Levi Coffin House
The Levi and Catharine Coffin State Historic Site is located in Fountain City (formerly Newport), Indiana. It is a brick Federal-style eight-room house that was an important stop on the Underground Railroad. The Levi Coffin house is one of Indiana’s most prominent Underground Railroad locations, around 2,000 total runaway enslaved persons found sanctuary and nourishment at this site alone [1]. <br /><br />The Coffin house was built in 1839 and was home to the Coffin family until they moved to Cincinnati in 1847 [2]. During those eight years the Coffin house provided refuge and sanctuary for many different lives. One significant guest to find shelter in the Coffin house was Eliza Harris, of Uncle Tom’s Cabin fame. She had taken her baby and fled her captors by perilously crossing the frozen Ohio River. Making it safely, she was moved from station to station along the Underground Railroad, eventually arriving at the Coffin house. There she was sheltered and fed for several days before being sent on to the next station with several others, eventually making it to Canada [3]. <br /><br />It was not always as simple as moving a fugitive from one station to the next. The Coffin household often had to be prepared to hide and take action against slave hunters, especially since the house was known to be a depot on the Underground Railroad. In one such instance, two girls had fled Tennessee and were living with their free grandparents in Randolph County, Indiana. When their former enslaver came looking for them they were forced to flee further along the Underground Railroad, making it to the Coffin house. With the slave hunters following behind, Mrs. Coffin hid the girls in between the straw and hay linings of the beds. Additionally, the Coffins had a plan to ring a dinner bell if the slave hunters illegally entered their house, at which time neighbors would rush in and force the slave hunters out of the house and have them arrested for unlawful entry. Thankfully in this case that was unnecessary, for the reputation of the Coffin house and the unity of the community caused the slave hunters to leave [4]. <br /><br />Many individuals who came to the Coffin house by way of the Underground Railroad were employed by the Coffin family. Since the community was supportive of the Coffin house’s role as a station, the Coffins did not have to fear and allowed the former enslaved persons to work and be seen in public. One such individual was Rachel, referred to as Aunt Rachel in Levi Coffin’s Reminiscences [5]. Aunt Rachel fled Mississippi in chains and managed to make it north along the Underground Railroad. When she reached the Coffin house she was employed by the family as a housekeeper for roughly six months. When slave hunters came to Richmond, Indiana, Rachel became nervous, and the Coffins arranged for her safe passage to Canada [6]. <br /><br />The Coffin house is one of only a few places in Indiana that is a proven stop on the Underground Railroad in the nineteenth century and is registered as a historic landmark [7]. It still stands today as a beacon of hope and freedom, and a symbol for the power that a united community can have over the intolerant cruelty of wicked men.<br /><br />The Levi and Catharine Coffin House is now a State Historic Site, and the building has been converted into a museum. Guided tours are available Tuesday - Sunday from 10 AM - 5 PM. For more information, visit the <a href="http://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/show/72" target="_blank" rel="noopener">official website</a>.
[1] "Aboard the Underground Railroad- Levi Coffin House." National Parks Service. Accessed March 21, 2019. https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/underground/in2.htm.<br />[2] Ibid.<br />[3] Coffin, Levi. Reminiscences of Levi Coffin: The Reputed President of the Underground Railroad: Being a Brief History of the Labors of a Lifetime in Behalf of the Slave: With the Stories of Numerous Fugitives, Who Gained Their Freedom through His Instrumentality. Cincinnati: Clarke, 1976.<br />[4] Ibid.<br />[5] Ibid.<br />[6] Ibid.<br />[7] "Levi Coffin and the Underground Railroad." Indiana Landmarks. August 11, 2016. Accessed March 17, 2019. https://www.indianalandmarks.org/2016/06/levi-coffin-and-the-underground-railroad/.<br />[8] “Levi and Catherine Coffin.” Indiana State Museum. Accessed March 29, 2019. https://www.indianamuseum.org/levi-and-catharine-coffin-state-historic-site.
Student Author: Emma Brauer <br />Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson<br />Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
PHOTO & VIDEO:<br />Levi Coffin House, attributed to Nyttend, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Levi_Coffin_House,_front_and_southern_side.jpg
<a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/437.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker</a><br /><a href="https://catalog.archives.gov/id/132002431" target="_blank" rel="noopener">National Register of Historic Places</a>
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>
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>
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>
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>
<p></p>
[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>
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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<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>
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>
Gary Roosevelt High School
<p><span data-contrast="auto">Theodore Roosevelt </span><span data-contrast="auto">H</span><span data-contrast="auto">igh </span><span data-contrast="auto">S</span><span data-contrast="auto">chool</span><span data-contrast="auto"> in Gary, Indiana,</span><span data-contrast="auto"> also known as Gary Roosevelt,</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">can trace its origins to 1908 when </span><span data-contrast="auto">the Gary</span><span data-contrast="auto"> school board </span><span data-contrast="auto">issued the segregation of all public schools. The first school for African American children in Gary </span><span data-contrast="auto">was built</span><span data-contrast="auto"> that same year. </span><span data-contrast="auto">As the population grew</span><span data-contrast="auto">, African American students were</span><span data-contrast="auto"> also</span><span data-contrast="auto"> educated in other segregated schools and in portable classrooms, and by </span><span data-contrast="auto">1921,</span><span data-contrast="auto"> those portable classrooms were located at</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">the </span><span data-contrast="auto">present location of</span><span data-contrast="auto"> Gary </span><span data-contrast="auto">Roosevel</span><span data-contrast="auto">t</span><span data-contrast="auto">.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">1]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">Public school segregation remained in effect</span><span data-contrast="auto">, but a few African American students </span><span data-contrast="auto">were</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">allowed to enroll</span><span data-contrast="auto"> in white schools</span><span data-contrast="auto"> (in segregated classes)</span><span data-contrast="auto"> if space</span><span data-contrast="auto"> existed. </span><span data-contrast="auto">Under this plan</span><span data-contrast="auto">, 18 African American high school students </span><span data-contrast="auto">were transferred</span><span data-contrast="auto"> to white Emerson School</span><span data-contrast="auto"> in 1927</span><span data-contrast="auto">. </span><span data-contrast="auto">In protest, o</span><span data-contrast="auto">ver 600</span><span data-contrast="auto"> white</span><span data-contrast="auto"> Emerson</span><span data-contrast="auto"> students conducted a four-day walkout known as the Emerson Strike.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">2]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> The strike </span><span data-contrast="auto">was ended</span><span data-contrast="auto"> when the Gary City Council agreed to </span><span data-contrast="auto">allocate</span><span data-contrast="auto"> funds to create an African American high school, to be named after President Theodore Roosevelt.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">3]</span><span data-ccp-props="{"335559739":160,"335559740":480}"> <br /> <br /></span><span data-contrast="auto">Theodore Roosevelt High School </span><span data-contrast="auto">was built</span><span data-contrast="auto"> in 1930</span><span data-contrast="auto"> exclusively for African American students.</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">The </span><span data-contrast="auto">Gary Roosevelt </span><span data-contrast="auto">building</span><span data-contrast="auto"> features design elements inspired by </span><span data-contrast="auto">Independence Hall</span><span data-contrast="auto"> in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.</span><span data-contrast="auto"> Additional classroom wings </span><span data-contrast="auto">were added</span><span data-contrast="auto"> in 1946 and 1968.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">4]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">The </span><span data-contrast="auto">physical design of the</span><span data-contrast="auto"> Gary Roosevelt</span><span data-contrast="auto"> building </span><span data-contrast="auto">support</span><span data-contrast="auto">ed what </span><span data-contrast="auto">was known</span><span data-contrast="auto"> as the Gary System of Education or the Gary Plan. </span><span data-contrast="auto">Developed by Dr. William A. Wirt, the city’s first superintendent </span><span data-contrast="auto">of schools</span><span data-contrast="auto"> from 1907-1938</span><span data-contrast="auto">, the Gary Plan was a Progressive Er</span><span data-contrast="auto">a educational concept, with some elements of the system playing </span><span data-contrast="auto">a role in how schools function today.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">5]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> The Gary Plan emphasized both vocational training and college preparatory classes, </span><span data-contrast="auto">a lengthened school day</span><span data-contrast="auto"> that kept students “off the streets”</span><span data-contrast="auto">, and emphasized “work-study-play” </span><span data-contrast="auto">incorporating</span><span data-contrast="auto"> academics, vocational, and recreational activities into each school day.</span><span data-contrast="auto"> The Gary Plan</span><span data-contrast="auto"> maximized the utilization and capacity of the building, and even advocated students attending school on Saturday.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">6]<br /></span><span data-contrast="auto"> <br /></span><span data-contrast="auto">Although the official school board policy of public school segregation ended in 1947[</span><span data-contrast="auto">7]</span><span data-contrast="auto">, Gary Roosevelt, like virtually all of Gary public schools, remained segregated by the adjustment of school district and individual school boundaries.</span><span data-contrast="auto"> The school district boundaries </span><span data-contrast="auto">were based</span><span data-contrast="auto"> on the racial </span><span data-contrast="auto">mix</span><span data-contrast="auto"> of the various neighborhoods.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">8]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">Wirt’s</span><span data-contrast="auto"> Gary </span><span data-contrast="auto">Plan </span><span data-contrast="auto">was </span><span data-contrast="auto">mostly </span><span data-contrast="auto">abandoned</span><span data-contrast="auto"> in favor of more mainstream educational ideas</span><span data-contrast="auto"> and in response to severe overcrowding due to a post-WWII population explosion in Gary. Adherence to segregation</span><span data-contrast="auto"> enforced</span><span data-contrast="auto"> by neighborhood racial boundaries, no matter the amount of population growth, meant that for almost 20 years, Gary Roosevelt students attended classes in rented portable classrooms or attended half-day sessions</span><span data-contrast="auto"> in an effort to ease the extreme overcrowding</span><span data-contrast="auto">.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">9]<br /></span><span data-ccp-props="{"335559731":720,"335559739":160,"335559740":480}"> <br /></span>Teachers at Gary Roosevelt have educated generations of African American children for nearly a century. The school is now known as the Theodore Roosevelt College and Career Academy, a charter school for grades 7-12. The building formerly known as Theodore Roosevelt High School is listed on the National Register of Historic Places for its architectural importance, its role in the Progressive Era in education, and the integral part it played in Gary's segregated public school system.[10]</p>
<span>[1] </span><span>Indiana NPS Roosevel</span><span>t, Theodore, High School. National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. National </span><span>Park Service</span><span>. Accessed February 21, 2020.<br /></span><span>[2] </span><span>“Protest Walkout Grows” </span><span>Gary Post Tribune</span><span>, 27 September 1927.<br /></span><span>[3] </span><span>Cohen, Ronald D., </span><span>The Dilemma of School Integration in the North: Gary, Indiana, 1945</span><span>-</span><span>1960</span><span>. </span><span>Indiana Magazine of History </span><span>Vol. 82, No. 2 (June 1986):161</span><span>-</span><span>184.<br />[</span><span>4] </span><span>Indiana NPS Roosevelt, Theodore, High School.<br />[5] Wirt manuscripts, 1899-1957. Archives Online at Indiana University. http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/findingaids/view?doc.view=entire_text&docId=InU-Li-VAD7202. Accessed February 26, 2020.<br />[6] The Public School System of Gary, Indiana. Public Administration Service 1955. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015039523116&view=1up&seq=25. Accessed April 2019.<br />[7] “A Challenge to Integration: The Froebel School Strikes of 1945.” Indiana History Blog. https://blog.history.in.gov/a-challenge-to-integration-the-froebel-school-strikes-of-1945. Accessed February 26, 2020.<br />[8] Cohen, Ronald D.<br />[9] Ibid.<br />[10] Indiana NPS Roosevelt, Theodore, High School. </span>
Student Authors: Jake Bailey and Robin Johnson
Faculty Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
PHOTO & VIDEO:<br /><br />Theodore Roosevelt High School, attributed to T. Tolbert, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons <br />https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Theodore_Roosevelt_High_School,_Gary_Indiana.jpg <br /><br />PHOTO & VIDEO:<br />Roosevelt High School, attributed to Nyttend, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Roosevelt_High_School,_Gary.jpg
<a href="https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/12001059" target="_blank" rel="noopener">National Register of Historic Places</a>
Samuel Plato
<p><span data-contrast="auto">Samuel Plato was an African American architect that lived</span><span data-contrast="auto"> and worked</span><span data-contrast="auto"> in Marion, Indiana between 190</span><span data-contrast="auto">2</span><span data-contrast="auto"> and 1921. He was born in Alabama in 1882 when Jim Crow laws legalized segregation and</span><span data-contrast="auto"> often</span><span data-contrast="auto"> incited</span><span data-contrast="auto"> racial violence. </span><span data-contrast="auto">He</span><span data-contrast="auto"> broke </span><span data-contrast="auto">racial barriers by</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">graduating from</span><span data-contrast="auto"> State University Normal School in Louisville</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">in 1902.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">1]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> He was a member of Phi Beta Sigma, an African American fraternity. He then completed a program in architecture with International Correspondence Schools.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">2]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-ccp-props="{"335559740":480}"> <br /> <br /></span><span data-contrast="auto">Plato moved to Marion</span><span data-contrast="auto"> in 1902 to work as an architect, at a time when the Ku Klux Klan recorded around half a million of members in Indiana</span><span data-contrast="auto">.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">3]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> He quickly found support from</span><span data-contrast="auto"> wealthy Marion</span><span data-contrast="auto"> business owners John Schaumleffel and </span><span data-contrast="auto">J. </span><span data-contrast="auto">Wood</span><span data-contrast="auto">row</span><span data-contrast="auto"> Wilson.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">4] </span>Plato<span data-contrast="auto"> worked</span><span data-contrast="auto"> to open up building trade unions</span><span data-contrast="auto"> in</span><span data-contrast="auto"> Marion to </span><span data-contrast="auto">African American </span><span data-contrast="auto">workers, </span><span data-contrast="auto">who were previously excluded from the unions</span><span data-contrast="auto">.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">5]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">Plato</span><span data-contrast="auto"> was the first African American</span><span data-contrast="auto"> architect</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">to acquire a </span><span data-contrast="auto">government </span><span data-contrast="auto">contract to build a post office</span><span data-contrast="auto">, and during </span><span data-contrast="auto">his career, he would build </span><span data-contrast="auto">38 post offices across the country</span><span data-contrast="auto">.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">6]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> He promoted social progress in a white-dominated field by hiring both black and white workers on his projects</span><span data-contrast="auto">, creating training and jobs for African Americans.</span><span data-contrast="auto">[</span><span data-contrast="auto">7]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> <br /><br /></span><span data-contrast="auto">His most notable work</span><span data-contrast="auto">s in Indiana</span><span data-contrast="auto"> included the J. Woodrow Wilson House, </span><span data-contrast="auto">completed </span><span data-contrast="auto">in 1922. This 15-room mansion, located in Marion, was built for business owner J. Woodrow Wilson. It </span><span data-contrast="auto">has also been</span><span data-contrast="auto"> known as the Hostess House and the Wilson-Vaughan House.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">8]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">Plato designed the</span><span data-contrast="auto"> Second Baptist Church in Bloomington</span><span data-contrast="auto"> which</span><span data-contrast="auto"> opened in 1913 and was “the first church built of stone by African Americans in Indiana.”[</span><span data-contrast="auto">9]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">He also designed the</span><span data-contrast="auto"> Swallow-Robin dormitory at Taylor University in Upland. This building was </span><span data-contrast="auto">slated for demolition</span><span data-contrast="auto"> in 1986 until it was found that Plato was the architect.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">10]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">His</span><span data-contrast="auto"> success </span><span data-contrast="auto">as </span><span data-contrast="auto">an architect and </span><span data-contrast="auto">his </span><span data-contrast="auto">f</span><span data-contrast="auto">ight for equality in the business sector brought him fame</span><span data-contrast="auto"> throughout Indiana.</span><span data-contrast="auto"> I</span><span data-contrast="auto">n August 1913, the </span><span data-contrast="auto">Indianapolis </span><span data-contrast="auto">African American newspaper </span><span data-contrast="auto">from Indianapolis</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><i><span data-contrast="auto">The Freeman </span></i><span data-contrast="auto">described Plato as a “colored man engaged in business (…), a contractor, who has built some of the finest houses in Marion.”[</span><span data-contrast="auto">11]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-ccp-props="{"335559731":708,"335559740":480}"> <br /><br /></span><span data-contrast="auto">In the early 1920s, Plato returned to Louisville, Kentucky to continue his architectural career. While there, Plato built the Temple AME Zion Church[</span><span data-contrast="auto">12]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> and the Virginia Avenue Colored School[</span><span data-contrast="auto">13]</span><span data-contrast="auto">, both on the National Register for Historic Places.</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">During World War</span><span data-contrast="auto"> II</span><span data-contrast="auto">, Plato moved back to Alabama.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">14]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> During this time, he was one of the few black contractors to build federal housing projects.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">15]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> His work was acknowledged and rewarded by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt in 1943 while she was on an inspection tour of </span><span data-contrast="auto">federal dormitories for war </span><span data-contrast="auto">workers in Washington, D.C.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">16]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> Plato revolutionized the architecture field </span><span data-contrast="auto">by helping to </span><span data-contrast="auto">end racial discrimination</span><span data-contrast="auto"> in architecture and the building trades</span><span data-contrast="auto">. </span><span data-ccp-props="{"335559731":708,"335559740":480}"> <br /><br /></span><span data-contrast="auto">His projects changed the face of Marion</span><span data-contrast="auto"> and Indiana</span><span data-contrast="auto">. </span><i><span data-contrast="auto">The Freeman, </span></i><span data-contrast="auto">declared</span><span data-contrast="auto">, “There is no more successful contractor in Grant County, yes, I dare say Indiana, than Mr. Plato.”[</span><span data-contrast="auto">17]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> Two of his Indiana buildings, the Wilson-Vaughan home in Marion[</span><span data-contrast="auto">18]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> and Second Baptist Church in Bloomington[</span><span data-contrast="auto">19]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> are on the National Register of Historic Places.</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">He is honored with an Indiana Historical Bureau marker in Marion that emphasizes his work sec</span><span data-contrast="auto">uring equal rights for African American workers in the building t</span><span data-contrast="auto">rades.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">20]</span><span data-ccp-props="{"335559731":708,"335559740":480}"> </span></p>
<span>[1] </span><span>“Plato, Samuel M.,” in</span><span>Encyclopedia of Louisville</span><span>, edited by John E. Kleber (Lexington: University Press of </span><span>Kentucky, 2001), </span><span>P.</span><span>708<br /></span><span>[2] </span><span>Bogert, Pen. “Samuel M. Plato: Building a Dream.” The Filson Historical Society. Accessed February 26, 2020.</span><span><br /></span><span>[3] </span><span>Jon Charles Smith,</span><span>The Architecture of Samuel M. Plato: The Marion Years, Grant County Projects, 1902</span><span>-</span><span>1921. </span><span>P.13<br /></span><span>[4] </span><span>Kielisch, Erik (March 4, 2005), "Plato's Influence Remains on </span><span>Campus: Works of Swallow Robin's Architect </span><span>Comes to the Archives",</span><span>The Echo: The Taylor University's School Newspaper</span><span>, Upland, IN, p.1 <br />[</span><span>5] </span><span>Bogert, Pen. <br /></span><span>[6] </span><span>Ibid. <br />[</span><span>7] </span><span>”Samuel Plato.” Indiana Historical Bureau. Accessed February 27, 2020.<br />[8] Hostess House. “Our Story.” Accessed February 26, 2020. <br />[9] "Our History." Second Baptist Church. Accessed February 27, 2020. <br />[10] Duke, Serena, Rachel Elwood, and David Kaspar. ”Finding Plato.” Taylor: A Magazine for Taylor University Alumni and Friends (Summer 2004). Taylor University. P.24.<br />[11] “Samuel M. Plato,”The Freeman (Indianapolis, Indiana), 9 August 1913<br />[12] Broadway Temple AME Zion Church. National Register for Historic Places. National Park Service. Accessed February 27, 2020. <br />[13] Virginia Avenue Colored School. National Register for Historic Places. National Park Service. Accessed February 27, 2020. <br />[14] Bogert, Pen. “Samuel M. Plato: Building a Dream.” The Filson Historical Society. Accessed February 26, 2020. <br />[15] “Plato, Samuel M.,” inEncyclopedia of Louisville, edited by John E. Kleber (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2001)<br />[16] ”First Lady inspects war worker’s homes.” Library of Congress. Accessed February 27, 2020. <br />[17] “Samuel M. Plato,”The Freeman (Indianapolis, Indiana), August 9, 1913<br />[18] J. Woodrow Wilson House. National Register for Historic Places, National Park Service. Accessed February 26, 2020. <br />[19] Second Baptist Church. National Register for Historic Places, National Park Service. Accessed February 27, 2020. <br />[20] ”Samuel Plato.” Indiana Historical Bureau. Accessed February 27, 2020. <br /></span>
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:
J. Woodrow Wilson House, attributed to Nyttend, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:J._Woodrow_Wilson_House.jpg
<a href="https://www.hostesshouse.org/our-story" target="_blank" rel="noopener">J. Woodrow Wilson House</a><br /><a href="https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/95001108" target="_blank" rel="noopener"></a><a href="https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/95001108">National Register of Historic Places: Second Baptist Church</a><br /><a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/4184.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker</a><br /><a href=" https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/80001596 " target="_blank" rel="noopener">National Register of Historic Places: Temple Zion AME Church</a>
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>
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>
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>
Fox Lake Resort
<p>Fox Lake Resort was the first and only resort established in Indiana catering to African American families, and one of only a few in the Midwest. In September 1924, a group of white Fort Wayne businessmen purchased land in Angola, Indiana, under the name of the Fox Lake Land Company. Their intention was to market the land to the growing Indiana African American community, specifically to African Americans in search of an independent resort where they would not be excluded. Almost all summer resorts at the time in Indiana excluded or severely limited the participation of African Americans. Advertisements described the resort as “a place of their own where they could escape the heat of the cities and enjoy the pleasures of summertime activities.”[1]</p>
<p>The first African American family to vacation there was that of Viola Reynolds in 1927. Reynolds was secretary at the Madam C.J. Walker Company, an Indianapolis cosmetic manufacturing business, which was the largest and most successful African American-owned business in the nation at that time. The Reynolds family was invited to buy a cottage from the Boyd family, a white family who had purchased land from the Fox Lake Land Company. News quickly spread about the resort, initially bringing in African American clientele mostly from Indianapolis, but soon bringing in visitors from cities within a day driving distance such as Detroit, Chicago, Toledo, Marion, and Fort Wayne.[2]</p>
<p></p>
<p>The Fox Lake resort was listed in the Negro Motorist Green Book, a book published annually by Victor H. Green that listed establishments that served African American patrons. The Green Book was published from 1936 to 1966, during which that resort was listed as “ANGOLA: Fox Lake Resort - 1 1/2 miles S. W. of Angola” in the 1941 edition.[3]</p>
<p>In its initial decade, Fox Lake residents were required to use a community water pump until wells could be built on the properties. Finally, in 1936 electricity arrived and 1938 saw the arrival of the Fox Lake Property Owners Association which organized trash removal, road maintenance, and the like. By the 1940s, the resort’s clubhouse hosted many well known musicians. The resort also boasted recreational amenities including tennis courts, horseshoe pits, and basketball hoops.[4] Saddle horses were also available until the early 1950s. Other activities included trap shooting matches, weekly Family Night at the restaurant, and Sunday school held on the beach under the trees.[5]</p>
<p>For the African American youth that lived within driving distance, the resort served as a recreational destination for beach swimming, dancing, and socializing. During World War II, African American troops stationed at nearby Baer Field in Fort Wayne were invited to enjoy the resort on their free weekends. In addition, a variety of meetings of African American fraternal organizations, churches, and alumni groups were also held at the resort.[6]</p>
<p>In the present day, Fox Lake Resort is still a flourishing African American community. Traditions dating back to the 1930s remain upheld by second and third generation lake cottage owners.[7] A portion of Fox Lake Resort, with 27 contributing single dwelling cottages, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (since 2001) as a historic district.[8]</p>
[1] Ronald J. Stephens. FOX LAKE, ANGOLA, INDIANA (1927- ), 2014. Accessed April 29, 2020. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/fox-lake-angola-indiana-1927/ <br />[2] Ronald J. Stephens. <br />[3] Smithsonian Institution. The Negro Motorist Green Book, 2017. Accessed April 29, 2020. https://edan.si.edu/transcription/pdf_files/7955.pdf <br />[4] Ronald J. Stephens. <br />[5] National Register of Historic Places. Fox Lake Angola, Indiana, 2002. Accessed April 29, 2020. https://www.nps.gov/nr/feature/afam/2002/foxlake.htm <br />[6] National Register of Historic Places. <br />[7] National Register of Historic Places. <br />[8] United States Department of the Interior. National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, 2001. Accessed April 29, 2020. https://secure.in.gov/apps/dnr/shaard/r/22fce/N/Fox_Lake_Steuben_CO_Nom.pdf
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:
Fox Lake Resort, 760 Lane 130, attributed to MrHarman, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fox_Lake_Resort,_760_Lane_130_(NRHP),_Angola,_IN.jpg
Fox Lake, West End, (Angola), Ind., Indiana Historical Society, P0408.
https://images.indianahistory.org/digital/collection/p16797coll72/id/1038/rec/45
<a href="%20https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/01000360">National Register of Historic Places</a>
Ralph Waldo Emerson High School
<p>Ralph Waldo Emerson High School was the first high school built in Gary, Indiana. Emerson High School was constructed in 1909 by St. Louis architect William Ittner.[1] William A. Wirt, superintendent of Gary school systems, played a large part in designing the building. Desiring to implement his innovative “Work-Study-Play” philosophy of education, in which students took vocational and athletic classes along with traditional high school courses, Wirt required the building to contain amenities such a foundry, large gymnasium, and printing shop. The three-story school building was intended to be a “total learning environment,” separated physically from the growing industrial city by a park and surrounding athletic fields.[2] While the design and teaching methods employed at Emerson were cutting edge for the time period, the school largely failed to provide for the educational needs of Gary’s growing population. Upholding policies of segregation, the school prevented most African Americans from joining the student body. In 1927, when 18 African American students transferred to Emerson High School, tensions boiled over, and white students staged a school walkout to protest the admittance of their African American classmates.[3]</p>
<p>Since Gary’s founding by the United States Steel Corporation in 1906, the city’s public schools had been segregated by residential boundaries and school board policies. As the African American population began to grow during the 1920s, African American families were sequestered into crowded, low-income neighborhoods. “The Patch,” later named Midtown, was one such neighborhood. The only school in The Patch, located on Virginia Street, could not meet the needs of its many students and was overcrowded by the late 1920s. In an effort to alleviate the school and push educational reform, Superintendent Wirt decided to allow 18 African American honor roll students to transfer to Emerson High School.[4]</p>
<p>On September 19, 1927, the 18 African American students entered Emerson High School for the first time. Superintendent Wirt did not expect the strong backlash that quickly followed. Within the first week, the new students began receiving harsh threats from their white classmates. According to former student Hazel Bratton Sanders, “the white students would line up on both sides of the sidewalk and stretch their arms over us.” As the African American students were forced to walk under them like an arch they yelled insults like “'Go away, darkies. This isn't your school.'”[5] The students were also subject to verbal abuse, and many were pushed and spit on by white students.[6]</p>
<p>Fearing that the admittance of the African American students would lead to more integration, white students and families planned a mass demonstration. On September 26, 1927, approximately 600 white students staged a school walkout at Emerson High School and refused to return until the African American students were removed. Protests continued for multiple days, and by Wednesday, over 1350 participants were involved.[7] Superintendent Wirt attempted to threaten the strikers, but the all-white school board sided with the demonstrators. The protests ended when the school board struck a deal with white protesters. Rather than integrating Emerson High School, the city would build an all-African American school and send the African American students back to their old school in “The Patch.”[8]</p>
<p>Three students appealed the decision to gain re-admittance into Emerson High School, but their appeal was denied. The new school for African American students, Theodore Roosevelt High School, was built in the center of Midtown and opened in 1931. For the students mistreated at Emerson in 1927, Roosevelt High School came too late. Although Roosevelt was a beautiful facility with many amenities, the decision to build the all-African American school in favor of integrating existing schools perpetuated the segregation of Gary public schools.[9]</p>
<p>Emerson High School was officially integrated in 1948, but the trauma sustained by the African American students never faded.[10] Due to Superintendent Wirt’s pioneering work in educational reform, Emerson High School has been deemed historically significant and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1995.[11] Declining enrollment in the 1970s, was the impetus for the transition into a magnet school in the early 1980s. With inadequate funds to maintain the building, the school board made the difficult decision to close Emerson School for the Visual and Performing Arts in 2008, just one year shy of the building’s centennial anniversary. Since its closure, the historic school has stood empty, quickly decaying due to the weather and vandalism.[12] While the building is listed under the National Register, there are currently no plans to restore the Emerson High School.[13]</p>
[1] Jerry Davich, “Is writing on wall for Gary's Emerson school?” Chicago Tribune, July 9, 2015, https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/opinion/ct-ptb-davich-dead-body-emerson-st-0710-20150709-story.html
[2] National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, “Emerson, Ralph Waldo, School,” United States Department of the Interior National Park Service, 1995, https://secure.in.gov/apps/dnr/shaard/r/217fb/N/Emerson_School_Lake_CO_Nom.pdf
[3] Carole Carlson, “Gary’s Roosevelt High was built for a growing city’s black students when schools resisted integration. Now it’s shuttered with an uncertain future,” Chicago Tribune, February 28, 2020, https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/ct-ptb-gary-roosevelt-history-st-0301-20200228-duwcmtbiqbeqpko76y7uw7u2mm-story.html
[4] Ibid.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Ibid.
[7] “Emerson School,” American Urbex, 2011, http://americanurbex.com/wordpress/?p=1370
[8] Carole Carlson, “Gary’s Roosevelt High was built for a growing city’s black students.”
[9] Ibid.
[10] Ibid.
[11] “Emerson, Ralph Waldo, School,” United States Department of the Interior National Park Service.
[12] “Emerson School of Gary, Indiana,” Sometimes Interesting, June 12, 2013, https://sometimes-interesting.com/2013/06/12/emerson-school-of-gary-indiana/
[13] Davich, “Is writing on wall for Gary’s Emerson school?”
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:
Ralph Waldo Emerson School in Gary, attributed to Nyttend, Public domain, via Wikimedia commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ralph_Waldo_Emerson_School_in_Gary.jpg
<a href="https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/95000702">National Register of Historic Places</a>
Division Street School, New Albany
In 1869, an Indiana law mandated that the public education of African American children be separate but equal.[1] To adhere to this law, in June 1884, the New Albany School Board authorized a new elementary school to serve the growing number of African-American children. Division Street School opened in 1885, a simple one-story wooden building with two classrooms.[2] Enrollment ranged from anywhere between 60 and 70 students in first through sixth grades. Improvements were made to the building over the years, including repairs after two fires in 1913 and 1922.[3] As in many segregated Indiana school districts in the early 20th century, former pupils recount how they had to walk past white schools on their way to their African American-only Division Street School. [4]
In 1944, the Division Street School was expanded to include seventh grade. In May 1946, the New Albany School Board voted to close the school and transferred the students to a different segregated elementary school.[5] Upon closing as a school, the building was used as a Veterans’ Affairs office. After a few years of vacancy, the New Albany-Floyd County Consolidated School Corporation used the building for a storage and maintenance facility for 40 years until 1999.[6]
After the community heard there were plans to tear the school down, they banded together to restore and preserve one of the oldest remaining African American schools in Indiana.[7] , [8] Organizing as the Friends of Division Street School, the restoration became a joint project with the New Albany-Floyd County School Corporation. The building was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2002, and was given a historical marker by the Indiana Historical Bureau in 2005. [9] One of the former classrooms houses an African American heritage museum, hosting educational programs and focusing on the importance of African American education in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The other room is set up as a 1920s classroom. The Division Street School still serves its educational function, as every fourth-grader in the New Albany-Floyd School District spends a day in the 1920s classroom to experience its history and significance on-site.[10] The Division Street School also serves as a community building and is a source of pride for New Albany residents as one of the most visible preservation efforts in New Albany.[11] “We think it is a real crown jewel for race relations and goodwill in this community,” said Victor Megenity, director of Division Street School. [12]
[1] “Division Street School Historic Marker.” Indiana Historical Bureau. Accessed September 14,2020. https://www.in.gov/history/markers/479.htm
[2] Alex Covington, Jacob Burress, Trish Nohalty, and Tommy Skaggs, “Division Street School,”Discover Indiana, accessed September 14, 2020, https://publichistory.iupui.edu/items/show/111.
[3] Dreistadt, Laura. National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form: Division Street School. Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana. Jeffersonville, Indiana. October 15, 2001. Accessed September 14, 2020. https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/a2459f57-29ba-4162-a9b0-56c2c078cb31
[4] Goforth, Melissa. “At New Albany’s Division Street School, unity is found: Ice cream social celebrated historic significance.” News and Tribune. Jeffersonville, Indiana. July 8, 2018. Accessed September 14, 2020. https://www.newsandtribune.com/news/at-new-albanys-division-street-school-unity-is-found/article_fb2d70a2-82e3-11e8-b2ae-4f0c4fbf9b50.html and https://www.newsandtribune.com/multimedia/video-inside-division-street-school/video_a3d7a838-b3c2-5f5d-b567-0675a1d521e4.html
[5] Dreistadt, Laura.
[6] Alex Covington, Jacob Burress, Trish Nohalty, and Tommy Skaggs.
[7] Goforth, Melissa.
[8]“2-Room school being revived.” The Indianapolis Star. January 6, 2001.
[9] “Division Street School Historic Marker.” Indiana Historical Bureau. Accessed September 14,2020. https://www.in.gov/history/markers/479.htm
[10] Goforth, Melissa.
[11] “Preserve America: New Albany, Indiana.” Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. Accessed September 14, 2020. https://www.achp.gov/preserve-america/community/new-albany-indiana
[12] Goforth, Melissa.
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:
Division Street School, attributed to Bedford, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Division_Street_School.jpg
<a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/479.htm">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker</a><br /><a href="https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/02000193%20">National Register of Historic Places</a>
Lyles Consolidated School
Lyles Station, an African American town in Gibson County, was founded by Joshua and Sanford Lyles in 1849. The two were freed men, formerly enslaved in Tennessee. At the turn of the twentieth century, Lyles Station was at its peak, with a population of 600, and boasted a railroad station, a post office, a lumber mill, two general stores, two churches, and elementary school. Much of the town was destroyed by a flood that occurred in 1912. [1] Even after the floods, Lyles Station still remained one of the most intact African American settlements in the state,[2] as one of the few communities in Indiana where freed African Americans bought land and settled before the Civil War. [3]
In 1865, the first schools were created in Lyles Station. There were a total of three subscription schools, where each student’s family paid a monthly “subscription” or tuition directly to the teacher. This monthly fee could range from $1 to $1.50.[4] Lyles Consolidated School was built in 1919 merging the three subscription schools. Lyles Consolidated School produced high-achieving graduates until it closed in 1958, including Alonzo Fields, chief butler for Presidents Hoover, Roosevelt, Truman and Eisenhower[5] , and Matthias Nolcox, the first principal of Indianapolis’ Crispus Attucks High School.[6]
Lyles Consolidated School enrolled white students in 1922. That same year, a white student was punished by an African American teacher, setting off disagreements about the severity of the punishment. Soon after, all white students were transferred to school in nearby Princeton. Due to desegregation issues such as this, Lyles Consolidated School remained a segregated African American school until 1958.[7]
A very dark chapter of Lyles Consolidated School’s history occurred in 1928. Ten African American students were chosen by county health officials to be part of what was touted as a treatment study for ringworm of the scalp. Unbeknownst to their parents, the students were not given ringworm treatment, but instead were experimentally exposed to high levels of radiation. The extreme radiation caused disfiguring scars, head malformations, physical complications, and emotional trauma that many of the victims dealt with the rest of their lives.[8] Like the 40-year Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the African American Male study[9] , the radiation treatment of these 10 students is an example of how minority and underrepresented populations were part of unethical and illegal experimentation in the early twentieth century. [10] Many years later one of the Lyles Consolidated School radiation victims, Vertus Hardiman, spoke out about his ongoing physical and mental trauma from the radiation. His story was featured in the 2011 documentary Hole in the Head: A Life Revealed. [11]
After closing in 1958, the school became a collapsing ruin over the next decades. Community members formed the Lyles Station Historic Preservation Corporation in 1998 to rescue the building, which was listed as one of Indiana’s Ten Most Endangered Places by the Historic Landmarks Foundation. The schoolhouse was listed in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1999, and building restoration began in 2001.[12] The schoolhouse now operates as the Lyles State Historic School & Museum. It tells the story of rural African American life in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and functions as a living-history classroom, [13] The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture recognized the community of Lyles Station in 2016, and features artifacts from the community. [14]
In addition to being on the NRHP, Lyles Station and Lyles Consolidated School were commemorated with an Indiana Historical Bureau marker in 2002. As then Senator Evan Bayh said in 2001, when announcing a major federal grant for the restoration of Lyles Consolidated School, “At its peak, Lyles Station was renowned as a place for African American freedom and equal opportunity in education and commerce. As one of Indiana’s most valuable treasures, it is vitally important that we preserve Lyles Station and help maintain it as a living symbol of African American pride, determination, and accomplishment.” [15]
[1] “Telling the Story of Lyles Station, a Rural African American Community” Indiana Landmarks. March 7, 2017. Accessed September 7, 2020. https://www.indianalandmarks.org/2016/06/telling-the-story-of-lyles-station/
[2] “Lyles Station Historic Marker.” Indiana Historical Bureau. Accessed September 7, 2020. https://www.in.gov/history/markers/424.htm.
[3] Montgomery, David. “A Pre-Civil War Haven for Free Blacks Is Now Honored in the African American Museum.” The Washington Post. WP Company, September 25, 2016. Accessed September 7, 2020. https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/for-the-people-of-lyles-station-ind-a-trip-to-the-african-american-museum-lets-them-witness-their-legacy/2016/09/25/1e84db02-8279-11e6-b002-307601806392_story.html .
[4] “Once Thriving Predominately Black Town, Lyles Station, Ind., Revisited.” Indianapolis Recorder, January 18, 1984. (pg. 21). Accessed September 7, 2020. https://newspapers.library.in.gov/?a=d&d=INR19840218-01.1.21&srpos=2&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-%22Lyles+Consolidated+School%22------
[5] “Telling the Story of Lyles Station, a Rural African American Community”
[6] “Once Thriving Predominately Black Town, Lyles Station, Ind., Revisited.”
[7] Zent, Julie. National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form: Lyles Consolidated School. Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana. November 15,1998. Accessed September 7, 2020. https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/67f3c96f-a888-4036-8a10-1341ed50b682
[8] “VUJC to Show Documentary on Horrific Radiation Experiments That Occurred in Southern Indiana.” Dubois County Free Press, October 29, 2012. Accessed September 9, 2020. https://www.duboiscountyfreepress.com/vujc-to-show-documentary-on-horrific-radiation-experiments-that-occurred-in-s-indiana/
[9] The Tuskegee Timeline. U.S. Public Health Service Syphilis Study at Tuskegee. Accessed October 4, 2020. https://www.cdc.gov/tuskegee/timeline.htm
[10] “VUJC to Show Documentary on Horrific Radiation Experiments That Occurred in Southern Indiana.”
[11] Lim, Vincent. “A Documentary with the Power to Save Lives.” USC News. University of Southern California, March 5, 2013. Accessed September 9, 2020. https://news.usc.edu/47522/a-documentary-that-has-the-power-to-save-lives/
[12] “Lyles Station Historic Marker.”
[13] “Telling the Story of Lyles Station, a Rural African American Community”
[14] “National Museum of African American History and Culture to Visit Historic Black Indiana Family Community for Collection Event”, April 27, 2016. Accessed October 4, 2020. https://nmaahc.si.edu/about/news/national-museum-african-american-history-and-culture-visit-historic-black-indiana-farming
[15] “Bayh, Lugar and Carson secure funds for historic Lyles Station School.” The Muncie Times. November 1, 2001. Accessed October 4, 2020, https://newspapers.library.in.gov/?a=d&d=BALLMT20011101-01.1.28&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-------
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:
Lyles Station School, Indiana Historical Society, P0500.
https://images.indianahistory.org/digital/collection/p16797coll72/id/746/rec/100
Lyles Station, attributed to Kmweber, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8a/Lyles_Station.jpg
<a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/424.htm">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker </a><br /><a href="https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/99001111">National Register of Historic Places</a>
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>
Allen Chapel AME Church, Terre Haute
The Allen Chapel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church was founded in 1837 as the first African American church in Terre Haute and in western Indiana. It is named after Richard Allen, a former enslaved person who founded the AME Church in Philadelphia in 1787.[1] During slavery, Allen Chapel AME was part of the Underground Railroad, as its location near the Wabash River provided fugitive slaves food and shelter before moving further north.[2] ,[3] In 1845, before African American children were permitted to attend public schools, Allen Chapel was one of the oldest buildings used to educate African American children in Indiana. [4] Allen Chapel played an integral part in early civil rights and equal representation of African Americans. The minister who started the Allen Chapel school, Hiram Rhoads Revels, later served as the first U.S. African American senator, representing Mississippi. James Hinton, the first African American in the Indiana legislature, attended Allen Chapel school.[5] In 1886, abolitionist leader Frederick Douglass visited Terre Haute on two occasions to help raise funds for Allen Chapel. [6]
In 1913, lightning struck the church, causing a fire. Church members were able to rescue some pews and altar pieces, as well as save the entire lower level. Church services were conducted in a tent while the church underwent reconstruction. Allen Chapel was considered the leading African American church in Terre Haute through the 1960s. Many from the surrounding neighborhood attended the church, with a congregation reaching over 200. The church building provided the surrounding community a place to gather and meet. [7] Allen Chapel hosted baseball star Jackie Robinson, who spoke to the congregation about his experience as the first African American player in Major League Baseball. [8]
In recognition of its historical and cultural significance, Allen Chapel was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.[9] During the last half of the twentieth century, the number of congregants sharply declined, due mostly to the urban redevelopment of the surrounding neighborhood that began in the1960s. [10] The dwindling congregation could not keep up with the needed building repairs, and demolition of the historic building became likely. Various community members came together to save Allen Chapel, which was an irreplaceable symbol of the African American heritage of the community. In 1997, the Friends of Historic Allen Chapel AME formed to raise the necessary funds in order to preserve the building. [11] The Friends group was awarded a Historic Preservation Fund grant in 2017 from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Division of Historic Preservation & Archaeology to help preserve the building. In 2019, the Friends received the Outstanding Grant-Assisted Rehabilitation award for their restoration work.[12] To this day, Allen Chapel remains an active place of worship and open to the public.
[1] Yaël Ksander, “Neighborhood Church, Living Monument,” Moment of Indiana History – Indiana Public Media, October 11, 2010, https://indianapublicmedia.org/momentofindianahistory/neighborhood-church-living-monument/.
[2] Sue Loughlin, “Allen Chapel AME Celebrates Milestone of 175 Years,” Tribune-Star, Updated January 11, 2015, https://www.tribstar.com/news/local_news/allen-chapel-ame-church-celebrates-milestone-of-175-years/article_2c83c8f7-bc7c-5299-8dbe-28ca7130868a.html.
[3] Yaël Ksander
[4] Sue Loughlin
[5] Yaël Ksander
[6] Sue Loughlin
[7] Sue Loughlin
[8] Yaël Ksander
[9] National Register of Historic Places, Allen Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church, Terre Haute, Vigo County, Indiana, National Register #75000030. https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/75000030
[10] Allen Chapel A.M.E. Church in Wabash Valley Profiles, July 28, 2005. Indiana Memory Hosted Digital Collections. https://indianamemory.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/vchs/id/392
[11] Sue Loughlin
[12] Lisa Trigg, “Friends of Allen Chapel AME to Be Honored,” Tribune-Star, April 3, 2019, www.tribstar.com/news/local_news/friends-of-allen-chapel-ame-to-be-honored/article_3204c66d-8ad1-52a4-9b2f-60eb32112e75.html.
Student Author: Phillip Brooks
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
PHOTO & VIDEO:
Allen Chapel AME in Terre Haute, attributed to Nyttend, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Allen_Chapel_AME_in_Terre_Haute.jpg
<a href="https://catalog.archives.gov/id/132005029">National Register of Historic Places</a>
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>
Sheriff’s Residence and Jail, Evansville
Tensions between African Americans and white individuals were already high in Evansville in 1903, when they boiled over on July 3. An African-American man known as Robert Lee or Lee Brown, reportedly left a bar with an unpaid tab, intending to kill another man with whom he had quarreled with earlier in the day [1]. The bartender, who had followed Lee out of the bar, flagged down police patrolman Louis N. Massey and informed him about what he had witnessed. Massey followed Lee for a distance before attempting to arrest him, and when he grabbed Lee by the shoulder, Lee turned and fired at Officer Massey. Massey was able to fire back at and hit Lee, who was wounded and arrested [2]. Officer Massey died later that evening. When the Evansville community found out that one of its police officers was killed by an African American man, leaving behind his wife and children, riots ensued [3].
Early in the morning following Officer Massey’s death, 100 to 150 white Evansville residents surrounded the police station, demanding for the sheriff to hand over Lee to be hanged [4]. The sheriff refused, and secretly escorted Lee through the underground tunnel that ran between the police station and courthouse to send Lee on a train to the nearby Vincennes jail to be protected. Lee died several days later in custody as a result of the gunshot wound inflicted by Massey [5]. The white Evansville crowd, growing into the thousands, grew restless while waiting for Lee and became more violent as people swarmed the police station [6]. Mobs broke into hardware stores and stole guns and ammunition, along with tools to break open the windows and doors to the jail. On their way back to the jail, word spread that several African American men had gathered at two saloons nearby and were firing down on people as they passed on the street. The mob attacked both saloons and fired at the African American men, but nobody was injured in the attacks [7].
Fearing for the safety of the citizens in Evansville, the sheriff pleaded with the Indiana governor to send help. At the same time as more and more people gathered and became increasingly violent, the Wallace Circus was also coming to town, increasing the confusion [8]. By the time the mob returned to the jail, the Indiana governor had declared martial law and sent 300 members of the National Guard to wrest control from the mob and restore peace to Evansville. Following the mob’s slow advance towards the jail, the tension was finally broken by gunfire. Although there is debate about which side fired first, in the end, both the mob and the National Guard were using their weapons [9]. After the smoke had cleared and the shots ceased firing, “thirty-one wounded and dead laid on the pavement,” two of whom were 15-year old children, one a girl and the other a boy.10 The mob quickly dispersed, and finally, after several days of heated conflicts, the violence subsided as families grieved their losses and tended to those who were wounded.
Today, the jail and sheriff’s residence are still connected by a tunnel to the Evansville courthouse, which was built in 1890 [11]. The jail is made of Indiana limestone with 18th-century inspired architecture. In 1970, the old sheriff’s residence and jail were listed in the National Register of Historic Places, and in 2007, a historical marker commemorating the jail’s construction and its connection to the courthouse was installed by the Indiana Historical Bureau [12].
[1] “The City’s Crown of Shame: Evansville Awakens to the Awful Consequences of Her Seedtime of Folly,” Indianapolis Journal, July 8, 1903. Accessed July 8, 2020. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82015679/1903-07-08/ed-1/seq-1/#date1=1903&sort=relevance&rows=20&words=EVANSVILLE+Journal&searchType=basic&sequence=0&index=14&state=Indiana&date2=1903&proxtext=evansville+journal&y=6&x=10&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1
[2] Ibid.
[3] Kelley Coures. “Race Riot of 1903: Violence on Fourth Street Claimed 12 Lives,” Evansville Living, accessed July 8, 2020. http://www.evansvilleliving.com/articles/race-riot-of-1903
[4] “Race War Raging in Evansville: Indiana City is in the Hands of Mobs,” San Francisco Call, Vol 94(36). July 6, 1903. Accessed July 8, 2020. https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SFC19030706.2.4&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN--------1
[5] Kelley Coures.
[6] “Seven Killed in Evansville Riot: Mob, Bent upon Lynching of a Negro Murderer, is Met with Storm of Bullets and Retires,” Minneapolis Journal, July 7, 1903. July 8, 2020. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045366/1903-07-07/ed-1/seq-1/#date1=07%2F06%2F1903&index=8&rows=20&searchType=advanced&language=&sequence=0&words=EVANSVILLE+RIOT&proxdistance=5&date2=07%2F31%2F1903&ortext=&proxtext=&phrasetext=Evansville+Riot&andtext=&dateFilterType=range&page=1
[7] “The City’s Crown of Shame: Evansville Awakens to the Awful Consequences of Her Seedtime of Folly.”
[8] “Seven Killed in Evansville Riot: Mob, Bent upon Lynching of a Negro Murderer, is Met with Storm of Bullets and Retires.
[9] “They City’s Crown of Shame: Evansville Awakens to the Awful Consequences of Her Seedtime of Folly.”
[10] “Seven Killed in Evansville Riot: Mob, Bent upon Lynching of a Negro Murderer, is Met with Storm of Bullets and Retires.”
[11] “Sheriff’s Residence and Jail,” Indiana Historical Bureau, accessed July 8, 2020. https://www.in.gov/history/state-historical-markers/find-a-marker/sheriffs-residence-and-jail/
[12] “National Register of Historic Places Inventory – Nomination Form: Former Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Residence,” United States Department of the Interior National Park Service, July 1969. Accessed July 8, 2020. https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/c8581b91-c054-410a-816c-dea440b35a23/
Student Authors: Mary Swartz, Joel Sharp, and Emma Cieslik
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
PHOTO & VIDEO:
Former Vanderburgh County Sheriff's Residence, attributed to Nyttend, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Former_Vanderburgh_County_Sheriff%27s_Residence.jpg
<a href="https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fnpgallery.nps.gov%2FAssetDetail%2FNRIS%2F70000009&data=04%7C01%7Ctlhayes2%40bsu.edu%7Cf50cb3f79e4f468ffca508d8c874d982%7C6fff909f07dc40da9e30fd7549c0f494%7C0%7C0%7C637479751594079524%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=3H%2BK6TmUy0QQ4T6Gtqd%2BjVm%2FsEI8MF9pH%2F5rhu1LZ60%3D&reserved=0">National Register of Historic Places</a><br /><a href="https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.in.gov%2Fhistory%2Fstate-historical-markers%2Ffind-a-marker%2Fsheriffs-residence-and-jail%2F&data=04%7C01%7Ctlhayes2%40bsu.edu%7Cf50cb3f79e4f468ffca508d8c874d982%7C6fff909f07dc40da9e30fd7549c0f494%7C0%7C0%7C637479751594089515%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=iULSiUDdd162xPZ4iVeg7EQANsb37%2FDUtH4SbB0RnpI%3D&reserved=0">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker</a>
Pryor’s Country Place, Fox Lake
In the early 1900’s, African American families often lived in poverty as they were forced to move wherever labor jobs were available, living off very modest wages for exhausting, and often dangerous, work. This left families with little to no extra money for things like vacations or luxury goods. While the majority of African Americans in the early twentieth century lived in poverty conditions, a number of African Americans emerged as wealthy, influential members of society with disposable income. Despite this market, few white businessmen were willing to sell them goods or services. The growing demand for luxury amenities and attractions in the African-American community was soon filled by wealthy white investors, who began developing land targeted at this market. One example is Fox Lake, which was purchased and developed in the late 1920’s exclusively for use by African-Americans [1].
Built in 1927, Fox Lake included a dance hall, tennis courts, horseback riding trails, watersports, a bathhouse, piers, a barn and a small farmhouse, which was converted into a quaint hotel, Pryor’s Country Place, featured in the Green Book [2]. The Green Book was a 20th century motorist guide to establishments and towns that were safe for African-Americans to visit [3]. Pryor’s Country Place sites on five acres overlooking Fox Lake and is especially significant to the past and current owners of 32 Fox Lake cottages [4]. The cottages, nearly all of which were constructed before World War II, hold great historical and personal significance for the families who have been coming to Fox Lake for multiple generations. Pryor’s Country Place was a source of lively entertainment for wealthy individuals who owned vacation homes at Fox Lake [5],[6]. Pryor’s Country Place served as a getaway for African Americans of all walks of life, including teenagers, soldiers, famous athletes, even heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis. It offered these individuals and African American families a chance to escape from the racism that confronted them in their everyday lives and lines of work [7],[8].
Pryor’s Country Place has interesting historical connections to the past and present. For example, during prohibition, there was a still near the lakefront that manufactured liquor so Pryor’s Country Place could operate as a speakeasy [9]. Today, many residents of Fox Lake live in cottages that have been passed down through generations, including the prominent families of Freeman B. Ransom and Carl Wilson Sr., who is remembered by past and present residents as “the Father of Fox Lake" [10]. Wilson purchased the first plots of land available at Fox Lake and built three cottages, all overlooked by Pryor’s Country Place. He and his son, Carl Wilson Jr., continued to dedicate a large portion of their lives and wealth from Wilson Sr.’s successful exterminator business to the development of this “sanctuary of sorts for African Americans in the Midwest" [11]. Wilson Sr. played a major role in overseeing Fox Lakes’ development. He worked diligently throughout his life to shift power and ownership of Fox Lake primarily to African-Americans, effectively helping to organize the amenities like wells and trash pickup routes that the community still enjoys today [12].
The unique history of Pryor’s Country Place, and its historical and personal significance to the modern African American community in Fox Lake, supported its nomination to the National Register of Historic Places in 2001 [13]. Since then, however, Pryor’s Country Place has ended up on Indiana Landmarks’ list of “Indiana’s 10 Most Endangered” places twice. The first listing was in 2016, when the five-acre plot of land including Pryor’s Country Place went up for sale. Pryor’s Country Place is located in an area where developable premium lakeside property is becoming scarce, which worried members of the community [14]. In 2017, Indiana Landmarks placed it on their endangered list for a second time, with the intent to “identify a preservation-inclined buyer” in order to preserve its unique history [15].
[1] Mark S. Foster. “In the Face of “Jim Crow”: Prosperous Blacks and Vacations, Travel and Outdoor Leisure, 1890-1945,” Spring 1999. PDF accessed July 9, 2020 via JSTOR.
[2] “Fox Lake: Angola, Indiana,” National Register of Historic Places, 2002. Accessed July 9, 2020. https://www.nps.gov/nr/feature/afam/2002/foxlake.htm
[3] “Road Tripping in the Era of the Green Book,” Indiana Landmarks, March 10, 2017. Accessed July 9, 2020. https://www.indianalandmarks.org/2017/03/road-tripping-in-the-era-of-the-green-book/ [4] Darrin Wright. “Angola Building Among “Most Endangered” Landmarks,” May 2, 2017. Accessed July 9, 2020. https://www.wowo.com/angola-building-among-endangered-landmarks/
[5] “Fox Lake: Angola Indiana.”
[6] Angelica Robinson. “Hidden History: Fox Lake Grew from Era of Racism, Segregation,” February 12, 2018. Accessed July 9, 2020. https://www.wane.com/black-history-month/hidden-history-fox-lake-grew-from-era-of-racism-segregation/
[7] Ibid.
[8] “National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Fox Lake,” United States Department of the Interior National Park Service, March 6, 2001. Accessed July 9, 2020. https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/0c6b54b7-921f-4e4f-89c1-fa0f2eacaa13
[9] Ibid.
[10] Angelica Robinson.
[11] Ibid.
[12] Ibid.
[13] “Announcing Indiana’s 10 Most Endangered,” Indiana Landmarks, June 27, 2016. Accessed July 9, 2020. . https://www.indianalandmarks.org/2016/06/announcing-indianas-10-most-endangered/
[14] Ibid.
[15] “Pryor Country Place Returns to State 10 Most Endangered List,” KPC News Service, May 1, 2017. Accessed July 9, 2020. https://www.kpcnews.com/news/latest/heraldrepublican/article_09a978a1-454a-5a69-b7ad-4d041d3069f2.html
Student Authors: Joel Sharp and Emma Cieslik
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
PHOTO & VIDEO:
Pryor's Country Place, Angola, attributed to Indiana Landmarks, Public domain, via Flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/historic-landmarks-foundation-indiana/26631702516
<a href="https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fnpgallery.nps.gov%2FAssetDetail%2FNRIS%2F01000360&data=04%7C01%7Ctlhayes2%40bsu.edu%7Ca9ad6f224e4a4311ddae08d8c87acbdd%7C6fff909f07dc40da9e30fd7549c0f494%7C0%7C0%7C637479777153547548%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=qw9CYViDvGC6dh8XfMmdgZyf4H1725p%2F9pNsSFG1gag%3D&reserved=0">National Register of Historic Places</a>
Richmond High School Protests
Although Indiana mandated that public schools be desegregated in 1949, African American students continued to be subjected to unfair and unequal treatment in desegregated schools for decades longer [1]. At Richmond High School in 1971, one such incident shut down the high school for a week as a result of the racial divisions felt within the community. With a population of 4,000 African American citizens compared to over 38,000 white citizens in Richmond in the early 1970s, racial hatred and acts of bigotry were not uncommon in the community and the public school system [2]. In March 1971, white Richmond High School teacher John Dechant reportedly “man handled” an African American student while using racial slurs and derogatory language. The next day, on March 7, nearly 100 protestors marched outside the school in pursuit of equality, justice, and permanent reform [3].
The sole African American on the Richmond school board, Paul Patterson, immediately handed in his resignation following the board’s decision to acquit Dechant. The school board alerted police officers about the protest and every on-duty police officer in Richmond became involved. The protest was organized and heavily orchestrated by members of nearby Earlham College. Close to 70 Richmond High School students marched on the first day alongside other members of the community [4]. The intensity of the protest and the number of demonstrators grew throughout the week . The school board closed the doors of Richmond High School indefinitely on March 8 to protect the rest of the students after demonstrations led to 89 arrests and a large number of student suspensions [5].
Countless Earlham College students and faculty were arrested alongside some prominent members of the community, including George E. Sawyer, the lawyer who had called for Dechant’s dismissal [6]. Numerous people realized waiting for some “legal magic from Washington” was futile. Instead of focusing on legislation and administrative programs, Dr. Rachel Davis DuBois of Earlham College proposed that Richmond work on their local, personal relationships first. She proposed the creation of a “resources center for promoting dialogue.” The proposed solution would help bridge gaps between people of different races, economic class, age, and religious affiliation by promoting open communication. This proposal also suggested that the community, Richmond High School, and Earlham College would work together to proactively promote diversity and discussions rather than allowing problems to escalate as they did during the protests [7]. Finally, after a one-week closure following three days of protest, Richmond High School opened its doors back up to its students [8]. Dechant, the teacher involved in the altercation, was allowed to keep his job at Richmond High School, and he later resigned on his own accord [9].
The site of these week-long protests, Richmond High School, stands today as a prime example of Colonial Revival architecture and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places for its significance in education, architecture, and art [10]. Richmond High School principal Rae Woolpy remarked “The attention to detail, the craftsmanship – it’s beyond words,” after learning that the building was taking its “rightful place on the National Register of Historic Places” in 2015 [11].
[1] Sydney Hough Solomon, “Civil Rights & Earlham Archives,” Earlham Exhibits. Accessed July 9, 2020. https://exhibits.earlham.edu/exhibits/show/civil-rights/crmidwestedu
[2] “Richmond Board,” Indianapolis Recorder, March 20, 1971. Accessed July 9, 2020. https://newspapers.library.in.gov/cgi-bin/indiana?a=d&d=INR19710320-01.1.13&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-------
[3] Sydney Hough Solomon.
[4] Sydney Hough Solomon.
[5] “Richmond High School Opened this Week,” Indianapolis Recorder, March 27, 1971. Accessed July 9, 2020. https://newspapers.library.in.gov/cgi-bin/indiana?a=d&d=INR19710327-01.1.15&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-------
[6] Indianapolis Recorder, March 20, 1971.
[7] “A Proposal-For A Resource Center for Promoting Dialogue and Cooperation along Racial, Age and Religious Groups,” 1971. Accessed July 9, 2020. https://exhibits.earlham.edu/items/show/209.
[8] Indianapolis Recorder, March 27, 1971.
[9] Sydney Hough Solomon.
[10] “Richmond High School,” National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, United States Department of the Interior National Park Service, August 2015.
[11] Louise Ronald, “Richmond High School makes National List of Historic Sites,” Indiana Economic Digest. October 5, 2015. Accessed July 9, 2020. https://www.pal-item.com/story/news/education/2015/10/05/rhs-makes-national-list-historic-sites/73386678/.
Student Authors: Joel Sharp and Gwyneth Harris
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
PHOTO & VIDEO:
Richmond High School, Richmond, IN, attributed to Warren LeMay, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Richmond_High_School,_Richmond,_IN_(48500522411).jpg
<a href="https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fnpgallery.nps.gov%2FAssetDetail%2FNRIS%2F15000602&data=04%7C01%7Ctlhayes2%40bsu.edu%7C09d8fccc215d41c36a7108d8cbd4f94b%7C6fff909f07dc40da9e30fd7549c0f494%7C0%7C0%7C637483463321963779%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=n5eBqaKJ6spGqwsxErGp%2FjLzgYcIqiHpBXycaFxawHE%3D&reserved=0">National Register of Historic Places</a>
Grant County Jail
In Marion, Indiana on August 7, 1930, the horrific lynching of Abram Smith and Thomas Shipp exemplified the deep-rooted racism that was still present in Indiana at the time. On the night of August 6, Shipp, age 18, and Smith, age 19, convinced 16-year-old James Cameron to participate in an armed car holdup. As the three African American teenagers approached the targeted car, Cameron recognized the man inside as Claude Deeter, one of his shoeshine customers. Cameron’s connection to Deeter inspired him to leave the scene. He made it two blocks before he heard gunshots [1]. Shipp and Smith shot Deeter with his fiancée, Mary Ball, still in the car. Shipp, Smith, and Cameron were charged for the murder of Deeter and the alleged rape of Ball. However, Ball later retracted her claim that the men had raped her [2].
The details of the crime spread quickly throughout Indiana. White people from all over the state began to arrive at the Grant County Jail in Marion. Deeter died that same afternoon, and the fury towards Smith, Shipp, and Cameron fueled the formation of a mob outside of the jail. The mob requested the three young men be handed over to them, but the Sheriff denied the demand. The mob broke into the jail by using sledgehammers to break down the door [3]. Shipp was the first man to be forcibly removed from his cell. He was beaten and hanged from the window bars of the jail. Next, the crowd dragged Smith to the courthouse square, about a block from the jail, and hanged him from a tree in the courthouse square [4]. The violent mob then moved Shipp’s body from the jail to the courthouse, where they hung it next to Smith’s body. Moments before Cameron’s murder, with a noose around his neck and a mob at his heels, a voice in the crowd quieted the mob by yelling that Cameron was not involved in the shooting of Deeter and the accused rape of Ball. Thanks to the anonymous savior, Cameron survived the horrific night [5].
Photographer Lawrence Beitler captured an iconic image of the lynching and later sold it as a postcard [6]. The photograph shows the hanging bodies of Smith and Shipp while a crowd of white men and women smile, laugh, and point towards the bloodied bodies hanging above them. Among the lynching cases remembered by the Memorial for Peace and Justice, which opened in Alabama in 2018, the murder of Shipp and Smith is especially important in the nation’s history. The Marion lynching in 1930 was later than most other lynchings in the United States. It is especially shocking that the lynching occurred in Indiana, defying the notion that such horrific racism and violence was limited to the Deep South. The lynching’s photographic evidence illustrates the racism and intolerance that was still present in Indiana less than 100 years ago. This event was so culturally significant that it inspired a poem Strange Fruit by schoolteacher Abel Meeropol [7]. The poem has been performed musically by famous artists such as Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, and others [8].
The only survivor of the lynching, James Cameron, spent four years in prison, where he began his memoir, “A Time of Terror.” Cameron dedicated his life to informing and educating Americans on lynching and racism, and founded several NAACP chapters in Indiana [9]. He founded America’s Black Holocaust Museum, which opened in 2003 in Milwaukee. He died in 2006, at age 92 [10].
In 2018, Grant County commissioners and a group from nearby Huntington University proposed the idea of a memorial for Abram Smith and Thomas Shipp. After the idea was proposed, Shipp’s family voiced their opposition due to concerns about vandalization to the memorial. Smith’s family also opposed, stating “the only people it should really matter to is the family.” [11].
Grant County Jail still stands proudly in downtown Marion, but it no longer serves are the county’s jail. In 1990, it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places for its architectural and political significance at the turn of the twentieth century [12]. A visit to the site today offers no clues to the harrowing lynching that occurred on August 7, 1930.
[1] Mark Johnson, “A Story That Needs to Be Told,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, JS Online, July 8, 2005, https://archive.is/20070318085613/http:/www.jsonline.com/news/metro/jul05/339097.asp
[2] Rozen-Wheeler, Adam. “Marion, Indiana Lynching (1930),”Black Past, October 19, 2017, www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/marion-indiana-lynching-1930/.
[3] Talbot, Peter. “Confronting Truth: Marion, Indiana Struggles to Face History of 1930 Lynching.” Indiana Daily Student, 10 Dec. 2018, www.idsnews.com/article/2018/12/confronting-truth-marion-indiana-struggles-to-face-history-of-1930-lynching.
[4] Talbot, Peter. “Confronting Truth: Marion, Indiana Struggles to Face History of 1930 Lynching.”
[5] “The Lynching of Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith, 1930.” Rare Historical Photos, March 16, 2014, rarehistoricalphotos.com/lynching-thomas-shipp-abram-smith-1930/.
[6] Dawn Mitchell and Maureen C. Gilmer. “Last-Known Lynching in Indiana Included in National Memorial for Peace and Justice.” The Indianapolis Star, IndyStar, 26 Apr. 2018, www.indystar.com/story/news/history/retroindy/2018/04/26/last-known-lynching-indiana-included-national-memorial-peace-and-justice/553199002/.
[7] Poletika, Author Nicole. “Strange Fruit: The 1930 Marion Lynching and the Woman Who Tried to Prevent It.” The Indiana History Blog, May 15, 2018, blog.history.in.gov/strange-fruit-the-1930-marion-lynching-and-the-woman-who-tried-to-prevent-it/.
[8] Rozen-Wheeler, Adam. “MARION, INDIANA LYNCHING (1930).”
[9] Talbot, Peter. “Confronting Truth: Marion, Indiana Struggles to Face History of 1930 Lynching.”
[10] Dawn Mitchell and Maureen C. Gilmer. “Last-Known Lynching in Indiana Included in National Memorial for Peace and Justice.”
[11] Press, by: Associated. “Family of Grant County Lynching Victims against Proposed Memorial - WISH-TV: Indianapolis News: Indiana Weather: Indiana Traffic.” WISH, June 7, 2018, www.wishtv.com/news/family-of-grant-county-lynching-victims-against-proposed-memorial/.
[12] “Grant County Jail and Sheriff’s Residence,” National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination Form, United States Department of the Interior Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service, October 1990.
Student Authors: Gwyneth Harris and Teagan Hayes
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
PHOTO & VIDEO:
Grant County Jail and Sheriff's Residence, attributed to Nyttend, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Grant_County_Jail_and_Sheriff%27s_Residence.jpg
<a href="https://catalog.archives.gov/id/132003135">National Register of Historic Places</a>
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
Rogers Corner
W.H. Rogers opened his drugstore in Madison, Indiana in 1847. Located on the corner of West and Main Streets, Rogers Drug Store quickly became a prominent business in downtown Madison. While the business changed ownership multiple times over the years, it primarily stayed in the Rogers family. By 1964, the drugstore had transformed to Rogers Corner. The updated store featured a soda fountain and served ice cream, while maintaining its original drugstore. It was a well-known, popular place for the people of Madison to visit before and after basketball games and movies [1]. Many people fondly remember the days when they could stop in to laugh with friends over a soda or milkshake [2]. For the first century after its creation, however, Rogers Corner did not welcome all Madison citizens. Many African Americans remember Rogers Corner differently than the white residents of Madison.
The African American community was well established in Madison. Before and during the Civil War, Madison was a “hotbed of antislavery activity,” playing an important role in the Underground Railroad. After the war, African Americans continued to build the Black community in the city, primarily settling in the Georgetown Neighborhood [3]. In recent years, African Americans have recalled the blatant racism and segregation they faced as children in mid-twentieth century Madison.
African Americans had designated, segregated seats in the local theater, and were forced to go in the side door at restaurants and stores. Rogers Corner is remembered as being particularly strict with the side-door policy. African Americans were not allowed to sit and enjoy their ice cream inside Rogers, but instead had to leave the store immediately after purchasing their treats [4]. Allen Watson, born in Madison in 1952, explained that “the people that ran the drugstore didn’t want Black people there…it’s like we were good enough to buy something and pay for it, but we weren’t good enough to sit at the counter or sit in a booth, like everybody else did" [5]. Denise Carter, born in Madison in 1959, admitted there was a “zone of infamy” around Rogers. “Black people didn’t like to go there,” she said, “I remember going in there once and being watched real close, like I was somewhere I wasn’t supposed to be” [6]. On one occasion, another Black Madison native was simply turned away from buying ice cream at Rogers Corner as a child [7]. Eventually, African Americans were allowed to sit in the store, although they could not be served. They continued frequenting Rogers, until finally, in the 1960s, African Americans were allowed to sit in a booth and be served like white customers [8].
Today, the storefront on the corner of West and Main still proudly displays the label “Rogers Corner.” The location housed Rogers Corner Diner from 2000 to 2010, then was bought by a sports bar that still serves out of the old Rogers Corner [9]. The building is located in the expansive 130-block Madison Historic District, noted in both the National Register of Historic Places and as a National Historic Landmark for its fine examples of nineteenth century architecture and historical significance [10].
<a href="https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/show/275">Interview 5 with Allen Watson</a>
[1] “Shooter’s,” Madison’s Treasures Tours, Pocket Sights, accessed March 22, 2021, https://pocketsights.com/tours/place/Shooter%27s-16411.
[2] Don Ward, “Ratcliffs Buy Rogers Corner, Plan to Rebuild Soda Fountain,” RoundAbout, April 2000, http://www.roundaboutmadison.com/InsidePages/ArchivedArticles/2000/0400RogersCorner.html.
[3] “Madison Historic District,” National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior, accessed March 22, 2021, https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/madison/Madison_Historic_District.html.
[4] Don Wallis, All We Had Was Each Other (Indiana University Press, 1998), 116.
[5] Don Wallis, 125.
[6] Don Wallis, 132.
[7] Don Wallis, xiii.
[8] Allen Watson, interview by Carrie Vachon, April 12, 2019, Ball State University.
[9] “Shooter’s,” Madison’s Treasures Tours.
[10] “Madison Historic District,” National Register of Historic Places Inventory – Nomination Form,” United States Department of the Interior National Park Service, May 25, 1973, https://catalog.archives.gov/id/132003437.
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:
Mich Rd Start 19-10-16, attributed to Chris Light, Public domain, via Wikimedia commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mich_Rd_Start_19-10-16_221.jpg
<a href="https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/73000020">National Register of Historic Places</a><br /><a href="https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/madison/Madison_Historic_District.html">Madison Historic District National Historic Landmark</a><br /><a href="https://www.in.gov/history/state-historical-markers/find-a-marker/madison-historic-district/"> Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker</a>