The Black Freedom Movement and Community Planning in Urban Parks in Cleveland, Ohio, 1945-1977
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THE BLACK FREEDOM MOVEMENT AND COMMUNITY PLANNING IN URBAN PARKS IN CLEVELAND, OHIO, 1945-1977 BY STEPHANIE L. SEAWELL DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History in the Graduate College of the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, 2014 Urbana, Illinois Doctoral Committee: Associate Professor Clarence Lang, Chair Professor Jim Barrett Professor Adrian Burgos Associate Professor Sundiata Cha-Jua Associate Professor Kathy Oberdeck ii Abstract African American residents of Cleveland, Ohio made significant contributions to their city’s public recreation landscape during the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements. Public parks were important urban spaces—serving as central gathering spots for surrounding neighborhoods and unifying symbols of community identity. When access to these spaces was denied or limited along lines of race, gender, sexuality, or class, parks became tangible locations of exclusion, physical manifestations of the often invisible but understood fault lines of power that fractured, and continues to fracture, urban landscapes. In Cleveland, black activists challenged these fault lines through organizing protests, developing alternative community-run recreation spaces, and demanding more parks and playgrounds in their neighborhoods. This dissertation considers five recreation spaces in Cleveland—a neighborhood park, a swimming pool, a cultural garden, a playground, and a community-run recreation center—in order to make three important interventions into the scholarship on black urban Midwest communities and postwar African American freedom struggles. First, this dissertation takes up spatial analysis of black activism for improved public recreation opportunities, and argues this activism was an important, if often understudied, component of broader Black Freedom Movement campaigns in the urban north. In particular, focusing on recreational spaces allows for a deeper consideration of how young people and children factored into Black Freedom Movement campaigns. Second this dissertation looks at the role of parks and playgrounds in black urban life, arguing that these spaces facilitated intra-racial class production and became significant sites for black participation in the urban public sphere. Finally, Cleveland is understudied in both post-War Black Freedom Movement studies and black urban studies, and this dissertation argues that the events that unfolded in Cleveland were important to understanding these broader national histories. iii Acknowledgements Thank you to Clarence Lang, whose guidance, insight and encouragement are reflected on every page of this dissertation. I could not imagine the past seven years without you! Thank you the rest of my committee to Sundiata Cha-Jua, Adrian Burgos, Jim Barrett and Kathy Oberdeck for their enthusiastic support of this project. And an extra thank you for Kathy for calling me while I was on hiking on top of a mountain to invite me to the University of Illinois— it is an invitation that changed my life. Thank you to the rest of the faculty that shaped this dissertation and my time at the University of Illinois—especially Dave Roediger, Erik McDuffie, Kevin Mumford, Mark Steinberg, Dianne Harris, Rebecca Ginsburg, Ruby Mendenhall and Lou Turner. And thank you to Antoinette Burton—our partnership during the past year has been a highlight of my time at the University of Illinois. Thank you to all the faculty and graduate student fellows of the 2012-2013 Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities (IPRH), as well as the 2012-2013 Newberry Library Urban History Dissertation Group, and the History Department’s Labor and Working Class History Reading Group for reading drafts of various parts of this work, providing invaluable insights, and making the entire project so much stronger. Thank you to the staff who make everything in the History Department possible— especially Elaine Sampson and Tom Bedwell. We are lucky to have you. Thank you to the research staff at the Western Reserve Historical Society Library, the Cleveland Public Library Public Administration Library and the Cleveland State Special Collections Library. This project would never have been completed without your suggestions on sources and help tracking down documents. iv Thank you to the faculty at IUPUI who helped set me on this path of thinking about public parks—Philip Scarpino, Owen Dwyer, Bob Barrows, and especially Annie Gilbert Coleman. Your insights on the importance of recreation and leisure helped shape my thinking on these topics. Thank you to Mr. Domokos who introduced me to a love of history in the fifth grade and gave me an example of excellent teaching I continue to strive toward. Thank you to Ashley Howard, Kerry Pimblott, Heidi Dodson, Dave Bates, and Alonzo Ward. Our conversations both in class and out of class have shaped how I view history and how I approached this project. Your friendships have shaped how I view and approach my life. Thank you to my wonderful cohort—especially Rachel Koroloff, Patryk Reid, Derek Attig, Jay Jordan and Simon Appleford, and to David Greenstein for all of the backyard barbecues. To Zack Poppel—a thank you is just not big enough. To my ladies—Natalie Uhl, Sarah Baires, and Christina De Angelo—thank you for of the dancing, the conversations and the good times, and for constantly reminding me what things really matter. And especially to Katie Walkiewicz who was my partner through all of this—I simply could not have done this without you. Thank you to the members of the Graduate Employees Organization—whose names are too many to list here—whose dedication to social justice gave my time at Illinois more meaning and greater joy than I ever expected. Also thank you to the ladies of the Bank—who kept me laughing with good memories all the way through this process. Thank you to Andrea who cheered me on tirelessly from Indiana, and Becca who cheered me on tirelessly from Ohio. v Thank you to my mom, Ann Marie, Zack, Zeb and Junie. I am the luckiest daughter, sister, and aunt in the world! And finally, thank you to Justus and the entire Fortado family for giving me a home in Illinois. Justus you saw me through the end of the project, and I cannot wait for whatever comes next. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………..…………………….………1 CHAPTER ONE: ‘THE BEST LOCATION IN THE NATION?’: A NARRATIVE OF CLEVELAND’S DEVELOPMENT……………………………..……………………...………28 CHAPTER TWO: RACE, RECREATION, AND COMMUNITY BUILDING: PORTLAND- OUTHWAITE…………………………………………………………………………….……..46 CHAPTER THREE: RACE, ETHNICITY, AND PUBLIC RECREATION IN THE SUBURBS: GARFIELD POOL……………………………………………………………….…………....99 CHAPTER FOUR: ETHNICITY, BLACK POLITICS, AND PUBLIC PARKS: ROCKEFELLER PARK AND CULTURAL GARDENS……………………………….…….153 CHAPTER FIVE: RACE, RECREATION AND THE CRIMINALIZATION OF PUBLIC SPACE: SOWINSKI PLAYGROUND………………………………………………….….….191 CHAPTER SIX: RACE, RECREATION, AND RIFLES: THE JOMO “FREEDOM” KENYATTA HOUSE………………………………………………………………….……....236 CHAPTER SEVEN: RACE, REBELLION AND PUBLIC PARK SPACE: ROCKEFELLER PARK AND CULTURAL GARDENS REVISTED….……….........................................…….289 CONCLUSION: RENAMING AND RECLAIMING BLACK PUBLIC PARK SPACES……………………………………………………………………….………….….…340 FIGURES………………………………………………………………………………..……...348 BIBLIOGRAPHY……………………………………………………………………………....374 1 INTRODUCTION In August 1976 the Call and Post, the weekly black newspaper for the city of Cleveland, Ohio, ran a photograph of a smiling African American boy of about four or five years of age, happily playing on a swing set outside an apartment building. The story accompanying the photo explained that this cheerful image was only made possible because of a more than fifteen-month rent strike led by the tenants of the Rainbow Terrace Apartments to improve conditions at the facility.1 The federally subsidized 486-unit complex had first been constructed between 1957 and 1961, and was located in the Kinsman neighborhood, an area in the south-central part of the city with a predominantly black population. In the decade and a half that followed construction, the complex was allowed to fall into ruin by the property managers and the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The lone recreational apparatus at the site had been reduced to a “rusty structure where there used to be a hoop and swings.” Only about 250 units remained occupied, as many of the first-floor apartments and two whole buildings in the complex stood empty of tenants and filled with trash. Rats and roaches plagued the residences, a lack of security lights made the tenants feel unsafe, and electrical and water services stopped intermittently. When in 1974 the management company sought to increase rents without addressing any of these problems, many of the tenants declared a rent strike.2 Led by tenant association president Marcella McIntyre, the strikers collected the rents of participating tenants and held them in a special fund until management answered demands for facility improvements. At the peak of the strike, more than 100 tenants participated, although the numbers fell below 90 as some left the facility to find other housing or tired of the protracted 1 “Rent Strike Brings Results To Rainbow Terrace,” Cleveland Call and Post, August 28, 1976. 2 Susan Baade, “Lucas Routs Rainbow Terrace,” Cleveland Call and Post, September 7, 1976. 2 battle. As the strike wore on for months, the strikers attempted various tactics to resolve their grievances.