in Madison in 1837. Immediately upon his arrival, he protested against racist legislation by contesting an 1831 Indiana act which required new black residents entering the state to pay 500 dollars as “a bond for good behavior and self-support.” [6] After successfully suing to reside in Indiana without paying the bond, DeBaptiste conducted a wholesale shipping business between Madison and Cincinnati. Through this venture, he met William Henry Harrison, who hired him to be “steward of the White House” during his presidency. [7] After Harrison’s death, DeBaptiste returned to Madison and operated a barbershop for six years on the corner of Walnut and Second Streets. During this time, the barbershop was the heart of Underground Railroad activities in Madison. [8] Through these brave efforts, “DeBaptiste estimated that he personally assisted 108 fugitives to freedom, and several times that number indirectly.” [9]
Despite the relative size and success of the free black community, life for residents of Georgetown was not easy. Free African Americans were harassed persistently, facing discrimination at every turn. [10] Furthermore, the Georgetown neighborhood’s connection to the Underground Railroad had long been suspected. In 1846, a mob of slave owners crossed the border from Kentucky and, joined by pro-slavery allies from Madison, violently raided the homes of several black families in Georgetown. [11] The mob “took it upon themselves to search the homes of free African Americans for fugitive slaves and weapons,” [12] and any who resisted were “nearly beat to death.” [13] Several prominent community members, including George DeBaptiste, fled northward to continue their work as conductors in the Underground Railroad under safer circumstances. Although the neighborhood faced white vigilante attacks and the loss of some key leaders, “the system that DeBaptiste and his collaborators built continued to flourish” in Georgetown. [14]
Madison’s Georgetown neighborhood is representative of African American-led Underground Railroad networks across the nation. While the overall population of Madison was overwhelmingly white, the residents of Georgetown had carved out a small, thriving community for themselves. This neighborhood, like in many other black-led nodes of Underground Railroad work, allowed those escaping from slavery a method of camouflage “by blending in with the people around them.” [15] Community leaders like George DeBaptiste in cities across the United States were able to use their wealth, connections, and prominence to help propel freedom seekers northward while hiding their enterprise in plain sight.
The Georgetown neighborhood continued on as a black community nestled within white Madison well into the twentieth century. Madison was heavily segregated, with its black residents restricted to their own residential section, their own school, and their own churches. [16] Madison’s black citizens were not allowed to eat in restaurants, sit with their white peers in theaters, or even be admitted into the main area of the town’s hospital; instead, there were “two rooms in the basement set aside for black patients; if they were filled, no blacks could be admitted.” [17] Only when residents of the Georgetown neighborhood conducted their own sit-in protests modeled after those conducted in the South by civil rights activists in the 1960s was the town finally desegregated. [18] While many of the historic landmarks like churches and the houses of Underground Railroad conductors still stand as a testament to the Georgetown neighborhood’s black history, the black families who remain in Madison have now expanded their community across the entire city, taking advantage of the equal access they finally achieved.
<a href="https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/show/228">Interview 1 with Allen Watson</a><br /><a href="https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/show/229">Interview 2 with Allen Watson</a><br /><a href="https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/show/230">Interview 3 with Allen Watson</a><br /><a href="https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/show/231">Interview 4 with Allen Watson</a>
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[1] “The Story of Georgetown District in Madison, Indiana.” UNDERGROUND NETWORK TO FREEDOM, Indiana DNR. Accessed March 1, 2019. <br />[2] Ibid. <br />[3] Ibid. <br />[4] National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom. Georgetown Historical Interpretive Walking Tour. Madison, IN: Historic Madison, 2018. <br />[5] “The Story of Georgetown District in Madison, Indiana.” UNDERGROUND NETWORK TO FREEDOM, Indiana DNR. Accessed March 1, 2019. <br />[6] Earl E. McDonald, “The Negro in Indiana Before 1881,” Indiana Magazine of History 27, no. 4 (1931): 297. <br />[7] “The Story of Georgetown District in Madison, Indiana.” UNDERGROUND NETWORK TO FREEDOM, Indiana DNR. Accessed March 1, 2019. <br />[8] John T. Windle. National Register of Historic Places Nomination Madison Historic District. Madison, IN. Historic Madison Inc, 1970 <br />[9] Fergus M. Bordewich, “Bound for Canaan: The Epic Story of the Underground Railroad, America’s First Civil Rights Movement (New York: HarperCollins, 2005), 3. <br />[10] National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom. Georgetown Historical Interpretive Walking Tour. Madison, IN: Historic Madison, 2018. <br />[11] Fergus M. Bordewich, “Bound for Canaan: The Epic Story of the Underground Railroad, America’s First Civil Rights Movement (New York: HarperCollins, 2005), 205. <br />[12] National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom. Georgetown Historical Interpretive Walking Tour. Madison, IN: Historic Madison, 2018. <br />[13] Fergus M. Bordewich, “Bound for Canaan: The Epic Story of the Underground Railroad, America’s First Civil Rights Movement (New York: HarperCollins, 2005), 205. <br />[14] Fergus M. Bordewich, “Bound for Canaan: The Epic Story of the Underground Railroad, America’s First Civil Rights Movement (New York: HarperCollins, 2005), 206. <br />[15] National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom. Georgetown Historical Interpretive Walking Tour. Madison, IN: Historic Madison, 2018. <br />[16] Don Wallis, All We Had Was Each Other: The Black Community of Madison, Indiana, (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1998), xi. <br />[17] Ibid. <br />[18] Don Wallis, “The Struggle Makes You Strong: The Black Community of Madison, Indiana,” Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History 11, no. 3 (1999): 29.
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PHOTO & VIDEO
Sherman Minton Birthplace, attributed to Nyttend, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sherman_Minton_Birthplace.jpg
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Student Authors: Allison Hunt and Molly Hollcraft <br />Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson<br />Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
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<a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/1.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker</a>
1800s
1900-40s
1950s-present
Indiana Historical Bureau Marker
Jefferson County
Madison
Oral History
Segregation
Slavery
Underground Railroad
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https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/c886c71d49fb6f02eeb2544eb97dc3c6.png
209a720d85b618d7ccdb3f8e4652c568
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Indiana's 28th Colored Infantry Regiment, Camp Fremont
Description
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On November 30, 1863, the U.S. Department of War authorized Oliver P. Morton, Governor of Indiana and ally of Abraham Lincoln, to raise “one Regiment of infantry to be composed with colored men.” [1] This order was not unusual; since the Emancipation Proclamation had taken effect on January 1, 1863, several black regiments, such as the 54th Massachusetts, had already been created. Prominent Indianapolis abolitionist Calvin Fletcher, Reverend Willis R. Revels of Indianapolis Bethel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, and Garland White, another AME minister, were the recruiting officers for this newly ordered black regiment. [2] The recruits were trained at Camp Fremont, located near the south side of Fountain Square in Indianapolis. They were provided with clothing, instructed on the use of their weapons, and trained in military tactics by Captain Charles S. Russell. Upon completion of training, Russell was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel on May 1, 1864, and the 28th U.S. Colored Troops Infantry Regiment was organized under his command. [3] The regiment left Indianapolis on April 24, 1864, heading to their first assignment at the defenses of Washington, D.C. [4] From there, they were posted at Camp Casey in Alexandria, Virginia to await their first battlefield assignment. [5] On June 21, 1864, the 28th Regiment saw their first combat near White House, Virginia. [6] Soon after, they faced their first major casualties accompanying General Philip H. Sheridan and his cavalry across several skirmishes throughout the Chickahominy swamps of Virginia. [7] The 28th Regiment emerged from the swamps of the Chickahominy River to join the Ninth Corps of the Army of the Potomac under General Ambrose E. Burnside. [8] Burnside’s troops were engaged in siege operations around Petersburg, Virginia, fighting to cut off the city’s important railroad supply line to the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia. In an effort to decisively end the siege, generals approved a plan devised by the 48th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment. [9] This plan required the regiment, which largely consisted of Pennsylvanian coal miners, “to dig a 500 foot drift mine from the Union side of the line” underneath the Confederate position, “load the head of the mine with gunpowder, and blow it up,” whereupon “Union troops would charge the Confederate lines […] through the resulting crater.” [10] However, “the wide and deep crater” which resulted from the explosion the morning of July 30, 1864, “impeded advance as effectively as had the cannon of the Confederate battery.” [11] The Confederates regained their position in a decisive victory which resulted in heavy Union losses. Members of the U.S. Colored Troops were targeted specifically in “tragic executions of blacks who sought to surrender.” [12] The 28th Regiment faced heavy casualties in what came to be known as the Battle of the Crater, with 11 killed, 64 wounded, and 13 missing. [13] Less than a year after the 28th Regiment left Indianapolis, they marched into a defeated Richmond, Virginia. [14] The regiment was one of the first of the Union forces to make “triumphant entry into the fallen capital.” [15] The capture of Richmond on April 4, 1865 was swiftly followed by the surrender of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, “marking the end of the war.” [16] Though the war was over, however, the work of the 28th Regiment was not. First, they were assigned to guard the prisoners of war held at City Point, Virginia, a position which particularly made the captured Confederates’ “Southern blood boil.” [17] From there, the 28th Regiment journeyed to Corpus Christi, Texas, as one of “nearly forty colored regiments transported immediately after the war to the Rio Grande border and posts along the Gulf of Mexico to occupy former Confederate strong points and restore civil government.” [18] Finally, the 28th Regiment was mustered out of service and returned home to Indianapolis on January 8, 1866, where the “surviving 33 officers and 250 men” received a reception in their honor. [19] Life as a soldier during the Civil War was not easy. In addition to the stress and danger of battle, soldiers on both sides dealt with cramped conditions, inadequate food, and disease. For black soldiers, however, conditions were even more difficult. They encountered racism not just from the enemy, but from within their own ranks as well. Most officers of black units were white; the 28th Regiment was unusual in that they had a black Chaplain, AME minister Garland H. White. [20] Black Union soldiers also had three dollars’ lower pay per month than their white comrades, with fewer clothing rations as well. [21] Black units were often given the least desirable assignments; the nearly 40 black regiments that traveled with the 28th Regiment to Corpus Christi had “widespread opposition […] to being packed off to Texas at the very time they felt they had done their part to win the war and deserved to rejoin their families in freedom.” [22] The horrendous conditions in Corpus Christi only fueled this opposition; hundreds of the U.S. Colored Troops posted there died of disease within the first months after their arrival. [23] Nevertheless, the 28th Regiment, along with the nearly 180,000 black soldiers to serve in the Union Army during the Civil War, did their duty and their service was essential in preserving the Union. A historical marker commemorating the regiment’s valor was erected on the corner of Virginia Avenue and McCarty Street in Indianapolis in 2004. [24] The 28th Regiment served in a segregated Armed Forces. Black Union soldiers during the Civil War were relegated to their own units, most often commanded by white officers. This arrangement continued well into the twentieth century, with black Americans fighting in both World War I and II facing just as much discrimination on the front lines as they did at home. They were expected to fight “for the freedom of oppressed peoples abroad while simultaneously being subjected to oppression themselves.” [25] Only in 1948, with the issuance of Executive Order 9981 by President Truman, was the United States military finally integrated. This document declared that “there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion or national origin.” [26] More than 80 years after the 28th Regiment was mustered out of service, black American soldiers had the same rights as their white counterparts. In 2004, the Indiana Historical Bureau, Indiana War Memorials Commission, Andrew & Esther Bowman, and African American Landmarks Committee of Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana, Inc. erected a historical marker at the site of Camp Fremont, to commemorate the training location of the 28th Regiment.
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<p>[1] War Department Letter to Governor Morton, November 30, 1863. <br />[2] George P. Clark and Shirley E. Clark, “Heroes Carved in Ebony: Indiana’s Black Civil War Regiment, the 28th USCT,” Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History 7, no. 3 (1995): 6. <br />[3] John H. Eicher and David J. Eicher, Civil War High Commands, Stanford University Press, 2001, p. 466<br />[4] Clark and Clark, “Heroes Carved in Ebony,” 9.[5]Ibid. <br />[6] Indiana Historical Bureau, “Indiana’s 28th Regiment: Black Soldiers for the Union,” The <br />Indiana Historian (1994): 7. <br />[7] “28th Regiment, United States Colored Troops,” Indiana War Memorials, accessed April 19, 2019, https://www.in.gov/iwm/2397.htm. <br />[8] Clark and Clark, “Heroes Carved in Ebony,” 9.<br />[9] Colin Hennessy and Brock E. Barry, “The Civil War Battle of the Crater: An Engineering Inspiration,” Civil Engineering 83, no. 9 (2013): 63. <br />[10] Ibid. <br />[11] Clark and Clark, “Heroes Carved in Ebony,” 10.<br />[12] Ibid. <br />[13] William F. Fox, Regimental Losses in the American Civil War 1861–1865, (Albany, NY: Albany Publishing Co., 1889), Chapter VI. <br />[14] Clark and Clark, “Heroes Carved in Ebony,” 5. [15] Ibid., 12. <br />[16] Indiana Historical Bureau, “Indiana’s 28th Regiment: Black Soldiers for the Union,” The Indiana Historian (1994): 13. <br />[17] Clark and Clark, “Heroes Carved in Ebony,” 12. [18] Ibid. <br />[19] Ibid., 14. <br />[20] Ibid., 7. <br />[21] Ibid. <br />[22] Ibid., 12. <br />[23] Ibid., 14. <br />[24] “28th Regiment USCT,” Indiana Historical Bureau, accessed September 26, 2019, https://www.in.gov/history/markers/3.htm. <br />[25] John L. Newby, “The Fight for the Right to Fight and the Forgotten Negro Protest Movement: The History of Executive Order 9981 and its Effect Upon Brown v. Board of Education and Beyond,” Texas Journal on Civil Liberties and Civil Rights 10, no. 1 (2004): 84. <br />[26] Harry S. Truman, “Executive Order 9981, Establishing the President’s Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services,” July 27, 1948, National Archives Foundation, accessed November 19, 2019, https://www.archivesfoundation.org/documents/executive-order-9981-ending-segregation-armed-forces/. </p>
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28th-Regiment-US-Colored-Troops, attributed to Dictioneer at English Wikipedia, Public domain, via Wikimedia commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:28th-Regiment-US-Colored-Troops.png
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Student Authors: Allison Hunt and Emma Guichon <br />Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson<br />Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
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<a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/3.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker</a>
1800s
1863-1866
Civil War
Indianapolis
Marion County
soldiers
war
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https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/a6163717e024a8bad8c5a7a471f53328.jpg
6966361b2a4c0ff9424518fe8e8aba1e
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African American lawyer Vernon E. Jordan working on a voter education project, seated at a desk with a typewriter at the Southern Regional Council, Atlanta, Georgia
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Vernon Jordan
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Warren K. Leffler
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Leffler, Warren K, photographer. African American lawyer Vernon E. Jordan working on a voter education project, seated at a desk with a typewriter at the Southern Regional Council, Atlanta, Georgia / WKL. Atlanta Georgia, 1967. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2014646460/.
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Library of Congress
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June 15th, 1967
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Events
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Vernon Jordan Assassination Attempt, Fort Wayne
Description
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<p>On May 29, 1980 in Fort Wayne, Indiana, the civil rights leader and National Urban League president Vernon Jordan was the guest speaker at the Equal Opportunity Dinner for the Fort Wayne chapter of the Urban League.[1] By all accounts, this appeared to be an ordinary day for Jordan.<br /><br />Vernon Eulion Jordan Jr. was a born in Atlanta, Georgia in 1935 and did his undergraduate studies at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana. He majored in political science and was intentional in choosing DePauw, which was a nearly all-white school at the time. Even at that young age Vernon Jordan wanted to challenge the established ways that things were done and pave the way for new opportunities for African American men and women. Upon graduating Depauw University as the only African American in a class of 400 students, Vernon Jordan studied at Howard University and graduated with a J.D. in 1960.[2] Since then, he had worked with Donald Hollowell fighting Jim Crow laws, the NAACP as a field secretary in Georgia, and as the director of the Southern Regional Council’s Voter Education Project.[3] Since 1971, Jordan had served as the president of the National Urban League.[4] In 1980 Jordan had been speaking across the country promoting the National Urban League and its significance to American society during the presidential election between Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. His speaking engagement at the Equal Opportunity Dinner at the Fort Wayne Marriot Motor Inn was only one stop on his national tour.[5]</p>
<p>After the banquet, Jordan decided to go with a white woman named Martha Coleman to eat dinner at her house in the city.[6] When Jordan returned to the Marriot Motor Inn, Coleman dropped him off at the side entrance of the hotel, because it was closer to his room.[7] While getting out of the car, Jordan collapsed to the ground; he had been shot in the back with a bullet from a .30-06 rifle.[8] According to Jordan, the bullet left a hole in his back that was the size of a man’s fist, later causing him to have 5 operations to remove the bullet fragments and close the wound.[9] At first the police and FBI had trouble determining the identity of the shooter was because Jordan was shot in the back at night.[10] A year after the shooting the police identified and arrested Joseph Paul Franklin.[11]</p>
<p>Before this assassination attempt, Franklin was known across the country as an outspoken and violent racist. In 1980 alone, Franklin was linked to eleven racial killings.[12] One of the most disturbing incidents was when he killed two black men who were jogging with two white women in Utah.[13] Franklin did not hide his racist attitudes. He associated himself with the American Nazi Party, the Klu Klux Klan, and was not afraid to tell people about his hatred of interracial relationships.[14] Despite Franklin being arrested for shooting Jordan, the state did not believe that there was enough evidence to charge him with attempted murder, so the cause went to a federal court to determine if Jordan’s civil rights were violated.[15] In August of 1982 Joseph Paul Franklin was tried in northern Indiana under Judge Allen Sharp. Franklin was acquitted of the accusations in the Vernon Jordan case by an all-white jury.[16] Despite being acquitted in this case, Franklin was already serving four life sentences for other crimes he had committed across the country.[17] While serving these sentences, Franklin reportedly admitted to an inmate that he had shot Jordan.[18] After the case, Franklin spent the rest of his life in a Missouri prison where he was awaiting his execution for murdering a man in St. Louis outside of a synagogue in 1977. Thirty-six years later, Franklin would be put to death by lethal injection on November 20, 2013.[19]</p>
<p>After this attack on his life, Vernon Jordan continued to fight for what he believed in. However, Jordan decided in December of 1980 to resign as the President of the National Urban League.[20] After leaving the Urban League, he joined a private law firm in Washington, D.C. dealing with “corporate and political affairs.” In 1992 Jordan advised Bill Clinton’s Presidential Campaign and lead his transition team, but opted to remain an unofficial advisor during Clinton’s presidency.[21] Since his time in the Clinton administration, Jordan has continued to work in politics while also becoming an influence in the financial realm while still fighting for civil rights in the United States.[22] He has faced many challenges throughout his career, even an attack on his life, but he still continues to fight for the equality of Americans in modern society.</p>
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<p>[1] Jo Thomas, “Racist who Killed 2 Indicted in Shooting of Vernon Jordan,” Archives, <em>New York Times</em>, June 3, 1982, <span>https://www.nytimes.com/1982/06/03/us/racist-who-killed-2-indicted-in-shooting-of-vernon-jordan.html</span>.<br />[2] “Vernon Jordan Jr.,” Biography, accessed April 2, 2019, <span>https://www.biography.com/people/vernon-jordan-jr-9358120</span>.<br />[3] “Vernon Jordan Jr.,” Biography, accessed March 16, 2019, <span>https://www.biography.com/people/vernon-jordan-jr-9358120</span>.<br />[4] Ibid.<br />[5]Vernon E. Jordan and Annette Gordon-Reed, <em>Vernon can read!: a memoir</em> (New York: Public Affairs, 2001), 280.<br />[6] Ibid.<br />[7] Ibid, 281.<br />[8] Thomas, “Racist who Killed 2”.<br />[9] Jordan, and Gordon Reed, <em>Vernon Can Read: a Memoir</em>, 283.<br />[10] Linda G. Caleca, “A year later, few clues in Vernon Jordan shooting,” UPI, May 28, 1981, <span>https://www.upi.com/Archives/1981/05/28/A-year-later-few-clues-in-Vernon-Jordan-shooting/7539359870400/</span>.<br />[11] Jordan and Gordon-Reed, <em>Vernon Can Read: a Memoir</em>, 296.<br />[12] Linda G. Caleca, “Civil rights leader Vernon Jordan testified today he though…,” UPI, August 10, 1982. <span>https://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/08/10/Civil-rights-leader-Vernon-Jordan-testified-today-he-thought/6415397800000/</span>.<br />[13] Thomas, “Racist who Killed 2.”<br />[14] Ibid.<br />[15] Jordan and Gordon-Reed, <em>Vernon Can Read: a Memoir</em>, 296.<br />[16] “Federal Jury Returns Verdict of Not Guilty in Jordan Shooting,” Archives, <em>New York Times</em>, August 18, 1982. <span>https://www.nytimes.com/1982/08/18/us/federal-jury-returns-verdict-of-not-guilty-in-jordan-shooting.html</span>.<br />[17] Ibid.<br />[18] “Vernon Jordan Jr.,” Biography, accessed March 16, 2019, <span>https://www.biography.com/people/vernon-jordan-jr-9358120</span>.<br />[19] Lateef Mungin, “Serial killer Joseph Franklin executed after hours of delay,” CNN, November 21, 2013, <span>https://www.cnn.com/2013/11/20/justice/missouri-franklin-execution/index.html</span>.<br />[20] Caleca, “Civil rights leader Vernon Jordan testified.”<br />[21] “Vernon E. Jordan, Jr.” Encycylopaedia Britannica, accessed April 2, 2019, <span>https://www.britannica.com/biography/Vernon-E-Jordan-Jr</span>.<br />[22] “Vernon Jordan ’57 Returning to Depauw to Address Class of 2018 at May’s 179<sup>th</sup> Commencement,” Depauw University, November 24, 2017, <span>https://www.depauw.edu/news-media/latest-news/details/33325/</span>.</p>
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PHOTOS & VIDEO: <br /><span>Vernon E. Jordan working on a voter education project, attributed to Warren K. Leffler, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons<br />https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vernon_E._Jordan_working_on_a_voter_education_project.jpg<br /></span>
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Student Author: Ben Wilson <br />Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson<br />Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
1950s-present
Allen County
Fort Wayne
NAACP
Violence
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/69651217b50eb5da5d7e93502e80851f.jpg
a0a1b589f8f46789a8882f78784e56fa
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Places
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Levi Coffin House
Description
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The Levi and Catharine Coffin State Historic Site is located in Fountain City (formerly Newport), Indiana. It is a brick Federal-style eight-room house that was an important stop on the Underground Railroad. The Levi Coffin house is one of Indiana’s most prominent Underground Railroad locations, around 2,000 total runaway enslaved persons found sanctuary and nourishment at this site alone [1]. <br /><br />The Coffin house was built in 1839 and was home to the Coffin family until they moved to Cincinnati in 1847 [2]. During those eight years the Coffin house provided refuge and sanctuary for many different lives. One significant guest to find shelter in the Coffin house was Eliza Harris, of Uncle Tom’s Cabin fame. She had taken her baby and fled her captors by perilously crossing the frozen Ohio River. Making it safely, she was moved from station to station along the Underground Railroad, eventually arriving at the Coffin house. There she was sheltered and fed for several days before being sent on to the next station with several others, eventually making it to Canada [3]. <br /><br />It was not always as simple as moving a fugitive from one station to the next. The Coffin household often had to be prepared to hide and take action against slave hunters, especially since the house was known to be a depot on the Underground Railroad. In one such instance, two girls had fled Tennessee and were living with their free grandparents in Randolph County, Indiana. When their former enslaver came looking for them they were forced to flee further along the Underground Railroad, making it to the Coffin house. With the slave hunters following behind, Mrs. Coffin hid the girls in between the straw and hay linings of the beds. Additionally, the Coffins had a plan to ring a dinner bell if the slave hunters illegally entered their house, at which time neighbors would rush in and force the slave hunters out of the house and have them arrested for unlawful entry. Thankfully in this case that was unnecessary, for the reputation of the Coffin house and the unity of the community caused the slave hunters to leave [4]. <br /><br />Many individuals who came to the Coffin house by way of the Underground Railroad were employed by the Coffin family. Since the community was supportive of the Coffin house’s role as a station, the Coffins did not have to fear and allowed the former enslaved persons to work and be seen in public. One such individual was Rachel, referred to as Aunt Rachel in Levi Coffin’s Reminiscences [5]. Aunt Rachel fled Mississippi in chains and managed to make it north along the Underground Railroad. When she reached the Coffin house she was employed by the family as a housekeeper for roughly six months. When slave hunters came to Richmond, Indiana, Rachel became nervous, and the Coffins arranged for her safe passage to Canada [6]. <br /><br />The Coffin house is one of only a few places in Indiana that is a proven stop on the Underground Railroad in the nineteenth century and is registered as a historic landmark [7]. It still stands today as a beacon of hope and freedom, and a symbol for the power that a united community can have over the intolerant cruelty of wicked men.<br /><br />The Levi and Catharine Coffin House is now a State Historic Site, and the building has been converted into a museum. Guided tours are available Tuesday - Sunday from 10 AM - 5 PM. For more information, visit the <a href="http://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/show/72" target="_blank" rel="noopener">official website</a>.
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[1] "Aboard the Underground Railroad- Levi Coffin House." National Parks Service. Accessed March 21, 2019. https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/underground/in2.htm.<br />[2] Ibid.<br />[3] Coffin, Levi. Reminiscences of Levi Coffin: The Reputed President of the Underground Railroad: Being a Brief History of the Labors of a Lifetime in Behalf of the Slave: With the Stories of Numerous Fugitives, Who Gained Their Freedom through His Instrumentality. Cincinnati: Clarke, 1976.<br />[4] Ibid.<br />[5] Ibid.<br />[6] Ibid.<br />[7] "Levi Coffin and the Underground Railroad." Indiana Landmarks. August 11, 2016. Accessed March 17, 2019. https://www.indianalandmarks.org/2016/06/levi-coffin-and-the-underground-railroad/.<br />[8] “Levi and Catherine Coffin.” Indiana State Museum. Accessed March 29, 2019. https://www.indianamuseum.org/levi-and-catharine-coffin-state-historic-site.
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PHOTO & VIDEO:<br />Levi Coffin House, attributed to Nyttend, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Levi_Coffin_House,_front_and_southern_side.jpg
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<a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/437.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker</a><br /><a href="https://catalog.archives.gov/id/132002431" target="_blank" rel="noopener">National Register of Historic Places</a>
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Student Author: Emma Brauer <br />Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson<br />Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
1800s
Abolition
Fountain City
Indiana Historical Bureau Marker
National Register of Historic Places
Underground Railroad
Wayne County
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/d8e06e53a39006bfeac01e3189b89cef.jpg
f14b04a0be625cd77bbe728faad2330b
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Places
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Frederick Douglass,
Abolitionist Mob in Pendleton
Description
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Frederick Douglass was born in his grandmother’s cabin in Tuckahoe Creek, Maryland.[1] He grew up as an enslaved child and was separated from his grandmother to work at the Wye House plantation in Talbot County, Maryland at the age of six. He was then given to Hugh Auld who lived in the city of Baltimore where Douglass felt lucky, as slaves in urban places were almost freedmen, compared to those in plantations.[2] At the age of twelve, Auld’s wife Sophia started teaching him the alphabet and treated him like a normal child, but was quickly stopped by her husband.[3] This first access to knowledge and education gave him the desire to learn more, but it also gave him a taste of freedom as he said: “Once you learn to read, you will forever be free.”[4] From then on, Douglass decided to continue to learn how to read and write by himself: for him, “knowledge is the pathway from slavery to freedom.”[5] <br /><br />His original name was Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, but he changed it to Douglass when he decided to escape as a way to break with his enslaved life and not to be recognized. In September 1838, Douglass successfully escaped from his owner Colonel Lloyd and reached Havre de Grace, Maryland. He became an influential activist for the abolition of slavery. In 1845, he described his experiences as a slave in Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. It exposed the reality of slavery and his path from bondage to freedom. It became a crucial testimony of the horrors of slavery. <br /><br />Throughout his life, Douglass never stopped writing about slavery and became a prominent activist in the fight for abolition across the United States. In 1843, the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society sent speakers to New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana to hold the “One Hundred Conventions” on abolition.[6] The Anti-Slavery Society was founded by William Lloyd Garrison, editor of the abolitionist newspaper The Liberator, and Arthur Tappan, another abolitionist. Douglass became part of the Anti-Slavery Society, along with William Wells Brown and Micajah C. White, two other freed men. <br /><br />In September 1843, Frederick Douglass and other speakers went to Madison County, Indiana to give a speech at a meeting at the Pendleton Baptist church. The Anti-slavery society focused their action on small towns like Pendleton where the African American population constituted an important proportion of the inhabitants. Situated in the periphery of Indianapolis, people relied on the church to gather and get news on politics. Douglass wanted to prove that the fight for abolition should be everybody’s concern. However, the crowd they encountered was deeply racist: more than thirty white men marched in, armed with stones and brickbats, asking for them to leave.[7] Douglass and others were injured, even though they were defended by the local supporters. In his autobiography My Life and Times (1881), he described the event saying, “They tore down the platform on which we stood, assaulted Mr. White and knocked out several of his teeth (…).” Rioters went unpunished, showing that progress was still to be made in justice and that racial violence was still not publicly condemned, even in the North.<br /><br />In 2013, the Indiana Historical Bureau, Madison County Council, Madison County Council of Governments, Town of Pendleton, Historic Fall Creek Pendleton Settlement, Pendleton Business Association, and Friends installed a historical marker at the site of the 1843 mob.
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[1] Douglass, Frederick. My Bondage and My Freedom. Edited by John David Smith. New Ed edition. New York: Penguin Classics, 2003. P.44 <br />[2] Gopnik, Adam. “The Prophetic Pragmatism of Frederick Douglass,” October 8, 2018. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/10/15/the-prophetic-pragmatism-of-frederick-douglass. <br />[3] Douglass, Frederick, "Chapter VII", Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass, an American slave. <br />[4] Ibid. Chapter VI, P.52 <br />[5] Douglass, Frederick, "Chapter VI", Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass, an American slave. <br />[6] "Social Reform and Human Progress," The Liberator, February 17, 1843 <br />[7] "Of the Board of managers of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, to the Abolitionists of the Western and Middle States," The Liberator, June 16, 1843
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Student Author: Emma Guichon <br />Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson<br />Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
Relation
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<a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/4111.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker</a>
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PHOTO & VIDEO:
Frederick Douglass (circa 1879), attributed to George Kendall Warren, Public domain, via Wikimedia commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Frederick_Douglass_(circa_1879).jpg
1800s
Abolition
Indiana Historical Bureau Marker
Madison County
Pendleton
Slavery
Violence
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/3b1a2e0935467103f8c3bd358b013ae0.jpg
31825239334828cc8790f4676552441e
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Title
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Portrait of Levi Coffin
Description
An account of the resource
Portrait published in <em>Reminiscences of Levi Coffin: the reputed president of the underground railroad</em>. London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington; Cincinnati: Western Tract Society, 1876.
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Image Courtesy of Indiana Historical Society
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Levi Coffin
Description
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Levi Coffin was a prominent abolitionist and member of the Underground Railroad in both Indiana and Ohio. Levi Coffin came from a Quaker family and was born on October 28, 1798 on a farm in New Garden, North Carolina to Levi and Prudence Coffin.[1] As the only son of seven children, Levi spent his childhood helping his family on the farm rather than attending school; his education came largely from his father, however it was sufficient for him to become a teacher later on. Coffin states in his book Reminiscences which was published in 1876, “Both my parents and grandparents were opposed to slavery, and none of either of the families ever owned slaves; and all were friends of the oppressed, so I claim that I inherited my anti-slavery principles.”[2] Growing up a Quaker, Levi Coffin possessed the Quaker belief that all human beings are equal, a belief he lived through his active role in abolition. <br /><br />Although Coffin was raised as an abolitionist, there were several instances where he reaffirmed his abolitionist beliefs after witnessing the treatment of enslaved people in the American South. The first occurrence was when Coffin was just seven years old. In his book, Coffin recounts a time when he and his father came across a group of enslaved people walking by in chains. His father asked them why they were chained, and one man responded that “They have taken us away from our wives and children, and they chain us lest we should make our escape and go back to them.”[3] Coffin describes this situation as his awakening to the horrors of slavery and he affirmed the abolitionist views of his family. In 1821, Levi Coffin opened a Sunday school in his hometown of New Garden, and became a teacher for enslaved people in the area in an effort to teach them how to read. However, many slaves were forbidden from being educated by their owners. Coffin spent his entire life fighting for abolition. <br /><br />Coffin moved to Indiana in 1826. The house he and his wife built in 1839 in Fountain City, Indiana (formerly Newport) became known as the “Grand Central Station of the Underground Railroad” because approximately 2,000 enslaved people were aided there in 20 years.[4] When he arrived in Indiana, Coffin opened a dry goods store in Newport. The store later grew to include manufacturing linseed oil and cutting pork. He was such a successful business man and his prominent role in the community led to his election to the director of the Richmond branch of the State Bank.[5] His prominence in the community and his thriving store helped to deflect attention from his role in the Underground Railroad. Coffin moved to Cincinnati, Ohio in 1847 and opened a wholesale warehouse, which also helped to fund his part in the Underground Railroad. The amazing thing about this warehouse is that he only sold goods that had been produced by free labor. Fast forward to the Civil War, where Coffin no longer only aided enslaved people through the Underground Railroad, but also, “served as a leading figure in Western Freedmen's Aid Society, which helped educate and provide in other ways for former slaves.”[6] In 1876, just a year before he died, Coffin wrote his book Reminiscences after his friends urged him to tell his story in the hopes of inspiring the next generation. He opens this book by framing his life’s work with these words: “What I had done I believed was simply a Christian duty and not for the purpose of being seen of men, or for notoriety, which I have never sought.”[7] Levi Coffin was a Quaker man who believed that everybody should be free and he made it his life’s mission to aid as many enslaved people as possible, despite the risk he faced.<br /><br />During his lifetime, Levi Coffin experienced several changes both nationally and in Indiana. When Indiana was admitted as a state in 1816, the Indiana Constitution prohibited slavery, similar to the Northwest Ordinance which had formerly governed Indiana as a territory. Although slavery was banned per the Constitution, there were 32 enslaved people recorded living in Vincennes in an 1830 census.[8] Just one year after Coffin moved to Indiana, New York completed its process of abolition. This provided hope for Coffin and abolitionists across the country that abolition would in fact succeed nationally. The 1851 Indiana Constitution added Article 13, which prohibited freed blacks from living in Indiana. “Section 1. No negro or mulatto shall come into or settle in the State, after the adoption of this Constitution.”[9] Although this Constitution was adopted in 1851, 4 years after Coffin moved to Ohio, this attitude had existed in Indiana before the new constitution, and would have affected Levi Coffin and the Underground Railroad. This amendment illustrates the changing attitudes in Indiana towards the growing free black settlements, such as the Roberts settlement and Lyles Station, which developed their own schools and churches as they were excluded from white schools and churches. <br /><br />Although slavery was abolished in Indiana, the anti-slavery and pro-slavery tensions in the nation resulted in prejudice against blacks, which culminated with Article 13 of the Indiana Constitution of 1851.[10] Article 13 was passed with tremendous support from the white people living in Indiana at the time, which included the Quaker populations in Indiana. Although many Quakers believed in abolition, that does not mean that they necessarily believed in equal rights. The Civil War and the 13th Amendment brought to fruition what the abolitionists, including Coffin, were fighting achieve. With the passage of the 13th Amendment in 1865, all enslaved people were legally free; this meant that the work of the abolitionists was accomplished, and Levi Coffin essentially retired and wrote about his experience.<br /><br />The Levi Coffin House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977. In 2002, the Indiana Historical Bureau and Levi Coffin House Association, Inc. installed a historical marker at the Levi Coffin House.
Source
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[1] Ray Boomhower, “Destination Indiana: Levi Coffin: President of the Underground Railroad,” Traces, Summer 1997, 14. <br />[2] Levi Coffin, Reminiscences (New York: Augustus M. Kelley, 1968), 11. <br />[3] Levi Coffin, Reminiscences (New York: Augustus M. Kelley, 1968), 13. <br />[4] “Levi Coffin.” National Park Service. last modified September 14, 2017. accessed March 3. 2019. https://www.nps.gov/people/levi-coffin.htm. <br />[5] Ray Boomhower, “Destination Indiana: Levi Coffin: President of the Underground Railroad,” Traces, Summer 1997, 15. <br />[6] Ibid. <br />[7] Levi Coffin, Reminiscences (New York: Augustus M. Kelley, 1968), i. <br />[8] l Finkelman. "Almost a Free State: The Indiana Constitution of 1816 and the Problem of Slavery." Indiana Magazine of History 111, no. 1 (2015): 64-95. doi:10.5378/indimagahist.111.1.0064. <br />[9] Charles Kettleborough and John A. Bremer, Constitution making in Indiana (Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Bureau, 1961), 385. <br />[10] “Levi Coffin,” Indiana Historical Bureau, accessed April 3, 2019, https://www.in.gov/history/markers/437.htm.
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PHOTO & VIDEO:<br />Levi Coffin, via wikicommons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Levi_coffin.JPG
Relation
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<a href="http://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/items/show/25" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Digital Civil Rights Museum - Levi Coffin House</a><br /><a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/437.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker</a><br /><a href="https://catalog.archives.gov/id/132002431" target="_blank" rel="noopener">National Register of Historic Places</a>
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Student Author: Jordan Girard <br />Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson<br />Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
1800s
Abolition
Fountain City
quakers
Underground Railroad
Wayne County
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/96e3156cb27cc8daed71690163d9c737.jpg
869b06b1af4f4619a8e6b5fc2674734a
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Marshall "Major" Taylor and Capital City Track
Description
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Before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball or Jessie Owens competed in the 1936 Olympics, there was another African American who was fighting for an equal chance in sports around the turn of the twentieth century. Marshall “Major” Taylor was born on August 26, 1878 in Indianapolis, Indiana [1]. As a child, Taylor went to work with his father in the coach house of a wealthy Indianapolis family [2]. After a while, Taylor became very close with one of the boys in the family, Daniel. Because of this, he would later become Daniel’s “playmate,” which would allow him to receive many items that he could use to play with him, the most important being a bicycle [3]. A few years later, Daniel’s family moved away, and Taylor needed to find a new job. One day, Taylor was spotted by a bicycle shop owner doing stunts outside his store. Because of his skills on a bicycle, the owner hired him to perform stunts outside their store to attract customers. [4] Taylor wore a military-style costume when he performed his tricks, leading to him earning the nickname “Major”. [5] Later in 1891 his boss from the bike shop encouraged him to participate at a local race, which he surprisingly won. [6] This sparked his interest in cycling which would later lead to him becoming a professional. <br /><br />Taylor set multiple world records and won multiple national championships during his sixteen-year professional career. In 1896, he set the one-mile record at Capital City Track in Indianapolis. He even won a world championship in 1899, making him only the second African American to win a world championship. [7] Taylor’s skills and accomplishments did not shield him from the realities of his time. Often Taylor would not be able to find hotel accommodations for competitions, be verbally and physically threated by other cyclists. He was even barred from many tracks around the country, including those in his hometown of Indianapolis, because of the color of his skin. [8] Sometimes race officials would even skew the results of a race to prevent Taylor from winning. [9] Even though Major Taylor faced many mental and physical struggles because of the racial tensions in the United States, he still believed that his success on the track would benefit society. He believed that his accomplishments at home and on the world stage proved that African Americans could compete at the same level as whites in the United States. Furthermore, he hoped that his story would inspire young athletes, especially young African American boys, to persevere and strive for greatness. [10] Taylor would also used his public platform to advocate for civil rights. In his 1928 autobiography he states that he hopes his accomplishments and stories help “solicit simple justice, equal rights, and a square deal for the posterity of [his] down-trodden but brave people, not only in athletic games and sports, but in every honorable game of human endeavor.” [11] <br /><br />Sadly, after he retired in 1910, Taylor faced many new challenges. [12] A few years after his career had ended, Taylor had significant financial issues. With the money he had won from cycling, Taylor began to invest in different business ventures which ended up failing causing him to lose much of his earnings. [13] In addition to this, Taylor had a hard time finding a job because there were very few opportunities available for black athletes after their careers had ended. Black athletes were not offered the endorsements or speaking opportunities their white peers may have received. [14] Because of this and his deteriorating health, Taylor would end up falling into poverty during the waning years of his life. [15] After years of facing these struggles, Marshall “Major” Taylor passed away in 1932 and was buried in an unmarked grave in Chicago. In the 1940s, many former cyclists heard about this, and used money donated by the bicycle company owner Frank Schwinn to relocate his body in order to properly remember him and his accomplishments. [16] Seventy years after his final race, his hometown of Indianapolis remembered the cycling champion by creating the Major Taylor Velodrome in the 1980s. [17] Later that same decade, Taylor’s accomplishments in the cycling world were finally recognized nationally when he was inducted into the Bicycling Hall of Fame in 1989. [18] In 2009, a historical marker was installed at at the site of the Capital City Track by the Indiana Historical Bureau, Central Indiana Bicycling Association Foundation, and Indiana State Fair Commission. [19] Through these honors and many others, Taylor’s achievements on and off the track are a great example of the role sports played in the fight toward civil rights.
After Major Taylor was inducted into the Bicycling Hall of Fame in 1989, he finally began to receive recognition for his role as a pioneer in cycling and African American civil rights. Since then he has been the subject of a number of short films including the following peice released by ESPN, which shows amazing footage of Major Taylor actually riding in a six day long endurance event.
<iframe width="700" height="500" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HdBUSkYmeP8" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
In addition to the numerous videos that have been created, the University of Pittsburgh University Library System (ULS) currently holds a collection of scrapbooks that through newspaper clippings from American and foreign presses, document the climate of racial opinion in America and abroad as well as Taylor's reactions along with providing more factual information about professional cycling as a national and international sport. These scrapbooks have been entirely digitized and are available online via the ULS Digital Collections page <a href="https://digital.library.pitt.edu/collection/marshall-w-major-taylor-scrapbooks">here</a>.
Marshall "Major" Taylor also wrote an autobiography, <em>The Fastest Bicycle Rider in the World</em>, allowing us some insight into his thoughts and feelings. In the final chapter of his book, Taylor gives advice and encouragement to young black athletes who followed him: <br /><br /><em><span style="font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial; font-size: medium;">"In closing I wish to say that while I was sorely beset by a number of white riders in my racing days, I have also enjoyed the friendship of countless thousands of white men whom I class as among my closest friends. I made them in this country and all the foreign countries in which I competed. My personal observation and experiences indicate to me that while the majority of white people are considerate of my people, the minority are so bitter in their race prejudice that they actually overshadow the goodwill entertained for us by the majority.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial; font-size: medium;">Now a few words of advice to boys, and especially to those of my own race, my heart goes out to them as they face life's struggles. I can hardly express in words my deep feeling and sympathy for them, knowing as I do, the many serious handicaps and obstacles that will confront them in almost every walk of life. However, I pray they will carry on in spite of that dreadful monster prejudice, and with patience, courage, fortitude and perseverance achieve success for themselves." [19]</span></em>
Source
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<p>[1] Major Taylor, The Fastest Bicycle Rider in the World; the Autobiography of Major Taylor.Abridged ed. Brattleboro, Vt: S. Greene Press, 1972, 1. <br />[2] National Museum of American History, “Marshall ‘Major’ Taylor: The incredible story of the first African-American world champion,” March 19, 2014, http://americanhistory.si.edu/blog/2014/03/marshall-major-taylor-the-incredible-story-of-the-first-african-american-world-champion.html<br />[3] Major Taylor, The Fastest Bicycle Rider in the World; the Autobiography of Major Taylor.Abridged ed. Brattleboro, Vt: S. Greene Press, 1972, 1.<br />[4] National Museum of American History, “Marshall ‘Major’ Taylor: The incredible story of the first African-American world champion,” March 19, 2014, http://americanhistory.si.edu/blog/2014/03/marshall-major-taylor-the-incredible-story-of-the-first-african-american-world-champion.html<br />[5] Lynne Tolman, “Major Taylor Statue Dedication,” Traces 20, no. (Fall 2008): 37.<br />[6] Major Taylor, The Fastest Bicycle Rider in the World; the Autobiography of Major Taylor.Abridged ed. Brattleboro, Vt: S. Greene Press, 1972, 4.<br />[7] Randal C. Archibold, “Major Taylor: A world champion bicycle racer whose fame was undermined by prejudice,” New York Times, accessed February 17, 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/obituaries/major-taylor-overlooked.html.<br />[8] Major Taylor, The Fastest Bicycle Rider in the World; the Autobiography of Major Taylor.Abridged ed. Brattleboro, Vt: S. Greene Press, 1972, 7-49.<br />[9] Ibid, 111.<br />[10] Ibid, x.<br />[11] Ibid.<br />[12] Ibid, 206.<br />[13] “Major Taylor,” Biography, Last modified February 4, 2016, accessed March 11, 2019, https://www.biography.com/people/marshall-walter-major-taylor.<br />[14] National Museum of American History, “Marshall ‘Major’ Taylor.”<br />[15] Ibid.<br />[16] Ibid.<br />[17] Ibid.[18] “Inductees,” U.S. Bicycling Hall of Fame, accessed March 11, 2019, https://usbhof.org/inductees/<br />[18] Major Taylor, The Fastest Bicycle Rider in the World; the Autobiography of Major Taylor.Abridged ed. Brattleboro, Vt: S. Greene Press, 1972.<br />[19] Indiana Historical Bureau, Marshall "Major" Taylor, https://www.in.gov/history/markers/MajorTaylor.htm.</p>
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<p>PHOTO & VIDEO:<br />Major Taylor, 1906-1907, attributed to Jules Beau, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Major_Taylor,_1906-1907.jpg</p>
Contributor
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Student Author: Ben Wilson <br />Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson<br />Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
Relation
A related resource
<a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/MajorTaylor.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Markers</a>
1800s
1878
1900-1940s
athletics
bicycle
Indianapolis
Marion County
Sports
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/79f703f82ce61af55699a50ac2e40f68.jpg
c99c2e432621680e93c6a9ba68d7299e
Dublin Core
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Title
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Events
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
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Title
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Rhodes Family Incident,
Hamilton County
Description
An account of the resource
<span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">I</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">n</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0"><span> </span>183</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">6</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">,<span> </span></span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">Missouri</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">an</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0"><span> </span>Singleton Vaugh</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">a</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">n, a<span> </span></span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">white<span> </span></span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">plantation owner</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">,</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0"><span> </span>held an African American family —Sam Burk, his wife Maria</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">h</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">, and their baby daughter Lydia--in chattel slavery</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">.[1]</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0"><span> </span>Prior to<span> </span></span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">coming to be owned by<span> </span></span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">Vaugh</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">a</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">n</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">,</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0"><span> </span></span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">the Burk<span> </span></span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">family had<span> </span></span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">been illegally</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0"><span> </span>retained in slaver</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">y</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0"><span> </span>in<span> </span></span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">the free<span> </span></span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">state of<span> </span></span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">Illinois</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">.<span> </span></span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">According to the letter of the law, Burk and his family should not have been allowed to be held in bondage</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">. Prior to</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0"><span> </span></span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">the Dred Scott decision in the Supreme Court</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">, slaves living in a free territory<span> </span></span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">for a period of six months or longer </span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">were entitled to declare their freedom</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">.</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0"><span> </span>However,<span> </span></span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">the reality of the situation was much different.<span> </span></span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">When the Burks’ owner left the state of Illinois for Missouri, he took the Burk family along with him – denying their right to manumission. He then approached </span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">Singleton Vaugh</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">a</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">n</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">, who </span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">purchased the family<span> </span></span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">as<span> </span></span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">laborers for his Missouri plantation. </span></span>In 1837, with the fear of separation urging them on, Burk and his family ran away from Missouri, attempting to escape to freedom in Illinois. After reaching Illinois, the Burk family was captured as a result of Vaughan’s fugitive slave notices. The Burk family was broken out of jail by members of the Underground Railroad, and they headed into Indiana, with the ultimate goal of reaching Canada. However, when they reached Hamilton County, Indiana, they were too exhausted to continue.[2] The Burk family decided to stay in Hamilton County, which was a stronghold for abolitionism.[3] They settled in, changing their names to John and Louann Rhodes. <br /><br />In 1844 the United States was in the middle of a controversial presidential election. The presidential election of 1844 centered on the annexation of Texas, which added to concerns about the expansion of the institution of slavery.[4] Singleton Vaughan had not forgotten about the Rhodes (Burk) family, and seven years after their escape in the midst of the national debate about the reach of chattel slavery in the United States, he discovered where they were. He arrived in Hamilton County with two men and obtained a warrant from a local judge. Court records state that John and his family avoided recapture by claiming that a neighbor owed them a 50-dollar debt. Legally, payment for the debt would belong to Vaughan when he regained ownership of the Rhodes, so he allowed John and his family to go to the neighbor’s house to retrieve payment at once. In reality, no debt existed; the neighbor was a member of the Underground Railroad.[5] The Underground Railroad, which assisted the Rhodes family, was quite active in Hamilton County. Addison Coffin, a transporter on the line, stated that in 1844, “the Wabash line was in good running order and passengers very frequent."[6]<br />When other neighbors arrived on scene, the Rhodes’ Underground Railroad neighbors were able to convince all involved that the best course of action was to verify the legitimacy of Vaughan’s claim with a judge. The Rhodes family, Vaughan’s party, and some of their neighbors headed south towards Westfield to resolve the matter in court. However, knowing Westfield to be a location with heavy abolitionist sympathy, Vaughan insisted on a hearing in Noblesville instead. <br /><br />During the commotion, a man by the name of Daniel Jones, jumped onto the wagon and he and the Rhodes family sped away while Vaughan and his men were immobilized by the crowd. In the end, Vaughan attempted to sue members of the community for loss of property, since they had helped the Rhodes family escape. The local Quakers created a defense fund to pay for the trial. During trial the fact that the Rhodes family had lived in a free state prior to Vaughan’s unlawful purchase led the judge to rule in favor of the Rhodes family. Vaughan returned to Missouri empty handed.[7] <br /><br />The Vaughan v. Williams decision occurred prior to the Fugitive Slave Act and Dred Scott decision. According to the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, fugitive slaves in any territory or state, could be reclaimed by their master, even from free territories. Finally, the Dred Scott decision in 1857 cemented the rights of slave owners to recapture their unfree laborer, stating “that a slave (Dred Scott) who had resided in a free state and territory (where slavery was prohibited) was not thereby entitled to his freedom.”[8] According to this court ruling, since slaves were considered property regardless of their removal to a free state, the Missouri Compromise of 1850 was ruled unconstitutional. Had the Rhodes Family escaped after 1850, defending their right to freedom would have been impossible.<br /><br />This event is documented in a Indiana Historical Bureau historical marker, installed in 2008, in Asa Bales Park in Westfield, Hamilton County. The park is named after Asa Bales, whose home was part of the Underground Railroad and provided a safe haven for runaway slaves escaping to Canda.
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[1] Vaughan v. Williams, 16,903 (D. Indiana Cir. 1845)<br />[2] Heighway, David. “The Law in Black and White,” accessed February 6, 2019. www.westfield.in.gov/egov/documents/1376663863_54293.pdf, 1. <br />[3]Ibid <br />[4] Pecquet, Gary M., and Clifford F. Thies. 2006. “Texas Treasury Notes and the Election of 1844.” Independent Review 11 (2): 237–60. http://proxy.bsu.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=510657895&site=ehost-live&scope=site. <br />[5] Thornbrough, Emma Lou. The Negro in Indiana before 1900: A Study of a Minority. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1993. <br />[6]“The Underground Railroad,” Indiana Historical Bureau, accessed February 7, 2019, https://www.in.gov/history/3119.htm. <br />[7]Vaughan v. Williams, 16,903 (D. Indiana Cir. 1845). <br />[8] United States Supreme Court, Roger Brooke Taney, John H Van Evrie, and Samuel A Cartwright. The Dred Scott decision: opinion of Chief Justice Taney. New York: Van Evrie, Horton & Co., 1860, 1860. Pdf. https://www.loc.gov/item/17001543/.
Contributor
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Student Author: Jordan Girard <br />Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson<br />Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
Relation
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<a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/554.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker</a>
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PHOTO & VIDEO:
Fugitive Slaves Escaping to Union Lines, attributed to NonCommercial 4.0 International, Public domain, via Slavery Images
http://104.200.20.178/s/slaveryimages/item/794
1800s
1837-1844
Hamilton County
Indiana Historical Bureau Marker
law
quakers
Slavery
Underground Railroad
Westfield
-
https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/original/bcefd587b60b4f5edc93d980b595a318.jpg
eaafb6ba24b0e3a6eb837efc99ed325b
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The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Reverend Moses Broyles,
Eleutherian College
Description
An account of the resource
Moses Broyles was born in 1826 in Maryland [1]. At the age of four, he was separated from his parents and purchased by a Kentucky planter named John Broyles. John Broyles often entrusted Moses with the care of the Broyles children and eventually, he was entrusted with management of farm affairs. Moses learned to read and discovered a love of history through the books he read, including the Old and New Testament, books about United States History, the lives of George Washington and Francis Marion, and history of the Baptists, among others. While still enslaved, he traveled to Paducah, Kentucky, where he preached and helped establish the first colored Baptist meetinghouse [2].
When he was fourteen (1840), John Broyles told Moses that he would be freed in 1854. However, Moses could not wait, and in 1851 he began working to purchase himself. He had bought a horse and dray to earn money more rapidly and was eventually able to purchase his freedom. After extricating himself from slavery, Moses moved to Lancaster, Indiana, and attended Eleutherian College. Allegedly prone to coughing and choking spells during debates and public speeches, he was very bashful when he first attended the college. In spite of Broyles reserved personality, Dr. William T. Stott, the former president of Franklin College in Franklin, Indiana, said “Eleutherian Institute would have amply justified its existence and cost, if it had educated no other pupil than Moses Broyles" [3]. A second individual made a similar remark, stating “that school, even if it had done nothing more, justified its claim to recognition by the successful education of Rev. Moses Broyles, the leader of the colored Baptists of Indiana" [4]. Clearly, Moses Broyles was an exceptionally intelligent and high achieving student who was able to succeed in the face of challenging circumstances.
Broyles moved to Indianapolis in the spring of 1857 where he entered the ministry. He became a member of the Second Baptist Church, and hoped to become its pastor. By November of 1857, he was ordained as the pastor of the Second Baptist. Because the church could only pay for three years of lodging, Broyles worked as a schoolteacher for twelve years at one of the first African Americans schools in the city [5].
By the time Moses Broyles became a pastor, the Underground Railroad had been in use for nearly two decades, reaching its peak in the 1850s. The anti-slavery novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, was published in 1852 and sold half a million copies within its first six months. The Civil War shook the young nation, and in the war’s last year, President Lincoln was assassinated, the Ku Klux Klan formed, and the Thirteenth Amendment was ratified. The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments soon followed, which changed the lives of African Americans in many ways but did not lead to complete equality. In 1871, Congress gave President Grant authority to use military force against the KKK and similar groups, but African Americans would continue to live in fear for decades.
Under Broyles’ leadership, the church’s membership grew, and by 1877 it had sent twenty-one men into the ministry. In 1864, the church outgrew its space as its membership doubled in size, and in 1867 it grew again, resulting in the purchase of a larger building for $25,000. Broyles was a major factor in the organization of a State Association of Colored Baptists in Indiana, as well as the establishment of six colored churches in the state since 1866 [6]. In 1876, Broyles wrote The History of Second Baptist Church. He was a known Republican and encouraged other African Americans to join the party of Lincoln and Grant. Broyles and his wife Francis had seven children by 1880. He remained the pastor of Second Baptist until his death on August 31, 1882 [7]. Rev. Broyles created many opportunities for African Americans in Indiana, especially in education and religion. It would be nearly another century before African Americans would be able to attend schools with whites, but like other civil rights leaders, Rev. Broyles was a single spark that fueled an inferno of social change which is still burning.
Source
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[1] Cathcart, William, "The Baptist encyclopedia: a dictionary of the doctrines, ordinances...of the general history of the Baptist denomination in all lands, with numerous biographical sketches...& a supplement" Philadelphia: L. H. Everts, 1883.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Carrol, J. C. "The Beginnings of Public Education for Negroes in Indiana." The Journal of Negro Education 8 no. 4 (October, 1939).
[4] Ibid.
[5] “History of Greater Indianapolis”, New York Public Library.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Brown, Ignatius, “Indianapolis Directory…History of Indianapolis”, Logan & Co., 1868.
Contributor
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Student Author: Melody Seberger <br />Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson<br />Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
Relation
A related resource
<a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/5.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker for Eleutherian College</a>
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PHOTO & VIDEO:
Eleutherian College from northwest in evening, attributed to Nyttend, Public domain, via Wikimedia commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eleutherian_College_from_northwest_in_evening.jpg
1800s
community
education
Indianapolis
Jefferson County
Marion County
religion
Slavery