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A Treasure Hunt: Black Rural Settlements in Indiana by 1870

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A Treasure Hunt: Black Rural Settlements in Indiana by 1870 BLACK HISTORY NEWS AND NOTES BLACK HISTORY NEWS AND NOTES ATREASURE BLACK RURAL SETTLEMENTS IN INDIANA BY 1870 HUNT WILMA L. MOORE A storm brews near the Union Literary Institute at Greenville Settlement in Randolph County, Indiana. COURTESY GEORGIA CRAVEY 22 I TRACES I Winter 2015 TRACES I Winter 2015 I 23 BLACK HISTORY NEWS AND NOTES BLACK HISTORY NEWS AND NOTES uring the summer of 2014 the Indiana Historical Society and Darke County, Ohio) have annual embarked upon a journey to identify African American reunions and/or advocacy groups. The initiative also sought input from statewide rural settlements that existed in Indiana by 1870. Earlier D heritage organizations and other related in the year, Maxine Brown, a descendant of the Mitchems (one entities. These included the Indiana State of the state’s earliest black families) and a consultant with the Museum, Indiana Historical Bureau, Southern Indiana Minority Enterprise Initiative, had approached Indiana Landmarks, Indiana Humanities, the Eli Lilly Endowment about support for extending the southern Indiana State Archives, Indiana State Library, Indiana Tourism, Eleutherian Col- leg of an Indiana Heritage Trail throughout the state. As a possible lege, and the Georgetown Historic District Above: The La Porte County Historical Society Museum in La Porte, Indiana. Right: A contem- foundational step for statewide research, she worked with the IHS to in Jefferson County, Indiana. porary view of the Porter County Courthouse in develop the Early African American Settlement Heritage Initiative, an A Lilly grant enabled the hiring of Valparaiso, Indiana. effort to identify agrarian communities that had dotted the Hoosier five researchers and a database manager/ landscape. The EAASHI sought input from representatives of the researcher for the project. Contract the southern counties. William Gillispie, researchers Andrea Sowle covered the rural communities. a Tulane University student, was our northern tier of the state, Dona Stokes- database manager/researcher. The state Although these settlements no longer ty), Roberts (Hamilton County), Lyles Lucas and Georgia Cravey shared the was divided into five regional areas with exist as self-sustained communities, some Station (Gibson County), and Greenville/ central portion, and Lishawna Taylor researchers assigned to counties. The of them such as the Beech (Rush Coun- Longtown (Randolph County, Indiana, and Martina Kunnecke were assigned researchers fanned out around the state LUCAS STOKES DONA COURTESY visiting with county historians and others; exploring courthouses, libraries, and population and Indiana county agricultural sources useful for researching African various repositories; and, when appropriate, censuses and the international, online American history in that given county. By examining former settlement sites. They Newspaper Archive. highlighting the counties that included built upon the scholarship of Xenia Cord, The project identified sixty-one black the settlements identified by the research, Jacqueline Cortez, Anna Lisa Cox, Coy rural communities in forty-three Indiana the map suggests geographical patterns for Robbins, Stephen Vincent, and others. counties with roots from prestatehood African American settlement in Indiana for They also benefited from projects previously through 1870. The research is available the time period. sponsored by various institutions, including on the IHS’s website at http://www. Although the research looks at settle- Audrey Werle’s indexing of the 1870 indianahistory.org/our-collections/ ment through 1870, there are a few coun- census—research that she expanded from reference/early-black-settlements. ties where the findings may inform black population numbers today. These were sites By highlighting the counties that included where researchers found population clusters and evidence of community, as represented the settlements identified by the research, by different variables including land own- the map suggests geographical patterns for ership, schools, churches, and cemeteries. Many of the settlements had a building that African American settlement in Indiana for was used as both a church and as a school. the time period. Although there were early black settle- ments in Indiana towns and cities, most her work with the Indiana State Library; a There researchers can find a map and a notably Georgetown in Madison, Jefferson cemetery database developed by the Indiana description of the presence of African County, the emphasis of this project was Department of Natural Resources; Indiana Americans in each county through on rural communities. These were areas Landmarks’ county interim reports and 1870 that includes information about that existed away from urban population Indiana African American Historic Sites population, nativity of residents, extant centers. There was land ownership in many and Structures survey; and a 1987 survey historic properties, family names, and, of these communities, however, it was not a IHS of county black history information, sent if applicable, settlement names. This prerequisite to classify an area as a settle- A church and a school were essential parts of the antebellum black rural communities in Indiana. Here, a group of schoolchildren pose with their out to all counties by the IHS. Other brief historical sketch is followed by a ment. It should be understood that the re- teacher at Lyles Station in Gibson County. broadly useful resources included federal bibliography of primary and secondary search done for this project was preliminary. 24 I TRACES I Winter 2015 TRACES I Winter 2015 I 25 BLACK HISTORY NEWS AND NOTES BLACK HISTORY NEWS AND NOTES There are many unnamed settlements— 1820, the first federal decennial census There were many familial relationships and communities where there is reasonable after Indiana became a state, recorded family names across rural settlements. The evidence that they existed, but no name 1,230 African Americans, fifty or more harsh federal fugitive slave law and Article was found. It should also be noted that in ten counties within the state. With the 13 of the 1851 Indiana Constitution, this is not an exhaustive list of Indiana exception of Wayne County, these coun- followed by an 1852 provision to enforce black rural settlements. Evidence suggests ties were located in the southern tier of it, curbed the influx of blacks entering that additional settlements may have the state, mostly in the southeast. Prior to the state. There were several counties that existed in many counties where settlements the Civil War, most blacks settled in the experienced population drops during this have been identified, as well as counties southern, west central, and east central part decade. Conversely, after the Civil War, the where no settlements were listed. Further of Indiana, forming population clusters in federal census showed dramatic population study is needed. towns, cities, and rural areas. They shared increases, especially in those counties that There were several trends that emerged nativity most often with people from North bordered the Ohio River. For example, among counties from the research. In Carolina, Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio. Spencer County, which had recorded two blacks in 1860, listed 949 in 1870. Settlements tended to be in counties that contained higher population numbers IHS, ELIJAH ROBERTS COLLECTION, M 325, GIFT OF MILTON BALTIMORE BALTIMORE OF MILTON GIFT COLLECTION, M 325, IHS, ELIJAH ROBERTS of blacks. Several counties showed evidence In July 2005 descendants of the Roberts Settlement in Hamilton County, Indiana, gathered for their annual reunion at Roberts Chapel Church. of an African American presence, but there was not enough data to document a Since Indiana was settled from south a historic site and history cafe. There are I purchased the 1891 Corydon Colored settlement. The documented settlements’ to north, the trail project was designed panels on the walls of the building with School in 1987 and donated the school to population numbers at peak ranged, gen- as a prototype in southern Indiana that old documents and photographs. Also, a newly formed, nonprofit corporation, the erally, from twenty-five to several hundred would eventually include any and all of there is a barbeque food service that is Leora Brown School Inc. The school was residents. There were a couple of excep- this history in Indiana, county by county, owned by an African American family. rehabilitated and completed by 1993. It tions that had closer to twenty residents. extending the trail throughout all nine- At least two other structures are in- was named in honor of, Leora Brown, who These were communities that contained ty-two counties. In the absence of historic cluded on the trail: Taylor High School, an had attended elementary and secondary multigeneration family members. structures or events that may have im- 1891 segregated schoolhouse in Jefferson- grades at the school and later taught there pacted the lives of African Americans and ville, and the McGee cabin, a reconstruct- longer than any other teacher. The school SOUTH the state, historic markers will be erected ed cabin similar to one lived in by Ben is maintained as a historic site and as a Maxine F. Brown, EAASHI senior researcher and Indiana African American to help tell their stories. The trail proj- and Venus McGee, ex-slaves of the George cultural/educational center. Heritage Trail Project founder ect hopes to create a coherent history of The Indiana African American Heritage
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