Henry Richardson, Jr.
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].
[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.”
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
PHOTO & VIDEO:
Henry J. Richardson, Jr. Desk Portrait, Indiana Historical Society, P0472.
https://images.indianahistory.org/digital/collection/V0002/id/5923/rec/8
Robert Lee Bailey
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].
[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.
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
PHOTO & VIDEO:
Courtesy Indiana University https://indianamemory.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/IUPUIphotos/id/31228/rec/1
Julia Carson House
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.
[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.
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
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
George P. Stewart
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].
[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/.
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
PHOTO & VIDEO:
George P. Stewart, Indianapolis Recorder Co-Founder, Indiana Historical Society, P0556.
https://images.indianahistory.org/digital/collection/p16797coll72/id/821/rec/53
Flower Mission Hospital
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>
[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.”
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
PHOTO & VIDEO:
Flower Mission Tuberculosis Hospital, Indiana Historical Society, M0384.
https://images.indianahistory.org/digital/collection/tuberculosi/id/99/rec/13
Flanner Guild Settlement House
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].
[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.
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
PHOTO & VIDEO:
Flanner House Guild Tea, Indianapolis Recorder Collection, Indiana Historical Society.
https://images.indianahistory.org/digital/collection/dc018/id/2659/
<a href="https://catalog.archives.gov/id/132003839">National Register of Historic Places</a>
Indianapolis Recorder Newspaper
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]
[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
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
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
<a href="https://catalog.archives.gov/id/132004020">National Register of Historic Places</a>
Lockefield Place Riots
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]
[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.”
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
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
Indianapolis NAACP Branch 3053
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>
[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/
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
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
Riverside Amusement Park
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]
[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
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
PHOTO & VIDEO:
Picketing Riverside Amusement Park, Indianapolis Recorder Collection, Indiana Historical Society.
https://images.indianahistory.org/digital/collection/p0303/id/445/rec/1
Longacre Swimming Pool
<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>
[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>
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
PHOTO & VIDEO:
Longacre Pool, Bass Photo Co. Collection, Indiana Historical Society.
https://images.indianahistory.org/digital/collection/dc012/id/13298/rec/2
Martin University, Indianapolis
<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>
[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>
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
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
Ransom Place Neighborhood, Indianapolis
<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>
[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>
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
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
<a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/216.htm">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker</a>
Robert F. Kennedy Speech on Death of MLK, Jr.
<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>
[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>
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
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
<a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/470.htm">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker</a>
Jim Jones and The Peoples Temple
<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>
[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>
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
PHOTO & VIDEO:
Jimjonesfirstchurch, attributed to Indytnt, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jimjonesfirstchurch.jpg
African American Civil Conservation Corps (CCC)
<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>
[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>
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
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
Indiana Avenue Jazz Scene
<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>
[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>
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
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
<a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/219.htm">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker</a>
Crispus Attucks High School
<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>
[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>
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
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
<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>
Willard B. Ransom
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]
[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.
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
PHOTO & VIDEO:
Willard Ransom, Indianapolis Recorder Collection, Indiana Historical Society.
https://images.indianahistory.org/digital/collection/p0303/id/180/rec/2
<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>
Madam C.J. Walker
<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>
<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>
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
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
<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>
Indiana Federation of Colored Women's Clubs/Minor House
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]
<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>
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
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
<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>
Bethel AME Church, Indianapolis
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.
<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>
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
PHOTO & VIDEO:<br />Bethel A.M.E. Church Organizations and Clubs, Indiana Historical Society, M1270.<br /><br />
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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>
Madam Walker Theatre Center
<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.
Student Authors: Allison Hunt and JB Bilbrey
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
PHOTO & VIDEO:
Walker Theatre Indy, attributed to Jonathunder, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WalkerTheatreIndy.jpg
<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>
Indianapolis ABCs and Washington Park
<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.
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
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
<a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/4126.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker</a>
Indianapolis Clowns and Bush Stadium
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]
[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.”
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
PHOTO & VIDEO:
Bush Stadium Indianapolis, attributed to Xti90, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bush_Stadium_Indianapolis.JPG
<a href="https://catalog.archives.gov/id/132003791" target="_blank" rel="noopener">National Register of Historic Places</a>
Senate Avenue YMCA
<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>
<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>
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
PHOTO & VIDEO:
Senate Avenue YMCA, Madam C.J. Walker Collection, Indiana Historical Society.
https://images.indianahistory.org/digital/collection/m0399/id/212/rec/2
<a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/4325.htm " target="_blank" rel="noopener">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker</a>
Lockefield Gardens
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.
<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>
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
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
<a href="https://catalog.archives.gov/id/132003952" target="_blank" rel="noopener">National Register of Historic Places</a>
Unigov: Unifying Indianapolis and Marion County
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.
[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.
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
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
Lawyer Robert Lee Brokenburr,
Senate Avenue YMCA
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]
[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.
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
PHOTO & VIDEO:
Willard Ransom and Robert Lee Brokenburr, Indianapolis Recorder Collection, Indiana Historical Society.
https://images.indianahistory.org/digital/collection/p0303/id/85/
<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>
Reverend Dr. Andrew J. Brown, Jr.,
St. John's Missionary Baptist Church
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]
[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/.
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
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
Congresswoman Julia Carson
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]
[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.
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
PHOTO & VIDEO:
Carson, Julia, attributed to U.S. Congress, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Carson_julia.jpg
<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>
Indiana Black Expo,
Indiana Convention Center
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]
[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.
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
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
Indiana Avenue Historic District
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]
[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.
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
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
<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>
Historian Emma Lou Thornbrough
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]
[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.
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
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
"Mr. Basketball" Bill Garrett, coach at Crispus Attucks High School
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.
[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.
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
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
<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>
Indiana's 28th Colored Infantry Regiment, Camp Fremont
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.
<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>
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
PHOTO & VIDEO:
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
<a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/3.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker</a>
Marshall "Major" Taylor and Capital City Track
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>
<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>
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
<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>
<a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/MajorTaylor.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Markers</a>
Reverend Moses Broyles,
Eleutherian College
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.
[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.
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
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
<a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/5.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker for Eleutherian College</a>