Black Toledo: A Documentary History of the African American Experience in Toledo, Ohio

334 Pages·2017·4.979 MB·English

by  Abdul Alkalimat, Rubin Patterson

Black Toledo
Studies in
Critical Social Sciences
Series Editor
David Fasenfest (Wayne State University)
Editorial Board
Eduardo Bonilla-Silva (Duke University)
Chris Chase-Dunn (University of California-Riverside)
William Carroll (University of Victoria)
Raewyn Connell (University of Sydney)
Kimberlé W. Crenshaw (University of California, la, and
Columbia University)
Heidi Gottfried (Wayne State University)
Karin Gottschall (University of Bremen)
Mary Romero (Arizona State University)
Alfredo Saad-Filho (University of London)
Chizuko Ueno (University of Tokyo)
Sylvia Walby (Lancaster University)
VOLUME 117
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/scss
Black Toledo
A Documentary History of the African American
Experience in Toledo, Ohio
Edited by
Abdul Alkalimat
Rubin Patterson
LEIDEN | BOSTON
Cover illustration: As shown clockwise starting at the top left: Art Tatum (from the William P. Gottlieb col-
lection at the Library of Congress, public domain), Ella Stewart (© Toledo Blade (1983)), Wilbert “Skeeter”
McClure (© The Blade (2015)), Stagecoach Mary (Mary Fields, author unknown, public domain).
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Alkalimat, Abdul, editor. | Patterson, Rubin, editor.
Title: Black Toledo : a documentary history of the African American
experience in Toledo, Ohio / edited by Abdul Alkalimat, Rubin Patterson.
Description: Leiden ; Boston : Brill, 2018. | Series: Studies in critical
social sciences, ISSN 1573-4234 ; volume 117 | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017037826 (print) | LCCN 2017039146 (ebook) | ISBN
9789004281899 (E-book) | ISBN 9789004281882 (hardback : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: African Americans--Ohio--Toledo--History--Sources. | African
Americans--Ohio--Toledo--Social conditions--Sources. | Toledo (Ohio)--Race
relations. | Toledo (Ohio)--History.
Classification: LCC F499.T6 (ebook) | LCC F499.T6 B55 2018 (print) | DDC
305.896/073077113--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017037826
Typeface for the Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic scripts: “Brill”. See and download: brill.com/brill-typeface.
issn 1573-4234
isbn 978-90-04-28188-2 (hardback)
isbn 978-90-04-28189-9 (e-book)
Copyright 2018 by Koninklijke Brill nv, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Koninklijke Brill nv incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Hes & De Graaf, Brill Nijhoff, Brill Rodopi, Brill
Sense and Hotei Publishing.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise,
without prior written permission from the publisher.
Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill nv provided
that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite
910, Danvers, ma 01923, usa. Fees are subject to change.
This book is printed on acid-free paper and produced in a sustainable manner.
My dedication is to eight women of Black Toledo because their
friendship served as a major motivational force for my work on this book:
Odessa Lynch, Connie Howard, Deborah Hamilton, Renee’ Dunnavant,
Pauline Kynard, Gwen Briggs, Judy Jones and Thelma Williams.
Abdul Alkalimat
…
I dedicate this book to my lovely wife, Glenda, who passed away on
October 8, 2017. When we boarded the Amtrak to Toledo in 1992, with
only a few bags, we had no plans to remain there for more than twenty
years. In Toledo, while I was starting a new career as an academic at the
University of Toledo in the Sociology and Anthropology Department,
Glenda secured a part-time position teaching several anthropology
courses in the same Department. She did graduate work in medical and
biological anthropology at Howard University and at Wayne State
University. For over twenty years, collectively, she worked in the area of
community health at Detroit’s Karmanos Cancer Institute and at the
University of Michigan’s Medical School. A community-oriented person
through and through, Glenda worked tirelessly to improve the health of
members of black and under-resourced communities. For African
American females from working-class backgrounds, a Glenda Sneed
Fellowship in medical sociology will be established at Howard Univer-
sity and a Glenda Sneed Scholarship in health and environment will be
established at her alma mater, Carter High School in Dallas. Our love for
our professional work, which sought to make a difference in other people’s
lives, was only eclipsed by our love for one another and our dedication to
one another’s happiness. I miss my sweetie dearly.
Rubin Patterson
∵

Contents
Foreword XIII
Nikki M. Taylor
Acknowledgements XV
List of Illustrations XVI
1 Introduction 1
Abdul Alkalimat and Rubin Patterson
1.1 Three Key Theoretical Issues 2
1.2 How This Book Is Organized 4
1.3 How This Book May Be Used 6
2 Origin (1787–1900) 7
Abdul Alkalimat and Rubin Patterson
2.1 Founding Documents (Documents 1–5) 7
2.1.1 The First Law: The Northwest Ordinance (1787) 10
2.1.2 The Second Law: Ohio Black Laws (1804) 11
2.1.3 13th Amendment to the u.s. Constitution (1865) 13
2.1.4 Reconstruction: Civil Rights Act (1875) 13
2.1.5 Supreme Court Overturns Civil Rights Act (1883) 14
2.2 Dialectics of Settlement (Documents 6–14) 15
2.2.1 Underground Railroad in Toledo 16
2.2.2 Taking Boats to Freedom in Canada 16
2.2.3 Elijah Anderson: General Superintendent of the Underground
Railroad in Northwest Ohio 17
2.2.4 Lathrop House (1835–2005) 18
2.2.5 James Ashley’s Eyewitness Account of the Hanging of John
Brown (1859) 19
2.2.6 The Toledo Riot of 1862 25
2.2.7 Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth Speak in Toledo
(1864) 28
2.2.8 The Blade, the Black Man, and the Vote (1867) 29
2.2.9 Toledo School Desegregation (1871) 40
viii Contents
2.3 Emergence of a Community Vanguard (Documents 15–18) 41
2.3.1 Founding of Warren ame Church (1864) 42
2.3.2 Prince Hall Freemasonry in Toledo (1864) 44
2.3.3 Moses Fleetwood Walker (1857–1919) 49
2.3.4 Stagecoach Mary (1832–1914) 52
3 Formation of Community Life (1900–1950) 55
Abdul Alkalimat and Rubin Patterson
3.1 Economics of Survival (Documents 19–27) 56
3.1.1 Toledo’s Black Labor Force (1890–1910) 57
3.1.2 Black Population Growth 1910–1930 60
3.1.3 Industrial Status of Employment 1936 63
3.1.4 Neighborhood Segregation 64
3.1.5 Black Access to Housing (1940–1950) 65
3.1.6 Toledo’s Black Middle Class (1926) 70
3.1.7 Toledo’s Black Middle Class (1936) 71
3.1.8 The Pinewood Avenue District (1929) 73
3.1.9 East Toledo 77
3.2 Cultural Capital (Documents 28–31) 78
3.2.1 Paul Laurence Dunbar Reads in Toledo (1900) 78
3.2.2 Art Tatum Performs in Toledo 81
3.2.3 The Depression 83
3.2.4 The Culture of Black Baseball 85
3.3 Organization and Leadership (Documents 32–42) 90
3.3.1 The Frederick Douglass Community Center 90
3.3.2 Interracial Activities in Toledo (1922) 95
3.3.3 Club Life in Toledo (1900–1920) 97
3.3.4 Henrietta Society (1883–present) 98
3.3.5 Fighting the Toledo Klu Klux Klan (1915–1944) 101
3.3.6 Housing and Racial Violence (1929) 102
3.3.7 Blacks in Toledo Schools (1927) 104
3.3.8 J.B. Simmons: Toledo’s First Black Councilman 105
3.3.9 James Slater Gibson: A Lawyer Who Pursued Social Justice 110
3.3.10 Cornelius Edwoods: Publisher of The Observer Newspaper
(1920s) 115
3.3.11 Frances Alexander Belcher (1912–1963) 117
4 Community Development and Struggle (1950–2000) 119
Abdul Alkalimat and Rubin Patterson
Contents ix
4.1 Community and Consciousness (Documents 43–48) 121
4.1.1 Dorr Street: Toledo’s Black Downtown 121
4.1.2 A Report on Black Life in Toledo (1950s) 124
4.1.3 When the Projects Were New: Brand Whitlock
(1940s–1950s) 130
4.1.4 The Late 60s: Black Pain and Gain 135
4.1.5 House of Day Funeral Service 138
4.1.6 Henry’s Jeweler & Giftware 138
4.2 Culture and Education (Documents 49–69) 138
4.2.1 The Study Hour Club 140
4.2.2 Shops Promoted Afro-Culture (1968) 143
4.2.3 Rev. Al Reed Opens Negro History Book Store (1970) 144
4.2.4 Hines Farm Blues Club 145
4.2.5 Art Tatum and Toledo’s Popular Culture in the Twenties 149
4.2.6 Jon Hendricks First Begins Singing in Toledo 150
4.2.7 Murphy’s Place 151
4.2.8 wxts: Radio Jazz from High School 155
4.2.9 Tension at Scott after Negro Homecoming Queen Elected
(1957) 156
4.2.10 The Declaration of the ut Black Student Union (1970) 158
4.2.11 Hiring Blacks at tu (1986) 159
4.2.12 Flute Rice: First Black Principal of Scott High School (1968) 160
4.2.13 Afro Ball Celebrates Heritage (1981-present) 161
4.2.14 Crystal Ellis Named First African American Superintendent of
Toledo Schools 163
4.2.15 Wilbert “Skeeter” McClure 165
4.2.16 Chuck Ealey 168
4.2.17 Black Leadership: Sycophants and Taunters 169
4.2.18 Blacks at ut Protest “Injustice” 172
4.2.19 ut President Meets with Black Students (1994) 175
4.2.20 Jeff Johnson, Black Student Leader at ut (1994) 177
4.2.21 Abdul Alkalimat Appointed Head of Africana Studies at ut 178
4.3 Leadership and Vision (Documents 70–79) 180
4.3.1 Ardella Law Reed (1918–1989) 180
4.3.2 Ella P. Stewart (1893–1987) 183
4.3.3 Robert V. Franklin, Jr.: Leader in Law and Society 188
4.3.4 Civic Leader Cordelia Martin 189
4.3.5 Wayman Palmer 190
4.3.6 Black Panthers Patrol Dorr Street 192
4.3.7 Local Black Leaders Hail King Holiday (1983) 193