Straddling the Color Line: Social and Political Power of African American Elites in Charleston, New Orleans, and Cleveland, 1880-1920

A dissertation submitted to Kent State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy

Kim M. Carey

May, 2013

Dissertation written by Kim M. Carey B.S.S., Ohio University 1999 M.A., Cleveland State University, 2002 M.L.I.S., Kent State University, 2003 Ph.D., Kent State university, 2013

Approved by

Dr. Elizabeth M. Smith-Pryor, Associate Chair, Doctoral Dissertation Professor Committee

Members, Doctoral Dissertation Committee Dr. Leonne Hudson, Associate Professor

Dr. Willie Harrell, Associate Professor

Dr. Karen Sotiropoulos, Associate Professor

Dr. Carla Goar, Associate Professor

Accepted by

Dr. Kenneth Bindas Chair, Department of History

Dr. Raymond Craig Associate Dean, College of Arts and Sciences

Acknowledgements

This dissertation first began to take shape during my first semester of graduate school. The more I read about African American elites, the more I began to question the idea that they were powerless in a white dominated society. Although it was true that the vast majority of African Americans had very little control over the circumstances of their lives, the same was true for the vast majority of poor and immigrant white people during the last decades of the

1800s. I was encouraged by several professors to explore my questions in greater depth during my masters program as well as my doctoral studies. The result was this final academic project that answered some questions, but which provided so many more. I will always be grateful to Dr. Elizabeth Smith-Pryor, Dr.

Leonne Hudson, Dr. Karen Sotiropoulos, Dr. Willie Harrell, and Dr. Robert

Wheeler who patiently guided and directed me and prevented me from many a grievous error. All of these dedicated professors stand as a testament of the true collegiality and higher purpose that is manifest in membership in the academy. I am proud to call them friends as well as teachers.

I would also like to thank the numerous archivists that were so willing and helpful in my unending quest for knowledge. Of particular importance were Dr.

Charles E. Nolan at the Archdiocese of New Orleans and Deborah Wright at the

Avery Research Center in Charleston. I would also like to thank everyone at the

Archives at Tulane University, Western Reserve Historical Society, South

Caroliniana Library, and the Kent State University Library.

iii

This project would have been impossible without the love and support of my husband Charles Carey. He listened to me discuss theories, mull over complicated language, and lived with all the men I studied for more than a decade. He fixed dinner, fixed the car, fixed my computer problems and listened to me whine and complain more than any human being should have had to. My sister, Alice Carey Boyd guided me through the mysterious world of genealogy.

Without her help I would have been lost. My children Megan (Carey) Walker, Ken

Walker, Michael Carey, Jessica (Vance) Carey, Kyle Carey, Kira Carey, (and soon to be daughter) Laura Jourdain (Carey) have encouraged me every step of the way. They made me laugh, acted as cheerleaders and brought me snacks to keep me going. I will forever be grateful for their love. My grandchildren

Levannah and Jayden Walker have been patient waiting for me to finish my work.

Zane and Elliott were born 9 days after this project was completed. They did not have to share me with the computer. Jean Megill has been my friend (and sister by choice) since childhood. She has shared all of my academic journeys vicariously. Eileen Nance told me I could do this even when I doubted myself. Dr.

Brenda Faverty was my traveling companion to academic conferences and research trips. She was two steps ahead of me on this journey and kept me from many a pitfall. We shared the excitement of finding new informational treasures and agony of deciding which ones had to fall on the cutting room floor.

Weird as it may be, I must acknowledge my lap cat Pookie who consoled me and kept me company during hundreds of hours spent writing. She kept my

lap warm and made my legs numb, and only complained slightly when I had to get up to fetch yet another book to fact-check.

Finally, I would like to thank everyone who served on my dissertation committee for their wisdom, challenging questions and support. They are: Dr.

Elizabeth Smith-Pryor, Dr. Leonne Hudson, Dr. Karen Sotiropoulos, Dr. Willie

Harrell, and Dr. Carla Goar.

Finally, I would like to add that even though all these dedicated professionals added greatly to the process, any errors are entirely my own.

Table of Contents

I. Acknowledgements...... iii

II. Introduction ...... 1

III. Methodology and Historiography...... 28

IV. The Social and Political influence of Elite African American Politicians, Clergy and Physicians in Charleston, South Carolina. 43

V. The Social and Political influence of Elite African American Politicians, Clergy and Physicians in New Orleans, Louisiana... 121

VI. The Social and Political influence of Elite African American Politicians, Clergy and Physicians in Cleveland, Ohio ...... 210

VII. Conclusion ...... 303

VIII. Works Cited ...... 312

Introduction

I am neither fish, flesh, nor fowl, neither 'nigger,' white nor buckrah.' Too 'stuck up' for the colored folk, and of course, not recognized by the whites -- Charles W. Chesnutt

A rising race must be aristocratic; the good cannot consort with the bad-nor even the best with the less good -- W.E.B. DuBois

Social circles are connected throughout the country, and a person in good standing in one city is readily accepted in another --James Weldon Johnson 1

Charles W. Chesnutt was born in Cleveland, Ohio, in June 20, 1858. His mother, Ann Maria Sampson and his father, Andrew Jackson Chesnutt met in

1856 as they joined other free people of color fleeing the intensifying racial oppression in their home state of North Carolina. Ann Marie and her mother made their new home in Cleveland. Andrew was traveling farther west to

Indianapolis where he planned to settle with an uncle who was already living there. By 1857, Andrew knew that he wanted to spend his life with the young

1 Richard H. Broadhead, ed. The Journals of Charles W. Chesnutt (Durham: Duke University Press, 1993) 157; William E.B. DuBois The Black North in 1901: A Social Study (N.Y.: Arno Press, 1969) 46; James Weldon Johnson, The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man ( New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1979), 82.

1 2

woman he met on the journey. He returned to Cleveland, married Ann Maria, and there they began their life together. 2

The outbreak of the Civil War changed life for the Chesnutts just as it did for most American families. Andrew served in the Union army and his wife remained at home in Cleveland with her children and her mother. When the war finally ended, Andrew went to visit his father in North Carolina and found him in ill-health. Believing it was his duty to help his father, Andrew stayed in the South and sent for his family to join him. This twist of fate moved young Charles

Chesnutt away from the opportunities and relative freedoms of the North to the struggles of a life in the war-torn South. 3

Andrew Chesnutt achieved a measure of success in the reconstructed

South. He served as a justice of the peace and a county commissioner. His

children attended the local Freedmen's Bureau schools. Charles was precocious

and by the age of fourteen he served as a pupil-teacher at the school he

attended. This appointment allowed him to earn a salary while continuing his own

schooling. During the summers he wandered the North Carolina countryside in

search of remote areas where he could earn money teaching brief sessions of

school to rural children. By 1877, at the age of nineteen years, Charles served as

an instructor at the Howard Normal School in Fayetteville, North Carolina. 4

2 Helen M. Chesnutt Charles Waddell Chesnutt: Pioneer of the Color Line. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1952), 1-2. 3 Charles Waddell Chesnutt, 3-4. 4 Charles Waddell Chesnutt, 15.

Susan Perry also taught at the Howard School. Just days before Charles' twentieth birthday, he and Susan married. He had a secure job, but he was ambitious. A small southern city had few opportunities for a young African

American man. Charles soon decided:

I will go to the North, where although the prejudice sticks, like a foul blot on the fair scutcheon of American liberty, yet a man may enjoy these privileges if he has the money to pay for them. I will live down the prejudice, I will crush it out. If I can exalt my race, if I can gain the applause of the good, and the approbation of God, the thoughts of the ignorant and prejudiced will not concern me. 5

Chesnutt knew racism existed in the North, but he also knew that his

education and ambition would serve to elevate him above the worst aspects of

racial discrimination. He and his wife were well-educated. They possessed

Victorian sensibilities and refinement. They could make a better life for their

family in a city known for racial tolerance.

Making a decision was not the same as putting a plan into action. Two years later in the fall of 1880, the principal of the Howard School, Robert Harris died. Harris had been Chesnutt's teacher, advisor and mentor. Some of the

"leading citizens, insisted that Chesnutt go to the state capital at Raleigh to apply for the position of principal." These men gave Chesnutt letters of recommendation to carry with him. One letter epitomized the notion of what it meant to be a member of the African American elite. Chesnutt's mentor wrote:

5 Chesnutt, Charles Waddell Chesnutt , 17. (quoted from her father's journal October 16, 1878.)

Charles W. Chesnutt "is competent--he is educated…and although colored, he is a gentleman." 6

Charles Chesnutt and the other members of the African American elite were indeed gentlemen. In America the label of gentleman and notions of class were highly fluid when compared to the rigid formality of European class structures. What made America unique in the world at that time was that people had the potential to elevate themselves socially as well as economically, a condition in sharp contrast to the hereditary class structure evident in European societies. In America, people were classified by a myriad of elements. Some of the most significant were nationality and ethnicity; behavior and respectability; wealth, possessions, employment and education. 7

It was possible, and even likely, that an individual would change

class status within the course of a single generation. Young elite black men, born

in post-slavery America and embarking on manhood during the 1880s had great

hope for their own future and the futures of their children. Individuals born into

the black economic and social middle class or the black elite during

Reconstruction logically supposed that race relations in America would continue

to improve. Respected for their intelligence, their demeanor and their ability to

6 Charles Waddell Chesnutt, 25. 7 David R. Roediger The Wages of Whiteness: Race and the Making of the American Working Class. Revised Edition (London, England: Verso, 1999), 46-47. In the years covered by this study there was debate regarding the place of immigrants in society. Jewish people, Irish, Italians and others were not considered "white." They eventually acquired the status of "whiteness" in the racial discourse, but the controversy over who was white and who was not left the status of African American elites up for debate. Members of the black elite were far more like the white elites than immigrant people were. As a result, respectability and social class were far more important as determining factors of social class than race was at the end of the nineteenth century.

negotiate the complicated realms of community and electoral politics, African

American gentlemen in the ”Victorian” tradition served as models worthy of emulation. They were sought after by many whites and blacks as spokesmen for their race. In an era when self-made men were heralded as model Americans, successful members of the African American elite proved that talent was not a respecter of race. 8

"Straddling the Color Line: Social and Political Power of African American

Elites in Charleston, New Orleans and Cleveland 1880-1920" examines the power exerted by prominent African American men in three diverse, yet interrelated, American cities: Charleston, South Carolina; New Orleans,

Louisiana; and Cleveland, Ohio. Each city alone could have provided a fascinating study; however, this comparative study illustrates the degree of power exerted by African American elites not just within the black community but also across the color line in three major American cities.

The years from 1880 through 1920 are highly significant years in

American history. They span the decades that followed the collapse of

Reconstruction and extend until the beginning of the intellectual achievements of the Harlem Renaissance. Historians have written exhaustively about the impact of African Americans on Reconstruction but have neglected to follow the change over time that elite men experienced in the decades that followed

Reconstruction. The one major exception to this is Willard B. Gatewood's

8 Willard B. Gatewood Aristocrats of Color: The Black Elite 1880-1920. (Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 2000), 10-30.

Aristocrats of Color . While Gatewood successfully demonstrated the presence of the African American elite class in post-Reconstruction America, his study did not address the power the members of the black elite exerted. For example, the continued election of African Americans to state and federal offices demonstrated that some African American elite men attained and held power well after the end of Reconstruction.9

This dissertation argues that although racism was evident throughout most of America, some elite African American men possessed far more opportunities, privileges, and influence than other men of their race. It may even be said that they were more prominent than the majority of white men in America.

Most importantly, they had personal relationships with powerful white men who depended on them for their knowledge and insight. In some instances the power of elite African Americans extended far beyond the cities in which they lived. The social networks of these men were national in scope and the most powerful men traveled freely throughout America serving as ambassadors and spokesmen for the rest of their race. Some African American elite men attained real personal and political power to influence the world they shared with prominent white men.

Following the Civil War, Congress instituted three amendments to the

Constitution known as the Reconstruction Amendments which then had to be

9 Aristocrats of Color, 310-333 10 Many notable men who were influential will be discussed throughout this dissertation. They are the basis of the study of black power during a time when most white people believed that blacks had virtually no power at all. Booker T. Washington serves as one example (although not from the cities included in this dissertation) as a man with the type of power noted.

ratified by the states. They legislated emancipation for blacks, citizenship for people born in America, equality and due process under the law for all citizens, and the right to vote for all black men who were citizens of the appropriate age.

Although the Reconstruction Amendments to the Constitution were a Republican attempt to legislate legal equality for all male Americans, the black struggle for full social and political equality continued long after Reconstruction. The

Compromise of 1877 ended Reconstruction. This event led historians, most notably Rayford W. Logan, to argue that "The Nadir," or lowest point in American race relations began with the collapse of Reconstruction. In contrast, James

Loewen contradicts Logan saying the nadir began with the withdrawal of

Republican Party support for African Americans around 1890. By examining the lives and networks of elite African American men from the 1880s through the

1920s, this dissertation demonstrates that the nadir began later than either

Logan or Loewen suggested, particularly in cities of the urban North. 11

11 Rayford W. Logan, The Negro in American Life and Thought: The Nadir 1877-1901 (N.Y.: Dial Press, 1954) 52; James W. Loewen Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism (New York: The New Press, 2005), p. 24-46. Loewen says specifically: "African Americans played no significant role in either political party from 1892 on.", 33; Eric Foner, Give Me Liberty: An American History. Seagull Edition (N.Y.: W.W. Norton and Company, 2006), 470; 491-494; 507-509. Darlene Clark Hine, William C. Hine, Stanley Harrold, African Americans: A Concise History. (Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Publishing, 2006), 372. The Reconstruction Amendments to the U.S. Constitution are the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments ratified between 1865 and 1877. They abolished slavery in the United States, defined a citizen as a person born on U.S. soil and outlawed discrimination in voting based on race, color or previous condition of servitude. Historians generally accept the years 1865-1877 as the years representing the Reconstruction Era although some aspects of reconstructing the divided nation occurred earlier than 1865 and others continued on beyond 1877. Those dates are associated with the signing of the treaty at Appomattox Courthouse ending hostilities in the eastern theater during the Civil War. The ending year, 1877 corresponds with the political bargain that awarded the Presidency to Republican candidate Rutherford B. Hayes over his Democratic opponent. The 1920s and 1930s are associated with the cultural awakening beginning in the

Men of the African American elite became accustomed to lives of relative

freedom in Charleston, New Orleans and Cleveland in the years following the

Civil War. They occupied unique social and political positions during

Reconstruction and also in post-Reconstruction America. Some were wealthy;

others were not. Some possessed fair skin and straight hair; others had darker

skin and curly hair. Despite the differences in complexion, what united them was

a dedication to learning and culture and the ability to speak "flawless English."

These characteristics drove young Charles Chesnutt as he sought to achieve a

place of prominence in the world. Had he and others like him been white men,

they would certainly have been identified in American society as Victorian

gentlemen. Indeed, some elite blacks were accorded the honor or the title of

gentleman. Identification as a "gentleman" was not based solely on occupation or

profession. Membership in this group, one William E.B. DuBois would later call

"The Talented Tenth", defined their status in society. One of the most important

requirements for being a member of the Talented Tenth, rested on a moral

component. The label "gentleman" implied a man had to have good character

and be worthy of emulation. 12

Harlem neighborhood of New York City and spreading throughout the nation. It is generally confined to the interwar period of the 1920s through the 1930s. 12 Aristocrats of Color , 27, 214; W.E.B DuBois, Souls of Black Folk, 1903; The Negro in American Life and Thought, 331. David Cody, "The Gentlemen," The Victorian Web: Literature, History and Culture in the Age of Victoria. (http://www.victorianweb.org/history/gentleman.html) Accessed July 21, 2012. Members of the black elite did not face racial oppression in their daily lives. They were aware of the extreme racism that most blacks faced, but they did not often encounter such bias in their daily lives.

Elite African Americans believed race relations would continually improve allowing their opportunities for success to also expand. A select few middle and upper class blacks began forging professional relationships with liberal, powerful whites. These middle class and elite black men were convinced of their obvious and inherent equality with white Victorian gentlemen. Although not socially accepted by all whites into white society, most elite blacks rejected personal affiliation with other blacks they considered socially inferior. In essence these men, and their families, straddled the color line, living in neither the lower class black world nor in the white. Often they lived in predominantly white neighborhoods rejecting association with the poorest people of either race. As a result, they lived in a kind of limbo, moving between the black and white worlds; understanding both worlds, but mostly living in a world of their own. 13

Many black elites such as Charles W. Chesnutt, descended from families that were free before the Civil War. Some were biracial, born of white fathers and black mothers who could have been slave or free. Others gained freedom by escape, by purchasing their freedom, through military service during the Civil War or from their owner's voluntary emancipation. Some achieved a level of economic prosperity through hard work and education during the antebellum years that placed them economically far above the majority of white people in America. Others gained wealth and status during Reconstruction

13 Blair L. M. Kelley, Right to Ride: Streetcar Boycotts and African American Citizenship in the Era of Plessy v. Ferguson. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2010), 10, passim. Aristocrats of Color , 164-165, 361-365.

through hard work, luck, and shrewd investments. A very few inherited wealth from relatives, some white and some black. Because most members of the elite were not common laborers, they expected to be treated with a measure of respect by whites as well as blacks. 14

The notion of an elite class resulted from distinct social hierarchies firmly entrenched in the American South. There a strictly enforced social class system existed. This clearly demarcated social structure for whites had a parallel structure that applied within black society. According to historian Glenda Gilmore the hierarchy in black society rested on a "caste system in which skin color, class and gender dictated the pattern of every daily interaction." During the antebellum period wealthy white men saw themselves as father figures to all those whom they dominated, and those white men who had been slave-owners dominated virtually everybody who was not one of them. 15

Historians refer to that system of white domination in the antebellum South as paternalism. Paternalism was an effective system of control and powerful

14 Aristocrats of Color, 43-44. One man who exemplified these ideas was Robert Smalls (a slave from South Carolina who served in the Union Navy and was later elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives, Senate and U.S. House of Representatives) 15 Glenda Elizabeth Gilmore, Gender and Jim Crow: Women and the politics of White Supremacy in North Carolina, 1896-1920. (Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press, 1996), 3. The class structure among whites was so extreme in Charleston before the Civil War, one Englishman reported that there seemed to be "no middle class; only rich and poor." Quoted in Walter J. Fraser, Jr. Charleston! Charleston! History of a Southern City. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, first paperback edition, 1991), 240; Referring to the black elite two decades later Fraser wrote, "Members of the city's free antebellum free mulatto elite…segregated themselves from the new freedmen and resumed their prewar connections with the white upper class…A Northern visitor to Charleston in the 1870s spent an evening with a 'colored' family 'whose house was furnished with every modern improvement and whose table was supplied with choice meats and rare wines.", Charleston! Charleston , 297. Some free blacks who owned slaves were guilty of paternalism by virtue of their ownership of other human beings. There is clear evidence of paternalism among some black businessmen in the twentieth century.

whites drew on social strategies that had worked in the past. In some cases, they awarded a few dependable blacks a measure of social control to help implement white policies. Those African Americans had no real influence; their presence was symbolic and was simply an extension of white power. Although the Civil

War and emancipation disrupted the original form of paternalism, southern whites reinvented paternalism following Reconstruction, as a means of further distancing themselves from all black people. 16

Despite the southern rejection of racial equality, and the worsening racial conditions in America after 1877, there were some African American men who continued to amass power in the South as well as the North. Their ability to prosper and thrive will be discussed in depth in chapter two focusing on the power of Walter Cohen in New Orleans and in chapter three discussing the importance of Cleveland's African American elite and their role in the election of

1896. 17

The years from 1880 through 1920 were selected as parameters because those years were critical as America emerged from being a relatively isolated

16 Aristocrats of Color , 314-6; Rayford Logan, The Negro in American Life and Thought, 323. The idea of powerful whites awarding a measure of power to trustworthy African Americans under slavery was evident whereby some African Americans were elevated to the position of slave driver or lead worker. Those men acted as liaison between the master and the field workers. Rewarding trustworthy African American men with patronage positions in the post- Reconstruction era was an extension of that system of control. By using African Americans to implement their policies, whites circumvented the provisions of the Reconstruction Amendments. J. Douglas Smith, Managing White Supremacy: Race, Politics and Citizenship in Jim Crow Virginia. (Chapel Hill: University Of North Carolina Press, 2002), 300- 301 note 3. Smith argues "As both a term and a concept, 'paternalism' has been used to describe a wide range of behaviors and attitudes. At its core, paternalism entails a belief in the social, cultural, intellectual, emotional, and often racial superiority of one individual or group" over another. In such cases, the one who behaves paternalistically is presuming to act in the best interests of the other. 17 Walter Cohen was a politically important political operative in the Republican Party from New Orleans, Louisiana. His grandfather was a politically important white man in Mississippi history.

fledgling nation that had almost self-destructed to a powerful nation poised to take her place as a world power. During those years Americans changed their world view dramatically. In the aftermath of the Civil War, the notion of what it meant to be American changed. Prior to the war, Americans were white, but the passage of the Foourteenth Amendment to the Constitution included African

Americans in the body of citizenship. Many Southern whites could not accept the notion that former slaves were now their legal and political equals. Of primary importance to this study is the ability to define the population upon which this dissertation focuses. Historians rarely feel a need to define white as a population.

In the early history of America, one necessarily assumes that political and community leaders were white. According to Gary Wray McDonogh: “White does not need to be defined except to specify who is excluded.” In fact, in America, because “[w]hites have held and reproduced political, economic and social power for centuries,” it was simply assumed that when discussing powerful, public figures, they were white unless otherwise stated. Because there was the assumption that all public figures were assumed to be white in historical discourse, all other populations then had to be carefully defined to avoid misrepresentation. 18

18 Gary Wray McDonogh, Black and Catholic in Savannah, Georgia. (Knoxville: The University of Tennessee Press, 1993), 74. In response to this lack of identifying white as a racial category, Nell Irvin Painter has recently published The History of White People. ( New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2010). Before the Civil War blacks and Indians were not considered citizens. White European immigrants had a path to citizenship; others did not. The passage of the Reconstruction Amendments made all people born on American soil citizens. This notion challenged the stereotypes of what it meant to be American. As the middle class expanded during the Gilded Age,

In his study of African Americans in Savannah, Georgia, historian

Gary Wray McDonogh defined populations based who had power writing:

White in Savannah has not represented a simple class domination over blacks so much as the imposition of a caste framework that also poses two class systems in unequal relationship to each other. That is, both blacks and whites as categories are internally divided (as a result of a caste system) by unequal access to production and by a related distribution of social rights and cultural values. 19

Although McDonogh's research focused on Savannah, Georgia, his

observations with regard to race would have been accurate throughout America.

Not only were Americans stratified by race, but they were also sub-divided within

each race by economic and social status. Beyond economics, class status was

determined initially by family heritage and later by an individual's contributions to

society. In the case of African Americans, if their ancestors were members of a

free black society during antebellum times or they had fair complexions, they

were more likely members of a higher social class. Although complexion shade

affected class standing within the black community, skin color was not the major

marker of social class. Respectability, education and culture were more important

characteristics than pigmentation. 20

Individuals who belonged to the upper classes had greater potential

for success. The histories of America’s Gilded Age and Progressive Era are

replete with success stories. It was an era of self-made men who, through notions of class began to change as well. White Americans were forced to reevaluate their notions of citizenship and how those citizens would fit into American society. 19 Black and Catholic in Savannah , 75. 20 Black and Catholic in Savannah , 75. Gender and Jim Crow , xviii-xix.

diligence and perseverance escaped the bonds of poverty to live on millionaire’s row. While few individuals were able to complete this transformation, the hope for wealth and power served as a powerful lure to those willing to work hard and smart. These desires were not limited to hopeful whites; they burned in the hearts of African Americans as well. Certainly it is true that few black men reached the pinnacles of success; however, few whites managed to attain them either. Those African Americans who did achieve a significant measure of success were classified by William E.B. DuBois in 1903 as members of the

"Talented Tenth;” the top ten percent of the black economic and social hierarchy.

Members of the "Talented Tenth" had little in common with poor and uneducated

African Americans except in some cases the color of their skin. In many ways, members of the Talented Tenth epitomized the characteristics of Victorian Era middle and upper class white people. 21

Martin Summers provided an excellent explanation of the process of self- identification that occurred in America during the shift from Victorian culture to modern culture, which he believed occurred between the 1890s and the 1920s.

According to Summers, the dramatic expansion of the middle class transformed

American society as a whole. The changes were not strictly economic, although economics was a significant element. It was an era of fluidity as notions of race and class were renegotiated across America. In the post-World War I years,

21 "Souls of Black Folk", (Chicago: A.C. McClurg & Co.,1903). Many members of the Talented Tenth had very fair complexions and some resembled white people more than black. Some chose to self identify as black.

access to commodities and the corresponding conspicuous consumption became one new measure of prosperity and its resulting class shift. “[D]isplay, and the use of commodities could provide personal self-fulfillment as well as signal one’s social position—[this] became the central organizing principle for how individuals experienced their own identity and interacted with one another.” Middle and upper class blacks wrongly assumed that because they had the financial means to live in a comparable way with middle class whites, they would be accepted by white society. 22

As public places of entertainment began to replace private forms of amusement, access to entertainment in the public sphere became another measure of class status and its resulting equality. Having the financial means to participate in the consumer culture and the entertainment opportunities of the growing public sphere was yet more evidence of the movement of African

Americans into the growing middle class. However, instead of being welcomed into the American middle class, most African Americans found themselves segregated into a parallel middle class or lower class. In essence, the financial ability to purchase entertainment led to racial conflict as blacks and whites of similar economic means sought to consume the same culture in the same space at the same time. After the custom of Jim Crow segregation was constitutionally

22 Martin Summers, Manliness and its Discontents: The Black Middle Class and the Transformation of Masculinity, 1900-1930. (Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press, 2004), 156. Following World War I, notions of race and class altered. Prior to that time, Jewish people, Italians, Irish and others were not considered "white." White was assumed to be Europeans of Protestant heritage and many other groups were excluded. Therefore, the notion of who is white has changed over time.

upheld in 1896, Americans saw the emergence of two separate and unequal societies defined by race. Those societies intersected in very limited ways. One point of intersection was between the African American elite and their white counterparts. 23

Historians, including Willard B. Gatewood and August Meier, identified the

accepted criteria for inclusion as a member of the African American elite during

the post-Reconstruction years. Wealth was a factor, but it was one of the least

important elements. In many regions the most important factors determining who

was elite was membership in exclusive societies. Sometimes membership was

limited to individuals who were related to other members. Respectability was also

considered when a man applied for membership in an exclusive organization. 24

Membership in exclusive societies, an aura of respectability and the

potential for economic security was evident for whites and blacks in both

Charleston and New Orleans before and after the Civil War. In Charleston there

were white elites and black elites, but the configuration of the classes was

dramatically different in New Orleans. There were four distinct elite populations in

23 African Americans , 279-281.The quote from Charles Chesnutt on pages 3-4 above reflect Chesnutt's perspective regarding his access to commodities of the mainstream society. He believed that if he lived in the North and had enough wealth to purchase "privileges" (meaning access to cultural events, restaurants, etc.) he would have the access to them he deserved as a member of the "better class" of men. Gender and Jim Crow, xix. 24 Aristocrats of Color , 24.; August Meier, Negro Thought in America: 1880-1915. (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1963), 207- 214. This shift in the criteria for membership in the black elite will be discussed in depth later in the section covering Cleveland, Ohio. It is in the North during the post-World War I era that new leaders emerge from a group of self-made men who disdained interracial cooperation in favor of power based on wealth and influence within the African American community as opposed to in the city at large. For more on who was a "New Negro" see William Pickens The New Negro : His Political, Civil and Mental Status and Related Essays, (N.Y.: Neale Publishing Company 1916; reprint N.Y.: AMS Press,1969).

the Crescent City. One community was led by the Protestant, English speaking, wealthy, white planters; another by Catholic, French speaking, wealthy, white planters. There were also corresponding classes of African American elites.

Usually the French speaking, Catholic, wealthy blacks were mulattos who were biologically related to their white counterparts. Descended from formalized, acknowledged relationships between wealthy white planters and free women of color, they were a social class unto themselves. These free people of color were at the pinnacle of black society in New Orleans and were called Black Creoles.

Many were business owners, some were planters and had been slave owners, but the majority of this group never attained the same level of extreme wealth or prestige of their white counterparts. Finally, there were also American Black elites. They spoke English and generally practiced Protestant faiths. American

Blacks in New Orleans rarely possessed the same level of prestige as their

French speaking African American counterparts. 25

Some elite Black Creoles were well-educated, sent by their white fathers to exclusive colleges in Europe or in the North. The most fortunate ones also received an inheritance or were set up in business by their fathers. In some cases, Black Creoles owned plantations and slaves (before the Civil War). Some members of these wealthy biracial families worked in close association with their father’s white children by his legal marriage. The existence of these biological

25 John W. Blassingame, Black New Orleans 1860-1880 . (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1973) , 1-22; Justin A. Nystrom , New Orleans After the Civil War: Race Politics and a New Birth of Freedom, (Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press , 2010), 19-21, 55, 101.

relationships created complex social and business relationships across the color line both before and after the Civil War. Black Creoles enjoyed many opportunities and privileges unavailable to free blacks in other parts of the

South. 26

During Reconstruction these wealthy Black Creoles in New Orleans readily assumed leadership roles they believed were rightfully theirs. Political activists who came of age both before and after the end of Reconstruction, such as James Lewis and Walter Cohen, carried Louisiana’s Republican banner long after the Democratic Redeemers had wrested control from the Party of Lincoln.

As Republican influence waned in Louisiana following the 1877 election of

Rutherford B. Hayes, Cohen continued to hold leadership positions and served as an influential delegate at numerous Republican National Conventions. He contributed his electoral expertise long after his party had any chance of dominating state politics. For these reasons, the city of New Orleans was included in the study. 27

The situation was somewhat different in Charleston, South Carolina. The very first British ship bringing settlers to Carolina from England arrived in 1670.

On board were twenty-nine free men, "sixty -three indentured white servants…and at least one black slave." The slave population in Carolina grew rapidly along with the successful cultivation of rice, and it was not long before "[i]

26 Joe Gray Taylor, Louisiana Reconstructed 1863-1876, ( Baton Rouge, Louisiana State University Press, 1974), 425: Black New Orleans , 108-9, 155-162. 27 August Meier, Negro Thought in America 1880-1915: Racial Ideologies in the Age of Booker T. Washington. (Ann Arbor, University of Michigan Press, 1988) , 149-157; Aristocrats of Color , 41- 42, 83-90. Black New Orleans 1860-1880, 1-24.

mports of West Africans rose faster than exports of rice." Almost from its inception as a colony, slavery was an integral part of the Charleston economy.

Although the system of slavery was the economic basis of the Charleston economy, the relationship between elite blacks and elite whites was very different there. In Charleston almost all elite whites spoke English and the Protestant churches were predominant. This was true for the black elites as well. Because there were two elite classes in Charleston as opposed to the four elite classes in

New Orleans, alliances between blacks and whites were simply across racial lines. 28

One other dramatic difference was evident in Charleston. Prior to the Civil

War, interracial marriage was not illegal in South Carolina. By 1860 there were

"approximately 500 free mulattoes laced together by intermarriage within a free

Afro-American population of more than 3,000, many of whom were slaveholders themselves." New Orleans and Charleston were two southern cities with sizable free black populations before the Civil War. Although free blacks in both cities owned slaves, were well-educated, closely related to white families and relatively wealthy, their cultures were vastly different. In Charleston black society did not appear to parallel its white counterpart as closely as it did in New Orleans.

Because English was the primary language for elite blacks in Charleston their society reflected that difference. Conversely, in New Orleans the prevalence of a foreign language and culture made close interaction between elite blacks and

28 Walter J. Frasier, Jr. Charleston! Charleston! The History of a Southern City. (Columbia, University Of South Carolina Press, 1989) 3, 13.

elite whites more acceptable. French heritage made francophone free blacks exotic and not simply free people of color. 29

The differences between Charleston and New Orleans became even more apparent after Reconstruction. In 1880, in terms of population, New Orleans was the largest of the three cities included in this study and by 1920, New Orleans was the largest city in the South. Eventually, Cleveland, Ohio became the most populous of the three because of rapid industrialization at the end of the nineteenth century. Over the course of the four decades studied, the population of Charleston was never more than 25% of that of New Orleans. Charleston remained a poor competitor with regard to the economic growth and expansion evident in New Orleans at the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth. Despite its economic inferiority to New Orleans, politically

Charleston continued to play a significant role in the racial history of the United

States. 30

Prior to the Civil War, segregation was customary by race, class status and economics in many parts of America. During Reconstruction, African

Americans obtained due process and citizenship through implementation of the

14th Amendment. The codification of racism in the South, particularly in

29 Interracial marriage WAS legal in New Orleans before the Civil War. Frasier states that there were occasional marriages between whites and mulattoes. Charleston! Charleston!, 199-200. Black New Orleans , 203; 18-22. 30 Howard Rabinowitz, in Brownell and Goldfield. The City in Southern History: The Growth of Urban Civilization in the South. (Port Washington, N.Y., Kennikat Press, 1977), 93. According to the population numbers provided by Rabinowitz the population of New Orleans was as follows: 1880: 216,090; 1890: 242,039; 1900: 287,104;The population of Charleston was 1880: 49, 948; 1890: 54,955; 1900: 55,807. In New Orleans 1910: 339,075; 1920: 387,219.

Charleston and New Orleans, began in earnest in the decades following

Reconstruction. As middle class and elite blacks gained the economic ability to increase discretionary spending and participate in events held in public places, some middle and upper class whites believed it necessary to preserve the boundaries of their public space. They did this by imposing legal sanctions to create legal boundaries to preserve the white world they believed they deserved.

Practices that had once been dictated by custom eventually became law. Yet, members of the African American elite and upper middle classes did not willingly accept what they saw as a digression in their quest for equality. Consequently, the stage was set for a power struggle between elite blacks and their white counterparts; two populations who were far more similar than they were different.

In sharp contrast to the southern cities, Cleveland, Ohio was not an early

American settlement. It was located in Connecticut's Western Reserve, land west of the Appalachian Mountains that was reserved for Connecticut families who lost their land to the British during the Revolutionary War. When the Northwest

Territory was organized, Cleveland became part of the Great Northwest. In the newly organized territory, slavery was prohibited. Ohio was the first region of the

31 Aristocrats of Color, 86; Barnard E. Powers, Jr. Black Charlestonians: A Social History 1822- 1885 (Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 1994), 231-260 Although there were tendencies to segregate in rural areas of Louisiana earlier, "social equality remained viable as late as the 1890s, particularly in New Orleans." New Orleans After the Civil War, 213.

Northwest Territory to attain statehood and from Ohio's inception, slavery was outlawed. 32

After Ohio’s statehood, Cleveland became a well-known stop on the

Underground Railroad for African Americans fleeing the bonds of slavery.

Although Cleveland remained overwhelmingly white until the onset of the Great

Migration during the second decade of the twentieth century, African Americans settled in and around the city. The nearby town of Oberlin, Ohio, housed the first co-educational and interracial college in America, Oberlin College. It was within this context that the races peacefully coexisted in northern Ohio during the formative years in American history. Racism existed, but it was far less pervasive than the institutionalized racism apparent in the South. 33

According to historian Kenneth Kusmer, Cleveland placed second only to

New Orleans in terms of the economic status of elite blacks at the end of the nineteenth century. One reason that Cleveland was a such a desirous location for members of the elite was because “there was no noticeable trend toward the ghettoization of the black population” in Cleveland before 1880. African

Americans lived throughout the city within a reasonable distance from their places of employment. Additionally, most blacks living in the city lived in single family dwellings, just as white residents of the city did. During the latter decades of the nineteenth century, some clustering of black families began, but there was

32 Andrew R. L. Cayton Ohio: The History of a People (Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 2002), 29-30; Give Me Liberty, 218. 33 George W. Knepper Ohio and Its People (Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 2003), 207; 185.

no formal segregation in the city. The predominant evidence of prejudice in

Cleveland during the late 1800s was economically based and pertained to poor immigrant whites as well as poor blacks. 34

By the 1880s Cleveland had become a rapidly growing, industrial city. The

African American population was still very small in the 1880s, and amounted to

less than two percent of the total population. Little overt racism existed evident in

Cleveland during the latter decades of the nineteenth century. Although

residency there was not a panacea for all societal problems faced by blacks,

Cleveland became a favored location in the eyes of elite African Americans. 35

The divisive racial issues that germinated in the South following

Reconstruction did not emerge in northern cities in general, and Cleveland in

particular until the second decade of the twentieth century. At that time waves of

uneducated black southerners descended on the Forest City called the Great

Migration. Poor sharecroppers and other unskilled workers headed north in

search of better employment and for relief from the racial oppression that existed

in the South. Prior to 1910, the African American population in Cleveland

numbered less than 8,000. There was minimal discrimination and little conflict

between black and white residents. During the second decade of the twentieth

century, the overall population of Cleveland grew dramatically in response to

unprecedented growth in the manufacturing sector. The total population of

Cleveland grew from just over 560,000 people in 1910 to more than 900,000 by

34 A Ghetto Takes Shape, 10-12; 23. 35 A Ghetto Takes Shape, 10.

1930. During the same time, Cleveland's African American population grew from

8,400 to nearly 72,000 people. It was in response to this enormous surge in population that overt racism and discrimination developed in northeast Ohio. 36

Based on logic and the strength of numbers, it would be easy to assume that African American power grew proportionately as the size of Cleveland's black population grew. However, as the black population grew, so did white resistance to African American participation in community affairs. In this major industrial city the black population was once a small minority within a multitude of ethnic neighborhoods. Following World War I, African Americans emerged as a large community within the confines of a rapidly changing, ethnically diverse metropolis. In response to the changes evinced in Cleveland, as in other cities of the industrial North, a new attitude of African American civic participation emerged; a phenomenon called “the New Negro.” 37

Classification as a "New Negro" was not determined in the same way as membership in the African American elite. The idea of a New Negro was equated with an attitude or a measure of economic success. Members of the New Negro social hierarchy were very different from those of the old elite and there was very little crossover in membership. Membership in the old elite was defined by

36 A Ghetto Takes Shape, 10. (Quoted from United States Census reports) 37 The term the “New Negro” was used by many to refer to a great many different circumstances; however, for the purpose of this dissertation the term refers to the self made men of the black middle and upper classes- those who achieved their social and financial success within and from the black community without interaction from whites. The term became popular during the Harlem Renaissance but was actually in use before that time. "Hubert H. Harrison argues that the New Negro must embrace a 'race first' philosophy" quoted in Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Gene Andrew Jarrett, eds. The New Negro: Readings on Race, Representation and African American Culture 1892-1938 (Princeton, N.J. Princeton University Press, 2007), 8.

adherence to the cultural standards that defined Victorian manhood.

Classification as a New Negro could be as simple a definition as being economically successful without being acknowledged as a member of the elite.

Historian Martin Summers quoted a sentiment proposed by the Garveyites that said: “The Old Negro, invariably represented as a male but not a man… Men who comprised the category of The Old Negro were not viewed as a threat to white society." Based on Summers' classification, the representation of the “Old

Negro” was bound by externally imposed constraints from the white community as the black elite man maintained his status though adherence to carefully proscribed behaviors. However, upon close examination, this caricature fails to fully capture the lives and experiences of the "Old Negroes." Many ignored the imposed constraints as they successfully straddled the color line. 38

By comparison, the New Negro was elevated to his status as a leader by virtue of his support entirely from within the black community. Members of the

New Negro leadership did not straddle the color line as their predecessors had.

Nor did they seek to separate themselves from those of the lower classes. The

New Negro believed the old elites had outlived their usefulness; they were out of touch with the changing world. By the 1920s it was clear to the New Negro that integration would not be an immediate America’s solution to the “race problem” and that other avenues would need to be pursued. If African Americans were to

38 Martin Summers, Manliness and its Discontents: The Black Middle Class and the Transformation of Masculinity, 1900-1930. (Chapel Hill; University of North Carolina Press, 2004), 111.

obtain their rightful place in American society, they would have to take it by force.

It would never be freely offered. And so, as members of the old elite retired from public life or died in this decade, their vision of an integrated, color-blind society was replaced by a different vision from a group of men who achieved a measure of success. In many cases these new leaders lacked the culture, education and refinement of the previous generation. The transition of power within the African

American community became a literal passing of the torch from the genteel elite to the strident, more militant individuals who lived and worked within the confines of the legally segregated system. 39

Keeping in mind the unique qualities and specific distinctions that designated a population called the African American elite, this dissertation focuses on elite men who labored in the fields of religion, politics and medicine in the three cities mentioned. All three occupational categories in America attracted ambitious, intellectual, educated individuals of both races. African American men who chose these fields had significant opportunities to interact with their white cohorts in highly public situations. There were opportunities for white and black elites to cooperate in ways that were egalitarian and mutually beneficial. African

American elites were not political pawns of their white counterparts. They discussed, cajoled, argued, pressured, compromised and cooperated to attempt to make their world as color-blind as possible. They sought to transcend race rather than to cope with racial distinctions. With the optimism of the era they

39 Manliness and its Discontents , 111.

believed it was possible. They labored to make it a reality. Ultimately, by the second decade of the twentieth century, those still alive were faced with the reality that the equality they had labored a lifetime to achieve would have to wait for the activists of another generation.

Methodology and Historiography

The work of early scholars such as Carter G. Woodson, William E.B.

DuBois, Rayford Logan, John Hope Franklin, E. Franklin Frazier, and others provided the historical foundation for the study of African American history beginning in the early decades of the twentieth century through the 1960s. The first forays into black history were made by weaving the threads of black history into the conceptualization of American history as it was then understood. As our understanding of history deepened and the lens through which we viewed it changed, the approach of historians to that study changed. Instead of examining history from the traditional top down, scholars began to examine history from the bottom up. Beginning in the 1970s and continuing into later decades, historians such as Joe Trotter, Robin D.G.Kelley, Tera Hunter, and Kenneth Kusmer explored the world of common people, working class people, in specific

geographic locations. Common people collectively shaped the world in which

they lived. As a result of the work of this newer generation of scholars, our

understanding of history deepened. When viewed from the bottom up, scholars

saw a much more nuanced picture of African American life. Rather than simply

being acted upon, ordinary people influenced their specific environment in

extraordinary ways. When these local and regional histories are viewed as a

whole, it is evident that numerous small acts of defiance and courage melded to

strongly influence American society as African Americans defied white rule and segregated society. 40

Straddling the Color Line is a social history with political implications. In many instances, the understanding of the significance of the lives of the men studied and their contributions became most apparent when placed in the context of their personal evolutions. It is political in that one population studied was elite blacks engaged in electoral politics. The men referred to as the African American elite , formed a tightly interconnected social network that crisscrossed America in

the decades following Reconstruction. The political power of African Americans

as a whole experienced a rise in power during Reconstruction that quickly

declined during Redemption. However, the African American elite continued to

believe they had the ability to pull the remainder of their race out of oppression

and into its rightful place in American life. Members of the elite did not identify

with ordinary black people. They were educated, sophisticated, relatively affluent

and highly intelligent. Their lifestyle mirrored that of the white elites. They had

egalitarian relationships with powerful white men and in such a way that they

were part of neither white society nor black society. Although they were part of

40 Rayford W. Logan The Negro in American Life and Thought: The Nadir 1877-1901 . (N.Y.: Dial Press, 1954); E. Franklin Frazier Black Bourgeoisie: The Rise of a New Middle Class. N.Y.: Free Press, 1957; A Ghetto Takes Shape; Joe William Trotter, Jr. River Jordan: African American Urban Life in the Ohio Valley. Lexington, Ky.: University Press of Kentucky, 1998; Tera W. Hunter To ‘joy My Freedom: Southern Black Women’s Lives and Labors After the Civil War. Cambridge, MA; Harvard University Press, 1997.

neither world they were expected to interpret and understand both. Their personal power continued long after the end of Reconstruction.

This dissertation combines elements of political history, social history and prosopography. Because the focus was on the black elite, and many of the elite were inherently political, politics was of necessity a central focus to this work.

The black elite were influential men who understood their place in history and left records for future generations. Even though a few left extensive records of their lives, the majority did not. It was there that the techniques of social history were most important. The inclusion of bottom-up history wove together the legacies of these men and their associates depicting the reality of their everyday lives. Over time it became possible to flesh out the lives and personalities of the members of the elite discussed in depth. Patterns of behavior emerged and it became relatively clear what they thought about particular events even when they left no clear depictions. Finally, prosopography was employed through the judicious use of biographical vignettes. The incorporation of brief biographies underscored the similarities between these elite black men and their white counterparts. By understanding what events shaped the lives of elite African American men, and by examining them as complex individuals, it was possible to understand how they negotiated their unique space in a color-stratified society. Although the ever- present color line imposed an almost impenetrable barrier for the majority of black citizens, members of the black elite seemed almost immune to those

injustices and limitations. To a degree they lived as players in what they believed was the beginning of a post-racial world.

With this in mind, Straddling the Color Line deserves the designation

revisionist history; however, there are no other existing studies that address

professional and social interactions between black and white elites across the

color line. Here the social and political influence of small but powerful groups of

privileged African American men in three major urban locations provided the

necessary evidence to determine the symbiotic relationships that existed

between them and their white counterparts.

In his original introduction to Negro Thought in America, August Meier

wrote: “…it is the way in which a person’s own individual experience intersects

with trends in the larger social and intellectual milieu, that shapes the social

consciousness and the direction of his/her scholarly research.” This study was

driven by an understanding of and application of the use of social history

(bottom-up) techniques; however, these techniques were applied to a traditional

elite population rather than common men. Through a close examination of the

language and nuanced thinking of black elites, and the ways they communicated

with each other and their white counterparts, it became possible to understand

how they believed they could influence the world in which they lived. 41

The most comprehensive existing study of black elites during the post-

Reconstruction Era was Willard B. Gatewood's Aristocrats of Color . Gatewood

41 August Meier, Negro Thought in America 1880-1915: Racial Ideologies in the Age of Booker T. Washington. (Ann Arbor, University of Michigan Press, 1963), iv.

provided a much needed depiction of the nature of African American elite communities that emerged in major American cities. According to Gatewood, members of the black elite were the embodiment of W.E.B. DuBois' "Talented

Tenth." They were the men and women who believed it was their obligation to serve as role models for African American potential. Gatewood chronicled the history of the African American elite, but failed to explore the ways in which elite blacks and whites worked together across the color line for common purposes.

More recently, Lawrence Otis Graham depicted the links between the early elites and modern upper class blacks. He too failed to explore the intersection between elites of both races.42

Although historic New Orleans and Charleston have been extensively studied, there are no examinations of mutually beneficial cooperation between the races in those locations. One of the most important studies of New Orleans is

John Blassingame’s Black New Orleans, 1860-1880 . Blassingame correctly argues that "blacks gained very few lasting benefits [ in the political area] from

Reconstruction" in New Orleans and that "the role of blacks in New Orleans politics was distinctive in many ways." Although this is a valuable resource,

Blassingame focused on an earlier period and his work documented the experience of African Americans rather than an exploration of contacts between the races. 43

42 Lawrence Otis Graham Our Kind of People: Inside America’s Black Upper Class (N.Y.: Harper, 1999) Graham, an attorney, created an extraordinary book depicting the black upper class of today, but it does not show relationships of the era covered by this study. 43 Black New Orleans, 211.

More recently, Justin A. Nystrom's New Orleans After the Civil War: Race,

Politics and a New Birth of Freedom examined racial "stability" imposed by

powerful whites when they created an effective apartheid in the Crescent City.

Nystrom argued that New Orleans was representative of the South. Nystrom

might have been correct if he had argued that Louisiana was representative of

the Deep South, but the experience of African Americans in the city of New

Orleans was very different than in the rest of the state. This dissertation argues

that the elite African American men who participated in New Orleans society

were not representative of the South as a whole. Nystrom was correct in his

argument that "the large and prosperous free black community in New Orleans

played a pivotal role in the debate over race." However, instead of expanding that

argument to an important conclusion, he failed to show the potential for close

personal and political relationships that existed between that free black

community and their powerful white counterparts. Finally, Nystrom concentrated

on the Reconstruction Era and did not continue into the tumultuous years

examined in this dissertation. 44

The African American experience in post-Reconstruction Charleston,

South Carolina, is highly underrepresented in the literature of this period. Walter

J. Fraser, Jr. gave scant attention to African Americans in his exhaustive history of the city Charleston! Charleston! He failed to examine their significant

contributions to the city and provided no evidence that blacks had any substantial

44 New Orleans After the Civil War , 3-4.

influence based on their own achievements. Fraser correctly stated that

"members of the city's free mulatto elite…segregated themselves from the new freedmen and resumed their prewar connections with the white upper class."

However, he made no effort to explore the ramifications of those connections. 45

Recognizing the lack of published scholarship on South Carolina's African

American history, Bernard E. Powers sought to fill that gap with his work Black

Charlestonians : A Social History 1822- 1885. Powers argued that in South

Carolina, whites were "especially hostile to the political advances made by black

men." Despite the large population of African Americans who lived in Charleston,

the racial climate became particularly virulent there. African Americans were

disfranchised through legal and extra-legal means. Powers correctly argued that

as Jim Crow wrestled political power from African American politicians, members

of the elite shifted their energies to participation as officers in African American

social, religious and fraternal organizations. Leadership roles in private

organizations became nearly as important and influential to their elite status as

electoral politics had been during Reconstruction. Powers correctly noted that

segregation was not a standard practice in Charleston until after the turn of the

twentieth century. At that time, elite African Americans were compelled to live in

a separate and unequal world. They had advantages that the poor did not, but

they were not privy to all the privileges their white counterparts enjoyed. Blacks

45 Charleston! Charleston! 297.

and whites lived and worked side by side in that city, but socially they existed in parallel worlds. 46

In Seizing the New Day: African Americans in Post- Civil War Charleston,

Wilbert L. Jenkins documented the black experience in Reconstruction

Charleston. He argued that the racial patterns which emerged in Charleston were

representative of the urban southern experience. This dissertation agrees that of

the three cities represented here, the patterns that emerged during

Reconstruction in Charleston were the most representative of what has

stereotypically been thought of as the urban southern experience. Charleston,

more than New Orleans or Cleveland, remained mired in antebellum tradition and

did not experience the growth or prosperity that flourished during the beginning of

the twentieth century in the other cities. 47

Compared to the southern cities in this study, Cleveland, Ohio exhibited a

dramatically different legacy. Kenneth Kusmer’s A Ghetto Takes Shape; Black

Cleveland 1870-1930 and Kimberly Phillips’ AlabamaNorth: African American

Migrants, Community, and Working Class Activism in Cleveland, 1915-1945 are

the benchmark studies of the African American experience in Cleveland.

Kusmer’s work has long been the definitive work on the establishment of

Cleveland’s segregated society while Phillips masterfully showed the impact of

the Great Migration on Cleveland’s history; but, neither study addressed in any

46 Bernard E. Powers, Jr. Black Charlestonians: A Social History 1822-1885 . (Fayetteville, Arkansas: University of Arkansas Press, 1994), 6-7; 262. 47 Wilbert L. Jenkins Seizing the New Day: African Americans in Post Civil War Charleston. (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1998).

detail the questions that drive this dissertation. Kusmer's study was the impetus for this dissertation. Careful study of his work left many unanswered questions about race relations in Cleveland. My master's thesis "Straddling the Color Line:

African American Elites in Cleveland 1877- 1915" argued that African Americans had true power in their own right, not power bestowed by paternalistic whites.

The remainder of the unanswered questions necessitated the inclusion of southern cities in this dissertation. 48

As mentioned above, politicians, physicians and clergymen were

occupations common to black and white elites. Therefore, those professions

became the lenses though which to view interracial relationships in these three

cities. Constitutional amendments enacted during Reconstruction opened doors

that previously precluded African American participation in the political arena. For

this reason, most studies of African American men and electoral politics rightly

focused on the Reconstruction Era. Because political opportunities for African

American men started a measured decline after Reconstruction, few scholars

have delved into the influence of those who survived the demise of

Reconstruction.

Philip Dray's Capitol Men: The Epic Story of Reconstruction Through the

Lives of the First Black Congressmen examined the contributions made by black

Congressmen during Reconstruction. He carefully explored the political lives of

the African American elite while affirming the reality that Reconstruction was truly

48 Kim M. Carey "Straddling the Color Line: African American Elites in Cleveland 1877- 1915" (M.A. Theses, Cleveland State University, 1999).

"a glorious failure." Dray hints at the larger issue of straddling the color line in his preface where he stated one of the questions that drove his study asking: "Was it simple race-hatred, a refusal that those low enough to have been slaves should arise to citizenship …?" In saying that, he inferred that Southern whites hated blacks so much that they were unable to interact across the color line with any degree of equality. Although he suggested that the inability to work across the color line was a meaningful subject for study, he failed to address the issue. 49

Like politics, the field of medicine exerted its influence on all individuals.

Medical services were (and are) a human need; illness and injury do not respect race or class. Most regional studies of medicine focused on white hospitals.

Services that were extended to people of color were segregated and minimal.

Three relevant studies are Black Physicians in the Jim Crow South , by Thomas

E. Ward Jr.; Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired: Black Women’s Health

Activism in American, 1890-1950 by Susan L. Smith; and Race and Medicine in

Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth- Century America by Todd L. Savitt.

Ward examined members of the black elite in the South and demonstrated that despite their elite status, they still fell victim to racism. Smith's work is less relevant here. Her work focused on midwifery and began in 1920. Although it focused on access to medical care in the South, it was primarily a study of poor people and their access to health care. Savitt correctly argued that Charleston physician Alonzo McClennan struggled with race issues and "walked a fine line

49 Philip Dray, Captiol Men: The Epic Story of Reconstruction Through the Lives of the First Black Congressmen. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2008), xiii.

between speaking out against injustice [while] retaining biracial support for the black medical enterprises he was developing." 50

Vanessa N. Gamble’s Making a Place for Ourselves: The Black Hospital

Movement 1920-1945 focused on the era beyond the scope of this dissertation.

No monographs exist pertaining to African American physicians, nurses or hospitals in Cleveland, Charleston or New Orleans. However, a series of periodicals edited by Alonzo McClennan "The Hospital Herald" published from

1898 -1900 , provide insight into the practice of medicine at the turn of the twentieth century in Charleston, South Carolina. Clearly, the historiography of medicine in the African American community is meager. This dissertation demonstrates the courage of African American physicians in post-Reconstruction

Charleston as they publicly used medical care as a platform to prove their

Victorian manhood in a way that white southerners could understand.

Finally, this study examined the influence elite African American men exerted as members of the clergy and the extent to which they were able to influence the larger society in which they lived. The published literature here was scarce as well. In Black Charlestonians, Powers devoted only one chapter to the study of the African American church. Studies of leadership among members of the African American clergy in Cleveland and New Orleans during the designated era are nonexistent. Kusmer devoted only four pages to the black church in A

Ghetto Takes Shape, but his work was purely descriptive. In Righteous

50 Savitt, Todd L. Race and Medicine in Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth- Century America (Kent, OH.: Kent State University Press, 2006), 317.

Discontent: The Women's Movement in the Black Baptist Church 1880-1920 ,

Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham closely examined the Black Baptist Convention movement; however, the scope of her work is focused on women challenging gender issues with regard to religious institutions. She did not examine how black members of the clergy related to their white counterparts across the color line.

There are no works addressing the nature of the Catholic Church and its relationships to elite African American men in the Jim Crow Era. No Cross, No

Crown: Black Nuns in Nineteenth Century New Orleans was an edited volume of the journal of Sister Mary Bernard Deggs. Although it provided an interesting view of the constraints and trials suffered by Catholic African American women in

New Orleans, it provides no insight into the relationships of African American men and their white counterparts across the color line in New Orleans society. 51

Organizationally this dissertation was divided into three major chapters, one for each of the featured cities. Each chapter contains subsections focusing on politicians, physicians and clergymen. Chapter one covers Charleston, South

51 Both Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent : The Women’s Movement in the Black Baptist Church 1880-1920. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1994) and Sister Mary Bernard Deggs, No Cross, No Crown: Black Nuns in Nineteenth-Century New Orleans. Edited by Virginia Meacham Gould and Charles E Nolan. (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2001.) examine issues of respectability and a desire for recognition by African American women in a male dominated society. There are a number of volumes that are biographical in nature that look at various members of the clergy, both black and White. Those were explored for relevance to this larger work. Catholics in the Old South: Essays on Church and Culture (1983), edited by Randall M. Miller and Jon L. Wakelyn, focused on the antebellum era. Dorothy Ann Blatnica's At the Altar of their God: African American Catholics in Cleveland 1922-1961 examined Catholic African Americans beyond the years covered by this study. The Catholic Church succumbed to the first segregated African American parishes in Cleveland during the years covered by Blatnica's study. John J. Grabowski's There Are No Strangers at the Feast: Catholicism and Community in Northeast Ohio was essentially a pictorial diary of the Catholic Church in Cleveland. The vast majority of historical studies on black churches focused on the modern civil rights era. Clearly, the subject of African American influence and power in the age of Jim Crow demands a closer investigation.

Carolina, settled first during the late seventeenth century. This chapter argues that despite the optimism elite blacks had in Charleston during Reconstruction, that city failed to live up to the promises of equality and opportunity they worked so hard to develop. In the aftermath of the Civil War, Charleston never regained its importance or prestige for whites or for blacks. Investors found no value in industrializing the city because farmland was nutritionally depleted and there was little motivation to restore the plantation economy without slaves to provide the labor. African Americans demonstrated significant political influence in

Charleston during Reconstruction, but in the wake of Redemption there was a steady and dramatic decline in that influence. The first decades of the twentieth century allowed a very few elite black men the opportunity to exert limited power, but far less than in New Orleans or Cleveland. 52

Chapter two focused on New Orleans, Louisiana first settled in the second decade of the eighteenth century. Unlike Charleston, New Orleans was slower to develop as a major city but more quickly recovered in the aftermath of the Civil

War. By 1880, the population of New Orleans was more than four times larger than that of Charleston. In that year, Charleston was the thirty-sixth largest city in the United States while New Orleans was the tenth largest city. In the aftermath of Reconstruction New Orleans had fewer black elected officials than Charleston but more political influence at the national level. This dissertation argues that there was a greater acceptance of racial diversity and influence in New Orleans

52 Charleston! Charleston! , 1-19; 276-301; 307-368.

because of the multicultural heritage in that city. The multicultural and bilingual history of New Orleans was peculiar in the American South. The diversity evident there was not representative of Louisiana as a whole and as a result, race relations were unique in the Crescent City. 53

The final chapter focused on Cleveland, Ohio. Like Charleston and New

Orleans, Cleveland was also a port city. Founded last, in the final years of the eighteenth century, Cleveland was a new-comer to the national scene. Although it had a later start, location made Cleveland an important city in the expanding nation. In terms of population, Cleveland was initially in between Charleston and

New Orleans ranking in 1880 as the eleventh largest city, but with fifty thousand fewer people than New Orleans. This dissertation argues that because the overall black population was small, there were far more opportunities for elite blacks and less racism toward blacks in Cleveland than in southern cities. White people were more likely to accept the talents and abilities of individual African

Americans in Cleveland because the class bias of the master-slave relationship did not exist . Elite African American men were recognized for their contributions and abilities in Cleveland until the Great Migration of the twentieth century brought many thousands of uneducated blacks to the North in search of employment. 54

Finally, this dissertation argues that the "nadir" for elite African Americans did not begin at the end of Reconstruction. In reality the onset depended on

53 1880 U.S. Census. 54 1880 U.S. Census; A Ghetto Takes Shape, 1-52; 157-173.

location. There was a gradual decline in civil rights and in the power of the

African American elite following the inauguration of President Rutherford B.

Hayes, but black elites maintained significant influence until the end of the nineteenth century and into the first two decades of the twentieth. Indeed, the nadir for elites born in the 1850s and 1860s began only in earnest during the twentieth century. It was then that the political and social influence of black elites who had formed national networks of relationships across the color line ceased to exist. Members of the black elite envisioned a post-racial world and believed they were on the cusp of that new reality. During the 1920s, those referred to as the "New Negroes" claimed the positions once held by members of the old elite.

It was during that time that the reality of the nadir became obvious to men who had previously served as the liaisons between the black world and the white.

They had become old men, and their ways were the old ways. The bond between the elites of the races was broken; cooperation ceased; and conflict became the new reality. 55

55 Negro in American Life, 52. Logan defines the nadir as 1877-1901. Those dates do not reflect the lowest point in race relations. James Loewen defines the nadir as 1890-1940. I argue that the onset of the Nadir is dependent on location. James W. Loewen Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism. (N.Y.: The New Press, 2005) , 33-36. William Pickens, The New Negro: His Political, Civil and Mental Status and Related Essays (N.Y.: Neale Publishing Company 1916; reprint N.Y.: AMS Press,1969.) This is a series of essays defining what it means to be a "New Negro."

The Social and Political influence of Elite African American

Politicians, Clergy and Physicians in Charleston, South Carolina

Introduction

Charleston was a major port city in colonial British North America.

Charleston remained one of the most important cities in America until the Civil

War. From its inception, Charleston existed as a slave society. Because slavery was so integral to the economy, the peculiar institution shaped the worldview of

Charlestonians until well into the twentieth century. Charleston was an international port city with a large slave population and unhealthy living conditions. The first British ships sailed into Charleston harbor in the spring of

1670 and within two years they established a bustling settlement. It would not be until the 1690s that the first Europeans arrived in New Orleans and it would take several decades before construction of a city began. These two southern cities evolved in dramatically different ways and as a result, the lives of the black elite during the post-Reconstruction era in each city evolved differently. 56

56 Walter J. Frasier, Jr. Charleston! Charleston! The History of a Southern City. (Columbia, University of South Carolina Press, 1991) 1. Ira Berlin, Many Thousands Gone: The First Two Centuries of Slavery in North America. (Cambridge, MA.: Harvard University Press, 1998) 10; 228.

43 44

In Charleston, most of the white residents spoke English and for the most part the religious preference of the region was Protestant. The first church, an Anglican Church, St. Philips, was built in 1683. Other denominations soon followed. Although there was a Roman Catholic presence in the city during the

1680s, residents who chose to worship in that manner “probably took great pains to disguise their religious preference.” For Protestant British colonists living in

Charleston, the practice of the Catholic faith equated with Spanish tradition.

During the late seventeenth century, Spain and Britain had an adversarial relationship, particularly in the American South. Fear of Spanish attacks in the region translated into animosity toward the local Catholic Church. Following the

Revolutionary War and the establishment of a new nation, religious tolerance emerged. By 1791, a Roman Catholic Church incorporated and formed the congregation of St. Mary's in Charleston. 57

The African Methodist Episcopal Church also had an early presence in the city. In 1818, the Reverend Morris Brown helped organize the first A.M.E. Church in Charleston based on the model created several years earlier in Philadelphia. Brown’s congregation grew rapidly numbering over 3,000 before it was abolished by fearful whites in the wake of the 1822 Denmark Vesey rebellion. Unlike New Orleans where the strongest religious tradition was Roman

57 Charleston! Charleston!, 11, 179.

Catholic, in Charleston numerous Protestant congregations had the most influence. 58

It was within the context of these complex political and religious conditions that the elite free black community developed in Charleston, South

Carolina, before the Civil War. After Reconstruction, they lived relatively separate lives from the remainder of the blacks. As businessmen and skilled craftsmen, they also lived lives separate from poor and middle class whites. Black elites in

Charleston interacted with black elites from other cities. This chapter argues that elite blacks in Charleston did not derive power from their association with white people. They garnered social and political power from their own efforts. The social structure of their society was unique to Charleston, but they had close personal and professional ties to elite Charleston whites and blacks as well and influential people throughout America.

Black politicians in South Carolina were relatively influential until the onset of the twentieth century but at that time their influence quickly waned as white Democrats wrested power from black and white Republicans.

Physicians and clergymen remained influential longer than politicians in

Charleston. Dr. Alonzo McClennan exhibited significant power and personal bravery in the aftermath of the lynching of the Lake City, South Carolina, postmaster. 59

58 Charleston! Charleston!, 200. 59 New York Times, February 23, 1898.

Show me a negro who knows Greek syntax and I will believe that he is a human being and should be treated like a man

----John C. Calhoun 60

One factor that set Charleston apart from New Orleans and

Cleveland was the overall population demographic. Charleston was by far the smallest city of the three cities covered in this study. Although it was the first established, its economic growth did not keep pace over time with the other two cities. Charleston was devastated during the Civil War and never regained its prominence as a center of business and industry. Not only was Charleston substantially smaller than the other cities, but comparatively it had the largest black population of the three. In 1880, Charleston was a city of nearly 50,000 people, almost 26,000 were black. This relative numerical superiority led to the development of interesting social dynamics. 61

60 Edmund L. Drago, Charleston's Avery Center: From Education and Civil Rights to Preserving the African American Experience revised edition( Charleston: History Press, 2006), 19. 61 U.S. Census, 1880. In 1887, William Simmons wrote in Men of Mark; South Carolina sent more [black] Congressmen to Washington than any other state.” Simmons, p. 466. Although six blacks had been sent to Washington from S.C. by 1887, the number of blacks serving the nation as a whole was so small that their power was minimal. Nevertheless, they were a presence in a world dominated by whites and as a result they had no choice but to straddle the color line if they wished to accomplish any good during their tenure.

In his observation of historic Charleston, Willard Gatewood wrote: “the aristocrats of color in Charleston, South Carolina, more than anywhere else in the South, even in New Orleans, had a reputation for snobbery and colorphobia that persisted well into the twentieth century.” Gatewood based his statement largely on the writings of historians Bernard Powers, Asa Gordon and Marina

Wikramanayake. Although Gatewood and the others are correct in highlighting the closed society in which the elite lived, they are incorrect in their assessment that the divide was primarily based on color. It is true that color was a factor, and that many members of the elite married the lightest skinned partners they could find; however, there was far more to their discrimination than simply color. What was most important to members of the elite was that their potential spouse had the correct genealogical pedigree. It was vital that they were part of the best and most influential families of the city. Therefore, their elitism was based more on class consciousness than pigment consciousness. It was conceivable that a person could have darker skin and still be a member of the elite class. Of utmost importance to Charleston’s black elite was refinement, culture and the striving for increased status in society. The higher one’s status, the more potential one had to rise to the top of society and to exert influence within the city and beyond. If an individual just happened to have pale skin, so much the better. Skin color was favored by members of the elite; however, the ability to effectively conduct

business with others of the same or similar social class was by far the most important factor. 62

Many of the black men who claimed political power in Charleston during Reconstruction had been free before the Civil War. Most were literate and some had significant leadership experience in religious and benevolent organizations before they exercised their abilities in the political sphere. Others rose to prominence as a result of their activities during the Civil War. Robert

Smalls, for example, honed his skills in both arenas. Prior to the Civil War, while still enslaved living in Charleston, Smalls participated secretly in seven benevolent organizations. He publicly displayed his courage and leadership abilities for the first time in May 1862 by commandeering the Confederate ship

Planter , and turning it over to Union forces, thereby earning a commission in the

United States Navy. Smalls’ military experience translated directly into the political arena during and after Reconstruction when he went on to serve as an elected member of the South Carolina legislature and the United States

Congress. 63

62 Aristocrats of Color, 80. The population of the free African American community in Charleston continued to whiten because members of the elite married other members of the elite. Over time, the lightly pigmented skin of the elites became the norm rather than the exception among members of the African American elite. We cannot say that intermarriage among light skinned people of color determined the social status of the population. Some children had darker skin than either of their parents and this did not preclude them from membership in the elite social class. They were from a family that had a history as a member of the elite class and so they were accepted regardless of the shade of their skin. There were also exceptions to this rule of color stratification and genealogical pedigree with regard to acceptance into the elite class. Civil War hero, Robert Smalls, was born a slave, was not light skinned, and yet was an accepted member of the black elite. He had a distinguished career in politics. His accomplishments were more important than color. 63 Black Charlestonians , 19, 170; p. 232; Charleston! Charleston!, 258, 272.

Smalls was not a puppet politician under the influence of whites.

When delegates met for a constitutional convention in South Carolina in 1895,

Smalls went prepared to defend the rights of blacks in his home state against an onslaught of racism from Senator Benjamin Tillman. Tillman had just traded his role as South Carolina's governor for a seat in the United States Senate.

Politically, the most powerful man in South Carolina, Tillman effectively

"controlled the convention". He believed that African American participation in government had imposed great hardship on the state and he was intent on making changes. 64

Smalls was one of the African Americans serving as delegates at the convention each representing "districts so overwhelmingly black that even

Tillman had not managed to expunge these men…" Despite their small numbers, there was no criticism that Tillman and his followers could make that Smalls and his associates could not rebut. By 1895, Smalls had decades of public service to the nation he loved. His loyalty, courage and sacrifice could not be questioned.65

During the convention, Democrats proposed laws forbidding racial

intermarriage and "sought to establish codes of punishment" for infractions of the

proposed law. In response, Smalls "counterproposed an amendment stating that

any white person caught in cohabitation with a black person should be barred

from holding public office and that any offspring from such a union should bear

64 Philip Dray, Capitol Men: The Epic Story of Recons truction Through the Lives of the First Black Congressmen, ( Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2008), 338. 65 Capitol Men, 338.

the father's name." Clearly Smalls' aimed his counterproposal at hypocritical white politicians who demanded one type of behavior yet practiced another. In a lengthy address to the convention Smalls justified his reasoning for such an amendment by saying that white "women were good and he wanted the [white] men to be" as well. Reporters from the Columbia State newspaper commented

on the politically savvy move by Smalls writing: "The coons had the dogs up the

tree for a change." As expected, Smalls counterproposal proved unsuccessful,

but his words had the desired impact in that the convention was forced to debate

a sensitive issue and the possible consequences of such actions. 66

The African American delegates had virtually no influence at the convention in 1895, but Smalls would not be bullied into submission. Although he could not sway the racist participants from creating laws that would restrict the freedoms of those he represented, Smalls would not rubber-stamp the laws proposed. When he refused to sign the constitution, he was threatened by another member of the body who said "his travel expenses would not be paid if he did not affix his signature." Smalls replied that he would prefer to walk than sign such a discriminatory document. Following that statement, he left the convention. 67

There was little spirit of interracial cooperation at the convention, but the African Americans who were there refused to be dominated by powerful

66 Edward A. Miller, Jr. Gullah Statesman: Robert Smalls from Slavery to Congress, 1839-1915. (Columbia, University of South Carolina Press, 1995) p.205; Capitol Men , p.342; Quote from Columbia State, October 4, 1895 in Capitol Men, 342. 67 Capitol Men , 343.

white politicians. Had their political power been based on paternalism, Smalls and his cohort would simply have catered to the demands made on them by powerful whites. They were simply unwilling to comply with such demands.

Smalls knew he was the intellectual equal of all those present and he was convinced that he was morally superior to most. Newspapers throughout America reported Smalls role at the convention and he was gratified when people cheered his courage and eloquence. In one paper an editorial extolled Smalls' " 'brilliant moral victory,' [ saying] white anxiety about blacks in politics 'is not born so much of regard for their numbers as their intellectual ability. It is not Negro ignorance but Negro intelligence that is being feared'." The racial line, in this instance, was firmly drawn. Both sides stood glaring at each other across an impenetrable divide. Tillman and his supporters wanted complete and utter submission. Blacks in South Carolina would not voluntarily revert to re-enslavement. Some spectators, including members of the press, were fully aware that it was competence, not incompetence, that Tillman and his supporters feared. Tillman feared having his racial theories disproved by Smalls and other black politicians. 68

Soon after the convention, Smalls campaigned for the Republican

Party and William McKinley's presidential bid. He served as an at-large delegate to the Republican Convention held in June 1896 at St. Louis, Missouri. Nine

68 Capitol Men , 342; quote from Smalls : New York Press, October 5,1895, in Mary J. Miller, Constitutional Convention: The Part Taken by Colored Orators in their Fight for a Fair, Impartial Ballot, 24-25; From Slavery to Public Service: Robert Smalls, 1839-1915. (N.Y.: Oxford University Press, 1971), 219

hundred and twenty-four delegates were present at the national convention and only sixty-six were African American. It was impossible to ignore the dwindling numbers of influential African Americans in the Grand Old Party, but Smalls and the others refused to give up hope. They truly believed the decline was temporary and that their fortunes would soon reverse. 69

Following his years in elected office, Smalls served for more than twenty years as Collector of Customs in nearby Beaufort, South Carolina. These final years of service were in a patronage position; a reward for service to the

Republican party and to his country. During his time of military service, his years as a politician, and as Collector of Customs Smalls had the opportunity to work closely with white people. As a black officer in command of a U.S. Naval vessel he had to interact with his white superior officers and with people of both races who served under him. Later in his role as a state and federal legislator, Smalls had to negotiate the complicated terrain of race relations in the New South as he worked to pass laws that would serve the needs of constituents while still passing the scrutiny of the white legislators from other districts. Finally, in his capacity of

Collector of Customs he had to work within the predominantly white federal bureaucracy to carry out the tasks of his office. A white man would simply have assumed an air of authority. Smalls could not approach his duties with the same demeanor exhibited by a white man. He had to command respect from those he supervised while remaining cognizant of his place as a black man in post-

69 Captiol Men, 343.

Reconstruction Charleston. He served admirably for two decades in a position that demanded an eye for detail and respect from those he supervised. Robert

Smalls transcended the complexities of the terrain of race in a way that few former slaves could have conceived. 70

As might be expected, Booker T. Washington championed Robert

Smalls' cause to powerful people within the Republican Party. Soon after Smalls was finally removed from office as Collector of Customs in 1913, Washington received a letter of regret from a former Secretary of the United States Treasury,

Robert MacVeagh. MacVeagh expressed his profound sympathies to

Washington for Smalls' termination stating that "he took for granted that [Smalls was] …going to be permitted to hold this office all [his] life, as should have been the case." 71

Booker T. Washington immediately replied to MacVeagh stating that "The colored people are very much disappointed and almost embittered because of the displacement of Robert Smalls…The white people look upon him as a kind of a godfather, and there is not the slightest trace of bitterness against him because of the office he has held for so many years." For many people,

Smalls' lifetime of public service placed him in a category that allowed him to transcend racial stereotypes. However, for strident white racists, all African

70 Beaufort, South Carolina is about 70 miles south of Charleston. 71 Correspondence from Booker T. Washington to Robert Smalls, April 17, 1913. Smalls lived for two years after his final removal from office. He died in 1915. In the early twentieth century there was no pension plan for government employees. When Robert Smalls lost his position as Collector of Customs he had no secure income on which to live for his final years.

Americans were cut of one cloth. They had to be eliminated from positions of power and authority as soon as such actions could be engineered. 72

As was so often the case, Washington pushed where he could

against the forces of the white political bureaucracy that tossed crumbs of

patronage toward blacks who deserved recognition by the Republican Party they

so loyally served. There seemed no dispute that Smalls was qualified to hold the

position or that he was acceptable to many whites within the city of Charleston.

What prompted Smalls' removal was a change in political administrations. When

Democratic President Woodrow Wilson took office, the Republican Collector of

Customs Robert Smalls was one casualty of the transition. It was not at all

unusual for Republican operatives to be replaced with their Democratic

counterparts when the White House changed parties. It was merely a sign of the

times that a black Republican collector of customs would lose his position to a

Democrat. Although there were a few blacks in the South who supported the

Democratic Party, their numbers were not large enough to warrant consideration

by the newly elected President Woodrow Wilson. There were many in Charleston

who were dismayed to see Smalls displaced; black Republicans were even more

incensed that he was not replaced by another African American. Such

displeasure was of little importance to the Democratic Party as they sought to

whiten the governmental bureaucracy. 73

72 Booker T. Washington to Robert MacVeagh, April 17, 1913. 73 Booker T. Washington to Robert MacVeagh, April 17, 1913.

Thomas E. Miller was another member of the black elite, a long- time resident of Charleston and a contemporary of Robert Smalls. Miller was born free in Beaufort County, South Carolina, and moved north to Charleston with his family in 1851 while still an infant. He attended a private school in

Charleston but went to college in the North following the Civil War. Returning to his home state after the war, he earned a law degree from South Carolina

College. Miller was admitted to the bar and his first political experience was in the capacity of school commissioner. Later he served in the South Carolina House of

Representatives, the South Carolina Senate and in the United States House of

Representatives from South Carolina’s Seventh District. Following his tenure in public service, Miller was the first president of the Colored Normal, Industrial,

Agricultural, and Mechanical College of South Carolina in Orangeburg from

1896-1911. 74

Although Miller was born free and Booker T. Washington was born enslaved, the two men had similar perspectives and philosophies. For that reason, some of the criticisms that were leveled at Washington by scholars were also applied to Miller. In Black Carolinians, historian I.A. Newby wrote: “Like

many educated black Carolinians, Miller was both optimistic and conservative in

his attitude toward racial policy…Miller believed Black Carolinians would advance

only as they overcame their own deficiencies.” Newby equated such thinking by

Miller as evidence of a flaw in Miller’s character; he believed it was evidence that

74 Dictionary of American Negro Biography , 439.

Miller was complicit with whites who were attempting to repress ordinary African

Americans in the post-Reconstruction era. Newby’s belief was extremely common in the revisionist writing that sought to undermine the contributions of

Reconstruction era black elites. Beginning in the 1970s, as the Civil Rights movement ushered in the discipline of Social History, academic revisionists argued that the work of the elites emulated whites in the hope that their behavior would transcend race and make them acceptable to white Americans. The elites were simply looking out for themselves; they were busy amassing riches and power. In so doing, they collaborated with whites who sought to oppress the black masses. The critics of the black elites believed that instead of working to free blacks from white oppression, elite blacks aided the oppression of the poor in order to maintain their own elite status. In grappling to gain a new truth, some historians threw out all of the old ideas of the importance of black elites and started anew. While there is much to be learned from studying the common man, it is important to not neglect those who struggled to lift others as they rose through the ranks in society. Thomas Miller was one such individual. He firmly believed that all people had the obligation to earn their place in society. He believed that “[s]alvation for the race lay in working hard, becoming useful citizens and accumulating material goods.” He believed that white people had prospered in that manner and that black people would as well. 75

75 I. A. Newby, Black Carolinians: A History of Blacks in South Carolina from 1895 to 1968. (Columbia, University of South Carolina Press, 1973) 110.

This idea of hard work mirrors the ideas espoused by Booker T.

Washington and Newby is critical of this approach. He is scornful of the curriculum espoused by the school that Miller led and others like it (such as

Tuskegee). Newby complains that Miller, and others, believed that the way to become successful was to emulate white Americans; to study the same material and beat them at their own game. In fact Newby is so critical that he wondered why an educated black “should study the same curriculum, learn the same things and think the same thoughts [as white students did]…black history and culture were not studied…[a]pparently not a single student in black Carolina had an opportunity to take a course in African studies during this period.” 76

It is well to wonder why African studies were not provided, but it is

certainly an anachronism to think they should have been provided in the

nineteenth century. A college education of that era was one of classical studies.

An educated person was expected to master a common body of knowledge and

was expected to match wits with one’s peers (others of similar social and

academic attainment) in society. In demanding an education equivalent to whites,

black leaders were attempting to bridge the racial gap in society that was created

by a total lack of education for blacks. At the time, an equivalent education was

the appropriate solution to inequality. Their education was not a surrender to

white society. In demanding the same education for black students, elite men like

76 Black Carolinians , 111. Miller was the first president of the Colored Normal, Industrial, Agricultural, and Mechanical College of South Carolina. As a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives Miller lobbied for the creation of the school and he resigned his office to become president.

Miller were providing a way for their people to climb the same ladder that whites had always been allowed to climb. Miller did not advocate a parallel ladder or a separate ladder. He wanted individuals to compete equally. Members of the elite believed that qualified black men would attain equality by playing on a level playing field with common tools and rules. He believed that the road to success for immigrants of any race was through the educational system because education was the great equalizer in America. 77

Although Miller believed in inclusion, he was also a realist. By the post-

World War I Era, it was clear that the idea of integration was a lost cause in

South Carolina. Miller began to accept the reality of life in the New South. In

1919, members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored

People in Charleston rallied black residents of the city in response to the horrific race riots that broke out there and in other major American cities. Because of his status as a former legislator and as a college president, prominent black citizens tasked Thomas Miller with leadership of a delegation to present a petition to a governmental committee. That petition requested that South Carolina pass a law demanding that only black teachers be allowed to teach in schools that catered to black children. Five thousand African Americans in Charleston signed the petition. The names on this petition represented nearly seventy-five percent of

77 The Published Report of Harvard College and Reports of the Departments from 1900 stated that all applicants for Harvard Medical school would now be required to complete "a degree in Arts, Literature, Philosophy or Science" to qualify for admission. This was considered an appropriate academic preparation for graduate education. A curriculum comparable to this standard is what Miller advocated. Annual Report of the President and the Treasurer of Harvard College, 1900-1901. (Cambridge, MA.: Harvard University, 1902), 88.

the black families in Charleston. Beginning in the fall of 1920, the education of black children was turned over to black teachers in Charleston. 78

It is likely that this petition campaign by black Charlestonians succeeded because it did not require compromise on the part of white citizens. It reinforced the segregation that had been imposed by whites. Although it further divided the races it could also be seen as a success for black leaders. They advocated the demands of their community and the outcome was one that they desired. It required black leaders to engage with white leaders on neutral ground to work out a compromise that was satisfactory to both sides. Initially these changes did not substantially change the curriculum in the schools. That was never the intention. Elite blacks had no complaint with the curriculum; only that they be allowed professional opportunities commensurate with their education in service of their children. Here again, it was not the content of the education rather it was the reinforcement of positive role models for black children. Qualified black educators instructing black children showed what was attainable through concentrated effort and diligence. The members of the black elite were not seeking exclusivity; they wanted to be acknowledged as successful, educated citizens of America.

William Demos Crum was another black educator from Charleston who played a significant political role during the post-Reconstruction era. Crum served

78 Black Carolinians , 158-9. The summer of 1919 was known as the Red Summer. During that summer race riots broke out in cities all over America. Charleston's riot took place on May 10, 1919. As one of the prominent African Americans in the city, Thomas Miller was an active participant in seeking solutions to end the violence.

first as a teacher and later as a trustee on the board of the Avery Normal Institute in Charleston. Born in 1859, as a free person of color in Charleston, Crum epitomized the black aristocracy. In appearance Crum “resembled a ’German burgher,’ [he] read French literature, spoke some German, attended the theater dressed as well as any man in Charleston and lived in a better style than most of them.” He trained to be a medical doctor and was actively involved in the

Hospital and Training School begun by Dr. Alonzo McClennan. While his medical career will be discussed later, it is important here to note how members of the elite played roles in society that spanned from one sphere to another. 79

Wearing the hat of educator, Crum had ample opportunity to interact with influential whites in Charleston. He was an influential advisor to Booker T.

Washington and he was highly active in Republican Party politics serving as a delegate to the Republican National Conventions for two decades. In his political capacity he interacted with powerful whites in Charleston as well as nationally.

Historian Rayford Logan described Crum’s political career using the literary analogy of the “tragic mulatto” stating that Crum ultimately became a political pawn as Republican influence dwindled in the South. Although scholars will certainly understand the image of a tragic mulatto, it is a disservice to label

William Crum with that negative stereotype. Logan argued that Crum was a political pawn because of the divisiveness during the confirmation hearings for his nomination for the position of Collector of Customs for the Port of Charleston,

79 Aristocrats of Color , 81.

South Carolina. President Theodore Roosevelt's nomination pitted racist white

Charlestonians led by Senator Benjamin Tillman against those throughout the nation who approved of Crum’s appointment. At the time of his nomination Crum was already serving in the position under a temporary commission. Each side argued a position that epitomized the racial strife of the era. White Democratic

Tillmanites fought to keep Crum out of office while many Republicans of both races argued that Crum was qualified and there was no reason he should not be appointed. 80

By virtue of his nomination, Crum became the subject of the dispute; hence the designation of the tragic mulatto. The controversy began when a well- respected, well-educated man was put in the middle of a political tug of war as each side fought to extend its power and influence. Nationally, blacks and some whites believed that Crum deserved the political appointment in reward for many years of diligent service to the Republican Party. He was legitimately qualified to hold the position. Racist white southerners stated that it was inappropriate for a black man, even one who was qualified and light-skinned, to supervise the work of white female clerks in a federal office. Each side believed in the validity of its argument and neither side would relinquish control of the strongly contested

80 Official Proceedings of the Eleventh Republican National Convention, St. Louis, 1896, 72-73; Rayford W. Logan and Michael R. Winston, Dictionary of American Negro Biography. (N.Y.: W.W. Norton and Company, 1982) ,144. Black Charlestonians , p. 160; Crum served as a delegate to the Republican National Convention from 1884- 1904.

patronage position. It was this bitter controversy that placed Crum in the role of political pawn. 81

The battle to get Crum affirmed extended far beyond the borders of the state of South Carolina. The headline on the front page of the Cleveland Journal

May 21, 1904, proclaimed:

ORGANIZATION, ------Prominent Men From Over the State Meet in Columbus to Effect One---George A. Meyers (sic) Presides and Delivers Opening Address

At the time of Crum's confirmation debate, George A. Myers was a

member of the Ohio Republican Party Executive Committee. Along with other

prominent Ohio Republicans, Myers convened a meeting in the council chamber

at the Ohio state capital in Columbus. After calling the meeting to order, Myers

addressed the assembly. Setting the stage for his comments to follow Myers

remarked, "I do not mean to insinuate that all colored men in Ohio are in accord

81 In an era where the spoils system was the norm, political operatives were often nominated for patronage positions in reward for their service. Based on that reasoning, and his education, William Crum deserved the appointment. In an era where many political operatives were nominated solely on their service, Crum had the advantage of being qualified for the position for which he was nominated.

with the republican party (sic) upon all public questions: colored men are not unlike white men; there are the same differences among them." Myers discussed the importance of the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution and its importance to the debate. He commended President Theodore Roosevelt for his willingness to nominate William D. Crum for the position of Collector of Customs.

Myers reiterated what everyone in the room knew, that "Dr. Crum has now become almost a national issue and we in Ohio are equally interested." Myers then reminded those in attendance "…both of our [Ohio] senators are with us and for Dr. Crum, Senator Foraker being committed in writing and Senator Dick in person." 82

Myers urged the men in attendance to take action to insure Crum's affirmation saying" From the personality of the men I see before me, I know that we can succeed; the crying need of the hour is for men who do things; men of action; men of integrity; such as I know you to be." He pled, he cajoled, he encouraged the men in attendance to lobby their friends in other states and to right the wrongs that were perpetrated by those who wished Crum would go down in defeat. Myers believed it was wrong for the nomination of Crum to fall to defeat. Had Crum been unqualified, he would not have been nominated. Had he been unworthy of the office, George A. Myers would not have put his reputation on the line. But Myers was a man of principles and he demanded that the other

82 Cleveland Journal (Cleveland, OH.), May 21, 1904. George A. Myers was a prominent African American from Cleveland. Myers schooled his listeners regarding the importance of the Fifteenth Amendment which guaranteed the right of all male citizens over the age of twenty-one years a voice in the electoral process.

men in the room should hold Congress accountable to take the honorable course. 83

To insure that those in the room recognized the seriousness of the moment, Myers reminded them, "Civil and political rights are not the issues of campaigns right now. Human rights have been subordinated and practical politics and subterfuges have been substituted." It was indicative of Myers' thinking to reflect on the issue of human rights. Crum was a member of the elite. Myers believed elites should be treated as privileged members of society. Crum was qualified. He was part of a group that Myers believed should transcend racial issues and therefore Myers was strident in his approach to the people in attendance. This was not a group of African Americans he was addressing. It was a mixed race group of prominent Republicans. The process to win approval for Dr. Crum began in March 1903. Finally, the United States Senate confirmed

Crum for the position in January 1905. It took the divided United States government nearly two years to approve the confirmation of a man to a position for which he was qualified, simply because of his race. 84

Both before and after his confirmation Crum straddled the color line in

Charleston in the service of his country and his race. As a member of the African

American elite representing the talented tenth, he was often called upon by both races to lend an aura of respectability and authenticity to any endeavor that

83 Cleveland Journal , May 21, 1904. 84 Cleveland Journal , May 21, 1904. George A. Myers was a Republican Party operative instrumental in Ohio and national politics for many years. His political influence will be discussed in greater depth in chapter three.

called for biracial support. When a goal was not achieved or if rights were repressed, critics found it easy to blame the elites for misdeeds or incompetency.

Some scholars criticize Crum and other members of the elite because black rights were not advanced in a linear fashion. In retrospect it is easy to charge members of the elite with Uncle Tomism when compromise with whites did not

provide the anticipated benefit. Members of the African American elite did not

have a road map to assure racial progress and equality. When Crum was

nominated for the position of Collector of Customs by President Roosevelt,

blacks heralded the appointment as proof that the Republican president was

willing to accept qualified black men into government service. At the time, black

elites believed Crum's appointment documented evidence of racial progress.

When examining the event from the perspective of the post-Civil Rights era,

some might label Crum a pawn, but a more accurate reading of the events might

be that he was pragmatic. Crum accepted the appointment and served honorably

for six years proving that an educated black man was capable of serving

successfully and that race was not a marker that defined employment capability.

Members of the black elite saw the Senate's reluctance to confirm appointments

of black nominees as a ploy used by white obstructionists; an attempt to maintain

control of a majority black population in regions where they had no legitimate way

to accomplish such goals. 85

85 "Uncle Tomism" refers to African American men who were subservient to white Americans. Frederick Douglass faced a similar dilemma when he was removed from his position as a federal marshal and named to the post of recorder of deeds. Douglass believed it was far more important

Crum and other members of the black elite accepted political appointments because of the prestige that accompanied those appointments.

They believed they were qualified to serve at the highest levels of federal service and they also believed that if whites observed blacks performing successfully in high visibility positions, white fears of black incompetence would be alleviated. 86

The ability to successfully straddle the color line required tact, political astuteness, and enormous diplomacy. The fact that men like Crum were able to perceive the complicated nuances of race and class and that they were able to maintain the balancing act sometimes for years at a time attests to the duality or two-ness of which William E.B. DuBois spoke. Members of the elite were characterized by whites as black. Members of the black elite did not deny their blackness. Some could have passed for white but chose instead to accept the racial designation imposed upon them and used their talents to work within the system. Race did not appear to be the defining characteristic of their identity.

They identified as part of the elite and closely associated with members of the elite of both races. For them class was a far more important marker than race. It was incumbent upon them to uphold the status of their place in society, to deserve trust and honor bestowed upon them.87

to have qualified African American men serving in federal positions than it was to acknowledge that he had been demoted by being assigned to a lesser position. 86 N.Y. Times, January 7, 1905. History has proven Crum and others correct in their assumptions; however, the realization that educated African Americans could perform successfully took nearly a century longer than they originally anticipated. 87 William .E.B. DuBois Souls of Black Folk (Chicago: A.C. McClurg & Co.,1903) . Here DuBois discussed the idea of "twoness". His idea of twoness: "An American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts… " epitomized the internal conflict experienced by members of the elite as they

Clergymen who were part of the black elite in Charleston believed they could transcend race because of their social status and their occupations.

Because their religious calling challenged them to serve God, their congregations and less fortunate members of their race, they held the public trust and confidence in a way that ordinary members of society could not. This public role provided them access to people and places unavailable to others.

On Easter Sunday in 1865, the day following the death of President

Abraham Lincoln, a small group of elite African Americans in Charleston joined together for a worship service. Immediately following the worship service, which they held in borrowed quarters, the men formed a new religious congregation named St. Mark’s Episcopal Church. Following democratic procedures, a process with which they were fully familiar, they elected officers to manage the affairs of the new church. Included in this group were members of the Holloway,

McKinlay, Bennett and DeReef families; some of the most influential free African

American families in the city. They were also members of the Brown Fellowship

Society. 88

To fully understand the religious nature of the elite black community in Charleston, one must also understand their social organizations. The Brown

Fellowship Society, a highly exclusive social and benevolent organization, was struggled to define their place in American society. On one hand, they thought race was an irrelevant category. At the same time, they were constantly reminded that racial boundaries existed. Some elites had the luxury of ignoring race particularly when engaging with peers in their professional lives. Others were constantly reminded of the limitations that race imposed on them. 88 History of St. Marks Church, website of St. Marks Church, http://www.saintmarkschurch.com/2501.html Accessed July 7 , 2010; Gatewood, 291.

organized on November 1, 1790, in Charleston. At its inception, the exclusive nature of the organization prevented most African Americans from participation.

Membership was limited to free blacks and was by invitation only. Moreover, the number of participants was limited to fifty. New members could only be added by the withdrawal or death of existing members. Generally, invitations for membership were extended only to family members or close associates of existing members. In this manner the exclusivity of the organization was easily maintained. 89

Much has been written about the Brown Fellowship Society.

Historically, its primary function was as a mutual aid and burial organization.

From its inception the group operated for the benefit of all involved, but perhaps most importantly for the purposes of this dissertation, it served as a training ground whereby individuals gained leadership skills that could be used to benefit not only themselves, but also other members of the community. Men prominent in Charleston's black churches were among the first to succeed in straddling the color line in post-Civil War Charleston.

In general there are two conflicting positions regarding the nature of this club and others like it. Some scholars have divided Charleston’s black community into three classes or “castes—white, black and mulatto.” Others simply divided antebellum Charleston’s blacks into two groups, free and slave.

89 Robert L. Harris, Jr. “Charleston’s Free Afro-American Elite: The Brown Fellowship Society and the Humane Brotherhood,” South Carolina Historical Magazine, ( v. 82, No. 4, October 1981.), 289-291.

Members of the Brown Fellowship Society were free and almost without exception, had very light complexions. The Brown Fellowship Society was known to limit membership to individuals with light complexions. Based on that evidence alone, it would seem that dividing Charleston’s blacks into three castes would be the most accurate representation. However, it is also clear that the social class of an individual and the number of generations that individual’s family had been free were also highly significant when it came to allowing membership in this exclusive group. Typically, male children of members were given the first opportunity for fill vacant slots in the organization’s membership role. If there were more available positions, invitations would be granted to members of extended families or other worthy persons in the community.90

Because of the stringent eligibility requirements, members were

traditionally at the highest levels of black society economically. In order to join,

members had to pay a fifty dollar membership fee. In addition, members paid

monthly dues. It was from this fund the society was able to pay benefits to

members and their families. The dollar value of membership was sufficient to

preclude membership for any but the wealthiest blacks (and few whites would

have had the economic ability to apply had they been desirous). 91

Clearly, the restrictive economic and invitational requirements of membership in the Brown Fellowship Society limited the population from which

90 For a discussion of class and color in the history of Charleston see: Harris. “Charleston’s Free Afro-American Elite,” 289- 310; Ira Berlin, Slaves Without Masters: The Free Negro in the Antebellum South, (N.Y.: Pantheon Books, 1974.), 57-8; 312-13; 91 "Charleston's Free Afro-American Elite," 294.

members were selected. As a result of these limitations, only a very small pool of potential members existed. People outside the small circle of privileged members could easily complain about those who were included in the organization citing that the qualifications were color based. Furthermore, because the original members of the society were mulatto and because members generally intermarried among a small group of privileged free people of color, it would follow that after several generations most members and their families would continue to exhibit the tradition of light complexions that resulted from close association within a limited peer group. This emphasis on light complexions appears to be a racial exclusion, but in this instance color is also a mark of class status. Thus when speaking of the Brown Fellowship Society, skin color and class became equivalent criteria; not because the members specifically looked to whiten their population but because those with the lightest skin were also those who matched the limited requirements for membership.

Although members of the Brown Fellowship Society conducted business and socialized with other members of the Society, their business and social relationships were not exclusively within that peer group. As the free black population expanded in size through manumission, self-purchase and birth rates, individuals not included in the Brown Fellowship Society sought similar mutual society benefits outside the confines of that group. By the 1840s, in Charleston, the free black population grew to the extent that there was a need for other free black voluntary organizations in the city. Creation of the Humane Brotherhood in

1843 satisfied some of those needs. Like The Brown Fellowship Society, The

Humane Brotherhood also served free people of color, but there were no limits to the size of the organization, membership was less costly, and less exclusive. In its original charter, the Humane Brotherhood described itself as an organization of “free dark men.” 92

Historians commonly suggested that the members of the Brown

Fellowship Society believed their fair complexions were physical proof of their superior status. Perhaps some members believed this rhetoric; however, some

Charlestonians chose to belong to both groups. Historian Robert Harris argued that by the 1840s in Charleston, there was little benefit to a third racial class (the mulatto class) in Charleston. Instead he argues it was more important for all free blacks to unite in a show of solidarity to accentuate their status as free men than it was to be seen as light skinned and more like the whites than like slaves. 93

Although that theory is certainly plausible, there is yet another

possibility. If members of the exclusive Brown Fellowship Society decided to join

additional fraternal organizations, like the Humane Brotherhood or the Friendly

Moralist Society, they may have been lured by the potential of obtaining

leadership roles that were limited in an organization (like Brown Fellowship), that

limited membership to only fifty members. Membership in several organizations

would expand the potential opportunities to serve in leadership capacities. For

92 "Charleston's Free Afro-American Elite," 294. 93 "Charleston's Free Afro-American Elite," 294. The idea of a mulatto class was beneficial under slavery, however after emancipation, in the eyes of white southerners, people were either black or white. No other status seemed to have a meaning for the former planter class. Some blacks believed all blacks had to unify to maintain any power against the white race.

ambitious black men this would provide additional opportunities to move to the pinnacles of black society. Therefore, perhaps personal ambition was a plausible explanation for joining multiple benevolent organizations. Men who hoped and believed they could make their world better positioned themselves to lead whenever and wherever possible. If skin color was the primary reason for determining the exclusivity of an organization, men with light complexions would certainly have been reluctant to join groups that admitted people with darker skin.

The lure of leadership positions would have been insufficient to encourage membership in a group that was considered socially inferior based on skin color alone.

Instead of direct competition, the social and political atmosphere of cooperation already in place within the exclusive benevolent societies carried over in the lay-leadership at St. Mark’s Church. Those men who first met on that

Easter Sunday in 1865 defined by example the type of church in which they wished to worship. When they chose a pastor who would lead their newly formed congregation, they were choosing an individual who would embody the ideals they already had. Because church membership was voluntary, people who did not share their ecclesiastical vision could choose to worship elsewhere.

There is little historical argument that some members of the African

American clergy were influential members of the community. It is also obvious that some members of the clergy, particularly those who led affluent congregations, were better able to negotiate the minefield of race relations. It is

important to understand why were some members of the clergy were treated with respect and a measure of equality by some leaders in the white community while others were not. Class was the unifying factor. White community leaders, both religious and secular, found common ground with blacks who shared similar goals, practices, lifestyles and behaviors. It was far easier for whites to accept the humanity of people whose lives in some ways mirrored their own. When class status was similar, the distance to be straddled was far smaller than when both racial and class differences had to be addressed. Whites who considered themselves racially progressive acknowledged that when people had similar financial and social statuses, the class similarities outweighed the racial differences.

One of those progressive whites was Reverend Anthony Toomer Porter.

He was a fixture in Charleston ecclesiastical circles, a stalwart advocate for St.

Marks Church, and served its members diligently for many years. Born into the southern slave-owning aristocracy in 1828, Anthony felt his call to the ministry while still in his teens, but he did not act on that calling until he was in his twenties. By 1875, Dr. Porter had become an advocate for black Episcopalians in

Charleston. On May 13, 1875, at a meeting of the Convention of the Diocese of

South Carolina, the Bishop announced that St. Marks Church had applied for admission to the Convention. 94

94 A. Toomer Porter, Led On! Step by Step. Scenes from Clerical, Military, Educational, and Plantation Live in the South 1828-1898: An Autobiography. (New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1898) 2-3; 307. Porter’s father died when he was an infant. He made the decision to enter the seminary at age twenty three. At that time he made arrangements to sell the family plantation, to

This application for membership was a surprise to the white clergymen at the Convention. By 1875, St. Marks was an established congregation, worshipping in rented space and led by a white rector, the Reverend J. B.

Seabrook. Some members of the Convention of the Diocese of South Carolina, particularly Edward McCrady, were hesitant to admit St. Marks to their organization and cited their lack of a permanent facility as justification to delay the admission. Recognizing this objection as racial discrimination, A. Porter

Toomer argued with his colleague stating “if they have complied with all the requirements of the constitution, they [should] be admitted into union. Or, like men, let us say at once they shall not be admitted because they are colored, and no colored delegates shall sit in this Convention.” 95

Although Porter did not succeed in convincing the members of the

Diocesan Convention to admit St. Marks in 1875, he eventually had a profound

dispose of his slaves and to provide financially for his mother and sisters. Porter called together his slaves and gave them a choice of living on his lands under an overseer or allowing him to choose an owner for them who was a “Christian” and would treat them as he would. Ultimately, Porter sold all his slaves to one individual at a value lower than their appraised market value, who agreed to keep them all together. Porter chartered a ship and personally paid to have all of the slaves possessions, including their personal livestock, transported to their new home. 78-80. 95 Led On , 308-309. Charles J. Holden, In the Great Maelstrom: Conservatives in Post-Civil War South Carolina. (Columbia, University of South Carolina Press, 2002), 9. Like Porter, Edward McCrady was a traditional southerner born into a slave-holding family. McCrady’s father was an attorney and his son followed that tradition. In addition to practicing law, McCrady served in the Confederate Army rising to the rank of Lt. Colonel and later served in state government. McCrady and Porter were nearly the same age, from similar social backgrounds but were ideologically as far apart as possible. McCrady adhered to all the southern stereotypes regarding racial and social inferiority, believing that all illiterate people should be disfranchised and that it was the duty of the Southern aristocracy to rule for the good of all. Porter believed in the common humanity of man and blamed racial inferiority on the institution of slavery. McCrady, as well as some other influential whites, feared that admitting St. Mark’s to the Episcopal Convention would acknowledge the legitimacy of miscegenation. A. Toomer Porter countered that argument saying that those who opposed refused to accept the validity of what happened at Appomattox. Edmund L. Drago, Charleston’s Avery Center: From Education and Civil Rights to Preserving the African American Experience. (Charleston: History Press, 2006), 118.

influence on the success of that institution. Three years later, in May 1878, the

Episcopal Bishop of Charleston, the Right Reverend William B.W. Howe urged

Reverend A. Toomer Porter to assume the office of rector at St. Marks Church.

Howe believed that Porter had the skills to place the congregation on an economically sound foundation; that he would nurture the fledgling congregation to fruition. This was not to be Porter’s only assignment; he was to assume St.

Marks in addition to all of his other obligations. He was to continue with his full time obligation as rector of the Church of the Holy Communion as well as managing the Porter Academy which he founded. 96

Porter reluctantly added this commission to his already bone crushing

burden, but only on the condition that the congregation wished him to serve.

When he met with the members of St. Marks, they unanimously requested his

service. Porter then informed them that they would have to raise the funds to be

in their own building within six months. His first task was fundraising by

subscription within the congregation and then they cast their nets to find others

who would move the work forward. The leadership of the church authorized a

salary for Porter, but he turned over that allotment to the ordained deacons who

served with him, working for St. Marks free of charge. 97

It was always Porter’s goal to make St. Marks a self-sustaining, self-

sufficient entity and he worked diligently to make that outcome a reality. When

96 Led On, .307-310.; p. 332-4. Porter began a school in the aftermath of the Civil War for orphaned boys. Like Booker T. Washington, Porter continuously traveled throughout America and Europe seeking donations to fund both religious congregations and his school. His health was seriously compromised by the constant demands on his time and energy. 97 Led On , 333-5.

Bishop Howe requested his service as the leader of St. Marks, Porter demanded the assistance of ordained deacons. The first two deacons appointed were white; one of them was Porter’s son Theodore. The third deacon was African American,

Thaddeus Saltus. Saltus served at St. Marks first as a deacon and later as a priest. He would have continued in that role relieving Reverend Porter entirely had he not died of tuberculosis the following year. After Saltus’ death, the burden reverted back to Porter until 1888 when leadership was finally assumed in its entirety by the appointment of an ordained African American priest, Reverend J.

H. M. Pollard. 98

It was evident that Reverend Porter was progressive in his racial philosophy. He was born a son of the South, but realized at an early age the detrimental effect that slavery had on society. Clearly as a young man his solutions to the race issue were paternalistic, but as he matured and developed professional relationships across the color line his perspective shifted. He was acutely aware that the issue of race was more specifically an issue of class.

Porter was willing to work with peers across the color line to accomplish the tasks necessary to keep society functioning in a way that would meet the needs of all.

Perhaps he behaved in a paternalistic manner toward some members of the St.

Marks congregation; but his relationships with black parishioners varied little from those of his white parishioners.

98 Led On, 335-6.

Porter had a particularly close personal relationship with Charleston politician and businessman George A. Shrewsbury. Shrewsbury was free before the Civil War and remained in Charleston during the war. When prosperous white people prepared to leave the city ahead of the Union invasion, Shrewsbury urged the minister to remain. Porter declined and in the aftermath of war, his personal property was appropriated by the Freedmen's Bureau. When Shrewsbury learned of his friend's financial trials, he loaned Porter a substantial amount of money refusing to take any interest when later Porter repaid him. 99

Shrewsbury owned a lucrative butcher shop that served the public throughout Reconstruction. Because his income was so substantial, he was able to donate five hundred dollars toward the orphanage and school Porter founded for white children. That contribution was among the largest Porter received. Like several others of the old elite, Shrewsbury continued to identify with members of the white elite (including Porter) during Reconstruction although he supported the

Republican Party. In 1873, Shrewsbury was elected to the Charleston City

Council. 100

When George Shrewsbury died two years later, Porter recalled, " I acted as one of his pall-bearers, and assisted in bearing his body to the grave; a thing it required some nerve to do in this community. " Friendship across the color line

99 Black Charlestonians, 167; 173-4. 100 Black Charlestonians, 174; Charleston Daily News, (Charleston, S. C.), March 27, 1873. Porter Academy was established as a school and orphanage for children who were impoverished or orphaned during the Civil War.

was not an easy thing to justify even for a man as respectable and with as long a history in Charleston as the Reverend A. Toomer Porter. 101

It is clear that from an early age Porter felt a responsibility toward most people he encountered. He interpreted his feelings as Christian obligation; that certain behaviors were required of all who believed in the teachings of the

Church. Bishop Howe also sustained the right of black Episcopalians to be accepted as full participants in the Episcopal Conventions. At annual conventions, white Episcopalian lay-leaders of the church, many of whom were unrepentant Confederates and who wished strict segregation of the races, repeatedly precipitated controversies by refusing to admit qualified blacks as members. The Christian spirit was far more apparent in members of the clergy than in the lay leaders who participated. Although a number of ordained ministers fought for racial equality within the Church, they could ill afford to press too hard against church members who controlled the purse-strings and therefore the direction the church would take. 102

Although these events took place a decade after the end of

Reconstruction, they were symbolic of the crushing reality of Jim Crow opposition. African Americans steadily sought refuge from the onslaught of white oppression in independent churches. Beginning in the South, but eventually

101 Porter, Led On, 296. 102 N.Y. Times, May 14, 1887. White leaders including Col. John C. Haskell insisted that when the Church was organized, the Church had no idea there would ever be black ministers. If they had, they would have created provisions in the by-laws outlining who specifically could become part of the Convention. .Haskell and others maintained that it was unacceptable that black men could ever become part of the Convention.

spreading throughout much of the United States, “the black church increasingly functioned as the primary public sphere for black men and women”. C. Eric

Lincoln described the institution of the black church as the “womb of black culture.” There within the safety and nurturing environment of the black community, members of the black elite emerged as leaders and applied the skills they learned in church to benefit the entire community as well as themselves. 103

The leadership of the black community was put to the test following an earthquake that devastated Charleston on Tuesday, August 31,1886. When the shaking finally subsided, African Americans fled their homes and flocked to their homes away from home: their houses of worship. In the hours and days that followed, churches still standing provided some of the few places of refuge for

African Americans in a demolished city. St. Marks Church, Mount Zion African

Methodist Church, Centenary Methodist Church and Emmanuel A.M.E. Church all survived the quake and each held regularly scheduled services on September

5th , the Sunday following the disaster.104

Charleston’s acting mayor, William E. Huger, organized a relief committee

on Friday, September 10, 1886, to deal with the devastation of the earthquake.

This committee did not include any African Americans. White civic leaders

believed they spoke for the entire population of Charleston, but many blacks

103 Quoted in Joe Creech, Righteous Indignation: Religion and the Populist Revolution. (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2006), 15. 104 News and Courier , September 13, 1886.

feared that desperately needed funds would be funneled to white Charlestonians leaving blacks without resources. 105

Clergymen in the African American community quickly organized to aid the

suffering members of their congregations. On Monday, September 6, 1886,

ministers and lay leaders from St. Marks, Mt. Zion, Centenary and Emmanuel

met at Mount Zion African Methodist Church to discuss ways to alleviate the

suffering of their parishioners. According to published reports, one reason for this

specific meeting was to coordinate the receipt and distribution of philanthropic

contributions offered to them directly by concerned citizens throughout the

nation. The Reverend William Henry Heard, pastor at Mt. Zion, presided over the

meeting held at his church during which time a committee was formed to accept

and disseminate the relief funds and supplies that poured in from all over

America. News of that meeting and verification of the legitimacy of the committee

was published in the News and Courier the following day. The members of the

clergy in attendance, Reverends S.W. McKinlay, J.E. Wilson, L. R. Nichols, P.W.

Jefferson, R.L. Sanders, G.C. Rowe and Dr. William Crum, M.D. also crafted a

written appeal for aid above and beyond that which had already been offered to

the city of Charleston. This written appeal was forwarded to the Associated Press

Office in Washington D.C. for nationwide dissemination. 106

105 Richard N. Cote, City of Heroes: The Great Charleston Earthquake of 1886. (Mt. Pleasant, S.C.; Corinthian Books, 2007), 149. Mayor Courtenay was out of town at the time of the disaster and Huger acted until the Mayor could return. 106 “The Colored Clergy: An Appeal for Aid for the Suffering People,” News and Courier , September 7, 1886.

The eloquent appeal by members of the African American clergy was directed at the general public as well as to congregations of their respective denominations throughout the nation. It specifically requested that money and supplies be sent to aid “colored” Charlestonians afflicted by the disaster. The initial plea for aid was published in the (white) Charleston News and Courier and later republished in other newspapers, black and white, throughout the nation because the appeal was forwarded to The Associated Press. 107

One of the most interesting aspects of the appeal was the final sentence which read the aforementioned “shall constitute a committee to receive and all funds sent to the colored sufferers and to assist the committee appointed by the

Mayor in seeking and relieving the needy.” This statement affirmed the fears the black ministers had that the Mayor’s Emergency Relief Committee (E.R.C.) would only aid whites. The black ministers hoped to supplement the relief efforts being organized by governmental officials to insure that blacks would not be forgotten during the state of emergency. 108

Based on the initial coverage of the earthquake in Charleston’s daily

newspapers it appeared that the members of the E.R.C. appointed by the office

of the mayor, all of whom were white, would work to provide maximum benefits to

the majority of those directly affected by the disaster. The report in the News and

Courier was straightforward. There was no suggestion that black leaders were ill equipped to participate in the relief efforts. There was no indication that white

107 News and Courier , September 9, 1886; Washington Bee, September 25, 1886 108 News and Courier, September 7, 1886.

leaders initially sought to usurp the power or authority of black clergy and laymen who were doling out donated money and supplies. There were many appeals published in the national press and in specific religious organs. Some were directed at the Methodists, others at the Baptists; some appealed to Catholics and still others to Jews. Bishop Howe of the Episcopalian Diocese also made an appeal in the News and Courier. No complaint was made that white clergy

members were appealing directly to members of their denominations for aid.

However, when black clergymen appealed for aid to be sent directly to them for

use by their congregations, whites took offense. Neither blacks nor whites

attempted to cooperate across racial lines when funds were requested in the

aftermath of the terrible natural disaster that occurred in Charleston in 1886. Both

sides knew that it was imperative to control responsibly every dollar that they

could obtain. 109

What was striking about the reprint of the request for aid in the News and

Courier two days following the original request was the change of the title and a new sub-heading added below. On September 9 th the article title was: “The

Colored People’s Appeal”. The sub-heading on the following line claimed: “An Ill-

Advised Attempt to Divide the Contributions of the American People”. This article

109 City of Heroes , 341-350. News and Courier, September 7 and 9, 1886. Cote suggests that the News and Courier implied that the appeal for aid might be fraudulent. The appeal was directed at all Americans. It was carried by the Associated Press and that meant that it had nationwide exposure. The request for funds was not aimed only at white Americans, although it can be understood that the white population in America was larger than the African American population and in general, there were more affluent whites who could be expected to contribute. This disaster affected the entire city of Charleston. White people and black people were in dire need and there was enormous competition for all available relief funds.

simply reprinted the September 7 th Associated Press release from Washington

D.C.– an article that had been previously run in the News and Courier on

September 7th.

In its second printing, the News and Courier placed the sub-title with the clear intention of misleading the citizens of Charleston and raising questions regarding the legitimacy of the solicitation of funds by members of the black clergy. The editors of the paper were attempting to sway public opinion. They tried to convince white Charlestonians that African Americans were attempting to divert much needed funds from the white population to the black. In addition to the use of a sub-title, two additional statements followed the body of the appeal.

They were as follows: “The secretary will sign for anything that may be sent to him” and “The signatures are not autographs. The document appears to be a copy …The penmanship is business like.” Clearly, the editors of the News and

Courier did not wish to acknowledge, or imply, the authenticity of "The Appeal" as published by The Associated Press despite the fact that they filed the same report in their paper prior to its appearance at a national level. Also, it was the

News and Courier that attempted to create or perhaps reinforce, a racial divide by adding the subtitle. 110

The newspaper editor made it appear that blacks wished to divide, or circumvent the distribution of philanthropic funds. In times of disaster it was common practice for southern white officials to usurp the majority of donated

110 News and Courier, Charleston, September 9, 1886.

relief funds for the benefit of white citizens, a practice that left African Americans no recourse or bargaining power. By directly appealing to American citizens black ministers hoped they would be able to get a share of the proverbial pie for members of their congregations.

Direct appeal to the public was a way for elite black men to bypass proscribed relationships and the bureaucracy dominated by white city officials.

The members of the clergy and lay leaders did not need to ask permission or to wait for city officials to come to their assistance. They saw a need and responded. By publishing a direct appeal to people in America, they could make known the plight of destitute blacks and could hope to provide direct relief to individuals who were most vulnerable. In the wake of Redemption, Dr. William D.

Crum, Samuel W. McKinley and Reverend W. H. H. Heard and the others knew that if white officials controlled all of the funds, there would be little available to minister to the needs of African Americans. These men knew that by affixing their names to "The Appeal", there would be little doubt regarding the legitimacy of their cause despite the attempts by the media to thwart them. 111

Reverend Heard, an esteemed and influential member of the clergy, was not a member of the inner circles of the black elite in Charleston. Born enslaved in Georgia, with perseverance and determination Heard eventually rose to the office of Bishop in the A.M.E. Church. In 1895, just nine short years after Heard's efforts during the Charleston earthquake, President Grover Cleveland listened to

111 Reverend Heard served at Mt. Zion A.M.E. Church both in Charleston

recommendations and appointed Reverend Heard United States Minister

Resident and Consul General to Liberia. Heard’s appointment was secured through the influence of Booker T. Washington and A.M.E. Bishop Henry M.

Turner. This is evidence of the success that a hardworking and talented black man could attain, but his political influence was not comparable to other members of the elite who had substantial working relationships across the color line. Heard’s success was most apparent within the confines of his own race.

Politically successful members of the black elite assisted Heard in elevating his class status. His abilities and talents enabled Heard as he significantly expanded the A.M.E. Church in Monrovia, Africa during his tenure as Consul General there.

Despite his success, he was not privy to the same level of personal acclaim that was afforded men like Bishop Henry M. Turner and Booker T. Washington. 112

The Reverend Daniel J. Jenkins, a Baptist minister in Charleston, was also not a member of the old elite. He was in fact, a challenge to the old elite.

Perhaps it would be better to refer to Jenkins as a rising star in Charleston's black community. He was a "New Negro", a self-made man who wore many hats and looked for new ways to gain the same prominence and acceptance as members of Charleston's elite society. Born at the end of the Civil War, he was free, because the institution of slavery was dying. His parents were slaves and were not members of the black elite. Jenkins, like Booker T. Washington, was pragmatic in his approach to dealing with powerful whites. After arriving in

112 Booker T. Washington Papers, Volume 4, 484n.

Charleston as a young man, Jenkins first profitable endeavor was the establishment of a successful lumber yard. Once he was economically secure,

Jenkins became “pastor of Charleston’s New Tabernacle Fourth Baptist Church.”

It was in his capacity as a Baptist preacher that Jenkins commenced his next endeavor. In 1891, he began a home for orphaned boys in Charleston. 113

After finding several orphaned African American boys huddled together in shipping crates on the street, Daniel Jenkins established a facility to house homeless youth. When he began raising the funds necessary to provide housing and aid for the first orphans he encountered, Jenkins had no idea of the magnitude of the homeless problem among black youth in Charleston. The number of children who needed assistance quickly outgrew the original facility.

Within a year, Jenkins completed negotiations to purchase a building that once had been a Marine Hospital in the city. It was there on Franklin Street, just a few blocks north of Broad Street, where Jenkins provided shelter and training for boys who would have otherwise been doomed to life on the streets. 114

Jenkins applied for and received an official charter in the State of

South Carolina in 1892. By obtaining an official charter, Jenkins was entitled to municipal funds designated for the care of indigent children. Although not sufficient to provide all the care necessary for his homeless children, the municipal funds allowed Jenkins the freedom to find creative ways of obtaining

113 Drago, Charleston’s Avery Center, 131. 114 Charleston, News and Courier, November 14, 1892. Broad Street is located less than half a mile north of the southern tip of the peninsula on which Charleston is located. The area south of Broad Street was (and still is) traditionally though of as the most desirable neighborhood of Charleston where members of the white elite lived.

sufficient money to adequately care for the homeless youth. In many ways

Jenkins mirrored the self-help principles espoused by Booker T. Washington as he strived to build and sustain his orphanage. This should not be surprising in as much as both men came from remarkably similar backgrounds and both men grew to manhood outwardly deferential to white authority. Jenkins advocated the idea of black self-help but "made it clear that the cooperation of white

Southerners was essential" to the progress of the orphanage "particularly through [his demands for] financial aid …he reminded whites that their support was crucial…and placed the burden of failure [of the orphanage] on their (white) shoulders." In so doing, Jenkins encouraged the concept of white paternalism but also ensured that white guilt could be invoked to keep necessary funds flowing.

Additionally, Jenkins was performing a useful service to white Charleston.

Because Jenkins began the privately orphanage after seeing a need in the community, he removed necessity of whites feeling an obligation to provide tax supported sustenance and education for indigent black children. 115

Initially Jenkins spent considerable time fundraising to maintain the

financial solvency of his orphanage, but he soon discovered he could raise funds

with performances by the Jenkins Orphanage Band. Shortly after starting the

orphanage, Jenkins hired two musicians to give music lessons to the young

residents. The boys practiced and by 1895 the box office receipts from

115 Nathan Johnson, " 'In the Name of all that is Just and Honest': Reverend Daniel J. Jenkins, The Jenkins Orphanage and Black Leadership in Charleston, S.C. 1891-1937." (Master's Thesis, University of South Carolina, 2009), 4-5.

performances provided the balance of the funds necessary to keep the orphanage solvent. By spotlighting his orphan's musical abilities, Jenkins funded the orphanage while minimizing the necessity of direct pleas for funds that always plagued Booker T. Washington. Although Jenkins and his musicians toured world wide, in places like London, Paris and Rome, he never attained the level of distinction or personal power that Washington possessed. Jenkins' influence was limited to Charleston and his philanthropic organizations. 116

Jenkins attained some recognition and acceptance by Charleston's black elite but not entirely through his own efforts. In September 1912, Daniel

Jenkins married his second wife, Eloise C Harleston, a woman whose family was part of Charleston's black aristocracy. Eloise, not Daniel, became a founding member of Charleston's National Association for the Advancement of Colored

People. Although he did not participate in the organization, perhaps out of fear of alienating supporters, he did not prevent his wife from doing so. 117

No evidence suggests that Daniel Jenkins either supported or

disapproved of his wife's involvement in N.A.A.C.P. activities. Washington D.C.

Municipal Court Judge Robert H. Terrell did not participate in the N.A.A.C.P., but

his wife Mary Church Terrell was a founding member of the organization. Thus,

at least in some prominent southern black families, there was an emerging

pattern that elite women would be the public face of racial activism while their

116 George Brown Tindall, South Carolina Negroes 1877-1900. ( Columbia, S.C.: University of South Carolina Press, 2003), 279; Charleston! Charleston!, 362. 117 A.B. Caldwell, History of the American Negro and his Institutions. (Atlanta,: A.B. Caldwell Publishing, 1919), Volume 3, 28. Eloise C. Harleston Jenkins was the sister of Charleston artist and N.A.A.C.P organizer Edwin A. Harleston.

men maintained an air of racial respectability that allowed them to successfully straddle the color line. 118

Here the notion of racial respectability by members of the black

elite should not be equated with the idea of submitting to pressures of

paternalism from prominent white people. Jenkins and others did not succumb to

the demands of powerful whites, nor did they consciously measure their behavior

in an attempt to placate powerful whites. Instead, they lived their lives in

accordance with the standards of polite Victorian society. There was a code of

behavior that was common among the educated, affluent, and respected

members of society regardless of race. Their code of behavior was not simply

American behavior, it was seen as cultured behavior. People identified as

cultured read classic literature, attended the opera, belonged to literary societies.

In essence, they would have been recognized as gentlemen anywhere in polite

society. Men of the black elite ascribed to that code not in an attempt to act white

but rather as a marker of their social class. They did not mimic white society nor

did they act subservient to whites. They simply engaged in activities and

behaviors that exemplified their educations, their social class, and their

professions. Their lives epitomized the image of Victorian America. In every

sense of the word they were true Victorian gentlemen.

118 Dictionary of American Negro Biography , 583-6. Judge Robert H. Terrell was the first African American appointed as a Federal Court judge. A graduate of Harvard College and Howard University Law School, Terrell was elevated to the Municipal Court in 1910 by President Taft through the efforts of Booker T. Washington.

Perhaps the African Americans most representative of Charleston's

Victorian gentlemen were the physicians. The first African American physicians arrived in Charleston during the Civil War as part of the military contingent. When the war ended, the opportunities for black doctors seemed limitless with the institution of the Freedmen's Bureau and government funding for medical services. Dr. Martin R. Delany, abolitionist, Union army officer and Freedmen's

Bureau agent, was among the first to set up a practice in Charleston. Dr.

Benjamin A. Boseman, an “assistant surgeon in the United States Colored

Troops,” also began practice in post-war Charleston. As a result of their war time service, both men were known, respected and trusted by people in the region and therefore had no difficulty in attracting patients. In an era when medical practitioners were not subject to rigorous testing and accreditation, many people were reluctant to put their trust in doctors who did not have a proven record in the local community. These men, by virtue of their name recognition and their class status, passed the first test for trust and reliability. As members of the African

American elite, they had opportunities to work closely with white Americans and found unique acceptance in a racially divided society community that was unavailable to less prominent African Americans.119

As representative men in black society they knew how to live in both worlds. They were black, they were well-educated and they were cultured. Their

119 Bernard E. Powers, Jr. Black Charlestonians: A Social History 1822- 1885 (Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 1994), 171-172. Todd L. Savitt, “Entering a White Profession: Black Physicians in the New South 1880-1920,” Bulletin of the History of Medicine 61 (Winter 1987), 507-509.

lives were very similar to those lived by white physicians in Charleston. What was also evident with regard to African American members of the medical profession in the early post-war era was their penchant for vocational and economic diversity. Very few elite black men devoted themselves exclusively to medicine as their sole occupation or profession. Part of the reason for this need to diversify, especially in the South, was the inability to find enough patients who had the monetary resources to pay for medical services. When South Carolina native, Alonzo Clifton McClennan graduated from Howard University School of

Medicine in 1884 with degrees in both pharmacy and medicine, he chose to locate in Charleston where his first priority was to begin the road to economic security. Because the racial climate in that state was so volatile in the 1880s, few

African Americans graduating from medical school chose to start a practice there. 120

South Carolina was not an easy place for African Americans to live in

1884. Although there were more blacks than whites living in Charleston, powerful

whites continued their antebellum behavioral traditions in an attempt to

circumvent any possibility of racial equality. In 1890 Benjamin Tillman was

elected governor of South Carolina giving legitimacy to the racial terror that

previously was clandestine. Despite their lesser population numbers, white

people had the ability to demand deference from most African Americans. This

repressive environment made the city less hospitable for relocating physicians,

120 Todd L. Savitt Race and Medicine in Nineteenth- and Early-Twentieth Century America (Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 2007), 278.

especially those not native to the city. Lack of family ties in such a traditional southern city also hampered blacks who sought to begin a medical practice there. Most newly minted African American doctors chose to live where racism and bigotry were less pervasive than in the city of Charleston. 121

Despite the potential limitations, Alonzo McClennan decided to tie his fate

to the Holy City. Soon after McClennan’s arrival in Charleston he began his initial

business venture, the establishment of a pharmacy. The People’s Pharmacy,

begun in 1884, was initially created to serve the black community. Dr.

McClennan also began to practice medicine serving as both a general

practitioner and an experienced surgeon. In 1897, recognizing another urgent

need within the black community in Charleston, McClennan, in conjunction with

other black medical professionals, created The Hospital and Training School for

Nurses. 122

The creation of a nursing school was not a unique undertaking.

Professional training for nurses was becoming the rule rather than the exception by the end of the nineteenth century. McClennan’s purposes for creating a hospital and nursing school were two-fold. One purpose was to provide hospital facilities where African American doctors could provide skilled care for patients whose homes were not conducive to convalescent care. Because of increasing

121 Savitt, Race and Medicine , p. 320. U.S. Federal Census shows the total population of Charleston in 1880 as 49, 984 people; 27, 276 were African American. Tillman served as governor of South Carolina from 1890 until 1894. He then represented South Carolina in the U.S. Senate from 1895 until 1918 when he died in office. 122 The Hospital Herald , Volume 1, Number 1 (December 1898), 12; Savitt, Race and Medicine, 320-323.

segregation, both dejure and defacto, African American physicians were not permitted to treat patients in existing private or community funded hospitals.

Those spaces were designated for white patients only. Even the few public hospitals that did admit black patients, housed them in segregated wards. Black doctors were not permitted to attend their patients there. When an African

American doctor sent a patient to a segregated community or private hospital, he had to relinquish care of that patient to a white doctor who was permitted to practice at that facility. Such actions cost black physicians patients and much needed revenue. If an individual needed critical care, they would simply bypass the black doctor in favor of a white doctor with hospital privileges. McClennan and the other black doctors of Charleston understood that limitation and sought to remedy the problem by establishing a hospital where they could practice medicine. 123

The other reason Alonzo McClennan decided to begin a hospital was to professionally train African American nurses who would expand the capability of the black medical community. Just as black doctors were excluded from practicing in white run hospitals in the Palmetto State, black nursing students were also excluded from training in white nursing schools and from practicing in white hospitals. Correctly perceiving the need for experienced nurses, both in surgical and continuing care, McClennan reasoned that there would be significant financial and moral support for his endeavor. In the first issue of the

123 The Hospital Herald , Volume 1, Number 1 (December 1898), 12; Savitt, Race and Medicine, 320-323.

Hospital Herald his associate, Dr. Lucy Brown, wrote an article demonstrating the need for practical, professional nursing education. Dr. Brown wrote:

The nurse who depends entirely on her text-book will make only medium success, and she who depends along on practical experience will fail to reach the heights, while she who combines both has within her grasp vast possibilities.

This argument resonated with physicians of both races and other educated people living in and around Charleston. Each issue of the Hospital

Herald contained one or more pleas for donations to support nursing education.

McClennan also provided a detailed accounting of the supplies that were needed and the cost for each. 124

Although the elite black community supported McClennan, he needed and obtained significant financial and political support from whites as well. This may have been easier for McClennan than for most African Americans because he was described as “to all appearances a white man.” According to a description penned by his daughter, he “was a tall imposing figure with blonde hair and blue eyes.” Although in appearance he looked white, and probably could have passed for white had he chosen to relocate to another part of the country, such behavior would have been totally out of character for most members of Charleston’s black elite. There was a sense of pride and honor that went along with being a member of society’s upper crust. Charleston had a long history of a prestigious free black population. African Americans who were not part of the elite expected educated

124 The Hospital Herald , Volume 1, Number 1 (December 1898); Savitt, Race and Medicine, 323.

people like McClennan to achieve greatness; they were to carry the mantle for the race. Perhaps this is what drove McClennan to work tirelessly. Men with less drive, ambition and fortitude would not have subjected themselves to life in a region where there was the constant struggle to maintain an aura of respect, a need to prove their manhood, and to achieve success despite the odds. White southerners assumed that white physicians would be financially successful and serve as leaders of their community. People in the African American community assumed the same of black physicians, but success was more illusive for African

American doctors in the South in the aftermath of Reconstruction. The academic, financial, and professional success achieved by black physicians affirmed the insignificance of race as a predictor of competency and was irrelevant in establishing an aura of Victorian manhood. 125

When McClennan and his medical colleagues decided to establish a

hospital in Charleston, they used the importance of his place in society to make

the dream a reality. He forged a team of influential people from both sides of the

color line who were accustomed to working together in such a manner. Several

African American doctors joined forces with McClennan. They practiced a variety

of medical specialties including but not limited to, pathology, dentistry and

gynecology. In addition to the doctors, there were also members of an interracial

advisory board. Among the notable white Charlestonians on the original advisory

board were former mayor George I. Cunningham, philanthropist Abraham C.

125 Willard B. Gatewood, Aristocrats of Color: The Black Elite 1880-1920. (Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 2000), p. 81-2. Savitt, Race and Medicine, 321.

Kaufman and former Confederate officer and federal judge Charles H. Simonton.

The Reverend George A. Kraft, a white pastor at St. Peter’s Roman Catholic

Church, the Catholic Church that served the black community, was added later to the advisory board. 126

George Cunningham, Charleston’s Reconstruction Era Republican mayor, served two consecutive two year terms beginning in 1875. Prior to his terms as mayor, Cunningham was one of the first post-Civil War aldermen appointed by military leaders during the reorganization of Charleston in 1868. Of that group, six were white and the remaining seven were African American men chosen from

Charleston’s previously free black contingent. Cunningham sympathized and supported African American attempts at uplift as a result of his public service during Reconstruction. He had an opportunity to work closely with people across the color line serving as mayor in a city with a majority black population and an influential African American upper class. He continued his working relationships with educated, cultured and prosperous members of the black community throughout the rest of his professional life. Although it is likely that McClennan chose Cunningham for his ability to cooperate with elite blacks, the opposite was probably true of Charles Simonton. 127

Simonton was a traditionalist and Confederate in every sense of the word.

Born into a planter family, he was a long time resident of South Carolina. Trained

126 Hospital Herald, Volume 1, Number 1 (December 1898), np.; Volume 1, Number 10 (September 1899), 8. 127 Charleston! Charleston! 286; 294.

as a lawyer, Simonton served as a member of the South Carolina state legislature both before and after the Civil War. During the war, he served as an officer in the Confederacy and was responsible for securing the United States arsenal in Charleston for the benefit of Confederate forces. Following the conflict, prominent southerners like Simonton learned to respond appropriately to the changing dynamics of regional politics. In 1886, he was appointed by Democratic

President Grover Cleveland as Judge of the United States District Court for the

District of South Carolina. Less than a decade later Simonton was elevated to the position of United States Circuit Judge for the 4 th Circuit. He also served as the

President of the Medical College of the State of South Carolina. With such a vast array of experience, having Simonton’s name listed on an advisory board lent a sense of legitimacy to a fledgling organization. Simonton may have been willing to lend his support because McClennan was a well-respected member of

Charleston’s elite black community. For a man like Simonton, lending support would be indicative of the inherent paternalism still evident among many of the best people in the white community. With Simonton’s support, McClennan could undertake the creation of a school and hospital; however, without Simonton’s approval, there would be little hope for the school's survival because of the enormous political power Simonton exerted. So significant was Simonton’s blessing that McClennan listed him first among the names posted for his advisory board. 128

128 Memorial Tribute, Year Book 1904, City of Charleston South Carolina (Charleston: Lucas-

Abraham C. Kaufman was also a prominent member of McClennan’s advisory board. Although not politically active, Kaufman was a well-known philanthropist. As one of the original people responsible for the creation of the

American Red Cross, he was invaluable as a reputable member of the board.

Kaufman had organizational skills, fundraising ability and a desire to be philanthropic. McClennan praised Kaufman in recognition of a large cash donation during a fundraising event. He wrote:

Mr. Kaufman is large hearted and is interested in all institutions that are being established for the uplifting of our people. It is a great pity that we did not have a thousand in Charleston that think and act as he does.

McClennan wisely chose this man to serve on his board and then liberally

congratulated him publicly for his charitable donations. In doing so, he praised a

benefactor who would likely continue to donate money in the future and who had

the resources to convince others to contribute as well. 129

It is unlikely that any of these men had any significant influence on the day to day operation of the Hospital and Training School for Nurses in any capacity other than as a result of their monetary donations. McClennan may have been sufficiently deferential to satisfy their need for an appropriate social hierarchy, but he did not present the façade of being a good Negro who would bow and scrape to achieve his will. Rather, he understood the politics of having a high profile,

Richardson Lithograph and Printing Company, 1905) p. 7; Charleston! Charleston !, 286; 294. 129 The Hospital Herald , Volume 1, Number 12, (November 1899), 5; The Military Laws of the United States , Fourth Edition, Washington, D.C.: U. S. Government Printing Office, 1901, 1045.

substantive, interracial advisory board to which he could appeal if racism or lack of funds threatened the survival of his endeavors.

In 1898, Dr. A. C. McClennan added the title of editor to his already overwhelming agenda. It was during that year that he and his associates published the first edition of a medical and informational journal which they called

The Hospital Herald. As one of Charleston’s leading African American physicians and surgeons, McClennan was not in need of diversions to fill his spare time. In a city with a predominantly black population, it was highly unlikely that the good doctor had very much spare time to fill; yet, in the course of his daily duties,

McClennan saw an urgent need for the dissemination of practical information in the community that he served. 130

In creating The Hospital Herald McClennan was not trying to produce a new scholarly medical journal that would spotlight the scientific work of African

American physicians, nor was he trying to organize a race based medical society to serve Charleston’s African American community. Although he saw a need for both those missions, his immediate agenda was far more basic.

McClennan’s primary goal was to provide practical training and prompt dissemination of useful information for the many African American caregivers: doctors, nurses, and laymen, throughout South Carolina. If the creation of this medical journal is placed in the proper historical context of the state it served, it

130 The Hospital Herald , Volume 1, Number 1, (December, 1898). The cost of The Hospital Herald was fifty cents a year or five cents for each individual edition. There is no indication in the publication of how many people subscribed to The Hospital Herald. It was published monthly for 16 months beginning in February 1899 and ending in May 1900.

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becomes obvious why an overburdened physician would add yet another task to his professional life. During the latter half of the 1890s, poor sanitation services and polluted water made Charleston a particularly unhealthy place. In Charleston poor people of both races suffered disproportionately from the lack of city services. Compared to the more affluent, poor people contracted communicable diseases with greater frequency. As part of the education program undertaken in the pages of The Hospital Herald, McClennan and others explained the mechanisms by which diseases were transmitted as well as ways to prevent and cure illnesses once contracted. McClennan insisted in his journal that such basic knowledge was of importance not just to members of the African American medical community but to all members of society because disease was not a respecter of race or socio-economic level. Middle and upper class people of both races had intimate contact with African American service workers and manual laborers who might easily pass on communicable diseases as part of the interactions of daily life. Preventing diseases or epidemics was extremely important in a time where effective medication and accurate diagnosis were both in their infancy. 131

When considering the physical environment of Charleston, it is important to understand the infrastructure of the city during the years in question. It is helpful to remember that Charleston suffered great privation and destruction during the Civil War. It was largely renovated and rebuilt during the postwar era.

131 Charleston! Charleston !, 331; The Hospital Herald , Volume 1, Number 5 (April 1899), 3-6; The Hospital Herald October 1899- January 1900, passim.

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Following Reconstruction, Charleston was devastated once again during a major earthquake that leveled large parts of the city in 1886. Despite the flurry of economic activity, Charleston was not a wealthy or industrial city during the period under discussion. Following the earthquake, financial assistance flooded in from all over the country and Charlestonians rebuilt their city in a relatively short period of time; nevertheless, compared to Cleveland and New Orleans,

Charleston was a smaller and relatively poor city. It lacked significant industry, tourism and commerce that were evident in other major cities elsewhere.132

McClennan used The Hospital Herald as a vehicle to bring awareness of the health issues plaguing South Carolina in general and the African American community in particular. Although he used The Hospital Herald as a platform to raise awareness of medical and social issues, McClennan also used the pages to commend people who donated liberally to his causes. In one issue he wrote

(former Charleston mayor) Mr. Cunningham “does not forget to give a substantial donation whenever we have our [fundraising] fairs…we regret very much that he forbids us to make known the amount that he usually contributes, as it would probably influence others equally as able to give to our hospital.” 133

Clearly McClennan believed that he could use the dollar amount of a

significant donation to encourage a competition among wealthy donors. The size

of a charitable gift reflected the prosperity of the contributor as well as the

132 For a comprehensive discussion of Charleston’s earthquake see Richard N. Cote, City of Heroes: The Great Charleston Earthquake of 1886. (Mt. Pleasant, S.C.: Corinthian Books, 2007); Charleston! Charleston!, 315-318 133 The Hospital Herald , Volume 1, Number 12, (November 1899), 5.

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worthiness of a cause. Individuals had a finite amount of funds for charitable contributions and there were always more worthy charities than individuals willing to donate. Like any successful fundraiser, McClennan hoped that his cause would be near to the hearts and minds of wealthy individuals. He published the dispersal of donated funds pages in The Hospital Herald to document the efficiency with which the money was used. He accounted for every penny and showed potential donors the value of their contributions. All of the funds collected supported the hospital and the care of people in need.134

As mentioned previously, recruiting trained black medical doctors to practice in South Carolina proved difficult because of the restrictions placed on most blacks by many whites. Few medical school graduates would choose to work in a city where powerful white people had the ability to threaten the lives and careers of any African American they decided was not willing to live under societal restrictions imposed by whites who feared black influence. In South

Carolina, white doctors refused to practice in hospitals along side their black counterparts. By November 1899 it was clear that the color line was hardening, not disappearing in South Carolina. At that time in an editorial McClennan wrote:

"The time has come when it is a necessity for colored physicians to establish hospitals and infirmaries in towns where there are three or four [black] physicians.” He suggested when and where to create additional facilities for medical care for African Americans. Although McClennan and most other elite

134 “The Needs of the Hospital,” The Hospital Herald, Volume 1, Number 6, (May 1899)

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blacks would have preferred desegregation and complete acceptance into all facets of society, those living in the South were realistic enough to understand there was little likelihood of that occurring in the foreseeable future and so they sought to create the best facilities they could in parallel with those that existed for whites. 135

McClennan did not call for segregated facilities; he and most of the other

African American physicians were willing to treat patients regardless of their skin

color. Hospitals begun by groups of black doctors were willing to have white

patients in their hospitals. They were also willing to allow white physicians

privileges at their hospitals. What they were unwilling to do was to allow their

patients to suffer from lack of care because white doctors prohibited them from

practicing in existing hospitals. In addition, McClennan understood the value of

continuing education and the necessity of collegial camaraderie. Those functions

could be served in black hospitals. As a surgeon, McClennan sometimes needed

the assistance of another physician when performing a complex procedure; that

need could also be fulfilled in McClennan’s hospital. In instances of complex

medical issues, a second opinion was then and continues to be of great value in

providing adequate care. All these services and more were readily available for

African American practitioners in the hospitals under their control.

135 “The Needs of the Hospital,” The Hospital Herald , Volume 1, Number 12, (November 1899), p. 4.

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Another thing that McClennan stressed within the pages of The Hospital

Herald was his desire for other physicians to submit articles for publication in the journal. He chastised his colleagues for not participating stating:

Out of the thirty colored physicians in this State there should be five or six that could give an original article upon some subject that would be interesting and instructive…We have men in the profession that we might call eminent as surgeons: some who have made their mark at the head of hospitals…It is necessary that we should now develop in putting on paper what we know and what we have gathered from experience so that it will benefit and enlighten those who have not had the wide experience of those mature years. 136

By penning this statement McClennan criticized not only the timidity or reluctance of African American doctors to publish medical articles, but it also criticized the medical practice as a whole for not respecting the technical ability and wisdom gained by well trained African American practitioners during a lifetime of service.

In print McClennan stated that the excuse of most he met was that they were too busy to contribute articles to the journal, but perhaps that was not the whole truth. Many of these physicians were extremely busy men, and certainly

McClennan’s life showed how busy some physicians were. Despite the demands of their professions and family obligations, many found time to participate in social and fraternal organizations in addition to maintaining their medical practices. Perhaps one reason some physicians were reluctant to have their

136 The Hospital Herald , Volume 1, Number 8, (July 1899), 5.

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name in print was their desire to maintain a low profile within the public realm. As was mentioned above, few medical school graduates were willing to begin a practice in the state of South Carolina because of the repressive racial climate there. It was likely that some physicians hoped that by maintaining a low profile, they could escape censure by whites who were looking for black men who exhibited too much pride or a sense of importance. High profile African

Americans ran the risk of being targeted by white men who hoped to maintain control over African Americans through intimidation or violence. In a region where there was a larger black population than white, some whites argued that

African American men were a threat to white women. In reality, southern white men were more afraid of African American men who might serve as examples of what successes people could attain if violent acts of repression did not keep them in their proverbial place. 137

One particularly violent episode of such behavior in South Carolina was

the lynching of the African American postmaster Frazier Baker in February 1898.

Baker served in the political patronage position of postmaster in Lake City, about

forty miles from Charleston. When he refused to submit to the local white's

demands that he vacate the appointment, a mob killed him. Not only was the

postmaster murdered, but one of his children was slain as well. His wife and

other children were seriously injured in the attack. This racially motivated attack

137 Robert Rosen, A Short History of Charleston. (Columbia, S.C.: University of South Carolina Press, 1997), 149. There were 73 lynchings in South Carolina between 1882 - 1900. None occurred in Charleston. According to Rosen, "Charlestonians would not countenance such violence."

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warned other African Americans in South Carolina that they should not assume any measure of equality within that state. 138

One year later on the cover of the fifth issue of The Hospital Herald (April

1899) , McClennan published a photograph of a woman in a hospital bed. That woman was Lavinia Baker, the widow of the Lake City Postmaster. In that issue

McClennan merely mentioned that Lavinia was his patient. By 1899 most African

Americans who lived in South Carolina knew exactly who Lavinia Baker was and the significance of her picture on the cover of The Hospital Herald. African

Americans who read McClennan’s journal knew that he was caring for the wife and surviving children of the brutally murdered man. In response to that violent act of racism, Alonzo McClennan stepped forward in a way that most other men could not. He and his staff brought the surviving injured family members to his hospital and cared for them. Most African Americans were unwilling to become involved in that incident in any way. They understood the message implied by the lynchers: do not overstep the prescribed racial boundaries or this will be your fate as well. Despite the dangers to himself and his staff, McClennan took the risk and publicly announced that he was caring for the Baker family.139

Although McClennan cared for them, he did not publish a full account of

the incident in The Hospital Herald until the August 1899 edition, nearly a year

and a half after the event. In that issue, on the front page, McClennan directly

138 New York Times, February 23, 1898. 139 The Hospital Herald , Volume 1, Number 5, (April 1899), cover page; “Editorial Notes,” The Hospital Herald , Volume 1, Number 5, (April 1899), 6.

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addressed the Baker lynching as the lead article under a heading that said

“Editorial” in bold print. McClennan wrote simply that the “postmaster… and his infant were murdered by a mob and that his wife and four children were horribly wounded at the same time.” He continued saying that, “For four days the newspapers from one end of the country to the other denounced the acts of the mob as inhuman…” McClennan was also incensed by the brutality of the crime but was even more frustrated that nothing had been done to aid the wounded family members. Within days after the attack McClennan’s Hospital Association decided to offer refuge and care to the Baker family. 140

According to historian Todd Savitt in his discussion of the editorial,

“McClennan walked a fine line [my emphasis] between speaking out against injustice and retaining biracial support for the black medical enterprises he was developing.” While this is perhaps true, there may be more to McClennan’s willingness not only to care for the injured but also to publish an account of the lynching. In the journal he began and edited, McClennan was making a public statement that racial intimidation should not and could not go unchallenged. If blacks were willing to cower in fear and to run from racially motivated attacks, such attacks would continue unabated. He personally was willing to take that risk and to challenge those who would use violence to achieve their purposes. Not only was McClennan willing to come home to the racially charged atmosphere of

South Carolina, he was also willing to begin a medical practice, a pharmacy, a

140 “Editorial,” The Hospital Herald , Volume 1, Number 9, (August 1899), 3-5.

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hospital and a medical journal. He began these businesses in a climate of racial oppression and he encouraged others to do the same. McClennan organized influential African Americans because he knew there was power in numbers. He also courted powerful whites such as Judge Simonton, former Mayor George

Cunningham and philanthropist Abraham Kaufman to serve on his advisory board. He made his actions public, both socially in the community and in print.

He left a paper trail . Of course McClennan could have become a target of bigoted whites who wished to curtail his efforts; however, because he maintained such a dominant public presence, it was easier for him to straddle that color line. The public outcry over such senseless brutality against women and children, who were not employed in a public manner, caused many in the white community to side with the wounded. The inhumanity of the attack was not quickly forgotten.

McClennan stood like a giant in the no-man's land between the races in a way that less influential people could have not dared. 141

141 Todd Savitt, Race and Medicine in Nineteenth- and Early-Twentieth- Century America.( Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 2007), 316-7. Savitt incorrectly stated in Race and Medicine that McClennan published the account in the fifth issue ( April 1899). It was mentioned at that time, but McClennan published the full story in August 1899 in issue 9) McClennan published his editorial in August of 1899 not to take credit for caring for the wounded victims, but in response to a public outcry when a white woman convinced the Baker family to move to Massachusetts. Well wishers in Charleston feared the white woman was bringing the Baker family north to exploit their trials – sort of a post-Civil War abolitionist saga. Dr. Lucy Brown accompanied the family North when Lavinia Baker moved her family in an attempt to protect them from those who might seek to profit by their misfortune. Perhaps McClennan would not have published his side of the episode had the family remained in South Carolina. “Editorial,” The Hospital Herald , Volume 1, Number 9, (August 1899), p. 3-5. Although McClennan was willing to take a stand about the violence that occurred to the Baker family, it is likely that he delayed publication of the story for two reasons. One reason is to allow the family to heal and to be removed from S.C. where they could be subject to further attacks. It is also possible that he hoped the emotional tension associated with the event would have lessened by the time he published his role in the affair.

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Alonzo McClennan was not the only African American physician willing to make a public stand in Charleston., but he was certainly the most visible physician treating the Baker family. As the surgeon in charge at the newly opened Hospital and Training school, McClennan did not care for the family by himself. Dr. J.R. Levy of Florence, South Carolina was instrumental in relocating them to Charleston from their former home in Lake City. Dr. Lucy H. Brown, on staff at the Hospital and Training School was also deeply involved in their long term care. Neither Dr. Levy nor Dr. Brown maintained the high profile public persona exhibited by Dr. McClennan. 142

Dr. William D. Crum also a native son of South Carolina was a contemporary and colleague of Alonzo McClennan. He served on the staff of the

Hospital and Training School during the years that The Hospital Herald was published. He too would have been involved in the care of the Baker family. Like

McClennan, Crum was a member of Charleston’s elite black population and the two men spent significant time together both professionally and socially. They collaborated at the hospital and on The Hospital Herald.

While most of McClennan’s activities centered on the medical environment, Crum became very involved in a wide arena of activities. In addition to his successful medical practice, Crum served on the Board of Trustees for the

142 “Editorial,” The Hospital Herald , Volume 1, Number 9, (August 1899), 5.

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Avery Normal Institute. He was also heavily involved in Republican Party politics. 143

William Crum's involvement in so many public endeavors extended across the color line. Although McClennan benefited by the good will of white people,

Crum’s position was far more dependent upon that good will. Crum was heavily involved with the Hospital and Training School, at least during the period that The

Hospital Herald was being published. Despite that involvement he was less inclined to make public controversial statements with regard to the racial climate in Charleston. Crum could ill afford to antagonize local whites by publicly defending black interests if he hoped to serve as a federal appointee in the future.144

Not only African Americans risked crossing the racial lines drawn in

Charleston; some young white men did as well. The October 1899 issue of The

Hospital Herald announced that one of the new, young, white doctors in

Charleston, Dr. R.S. Cathcart, was attending a surgical patient in the Hospital and Training School for Nurses. There was no further description of the patient or the condition for which the patient was being treated; neither was there any indication whether the patient was black or white. 145

At the turn of the previous century, it was common for young white doctors

in the South to treat any and all patients they could attract until their practice

143 Aristocrats of Color, 81 ; Dictionary of American Negro Biography , 144. William Crum’s political activities are discussed in greater depth on pages 58- 64. 144 Willard B. Gatewood, "William D. Crum: A Negro in Politics." Journal of Negro History 53 (October 1968), 301. 145 "Hospital Notes,” The Hospital Herald, Volume 1, Number 11 (October 1899), 2.

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became large and lucrative enough for them to serve only white patients. In the case of Dr. Cathcart, it is probable that the patient he treated at McClennan’s hospital was black. The charity hospital in Charleston accepted black and white patients, housing them in separate wards. Although McClennan’s hospital accepted patients without regard to race, most of the patients were black because white patients would have preferred to go the other hospitals in town.

Interestingly, McClennan made special note of Dr. Cathcart's case in the first issue of The Hospital Herald. He hoped to encourage other physicians in town to bring patients to his facility commenting that "Drs. Taft, Hunter and Whaley, who have brought cases for surgical operation, have been welcomed and made to feel at home. " Here he was demonstrating his willingness to work with fellow physicians. In this case there is no indication if the aforementioned physicians were black or white, but it was McClennan's goal to encourage any physician to bring paying patients to his hospital. Increased usage would certainly help maintain the fiscal solvency of that establishment. McClennan also hoped he could forge a sense of interracial collegiality within the medical community of

Charleston. 146

This same October issue of The Hospital Herald included a reprint of an

article about the hospital's annual fundraiser originally published in the major

white Charleston newspaper, the News and Courier. The annual fundraising

event was held to raise desperately needed funds to keep the hospital financially

146 “Hospital Notes,” The Hospital Herald, Volume 1, Number 11 (October 1899), 2 & 6.

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solvent. The News and Courier covered the affair and provided favorable

publicity. According to the excerpt published in the News and Courier reported

that:

The head nurse at the hospital is an excellent disciplinarian and the nurses are under good control. The Hospital and Training School is quite different from other institutions, and while they are styled generally as “girls,” none are admitted under eighteen years of age and have already arrived at the age of womanhood and discretion. Admissions to the school are made generally through recommendations mostly from ministers after passing the required examination, and if at any time they are found not to come up to their recommendations they are dismissed and their places given to more worthy ones. The strict discipline at the hospital has given the friends of the institution implicit confidence in its management and the institution has received the hearty endorsement of the Colored Ministers’ Union of this city. The fair will close Friday night and it is hoped that all classes of the citizens will attend and give assistance to an institution that has such bright prospects for good in this community and has already done so much for the poor and deserving girls who desire to follow the profession of trained nurses.-- News and Courier 147

While applauding the work of the nursing school, the News and Courier

framed its coverage in a paternalistic attitude. The reporter referred to the nurses

as “girls,” a term often used to refer to black women regardless of their age. The

report also pointed out that the “nurses are under good control;” as if to reassure

the reader that these women are trained professionals and that no hint of

impropriety should be assumed. The reporter made it clear that the women who

were training at the hospital were vetted through a careful admissions process

147 The Hospital Herald, Volume 1, Number 12 (November 1899), 7.

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and their reputations were without reproach. He stressed the level of “discipline” provided by the supervisors and stated that the black ministers had given the endeavor their approval. This article was positive publicity for a black institution in

Charleston. It was also evident that the reporter was doing his utmost to encourage city-wide financial support for an institution that he believed was of value to the community.

When viewed in the context of the late 1890s, the praise for the school and those training there was meant to show a superior level of professionalism.

Both the News and Courier and The Hospital Herald affirmed that the black

nurses being trained at The Hospital and Training School would reflect favorably

on the city and on their race. These were young women who were training for

paid employment in a society that placed the highest value on a woman’s ability

to stay at home and be supported by her husband. While staying at home may

have been possible for many white middle class women, it was rarely possible for

the majority of black women. For those students, social class was just as

important as race. The young women training to be nurses expected to be

treated as professionals and not as domestic workers. The article in the News

and Courier complemented the students and staff of the Hospital and Training

School for their achievements and respectability in spite of their race. This

attested to the niche that Alonzo McClennan had carved out in Charleston for

himself and the institutions he had created. His work was respected; his

achievements were acknowledged. In this particular instance, race was not the

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overarching issue. Both McClennan and the nurses at his facility were afforded the respect they had earned. McClennan's elite status was extended to those in his employ and those whom he trained. There was no question regarding their professionalism.

At the June 1899 meeting of the Hospital Association, Dr. McClennan and

Dr. Brown were asked by the members to conduct a fundraising trip to other areas of South Carolina. Shortage of funds was an ongoing struggle for the fledgling enterprise and it seemed that, like Booker T. Washington of Tuskegee,

McClennan was always courting potential donors. On Wednesday, July 19 th ,

McClennan and Brown arrived in Anderson, South Carolina, on one leg of their

state-wide journey. There they were met by a fellow physician and member of the

Association, Dr. Lawrence Earle, president of South Carolina’s Association of

Colored Physicians. It is apparent from McClennan’s account of the trip

published in the July issue of The Hospital Herald that Anderson was not a large

city. Earle “introduced them to nearly everybody in this beautiful town.” The

occasion was clearly pleasurable and productive based on the published

description of the day’s occurrences. “We were welcomed cordially, especially by

the white people, who seemed to have a special interest in the hospital and

training school. Dr. Earle has the good will of all the white people, and the good

will and all the practice of the colored people.” While at Anderson, Drs.

McClennan and Banks gave a formal presentation regarding the nature of the

work of the hospital, the school, and the services offered at each. Both believed

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that their visit to Anderson was profitable not only because they had contacted potential donors, but also because they had raised awareness of the usefulness of the Hospital and Training School. While in Anderson they also recruited two young women from the town who planned to matriculate at the school during the next term. 148

Although McClennan’s description of the fundraising trip was necessarily positive, upbeat and enthusiastic, it was also evident that he was publicly optimistic regarding opportunities for African Americans within the state of South

Carolina. Despite the racial oppression, he had decided to remain in the state and to lobby to improve conditions for others of his race. He was a full participant in society; not just black society, but society in general. He lobbied for improved sanitation and clean water for all Charlestonians. He began a hospital, a training school, and a medical journal. He worked in conjunction with powerful whites, even those whose agendas differed from his own. McClennan also drew others into the orb of his influence and power. This is evident in the relationships he built with people throughout the state.

The November 1899 issue of The Hospital Herald included the announcement of the marriage of Dr. Lawrence A. Earle to the daughter of

Republican politician Thomas E. Miller. At the time of the marriage, Miller was the president of the State Negro College located in Orangeburg, South Carolina.

148 The Hospital Herald, Volume 1, Number 8 (July 1899), 14-15. (Emphasis present in the original quote.)

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Clearly this was a society wedding in every sense of the word. The announcement in The Hospital Herald read like the society pages of a then

current newspaper; and in this case it served the same purpose. There was

much to celebrate as two successful, elite families were united by marriage. The

article described the affair in great detail, perhaps in part because Alonzo

McClennan served as one of Dr. Earle’s attendants. The couple married in the

newly constructed chapel at the college which was “crowded with friends from

Orangeburg, and many of the best white citizens witnessed the ceremony.” The

description of the wedding also mentioned the gifts presented to the couple

saying. “The presents were numerous, handsome and costly, and were received

from all portions of this State and other States. The colored physicians of the

State sent a handsome parlor clock with appropriate ornaments.” Following the

wedding was a “delightful supper,” but there was no mention of which guests

attended the supper. 149

It was not unusual for white guests to attend the black weddings in the

South; that tradition existed under slavery. It was common for slave owners to be present at the ceremonies of their slaves because in many cases their permission was required for slaves to be married. Likewise, even when free blacks were married, paternalistic whites were often present. The 1899 wedding of Miss Miller and Dr. Earle, however, was an entirely different situation.

149 The college was created in 1896 as the first college in South Carolina for African Americans. Hospital Herald, Volume 1, Number 12 (November 1899), 8.

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The bride’s father participated in Republican Party politics beginning at the end of Reconstruction. He served in the United States House of Representatives and became a college president. Miller had many white associates and friends who would have expected an invitation to the society wedding of his daughter. It was at events such as this where the lines between social obligations and fraternal friendships became blurry. The other element, which certainly would not have been addressed in the press or anywhere except between close friends behind closed doors was the issue of Miller’s skin color. In any city in America where his family history was unknown, Thomas Miller would have been recognized as a white man. However, Miller "was reputed to be…one-sixty-fourth

Negro." According to the racial climate of the American South in 1899, any black ancestry meant that Miller was black. 150

Perhaps prominent white associates were more likely to be accepting of friendship from Miller because his skin as white as, or whiter than, theirs. What cannot be determined is which associations were friendships based on mutual affection and which were relationships that were based on business and political expediency. It is likely that in some cases, true friendship existed without regard to the conventions of the color line. Where social events such as the marriage of

Dr. Earle and Miss Miller were concerned, the evidence was less apparent.

150 South Carolina Negroes , 48. Edmund L. Drago, Initiative, Paternalism and Race Relations: Charleston’s Avery Normal Institute. (Athens, Georgia: The University of Georgia Press, 1990),130.

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There was no list of personal friends and business associates to facilitate that query. 151

What we do know about Miller is that in his mind, there was no color line.

The quote on his tombstone attest to his racial philosophy. He provided service to his fellow man based on his perception of what was equitable and beneficial.

He seemed to put race in the same categories as social class, age or religion believing that all people were entitled to the fullness of opportunities that society could offer. The lavish wedding of his daughter to a popular, successful, young, physician was evidence of Miller reaching out to many in the community. Earle benefited through his association with Alonzo McClennan and it is likely that his new father-in-law also provided a measure of security and privilege. Although

Earle had established his medical practice in Anderson prior to his wedding, the familial association likely brought him a wider circle of acquaintances and potential patients that helped sustain him as a rising, influential member of the community. During the tumultuous era of Jim Crow in South Carolina, any connections that could provide insulation from the brutality of racial oppression were welcome indeed. 152

Although there are many questions that could be posed here, what we can say is that in Charleston, South Carolina, during the era of Jim Crow, there was

151 It may have been easier for Miller to operate across class lines because his skin was so light that he appeared white. Perhaps white colleagues made exceptions in their personal relations with Miller because his personal appearance stood as a reminder how difficult it was to divide society based on race. 152 Initiative, Paternalism and Race Relations, 162. Drago quotes the inscription on Miller’s tombstone as evidence of Miller’s racial attitude. ”I SERVED GOD AND ALL PEOPLE, LOVING THE WHITE MAN NOT LESS, BUT THE NEGRO NEEDED ME MOST.”

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not complete oppression. There were powerful African American men in the medical community who rose above the barriers of race. Men like Alonzo

McClennan, Lawrence Earle, Thomas Miller and William Crum forged substantial relationships with powerful whites. They exerted their influence on the society in which they lived and circumvented formidable racial barriers that many other members of society could not. It was not the norm for most African Americans to break through the color barrier in post-Reconstruction South Carolina, but some men did. The simple fact that some physicians were able to flourish as they defied the racial conventions that demanded obsequiousness gave hope to others that they too could rise above the growing pressures of Jim Crow.

Following Reconstruction and well into the era of Jim Crow, Charleston was a city of contradictions. Certainly the racial lines were hardening despite the valiant efforts of an educated, talented, cosmopolitan black elite that had been in place for over a hundred years. Some individuals managed to flourish and succeed while the majority of the population was crushed by the reemergence of the legacy of the Confederacy.

Politically, the black elite in Charleston were not effective players on the national scene during the twentieth century. Perhaps South Carolina's

Republican Party caused the demise by its inability to nominate effective candidates or perhaps it was simply that more opportunities for ambitious men were available elsewhere. By the beginning of the twentieth century, South

Carolina's Republican Party was gradually disfranchised and ultimately wielded

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little power on the national stage. For members of the party in Charleston, only through the intervention of Booker T. Washington were a very few members of the elite able to secure crumbs of political patronage. Following his death in

1915, there was no other person influential enough to champion the cause of

South Carolinians in the nation's capital. Effective Republican activism appeared to remain functional longer in New Orleans than it did in Charleston. Members of

the African American elite in the Crescent City maintained their influential

presence at the national level longer than the Charleston cohort. In New Orleans,

extensive ethnic diversity provided a legacy of greater acceptance and

opportunity. 153

153 Black Carolinians , 196. Newby writes convincingly regarding the out-migration of many members of the ambitious black elite.

The Social and Political influence of Elite African American

Politicians, Clergy and Physicians in New Orleans, Louisiana

Introduction

The city of New Orleans, Louisiana, boasts a heritage unlike any other in

American history. As a result, African American political power developed differently in New Orleans than in any other American city. It was there, at the mouth of the Mississippi River, that the French first established the port city of La

Nouvelle Orleans in 1718. The importance of New Orleans should not be underestimated by historians seeking to understand the complex interpersonal relations that existed across the color line in America. Settled first by France, it was traded to Spain, then returned back to France before finally being sold to the

United States as part of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. As a result of its colonial history, New Orleans was a multicultural city from its inception. The region’s ethnic diversity included Native American, French, Spanish, English and

African people. The blending of these diverse cultures, and their corresponding

121 122

traditions and religions, provided a unique environment for the development of social and race relations in the Crescent City. 154

Historian Kimberly Hanger argues that "slaves and free blacks had

more rights and opportunities …under Spanish rule than under French or United

States rule" in colonial Louisiana. The "small-scale society facilitated personal,

often intimate relationships that encouraged familiarity among all races,

nationalities and classes." This chapter will argue that unique patterns of

behavior became established in antebellum New Orleans. Those behaviors

created a multi-racial society there that continued long after Reconstruction. The

race and class structure that formed in New Orleans did not exist elsewhere in

the United States. 155

Prior to the Civil War, the majority of African Americans living in

Louisiana were slaves, but there was a large influential free black population as well. Following that war, many former slaves fled from the plantations to make new lives in southern cities. The large influx of freedmen drastically changed the social and political dynamics in New Orleans. Long time residents, black and white, struggled to cope with the changes taking place as their city tried to assimilate refugees from the plantations and transplants from the North. 156

154 Eric Foner, Give Me Liberty: An American History. (N.Y.;W.W. Norton & Company, Seagull Edition, 2006) ,141;262. For a discussion on colonial New Orleans see Kimberly S. Hanger Bounded Lives: Free Black Society in Colonial New Orleans, 1769-1803 (Durham, Duke University Press, 1997) 155 Bounded Lives , 6. 156 Kelley, The Right to Ride: Streetcar Boycotts and African American Citizenship in the Era of Plessy V. Ferguson. (Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press, 2010), 57. John Hope

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Before the Civil War, in New Orleans, the gens de couleur libre were at the pinnacle of black society. Many people were the acknowledged children of long-term extramarital relationships, known as the plaçage system.

Acknowledgement of that system legitimatized relationships between free women of color and wealthy white men. Some white men reared their families of color in a society parallel to their legally sanctioned white families. In some cases, white fathers provided their biracial children with dowries, college educations in the

North or Europe, and plantations or businesses with which they could earn a living and pass on to their children. 157

Over time members of the gens de couleur libre established a highly complex society in and around New Orleans. Members of this group worked in conjunction with and along side the wealthiest members of white society. Members of gens de couleur libre often had fair complexions, practiced the Catholic faith, and spoke French as their primary language. Because they had been reared living lives parallel to their white kin, these free people of color shared many of the same hopes, fears and values as Catholic, French speaking white Louisianans. During the 1860s, it was members of the gens de couleur libre who stepped forward for military service as members of The Louisiana

Native Guard to protect their homes and investments, first for the Confederacy but ultimately for the Union during the Civil War. They were among the first

Franklin and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham., From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African Americans, 9th edition (N.Y.: McGraw Hill, 2011), 169. 157 Black New Orleans, 17-19.

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people of color to run for elective office in Louisiana during Reconstruction. Citing

Louisiana historian David C. Rankin, Willard B. Gatewood wrote: “the typical black politician in New Orleans during the turbulent era of Reconstruction possessed ‘unusual ancestry, uncommon wealth and exceptional ability’.”

Gatewood continues: “for the majority [of politicians] high social status predated their entry into politics.” When the United States Congress passed the

Reconstruction Amendments legislating equality and citizenship for all people born on American soil, members of the gens de couleur libre took their rightful place beside their white relatives as the recognized leaders of Louisiana. 158

John Blassingame correctly argued that "antebellum patterns in race relations and the increased political power of blacks led to an almost unbelievably complex pattern between the races during Reconstruction." The challenges of negotiating racial cooperation during Reconstruction were constantly in flux, especially in New Orleans. Not only were the patterns of race relations complex, but "relations between blacks and whites in New Orleans swing like a crazy pendulum back and forth between integration and segregation during the Reconstruction period." Most white people (especially wealthy planters) wanted segregated facilities while the majority of black people wanted

158 Willard B. Gatewood, Aristocrats of Color: The Black Elite 1880-1920. (Fayetteville, Arkansas: University of Arkansas Press, 2000), 13. Virginia Meacham Gould, in Chained to the Rock of Adversity: To Be Free, Black and Female in the Old South, (Athens, The University of Georgia Press, 1998) xxvii. John Hope Franklin and Alfred A. Moss, Jr., From Slavery to Freedom: A History of Negro Americans. Sixth Edition, (N.Y.: Alfred A. Knopf, 1988), 145. David C. Rankin, “Origins of Black Leadership in New Orleans During Reconstruction,” (p. 421) quoted in Aristocrats of Color, 84.

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unconditional integration. Neither side accomplished their objectives and many people were frustrated with every outcome. 159

This chapter argues that members of the African American elite fully expected to expand their opportunities and equality well into the 19th century, and beyond, as part of their birthright. Based on their ranking in New

Orleans society, they expected to be treated as colleagues and gentlemen by everyone they encountered, even if they were not granted complete social equality. Members of the black elite had their future and their wealth tied to the white elite and they expected to participate in a working coalition to govern their homeland. 160

Although historians generally equate the end of Reconstruction with the inauguration of Rutherford B. Hayes in 1877 as president of the United

States, in reality the social and political patterns of Reconstruction lingered on in

New Orleans. In January 1879, Louisiana's United States Senator " William P.

Kellogg [hosted] an integrated dinner party at Antoine's Restaurant." Antoine's was one of the most exclusive restaurants in the city and the affair hosted by a

United States Senator was an elaborate affair. If the code of race relations had been rigid in New Orleans, Kellogg would not have been able to secure the elite venue for an integrated event. That such a dinner took place attests to the continued fluidity of race relations in New Orleans at the end of the 1870s. 161

159 Black New Orleans, 217 & 173. 160 Black New Orleans, 155 161 Eric Foner, Give Me Liberty, 508. Rutherford B. Hayes was inaugurated in March 1877. Antoine's Restaurant has been a landmark in New Orleans since the antebellum era. It was, and

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Thus this chapter argues that the complexity of race relations in New

Orleans created an environment that allowed members of the African American

elite unique opportunities to straddle the color line that were not evident in other

southern cities. New Orleans had a social climate all its own and people

interacted there in ways that were not possible anywhere else in America.

Because New Orleans added multi-lingual and multi-cultural elements to its

society, race relations proved even more complex than in either Charleston or

Cleveland. In New Orleans, elite African Americans, particularly members of the

gens de couleur libre, possessed far more opportunities, privileges, and influence

than other men of their race in other southern cities. They also had far more

social and economic opportunities than most white southerners. Perhaps most

importantly, because of the acknowledged extended family relationships,

members of the African American elite in New Orleans had direct personal

access to powerful white men who depended on them for their knowledge and

insight even during times when civil rights were denied to the majority of African

Americans residing in the city. 162

This chapter will also show that In some instances the power of elite

African Americans extended far beyond Louisiana. Some members of New

Orleans' black elite traveled widely as spokesmen for their race and for the

Republican Party. A few elite African American men attained real personal and continues to be, owned by family members related to Frenchman Antoine Alciatore. Located on St. Louis Street in the French Quarter of the city, the restaurant was, and continues to be, an establishment that catered to people of status and wealth.; Black New Orleans, 189. 162 The Right to Ride, 57. John Hope Franklin and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham., From Slavery to Freedom, 169.

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political power to influence the world they shared with prominent white men.

Therefore, this chapter shows that elite blacks in New Orleans approached the color line with less deference than elite blacks in Charleston. In New Orleans elite blacks sought to preserve and expand the legal rights promised by the three amendments to the United States Constitution enacted during Reconstruction. 163

During the decades that followed Reconstruction, from 1880-1920, New

Orleans was the largest city in the South. In 1880, the population of the city of

New Orleans was more than two hundred thousand people; nearly one quarter of the population of the entire state of Louisiana lived in the Crescent City. The sheer size of the city made it important to the state and the region, but there were other factors that made New Orleans unique to the discussion of the power of elite African Americans after Reconstruction. 164

163 Right to Ride, 51-83. 164 U.S. Census, 1880, Table 1a and table 3.

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Strolling down Chartres and Royal Streets in New Orleans …one passed dozens of elegant shops and offices with proprietors named La Croix, Dumas, Colvis, Fourcher, Legoaster, and Forneret, all proper French surnames, all wealthy businessmen of the ethnic group known as les gens de couleur libre. Impeccably dressed, well- educated, and speaking the best French, the owners of these shops would, in some cases, have been difficult to distinguish from their white French Creole counterparts.

-- Mary Gehman

In New Orleans, as perhaps in no other American city, there were many cracks in the color line. Negroes frequently interacted on terms of perfect equality with whites in public institutions and in social relations.

-- John Blassingame

The white race deems itself to be the dominant race in this country… But in the view of the Constitution, in the eye of the law, there is in this country no superior, dominant, ruling class of citizens. There is no caste here. Our Constitution in color-blind and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens. In respect of civil rights, all citizens are equal before the law. The humblest is the peer of the most powerful. The law regards man as man and takes no account of his surroundings or of his color when his civil

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rights as guaranteed by the supreme law of the land are involved…

---Supreme Court Judge John Marshall Harlan 165

To understand fully the ways New Orleans differed from Charleston and

Cleveland, one must consider the important changes that occurred there during

the Civil War and its subsequent occupation by Union forces. When Louisianans

met in state convention during the winter of 1861 to vote on a motion of

secession the majority voted to leave the Union. However, a sizable contingent of

white men supported the Union and remained loyal to the United States during

the war years. Admiral Farragut's naval fleet sailed past the forts protecting New

Orleans and seized control of the city on April 24, 1862. A week later troops

under command of Union General Benjamin F. Butler occupied the city. Union

forces controlled the city for the remainder of the Civil War. 166

Because New Orleans fell under Union control so early during the war,

Reconstruction began earlier there than almost everywhere else in the South. "In

August of 1862, [General Benjamin Butler] ordered the enlistment of 'free

Negroes' " which soon included Louisiana's Native Guards. The Native Guards

165 Mary Gehman, "Visible Means of Support: Business, Professions, and Trades of Free People of Color." in Sybil Kein, ed. Creole: The History and Legacy of Louisiana's Free People of Color (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press: 2000), 208. John W. Blassingame, Black New Orleans, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, nd) ,210. Dissenting opinion Judge Harlan Supreme Court Case Plessy v. Ferguson 163 U.S. 537 (1896) 166 Joe Gray Taylor Louisiana Reconstructed 1863-1877 ( Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1974), 1-2.

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were African American military units led by black officers who originally offered their services to the Confederacy. They willingly switched their allegiance to the

Union Army when they realized such service was in their social and economic interests. 167

Beginning in 1862, the political situation in New Orleans was tenuous. The majority of white southerners were not receptive to the Union forces that governed the state. Louisiana held a constitutional convention the first Monday of

April 1864 to begin the process of formally reentering the Union. Citizens of the state, including former Confederates were invited to take an oath of loyalty to the

United States and then to participate in the organizing convention. General

Nathaniel Banks, who by then had replaced General Butler, refused to let free people of color participate. Historian Joe Gray Taylor argued that "the blacks of

New Orleans as a whole, were probably as well-qualified to vote intelligently as were the while voters of the normal hill parish (sic) in Louisiana," yet Banks was unwilling to challenge the status quo in the region he controlled. 168

By April 1865, the Radical Republicans gained power in New Orleans and elite African Americans allied with the Radicals campaigning for equal suffrage.

That spring, Henry Clay Warmoth emerged as a political power in the region. By

January 1868, the Republican Party was preparing for a gubernatorial election in

Louisiana. At their nominating convention an African American, Major Francis E.

Dumas, received the highest number of votes for candidate for governor. Next

167 Louisiana Reconstructed, 10-11. 168 Louisiana Reconstructed, 27.

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behind him was Henry Clay Warmoth. Pinkney B.S. Pinchback was also considered, but declined the nomination because he did not believe the state was ready for an African American governor. 169

As the nominating process continued, Warmoth narrowly beat Dumas for

the candidacy. Major Dumas refused to run with Warmoth as the choice for

lieutenant governor. Instead members of the nominating convention proposed

Oscar J. Dunn, also African American. The ticket of Warmoth and Dunn were

elected in a special election in April 1868 and sworn into office on July 13,

1868. 170

In this world of political turmoil, when relations between black and white

were tenuous at best, Walter Lewis Cohen (who later become the most powerful

African American Republican in Louisiana) spent his youth. Cohen an American

black, was born in New Orleans on the eve of the Civil War. In those tumultuous

times Walter Lewis Cohen embraced his mixed racial heritage. He took full

advantage of the many and varied opportunities available to him by successfully

straddling the color line throughout his long life. Cohen epitomized the

contradictions that defined the region. Instead of being hampered by race, Cohen

used his race to his advantage and embraced every opportunity that came his

way in post-Reconstruction New Orleans. 171

169 Louisiana Reconstructed, 73; 156. 170 Louisiana Reconstructed, 158. 171 John N. Ingham and Lynne B. Feldman, African-American Business Leaders: A Biographical Dictionary. (Westport, Ct., Greenwood Press, 1994), 145. Cohen was defined as an American black because he was born to English-speaking parents. Had he been born to a French speaking family, he would have been classified as Creole or black Creole.

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To understand Walter Cohen's place in New Orleans' culture, it is important to understand the family line into which he was born. Cohen’s mother,

Amelia (also sometimes spelled Emilie), descended from the Bingaman family that originated in Germany. It appears, based on genealogical evidence, that the first Bingaman in this family line to immigrate to America was John Bingaman.

The date of his immigration is not recorded but there was evidence that he was living on the Virginia frontier at the time of the French and Indian war. It is unlikely that Bingaman would ever have imagined the vast wealth and land holdings his descendents would attain and lose within the short span of three lifetimes. John Bingaman would likely have been surprised that his family line would be most recognized for a black descendent who would straddle the color line and exert political power in a way that immigrant John Bingaman could never have conceived. 172

John Bingaman’s great- grandson, Adam Lewis Bingaman was born in

1793 in Natchez, Mississippi, to Adam Bingaman and the former Charlotte

Surget. Blessed with good looks, important social connections, and by this generation, inherited wealth, young Bingaman had aspirations that would take him far from the family lands. As a southern youth from a family with power and

172 Cohen's biography is presented in detail here to exemplify the political heritage from which he emerged. Through the lineage of his wealthy, white relatives, Cohen had a political legacy that strategically placed him squarely in the middle of one of the most unique political environments in American history. Walter Cohen's ancestor, John Bingaman appears to have been born in Germany in 1710. There is no record of the date of his arrival in America, but there is a record of his family being attacked by Native Americans in the back-country of Virginia in 1763 Ancestry.com family history records of the John Bingaman family accessed at http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/1957886/person/228292877/story/67fbf3ed-d4ef-46dc-ab6e- d0c5239998d3?src=search August 10, 2012.

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affluence, Adam Lewis temporarily sidestepped his plantation duties to go north to study law at Harvard. While there he met and married Julia Maria Murray, daughter of the famous writer and feminist Judith Sargent Murray. The couple married in 1812 when Adam was eighteen years old and his bride twenty-one.

But this was not to be Bingaman’s only union. Julia lived long enough to provide

Adam with two children; she died in 1822, soon after the birth of their second child, Adam Lewis. Sometime after the death of Julia, Adam entered into an arrangement with a free woman of color, Mary E. Williams, who lived near

Bingaman’s Natchez, Mississippi home. It is unclear when the long-term relationship began. Bingaman also had a long term relationship with Millie, another woman of color. Millie gave birth to Amelia ( Emile) Bingaman, who was born in 1837 in Mississippi. Amelia was emancipated in 1857 and at that time she lived in New Orleans with Adam and Mary. In 1857 or 1858, Amelia

Bingaman married a white man of German and Jewish ancestry, Bernard Cohen.

Amelia and Bernard were the parents of Walter Cohen who was born a free person of color in New Orleans in 1860. 173

173 John Bingaman married Katherine who was born in Scotland. Both Katherine, John and one son, Adam, died in an Indian attack on their farm in New Pulaski River Virginia in July of 1775. Christian Bingaman, whose primary language was German, was born to John and Katherine in 1735 in Virginia. According to genealogical records Christian was a commissioned officer in the British Army during the French and Indian War. Christian married Charity in 1764 and their son Adam was born in Buckingham, Virginia in 1767 (Buckingham, Virginia is west of Richmond near the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. When Christian, Charity and one son were killed, a wealthy widow supported the family. She It is likely that this was marginal land and when opportunities for more fertile land became available, the family was eager to take advantage of those opportunities.) The family moved to Natchez, Mississippi in 1777 where they established a plantation. They were among the early settlers in the region that was initially controlled by Spain. The Bingaman family left Natchez in 1778 because of hostilities during the Revolutionary War. Christian died in West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana in 1778. In 1785, the Spanish governor at

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As an adult, Walter Cohen became politically active playing an important role in both Louisiana and national politics. His interest in politics may have initially been nurtured by contact with politically powerful adults or perhaps it was a learned skill inherited from his influential white grandfather, all of whom served as mentors to the precocious young man. Cohen’s great-grandfather Adam

Lewis Bingaman was a major political player in his prime years and served on the Mississippi Territorial Council in 1800. His son Adam Lewis was first elected to the Mississippi State Senate in 1822 (at the age of 29) and also served as

President of the Mississippi State Senate from 1838 to 1840. During the federal

Nullification Crisis of 1828-1832, Adam Lewis Bingaman headed a Select

Committee in the Mississippi House of Representatives. At the time of the crisis,

Mississippi had not yet adopted a states' rights agenda. Having been admitted to

Natchez allowed Adam Bingaman to reclaim his father’s land near Natchez. It was on this plantation that Adam Lewis Bingaman was the first-born to Adam L. Bingaman and Lousey Ratcliff in 1793. There are three generations with the name Adam Lewis. The one born in 1793 appears to have been the first generation to depart from the industrious, hardworking nature of his ancestors. This Adam Lewis studied law and graduated from Harvard. He was something of a proverbial wild child. Bingaman married the daughter of famed Judith Sargent Murray who was an early feminist, poet and essayist. As an adult he dabbled in politics, ran his plantation into the ground and became obsessed with gambling on horse races. Like Thomas Jefferson, Bingaman was obsessed with books. He had an extensive library, read widely in multiple languages including Latin and Greek. Even when he was in financially reduced circumstances, his most prized personal possessions included books. It was into this eclectic family that Walter Cohen was born. Young Walter was a precocious child, initially educated by his grandfather and aunt. Living in his white grandfather's household, he certainly would have had access to his grandfather’s education, wisdom and library. Some sources state that Amelia Bingaman (Walter Cohen’s mother and the daughter of Adam Lewis) was emancipated in 1857. If Amelia was born a slave, it may have been because her mother (Millie) was enslaved at the time of Amelia’s birth. What is clear is that by 1860, Amelia was living in New Orleans with Bernard Cohen and that they are listed in the census as having 5 children living with them, the youngest of whom is Walter who was listed as 5 months of age at the time the census was taken. Genealogical information accessed on Ancestry.com June 6, 2011. This information included records from the 1850 U.S. Census and 1860 U.S. Census. Also see Harnett T. Kane, Natchez on the Mississippi. (N.Y.: William Morrow & Company, 1947), 150-158; African-American Business Leaders , 145-149.

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the Union only a decade earlier, Mississippi was, in 1828, a strong Unionist state.

In principle, many people in Mississippi supported the sentiments espoused by the State of South Carolina, but others approved of the protectionist leanings of the tariff that prompted the crisis. In January 1833, Governor Scott of Mississippi gave a speech affirming the validity of nullification. The text of his speech, as well as resolutions from the states of Maine, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania, were given to a committee headed by Adam L. Bingaman for consideration. Under the leadership of Bingaman, members of the committee decided that allowing states to nullify federal policy was tantamount to treason and that if allowed, the nation would be in peril of dissolution. The committee agreed with President Andrew

Jackson that it was important to elevate the success of the nation above the desires of the individual states. Bingaman skillfully guided the debate in the committee and their final report showed overwhelming agreement that South

Carolina’s argument for nullification was ill-conceived. During the presidency of

Andrew Jackson, Mississippi remained solidly behind the Union and condemned the actions taken by the state of South Carolina. 174

Adam Lewis Bingaman went on to become a loyal member of the

Whig Party. It is interesting to note that although Bingaman was a strong

174 Mississippi Statehood 1817; Cleo Heron, “Nullification in Mississippi.” Mississippi Historical Society (Volume 12, 1912) Accessed at http://www.datasync.com/~jtaylor/Nullif.htm June 7, 2011 At the time of the Nullification Crisis, the population of Mississippi was still quite small. They had the obligatory two members of the United States Senate and only one representative in the United States House of Representatives. The committee headed by Bingaman was appointed to study the Nullification issue and provide recommendations for state policy. Ultimately, the committee voted 30:3 in favor of continued loyalty to the Nation and to censure the actions taken by South Carolina.

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supporter of President Andrew Jackson, he also chose to align with the party that was anti-Jacksonian in nature. Bingaman believed that a protective tariff was necessary but believed that Jackson claimed far too much power for the federal government. At the time of the Nullification Crisis, Bingaman did not believe it necessary to exert the premise of state's rights. At the time he believed it was an issue that would compromise the very fabric of the nation. In his political life,

Bingaman appeared less interested in party loyalty than he was in what he believed was proper governance. With the luxury of hindsight, it should be obvious that Bingaman's choices at that moment of political crisis foretold the type of conflicted loyalties this complicated man later exhibited. Nearly thirty years after the Nullification Crisis, Bingaman lived openly, despite public condemnation, with a free woman of color and the children they had together. 175

175 The divided loyalties exhibited by Adam Bingaman were representative of the frontier spirit inherent in the family’s path to power. He supported his president, but pledged allegiance to the party created to destroy that very man. He rejected nullification as treasonous, but believed in the right to reject that which would hamper economic prosperity. While he worked for economic success he squandered the wealth that was his legacy. The history of the Bingaman family is one of reasoned risk taking, hard work and compromise. The earliest Bingaman’s battled disease, Indian attacks and nature as they worked to carve out en empire that would establish them as a tour de force in antebellum society. Adam Lewis Bingaman was responsible for the highest success of the family but also its destruction. It was during his lifetime that power was consolidated. Adam Lewis Bingaman inherited several plantations from relatives on his maternal side providing the wealth necessary to achieve economic greatness. His intelligence should have allowed him to perpetuate that legacy, but his weakness was horses. He scoured the nation and the continent to find the best breeding stock. Not content to raise champion racers, Bingaman was obsessed with gambling at the races. His addictions to fine horses, high living and gambling risked all that previous generations had labored to build. The inherent brilliance of intellect, perfect manners and charm, and great wealth allowed Bingaman to wield substantial political power during his prime years. Bingaman was a complex individual. It should not be surprising that he would choose his women without regard to social conventions. As a rebellious youth he married a northern girl from a controversial family, but one which his southern relatives could accept because her uncle had been governor of Mississippi. Natchez on the Mississippi, 150-158; 1850 U.S. Census; 1860 U.S. Census.

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During the late antebellum period, long after the death of his wife Julia

Maria Murray, Bingaman lived in New Orleans with Mary E. Williams, his “Negro” mistress, “where he reportedly flaunted his mixed family in public.” There is no record that Bingaman legally married Mary, but in private correspondence announcing the marriage of one of their daughters, Mary E. Williams signed a letter “M.E. Bingaman”. In choosing to live openly with a woman of color, and by publicly acknowledging that conjugal relationship, Adam Bingaman chose to straddle the color line. Although he had been born a privileged white man, and profited by the peculiar institution that enabled him to amass and enjoy great wealth, he certainly defied that institution (and conventional southern custom) by living openly with his mistress. By the end of his life in 1869, Bingaman was bankrupt, but he was still financially solvent at the time he moved to New

Orleans. The 1850 census lists his personal wealth in excess of forty thousand dollars. Even as late as the 1860 census he declared fifty thousand dollars worth of real estate and two hundred thousand dollars of personal wealth. 176

Walter L. Cohen was classified as an American black according to the traditions of New Orleans' society when he was born to Bernard Cohen and

Amelia Bingaman January 22, 1860. When Walter Cohen was born his grandfather, Adam Lewis Bingaman, was sixty-seven years old. Bingaman continued to live in New Orleans with members of his biracial family after the Civil

176 William Kauffman Scarborough, Masters of the Big House: Elite Slaveholders of the Mid- Nineteenth Century South. ( Baton Rouge, Louisiana State University Press, 2006), 27; Correspondence of M.E. Bingaman (Mary E. Williams) to Mrs. Johnson, April 21, 1860, published in Gould, Chained to the Rock of Adversity, 36; African-American Business Leaders, 145.

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War. Beginning at the age of five, Walter spent considerable time at his grandfather’s home where he was tutored by his aunt, another one of

Bingaman’s daughters, who was known as “Teenie.” Walter was an extremely precocious child and it is likely that Walter heard the stories at that time of his grandfather’s youth, both the social exploits and the political experiences. When his grandfather Bingaman died in 1869, Walter was old enough to have established substantial memories of his grandfather. Walter inherited his grandfather’s intelligence and certainly benefited from his grandfather’s excellent education, although Walter never attended an Ivy League institution. Despite being the grandson of a prominent white southerner, Walter was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He was fortunate enough to attend Catholic school until 1869. It is unclear why Cohen left school at that time. It may have been by choice or it may have been an economic necessity. That year did not mark the end of his formal schooling, however. Later in his youth, Cohen furthered his formal education at Straight University in New Orleans. 177

Based on his multiracial heritage and the manner in which he lived his

early years, it should not be surprising that Walter Cohen manifested the same

177 Saying that Cohen was an American black meant that he was not of French (Creole) ancestry. His father was of German and Jewish ancestry and his mother was born a slave but was emancipated before Walter Cohen was born. For that reason Walter Cohen was born free and was considered an American black. Ancestry.com http://search.ancestry.com/cgi- bin/sse.dll?gl=ROOT_CATEGORY&rank=1&new=1&so=1&MSAV=1&msT=1&gss=ms_f- 2_s&gsfn=Adam+l&gsln=Bingaman&msddy=1869&msdpn__ftp=New+Orleans%2C+Orleans%2 C+Louisiana%2C+USA&msdpn=34322&msdpn_PInfo=8- |0|1652393|0|2|3246|21|0|2249|34322|0|&_83004002=caucasian&cpxt=0&catBucket=rst&uid h=v32&_83004003-n_xcl=f&cp=0 accessed August 14, 2012; American Business Leaders, p. 145. Ingham wrote that Amelia (a slave) was freed in 1857 and married Bernard Cohen who was white and born in New Orleans- Bernard Cohen's birth comes from 1860/ 1870/1880 census New Orleans: Louisiana Weekly , March 20, 1926.

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practical reaction towards race evinced by his grandfather. The Walter Cohen who straddled the color line in post-Reconstruction New Orleans was a pragmatic man. He could not afford to antagonize a Booker T. Washington or a

Marcus A. Hanna, two men with whom he developed intimate social and political relationships. Daily life for black elites was a constant negotiation. Politics, like life itself, was a cultural mine-field in Louisiana from the 1880s through the early

1900s. To be a successful black man in politics, or any endeavor, in Louisiana at that time required extraordinary abilities, exceptional personal bravery, and an innate sense of self-worth. Recognizing that reality and making light of his complicated racial and religious heritage, Cohen was said to have remarked that he "embodied the three groups that the Ku Klux Klan was most bitterly attacking… a black, a Jew and a Catholic.” That comment was not self- deprecating; it was simply an acknowledgement of what it meant to be an elite black man living in a white-dominated southern society. Every public effort, whether political or financial, made powerful men like Cohen a target for white men who resented the intelligence and abilities of powerful members of the

African American elite. 178

178 African American Business Leaders, 145-50. (KKK quote page 145) After leaving St. Louis Catholic School , Walter went to work leaning the cigar making trade. Like many other men of his era, Cohen read widely and continued his education throughout his life. Although W.E.B. Dubois had the good fortune to complete his PhD .at Harvard, many others, like George A. Myers, Charles W. Chesnutt and Booker T. Washington had to content themselves with the path of self education for their ultimate intellectual fulfillment. For evidence of Cohen's personal relationships with Booker T. Washington and Marcus A. Hanna, see the Booker T. Washington Papers and the George A. Myers Papers, passim.

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As a young man, Cohen worked in a wide variety of jobs ranging from cigar maker to bartender, to clerk. Eventually he became a successful and respected businessman. His first introduction to politics took place during

Reconstruction when as a youth Cohen served as a page in Louisiana's

Reconstruction Legislature. During his tenure as a page, he developed important personal and working relationships with Oscar J. Dunn (Louisiana’s first black

Lieutenant Governor), C.C. Antoine (also a Louisiana Lieutenant Governor); and future Louisiana Governor Pinkney Benton Stewart Pinchback. The close personal relationship that developed between Cohen and Pinchback lasted throughout Pinchback’s life. The successes that these African American politicians enjoyed and the life-lessons they provided must have served as an example for Cohen. Their accomplishments proved that it was possible to create working relationships across the color line. These politicians had no choice but to forge useful interracial relationships during the Reconstruction Era, some egalitarian others paternalistic. As they built these relationships, they enjoyed some success and dreamed of more in the future; unfortunately they also lived to witness the bitterness of Redemption in the Deep South. Cohen learned to negotiate relationships across the color line by closely observing his mentors in action. He glimpsed the vision of what was possible as a child during

Reconstruction and as an adult he struggled to maintain that forward trajectory.

179

179 African American Business Leaders, 145-6. Pinchback lived until 1921. At that time Cohen was

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Walter Cohen was not single-minded in his vision of the future. He was not a scalawag capitalizing on the misery of the devastated South, neither was he resigned to the notion that he would have to accept second class citizenship by virtue of his mixed racial heritage. He was simply a young man coming of age in a time of change. His advancement to maturity coincided with the end of

Reconstruction, the political bargain that removed Federal troops from the South and began the restoration of power to the class that ruled the state before the war. It is easy to say in retrospect that total disenfranchisement of blacks was inevitable, but for those who endured the era of transition, that pending disappointment was not a foregone conclusion.

When Glenda Gilmore writes, in Gender and Jim Crow, of what she calls

"the black middle class in the years before 1920," she cautions her readers against believing that "the class constructions that exist now existed in the past."

Gilmore argues that "the better classes [members of the black elite]

…understood their adoption of Victorian values as an application of their own

Christian principles." They believed "they belonged among the best men and women regardless of color." The idea of Victorian standards were not white standards. They prescribed a code of behavior based on religious and societal standards. Throughout the Victorian and Progressive Eras, many African

American elites sustained their belief that they could play a formative role in

60 years of age. For evidence of Pinchback’s relationships across the color line see Black New Orleans , 160 and 188-189. Oscar Dunn (the first black Lt. Governor of a state- Louisiana);C.C. Antoine (served as a captain in the Louisiana Native Guard; as a Louisiana State Senator and also as Lt. Governor of Louisiana.) Ingham, 145; 31-36.

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shaping the society in which they lived. Optimism allowed them to believe that the setbacks in race relations were only temporary and that reason would soon prevail. 180

Walter Cohen was among that group of "best men" who endeavored to

transcend race. Had he chosen to move away from his home, and the people

who knew him, he could easily have passed for white and begun life anew. That

was not the path he chose. His path to financial and political success was not

direct nor was it single dimensional. Cohen's early experience as a legislative

page allowed him a bird’s eye view of politics where he cultivated relationships

with some of the most powerful men in the Louisiana. The necessity of earning a

living demanded a practical approach to business, one that would serve him in

his other endeavors. There is some inconclusive evidence that Cohen may have

been a bit of a scoundrel in his youth, that he was not always on the correct side

of the law. However, he married at a young age and settled down to a life busy

with family obligations, sports, fraternal organizations and politics. By the time he

approached middle-age (around the turn of the twentieth century), he had

created a firm aura of respectability and his life was, for the most part, that of a

conservative businessman and politician. Not only did Cohen emerge as the

dominant black political force in Louisiana, but he was also part owner of a

number of successful businesses including People’s Industrial Life Insurance and

180 Glenda Elizabeth Gilmore Gender and Jim Crow: Women and the Politics of White Supremacy in North Carolina, 1896-1920 (Durham, University of North Carolina Press, 1996), xviii-xix.

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People’s Drug Stores. His independent financial resources allowed him to play the political game without relying on political patronage for economic stability. 181

Financial security, independent of political patronage, was one resource that enabled successful members of the elite to straddle the color line. Black politicians who were economically dependent on white patronage, and there were many, did not have the luxury to straddle the color line. They were indebted to paternalistic white politicians who would provide the necessary recommendations for continued employment. Those middle class blacks who depended on civil service employment could not command the same levels of respect that were apparent among members of the elite with independent incomes. Successful black businessmen, those who had secure incomes from the private sector, were able to assert their political independence because they had economic independence. They could interact with powerful white men on almost equal terms, because they did not depend on them economically, thereby

181 Gender and Jim Crow, p. xix. Correspondence between Booker T. Washington and national politicians indicates that Washington had been made aware of the rumors regarding Cohen’s early life. Even as late as 1909, B. T. Washington was still looking into allegations regarding Cohen's private life. Washington did not want to support the efforts of a black man who could tarnish his reputation; therefore Washington conducted inquiries into the background and reputation of Cohen. After exhaustive searches, Washington concluded that Cohen had abandoned the excesses of his youth and was worthy of his trust. In a letter to Washington dated June 3, 1909, an African American minister in New Orleans (Robert Elijah Jones) acknowledged that Cohen drank alcohol, sometimes gambled and even broke the Protestant traditions of keeping the Sabbath Day holy. While such behaviors might limit an individual seeking high office, they were not in conflict with the Creole Catholic standards of the city in which Cohen lived. It is likely that Washington was aware of this and did not consider Cohen’s reputed “sins” as egregious. Washington was far more concerned with the need to keep qualified, talented, influential, supportive black men in positions of prominence. If Cohen had abused the public trust or acted in a corrupt manner, Washington would have used his influence to remove Cohen from the public eye. Robert Elijah Jones to Booker T. Washington June 3, 1909; Correspondence Booker T. Washington to (President) William Howard Taft, April 23, 1909.; Walter Cohen was active in the Negro Leagues Baseball. He played in and managed a New Orleans team called the Pinchbacks. Black New Orleans , 143; African American Business Leaders, 146.

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presenting a measure of equality. This is not to suggest that members of the elite had the luxury of being bellicose or impertinent; it simply meant that it was not necessary for them to measure every word and deed against possible negative outcomes. They had the luxury of being frank with their opinions and could offer personal viewpoints in the company of whites. For members of the black elite, their recognized superior class status, their comparable educational attainment, an obvious level of culture and an independent economic status allowed them the freedom to straddle the color line in ways that less privileged members of society could not. This is an indication that among select groups of upper class people, status, class and demeanor were ranked as more significant characteristics than color. Class trumped color.

In Louisiana, during the William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt administrations, the Black and Tan Republicans, led by elites Walter L. Cohen and James Lewis, fought bitterly with the Lily White Republicans, led by former

Governor Henry Warmoth. The Black and Tans claimed to represent the majority of Louisiana Republicans while the Lily Whites claimed they represented the masses and did their best to eliminate black influence in the state. Walter Cohen held significant personal power during these years. Even as the dreaded Jim

Crow gained ascendancy, Walter Cohen managed to maintain power. In

September 1902, Walter Cohen wrote his friend George A. Myers asking if Mark

Hanna had intentions of running on the Republican ticket for President of the

United States. Cohen and Myers were stalwart supporters of the Hanna political

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machine. So dedicated was Cohen that he told Myers "If Mr. Hanna is going into the fight I am ready and willing to make any sacrifices to go along with him …"

Cohen had worked tirelessly to help secure the election for William McKinley in service to Mark Hanna. He was willing to repeat that effort if Hanna made a run for the presidency. It was this level of service and commitment that made Cohen a major political player at the national level. 182

Unfortunately, by 1902, the influence of the Republican Party was waning in the South. President Theodore Roosevelt was attempting to regain some

Republican influence there by favoring the Lily-White Republicans to the exclusion of the Black and Tans. Certainly, at least in Louisiana, the nadir had arrived. The precedent set by the Plessy v. Ferguson Supreme Court Case allowed separate but equal to become the standard throughout the South.

Although the Black and Tan faction of the Republican Party no longer wielded significant power in the South, Walter Cohen still exerted a measure of influence through the personal alliances he maintained locally and nationally.

During the first decade of the twentieth century, when white Louisiana

Republicans tried to discredit Cohen with false charges of corruption, men like

Ohio Senators Charles Dick and Marcus Hanna provided generous personal endorsements of his character. Walter Cohen was not a low-level political operative, nor was he simply a name on paper to powerful senators and the presidents he helped elect; he was personally well known to Mark Hanna,

182 Walter Cohen to George A. Myers, September 14, 1902, George A. Myers Papers (hereafter cited as GAM Papers), Ohio Historical Society, Columbus, Ohio.

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Charles Dick and William McKinley and was at times a visitor to the Oval Office.

Cohen was an influential campaigner, an indefatigable organizer and a loyal party member. These qualities made him invaluable to politicians at the national level. Because Cohen's work during the election of 1896 was so important,

President McKinley created a new federal agency based in New Orleans, The

United States Land Office. Walter Cohen was appointed to head that bureau in

1898. 183

Enlisting the help of George A. Myers from Cleveland, Walter Cohen fought to keep the Black and Tan Republican's influence alive in Louisiana after

1902. When the Louisiana Lily-White faction tried to eliminate the Black and Tan

Republicans, Cohen requested that Myers appeal to the United States Senator from Ohio Charles Dick to secure a proxy vote from Ohio Governor Myron T.

Herrick if Herrick was unable to attend the Republican National Committee meeting as he had originally planned. Cohen believed that the influence from

Ohio's senator or governor would be enough to secure continued representation for Louisiana's Black and Tan contingent. Cohen urged Myers to support his appeal writing, "When [I was last] in Washington I saw Senator Dick and spoke to him on the Louisiana situation. He is a stalwart and a friend." Cohen trusted that

183 African American Business Leaders, 146; Booker T. Washington Papers, footnote 1, volume 6, 494; footnote 3, volume 7, 181; Theodore Roosevelt to Booker T. Washington, May 9, 1904, Washington Papers volume 7, 497-98; Emmett Jay Scott to Booker T. Washington, June 22 and June 23, 1904, BTW Papers. Despite the attempts by Lily White Republicans to oust Cohen from the political arena, through the strength of his personal performance and with Booker T. Washington's influence, Cohen continued to participate in Republican National Conventions. Senator Dick of Ohio (part of Mark Hanna's political machine who replaced Hanna as Ohio's senator after the death of Hanna) joined the fray in support of Cohen demanding that he retain his position as a Louisiana state delegate.

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the pressure exerted by Ohio Republicans would be sufficient to keep the Black and Tan faction functioning in Louisiana. 184

Despite the best efforts of the white politicians, members of the Louisiana

Lily White faction were unable to oust Cohen from the political realm. Cohen had too many politically powerful friends in high places and was nationally recognized by the Republican Party as a hard-working operative capable of delivering on the promises he made. During the 1920s, white Republicans at the national level continued to back both Walter Cohen and his associate James Lewis (both from

Louisiana), even when it was no longer popular or expedient to do so. Even after

African Americans and the Republican Party had been virtually disfranchised in

Louisiana, Cohen maintained his power and continued to have political influence at the national level. 185

Under the leadership of Cohen, Lewis, P.B.S. Pinchback and James

Madison Vance, the Black and Tan Republicans continued to exert influence in the South long after the nadir because of the personal and professional networks they had established nationally across the color line. Their influence continued in part because they had one foot in each world, but also because they lived in neither. As perpetual outsiders, they were able to provide a more balanced assessment of the demands and counter-demands presented by each faction.

184 Walter Cohen to George A. Myers, May 26, 1904, GAM Papers. 185 Emmett Jay Scott to Booker T. Washington, April 1, 1909, BTW Papers. Cohen retained power until his death in 1929. See Adam Fairclough, Race and Democracy: The Civil Rights Struggle in Louisiana 1915-1972. (Athens: University of Georgia Press, second edition 2008), 11.

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They also refused to allow blacks to be disfranchised simply based on color.

They played a unique role that other politicians were unable to fill. 186

Emile Kuntz, a white investment banker in New Orleans, was closely allied with Walter Cohen and also participated in the Black and Tan organization.

Walter Cohen and Emile Kuntz met with President William Howard Taft at the

White House less than a month after his 1909 inauguration to discuss the political conditions in their home state. According to a report made to Booker T.

Washington by his personal secretary Emmett Jay Scott, President Taft "asked them [Cohen and Kuntz] to let him know whom they wanted & went further to

[and] told Cohen he deserved recognition & that he wanted him (Cohen) to write

him regularly & let him know of conditions in the South & especially in Louisiana."

Taft's request was not meant to merely pacify Cohen. Taft trusted Cohen and

was able to obtain information from him that would be difficult to obtain any other

way. It was Taft's way of staying aware of the racial dynamics in the South. 187

Also in the report Scott informed Washington that the president told Cohen that "he had told you [Washington] of his intention to reappoint him [Cohen] - & when Cohen mentioned about the pay of the place he said the consolidated office sh'd (sic) be located at New Orleans and that Cohen ought to receive a satisfactory salary." Clearly, Booker T. Washington was part of the negotiations even though he was not present at either the nation's capitol or in New Orleans.

186 Race and Democracy , 10-11. 187 Emmett Jay Scott to Booker T. Washington, April 1, 1909, BTW Papers. Emmett Scott appeared to be in Washington D.C. and was reporting to Booker T. Washington the political events as they occurred. His first communication was by telegram, detailed correspondence followed an initial brief report.

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Emmett Scott was Washington's informant in Washington, D.C. and this post- inauguration meeting was part of President Taft's agenda to keep whatever power he could maintain in the South. 188

Walter Cohen was well known to powerful whites in New Orleans.

President Taft told Cohen that he planned to keep him as a political appointee and that he "was pleased with the letters from white business men asking

Cohen's reappointment, & had already told Senator Foster [of LA] he intended recognizing colored men in that state" despite Louisiana's worsening racial climate. Even though the Republican Party had lost much of its influence in

Louisiana by 1909, the Taft administration still believed it was in their best interest to placate Louisiana's powerful blacks. Walter Cohen remained the most influential African American in Louisiana until his death in 1930. 189

James Lewis, a close personal friend and long-time business partner with

Walter Cohen was also heavily involved in Louisiana Republican Party politics.

For a time Lewis and Cohen served together as delegates at the National

Republican Conventions. Like Cohen, Lewis belonged to Booker T. Washington’s

inner circle of trusted advisors. In 1901, just weeks after the assassination of

President McKinley, Lewis penned a warning to Washington urging caution when

188 Emmett Jay Scott to Booker T. Washington, April 1, 1909, BTW Papers. 189 Emmett Jay Scott to Booker T. Washington, April 1, 1909, BTW Papers. Scott reported to Washington detailing the events that transpired when Walter Cohen and Emile Kuntz (white) met together with President Taft. Cohen and Kuntz complained to President Taft about President Roosevelt's failure to support the Black and Tan Republicans in Louisiana. President Taft specifically asked Cohen to keep him apprised of the conditions in the South and told Cohen of his intentions to keep him as a political appointee. Senator Murphy J. Foster was the Governor of Louisiana 1892- 1900 and then served as U.S. Senator from 1901- 1913.

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dealing with white Republicans who claimed to represent the best interests of black southerners. Specifically Lewis wrote:

It is a fact that the class of Men who are in control of the Republican Party Machine in the South, are not the best among the White or Colored Republicans…General Grant while President, always consulted with representative Colored Men in their respective Southern States, before making appointments, by this means worthy men received recognition, which is not so general now among both White and Colored.” 190

Lewis and Washington understood the urgency for planning a new racial strategy while they mourned the fallen president. As influential members of the race they tried to foresee how the transition of power from McKinley to Roosevelt would impact their world. Although not racially egalitarian in the modern sense of the word, President McKinley had courted the black vote both in the North and in the South making him popular with many members of the African American elite in both the North and the South. McKinley was keenly aware of the importance in recognizing blacks who supported his candidacy and he attempted to recognize the contributions of valued supporters. He made an informed effort to provide substantive patronage positions to influential black party operatives and to confer with Booker T. Washington and other black leaders such as Cleveland's George

190 James Lewis to Booker T. Washington , October 5, 1901. BTW Papers. James Lewis and Walter Cohen were co-owners of the People’s Drug Stores and the People’s Industrial Life Insurance Company. Although Theodore Roosevelt’s record with regard to treatment of blacks was spotty at best, he did appoint Cohen to the position of Registrar of United States Land based in New Orleans. Later, when there were no more available federal lands in the vicinity of New Orleans, the three positions of Registrar of United States Land for the State of Louisiana were consolidated and only one registrar was required. At that time, the office was moved to a more rural area of Louisiana. Cohen was offered the same job in a new location but he refused stating that he had lived in New Orleans for his entire life and had no plans to relocate. African American Business Leaders, 146.

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A. Myers, Louisiana's Walter Cohen and Benjamin Arnett (who spend substantial time in Ohio, but was not limited to that area). 191

Although McKinley was not ideal in terms of providing political opportunities for black men, he was relatively accommodating for his time.

George A. Myers knew and associated personally with McKinley for years before his ascendance to the presidency. Long after McKinley's death George Myers wrote, "I first met Major McKinley in the early 80's, when he was in Congress. He was always the same and a very lovable man…I got to see much of him and was one of the delegates to the Ohio State Convention that nominated him for

Governor of Ohio." In this way, Myers affirmed McKinley's willingness to personally accept members of the African American elite and to allow them their

Constitutional rights as fellow citizens without regard to race. Some members of the black elite enthusiastically supported McKinley's candidacy and his presidency. For them he was not simply a Republican candidate, but a man they knew well, a man of principles who was worthy of respect. 192

President McKinley was responsible for Walter Cohen’s appointment to the position of Customs Inspector for the port of New Orleans. Cohen was rewarded with this appointment for his substantial contributions to the McKinley presidential campaign. Following the assassination of President McKinley, race

191 Booker T. Washington to William McKinley, April 10, 1899 (regarding implementation of the census in the South); May 9, 1899 (request for patronage); October 24, 1899 (regarding a Negro exhibit at the Paris Exposition) for samples of the relationship between McKinley and Washington. BTW Papers. 192 George A. Myers to James Ford Rhodes, February 16, 1923, John A. Garrity, editor. The Barber and the Historian: The Correspondence of George A. Myers and James Ford Rhodes, 1910- 1923. (Columbus: Ohio Historical Society, 1956), 148-149.

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relations in America suffered a dramatic decline. Although southern black

Republicans tried to remain optimistic, the treatment they received during the subsequent presidencies of Theodore Roosevelt and Taft made President

McKinley appear generous in contrast. 193

Walter Cohen understood the significance of that shift after the inauguration of President Roosevelt. In 1902 Cohen demonstrated the importance of straddling the color line when he consulted with George A. Myers of Cleveland following the death of a New Orleans African American political appointee. Cohen was very concerned that the position previously held by an

African American might be given to a white man because of the changing political climate in his city. In an attempt to prevent such an occurrence, Cohen assessed possible candidates and laid the groundwork in preparation for another African

American appointee. In his letter to Myers (a member of Cleveland's African

American elite and confidant to Senator Mark Hanna) Cohen wrote: "I am actively engaged at present in getting up all the data to make a fight for a colored man without saying what colored man. In doing this I think I can hold the man and the brother together better . (my emphasis) Of course I will do nothing before consulting Senator Hanna and Gen. Dick." As a long-time member of New

Orleans' Republican Party, Cohen had the political connections to wield

193 Letters between Booker T. Washington and others show Washington's efforts to keep Cohen in power. Walter L. Cohen, June 4, 1909; Booker T. Washington to Charles Dyer Norton, July 30, 1910; Emmett Jay Scott, Memorandum, March 4, 1910, BTW Papers. For a discussion of President Theodore Roosevelt's deteriorating relationships with African Americans, see Darlene Clark Hine, William C. Hine and Stanley Harrold The African American Odyssey: A Concise History Combined Volume , (Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson, 2006), 392 for an account of the Brownsville Affair.

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enormous power, yet he was wise enough not to anger the most powerful

Republicans in the nation, who included Senators Dick and Hanna of Ohio. 194

Cohen realized that his ability to straddle the color line made him one of

the few men in New Orleans who had the ability to unite contentious black and

white Republicans, hence his comment "hold the man and the brother together."

Cohen understood that the tide was turning. The decision rendered in Plessy v..

Ferguson made that clear; however, he still hoped that with sufficient diplomacy

and negotiation, African Americans could continue the path to complete equality.

195

For men like James Lewis and Walter Cohen, political life and professional life were tightly entwined. This was true for many members of the black elite.

Time not spent on business or politics went to meetings and events sponsored by social clubs. In New Orleans, membership in organizations such as the

Société d’Economique and the Iroquois Literary and Social Club was highly prized. Although the names of the organizations suggest that they were financial or social, they were in fact organizations supported by “politically active men of the city’s social elite.” In an era before national sports and media superstars, politics was a national pastime. Cohen was “for many years president of the

194 Walter Cohen to George A. Myers, January 18, 1902 & September 14, 1902, GAM Papers. Mark Hanna was head of the political machine that secured the presidential election for President William McKinley. "General" Charles Dick was also a Republican He served as a member of Congress from Ohio and later replaced Mark Hanna in the U. S. Senate after Hanna's death. 195 Plessy v Ferguson was the Supreme Court decision rendered in 1896 that declared the legality of "separate but equal" condoning racial segregation in the United States.

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Iroquois” and his prominence there translated into political participation at the national level. He was also president of the Société d’Economique. 196

Members of specific social clubs used their membership as an indication of respectability. Men who joined these organizations did not simply mimic the behavior of whites; they were enjoying the company of like-minded individuals who had similar educations, similar interests and similar goals. No where in their conversations do they write that living in the correct home, or having the correct possessions or belonging to appropriate organizations will make them "more acceptable" to whites of a similar socio-economic status. People simply purchased the homes and furnishings they could afford. They formed clubs to associate with those who shared similar interests and values. In reality, it is obvious that elite blacks were far more like upper-middle class whites than they were like lower class people of either race. Black elites refused to accept categorization by white people based simply on skin color. They could not accept being placed into a group with people who shared no common attribute other than a racial heritage ascribed by the majority population. It is in terms of these issues where we see the difficulty that whites had trying to enforce the strict requirements of an inviolable color line. The “one drop” rule placed all blacks firmly into black society, but the complexity of race relations made the rules confusing and difficult to apply, especially in New Orleans. 197

196 Aristocrats of Color , 220; African American Business Leaders, 148. For more about African American social clubs see chapter 1, 24-28. 197 Aristocrats of Color, 220; Gender and Jim Crow, 14-15.

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It was apparent to many residents of the Crescent City that class was a far more powerful measure than race. Glenda Gilmore argued that in North Carolina,

"[w]hites tried to order the world to prevent African Americans from rising."

Whites in New Orleans found ways to legislate segregation on public conveyances but they could not undermine the class status of Creoles of color or the exclusive nature of their organizations. When we examine the context of social organizations, it becomes clear that elites straddled the color line in terms of their social life just as much as they did in their professional lives. Many were well-read, often in multiple languages; some traveled widely at home and abroad; they enjoyed and sometimes played classical music; they enjoyed the opera and theater; and many were capable of understanding the complexities of economics and investment. Clearly people who lived in such a manner would resent being categorized with unlettered men and women (regardless of race) who struggled to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table. Social clubs found in every

American city were a basis for networking; a means of generating new relationships and contact with others who might be relied upon as a means of negotiating one's place in a complicated world. 198

A. P. Tureaud, a French Creole who studied Law at Howard University in the early nineteen twenties, wrote: ”The Creoles of the 7 th Ward had a society

almost exclusively of their own…Back in those days [before World War I] there

wasn’t too much mingling between Creole Negroes and what we called the

198 Gender and Jim Crow, 15; Aristocrats of Color, 220; African American Business Leaders, 148.

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American blacks above Canal Street.” Historian Adam Fairclough uses Tureaud’s words to show solidarity between the Creoles, who were condemned by virtue of the one drop rule, with American blacks whose ancestors had been slaves.

Fairclough writes: “An awareness of their peculiar cultural identity did not prevent most Creoles of color from identifying with the plight of the larger black population.” Although Fairclough is correct in suggesting that New Orleans

Creoles sympathized with those called American Blacks, he is incorrect in suggesting that their “identifying” implied unity. Creoles saw themselves as unique and superior based on their French, Catholic heritage and on the three tiered society that was in place since colonial times. Those who identified with the Creoles, even if they were not French Creole by birth, firmly straddled the color line between blacks and whites. They did not see themselves at all in the same light as the American blacks who descended from slave society. 199

Some men like Walter Cohen, who were not born into the Creole population identified with that group. Cohen attended Catholic school, spoke

French, he worshipped at Corpus Christie Catholic Church, the largest Catholic

Church in the city, and he was a member of many social groups that the Creoles

199 A.P. Tureaud, quoted in Race and Democracy, 14-15. Fairclough continues by saying that the Creoles provided the leadership during Reconstruction and their descendents were among the opponents of segregation. That statement is factual, however, in the period before World War I, the starting point of Fairclough’s work, the Creoles of Color had more in sympathy and harmony with whites in New Orleans. As late as the early twentieth century, Creoles of color were associated with the gens de couleur libre. They enjoyed a higher social status in New Orleans than American blacks. Alexander Pierre Tureaud never used his first name (only his initials A.P.) because it forced whites to call him by his surname instead of the more familiar status of calling black men by their first names. In this manner he demanded a level of respect that was not offered to members of the general population.

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frequented. He was so much a part of the Creole community that he was repeatedly elected as an officer for many of the organizations to which he belonged. It was Walter Cohen, an American black, who was the most powerful man politically. It was Cohen who secured a patronage position for a member of the “more privileged” Creole group, A.P. Tureaud, as a clerk in the New Orleans

Customs House when Tureaud was unable to support himself as a lawyer in New

Orleans in the late 1920s. There is a certain irony here. If we look at photographs of both Walter Cohen and A.P. Tureaud, it is immediately obvious that both men have very fair complexions and both men could easily have made the choice to pass for white. Neither chose that option. Instead, each made a conscious decision to identify with his black heritage, and both endeavored to eradicate barriers across the color line for a lifetime. Perhaps what is most remarkable is that each man demanded and received respect from prominent whites. Each man put his personal stamp on politics. 200

Although men like Cohen and Tureaud chose the path of politics to assert their influence, others addressed their need for power in other professions. Some men chose a career in medicine as they “straddl[ed] the line between trade and profession.” In the late nineteenth century, most trades and professions could be learned through an apprenticeship and medicine was no exception. As with any

200 Walter Cohen spoke French, was Catholic and identified with the Creole population despite his mixed ancestry. The fact that his mother was emancipated in 1857 suggests that she was not Creole. For her to have been considered Creole she would have been a Francophone free woman of color when she entered into her relationship with a white man. Throughout New Orleans these men continue to be honored. Both men have public schools named after them, Cohen High School and Tureaud Elementary School.

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profession, the reason for the allure of a medical career varied from individual to individual. Some embarked on a career in medicine because they had a desire to serve or because of their interest in nature; others chose medicine because they hoped it would lead to financial gain and a stable future. Being a medical professional did not entitle African American men to respectability nor did it necessarily provide them opportunities to straddle the color line. 201

At the end of the nineteenth century medical schools begin to be established throughout the South. It was then that physicians began “rethinking education.” Part of that rethinking included the conclusion that the establishment of medical schools was a means of creating “a fraternity of physicians.” The concept of a fraternity implies a socially exclusive organization where membership is tightly controlled and offered only to those who conform to specific guidelines which are mutually agreed upon. Those who had or could obtain the funds enrolled in medical schools. As requirements for admission to medical school stiffened, and licensing became routine, the scarcity of doctors, especially those who were well qualified, allowed those with academic credentials access to an elevated position in the social hierarchy. 202

This elevated status existed without regard to race, but it does not mean that black doctors were considered the equal of white doctors in the

American South. In the South, race defined social position. As we saw in the

201 Steven M. Stowe, Doctoring the South: Southern Physicians and Everyday Medicine in the Mid-Nineteenth Century South. (Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press, 2004), 15. 202 Doctoring the South, 15.

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discussion of politicians in New Orleans, there were class distinctions that carried over into every aspect of southern life. Class status was far more pronounced and more important in the South than it was in the North. This is not meant to say that social classes did not exist in the North; of course they did. However, in the

South there was a much greater consciousness of that class status and how it defined an individual’s place in society.

Wealthy New Orleans Creole families, who were financially able to send their sons to the North or to Europe for an education placed the study of medicine high on the list of desirable professions; however, it was not only the children of the wealthy who sought a medical career. Individuals from humbler backgrounds were sometimes able to patch together the necessary funds to achieve their desired goals. 203

Three black colleges emerged in New Orleans during

Reconstruction; Leland, New Orleans University and Straight University. Initially

each functioned as a secondary training school, but over time as the need grew,

they became institutes of higher education. New Orleans University was

chartered in 1873 and the medical school there opened in 1886. Straight

University, was an interracial school “chartered by the Louisiana State

Legislature in 1869” and was named for Seymour Straight of Hudson, Ohio, who

donated the land for the school. In 1873, Louisiana State University in Baton

Rouge refused to admit students of color. For that reason, the state government

203 Todd L. Savitt, Race and Medicine in Nineteenth and Early-Twentieth Century America. (Kent, Ohio, Kent State University Press, 2007), 269-294.

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withdrew funding from that institution and funneled the money to Straight

University. Straight University, which remained integrated throughout

Reconstruction, had a law school and a medical school on its campus. As a result, “from 1870-1877 Straight …had one of the strongest medical” schools in

Louisiana. 204

Although over two hundred thousand people lived in New Orleans, very few black doctors practiced in the city. In 1890, there were only 18 black doctors in the city leaving each one to serve more than three thousand five hundred black residents. By 1920, the number of black physicians living in the city had not quite doubled to thirty physicians, but those doctors were serving a marginally smaller black population. The rise in the number of black physicians meant that there was greater access to medical care for people who chose doctors representative of their race. There were also more black physicians because there was medical training available in the city. During the first decades of the twentieth century applicants to medical schools were not required to complete a college degree before enrolling in medical school, although a significant number did. In the 1930s Carter G. Woodson published a study showing that in 1911:

“44.1 percent of 1,051 in his sample had college degrees; 25.8 percent had some college training; while 20 percent had no college instruction at all.” Whereas once a college education had been the mark of a gentleman (with all the connotations

204 Black New Orleans, 125-6. Straight University began with a land grant from Seymour Straight, a white man who was a produce merchant in New Orleans. Straight began as a normal school funded by the Freedmen's Bureau. In 1870, the American Missionary Association assumed financial and administrative control.

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that word implies), increasingly that preliminary education was gaining importance for acceptance into skilled professions.205

In addition to the respect an individual garnered from the completion of years of professional study, there were other reasons why the medical profession attracted ambitious individuals. Some African American men truly desired to be of service to their communities; others believed medicine was one of the few lucrative careers available to blacks. Serving as a physician, an individual was self- employed. It was not necessary to appeal to a white person for employment or patronage. One’s professional and financial success could be determined solely by the individual's skill and his ability to find paying patients. 206

When an African American man climbed the ladder of success and

respectability, he did not climb it alone. The status of the entire family was

elevated by the social and financial success of one family member. When a man

became a physician, he had the potential to move to a higher social class. In

many cases, if he rose to a position of prominence in the community his parents

were elevated along with him, both socially and financially. The benefit did not

stop there, however; future generations were also promised greater opportunities

for continued success. It is important to note that the potential for opportunity was

available, not guaranteed. For members of the black elite, the ability to negotiate

205 Doctoring the South , p. 15; Carter G. Woodson, The Negro Professional Man and the Community, with Special Emphasis on the Physician and the Lawyer (1934; reprint, New York: Negro University Press, 1969), 83-86 quoted in Thomas J. Ward Jr., Black Physicians in the Jim Crow South (Fayetteville; University of Arkansas Press, 2003), xxiv; Race and Medicine, p. 349; 351. 206 Race and Medicine , 269-271; Doctoring the South, 84-87.

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the color line was not an inherited skill. It was something that had to be learned and nurtured. Most men who were able to straddle the color line did so because of ambition and seized opportunity rather than a gift of privilege. Ambitious men did not always limit their realm of interests. They often looked for other avenues striving for wealth and success. 207

Some who had the intellectual capacity to succeed in the field of medicine also prospered in other professions. “In the South, before and after the Civil War, the [stereotypical ] idea of manly success was to master a flourishing plantation,

[which was] the traditional seat of a man’s economic power, political influence and social esteem.” Any other profession was secondary and that included the practice of medicine. 208

If a man did not inherit a plantation, he could still aspire to ownership of one. In post-Reconstruction New Orleans, Rivers Frederick served as an excellent example of the success ambitious African American men could aspire to achieve. Born into a Creole sharecropping family in 1874, Frederick began his education in New Orleans and graduated from Straight University in 1894. Next, he studied for three years at the New Orleans Medical College. Desiring still further education, Frederick moved to Chicago to study at the prestigious College of Physicians and Surgeons. His decision was made in part because of the nature of the program at Physicians and Surgeons, but also because in Chicago

Frederick could obtain the hands-on hospital training experience ( what we refer

207 Race and Medicine , 269- 294. 208 Doctoring the South, 15.

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to today as internship and residency) denied to members of his race in the

South. 209

Although many physicians both black and white were poorly trained

at the end of the nineteenth century, Frederick defied the odds. Not only did he

obtain his medical degree but he also completed advanced “training in medicine,

surgery, obstetrics, gynecology, diseases of the chest, eye and ear, nose and

throat, diseases of children, genito-urinary diseases and neurology.” In 1897,

Frederick the sharecropper’s son was the first African American to graduate from

Chicago’s famed College of Physicians and Surgeons.210

Although Frederick was able to take advantage of superior

educational opportunities available in the North, it should not be assumed there

was no racism in Chicago. In 1897 when Frederick was there, the floodgates of

systemic racism had not yet opened. It would be more than a decade before the

Great Migration would bring waves of black workers north seeking refuge and

employment in the industrial centers of America. In 1897 the sting of racism was

not yet as severe in the North as it was in the South. 211

After completing his medical studies Rivers Frederick returned to

Louisiana and settled in the rural town of Point Coupee. In that rural, isolated

209 Biographical Notes, Rivers Frederick Papers, Amistad Research Center. The College of Physicians and Surgeons is now The University of Illinois College of Medicine. The College of Physicians and Surgeons was begun in 1881 and relied solely upon clinical training until 1891 when the study of basic sciences was incorporated into the program. http://www.uic.edu/depts/mcam/history.shtml accessed March 28, 2008. 210 Biographical Notes, Rivers Frederick Papers, Amistad Research Center. 211 The Great Migration was the mass exodus of millions of black workers from the rural South to the urban North in search of employment in manufacturing centers between 1910 and 1930. Biographical Notes, Rivers Frederick Papers, Amistad Research Center.

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region, his patients included black and white residents. When he was twenty-six years old, Rivers Frederick chose to marry a poor white woman, a woman of a social class below that which he would eventually attain through profession and wealth. He also purchased a two hundred acre plantation. He was accepted as a medical practitioner in this rural enclave without question until his marriage; however, that breach of racial etiquette was apparently too much for the majority white community to bear. The ostracism displayed in Point Coupee was extreme;

Frederick closed his practice and moved to Central America for several years.

When he returned to the United States in 1901, he established a medical practice in New Orleans. Living in the French Quarter amidst the mixed race Creole population, his race and the race of his wife seemed immaterial. Several questions can be asked here. Did Frederick choose to marry a white woman in order to whiten his family line? Perhaps he did. Did he believe he would be seen as a white man in the eyes of the community if his wife was also white? He was white enough to pass for white but did not choose to hide his race. For that reason alone, his marriage to a white woman as a vehicle to enter white society seems improbable. Did Frederick believe that a white wife would enhance him socially? The fact that he married a white woman of the lower class precludes that possibility. A woman of a lower social class was more of a limitation in the

Creole community than it was an asset. Did his relative youth, and perhaps love, cause him to disregard the issue of race when he married? Perhaps only he knew the answer to that question. There is reason enough to ponder such

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questions with regard to Rivers Frederick because of the complexity of race and social relations in New Orleans. The issue of race underscored nearly all relationships in New Orleans in the years that followed the Plessy decision of

1896. 212

The ideas of whitening his family line are not too farfetched. When we examine the United States Federal Census for the year 1920, Frederick and all members of his family, including his children are listed as being white. Clearly the census taker either did not feel a need to ask the race of the family and Frederick did not volunteer that he was in fact black. Frederick’s appearance probably influenced his prominence in New Orleans and made it easier for him to straddle the color line. 213

From 1901 until 1907, Frederick served as the chief surgeon at Flint

Medical College where he taught and practiced medicine. Later he practiced at the Sarah Goodridge Hospital also in New Orleans. In addition to his hospital duties, he was also employed by the Southern Pacific Railroad as their surgeon from 1913-1932. Certainly, as a physician for the Southern Pacific Railroad

Rivers Frederick would have had to straddle the color line. Even if we assume that Frederick was assigned to treat black patients, and there is no indication that such segregation by the railroad was the case, he would have had to work in

212 Nida Vital, "Dr. Rivers Frederick and the History of Black Medicine in New Orleans" (M.A. Thesis: University of New Orleans, 1978), 83. 213 U.S. Federal Census, 1920. There is no evidence that Frederick made any attempt to hide his race, but he also apparently did not feel a need to correct the people who were mistaken. In the case of Frederick, it could be argued both ways that race did or did not make a difference depending on the circumstance.

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conjunction with whites who managed the railroad and bureaucrats who kept railroad records. Over a period of more than twenty years, Frederick would have had ample time to develop significant professional relationships with individuals across the color line through his work at the railroad. 214

Frederick continued to practice medicine until just before his death in

1954. He was reputed to have been one of the best surgeons in New Orleans and throughout his life treated both black and white patients. His skill as a renowned surgeon allowed him to rise above his humble beginnings. His expertise meant that patients and other physicians would bend racial protocol if conditions warranted that necessity. His career spanned the implementation of

Jim Crow in the Deep South and he lived almost long enough to witness the beginning of its demise. This implies that Jim Crow was a tool; one that could be used or disregarded at will. It was a tool that was instigated by whites to maintain power over the people they believed were destined to be slaves. When slavery was abolished, segregation was reintroduced by virtue of a caste system. The caste system in the American South served a purpose, but people with power, black and white, had the ability to bypass that system when it suited the needs of those who were involved. Men like Frederick straddled the color line because it was in the best interests of many people for him to do so. It might be argued that it was paternalism that allowed the line to be crossed, but that would be incorrect.

The line was not a rigid barrier. It could be crossed or ignored by people who had

214 Biographical Notes, Rivers Frederick Papers, Amistad Research Center.

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the power and prestige to do so. The status of elites, regardless of race in the community, meant that elites made the rules; they lived above the protocol. They could dictate to others in the community how to behave in any given circumstance but they could behave as they chose. 215

In 1920 Rivers Frederick co-founded the Louisiana Industrial Life

Insurance Company and served as one of four African American physicians on the board of directors. By 1930, it was the “second-largest black-owned insurance company in Louisiana.” Clearly Frederick was not an “average” man.

He was intelligent, hard working, ambitious and industrious. Frederick epitomized what it meant to live with one foot in each world. His education and the wide variety of his business and social contacts placed him firmly amidst the African

American elite. In the segregated South during the early twentieth century

Frederick was likely not welcomed socially into white society. Even though he was not welcomed socially, his medical expertise and business acumen made him a force that white New Orleanians could not ignore. Frederick served both blacks and whites in the medical community. 216

Frederick was one of the earliest and most prominent members of the

NAACP in New Orleans. Prior to and during World War I, the focus of the

215 Sharlene Sinegal DeCuir, "Attacking Jim Crow: Black Activism in New Orleans 1925-1941", (Ph.D. Dissertation, Louisiana State University, 2009), 82. 216 "Attacking Jim Crow" 77; Thomas J. Ward, Jr. Black Physicians in the Jim Crow South (Fayetteville, University of Arkansas Press, 2003), 229; Aristocrats of Color, 48; African American Business Leaders, 177; Merah Steven Stuart, An Economic Detour: A History of Insurance in the Lives of American Negroes (N.Y.: Wendell Malliet and Co., 1940), 143-44. From 1932 -1950, Frederick served as chief of surgery at Flint-Goodridge Hospital at Dillard University and was the only African American Chief of Surgery who had white physicians serving under him.

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NAACP in New Orleans was on promoting patriotism and providing a good moral compass for local residents. It was a gathering place for members of the black elite; in fact, that was one of the chief complaints about the organization by average people. The initial purpose of the New Orleans chapter did not involve the dismantling of Jim Crow; rather its purpose was to provide moral and financial support for the soldiers and their families who were engaged in the war effort. 217

Although Rivers Frederick was a founding member of the New Orleans chapter of the NAACP, he personally did not use the organization as a tool to advance his own racial progress. As a member of the elite, he had what he needed and although he sincerely desired racial equality, he was not willing to use his political capital to force change in society. Like many southern whites as well as some prominent blacks, Frederick believed that full citizenship was a privilege. He participated in NAACP voter registration drives and taught the skills necessary for people to gain access to the polls. This was a unifying theme among many members of the elite. They were uncomfortable with unlettered people wielding political influence. New Orleans' Rivers Frederick and

Cleveland's George A. Myers believed that they had a responsibility as members of "the Talented Tenth" to school and guide less privileged members of their race, but they did not see the common masses as their social equals. 218

217 "Attacking Jim Crow," 125-126 218 "Attacking Jim Crow," 125- 130. Ticket to Ride, 10.

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Like many businessmen and members of the elite of both races, Rivers

Frederick was politically conservative. He was a Republican not only in affiliation but in principle. He was anti-union and worked tirelessly to prevent the unionization of insurance agents in the late 1930s and early 1940s. As an insurance company founder and owner, he firmly believed that businesses should be allowed to regulate their employees as they saw fit. His politics mirrored those of affluent white businessmen and transcended racial interests.

Politically the common denominator for members of the black elite was class interest. Men like Rivers Frederick identified across the color line with whites of similar interests and class status because as businessmen they faced the same challenges. Where business was concerned, they worked together across racial lines to achieve their common purposes. 219

By the late 1940s Frederick was an old man and was confident in the

support he sustained on both sides of the color line. At that time he joined with

liberal whites and communist sympathizers in support of three black men who

were accused of rape. Although they were unable to secure the release of the

accused, Frederick did not fear championing their cause. At that stage in his life

he was able to publicly contest the legalized lynching of black suspects in a

brutal case. Although we will never know how he might have behaved when he

was younger and a less secure man striving to secure his place in society, it is

clear that at the end of his life he no longer feared the condemnation of society.

219 "Dr. Rivers Frederick," 83.

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When his financial and social position were firmly entrenched in New Orleans society, championing race issues was less of a risk than it had been in his youth.

220

Dr. Joseph Hardin, another New Orleans physician and businessman was politically active and also a contemporary of Rivers Frederick. In addition to his medical practice, Hardin invested in real estate and began another industrial insurance business. Hardin too became interested in Republican Party politics and began working with Walter Cohen as early as 1895, nearly a decade before graduating from Flint-Goodridge Medical School in New Orleans. Although

Hardin was politically active at the local level, his name does not appear in the correspondence among those politically prominent at the national level. He did not correspond with Booker T. Washington with regard to national politics and political appointments. He was not involved with politicians at the highest levels in securing political patronage positions for himself or his associates. This is particularly significant because it is an indication that for Hardin, politics was a local issue and perhaps partially a social endeavor. For many people the desire to become politically active meant being associated socially with the right people and engaging in the right activities, much like belonging to the right fraternity.

Hardin co-founded his ward’s political club and, like many other professional men, served in leadership positions in a wide variety of community organizations.

220 Race and Democracy, 52-53;120-121. By the 1940s, the spread of Communism was a real fear among successful businessmen in America. Their economic success depended on capitalism. Communism was never a serious threat to American businesses, but the spread of that system in the world would shift economic practices. Men who opposed communism were more than willing to cooperate to insure its downfall.

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It appears that for Hardin, political participation meant publicity. It was a means of social exposure and positive name recognition within the community. Although

Hardin enjoyed politics, his participation may have been to some extent a necessary obligation that went along with membership in the “Talented Tenth.”

Historian Thomas Ward stated that “Hardin’s first love was politics,” but Hardin likely tempered that love with practicality. He did not choose it as his primary career because of the tenuous nature of political life for a black man. He participated in politics in much the same way other prominent individuals participated in Masonic Clubs or other social organizations. 221

Recognizing the tug that some ambitious physicians might feel toward becoming involved in the realm of politics, Oliver Wendell Holmes counseled, “I warn you against all ambitious aspirations outside your profession. Medicine is the most difficult of sciences and the most laborious of arts. It will task all your powers of body and mind if you are faithful to it. Do not dabble in the muddy sewers of politics…” But for several New Orleans doctors, including Rivers

Frederick, Joseph Hardin and George Lucas that temptation proved too great.

Their desires to right the wrongs in society were noble and they believed their ascendancy to the talented tenth demanded they serve their race in any way they

221 Black Physicians, 267-8; "Attacking Jim Crow ," 83. An extensive search of the Joseph Hardin papers and the Booker T. Washington Papers shows no personal communication between the two men, nor are they referenced in each other's papers. Because Hardin worked closely with Cohen as early as 1895, it is likely that Hardin and Washington would have met as Washington traveled the country. It is telling that no person communication between the two exists. This would be further proof that for Hardin, the majority of his political participation was at a local level and not national in focus during the years of this study. Hardin served as a delegate to the Republican National Convention from 1924 into the 1950s. Today there is a public school in New Orleans named after Joseph Hardin in recognition of his importance to the city.

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were able. Their associations across the color line in the medical field as well as the larger business community gave them access to powerful whites which allowed them opportunities that many other black men did not share. It was incumbent on them to develop viable networks across the color line, to serve in any way they were able and to serve prudently while maintaining their status as an elite.222

It is always important to remember that political participation during the post-Reconstruction era was one measure of status in the community, for whites as well as blacks. Although some physicians may have been political for social reasons, the importance of their participation should not be misconstrued. That any man of color would continue to participate in politics in New Orleans in the post-Reconstruction era was a sign of sacrifice and bravery. Even though the Ku

Klux Klan and other white supremacy groups were outlawed by federal law in

1871, the racist sentiments and the resultant actions that caused the creation of those organizations continued to flourish. White people who wished to find ways to hamper black activism continued their mission despite the laws. Most elite blacks had a measure of immunity in New Orleans because of their high profile status and because of the inherent tolerance that existed in that city. Even in

New Orleans, African American elites were not totally exempt from targeted acts

222 Oliver Wendell Holmes quoted in Eugene Perry Link, The Social Ideas of American Physicians 1776-1976: Studies of the Humanitarian Tradition. (Selinsgrove: Susquehanna University Press, 1992), 39.

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of violence if their activism appeared too extreme to those determined to control it. 223

Behavioral restraint so evident among members of the social elite was one reason for the lack of conflict between black and white elites. That restraint was apparent in the manner in which they framed their conversations and their actions across the color line. Ward suggests that their behavior was a conscious attempt to create a non-threatening environment in which to accomplish as much good as possible. “Always the diplomat, Dr. Hardin underscored his point to the white leaders that blacks did not want to force themselves into [homes in the] white sections of the city such as [the exclusive] Audubon Park, but that they did want to move out of districts unpaved and unimproved and enjoy facilities the same as any other people.” Members of the black elite did not live in highly exclusive areas such as Audubon Park, the area to which Hardin referred. Most lived within the French Quarter which had long housed the francophone Creoles.

There were many streets in that neighborhood that showcased spacious homes with exquisite decor. Members of the black elite were welcomed in the neighborhoods where Creoles and free people of color had lived for generations.

Conversely, there were many other areas in and around New Orleans that had extremely poor living conditions and it was in those areas, where raw sewage

223 Steven Hahn, A Nation Under Our Feet: Black Political Struggles in the Rural South from Slavery to the Great Migration. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2003), 286. Hahn argues that the KKK operated with little resistance against their actions throughout the South, with the exception of the city of New Orleans. Here is another example of how different the racial climate was in that city. African Americans were not perfectly safe in New Orleans despite the prevailing conditions in that city. The race riot that occurred in New Orleans in 1866 was evidence of what was possible.

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flowed in the streets and sanitation was scarce, that Hardin referred to. Like other members of the elite, as well as members of the clergy and the medical community, they fought for improved living conditions which would benefit all residents of the city, not just the impoverished who were forced into the wretched neighborhoods. 224

It is also important to remember when we are speaking of New Orleans, that many people who were labeled black there had skin as white as those who claimed to be white New Orleanians. African Americans with very fair skin were considered black because of family heritage, but many would easily have melted into white society in any other city in the nation. This is one reason why discussions of the color line in New Orleans are so fraught with peril. Particularly among members of the medical community, some people were considered black only by family heritage, not because of skin color.

Dr. George Lucas was also a prominent African American physician living in New Orleans. During the third decade of the twentieth century (years beyond the scope of this dissertation), Dr. Lucas revived the New Orleans chapter of the

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People which had become dormant. Lucas was the only other black physician to play a dominant role across the color line during the period covered by this study. That there were so few black physicians who were able to interact across the color line provides some evidence of how rare an occurrence it was. What is interesting about Lucas is

224 Black Physicians in the Age of Jim Crow," 283.

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that he does not fit into the category of light-skinned black men who straddled the color line. By every description, George Lucas was a dark-complexioned

American black (meaning he was not of the French-speaking Creole) tradition. 225

As previously mentioned, Lucas served as a president of the NAACP

when the organization reorganized in 1924. The fact that the NAACP was revived

and reorganized provides evidence that men of influence in New Orleans began

to respond to the pressures of racism during the inter-war years. Lucas began to

take the organization in a more active direction. His efforts were supported

financially and also received organizational support from wealthy elites such as

Walter Cohen, Rivers Frederick and Joseph Hardin. What is interesting is that

the trend we see in New Orleans during the inter-war years is one that also

begins to emerge in both Cleveland and Charleston. It is the beginning of the era

of the New Negro. The power and prestige of the light skinned elites who were

born into families free before the Civil War began to give way to the darker-

complexioned, self-made men. Of course, this is a generalization. Both Joseph

Hardin and Rivers Frederick were self-made men. They did not come from old

elite families, but they did have light skin and university educations which allowed

them to more easily penetrate New Orleans' prestigious upper class. 226

225 "Attacking Jim Crow ," 126. Dr. Lucas was a close personal friend and associate of Walter Cohen. Cohen founded the People's Life Insurance Company (as was mentioned in the previous section). Lucas served as the Medical Director and a member of the board of directors for People's Life. "Attacking Jim Crow ," 68. 226 "Attacking Jim Crow ," 126 . Black Physicians in the Jim Crow South, p. 283. The New Orleans branch of the NAACP was likely all black. Certainly, it was organized by the important black men of the city. Rivers Frederick was heavily involved in the NAACP in the years after the scope of this dissertation. He did not hold office, nor did he participate publicly; instead he donated funds and

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The patterns of power that appeared so well defined among politicians and physicians were far less apparent among members of the clergy, particularly in New Orleans. There two separate societies, the English Protestant and the

French Catholic, developed side by side. Among the Protestant, the Baptist and

African Methodist Episcopal churches enjoyed the largest success. Although many Protestants lived in New Orleans, historian Louis Harlan estimates that in the years following the Civil War, nearly half of all the residents of the city were

Catholic. Joy Jackson suggests that by 1890, more than two-thirds of all people who attended church in New Orleans attended the Catholic Church. Catholic religious leaders as well as leaders of other faiths, sought to exert their sizable influence in the African American community. Some members of the clergy were imbued with a single-minded spirit of benevolence and religious piety while others were acutely aware that their position as church leaders enabled them to wield substantial secular influence over their parishioners. Regardless of their intentions or their race, these men of God clearly occupied a unique position within the community at large. Some were willing and eager to straddle the color line and others were willing to maintain the sanctity of that line. 227

worked behind the scenes in an organizational sense. It could be speculated that he did not want to jeopardize his ability to straddle the color line, or perhaps his medical affairs were so demanding that he did not want to be obligated on a day to day basis. 227 Louis R. Harlan, “New Orleans’ Schools During Reconstruction,” in Donald G. Neiman, ed., African Americans and the Emergence of Segregation, 1865-1900. (N.Y.: Garland Publishing, 1994.), 166. In 1860, there were nearly 25,000 blacks living in New Orleans and almost 11,000 of those were free people of color. The vast majority of the Free People of Color were Creoles and therefore Catholic. Douglas Slawson, “Segregated Catholicism: The Origins of St. Katherine’s Parish, New Orleans,” Vintage Heritage Journal, Volume 17, Issue 3, October 1996, 144. Joy J. Jackson, New Orleans in the Gilded Age: Politics and Urban Progress 1880-1896. (Baton Rouge, Louisiana State University Press, 1969), 25. The churches mentioned above had the largest

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In New Orleans, because the majority of elite blacks were of Creole descent, the Roman Catholic Church had the most influence on both the religious and secular aspects of their society. It was within the Catholic Church that the greatest interaction across the color line occurred. The racial attitudes of specific white Catholic priests did not necessarily reflect the attitudes of Americans in general or New Orleans in particular, because many of the priests brought the ideology of their foreign homelands into New Orleans society. Catholic priests from all over the world were sent by regional bishops to minister in New Orleans; many were not native residents of the city. The attitudes of some priests mirrored those of white American men; others brought attitudes that were sometimes at odds with the norms of southern society. Some priests served their parishes without regard to racial differences while others believed it imperative to maintain strict segregation of the races. The simplest form of racism was white against black; however, social class and wealth also factored into the equation. It is the consideration of these variables that adds to the complexity of the study of

Catholics in New Orleans.228

memberships in New Orleans; however, Congregational, Episcopal, Presbyterian and Lutheran churches also maintained a presence in the city. See: Dorothy Rose Eagleson, “Some Aspects of the Social Life of the New Orleans Negro in the 1880s.” (M.A. Thesis, Tulane University, 1961) Baptist churches were entirely independent. There was no overarching organizational structure. They did not belong to a parent organization that standardized their doctrine, structure or clerical hierarchy. Methodist churches were organized through the Methodist Episcopal Church, the African Methodist Episcopal Church or the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church. These facilitated a general unity among congregations that belonged to one of the organizations. 228 New Orleans Tribune, May 10, 20, 29, 1875 cited in Stephen J. Ochs, A Black Patriot and a White Priest: Andre Cailloux and Claude Paschal Maistre in Civil War New Orleans. (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2000), p. 262.

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In the North, Catholic parishes lacked racial diversity during the latter decades of the nineteenth century. In the North the primary forms of diversity were ethnicity and class. As a result, Catholic bishops and archbishops in northern cities were not especially concerned with either the collective temporal or spiritual plights of African Americans as a group because proportionately the black Catholic population was very small. In contrast, in some southern cities

Catholic priests were forced to take the situation more seriously. Although nationally the number of African American Catholics in America was relatively small, the city of New Orleans boasted a large black Catholic population. There are a number of reasons why New Orleans had a large Catholic population. The major reason for the large Catholic influence in the city of New Orleans was the initial French and Spanish colonization of the region. Both nations were predominantly Catholic and settlers brought their religious traditions with them to the new world. 229

Another reason for the disproportionately large number of number of black

Catholics in New Orleans was the commonly condoned pl ac ̜ age system that had

long endured in the region. Many white men of Catholic Creole ancestry fathered

children with their white wives in traditional marriages. They also established

relationships with quadroon or octoroon mistresses (or common-law wives) in

long-term extra-marital arrangements. The children of such relationships

229 In 1897, there were approximately 8,000 black Catholics in the city of New Orleans. That was the largest number in any American city. New Orleans Morning Star, October 23, 1897. The importance of race in the Catholic Church in a northern city will be presented in the chapter on Cleveland, Ohio.

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intermarried and formed the basis of a large, sometimes wealthy, black Creole population that co-existed in a society parallel to the larger white community.

Because the black Creole society was parallel, it mirrored white society and over time, these free people of color created a self-sustaining community that was

“probably unequaled in any other part of the South.” As a result, “[t]he whole behavior of the Negro toward the whites [in the churches]…was singularly free of that deference and circumspection that might have been expected in a slave community.” That lack of deference by elite, free, black Creoles towards whites existed in all aspects of their lives; in the public sphere as well as the private. The nature of these relationships was integral in creating an environment that allowed members of the black elite the confidence to straddle the color line in New

Orleans. 230

As early as 1866, Roman Catholic Archbishop Martin Spaulding petitioned church leaders in Rome to seriously consider their black brethren in America. At the Second Plenary Council, held in Baltimore, Maryland, during that year,

230 John Blassingame clearly illustrates the nature of the placage system in his seminal work Black New Orleans. Blassingame defines this union as a type of common law marriage, “an institutional arrangement for miscegenation” between white men and black women. Such occurrences were not causal encounters. Many were long-term relationships where white men courted and contracted with black women. In return, the woman could expect financial support for herself and any offspring that might result from the relationship. Relationships formed under the placage system existed during slavery and many relationships continued after emancipation. (John W. Blassingame, Black New Orleans 1860-1880. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, n.d.), 17-19. Misch states that during the post-Civil War period, sixty to seventy percent of African American Catholics were located in just two Archdioceses- Baltimore and New Orleans. Edward J. Misch, “The Catholic Church and the Negro 1865-1884." Integrated Education Associates, School of Education, Northwest University, 1973 (November -December 1974), 36-40. In 1897, the Morning Star, ( a newspaper published by the Catholic Church in New Orleans, 1868-1930) reported that there were 8,000 African American Catholics in New Orleans. Harlan, “New Orleans Schools,” p. 166 quoted from Joseph G. Tregle, “Early New Orleans Society: A Reappraisal “ in Journal of Southern History , (February 1952), 33-34.

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Spaulding proposed that the Church appoint black administrators who were ordained priests to act as liaisons between black parishioners and members of the white priesthood. As one might expect, this petition evoked strong reactions on both sides of the Atlantic. After much debate, the use of black administrators was rejected by the Plenary Council because church leaders in Rome feared conflict over clerical jurisdiction. Although the Catholic Church in America was more than willing to accept black parishioners, some of the local churches were not yet liberal enough to accept African American priests who could potentially have religious authority over white church members. White southerners believed it would be unseemly for a black priest to engage in close personal relationships with white parishioners and, according to church practices, there was no way to prevent black clergymen from carrying out their clerical duties whenever and wherever circumstances dictated. At that time, it was common practice within the

American Catholic Church for local bishops to devise appropriate solutions to the problems within their jurisdictions; however, clerical authorities in Rome were unwilling to risk alienation of white parishioners in America. In this highly stratified multicultural environment, foreign-born priests newly assigned to the region needed a roadmap to avoid society’s cultural pitfalls. 231

231 Edward J. Misch, “The Catholic Church and the Negro, 1865-1884.” ( Integrateducation, Evanston, Ill.: Integrated Education Associates, School of Education, Northwestern University, 1973. November-December 1974), 37. When a black priest was hearing confession and if the parishioner confessing was white, this was one example of the type of relationships that southerners feared. Also, black priests who might be called upon to counsel white parishioners was another area of concern. Black priests as priests in a parish would have authority over white women who were nuns in the parish. This was another example of impropriety that might take place if ordained black men were in local parishes.

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The official policy within the Catholic Church was for parishioners to attend mass in the parish where their residence was located. The chancellor of the

Archdiocese of Louisiana made this crystal clear when he reaffirmed the official position of the Church stating: “Distinct and separate churches are not advisable; experience has taught that the colored people prefer to come to mass and to the sacraments with their white brethren as its done now in all the churches where the French language is spoken.” 232

This official statement of the Church mirrored what all native New

Orleanians had long understood. Although wealthy Creoles of color were not at the pinnacle of society in New Orleans, they certainly enjoyed the privilege and prestige of being just barely below (and perhaps just barely off to one side) in the social hierarchy of the city. They had the education, money, culture and social skills to travel widely. They ate the best foods; wore fine clothing; attended the symphony and the opera; and they attended church with like minded white

Francophone Creoles who were their neighbors and sometimes their close relatives. It was not difficult for black New Orleanians to straddle the color line in church and most white people who attended their neighborhood churches had always worshipped under such conditions. Sharing a facility was and had always been socially acceptable. Wealthy blacks could, and did, purchase pews in their

232 L.A. Chasse, chancellor of the Archdiocese of Louisiana to the Secretary of the Commission for Catholic Missions among the colored people and the Indians, June 19,1888) quoted in Dolores Egger Labbe, Jim Crow Comes to Church : The Establishment of Segregated Catholic Parishes in South Louisiana, (New York; Arno Press, 1971, second edition, 1978), 19. Neighborhoods were not segregated in New Orleans in the Reconstruction and post-Reconstruction eras. Particularly in the French Quarter, both American blacks and Francophone Creoles lived side by side on many streets.

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home parish. They contributed liberally to the financial resources of the parish and they expected to be treated in a manner that reflected their status. 233

Within the confines of most Catholic churches there was virtually no overt

racism until well into the twentieth century. At the celebration of mass, blacks and

whites worshipped side by side where black aristocrats were afforded the respect

their elite status had earned. For some this token recognition may have been

reason enough for them to maintain their loyalty to a local parish. Influential black

Catholics, like Aristide Mary, owned family pews in their local parishes and

contributed large sums of money to the financial well-being of the church.

Members of the clergy at the parish level were wise enough to realize that if men

such as Mary were removed from the rolls of the integrated parishes, a

significant source of wealth would also be removed from their churches. Clearly

the emerging idea of racial segregation within individual parishes during the

Gilded Age posed a financial as well as a racial dilemma for the Catholic priests

of New Orleans. 234

As overt acts of racism slowly emerged within the Catholic Church in New

Orleans, people white and black jockeyed for social position within the church and attempted to rebuild a society devastated by secession, war, and reconstruction. The social and cultural hierarchy in local parishes, once determined by wealth, ownership of land and of slaves, no longer existed. Those

233 Black New Orleans, 16. 234 Aristide Mary, an influential member of the black Creole society “inherited an entire city block on Canal Street from his white father.” He lived frugally amassed an enormous fortune; larger than many whites in the city. Such wealth equaled power in post-Reconstruction New Orleans. Black New Orleans, 11, 16.

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who once graced the pinnacles of black Creole society had to find new ways to claim their role as leaders of the newly evolving society. White southerners believed the only logical solution was to differentiate people by race. As a result, black Creoles who had once enjoyed their elite status as free people of color in a three caste system began to be forced into uneasy alliances with members of the lower classes who had once been their property. Others maintained a self- imposed segregation based on class because they were unwilling to be forced into artificial race groupings. 235

Many wealthy, influential “black Creole activists, [formerly called Free

People of Color] such as C.C. Antoine, Rudolphe Desdunes, Arthur Esteves,

Paul Trevigne, Thomy Lafon, Louis Martinet, Aristide Mary, [and] Homer

Plessy…refused to go quietly into that evil night of Jim Crow.” Not only did they

refuse to accept a subordinate place in the general society, they also refused to

accept a segregated status in their local parishes. As the relative racial freedom

of the Reconstruction Era in the South was replaced by the ever tightening grip of

Jim Crow, such men made their demands known as they refused to be relegated

to second class status within their churches. The success of their protests affirms

the notion that elite African Americans were able to wield substantial power in the

community at large and most continued to straddle the color line throughout their

lifetimes. It is possible that the influence these men exerted in the church was not

solely based on their status in the community or as a result of their family

235 For a discussion on race relations in post-Civil War New Orleans see:, Black New Orleans, 173- 210.

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legacies. Instead, they may have been able to influence the religious hierarchy because of the significant monetary donations they made to the Catholic Church and its programs. 236

Thomy Lafon, a well-educated, and devout Catholic reputedly had a net

worth of nearly a half-million dollars at his death in 1893. Born in poverty during

the antebellum era, Lafon became a wealthy man in his later years. Lafon never

married and lived frugally. He ran a dry goods store but is also have reputed to

have loaned money to whites and blacks receiving substantial interest payments

for his efforts. During his lifetime and upon his death, Lafon donated generously

to many worthy charities and individuals regardless of race or religion. He and

other wealthy Catholic members of the gens de couleur libre owned church pews in New Orleans' Catholic churches. The hierarchy of the Catholic Church in New

Orleans was likely unwilling to anger elite African American congregation members due to its fears of financial reprisals. Influential lay leaders of the congregations may also have been willing to sidestep some of their own negative racial feelings in order to assure the financial security of their church. 237

236 Stephen J. Ochs, Desegregating the Altar: The Josephites and the Struggle for Black Priests 1871-1960, (Baton Rouge, Louisiana State university Press, 1990) , 264. 237 Thomy Lafon was born to African American parents in 1810. Having fair skin and white hair, Lafon could easily have passed for white and blended into the larger society, but he chose to live his life as part of the black Creole community. Lafon was educated in Paris and became equally fluent in English, French and Spanish. After his return to America, he perfected his entrepreneurial skills which enabled him to acquire numerous properties in and around New Orleans. His business acumen, generosity and social graces enabled him to easily straddle the color line in New Orleans. John Blassingame states that half of the pews at St. Augustine's Catholic Church in New Orleans were owned by wealthy blacks. Harriett T. Kane, Queen New Orleans: City by the River. ( N.P., Wm. Morrow & Company; 1949), 197. Rayford W. Logan and Michael R. Winston, editors. Dictionary of American Negro Biography. (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1982), 379-380. Blassingame, Black New Orleans, 16. David Rankin,

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In 1874, after observing a mass in an unnamed New Orleans Catholic

Church, a Methodist minister, the Reverend Hartzell, commented: “In her most aristocratic churches in this city, lips of every shade, by hundreds press with devout kisses the same crucifixes, and fingers of as great variety in color, are dipped in the ‘holy water’ to imprint the cross on as varied brows. In renting of pews colored families have a chance, and we have seen them sitting as others in every part of the house.” We can assume based on the date of this quotation that, at least in the Catholic Churches, segregation had not yet begun to clamp down on black parishioners. Ochs argues that it was the ritualized aspects of the

Catholic Church that kept parishes in New Orleans from succumbing to the segregation that was becoming apparent in their Protestant counterparts. 238

In Catholic Churches the ritual and the ceremony were the most significant reason for attendance, by far more important than the sermons offered by the priests. “Catholics respected the office of Priest and therefore did not question his authority;” therefore “the personal beliefs of the priests and their racism [or lack thereof] may have been less of a factor [for parishioners] than such attitudes were in the Protestant denominations.” If the religious leader of the parish did not make race an issue for his congregation, obedient Catholics might have been willing to ignore race relations within their parish. As long as their perceived rights as white people were not violated, many Catholics would have accepted

“Origins of Black Leadership in New Orleans During Reconstruction,” Journal of Southern History ," Vol. 40, Number 3, August 1974), 432. 238 Desegregating the Altar ,247; Black New Orleans, 200. Reverend Hartzell was assigned to New Orleans in 1870. He lived and worked there for a number of years. In 1877, he founded and edited the Southwestern Christian Advocate, a publication of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

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the presence of African Americans in the congregations because African

Americans had always been present. 239

In Saint Louis Cathedral, arguably the most famous Catholic Church in

New Orleans, there was virtually no distinction made with regard to color during

Reconstruction when Father Pierre LaPorte presided over the congregation.

LaPorte was removed from his position in 1875 reportedly for his “hot-headed language,” but Stephen Ochs demonstrates that it was not LaPorte’s temper that caused his dismissal; instead it was LaPorte’s “devot[ion] to the colored population” that was responsible for his dismissal. White people were concerned that the priest was too willing to push for equality within the parish. Although white people were willing to accommodate non-elite blacks in the parish, many were unwilling to accept complete equality of the races. LaPorte was not the only white priest who served as an advocate for his black parishioners. Father Claude

Paschal Maistre, also serving in New Orleans, “espoused a racially inclusive vision of Catholicism [for which he] incurred ecclesiastical censure.” Despite the personal rebuke he was forced to bear, Maistre’s actions had their desired effect

“spurr[ing] church authorities to greater efforts on behalf of black Catholics.”

Recognizing the efforts these white priests had made on their behalf, African

American parishioners staged a boycott making their wishes known to church authorities and “the cathedral quietly returned to its traditional nondiscriminatory policies.” This is a clear case of white priests straddling the color line to insure

239 New Orleans Louisianian , April 25, 1874 quoted in Black New Orleans, 200.

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religious equality for members of their flocks. These priests championed an ideal racial environment in an era where such behavior was unusual. They strove to create an egalitarian environment for the benefit of all. 240

This seemingly egalitarian behavior apparent during mass in New

Orleans’ Catholic Churches should not suggest that there was no racism in New

Orleans; to the contrary, racism was ever present in the Crescent City. What was different about racism in New Orleans was the criteria that created the racial hierarchy. To the modern eye, those viewing the wealthy, black, French- speaking, Creoles who had been free prior to the Civil War and who were at the pinnacle of black Creole-American society, there would be no discernable class difference between many of these gens de couleur and their white counterparts.

Except for possessing a few drops of African blood, they would have been welcomed into the highest levels of white American society. Both groups stemmed from common ancestors; in fact, many were half-brothers and sisters and aware of their familial ties. The most elite of both races had virtually the same excellent education in the finest schools abroad; spoke multiple languages fluently; were astute businessmen, skilled tradesmen or dilettantes; contributed generously to the social welfare of the community all the while living parallel lives in the same city. It was not uncommon for the elites of both races to have common business dealings. Some black elites had interracial business dealings with those who were their class inferiors but they would certainly shun social

240 Black New Orleans, 201.

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engagements with those of either race who were not of their social class. An elite man of either race would never place himself or his spouse in an awkward social situation that included those who might cause offense or with those he considered socially inferior. If these were the rules that governed their social lives, it should not surprise us that similar rules governed their religious lives. In church the races existed side by side as well. They worshipped the same God in the same manner and they enjoyed the same privileges and respect that their elevated social class demanded. They straddled the color line in church in the same manner they did in their public and professional lives. 241

It was not until 1888 when Archbishop Francis Janssens arrived in New

Orleans that the controversy over interracial parishes became a public focus in

the city. Born in Holland, Janssens did not view the American racial controversy

through native eyes. During his tenure as archbishop in New Orleans he became

increasingly frustrated by the growing levels of racism and violence in the city as

well as in the remainder of the state. Janssens did not shirk from public action,

nor did he hide his sentiments when he soundly criticized the Louisiana State

Legislature in 1892 for considering anti-miscegenation legislation. Janssens

firmly believed that any attempts to institute such laws should be considered “an

infringement upon human and religious liberty as well as the laws of the Catholic

Church.” At a meeting of Catholic bishops during the same period he queried the

241 Blassingame, passim 173-210. Black New Orleans remains the seminal work on the history of African Americans in the city of New Orleans. Blassingame provides an expansive study of the social life of the city from 1860-1880.

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others present regarding the advisability of publishing the banns in the case of a

“mixed” marriage. 242

There is no way to ascertain Janssens’ exact sentiments regarding this complicated issue because he did not document them within the privacy of his journal; however, it is possible to suggest, based on his religious convictions and his international experience that Janssens would probably have been more uncomfortable with the idea of an interfaith marriage than he was by the thought of an interracial one. His greatest fear seemed to be that parishioners of color would be “unable to reach full spiritual development because of the [increasing] racial prejudice and antagonism peculiar to the South.” Certainly Janssens’ ideas regarding race did not mirror those of other whites in his local religious community. Some may have believed his reasoning was flawed because he was not an American and not familiar with the customs in the region to which he was assigned. What makes Janssens’ actions so relevant is that he brought yet another layer of complexity to a region with an already highly complex system of race relations. Based on Janssens’ personal diary and public statements he made we might correctly assume that he saw all Catholics as a common group without regard to race. He believed most Catholics sought strength from their faith and their religious beliefs. When looking at his parish as a whole, he sought out individuals to discern what they could contribute spiritually or financially to the

242 James B. Bennett. Religion and the Rise of Jim Crow in New Orleans (Princeton, N.J.; Princeton University Press, 2005), 165-166.

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religious community. At the same time, Janssens strove to meet the spiritual needs of his parishioners without interjecting racial barriers. 243

Edward Misch argues that some American Catholic bishops viewed this

growing racial antagonism within the Church as a natural reaction by whites to

the uncultured behaviors of the former slaves who appeared to reject the

formalized manners and morality espoused by cultured whites. White people had

not felt this same disdain for blacks when the uncultured were slaves; they

expected cultural inferiority of people who were their property. Their opinions

changed when the lowest class of southern society gained their freedom. After

emancipation, slaves were declared fellow citizens by the United States

Constitution. As citizens, poor African Americans were subjected to an increase

in racism, which served to reinforce the new social and economic hierarchy that

had come to characterize New Orleans. Elites of either race felt disdain for the

poor and uneducated of both races. They had little in common with those who

had been slaves. These same elites (black and white) had little desire to

associate socially with those whom they designated common white people.

Although many scholars correctly assign episodes of social conflict to issues

based on skin color, they would be equally correct if they assigned class standing

as a basis for conflict in the post-Reconstruction Catholic Church. 244

243 Archbishop Francis Janssens’ Journal, August 31, 1892 and May 19, 1895. (Archdiocese of New Orleans Archive, New Orleans, Louisiana) 244 “The Catholic Church and the Negro, 1865-1884,” 39. According to Misch, a Bishop William Gross of Savannah discussed the problem saying “…only one thing will do them any good, and that is to elevate [blacks] morally; make them honest men, chaste women, obedient, law abiding citizens…” (quoted from Memorial Volume: A History of the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore,

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Class stratification was extremely significant in New Orleans where most people were poor and uncultured by societal standards. In such an environment class should have been the simplest delineation for stratification in society. For members of the elite of both races, it would have been far easier to exclude unwanted contact by class and to make exceptions for a select few people of color than it was to accept overall equality. However, because millions of slaves were recently freed, race became the newly accepted category for separation.

With such a complicated system of race and class in place, black elites

climbing the social ladder were required to attain the levels of wealth, culture,

education, and decorum already evident in black elite society if they wished to be

counted among those numbers. Members of the clergy who lived outside the

region would not be aware of the unique culture that existed in New Orleans and

would find it difficult to create and sustain policies that meshed with the social

systems in place.

The lack of understanding of racial issues by the hierarchy of the Catholic

Church in Rome, and in the northern United States, reflected the divisiveness

evident in the larger society. Father Thomas Farrell of New York criticized his

clerical colleagues who advocated segregation and called those bishops “‘old

fogies’ and [he] appealed for a lay organization to counteract the conservatism of

November 9- December 7, 1884 (Baltimore, 1885), 72) in Misch, 40. Clearly, Bishop Gross sided with white southerners in making this claim. Had he taken a more objective point of view, he would have taken into account the “moral and honest” white men who forcefully created the mulatto members of the church by encroaching on the chastity of black women; who in many cases violated the sanctity of their own marriage vows, yet remained upstanding members in the eyes of the churches and the overall community. This double standard was not questioned openly at the time, nor was it acknowledged as the basis for southern racial conflict.

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the bishops.” Other priests justified the exclusion of blacks echoing the general belief that the only way non-elite, black, Catholics would gain full acceptance in the Church was for them to become educated, productive, and to live lives that mirrored respectable members of the white community. Under such circumstances, exclusionary tactics could serve as motivation to encourage people to raise their standards of living to become part of the larger, more prosperous community. 245

Archbishop Francis Janssens was acutely aware of this dilemma and took steps to provide a measure of equality for African American parishioners within his jurisdiction. During September 1892, Janssens recorded in his journal, “Two colored boys of seventeen and fifteen years…of good and pious parents and showing signs of vocation have gone to the Epiphany College, Baltimore to study for the priesthood. They are well advanced in their studies and have learned some Latin.” 246

Janssens “regarded Negroes as fully developed human beings capable of the achievements of other men. He believed that…young black men were perfectly capable of becoming priests.” Perhaps because he was born in a foreign country, Janssens was able to see priestly potential in his parishioners without being hampered by the Americanized lens of color. 247

245 New York Herald, (June 7, 1869) “The Catholic Church and the Negro, 1865-1884,” 39. 246 Journal of Archbishop Janssens, 90-91. 247 Jim Crow Comes to Church, 30.

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Clearly after living in New Orleans for a number of years, Janssens was not ignorant of the controversy regarding race in America. He maintained that his desire was for an integrated priesthood and he continually encouraged qualified young men of both races to pursue the priesthood as a vocation. Perhaps it was because Janssens was not American, and had not been trained to see race as a limiting factor, that he was able to look beyond skin color and to recognize the common humanity of the flock he led. Janssens believed that service by African

American priests and nuns in New Orleans would enhance the religious experience for black parishioners and he worked diligently to bring qualified men and women into the religious fold. He took steps to provide educational opportunities for promising priesthood candidates of both races, but he was unwilling to use his influence to fight for legal racial equality through legislative means for parishioners in his charge. His status as a member of the clergy, especially one who was not native born and not a citizen, made him unwilling to confront the American political system. He was unwilling to publicly challenge elected members of the Louisiana legislature. He did, however, continually seek ways to spiritually uplift members of his parish regardless of race. 248

Some residents of New Orleans saw Janssens' policies as ones of

inclusion while others criticized Janssens believing him to be an advocate of

segregated churches. If he succeeded in preparing young black men to serve in

248 Edward Misch cites Rodolphe Desdunes, one member of the black elite, who criticized Janssens for not becoming politically involved when the Louisiana Legislature banned interracial marriages. Misch uses this criticism as evidence that whites had convinced Janssens that there could be no successful integration in local parishes. “The Catholic Church and the Negro, 1865- 1884.” 36-40.

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the priesthood, according to Southern traditions, they would only be accepted in segregated parishes where they would have no personal contact with white parishioners. If Janssens recognized that as a logistic reality, critics argued that he was promoting segregation by preparing black men for their role in a segregated priesthood. A similar argument was made regarding the Sisters of the

Holy Family, women who were members of New Orleans’ elite African American religious community. Women in this religious order believed that Archbishop

Janssens was sent by God and that his mission was to mitigate the growing racism in New Orleans’ Catholic community. 249

Although there is no definitive evidence regarding Janssens true motives,

his private writings strongly suggest that he was not a racist. His concern for

African Americans was sincere and his actions seemed consistent with what he

preached. Janssens’ treatment of black parishioners mirrored his treatment of

whites; he conducted audiences with African American priests and African

American philanthropists in the same manner that he dealt with their white

counterparts. With regard to the establishment of facilities that catered to African

Americans, history may certainly justify Janssen’s behavior arguing that he was a

realist. During the last years of the nineteenth century racial strife was becoming

increasingly rampant throughout the South and was lurking in the shadows of the

249 “The Catholic Church and the Negro," p. 38.; Sister Mary Bernard Deggs, No Cross, No Crown: Black Nuns in Nineteenth Century New Orleans. Virginia Meecham and Charles E. Nolan, eds. Paperback edition, 2002. (Bloomington, Indiana; University of Indiana Press, 2001), 91.Although Sisters of the Holy Family were a religious order, they had no voice and no power in a community that saw all women, especially woman of color, as second class citizens. The Sisters of the Holy Family took orders from the priests and had no power of their own in the community.

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North. With the growing increase in Jim Crow legislation in the South, it would be only a matter of time until the Catholic Church also fell victim to the laws of the land. Janssens hoped to establish an equitable racial policy in his See before the

Louisiana government could enact legislation that would be contrary to his ability to minister to the needs of all Catholics within the Church. Janssens hoped to make his See a safe and welcoming haven for black Catholics where they could serve and be served. It was not paternalism that drove Janssens’ actions. He truly sought to minister to all members of his flock according to his abilities and their needs. 250

As part of his mission in New Orleans, Archbishop Janssens conceived and erected new facilities to serve the needs of the city. Janssens worked closely with the wealthy African American Creole philanthropist Thomy Lafon as Lafon sought to distribute his fortune to serve the city and people he loved. In 1893,

Lafon purchased property on St. Peter’s Street in the French Quarter. There he planned to establish The Lafon Asylum for Colored Boys. By that year it must have been evident to Lafon as well as Janssens that there was little chance the progress of Jim Crow could be halted and with that inevitability in mind, Lafon decided to designate his project as one that would serve people of color. In the privacy of his journal, Archbishop Janssens described Lafon as: “a gentleman of

250 Journal Archbishop Francis Janssens. The term “See” refers to a center of authority within the Catholic Church The above discussion of a See refers to the region under the jurisdiction of Archbishop Janssens. The perspective of Janssens behavior is evidenced by language present in the private pages of his journal. Never does he reflect negatively on race as part of his perspectives on his parishioners. He does not describe people by race or social class. There is no indication that Janssens was influenced in his behavior toward any of the people he encountered by their racial heritage.

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light color” and records that it was Lafon’s plan to “Put the property in good condition at his [Lafon’s] own expense.” Working closely with Janssens, Lafon funded a number of other facilities that benefited his church and his race; however, as was mentioned above, Lafon did not limit his philanthropy to the

African American population. He was a New Orleans Creole, but he straddled the color line. He used his wealth to serve all in need and he worked closely with and was respected by people on both sides of the color line. 251

Reflecting on his relationship with Lafon, Janssens continued: “He has

been very kind to our colored institutions. The building without improvements

cost $3700.- the improvements about $2000. more.” Janssens recorded this

event in a straightforward manner neither approving nor congratulating Lafon on

his benevolence. What is most remarkable about this entry is that even though

he mentions that “Lafon was a gentleman of light color,” he used the term

“gentleman ” meaning a man of the upper class. In no way does Janssens equate

Lafon with the underprivileged population that both ought to serve. Certainly

Lafon was a Creole of color, but Janssens does not say Lafon is serving “his

race” nor does he suggest any comparable connections. Janssens simply refers

to the designated property as one of “our [Catholic] colored institutions.” Although

by 1893 outsiders to the diocese may have begun to equate Catholic Creoles of

color with the African American population, it is quite clear from the entry in

251 The property was purchased in the French Quarter. In this neighborhood, there would be little criticism by whites regarding the use of the property. In general, white people were most concerned with the mixing of races within the English speaking neighborhoods. They considered the French speaking Creoles a world apart. Janssens Journal, April 2, 1893, 105.

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Janssens’ journal that he cast his lot with those New Orleanians who were well aware of the stark differences that existed between Creoles of color and the freedmen. In a journal where outsiders could not pry, where Janssens could record his thoughts without fear of losing a wealthy donor, the archbishop could have characterized Lafon in any manner he choose. Nevertheless, Janssens clearly saw Lafon, and probably others of his class, in an entirely different light from those who shared his designated race but not his refinement. 252

Although there were racially designated facilities such as the orphanage and homes for the elderly, no racially designated buildings of worship for

Catholics existed in New Orleans before 1895; however, after that time things began to change. Janssens was well-aware of the growing resentment some white Catholics exhibited with regard to racial equality within the Church. To counteract those influences Janssens sought individuals who could aid him in providing a spiritual and welcoming religious environment for members of his flock that did not fit the into the image of the elite Catholic population. The wealthy white, devoutly Catholic, Philadelphia heiress, Katherine Drexel had long been a philanthropist providing funds for the benefit of both Catholics and Native

Americans. Based on their mutual friendship and desire to support the mission of the Church, Francis Janssens convinced Drexel to provide funds for needy black

Catholics in New Orleans. “Mother Drexel”, as the devout woman came to be

252 Janssens' Journal , April 2, 1893,105. Members of the Creole elite knew that outsiders saw them as blacks, but those natives of New Orleans understood and acknowledged the differences. This unique part of the population had a very specific status and it was very much apart of the regional culture.

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called, made her first donation to Janssens’ causes in 1891. By 1895, the partnership that was forged between Drexel and Janssens enabled Janssens to open a new church, St. Katherine’s of Sienna Catholic Church. 253

Not all of the people in New Orleans viewed the creation of St. Katherine’s

with favor. Janssens fell under criticism by members of both races. Some blacks

believed it was his plan to create segregated parishes restricting their

participation in the church while others welcomed the new parish believing they

would be free to worship without scrutiny or criticism from whites. Conversely,

some whites were thrilled to have black Catholics removed from their houses of

worship while others resented that blacks had the privilege of a beautiful new

facility. Janssens hoped that blacks would flock to St. Katherine’s for the safety

and security it offered, but he was completely unwilling to force black

parishioners to change their parish allegiance. St. Katherine’s “was to be a

church of accommodation, not coercion…” Based on evidence gleaned from

school and baptismal records, Delores Labbe concluded that most black New

Orleanians did not desert their home parishes. Although most continued to attend

mass at their local parishes, there was adequate participation at social events

held at St. Katherine’s to warrant the existence of a black house of worship. 254

After the turn of the twentieth century Jim Crow restrictions grew increasingly pervasive throughout the South and New Orleans was no exception.

253 Program commemorating the Golden Jubilee of St. Katherine of Sienna Church, 1895-1945 (New Orleans, Louisiana; September 1945) Located in the Archives of the Archdiocese of New Orleans. 254 Jim Crow Comes to Church, 55-6.

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In response to the increasing racism in New Orleans, St. Katherine’s parish grew and provided a growing variety of social events and entertainment opportunities for its parishioners and other blacks of the city. The programs and events staged there were not limited to those who were members of the parish but were available to all Catholics in the city. Although Archbishop Janssens was no longer living after the turn of the century, his visionary foresight fulfilled his mission of making the See a place where African American Catholics would feel welcome to worship and to socialize. 255

The turn of the twentieth century did not bring an immediate shift to

segregated Catholic churches; rather integrated churches continued throughout

the second decade of the twentieth century. Suddenly during the third decade of

the new century a major shift occurred and segregated parishes became the rule

rather than the exception. Whereas New Orleans had once been a model city for

integration within the Catholic Church, it quickly became the representative

model for Catholic segregation. 256

The Catholic Church was not the only church placed in a precarious

position during the tumultuous post-Reconstruction years. The rapid expansion of

Protestant churches in New Orleans was most evident in the Baptist and

Methodist Episcopal congregations. As in the Catholic Church, initially both

blacks and whites worshiped in the same facilities. As in most aspects of New

Orleans society, white parishioners initially accepted African Americans who

255 Jim Crow Comes to Church, 56. Archbishop Janssens died in 1897. 256 Religion and the Rise of Jim Crow, 220.

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were recognized as members of the elite community, especially those whose families had long been members of the congregations. For those white parishioners, class continued to trump race and a level of acceptance toward elite African Americans persisted. Although race was an important issue, in New

Orleans the acknowledgment of long established parallel societies enabled more than a few whites to grudgingly (and sometimes willingly) accept their African

American counterparts. 257

In the immediate aftermath of the Civil War, the former slaves whose

masters had denied them access to religious institutions began to attend the city

churches in larger numbers. During and after Reconstruction, the freedmen who

came to worship in these predominantly white facilities in increasingly large

numbers sought to take their rightful place within the mainstream of the

congregations rather than accepting the seats originally allocated to slaves in the

less desirable sections of the chapels. Particularly in the Methodist Episcopal

Church, this rapid expansion, and its concurrent demands for racial equality,

became a source of growing pains for black and white members alike. Although

race was the overarching cause for conflict in most cases, class was a decidedly

strong undercurrent in many of the complaints issued by whites who demanded

distinct separation of the races. 258

257 Religion and the Rise of Jim Crow, 100. 258 Gatewood refers to the ME church as the “Northern Methodist” church. According to Gatewood, after the Civil War, the northern ME missionaries flooded south and began converting, educating and organizing freedmen into congregations. Some members of the AME (African Methodist Episcopal) churches denigrated the ME churches arguing that blacks who belonged to that denomination were controlled by whites who simply counted them as numbers or as

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The irony of such complaints was that the issue of class was equally as important to elite blacks as it was to elite whites. Because elite whites wanted to distance themselves from the poor and illiterate of both races they depended on elite blacks to serve as emissaries who would straddle the color line between white society and black. Many black elites grudgingly accepted this role as part of their responsibility for having achieved a measure of success in the dominant society. In such cases elite blacks were compelled to straddle the color line even when they would have much rather formed a no-man’s land in the middle. White racism demanded that members of the elite acknowledge their position as a member of the other even when there was virtually no commonality. For many members of the elite, their bloodlines were more white than black; their lifestyle mirrored white society, and their standard of living was in keeping with that of individuals they had converted. Also arguing that African Americans were denied leadership roles by whites who controlled the congregations, members of the AME urged black ME members to leave their houses of worship and to participate in the AME church where they could fully participate. Aristocrats of Color , p. 302-303; Religion and the Rise of Jim Crow, p. 100; By 1890, the AME Church membership was in excess of 310,00 members. Edward L. Ayers, The Promise of the new South: Life After Reconstruction. (N.Y.: Oxford University Press, 1992), 160-161. Gatewood placed the ME Church in the category of churches to which the elite of both races belonged. As segregation hardened and African Americans were further restricted from full participation in worship services, many splintered off to form new African Methodist Episcopal Church congregations (AME) where their contributions and their rights would be recognized. Aristocrats of Color , 75-76; Archbishop Janssens recognized the detrimental effects that secular higher education might have on black Catholics living in and around New Orleans. When Catholic students studied in non-Catholic institutions of higher learning they were exposed to thoughts contrary to accepted Catholic theology. Also, when (black) Creole Catholics learned to speak and read English they began to worship in churches that were Protestant and controlled by blacks. This was one reason Janssens cited for the creation of St. Katherine’s, a church for black parishioners where they could have more control over their religious environment and not fear racial discrimination. What perhaps is most interesting in the context of this study is that those who were most likely to interact across the color line were those least likely to endorse segregated parishes. Creoles of color who had relationships with whites and who were able to straddle the color line felt less need for segregated (or race specific) houses of worship. Douglas Slawson “Segregated Catholicism: The Origins of St. Katherine’s Parish, New Orleans.” Vintage Heritage Journal , Volume 17, Issue 3 (October 1996) , 152.

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whites of a similar economic level. New Orleans author and notable white resident George Washington Cable also argued that class designations made far more sense than racial categories stating, "These distinctions on the line of color are really made not from any necessity, but simply for their own sake-- to preserve the old arbitrary supremacy of the master class…" Cable was more than willing to straddle the color line if it meant that he could associate with people he believed were his social and intellectual equals rather than being arbitrarily forced to associate with people of his own race that society deemed acceptable . 259

Some people were fortunate enough to earn their way into New Orleans'

African American elite. Dr. A.E.P. Albert became a member of the New Orleans black elite by virtue of his education and his occupation. He willingly accepted the charge to serve as a liaison between the black and white communities. Born

Catholic to a white French father and a slave mother before the Civil War, Albert was not an elite. According to historian Blair L.M. Kelley, Albert and his mother left the Catholic Church because of racial discrimination. Following his conversion to the Methodist Church, Albert obtained a college education and was ordained as a pastor in the Methodist Episcopal Church. 260

While still a student, Albert’s abilities were recognized by those in

positions of authority in the Methodist Episcopal hierarchy. The first

259 George Washington Cable, " The Freedmen's Case in Equity, 1884, quoted in Ticket to Ride, 55 & 12. George Washington Cable began a friendship and mentorship with Cleveland Ohio author Charles W. Chesnutt. These two men exchanged many letters discussing literature and race. Some of the letters are held in the Charles W. Chesnutt Collection at Fayetteville State University, N.C. 260 Ticket to Ride, 60.

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acknowledgment of Albert’s talents was when he was appointed to serve as assistant editor of the Southwestern Christian Advocate. Initially the paper was a private enterprise begun by a white clergyman the Reverend Joseph Hartzell, but it eventually became the official organ of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Working in close association with Hartzell, Albert gradually began to assume greater editorial responsibilities. After Albert graduated from Straight University and Hartzell resigned from the publication, Albert became the primary editor of the Southwestern Christian Advocate in 1881.261

The articles that appeared in the Southwestern Christian Advocate were targeted to African American Methodists; however, they were informative and of interest to all readers regardless of race. As a result, during Albert’s tenure, this organ had the “largest circulation of any New Orleans newspaper” and was “read by the whites more than any other Afro-American journal in the Union.” It published articles of interest to Methodists, but also news of general interest to the general public. The messages were not solely church related but sought to educate readers on current events from a perspective sympathetic to

Methodism. 262

261 Ticket to Ride, 60. A.E.P. Albert was an example of Janssens prediction about losing Catholics to the Protestant faiths. Albert converted to the Methodist Episcopal Church during his tenure as a university student. Irvine Garland Penn, The Afro-American Press and Its Editors. (Springfield, MA.: Willey and Company Publishers, 1891), 226. Although blacks and whites may not have participated in such journalistic endeavors with true equality; nevertheless, Albert exerted considerable influence as an editor in one of America’s most important cities. 262 Albert's contributions and efforts were recognized throughout the United States because religious publications of large circulation, such as the Southwestern Christian Advocate, especially African American organs, were widely disseminated throughout the United States. In addition, editors of other newspapers routinely copied articles of interest from other regional papers and inserted them in their own papers attributing the content to the original author and

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As editor of the Southwestern Christian Advocate , Albert had a significant

platform from which to advance his own ideas. He had control of what did and did

not appear within the pages of the paper . Inasmuch as publications of the time

espoused a particular perspective, the articles that appeared in print that were in

keeping with the philosophy of the editor and with the purpose of the organ

(which in this case was Methodism). With that thought in mind, the Advocate ran

a series of articles during September and October of 1885 that were telling. Two

of the articles in the series, “The Political Parson” and “Pulpit and Politics”

expounded that while it was admirable for a church to take a stand with regard to

a political issue, it was not wise for a religious leader to become a candidate for

office. The paper published on October 22 stated:

The political parson is out of place here in America. There are well understood conditions why the objection does not apply with equal voice to the colored race. A congregation pays their pastor to administer to their spiritual needs and their contract does not include a stumping tour for political fame or emolument.

All this correspondent has to say about ministers going on the stump speaking tours for "political fame or emolument" is exactly as he says. Except his omission to apply it to the Negro race. If there are any conditions against white ministers stumping for political fame or emolument, which does not equally apply to colored ones, they are such conditions that alone exist in the minds of white men, and we should be glad to have no knowledgeous [sic] correspondent at once, proceed to inform us what they are.

source. In this way members of the African American elite maintained a tightly knit social and political network nationwide. The Afro-American Press and Its Editors, 226.

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We knew that Reverend Benjamin W. Arnett, a minister in the AME Church, financial secretary of that large and influential religious connection with an office in St. Paul's Chapel at Nashville, Tennessee is a candidate from Green County [Ohio].

We know they are doing a bad thing for their race by creating the impression that there are any conditions more favorable to them prostituting the ministerial calling than there are for white men who do so.

The minister who wishes to enter active partisan politics has laid upon him the duty first to relieve his church of all blame or harm from his course by resigning his ministerial office and credentials. he is otherwise in the attitude of a man who is trying to serve both God and Mammon. 263

There was a two-fold purpose in the publication of this chastisement.

Albert was chastising the Reverend D.A. Lenard (white) for his candidacy representing the Prohibition Party for the office of Governor of Ohio and also

Reverend Benjamin W. Arnett ( black) representing the Republican Party for the

State House of Representative in Ohio. It was clearly the viewpoint of Albert, and therefore the paper, that the role of the pastor was noble and that no man could serve well as a pastor and as a politician at the same time. Each job was a full time occupation; the pastor must tend to his flock while the politician was responsible to his constituents. (This mirrors the perspective espoused by Oliver

Wendell Holmes regarding physicians in the previous section.) To attempt to carry out these callings simultaneously could only result in substandard fulfillment

263 “The Political Parson,” Southwestern Christian Advocate, October 22, 1885. Also see "Pulpit and Politics," Southwestern Christian Advocate, September 10, 1885

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of both. The articles that referred to pastors running for office were targeted at black politicians, but the author clearly stated that color was not an issue with regard to pastors being involved in politics- that the thoughts outlined applied to whites equally. 264

The fact that a major religious publication would run a series of articles discussing participation of ministers in political affairs implies that such participation by members of the clergy was not an aberration. There was significant participation by members of the cloth in the political process. This is also evidence that members of the clergy had ample opportunity to straddle the color line. Regardless of race, an individual running for office would have to have significant appeal to registered voters in an area to be successful in obtaining elective office. That person would have to have name recognition and a public record that would inspire confidence in those funding the campaign, those reporting on the campaign as well as those likely to show up at the polls. Some people within Republican circles among the African American elite were just as critical of Arnett as Albert was for using the church as a vehicle to gain elective office. Reverend Arnett was highly ambitious and became nationally famous among blacks and whites. 265

264 “The Political Parson;” “Pulpit and Politics,” and “Ohio Politics,” Southwestern Christian Advocate, October 22, 1885. The importance of Reverend Benjamin W. Arnett will be discussed later in greater depth in the Cleveland chapter. 265 The Afro-American Press and its Editors, 224-6. For more information regarding Benjamin Arnett see the Cleveland chapter section titled: "The Role and Influence of the Clergy in Cleveland."

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Albert also became politically involved in the Louisiana streetcar controversy in 1890 using the Advocate to side with African American elites who

wanted the right to ride in first class accommodations on public transportation.

Albert argued that working class people of both races returned home in the

evening on street cars and were "equally dirty." In working class attire people

should be relegated to second class cars. People of all races attired in such a

manner were unpleasant to associate with; it was not a condition that was only

apparent in Negroes. Albert argued that those who were dressed in a

respectable manner and who could afford the fare should be entitled to first class

accommodation. He also used his platform as editor of the Advocate to address

the state legislature urging them to prevent passage of the separate car law that

required African Americans to ride in accommodations separate from whites. 266

While Albert did not personally run for elective office, as the editor of the

Advocate he had ample opportunity to use the paper to lobby for causes he

found important. Eventually, Albert was forced out of his position as editor when

his racial position became too radical and the Methodist Church hierarchy at the

national level refused to continue to support him in his role as editor. Reverend

Albert’s talents and opportunities to straddle the color line were not limited to the

publishing world. In addition to serving as the editor of the Southwestern

Christian Advocate , by 1891 Albert was the president of the board of trustees at

New Orleans University. New Orleans University opened in 1873 and received

266 Ticket to Ride, 62-63.

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funding from the Methodist Episcopal Church. The first Board of Trustees consisted of fifteen members, three of whom were black. Albert had many opportunities as president of a board that was predominantly white to interact across the color line. In each capacity, that of editor and that of president of the board, Albert worked closely with influential New Orleans’ whites. 267

Although Albert was raised Catholic, he was not raised in the same

manner as members of the gens de couleur libre. Like them, his first language

was French, and that gave him access to Francophone New Orleans. His

education, however, was not one of privilege and so that raises the question

whether or not his early religious experience in the South helped shape him as a

member of the elite. Did his early training give him the skills and confidence to

work across the color line? Although his language skills were certainly a positive

asset for elites in New Orleans, were they enough to help him become part of the

elite? Another question to ask might be: did Albert find more opportunities as a

member of the elite because of his position as a minister of the African Methodist

Episcopal Church than might have been available to him as a layperson within

the Catholic Church? Was his conversion a practical as well as doctrinal matter?

Such questions are worthy of a longer study of this man as there are no works

that explore his contributions in detail.

267 Reverend James Madison Vance, and James H. Ingraham and William G. Brown (Louisiana State Superintendent of Education) were elite blacks who served on the first board. Both Ingraham and Vance were politically active in the Republican Party at the national level. Black New Orleans, 124-125; The Afro-American Press and its Editors, 224-6; Ticket to Ride, 69.

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In addition to the Catholic and the African Methodist Episcopal Churches, there was a significant African American population that belonged to the Baptist churches in New Orleans during the post-Reconstruction era. Edward Ayers states that by 1890 there were more than a million black Baptists living in the

South, “more than three times as many as any other black denomination.” That number should not be surprising, but among elites the number of people who participated in the Baptist faith was significantly smaller. Members of the elite traditionally worshiped in Protestant churches where the liturgy was more formal and subdued. Many members of the elite shunned churches with emotional displays during the services. Because so few members of the elites were active in the Baptist churches in New Orleans, there was little interaction on a level of equality between Baptist African American leaders in New Orleans and powerful whites. In addition, because the Baptist churches did not have a strong central organizational structure, preferring their churches not to be part of a religious hierarchy, there was little opportunity for ambitious black preachers to rise to high levels of leadership in New Orleans. Based on these reasons, the Baptist traditions across the color line are not discussed with regard to New Orleans. 268

268 The Promise of the New South, 160; Aristocrats of Color, 282-3.

The Social and Political influence of Elite African American

Politicians, Clergy and Physicians in Cleveland, Ohio

Introduction

Cleveland, Ohio, was unique among northern cities. Like Charleston and

New Orleans it is a port city. Located in a region once called The Western

Reserve, Cleveland grew slowly as part of the westward expansion of America in the years following the Revolutionary War. It was a place of new beginnings; a place full of hope and opportunities. That is the vision that prompted African

Americans to settle in the Forest City as they attempted to make a new life for themselves. 269

The author Charles W. Chesnutt was highlighted in the introduction to this dissertation. He epitomized the Victorian gentlemen of the black elite who called

Cleveland home. In this chapter, Ohio State Senator John Patterson Green illustrates the opportunities available to African Americans in one northern city during the Gilded Age. At that moment in time in Cleveland some African

Americans believed that anything and everything was possible. Green's political success seemed to affirm that belief. Reminiscing about his early years in the city

269 George W. Knepper, Ohio and Its People, Bicentennial Edition ( Kent, OH.: Kent State University Press, 2003), 48-49 & 80-81.

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in a letter to historian James Ford Rhodes, George A. Myers (a contemporary of

Green's) wrote in 1921, " Where Cleveland was once free from race prejudice, it is now anything but that…"Although frustrated by the situation, Myers remained optimistic that circumstances could be reversed and that reason and logic would prevail. Myers hoped that the increase of racism was temporary and it would subside as soon as the southern migrants became acclimated to city life. 270

Initially, members of the African American elite seemed immune to the harshest influence of racism in Cleveland at the end of the nineteenth century.

Their community was small, they were generally well- respected professionals, and they were somewhat affluent. Most of these men could go where they wished and do as they pleased in Cleveland. This chapter will argue that George

A. Myers was representative of a small, influential cadre of African American men who exerted power in Cleveland from 1880 into the 1920s. For members of the black elite living in Cleveland, there was little or no overt racism.

The black population of Cleveland was initially far smaller than both of the southern cities studied and the number of African American physicians reflected the size of the black community. African American physicians were generally members of the black elite but they were greatly underrepresented in Cleveland during the early years of this study. During the second decade of the twentieth century, a time known as the Great Migration, many southerners immigrated to

270 George A. Myers to James Ford Rhodes, February 10, 1921 in John A. Garraty, ed. The Barber and the Historian: The Correspondence of George A. Myers and James Ford Rhodes, 1910- 1923. (Columbus: Ohio Historical Society, 1956), 124.

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the urban north and Cleveland's medical community grew as well. This chapter will show that social and political influence of African American physicians became noticeable far later in Cleveland than in either New Orleans or

Charleston. Because they came to prominence far later than other African

American businessmen, physicians had greater difficulty, as a group, attaining the respect they believed they deserved in Cleveland. 271

This chapter will also show that African American churches, and their respective clergymen in Cleveland, played a much more muted role than members of the clergy played in the post-Reconstruction South. The presence of large African American churches evolved later in Cleveland than in the southern cities. African American churches multiplied quickly in the South in the aftermath of the Civil War. That trend did not begin until the twentieth century in Cleveland.

There were a few black churches that began during the late nineteenth century, but the lack of virulent racism made the need for a religious place of respite far less important than in the southern cities. There was little need for African

American clergymen to serve as liaisons or advocates for their parishioners until the second decade of the twentieth century. The few African American Catholics

271 Historian Kenneth L. Kusmer discusses the effect of the Great Migration on Cleveland in the context of the "influx of black migrants and the hardening of racial lines in Cleveland after 1915" in his seminal work A Ghetto Takes Shape. The Great Migration was a mass movement of millions of African Americans from the rural South to the urban centers of the North and Midwest that began during the nineteen-teens. When World War I began in Europe, the steady stream of immigrants to America was cut off. American factories ramped up production to supply war materials to Europe and there was a desperate need for unskilled workers to meet labor demands. The need for workers, coupled with impoverished conditions and lack of opportunities in the South, created a perfect environment for the mass migration of blacks from the South to the North. See Kenneth Kusmer, A Ghetto Takes Shape: Black Cleveland 1870-1930. ( Urbana: University of Illinois, 1976, paperback, Illini edition 1978), 157- 173.

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who lived in the city worshipped in integrated churches in their residential neighborhoods.

As might be anticipated, because of geographic and demographic differences, there are striking differences in the role of African American elites in

Cleveland compared with African American elites in either of the southern cities examined in this dissertation. This chapter examines the challenges and opportunities politicians in the black elite experienced and how those elements shaped their world view.

At the end of the nineteenth century members of Cleveland's black elite believed racial equality was a very real possibility; however, the population shift that occurred in Cleveland during the Great Migration changed everything.

Members of the black elite continued to straddle the color line until the end of their lives. They worked hard to diminish racism, to improve the lines of communication and to secure equal opportunities for blacks and whites in

Cleveland. By the third decade of the twentieth century, it became apparent that the road to equality would be longer and more difficult than anyone could have imagined. A new generation of men, the "New Negro" would be left to carry on the fight.

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We have a cozy home, in the East End. We would be pleased to have you and Mrs. Green come out and visit us sometime. -- John D. Rockefeller

The question is not whether the best white men are better than the best black men, or whether the worst black men are worse than the worst white men. The question is whether the Negro shall be regarded as a man. The question is whether he belongs to the human race. If he be a man, all rights which belong to a man should be given to him… --Reverend Charles F. Thwing 272

The life of Ohio Senator John Patterson Green could serve as an African

American "Horatio Alger" story. Green was the epitome of a self-made man and his life exemplified the possibilities open to an ambitious young man of color in

Cleveland during the Progressive Era. In the sense that an ambitious man could work hard and achieve success, he was not unique. However, for a man of color, he was exceptional. Very few upper middle class white men received personal invitations to visit socially with men like John D. Rockefeller and his wife. Even fewer people of color were afforded such opportunities. Green's achievements served as a powerful example that African Americans could achieve power and prestige in Cleveland. This chapter argues that John P. Green was

272 John P. Green, Fact Stranger Than Fiction: Seventy-Five Years of a Busy Life with Reminiscences of Many Great and Good Men and Women. (Cleveland: Riehl Printing Company, 1919), 213. Cleveland Journal, Cleveland, OH, November 14, 1903.

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representative of a select group of black men who rose to political power in Ohio during the Gilded Age and Progressive Era. Those extraordinary, elite, black men in Cleveland, who wielded social and political power, continued their influence until that northern city bowed under the weight of the Great Migration as millions of African Americans moved north to seek opportunities during the World War I era. 273

John P. Green’s father, John R. Green, was born a slave in New Bern,

North Carolina. Some time before 1814, John R. purchased his freedom. At that time, New Bern was a sizable southern city where the African American population, slave and free, exceeded that of the white population. As a free black man living in New Bern, John R. Green exhibited his industry and resourcefulness by opening and operating a successful tailor shop from 1814 until 1850. One marker of the success of Green’s tailor shop was his willingness and his ability to take on an apprentice. In February 1825, Green went to court at the county seat of Craven County to pay the necessary fees to acquire an apprentice, a young “free boy of color, called Thomas Marshall.” It was

273 Horatio Alger Jr. was an author of fiction who created characters that achieved greatness despite almost insurmountable odds that were placed in their paths. That a man like John P. Green could rise from obscurity and poverty in the South, move north to Cleveland and associate with men of power like John D. Rockefeller should have been a work of fiction, but it was reality. Such experiences allowed other men of color to believe they too could achieve greatness with enough hard work and dedication. The Great Migration was a mass movement of millions of African Americans from the rural South to the urban centers of the North and Midwest that began during the nineteen-teens. When World War I began in Europe, the steady stream of immigrants to America was cut off. American factories ramped up production to supply war materials to Europe and there was a desperate need for unskilled workers to meet labor demands. The need for workers, coupled with impoverished conditions and lack of opportunities in the South, created a perfect environment for the mass migration of blacks from the South to the North. See Kenneth Kusmer, A Ghetto Takes Shape: Black Cleveland 1870-1930. ( Urbana: University of Illinois, 1976,paperback, Illini edition 1978), 157- 173.

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extraordinary that John R. Green was able to build and sustain a thriving business in the South during the antebellum era. It was even more unusual that he was successful enough to take on the financial obligation of an apprentice. 274

During the 1820s as his success increased, John R. Green married and built a substantial house for his family in New Bern. By the time their son, John P.

Green was born on April 2, 1845, Temperance and John R. Green belonged to

New Bern's thriving free black community, one that had existed since colonial times. The wealth and the social standing the Green family acquired during those years enabled them to purchase a pew in Christ Episcopal Church in New Bern.

John P. Green developed a strong social and cultural identity as part of elite black society during his formative years in New Bern. 275

Following the death of her husband, Temperance Green could no longer maintain her economic livelihood in New Bern. She moved the family north to

Cleveland, Ohio in 1857. It may have been the potential for opportunities in a free

274 I was unable to find any references to other African American artisans who held apprentices. Where possible, free African Americans purchased slaves as an indication of their wealth and also as a representation of their financial success. L. Diane Barnes discusses the role of white artisans in the Upper South arguing that white artisans united to present their racial superiority to African Americans and to carved out a niche that allowed them to maintain respectability despite being employed at manual labor 9work that was usually performed by slaves). L. Diane Barnes Artisan Workers in the Upper South: Petersburg, Virginia 1820-1865. (Baton Rouge, Louisiana State University Press, 2008), 178-193. In 1820, New Bern, North Carolina was the 8 th largest city in the South and the largest city in North Carolina. By 1900 it was no longer among the largest cities in the South, but it remained among the top ten in population for the state of North Carolina. (North Carolina Business History Website; http://www.historync.org/NCCityPopulations1800s.htm. ) Accessed November 22, 2009. The population of New Bern was less than 4,000 people in 1820, but the city more than doubled in size between 1820 and 1900. Craven County Apprentice Bonds 1769-1839, reel one. 275 African American Heritage Tour brochure, New Bern North Carolina, Craven County Convention and Visitors Center, 2004. Christ Episcopal Church was not then, nor is it now an African American denomination. The Episcopal Church is an American denomination descended from the Church of England (also known as the Anglican Church). Christ Episcopal Church has a long history in New Bern dating back to 1715.

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state that prompted her to move the family north; or perhaps, it was the growing tensions and pressures on free blacks in the South that escalated during the decade preceding the Civil War. Whatever the reason, the liberal racial atmosphere in Cleveland provided fertile ground that allowed John P. his first opportunity to excel. As he grew to adulthood, the identity that was first established in New Bern provided the framework that allowed Green to develop into a man who would successfully straddle the color line throughout his long life.

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During his first two years in Cleveland John P. Green attended public school, but financial circumstances soon forced him to trade the world of school for the world of work. For more than six years Green postponed his desire for further education to help his mother support the family. In his 1919 memoir,

Green remembered the day in September 1864 when the affluent Republican businessman and future politician, Mark Hanna and his wife married. At that time,

Green earned his living waiting on tables in Cleveland. He wrote rather nostalgically that he “ministered to the[ir] wants” of Mr. Hanna and his wife on their wedding day (serving as a waiter). Surely neither Hanna nor Green could

276 A Ghetto Takes Shape, 118-9. Edward M. Miggins and Mary Morgenthaler "The Ethnic Mosaic: The Settlement of Cleveland by the New Immigrants and Migrants" in Thomas F. Campbell and Edward M. Miggins, eds. The Birth of Modern Cleveland: 1865- 1930, (Cleveland: Western Reserve Historical Society, 1988), 129. Both Kusmer and Campbell use the example of Green's election to public office in 1882 as evidence of the racial liberalism evident in Cleveland. Parents of the Cleveland author Charles W. Chesnutt (cousin to John P. Green) also relocated from North Carolina before the Civil War because of the opportunities and lack of animosity toward African Americans in Cleveland. It is likely that Cleveland was more racially tolerant because slavery was outlawed when the Old Northwest was organized. It is also likely that New England abolitionists were among the first to settle in the Western Rerserve.

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have imagined on that day that the two would later work closely together in

Cleveland’s political arena. 277

During those early years in Cleveland, Green worked hard and earned enough money to purchase a home for his mother. Finally when he was twenty- one years old, believing that he had fulfilled his duty to his mother, Green matriculated at Central High School in Cleveland. According to his recollections,

Green was the only "colored student," yet he did not recall experiencing any racism during his academic experience. He completed his high school education in 1869 graduating near the top of his class. While at Central High, Green had the good fortune to be taught by a woman named Laura Spelman, the future wife of John D. Rockefeller. This accident of fate would come to significantly influence his life in later years. 278

Fact Stranger Than Fiction, 114. Mark Hanna was married September 27, 1864 Cuyahoga County Archive; Cleveland, Ohio; Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Marriage Records, 1810- 1973 ; Volume: 10-12; 30; Year Range: 1859 Jun - 1866 Jun . accessed at Ancestry.com. July 25, 2012 278 Fact Stranger than Fiction , 113-115; 213-221. Green's memoir was published in 1920 when he was seventy-five years old. It is possible that the memories of his childhood were dimmed by the passage of time allowing Green to forget any racial slights that might have occurred. It is also possible that Green was an anomaly at Central High School and the other students accepted his presence without incident. Green’s teacher, Laura Spelman eventually married the wealthy businessman John D. Rockefeller and left her teaching career. In later years, Green would have the opportunity to dine at the Rockefeller home and at one of their meetings, Rockefeller offered to finance a trip to Europe for Green. Such a trip was far outside the possibilities for most middle class African Americans; however, this opportunity placed Green firmly in the midst of the African American elite class. The opportunity to tour Europe broadened his knowledge and allowed him a worldly perspective that advanced his career both politically and economically. His European experiences also allowed Green to put the issue of race into a global perspective. People of color were not subject to discrimination in Europe in the same ways they might have been in America. A man like Rockefeller, who enjoyed both immense wealth and social status, would have no fear of his reputation being tainted by social encounters with African Americans. Because of his immense wealth he set the standards and few people would dare to criticize anything Rockefeller would do. In addition, very few Americans were on an equal social and economic level with men like Rockefeller; therefore, paternalistic behavior within a relationship would apply to virtually anyone a man like Rockefeller chose to sponsor or befriend.

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Following graduation, then superintendent of Cleveland public schools,

Andrew J. Rickoff, advised Green to study law. Cleveland judge Jesse P. Bishop invited Green to study law at his firm. Had this opportunity not materialized,

Green stated that he probably would have pursued a career in medicine or theology. While this might suggest that middle-class career opportunities for young black men were limited, it is perhaps a more obvious example of how influential whites in Cleveland were willing to extend a hand across the color line to young people who had academic and intellectual potential. 279

After only four months reading law in Judge Bishop’s office, Green was

approached with yet another opportunity by another influential white man. This

time the offer was from John Crowell, former congressman and at the time,

president of Union Law College in Cleveland. When Crowell suggested Green

enroll in the college, Green replied that he did not have the money. Crowell told

Green that he should enroll and could reimburse the school after he graduated.

Green enrolled and recollected that he enjoyed “great pleasure and profit…from

the fraternal intercourse which I found in the midst of those big-hearted, kindly

disposed young men.” Again, Green makes no mention of racial discrimination,

nor did he suggest that he felt anything less than a complete equality amidst the

other students with whom he studied. If such memories were correct, and not

clouded by the passage of years, they provide a clear picture of the nature of the

society that Green and other educated African Americans encountered in post-

279 Fact Stranger Than Fiction, 117.

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Civil War Cleveland. It was not evidence that there was no racism in Cleveland, rather that there were few black men in Cleveland who had the education and ability evidenced in John P. Green. It is also an indication that Green had access to some of the most educated white men in the city who were not worried about being socially ostracized by befriending an African American who had significant intellectual ability. 280

Following his 1873 graduation from law school, Green gained employment in Cleveland working in the office of attorney William T. Clark. By that time,

Green had become active in Cuyahoga County Republican Party politics. In April of 1873 the Republican Party appointed a committee to prepare a slate of candidates for the upcoming municipal election.

Certain officers reported in favor of nominating Messrs B.W. Goddard, J.P. Green (colored) and H. B. Bates [and others for the office of Justice of the Peace]…the first ballot resulted in the choice of J.P. Green the vote being as follows: Green 31 Goddard 21 Bates 17 281

A man named John Huntington headed the Republican ticket for the office of mayor. Far down on the ticket was the name of John P. Green who had been nominated for the position of justice of the peace. Following the election, when the votes were finally counted, Huntington had lost his bid as

280 Fact Stranger Than Fiction , 118. Green’s experiences should not be characterized as commonplace or typical in Cleveland or elsewhere. Such experiences were not typical for middle class people of any race or ethnicity of that era. 281 "Republican City Convention, " Plain Dealer (Cleveland), April 17, 1873

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mayor; however, much to the surprise of all, Green was elected to office by a majority of “more than three thousand” votes. Green’s election was the first

African American political victory in Cleveland.282

The election of John P. Green as justice of the peace would not have

been surprising had Huntington succeeded in his bid for mayor. In that instance

the assumption might be that voters had simply voted a straight Republican Party

ticket. However, that was not the case. It was clear that Cuyahoga County voters

carefully considered the slate of candidates who were running and who should

be elected to office. Additionally, since Green's race was identified in the initial

report when the committee chose him as their candidate, voters likely knew that

he was African American. Finally, Cleveland voters appeared to be satisfied with

their choice of Green for the position because his election was not a one time

anomaly; in subsequent races he was reelected and served in the position as

justice of the peace for a total of nine years. 283

During the late nineteenth century, the office of justice of the peace was not as insignificant as it is today. At that time, a monetary bond of five thousand dollars was required of all men serving in that office. That sum was far in excess of what the average middle class person living in Cleveland earned in income in a year’s time. Attorney W.C. McFarland, for whom Green worked while he was attending law school, posted the bond for several of those years. Some of the responsibilities inherent to the office of justice of the peace included civil court

282 Fact Stranger Than Fiction , 150-151. 283 Fact Stranger Than Fiction, 150-151; Kusmer, A Ghetto Takes Shape, 118.

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cases with a monetary value of not more than three hundred dollars; cases of forcible entry and forcible detention; and “examining powers in all felonies and misdemeanors from murder down.” According to Green, the responsibilities

“made the court of justice of the peace [in Cleveland] of more importance that that of a Municipal Court Judge in Washington, D.C. or elsewhere at the time.” 284

When we understand that election to the office of justice of the peace was

one of high visibility, albeit at a local level, it casts a different light on the issue.

Attorneys practicing law in Cleveland would have had many opportunities to

argue cases in front of a justice of the peace. For this reason city attorneys and

justices would have ample time to become well acquainted; they would be well

aware of the personal abilities and shortcomings of each other. If Green had

initially been nominated and elected by chance, he could not have continued in

office for subsequent terms if he had not provided exemplary service. His political

opponents would have used both his race and his failures as a justice to defeat

him after his first term.

In his memoirs Green commented on the personal and political

relationships that resulted from his 1873 election as a justice. Myron T. Herrick,

served on the Cleveland City Council from 1885-1888, as governor of Ohio from

284 Fact Stranger Than Fiction , 151. The average manufacturing sector worker earned $1.56 a day which translated to less than $500 annually in 1870 ( assuming that the worker was employed 299 days a year). quoted from Clarence Dickenson Long, Wages and Earnings in the United States 1860-1890. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1960), 48. Green may have made the comparison regarding the importance of the role of a justice of the peace in Cleveland with the role of municipal court judge in Washington, D.C. because of his close personal association with Washington D.C. Municipal Court Judge Robert H. Terrell. Terrell, a Harvard graduate, was the first African American justice of the peace in the nations capital and later appointed municipal court judge there. Terrell was the husband of the famed Mary Church Terrell, a social and political activist.

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1904- 1906, and also as the United States Ambassador to France 1912-1914, reminded Green in correspondence, " that you were one of my first friends when, as a young man, I was admitted to the Bar." Likewise, Ohio Senator Theodore E.

Burton recalled having "tried his first case in [Green's] court" as a young lawyer.

These were just two of the important relationships Green established while serving as justice of the peace. His relationships with these two powerful men were just a small part of the extensive social and professional network that Green amassed during his very long lifetime. 285

In 1881, the Republican Party nominated Green to run as a candidate representing Cuyahoga County for the Ohio State House of Representatives.

Although Green does not discuss why the Republican Party chose him to run, it seems likely that his ability to make connections across the color line, as well as his performance as a justice of the peace, may have led to his nomination.

Green's election, and reelection, may suggest that Cleveland voters were ambivalent about race; however, Green's actions during his first run for state- level office suggests that he feared race might play a role in the outcome of the

285 Fact Stranger Than Fiction, 152. These opening pages rely heavily on Green's memoir; however, there are no biographies of Green and this is a serious void in the existing scholarship. For the purposes of this dissertation, it is important to focus on his accomplishments as a political pioneer and role as a civic leader. In 1873, Green became the first African American elected to political office in Cleveland. It would not be the last successful election for Green. Herrick and Burton were two Cleveland politicians who became intimately acquainted with Green during the early years of his career. Green made many important alliances while attending law school and working as a justice of the peace. In Cleveland, in the waning years of the nineteenth century, social class appeared to be far more powerful than race in the determination of alliances and interracial relationships. It will be demonstrated that other members of the African American elite were able to straddle the color line in Cleveland in ways that could not have been imagined in other locations. Green was still actively employed as an attorney when he died as the result of a traffic accident in 1940 (at age 95).

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election. During the campaign, Green penned a letter to the editor of the

(Cleveland) Leader designed to confront the race issue rather than ignore it. He wrote, "I would not insult the intelligence of the people of this district by asking them to endorse me because I am white, black or brown; for this, in my opinion is no more a reason for accepting of a man than for rejecting him." If he wished to be elected to public office, he could not avoid confronting the issue of race. He made it clear to his readers that he regarded all races as equal and expected intelligent voters to do the same. The results of the election indicate that his fears were unwarranted and that the electorate didn't care if he was "white, black or brown." 286

In 1880, African Americans comprised approximately one percent of

Cleveland's population of just over 160,000 people. There were not enough

African Americans living in the city to elect a black candidate. In the election of

1881, Green again secured a commanding lead and he became the first African

American from Cuyahoga County to serve in Ohio's House of Representatives

when he was sworn into office in January 1882. Ultimately, Green served two,

non-consecutive terms in the Ohio House and one term in the Ohio Senate.

Clearly race was not an issue for Cleveland voters during the election of 1881. 287

286 Cleveland Leader, August 31, 1881. 287 Fact Stranger Than Fiction , 171; A Ghetto Takes Shape, p. 10 ; Report on the Social Statistics of Cities, Census of Population and Housing, 1880 Census According to the 1880 United States Census report, the white population of Cleveland was 158,084 people and the population of "colored people including 23 Chinese and 1 Indian" was 2,062.

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Rayford Logan addressed the issue of race in The Negro in American Life and Thought: The Nadir 1877-1901. Logan said, "The problem of determining the place that Negroes should occupy in American life was the most difficult of the

'racial' problems that confronted the American government and people after the

Civil War." Green's run for office challenged residents of Cleveland to decide what the "place" of African Americans would be in their city. They were forced to decide if race would be a determining factor in choosing elected officials. They could reject the candidacy of a qualified man simply because of his race or they could choose the best candidate and ignore the color of his skin. The election of

Green was an early test of the racial attitudes in one major American city. White people did not seem adverse to voting for a black man. The majority of Green's votes had to have come from white Clevelanders given the small percentage of

African Americans living in Cleveland in 1881. The black population of Cleveland was far too small to sway an election.288

As a member of Cleveland's African American elite, John P. Green was one of a very small minority. By his accounts, Green did not experience the sting of racism as a factor of daily life. He practiced law and served as an elected official from Cleveland associating with men of like education and status. He did not see himself as less than his white counterparts. Green fondly recalled the day he was sworn into office saying, "I was sworn in and took my seat [I was part of] a group of some very conspicuous and able members…I may say, here, that

288 Rayford W. Logan, The Negro in American Life and Thought: The Nadir 1877-1901. (N.Y.: Dial Press, 1954) , 3.

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without exception, during the entire sessions of this General Assembly, I had nothing to complain of in this direction." Again, if Green's recollections are accurate, this memory affirms that the other elected officials treated him as a colleague and not as an anomaly. He was elected to represent Cuyahoga County and he fulfilled that obligation. The extensive network of colleagues that he established in Cleveland led to an even greater, more powerful network after his experiences in Columbus at the state capitol. 289

Near the end of his very long life, Green had nothing but positive memories of his time served in the Ohio legislature. He affirmed that he was treated with respect not only within the halls of government but also at home in the city of Cleveland. Other members of Cleveland's African American elite echoed Green's sentiments about being accepted as professional equals in

Cleveland. John P. Green, George A. Myers, Charles W. Chesnutt, and others, straddled the color line in Cleveland. They had access to any restaurant or hotel, could attend the theater and opera, and participated fully in the political arena.

Perhaps it was their close association with Cleveland's rich and powerful that gave them access to the people and places most members of the white middle class did not enjoy. Certainly they lived privileged lives, not just financially, but socially and intellectually. 290

289 Fact Stranger Than Fiction , 171. 290 The only exception to this lack of racism was when Charles W. Chesnutt was rejected for admission to the Rowfant Club, an exclusive literary society, the first time he was nominated. He was later renominated and accepted into full fellowship. According to his daughter Helen, Chesnutt remembered his membership as one of the most intellectually rewarding aspects of his life. (see Helen M. Chesnutt, Charles W. Chesnutt: Pioneer of the Color Line. (Chapel Hill:

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John P. Green took his responsibility as a public servant seriously. He

represented all the people of his district with equal diligence. While serving in the

Ohio House of Representatives, Green opposed the passage of any law that

even hinted at racial segregation. His first opportunity to go to battle for his race

in the state legislature occurred in 1883. At that time Green, and other state

legislators, succeeded in the elimination of all residual black codes in the state of

Ohio. In conjunction with that cleansing, the Ohio House enacted the Civil Rights

law of 1884 that granted equal accommodation in the state to all people in all

public places. 291

During the Sixty-ninth session of the Ohio General Assembly (1890), John

P. Green served as a state senator. At that time, Senator McDermott

(representative from Muskingum County) proposed legislation that would create segregated schools when twenty-five African American parents petitioned for a new school in any Ohio district. Green was vehemently opposed to segregation and "fought this measure desperately every time it came before the House…".

Green believed that any type of segregation was inherently unfair and that all children were to be accommodated equally. 292

University of North Carolina Press, 1952), 244. Harry Smith, African American editor and owner of the Cleveland Gazette was not part of Cleveland's black elite even though he was well known and prominent in many civic and political events in the city. An episode where Smith was refused admittance to a Cleveland restaurant will be discussed below. In reaction to his insult, Smith returned to the restaurant with Green and Myers and was treated with respect on that later occasion. 291 The Birth of Modern Cleveland , 130. 292 Fact Stranger Than Fiction , 186-187.

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Although he served in a variety of capacities for a great many years, John

P. Green is best known for sponsoring a bill first enacted in Ohio, but which would later become law throughout the entire nation. That bill led to the creation of the Labor Day holiday. It was signed into Ohio law in April 1890 designating the first Monday in September to be set aside as a day to honor labor. This same holiday was soon sponsored as a bill before the U.S. Congress where it became a national holiday four years later. 293

Although such success was modest in the world of national politics, it does

stand to highlight the initial accomplishment of one African American politician

from Cleveland. It is also important to note, that even if he had not enjoyed any

specific legislative successes, the accomplishment of securing multiple

nominations and electoral victories were evidence that opportunities were

available in Cleveland that were unavailable in other less egalitarian cities.

Certainly Cleveland was not alone in electing African Americans to

political office. The Reconstruction period has ample evidence of African

Americans serving their cities and states throughout the South. What is different

in the case of Cleveland was that the voting population of the city was

overwhelmingly white in this northern state. In Louisiana, South Carolina,

Mississippi, and North Carolina there were political districts that had a greater

than fifty percent African American population. Electoral success of black

candidates would be more predictable in such regions. During the 1870s and

293 Fact Stranger Than Fiction , 186-189.

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1880s, when John P. Green began his political career, the black population of

Cleveland and northern Ohio was statistically small. The likelihood of a black candidate having success at the polls should be surprising, but Green was successful on multiple occasions. That success cannot be attributed only to patronage on the part of influential whites who wanted to make a statement regarding the political liberality of the state of Ohio. There must be another explanation. 294

If white party bosses had wanted a candidate they could manipulate into following party plans they could have groomed a white candidate who would have towed the party line and voted in a way that appeased the establishment.

That situation would have been far more likely to easily garner political success than an African American. Such a candidate would have been easier to sell to the voting public than an African American man, even in a racially liberal city like

Cleveland. Had Green been the only African American to serve in government representing either Cleveland or some other area of Ohio we might deduce that the Republican Party used Green as a pawn to show that a black man could be elected in a northern state just as well as he could be in a southern state under control of military rule. We could speculate and say that the more likely explanation was that a significant number of white men in Ohio were desirous of proving their enlightened views with regard to race. There is no evidence that

294 A Ghetto Takes Shape, 10 &. 143. In 1870 the total population of Cleveland was 92,829. That rose to 160, 416 by 1880. The total black population of Cleveland was 1,293 in 1870 rising to 2,062 in 1880. Those numbers are total population, not registered voters. Statistically the black population was not large enough to elect any candidate without strong support from white voters.

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shows how or why Green was encouraged to run for office initially. After successfully serving as a justice of the peace, he had name recognition and a proven record. He was unsuccessful in his first campaign for state office in 1877, losing by just a few votes after a recount in one precinct. That campaign experience proved valuable and his next attempt in 1881 was successful by a wide margin. 295

Also, because the number of African Americans living in the state was statistically small, white people had not yet had sufficient opportunity to feel overwhelmed by or threatened by the emancipation of the former slaves or by the presence of free blacks. It was clear that for educated, qualified African

Americans living in Ohio, there were indeed windows of opportunity. There were some whites who were able and willing to help qualified blacks advance their cause by placing black candidates in a position where they were able to win elections despite the overwhelming whiteness of the population. 296

John P. Green was not the only well-educated African American participating in Ohio’s electoral politics during the Gilded Age. Jere Brown also belonged to the small but thriving, politically active, elite African American population in the city of Cleveland. Like John P. Green, Jere Brown realized that party politics was a path to upward economic and social mobility. Brown was born in Pittsburgh in 1841 and as a young man he attended college in

295 Fact Stranger Than Fiction , 152- 154. A Ghetto Takes Shape, 143. 296 A Ghetto Takes Shape, 118; 143. Kusmer makes a passing reference to the existence of “racial liberalism” in Cleveland, but fails to develop this idea.

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Pennsylvania. He lived for a time in Canada and St. Louis before making

Cleveland his permanent home during the early 1870s. 297

Through his contacts in the Republican Party, Brown obtained several

minor patronage positions, including letter carrier, before his subsequent election

as a member of the Ohio House of Representatives in 1885. Brown served two

terms between 1886 and 1889 as a state representative during which time he

was instrumental in creating coalitions that repealed the remaining black laws

from Ohio’s books, laws that had allowed discrimination in the insurance industry.

Although there were few African Americans in positions of political power,

interracial cooperation was the norm, rather than the exception, among elite

blacks and their white counterparts in Cleveland society. Throughout the

remainder of his life Brown continued to be active in political life, but had only

those two sessions of elective office. 298

Throughout their lives, even during the years they did not live in

Cleveland, John P. Green and Jere Brown maintained close ties to Republican

politicians in Cleveland. During the years covered by this study, the city of

Cleveland exerted a disproportionately large amount of influence on the national

political scene. Ohio Republicans Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield,

297 David D. VanTassel, The Encyclopedia of Cleveland Histor y, (http://ech.case.edu/ech- cgi/article.pl?id=BJA3 ) accessed 5/17/2012. Harry C. Smith, owner of The Cleveland Gazette, served three terms in the Ohio legislature. 1894-98 and 1900-1902. See Kusmer, A Ghetto Takes Shape, 131-2. 298 A Ghetto Takes Shape,121. In the late 1800s, appointments to positions within the postal service were often made as a reward for service to a candidate. For African Americans these were exceptionally elite positions. Government service was steady, well paid employment that carried the image of respectability,

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William McKinley and William H. Taft all served as president during these four decades. With most African American voters still solidly loyal to the party of

Lincoln, those elite blacks who were staunch Republican Party members had ample opportunity to meet, mingle and come to know these men who would become president. Prior to their election as president Taft and McKinley each had occasion to partake of the luxury and services provided by Cleveland’s

Hollenden Hotel while attending to business in the city. It was at the Hollenden that their paths merged with an ambitious young man by the name of George A.

Myers who, although nearly a generation younger than Jere Brown, was coming into prominence in Ohio Republican politics. 299

Myers, also a transplant to Ohio, rapidly became another key member of

Cleveland’s African American political scene. In 1858, he was born into a

prosperous, free-black family in Baltimore, Maryland. There, Myers’ father Isaac

was a businessman and labor union organizer. Isaac and his wife Emma were

members of Baltimore's thriving free-black community. Isaac tried unsuccessfully

to convince George to become a doctor, but the city of Baltimore would not

accept African Americans into the segregated public schools. Despite his father’s

wishes, George trained as a barber, a career that was both respected and

lucrative for African Americans during the Reconstruction era. 300

299 A Ghetto Takes Shape, 123. 300 The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History, http://ech.case.edu/ech- cgi/article.pl?id=MGA1 (accessed September 21, 2012) ; Garraty, The Barber and the Historian. Kusmer, 122-3. Isaac Myers was the owner of a ship-yard in Baltimore that employed only African Americans. Isaac also George A. Myers was no stranger to politics when he moved to Cleveland. His father had long been active in political affairs in Baltimore and so like Walter

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By 1879, realizing the limitations he faced as a result of the growing

racism in the upper South, Myers headed north in search of opportunities. Soon

after his arrival in Cleveland, he found employment as a barber at the Weddell

House Hotel and quickly became part of the city's vibrant, African American,

upper-class society. 301

When Myers moved to Cleveland, the Weddell House was perhaps the finest hotel in the city. There in the hotel barber shop, as well as in the well- appointed bar, the city’s most influential white men came to be served and to conduct business. At that time, men who could afford the daily services of a barber did so, and as a result, the barber shop became the place for an informal start to the work day. In that environment, men who mattered in the city of

Cleveland met to discuss business and political matters. 302

For Myers, employment as a barber at the Weddell House became the opportunity of a lifetime. The workplace quickly became an institution of higher learning for the young barber. Attending to his clients, he quietly listened to the conversations that swirled around him and before long George ventured to dip his toe into Cleveland’s water. It was a natural step for Myers to become involved in Republican Party politics in Cleveland. As an up and coming member of

Cohen, Myers was born into a family steeped in political tradition. For more on the growing racism in Baltimore during the latter half of the nineteenth century see Leroy Graham, Baltimore: The Nineteenth Century Black Capital. (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1982). 301 A Ghetto Takes Shape, 122-3. There is not a great deal of information available about George A. Myers' early years in Cleveland. The papers preserved in his collection begin with 1890, when George was 32 years old and already on his way to becoming a politically powerful force in Cleveland. 302 A Ghetto Takes Shape, 123.

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Cleveland’s elite black community, he certainly had contact with men like John P.

Green and Jere Brown. He also gleaned a great deal of political information from his associations with wealthy and powerful white men who patronized the hotel's exclusive barber shop. 303

In 1885 a new and more spectacular hotel opened in Cleveland serving both residential and transient guests. The Hollenden Hotel quickly surpassed the

Weddell House as the place to be in Cleveland. At the time the Hollenden opened, Myers was already well-known and respected by influential whites in the city. Because he was intelligent and socially well-connected, six wealthy white businessmen loaned Myers twenty five dollars each; Leonard C. Hanna and

Henry S. Blossom lent larger sums while L.E. Holden, owner of the hotel, provided sixteen hundred dollars. Initially these men formed a partnership with

Myers, and as a result, Myers opened the most up to-date, well-appointed barbershop in the city. Like the hotel, the barber shop at the Hollenden attracted many customers that had formerly frequented the Weddell House. Myers’ business grew dramatically and he quickly bought out his partners. By the end of a year, almost all the borrowed funds had been repaid and Myers became the sole owner. The wealth Myers earned from his establishment, which at its height

303 A Ghetto Takes Shape, 123. Kusmer cites the senior thesis of Henry E. Siebert IV (at Princeton University) titled: "George A. Myers: Ohio Negro Leader and Political Ally of Marcus A. Hanna" for a greater awareness of the interracial relationship between these two powerful men.

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employed thirty barbers, provided him the financial freedom to freely participate in the political “game” that consumed his interests. 304

Myers enjoyed politics not as a vocation but as an avocation. He was never financially dependent on political patronage and that gave him an enormous advantage over other African Americans who needed the political patronage of powerful whites to insure their economic livelihood . Myers' independent wealth was one reason that he was able to stand as a peer to many of the most influential men in Cleveland. 305

With the friendship and tutelage of businessmen and politicians like

Newton D. Baker, Charles Dick, James Ford Rhodes and Mark Hanna, Myers

studied the intricacies of the political arena. He learned when it was appropriate

to act and how to be effective through suitable strategies. Myers referred to

himself as "an apt pupil [of Hanna] trusted with many confidences." Over time the

pupil became the associate and Myers was instrumental in advancing the

ambitions of all these men. The Reverend Reverdy C. Ransom acknowledged

Myers close association with Mark Hanna and President McKinley when he

wrote, "There be (sic) men in the nation who would give their thousands to stand

as close to Mr. Hanna and President McKinley as you have done in the past few

years…" Ransom knew that Myers could gain an audience with either man at any

304 A Ghetto Takes Shape, 123.; Myers and others referred to politics as "the game." See George A. Myers to James Ford Rhodes, Feb 16, 1923 and March 15, 1921, GAM Papers; Also see: John A. Garraty, The Barber and the Historian; The Correspondence of George A. Myers and James Ford Rhodes, 1910- 1923. (Columbus: Ohio Historical Society, 1956), xvi-xvii; xxiii. 305 Garraty, The Barber and the Historian, xvi-xviii

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time for any reason. Both men admired Myers for his unconditional friendship, loyalty and his ability to successfully complete any task assigned. 306

There is some circumstantial evidence, certainly more than a mere suggestion, that Myers may have been responsible for the payment of a bribe during the election of 1898 that helped insure the return of previously appointed

Senator Mark Hanna to the U.S. Senate. In 1917, Myers wrote to James Ford

Rhodes," Truth of the matter is …[I provided] 'very much needed services' … to

Uncle mark in the memorable campaign of 1897 & 1898, and without which

Uncle Mark could never have been elected as U.S. Senator." 307

If Myers did pay a bribe to secure Hanna's election, he considered his actions defensible during the political climate of the late nineteenth century.

Bribery in the political sphere was acknowledged if not condoned. In an era when political machines were an integral part of politics, only the most blatant of actions were reasons for censure. Myers alluded to his actions many years after

306 George A. Myers to James Ford Rhodes, March 4, 1920, GAM Papers ; Reverdy C. Ransom to George A. Myers, January 19, 1898; GAM Papers. Newton D. Baker was a wealthy Cleveland lawyer and businessman. He was a Democrat who served as mayor of that city from 1912-1915 and as United States Secretary of War from 1916-1921. Charles W. F. Dick, a Republican who served as Summit County Auditor, succeeded Mark Hanna as the United States Senator from Ohio serving in that capacity from 1904 to 1911. He and Myers attended the 1896 Republican Party Convention as delegates. James Ford Rhodes was the brother- in - law of Mark Hanna, but Rhodes was a Democrat. With his father he built businesses in the iron, coal and steel industries. In 1885, Rhodes retired and spent the rest of his life in Boston, Massachusetts writing histories. He remained close personal friends with Myers for the rest of his life and there is extensive communication documenting their friendship. Mark Hanna was a childhood friend of John D. Rockefeller. married the sister of James Ford Rhodes and joined the Rhodes family business. He retired from business and entered politics. He was the power behind the election of William McKinley and McKinley appointed Hanna to served the remaining period of John Sherman's term in the U.S. Senate when McKinley appointed Sherman to be Secretary of State. 307 George A. Myers to James Ford Rhodes, June 11, 1917 in Garraty, The Barber and the Historian, 70.

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most of the principles involved had died, yet he never publicly admitted to engaging in questionable activities. 308

George Myers would not have put his “neck on the line” for just any candidate. His business was secure; he certainly would not participate in such an action solely for political or financial gain. Instead, there seems to have been a deep and abiding affection between these two men. Myers affirmed that mutual affection when he said, " I enjoyed perhaps a closer unbroken personal and confidential relation with Mr. Hanna, than was accorded to but few." Both Myers and Hanna were ruthless businessmen who would stop at nothing to achieve a desired goal; however, both were exceptionally cognizant of public perception and social position. Myers always defended his status in Cleveland society and expected others to treat him in a way that that position demanded. When corresponding with close friends and associates of both races, he always referred to them using appropriate titles. He rarely signed his letters with anything other than his full name. Myers was in every sense of the word a proper Victorian gentleman and conducted his public and private life accordingly. 309

308 When William McKinley was inaugurated President, he selected Ohio senator John Sherman to serve as Secretary of State. At that time, the Ohio legislature chose Mark Hanna to serve the remainder of Sherman’s term as senator. Mark Hanna was consequently selected to complete Sherman's term. By his own accounts Myers was responsible for Hanna's election as Senator. In this letter to Rhodes Myers wrote," had I not rendered that loyal service, Mr. Croly would not have had the opportunity to write such a readable book." Myers believed Croly's biorgraphy of Hanna was highly romanticized. The individual Croly described bore little resemblance to the ruthless man Myers knew. George A. Myers to James Ford Rhodes, October 15, 1912, GAM Papers.

309 George A. Myers to James F. Rhodes, October 15, 1912 & February 16, 1923. GAM Papers. The overwhelming majority of correspondence between people during the years covered by this dissertation had both the correspondents and the recipients identified by first and last names.

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As was commonly the case in the party politics of the era, individuals who exercised outstanding effort in behalf of a candidate or the party were rewarded with political plums. George Myers repeatedly refused political appointments from the Republican Party stating that his business was more lucrative than a government position. In correspondence with James Ford Rhodes, Myers commented," I served Mr. Hanna because I loved him and the lure of the game…Both Mr. Hanna as a friend and Mr. McKinley as President, repeatedly offered and desired to take care of me politically, but …I declined." To Myers the ability to wield personal influence was far more important in maintaining his power base than any patronage position means might have been. 310

During the month of October 1900, The [Cleveland] Plain Dealer published a photo essay depicting some of the leading African Americans of the city.

Speaking of George A. Myers they wrote: “Myers is without a doubt the most widely known colored man in Cleveland and probably the leading politician of his race in Ohio. He is now and has been for many years a member of the

Republican State Committee. He is a tireless worker, shrewd diplomat and has the reputation of being closer to Senator Hanna than most of the party’s leaders.”

The use of such language to describe an individual would have been an accolade for any person involved in public life; but the fact that such lofty praise was penned in a white newspaper of national stature in reference to a person of

The style of writing was far more formal than anything we see used in the present time. It was a sign of respect to use full names and titles when addressing friends and even family members. 310 George A. Myers to James Ford Rhodes, February 16, 1923, GAM Papers.

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color made the statements even more remarkable. Clearly Myers was a key player in national politics and The Plain Dealer recognized the talents and

abilities of such an influential man. 311

In May 1906, Ralph Tyler an African American Republican party loyalist and reporter for The Ohio State Journal, implored Myers to use his influence with the U.S. Senator from Ohio, Charles Dick. At that time Tyler was seeking appointment to the United States Consular Service. Senator Dick was personally acquainted with Ralph Tyler, but Tyler knew that a recommendation from Myers would bring weight to the recommendation. In his letter to Myers, Tyler urged him to “keep the matter STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL” and to comply with the request immediately. Clearly Tyler was leaving nothing to chance and was convinced that all Myers had to do was say the word and the matter would be a fait accompli. 312

Almost a year later in February 1907, Jere Brown requested Myers' influence with Senator Dick when Brown applied for a civil service job transfer from Washington D.C. back to Cleveland. This time the matter was more complicated because Brown was requesting a transfer between agencies, not simply a location change. Myers intervened for his friend strongly urging Senator

Dick to comply with the request. Apparently, Myers' tone was rather strident in his request. Dick quoted Myers' letter in his reply saying, " As to Jere Brown's matter, your inquiry asking " Is there no way left for you to look out for your friends here?'

311 The Plain Dealer , (Cleveland) ,October 14, 1900. 312 Ralph Tyler to G. Myers May 11, 1906, GAM papers. The Ohio State Journal was a Republican newspaper run by white people in Columbus, Ohio

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indicates a misconception on your part." Senator Dick patiently explained the difficulties to Myers and reassured Myers that he (Dick) was doing all that was possible to comply with Brown’s wishes. Dick commented: “When I am again in

Cleveland, as I expect to be shortly after adjournment, I shall no doubt see you and can then explain more fully, but in the meantime …[you] and others can depend upon it I will do whatever I can in accordance with your wishes…” After several pleasantries, Dick concludes his letter saying: “With kind regards, even though, you should occasionally express yourself in a somewhat critical tone when there is no warrant in fact for your doing so, I remain, Very truly yours,

Charles Dick.” 313

Several days later, Myers replied to Senator Dick’s letter. He first thanked

Dick for the letter and the efforts he had and would make in the future on Brown’s behalf. Following the cordialities Myers took a decidedly different tone. He wrote:

“… while I would not presume to take to task or criticize so great a person as a

United States Senator in his official capacity, especially Senator Dick of Ohio, I do feel that I can write my friend, Hon. Chas. Dick of Ohio, in all frankness and honesty of purpose and in the widest latitude possible that the true friendship existing between us permits. In this, I know I am not mistaken …” 314

Clearly, the tone of this letter is not what one would expect between a political lackey and an influential politician. Myers addressed his friend, the senator, as a political and social equal. There could have been no possibility of

313 Senator Charles Dick to George Myers, February 15, 1907. GAM Papers 314 George A. Myers to Senator Charles Dick, February 22, 1907. GAM Papers

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paternalism in such a relationship. Any African American who believed that he was in the debt of a white politician would have taken a decidedly different tack when making any sort of political request, especially after the senator sent a message gently chiding him for the insistence of his request. These were two men on equal footing and who gently sparred with each other as people who are secure in a relationship could. Any suggestion that race played a part in this relationship would be in error. In all of the correspondence between these two men there is no reference to the race of Myers or any indication that Dick saw himself as more privileged than Myers. It was quite clear that Dick was well aware that he served in office because the electorate placed him there. As a

United States Senator he was a servant of the people, sent to Washington to represent his constituents. George Myers was certainly his friend, advisor, and a constituent; not just any constituent, but one with considerable clout among people in influential circles. These men had developed a friendship over many years and interacted as equals.

Myers was not afraid to assert his political clout with local officials either.

During the autumn of 1908, members of Cleveland’s black elite were planning an

evening of entertainment for the nationally known African American vaudeville

performers Robert Cole and John Rosamund Johnson. The entertainers were

touring that season with their critically acclaimed stage production Red Moon.

Cole and Johnson were not traditional vaudeville performers. In 1900, both J.

Rosamond and his brother James Weldon Johnson united with Robert Cole to

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form a theatrical company called “the best colored team of their kind in the business.” J. Rosamond was a classically trained musician, both at the New

England Conservatory and in Europe, and some believe it was through the sheer force of his personality that he was able to breach the color barrier that trapped most talented black performers in the mire of minstrelsy. When part of a traveling variety company, the stage acts of African American vaudeville performers were often referred to as “coon acts.” By 1908, legendary performers and members of the African American elite, Cole and Johnson, were no longer considered in that category. 315

During the first decade of the twentieth century when the initial effects of systemic Jim Crow were beginning to infiltrate north, Myers and his associates scarcely noticed their onset and they would never permit such influence to permeate their social affairs. In an attempt to forestall any untoward attention toward their upcoming activities from the local police, Myers penned a personal letter to Cleveland’s chief of police Fred Kohler notifying him of the planned activities "in the banquet room of Starlight's Café East 14th Street. This room is over the restaurant and tailor shop and has no direct connection with the saloon."

Myers discussed the event planned in honor of Cole and Johnson with the Chief of Police with the intention that the chief should make sure the police of that district would make no efforts to interfere with his planned event. Myers wrote, "I

315 The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) , September 27, 1908; September 29, 1908; quoted in Sotiropoulos, Staging Race, Black Performers in Turn of the Century America. (Cambridge, Ma.; Harvard University Press, 2006), 48; Rayford W. Logan and Michael R. Winston, ed. Dictionary of American Negro Biography. (N.Y.: W.W. Norton & Company, 1982 ), 353-359.

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am writing to ask your permission that we may have music during our entertainment. Kindly favor me with an early reply that we might complete our arrangements." The specific element of importance in Myers’ letter was the fact that they desired music as part of the evening’s entertainment. It was specifically with regard to the element of music at the affair that Myers wanted to be assured

there would be no intrusion. 316

The following day, Myers received a reply from Kohler voicing some skepticism about the nature of the facilities where the proposed event would be held. Chief Kohler wrote the "banquet rooms at Starlight's Cafe sounds good and looks good in print. Whether there is anything like that or not , I do not care to take up at this time, as it is my desire to assist you in entertaining your friends."

Kohler knew who Boyd was and did not regard him with the same respect he was forced to extend to Myers. While it is clear from the historical evidence that the owner of the facility, Albert “Starlight” Boyd, was not a member of Myers’ social circle and that Boyd was occasionally linked to activities that were considered legally questionable, it is also probable that Myers was unable to quickly secure a different location where a large group of African American men could host a social event on short notice. In his correspondence, Myers clearly depicted the nature of the chosen facility and its purpose. He informed Kohler that the

"banquet room" was in no way connected to Boyd’s saloon (a place that may

316 George A. Myers to Fred Kohler, September 28, 1908. GAM Papers, apparently there were errors on the dates of the letters. The letter from Kohl to Myers was dated the day before the original letter, however, Kohler said, "Yours of the 26th)

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have had a dubious reputation) and was located on the lower floor of the same building that housed the banquet room. 317

Kohler quickly agreed to abide by Myers’ request and promised that there

would be no interference from his department on that day. It is unclear whether it

was the location, Starlight Boyd’s facility, or the inclusion of musical

entertainment, which caused members of Cleveland’s black elite to feel some

concern. Although the specific purpose of Myers’ request regarding the inclusion

of music was left unsaid, no individual associated with the African American elite

would willingly participate in any social activity if that activity had the potential to

tarnish his reputation. It would have been for this concern that Myers felt

compelled to provide advance notice of the event to the chief of police. By 1917 it

was common knowledge that Boyd’s saloon was, at least occasionally, involved

in some sorts of illicit activities. However, in 1908 there was little debate about

the legitimacy of this specific occasion. As nationally known celebrities, Cole and

Johnson were members of the African American elite and they were entertained

at an event that included the best of Cleveland’s black society. 318

317 George A. Myers to Fred Kohler, September 28, 1908. GAM Papers. There were a variety of facilities that Myers might have used to entertain Cole and Johnson. It could have been the spreading of "Jim Crowism" or perhaps there simple were no other suitable facilities available for the crowd Myers anticipated. George Myers and other Cleveland elites formed the Caterers' Club in 1903 and that club had their own facility. In addition, Myers sometimes entertained at the Hollenden Hotel. There is no explanation in his personal papers why he did not use one of those locations to entertain Cole and Johnson. 318 Fred Kohler to George A. Myers, September 27, 1908, GAM Papers. Although Starlight Boyd eventually became associated and involved with the Republican Party in Cleveland, he never attained the same social stature or power that Myers exhibited. A decade after this event, Boyd’s name had become synonymous with corruption and extralegal activities. A Ghetto Takes Shape, 146.

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That this correspondence occurred at all is significant regarding the influence and power Myers had within the city of Cleveland. Myers did not take pains to make sure there was no possible breach of behavior among his guests any more than a powerful white man would have taken such an action. He simply preempted any possible actions that the white police might have taken. Any interference by Cleveland's police could have made out of town celebrities the center of what could have been an unfortunate incident. What makes the correspondence between Myers and Kohler the most unusual is the letter Myers sent to Kohler the day following the smoker that feted Cole and Johnson.

On October 2, Myers once again wrote to Kohler, this time in reply to

Kohler’s previous letter in which Kohler acknowledged Myers’ request in a sneering manner. Using grandiloquent form, Myers profusely thanked Kohler for his cooperation during the performers’ visit and then shifted to language the chief would have instantly recognize as highly sarcastic. In his reply Myers said:

I first desire to thank you for your magnanimity in granting us the favor to have music during our entertainment for Cole and Johnson at the Banquet Room at Starlight's Cafe and further to say that the smoker was a success in every particular.

Again referring to your favor again I am constrained to believe when the Bestest chief of the Bestest finest; in the bestest governed city in the world makes use of the expression "Banquet Room at Starlight's Cafe sounds good and looks good in print and whether there is any-thing of the kind in reality or not" that he is indulging in a bit of levity to give me (personally) a

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good time and I accept the invidious comparison as such. 319

The use of the word "bestest" was completely out of character for the elegant, Victorian gentleman, George Myers. Nowhere else in decades of correspondence did Myers speak or write in such a manner. Yet on that occasion

Myers’ letter to Kohler depicted Myers’ perception of the chief. Speaking to the chief as if he were speaking to a young child or an intellectually challenged adult,

Myers calmly and clearly restated the intention of his initial correspondence.

Obviously Myers had not wished to antagonize Kohler prior to the planned event; otherwise he would have immediately replied to the chief’s letter. But just as clearly Myers resented Kohler’s insinuation that the affair was anything less than a gentlemen’s event. By referring to Kohler as the “bestest chief,” Myers indicated that he respected the office that Kohler held, but did not appreciate what Kohler insinuated. Myers would have been incensed by any attempt to degrade his status in the community. George A. Myers exemplified an image that

William E.B. DuBois made famous: “the talented tenth,” the upper crust of black society. Myers was intelligent, self-educated, born into a family that was free before the Civil War and part of a cohesive, well connected group of people who socialized and married within their own community, just as we saw evident in southern cities. Conversely, Starlight Boyd was representative of those who formed an emerging group of self-made individuals who came to power in northern cities during the Great Migration, The "New Negro". Boyd eventually

319 George A. Myers to Fred Kohler, October 2, 1908, GAM Papers.

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acquired money, property and influence, but he was never accepted as a member of elite Cleveland society. Myers may have scheduled an event in

Boyd’s facility but it is unlikely that Boyd would have been invited to the fete or that Myers would socialized with a person of Boyd's reputation. 320

Simply confronting Kohler with his thinly veiled anger was insufficient for

Myers. In addition to making his point known, Myers told Kohler that the same

meeting room had been used previously for an affair held by the Cleveland

Association of Colored Men and other men's organizations. At that time members

of The Association of Colored Men were only “our best and most representative

citizens.” To drive his point home, Myers informed Kohler that the next time they

scheduled a smoker, he would invite Kohler to be his personal guest at the affair

so that Kohler could “see and believe” for himself the nature of their society.

Finally, Myers insisted, “I could not afford by hint, innuendo or otherwise to make

any misrepresentations to you-- your confidence and esteem I prize and value

too highly -- my reputation as a law abiding citizen and a businessman would not

permit me to deceive you or any gentlemen, be he public servant or a private

citizen.” 321

320 George A. Myers to Fred Kohler, October 2, 1908. Albert "Starlight" Boyd was born during Reconstruction on a plantation in Mississippi. He was the antithesis of the old, cultured, black elite and he epitomized what it meant to be a member of the "New Negro." Like George A. Myers, Boyd was a self made man and he became politically powerful in Cleveland (but not throughout the state and certainly not nationally.) He was not a cultured, sophisticated, "Victorian" gentleman. He was smart, wily, and successful. He assumed the role of political operative after Myers "retired" from the "game" (as politics was called). There were few similarities between these two men, and Myers resented being put into the same class or category as Boyd. For more information on Albert Boyd see The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History entry for Boyd http://ech.case.edu/ech-cgi/article.pl?id=BADS accessed July 26, 2012. 321 George A. Myers to Fred Kohler, October 2, 1908., GAM Papers.

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With this final comment, George Myers made clear his social and political superiority over Kohler. If Myers had been intimidated by the police chief he would never have suggested that he would invite Kohler as his “personal guest” to a social affair. If Kohler’s power in Cleveland exceeded Myers’, Kohler could have used his authority in the capacity of police chief to simply appear at such an event; to ascertain the nature of the proceedings; but that was not the case.

Kohler would have been well aware that had he or his men intruded on any affair hosted by George A. Myers, without a highly demonstrable justification, a complaint by Myers would have endangered his future career as Cleveland’s chief of police. Additionally, Myers use of the phrase " would not permit me to

deceive you or any gentlemen, be he public servant or a private citizen " suggests

he did not believe Kohler was a gentleman. If he had included Kohler in the class

of men deemed gentlemen he would have said "you or any other gentleman".

Because he did not use such language, Myers articulated that he considered

himself to be of a higher social class than the police chief. Myers was probably

justified in his reasoning. Myers was able to request and receive an audience

with the President of the United States. Few American police chiefs would have

had similar access to the president.

George Myers used his considerable political influence to secure personal

favors for friends and associates. He also used his influence to lobby for

legislation that directly affected his livelihood. In March 1902, there was pending

legislation in the Ohio House of Representatives that, if passed, would regulate

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the barbering trade. On this occasion, Myers lobbied strenuously against the bill enlisting the help of Ralph Tyler, a close personal friend and writer for the (white)

Republican leaning newspaper, The Columbus [Ohio] Dispatch. When it seemed conceivable that the bill might actually pass, Myers took no chances and petitioned for assistance from his personal friend U. S. Senator Mark A. Hanna.

Using his considerable political capital, Hanna called in favors to obtain the votes necessary to defeat the Barber Bill in 1902. There were repeated attempts at similar legislation and Myers was continually involved in attempts to defeat such bills as late as 1910. Although the Barber Bills were legislation at the state level and Hanna was a United States Senator, as the head of a national political machine Hanna was powerful enough to sway state politics at home. When

George Myers requested the senator’s help, Hanna swiftly took measures to support a man who had served him and the party with virtually unquestioning loyalty. 322

Mark Hanna acknowledged the thanks Myers offered for his intervention in state politics and then requested Myers' assistance in an Ohio district where the

Republican Party influence among African Americans was wavering. In his letter

322 Ralph Tyler to George A. Myers, March 19, 1902;. George A. Myers to T.E. Eubanks, February 8, 1910, GAM Papers; Dictionary of American Negro Biography, 564-5; A Ghetto Takes Shape, 132-134; 241-2. The issue that concerned Myers on this particular occasion and several other occasions during that decade concerned regulation of the barber trade. Some legislators continued to sponsor legislation that would require barbers to attend a training facility and then apply for licensing. As the number of southern blacks began the migration north, resistance to integration in the North intensified. All of the existing barber training schools were run by whites and Myers feared there would be segregation in training and licensing. If that situation were to occur, Myers as the owner of a facility that employed African American men, at times numbering as many as thirty employees, would have his source of employees reduced or eliminated. To prevent such an occurrence, Myers continually fought the attempts of the state to further regulate the barber trade.

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Hanna asks Myers to “look into the matter” but refrains from suggesting a course of action. Hanna knew that he could trust Myers to analyze the problem and to devise an appropriate course of action. Clearly there was no need for micromanagement from Washington, D.C. Mark Hanna knew he could always depend on George Myers when political matters were at stake. 323

Myers was totally committed to the success of the Republican Party while

Hanna was alive. His desire to "play the game" waned after the assassination of

McKinley and the unexpected death of Hanna. Myers remained engaged and

interested throughout the remainder of his life but he no longer devoted his heart,

mind and soul to the cause. He also remained active working for worthy causes

for the remainder of his life, but decreased in his desire to be thoroughly

immersed in his later years. The one thing that remained constant was Myers'

lack of desire to participate in organizations such as the National Negro Business

League and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. 324

Historian Willard B. Gatewood argued that Myers remained aloof from organizations like the N.A.A.C.P. because "he was dependent on whites for his political influence." Myers did not avoid the N.A.A.C.P. because he feared antagonizing Hanna and others, nor did he fear losing his political power. He was involved in many civic organizations and did not feel a need to become involved

323 Mark A. Hanna to George A. Myers, March 31, 1902, GAM Papers. 324 Booker T. Washington wrote two letters to George A. Myers in July 1901 asking him to speak at the annual meeting of the National Negro Business League to be held the following month in August. Myers did not reply to the first letter and there is no evidence in his correspondence that he replied to the second either. Booker T. Washington to George A. Myers, July 6 and 25 , 1901, GAM Papers.

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with the N.A.A.C.P. He preferred to work within the channels he had already established. He avoided organizations linked to all race leaders, preferring party politics to race politics. 325

Myers was certainly not the only prominent black Clevelander active in civic causes and Republican Party politics at the turn of the twentieth century.

For many years he had a contemporary, and sometimes nemesis, in Harry C.

Smith, the editor and owner of the Cleveland race newspaper, The Gazette.

Despite being well acquainted with Mark Hanna, Smith was not in the political

trenches for the influential, millionaire businessman-politician and there was no

love lost between Smith and Hanna . 326

Although Smith was not part of the Hanna political machine, he was a

loyal Republican. Beginning with the election of 1892, Smith won three terms

representing Cuyahoga County in the Ohio House of Representatives. During

some of the years that Myers supported the Hanna political machine, Smith

instead chose to align with another Ohio Republican faction led by Joseph B.

Foraker, who served as governor of Ohio from 1886 to 1890. In 1896 when

McKinley was elected president, Foraker was elected to the United States

Senate and served in that capacity from 1897 to 1909. 327

325 Aristocrats of Color, 325. Myers avoided the N.A.A.C.P. but he also avoided the National Negro Business League (sponsored by B.T. Washington) 326 Reverdy C. Ransom to George A. Myers, Oct 28, 1896; Ralph Tyler to George A. Myers, October 23, 1896, GAM Papers. A race newspaper was a black owned newspaper that reported current events and other news stories that catered to the African American population. The Gazette was one of the most successful race newspapers in America. It was owned and operated by Harry C. Smith. 327 Ohio and Its People , 271.

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As president, McKinley appointed Ohio senator John Sherman to be his

Secretary of State. At that time the Ohio legislature picked Mark Hanna to fill the remainder of Sherman’s term. Although “Uncle Mark” [Hanna] had the dominant personality, as senators both Hanna and Foraker commanded respect serving the United States Senate. During the years that the two men served in the

Senate, both were effective conduits proclaiming Cleveland’s influence in the nation’s capitol. With Mark Hanna in office, George Myers had nearly immediate response to inquiries and requests. Harry C. Smith enjoyed significant, though perhaps a bit less, notice because of his African American Republican weekly newspaper, the Cleveland Gazette; a paper read by whites and blacks alike. The power garnered by publishing a successful newspaper that endorsed Foraker, gave Smith the willing ear of the grateful Foraker. However, according to

Reverdy C. Ransom, Hanna and Smith had temperaments and personalities that allowed them little in the way of mutual sympathies. 328

With Foraker and Hanna serving in the Senate, both Myers and Smith had

voices in Washington and each man had different ideas of how best to serve his

race. Although both supported the Republican president, neither man supported

the policies of Booker T. Washington. Only Smith, however, was willing to

publicly oppose the position of the influential leader. Myers enjoyed a warm and

328 Reverdy C. Ransom to George A. Myers, Oct 28, 1896, GAM Papers. In his letter to Myers, Ransom discusses Harry Smith's ability to self-promote using material published in Smith's newspaper the [Cleveland] Gazette and also articles that appeared in the [Cleveland] Plain Dealer. During the fall of 1896 Harry Smith was traveling in the southern states campaigning for William McKinley. Harry Smith was not part of the Mark Hanna political machine. Instead he was allied with a different wing of the Republican Party also operating in Ohio. Mark Hanna was the campaign manager for William McKinley during the election of 1896.

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personal friendship with Washington. When Washington came to Cleveland for speaking engagements, he was usually a house guest at the Myers’ home.

Despite their friendship, Myers did not participate in any of Washington’s organizations despite repeated pleas to do so. Philosophically, Myers was more in harmony with William E.B. DuBois, although he shunned DuBois’ organizations as well. Later Walter White, who was also intimately involved with the N.A.A.C.P. also stayed at Myers' home when he had the opportunity to visit

Cleveland. Despite shunning race organizations, Myers remained dedicated to the Republican Party, his Masonic lodge and other local organizations like the

Caterers’ Club and the City Club. 329

Although both Myers and Smith were ardent integrationists, their

temperaments and their methods were markedly different. Whereas Myers

epitomized every characteristic of the classic Victorian gentleman, Smith was

defiant, brash and demonstrative. Smith was never accepted into the social fold

of Cleveland’s black elite although on nearly every other level he was their equal.

With regard to education, intellect, and income there was no difference; however,

329 A Ghetto Takes Shape, 57; Booker T. Washington to George A. Myers, Dec 2, 1903, GAM Papers. Kenneth Kusmer argues that Myers chose not to become involved in organized protest against discrimination because he feared it would alienate powerful whites on whom he depended to maintain the success of his business. Although that could be a logical assumption, it is more likely that Myers believed he could accomplish more as an example of the success African Americans could anticipate if they were resourceful, thrifty and good businessmen. Myers did not echo Booker T. Washington’s agenda however; instead, he built mutually beneficial relationships with other businessmen irrespective of race. By the middle of the 1890s, the strength and breadth of Myers’ relationships with white people was such that he did not seem to hesitate to speak or act in a deferential manner.

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it was Smith’s vociferous and strident militancy (and perhaps his upbringing) that kept him estranged for many years from Myers and his cadre. 330

Harry Smith was born in West Virginia in 1863 and moved to Cleveland with his mother and sister soon after the end of the Civil War. Far less is known about Smith’s background than other influential black Clevelanders. Although

Smith was very vocal in sharing his opinions about politics and society in general, he kept his private life very private. Smith never married and had few, if any, intimate friends. Writing in the preface to the Reverend Dr. William J. Simmons’

Men of Mark: Eminent, Progressive and Rising, Ernest Kaiser remarked that the volume was “a much needed dictionary of Negro biography … [and] that nearly all of those profiled came from slave parents or were slaves themselves.” Harry

Smith was featured in Men of Mark, but none of the members of Cleveland’s black elite were profiled in Simmons’ work. In the course of his voluminous writings, Harry Smith never discussed the circumstances of his birth. If Smith was indeed born a slave, that fact alone would have been sufficient to place a wedge between him and the other members of Cleveland’s black elite who prided themselves on their heritage of freedom. 331

330 Despite their personal differences, Myers and Smith joined forces to prevent the establishment of any facility in Cleveland that was created for the specific use of only one race. Both opposed Jane Edna Hunter's attempts to establish the Phillis Wheatley home for African American women in Cleveland and the attempts to build a Y.M.C.A. dedicated to African Americans. See A Ghetto Takes Shape, 124 for a discussion on opposition to race-based facilities in Cleveland. 331 In 1882 Harry C. Smith graduated from the interracial Central High School in Cleveland, Ohio. The following year, he began the Cleveland Gazette with three partners while he was serving as the director of the Central High School orchestra. Eventually he became the sole owner and successfully operated the Gazette as a weekly newspaper serving the African American community for the remainder of his life. For more on Smith see William J. Simmons, Men of Mark: Eminent, Progressive and Rising. (Cleveland: Geo. M. Rewell & Co., Press of W.W.

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Even if the others were unaware of Smith’s original status, perhaps Smith placed a formidable barrier between himself and those around him. His service as a member of the board of electors, a Deputy State Oil Inspector and a member of the Ohio House of Representatives placed him in the company of the politically powerful, but he was never welcome into their social circles. The barriers between him and the rest of Cleveland’s black elite were every bit as overwhelming as the barriers between blacks and whites in the overall population. The relations were so contentious between Smith and members of

Cleveland’s black elite that in some cases, members of the black elite were unwilling to work for his political advancement. In September 1899 when Harry

Smith was nominated to run again for the Ohio House, Jere Brown complained that the “little big headed nigger is nominated. I shall not give him a modicum of support and I do not care who knows it.” Brown's use of a racial epithet to describe Smith was not routine in his correspondence, but neither was it unprecedented. Members of the elite used such terms to refer to people they considered ill-mannered and ill-behaved. It was evidence of the clear distinction they placed between themselves and others they disdained. 332

Although Harry Smith had little social prominence, he was able to wield significant political power because of the power of his pen. In an era when

African American newspapers began and failed with astounding rapidity, the

Williams, 1887; reprint, N.Y.: Arno Press and the New York Times, 1968), 194-8. Ernest Kaiser served as a cataloguer for the Schomburg Collection New York Public Library. 332 Jere Brown to George Myers, Sept 14, 1899, GAM Papers.

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weekly Cleveland Gazette was published continually for more than fifty years

from August 1883 until May 1945. The quality of writing and its ability to satisfy

the needs and wants of its readers made the Gazette and its editor a force to be

reckoned with, not only in Cleveland but throughout the nation. Especially during

the first decades of its operation, the paper republished articles from other black

newspapers. Likewise, African American newspapers in other cities reprinted

articles from the Gazette. Residents of Cleveland continued their subscriptions to

the paper by mail when they moved to other cities and it was common for people

in Cleveland to include clippings from the paper in letters to friends and family

throughout the country. In this way, the articles that Smith printed had influence

far beyond Cuyahoga County. His name was known far and wide within African

American circles but also among those in the white community who had the need

or desire to communicate with the African American people. Politicians were

forced to court Harry C. Smith if they needed the black vote to succeed in close

elections. 333

For decades there was animosity between Myers and Smith; there seemed to be no common ground. From time to time Smith would “roast” Myers in print. There are numerous letters between Myers and others where they complain about the bombastic behavior of Smith. Edward Cooper, president and business manager of The Colored American (Washington, D.C.) informed

333 In 1897, there were only approximately 100 African American newspapers in the United States according to a reporter with the Columbus Dispatch. Ralph Tyler to George Myers, GAM Papers, Dec. 20, 1897. According to the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History, Harry Smith never missed a weekly publication date during the years he owned and produced the paper 1883- 1945. http://ech.case.edu/ech-cgi/article.pl?id=CG2

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George Myers that there would be a series of articles in his newspaper featuring

“Prominent Colored Men in Ohio Politics.” Alluding to Harry Smith, Cooper gleefully told Myers that “the fat boy in your own city [will] have a conhiption [sic] fit.” Cooper’s purpose is partially personal and partially professional. Cooper knew Smith would be upset that The Colored American featured an article focusing on prominent black Ohio politicians. Ohio was Smith's territory and he should have promoted prominent men in his own state. Being the first to write an article featuring Ohio politicians pleased Cooper and he showed his delight when he remarked, “H.C.S. hates me as Satan hates holy water.” 334

Cooper continued the letter saying that if he could acquire 200 subscriptions for his paper in Cleveland, people in Cleveland will “know that there is at least one live paper published and that the Hub of the Universe does not move around the [ Gazette ].” Cooper hoped to cut into the Cleveland newspaper market by obtaining out of state subscribers. If he was able to threaten or diminish Smith's success, so much the better. 335

The Gazette was one of the most successful black newspapers in America

and circulated widely. As the owner and editor, Harry Smith's name was equated

with the Gazette. His caustic personality made him a target nationally. For

decades this type of criticism leveled at Smith, and by Smith, crisscrossed

between those of the elite and others who were more representative of the New

334 Charles Fillmore to George A. Myers, Sept. 10, 1896; Ralph Tyler to George A. Myers, Oct. 13 and Oct 29, 1896; Edward E. Cooper to George A. Myers, Nov 25, 1896, GAM Papers. 335 Edward E. Cooper to George A. Myers, Nov 25, 1896, GAM Papers.

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Negro faction. When absolutely necessary they would temporarily put aside their differences waging a temporary truce for racial solidarity, but for the most part they stood apart focusing on their own interests and social circles.

On at least one occasion Smith and Myers showed their racial solidarity when they put aside their differences to shame a local restaurant owner. George

Myers and John P. Green had free access to virtually any establishment in

Cleveland. Both men were well known and often were in the company of the most influential white men of the city. Harry Smith was not as well known, nor was he as influential. Using the public forum of his newspaper in 1891, Smith railed at an unnamed restaurant in the city that refused him service because he was a black man. Smith then made a second visit to the restaurant, this time accompanied by Green and Myers. Following the second visit, an article in The

Gazette gleefully proclaimed: "he got his eyes open [and ] took it all back. Mr.

Smith made a second trip [with] the Hon. John P. Green and Mr. George A.

Myers. That's right; make the rascals toe the mark or face the legal music." Smith was determined to make the proprietor of the restaurant honor his legal right to equal accommodation in a public place. 336

In 1891, Harry Smith reasoned correctly that he had a right to equal service in any place he chose based on the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S.

Constitution, but clearly not everyone in the state agreed with that assessment.

In 1886, Jere Brown and the Reverend Benjamin Arnett were instrumental in

336 Cleveland Gazette, June 20, 1891.

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crafting and passing an Accommodations Law in Ohio that guaranteed equal rights for all without regard to race. In 1893, Harry Smith successfully ran on the

Republican ticket to serve in the Ohio House of Representatives. Almost immediately he sponsored the Civil Rights Law of 1894 that guaranteed equal accommodation for all people in all public buildings and businesses. This law provided an additional measure of protection for people in Cleveland until the onset of the Great Migration. Smith also sponsored an anti-lynching law in the state. In the second decade of the twentieth century the African American population of the city grew substantially larger. The increase in population size changed the dynamics in Cleveland. At that time the average African American was less educated and poorer and as a result, white business owners successfully began to ignore the laws and their conduct was rarely challenged in court. 337

Clearly discrimination did occur in Cleveland and the occurrences became more frequent over time. Frustrated African Americans, with the means to do so, sometimes sued for damages and were occasionally successful. By the 1920s, however, fewer African Americans bothered to test the system. The Great

Migration changed the attitudes of many whites in Cleveland. Although the number of civil suits increased in the 1920s, the courts began to interpret the civil rights laws more narrowly. Charles Chesnutt said what many African Americans

337 Angela Jones, African American Civil Rights: Early Activism and the Niagara Movement. (Westport, CT: Praeger Publishing , 2011) , 230. Negro Thought in America, 71 & 32.

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in Cleveland thought: "One does not care to have to bring a lawsuit or swear out a warrant every time one wants a sandwich or a cup of coffee." 338

Eventually members of the African American elite began to organize their lives to avoid contention or embarrassment. They continued to demonstrate adherence to the Victorian standards of their day leading lives of carefully measured behavior. In their minds their lives had paralleled and intersected their white counterparts seamlessly before the stresses of the Great Migration brought the issue of the color line to the forefront of white thought. Most elites hoped that the foray of their city into segregation and exclusion would be temporary. They urged uplift and education for the southern migrants and believed that in time the transplants would absorb the polish and sophistication that was second nature to urban members of the African American elite who had long been active in politics.339

Although African American politicians began their cross racial relationships in Cleveland soon after Reconstruction, African American physicians got a slower start there. Robert Boyd Leach matriculated at the

Western Homeopathic College of Cleveland in 1856 and began a practice in

Cleveland after graduation. Dr. Leach soon had a large and flourishing practice in

Cleveland that included residents of all races. His patients appreciated his skill as

338 Chesnutt's quote comes from a newspaper clipping from the Cleveland Herald, September 11, 1926 quoted in A Ghetto Takes Shape, 180-81. 339 A Ghetto Takes Shape, 247.

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a physician and he is credited with discovering a successful treatment for cholera that physicians throughout the region used. 340

Although Dr. Leach was a successful physician, he was not a prominent

Clevelander. African Americans lived quietly in the city before the Civil War.

Slavery was not legal in Ohio, but freedom did not mean that blacks merited equality. Despite the fact that Cleveland was a relatively tolerant city from a racial perspective, and that African Americans had greater access to education and cultural events in Cleveland than in many other cities in the United States.

Despite those advantages, few black doctors established practices there prior to the onset of the twentieth century. There is no evidence demonstrating that

African American physicians played an influential role in any capacity in the city before the second decade of the twentieth century. It was during that time that documentation of the role of African American physicians, other than the treatment of patients, begins to appear in the public record in Cleveland. 341

In 1910, Abraham Flexner published a report evaluating American medical schools. Prior to that year there was no established criteria for accreditation of medical schools. Many American medical schools were substandard. Curriculums varied in length and quality. The Carnegie Foundation

340 Grabowski, http://ech.case.edu/ech-cgi/article.pl?id=LRB (accessed July 6, 2012). Creed F. Ward "The Black Physician" in Kent L. Brown, ed. , Medicine in Cleveland and Cuyahoga County 1810-1976. (Cleveland, The Academy of Medicine of Cleveland, 1977), 71. 341 E.A. Dale and J.A. Greene to George A. Myers, June 3, 1915, GAM Papers. Letter regarding the possibility for creation of a hospital in Cleveland to be staffed by African American physicians and nurses. African American doctors were not permitted to care for their own patients in white staffed hospitals. The black doctors wanted a hospital where all people could be admitted without regard to race, but they also wanted a facility that allowed them unconditional access for training and medical practice.

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funded Flexner's study of medical schools. Following the release of the report, substandard medical schools throughout America were forced to close. Many racially segregated medical schools, serving primarily African Americans in the

South, became victims of the report. Howard University Medical School in

Washington, D.C. survived the accreditation war and continued to produce well- trained physicians. 342

A number of accredited medical schools in the North admitted and

graduated qualified African American students, among them Western Reserve

University Medical School. Both the Cleveland Homeopathic Medical College and

Western Reserve admitted qualified African Americans to their courses of

studies. Charles Reasen graduated from Western Reserve Medical College in

1890 and C. Latrobe Mottley graduated from Western Homeopathic College in

1891. The number of African American medical students in Cleveland quickly

increased quickly with six enrolled at the Homeopathic College in 1893 and four

at Western Reserve in 1894. Some of the physicians produced by these

institutions stayed in Cleveland after graduation. 343

342 Thomas J. Ward, Jr., Black Physicians in the Jim Crow South (Fayetteville; University of Arkansas Press, 2003), 20-30. 343 Black Physicians in the Jim Crow South , 72-3. Western Reserve Medical College began in 1843. It accepted African Americans and women from its earliest years demonstrating the gender and racial tolerance that stemmed from the liberal traditions of the Western Reserve heritage. (Oberlin College was the first college in the nation to be both coeducational and interracial). Western Reserve Medical College did not sacrifice its mission of academic excellence by including women and African Americans. The famous Flexner Report ( which evaluated all recognized medical schools in American and led to the closing of all deemed substandard) published in 1910, commissioned by the Carnegie Foundation, determined that Western Reserve Medical School was ranked second in the nation falling short only to Johns Hopkins Medical School in Baltimore. For more information on the history of Case Western Reserve Medical School at http://casemed.case.edu/about/history.cfm accessed July 26, 2012. Western Reserve College

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Although some of these men chose to practice medicine in

Cleveland, they did not initially exert a strong public influence there. There is little evidence of community power wielded by black doctors in Cleveland before the beginning of the twentieth century. Perhaps suspecting that lack of influence (in addition to limited access for training in Baltimore) were some reasons why

George Myers rejected his father's advice to become a doctor. Growing up during

Reconstruction, Myers strongly believed what Booker T. Washington would later profess, that hard work and entrepreneurship were the keys to financial success.

In an era when many doctors' patients had little money, particularly African

American patients, a physician could expect an elevated level of social status within the black community but not necessarily financial security to go along with that status. 344

Financial security for physicians in Cleveland became a possibility as the size of the black population grew. Dr. Benjamin H. Lawrence arrived in

Cleveland and established his medical practice in 1910. Dr. Ellis A. Dale also practiced medicine in Cleveland in 1910. At that time there were only five African

American doctors in the entire city to serve an African American population of nearly 8,500 residents. Clearly there were opportunities available for ambitious physicians. In 1910, the Cleveland Public School system appointed Dr. E. A.

Dale as a district medical inspector. That position offered a salary of $1,200 a

also educated teachers, dentists and lawyers. Many African Americans prepared for careers there. See A Ghetto Takes Shape, 63. 344 Untitled biographical sketch in the George A. Myers Papers

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year, insuring a minimal level of financial security. Fifteen physicians were hired to monitor the health for the entire public school system. Dr. Dale was highly recommended for the position by a committee headed by George A. Myers who represented The Cleveland Association of Colored Men, a group that was quickly becoming one of the most influential organizations of black men in the city. Dale thanked Myers profusely for his recommendation stating:

Your have put your standing in the community, your faith and your good name over against my fidelity, efficiency and deportment. You have staked those things which money cannot buy. Realising (sic) this to be true I shall try, so long as I am connected with this office, to so order my ways that the confidence which you have reposed in me shall not be abused; and that your every hope shall be fulfilled; so that in the years to come, instead of having to regret the step you have taken, you will have every reason to be proud of the interest you have manifested in me. 345

Dr. Dale's appointment represented the unique place that elite

African American men held in the city of Cleveland. He obtained his appointment

because of the considerable political influence exerted by George Myers and

Thomas Fleming. He served as a medical inspector for the public schools, all of

which were integrated; however, he was not allowed hospital privileges at any of

the Cleveland city hospitals. There was no legal segregation in Cleveland, but

the reality of the situation showed that by 1910 the city was gradually becoming

345 E.A. Dale to George A. Myers, March 30, 1910, GAM Papers. Members of that committee included George A. Myers, Samuel E. Woods, H.T. Eubanks and City Councilman Thomas W. Fleming. Fleming was part of the city's New Negroes; Myers represented the old elite. The appointment of Dale was evidence of the power still exerted by influential African Americans in Cleveland. Cleveland Journal, (Cleveland, OH.), April 2, 1910. African American physicians could and did treat white patients. The majority of their patients were not wealthy people and for that reason it was a challenge to earn an adequate income.

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highly segregated in practice. No African American men had hospital privileges in

Cleveland until Dr. Charles Garvin was appointed to the staff of the privately owned Lakeside Hospital in 1920. 346

Although Dr. Dale had earned enough respect from the influential people of both races to serve as a medical inspector, he did not have enough influence to start a successful movement for a hospital to serve African

Americans. In 1915, Dale served as one of the leading proponents to build a

"hospital in the city of Cleveland for the care of the sick without regard to race, color or religion but which institution shall be under the management and control of negroes." Dale extended an invitation to George A. Myers to attend a planning meeting for the purpose of informing citizens of the goals of those promoting the institution. Dale did not want to have a black only hospital; he wanted a hospital that would allow African Americans physicians and nurses hospital privileges. He wanted a place where interns and nurses could be trained. He was more than willing to allow white physicians privileges and white patients admittance. Despite his best intentions, the movement to build a hospital with full interracial access was a failure. 347

Dr. Charles H. Garvin arrived in Cleveland in 1916, but left

temporarily to serve in the United States Army during World War I. All three of

the doctors previously discussed were southern transplants to the North.

346 Russell H. Davis Memorable Negroes in Cleveland's Past ( Cleveland: Western Reserve Historical Society, 1969), 56. 347 Black Physicians in the Jim Crow South, 72. E. A. Dale to George A. Myers, June 3 1915, GAM Papers.

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Lawrence was born in Georgia, Dale in Alabama and Garvin in Florida. None fit the mold of the old African American elite, of the Victorian gentlemen that had long been the mainstay of political power in Cleveland. These men all fit firmly into the New Negro category. They were self-made men, but they did not enjoy free access to all facilities in Cleveland the way that members of the old elite did.

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Charles Garvin became the first African American commissioned as a United States Army officer during World War I. "He served in France for 11 months as commanding officer of an ambulance company" and as a physician in the 92nd division, a segregated unit. The commanding officer of the 92nd was

General Charles C. Ballou (white), but there were white and black officers serving under him. Commenting on the capability of those officers, General

Ballou said, "It was my misfortune to be handicapped by many white officers who were rabidly hostile to the idea of a colored officer and who … created much trouble and discontent." Ballou realized the cohesiveness of his unit was compromised by the lack of respect some white officers had toward black officers. In a military setting, a successful outcome depends on the cooperation of all members of a unit. Lacking that cooperation reduced the effectiveness of all involved in the operations. It is a credit to the commanding general that he

348 African American population of Cleveland 1910 was 8,448; in 1920 it rose to 34, 451. see A Ghetto Takes Shape, p. 10. from U.S. Census 1910 and 1920. Dr. Garvin graduated from Howard University Medical School in 1915 and arrived in Cleveland in 1916.

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recognized the reason for diminished success rather than simply blaming it on the inclusion of black troops and officers. 349

Like many African Americans, Garvin's military and wartime experience in France left him a changed man. African American soldiers were more than willing to put their lives on the line for the nation they called home, but they expected to be respected for that service upon their return. Black soldiers were treated well in Europe, particularly in France. They faced far less discrimination there than at home in America. Many were hailed as heroes.

Some believed that they had proven their manhood in war. After facing the wrath of an enemy abroad, they would not revert to subservient behavior upon their arrival back in the United States. The post-World War I era ushered in a period of increased racism in American cities as fearful and prejudiced whites fought back against declarations of equality and demands for civil rights by African American men. Cleveland was no different. 350

In 1919, Dr. E. A. Bailey corresponded with George Myers

regarding their mutual interest in improving race relations and in particular the

idea of the potential for an African American hospital in Cleveland. Myers

believed that once segregation was condoned anywhere, it would set the pattern

for racial exclusion everywhere. The younger men saw Myers' ways as

349 Memorable Negroes, 56; Ward, Black Physicians in the Jim Crow South , 72. Encyclopedia of Cleveland History, http://ech.case.edu/ech-cgi/article.pl?id=CN5 (accessed July 9, 2012); General Charles C. Ballou quoted in Hine, African Americans, p. 342; Charles H. Epps, Jr., Davis G. Johnson, Audrey L. Vaughan African American Medical Pioneers, (Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins,1994), 33; 171. 350 A Ghetto Takes Shape, 250; Memorable Negroes, 56.

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antiquated and ineffective. After Myers convinced Bailey of his reasoning, the young doctor responded to Myers saying:

If this hospital question ever comes up to you again I hope that you will continue to strike it just such a blow as you emphasized to me the other day during our conversation.

I am very glad that I talked with you the other day as I had a chance to see you in quite a different light from the way you have always been pictured to me, and after having received this letter containing this self explanatory cut proves to me beyond a doubt that you have and are giving this question some serious thought. I believe that the race has in you a true champion of manhood rights and opportunities along all lines.

You may always be assured that you have my cooperation in this matter and for everything that tends towards race advancement and progress. Again I wish to thank you. 351

Bailey's letter to Myers documents that the elder statesmen of the

African American community in Cleveland continued to serve as leaders and mentors to those coming to maturity. Bailey did not marginalize Myers' advice or concerns. Once Myers presented the evidence from his perspective as a long time resident of the city, as one who had spent a lifetime trying to craft a balance between the races, Bailey realized the wisdom in Myers advice. It also appears that Bailey ultimately agreed with Myers' assessment. Finally, the letter affirmed

351 E. A. Bailey to George A. Myers, November 5, 1919, GAM Papers .Myers believed that members of the black and white elite could negotiate to solve racial issues in the city. His Victorian manner demanded civility and cooperation. Younger men did not see change occurring as rapidly as they would have desired. Some, like Bailey, Dale and Garvin were activists and hoped to quickly change the dynamics of the racial situation. For additional information on Myers' activism as an integrationist see pages 231-249.

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Myers to be the consummate politician long after he withdrew from active participation in organized politics. Myers ability to identify a problem and to craft a viable solution is what made him so invaluable as a man who was born to straddle the color line.

George A. Myers was not an accomodationist; he was a realist. He understood the issues of importance and he used all of his persuasive powers to help others understand those issues as well. Myers was born in Baltimore, but by

1920 he had lived in Cleveland for more than forty years. He was a student of the city's politics and its people. He understood the culture even as it continued to evolve. Younger men like Dr. Bailey, Dr. Dale, and Dr. Garvin were all transplants from southern cities. Cleveland was their adopted home, and they had an important stake in developing its future, but they did not understand the city the way that George Myers did. It is clear from their perspectives that their thinking was infused with attitudes and behaviors learned in the South.

Bailey initially believed that an African American run hospital, much like the one founded like Alonzo McClennan in Charleston, would address the needs of both the physicians and patients. He may have been right inasmuch as self-segregation would have alleviated some of the problem faced by physicians.

That was the strategy that had been employed effectively throughout the South since the end of the Civil War. But in Cleveland, race relations were different.

Myers and other men of the old elite recognized the dangers that accompanied the changes these southern transplants suggested. After talking to Myers, Bailey

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recognized the dangers of self-segregation as well. If that pattern was established in any one aspect of society it would expand into other areas as well.

Many of the southern transplants chose to relocate to Cleveland during the nineteen-teens because Cleveland had the reputation for being one of the least segregated cities in America. By introducing southern ways, migrants would recreate their homeland instead of embracing the alternatives that made

Cleveland exceptional. Once he adjusted his thinking, Bailey applauded Myers and others in his cohort for their service to members of the race writing:

I wish to again thank you and those who have been associated with you who have fought so zealously all these years in order to keep at least one place in these United States fit for the people of our race in which to live. In spite of all we can do it seems that there are some who have left the South because it was not a fit place in which to live [yet they] continue to try and bring the same conditions here that they have endeavored to leave behind.

Bailey knew that Cleveland was not as egalitarian as it once was, but it

was certainly a respite from the racial strife and exclusion that was pervasive in

the South. 352

By 1920, the members of the established African American elite had aged.

In that year John P. Green was seventy-five years old; Charles W. Chesnutt was

352 E. A. Bailey to George A. Myers, November 5, 1919, GAM Papers. Prior to the 1910s, African American visitors to Cleveland commented on the feelings of acceptance and freedom they experienced there. Members of the African American elite experienced little racism or discrimination. It is likely that their sophisticated behavior, their demeanor and their expensive clothing set them apart from the people of the lower classes. Because Cleveland had a large European immigrant population, whites in Cleveland were accustomed to differentiating by social class as well as race. Additionally, Jews, Irish and Eastern Europeans were also seen as racially different. The higher class status of black elites elevated them above the recent immigrants.

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sixty-two and George A. Myers was sixty-one. The era of their significant influence had faded. The 1920s ushered in the era of the "New Negro" and with it came the changing of the guard. Men like Green, Chesnutt and Myers were practical idealists. They had long resisted all forms of institutionalized segregation. They preferred to fight for inclusion rather than allowing the creation of separate facilities designated for African Americans. They fought segregated schools, beaches, hotels, and hospitals. When some African Americans proposed a segregated Y.M.C.A. they fought that as well. Members of the old elite preferred no facilities rather than segregated facilities. 353

Conversely, Charles Garvin was a realist. In 1920, he broke

Cleveland's medical color barrier and became the first African American

physician appointed to a staff position at Cleveland's Lakeside Hospital, a

teaching hospital associated with Western Reserve Medical School. As part of

his duties, Garvin served as an instructor in the area of clinical urology teaching

students of all races. Garvin correctly understood that his professional

performance and his personal demeanor would determine whether or not other

qualified black physicians would obtain similar privileges. In the performance of

his duties at Lakeside Hospital, Garvin had many opportunities to straddle the

color line. His professional colleagues were white physicians and administrators.

Patients admitted to the hospital were primarily white, but could be any person in

353 A Ghetto Takes Shape, 118; 124; 149.

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need of care. Although Garvin had to negotiate racial protocol at work, he faced an even larger challenge in his personal life. 354

Although Charles Garvin was a "New Negro", and not considered a member of the traditional African American elite, in many ways he was both. He realized that society was changing. By the 1920s, virtually all venues and facilities in Cleveland were closed to most African Americans. However, he was a physician and a prominent member of Cleveland's business community. He personally had access to public space that most people did not. Garvin was on the staff of a major city hospital. He was an instructor in an accredited medical school in one of America's largest cities and he had the necessary funds to buy or build the type of residence he desired. It was this type of logical thinking that made Garvin believe he was entitled to live wherever he chose in the city. 355

In the autumn of 1925, workers began constructing a new house on

Wade Park Oval, in the affluent Cleveland suburb of Cleveland Heights. Dr.

Charles Garvin owned that house. It was one thing for Garvin to work in a hospital with white doctors, white nurses and white patients. It was far different when he decided that he could build a house for his family in a neighborhood

354 Black Physicians in the Jim Crow South, p. 76. Garvin was the first physician to be appointed to a staff position in any hospital in Cleveland. Because Lakeside was a teaching hospital, and Garvin was instructor of Urology, it was necessary that he have hospital access to instruct students. Western Reserve College changed its name to Western Reserve University in 1882 when it moved to its present location in urban Cleveland. http://www.case.edu/stage/about/history.html accessed July 27, 2012 355 Charles H. Garvin's house was valued at $40,000 in the 1930 U.S. census. That was a costly home for that time. Only one other home on Wade Park Oval was valued at that high a sum. All the other homes were far less costly.

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entirely populated by whites. Kusmer calls this event "the most serious example of interracial conflict over housing" to occur in Cleveland. 356

Decades earlier, George A. Myers and Charles W. Chesnutt

purchased houses in white neighborhoods and faced no reported opposition, but

that was a different era of Cleveland's history. Myers and Chesnutt were treated

far differently than younger African American men relocating to the city in the

nineteen-teens. Myers and Chesnutt did not fit neatly into a prescribed racial

category. They were local celebrities and moved in prominent circles. They could

go where they wished and act as they wished. They never forgot that they were

Victorian gentlemen. However, starting in the 1920s Cleveland, like many other

northern cities, had changed. African Americans were no longer welcome in

neighborhoods designated "white." 357

Dr. E.. A. Bailey also faced violent opposition in 1925 when he

bought a house in the Shaker Heights neighborhood of Cleveland. Both

physicians endured threats against their lives and their families. Both received

protection from local police officers after fires and bombs were used in an

attempt to force them from their homes. In reaction to the attacks on the home of

Dr. Garvin, well-known (white) Cleveland social worker and activist Russell

356 A Ghetto Takes Shape, 167. 357 The was no dejure residential segregation in Cleveland in 1925 when Drs. Bailey and Garvin decided to move their families to the upscale suburbs of Cleveland. There was, however, de facto segregation. According to Kusmer, "Few whites objected to blacks filling in the older area of settlement on Central and Scovill avenues-- a phenomenon that had been taking place at slower rate even before the Great Migration. But, when blacks began moving into all-white neighborhoods, white resistance, now accompanied sometimes by intimidation and violence, began to harden." A Ghetto Takes Shape, 165-67; See also Elizabeth M. Smith-Pryor Property Rites: The Rhinelander Trial, Passing and the Protection of Whiteness (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2009), 50-51.

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Jelliffe ignored his personal safety, joining a contingency of concerned citizens black and white, to help guard Garvin's home when an overtaxed police force was called away for other emergencies. It is likely that the Jelliffe hoped his behavior would serve as a model for racial equality and cooperation. It was a lesson that Cleveland was not yet ready to learn. 358

Russell and his wife Rowena Jelliffe had embraced the lessons they learned while students at Oberlin College. They had "great respect for what

Negroes could bring to their society…" and they were unafraid to straddle the color line in support of their beliefs. The Jeliffes were involved in many community based organizations such as the National Association for the

Advancement of Colored People, The Urban League and the Cleveland

Community Relations Board. The Baileys and the Garvins were their social equals and probably their economic superiors. Charles Garvin eventually served on the Board of Directors for Karamu House, a settlement house run by the

Jeliffe's in Cleveland . 359

358 A Ghetto Takes Shape, 169. Russell Jeliffe, and his wife Rowena, were graduates of Oberlin College and ran the Cleveland settlement facility, Karamu House. Karamu housed clubs, music programs, theater arts and summer camps for children. The mission of Karamu "was to establish a biracial community center that would 'bridge the factor of race…" A Ghetto Takes Shape, 215. 359 A Ghetto Takes Shape, 215. Grabowski, Encyclopedia of Cleveland History accessed at http://ech.case.edu/ech-cgi/article.pl?id=JRW1 (July 25, 2012). It is ironic that Cleveland was a model for racial tolerance while the African American population was small in the city. When inclusion of African Americans posed no social or economic threat to whites, white Clevelanders were tolerant of their presence. When large numbers of southern, uneducated, unskilled people moved into the city, inclusion was harder to promote. Unskilled black workers competed with unskilled white workers establishing a dynamic that mirrored those found in the regions where slavery had been inherent to society. As the level of prejudice rose against unskilled African Americans the discrimination transferred to middle and upper class blacks as well.

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Ultimately, both the Bailey's and the Garvin's were able to outlast their antagonists and were able to live peacefully in their new homes. Eventually whites in the community grew tired of the prolonged series of attacks and reason prevailed. The families of both Cleveland physicians were permitted to live in security, although not with total social acceptance. No further violence was imposed on either of them. 360

Charles Garvin lived a long and productive life in his adopted city.

In addition to being a skilled doctor, teacher and activist for civil rights, Garvin

also found time to contribute to the medical literature of the time. He penned an

article "Negro Physicians and the Hospitals of Cleveland," that appeared in the

July- September 1930 issue of the Journal of the (Negro) National Medical

Association. In that essay he described the ongoing struggle of African American physicians to gain access to staff positions in Cleveland hospitals. Despite

Garvin breaking the color barrier in Cleveland hospitals in 1920, a decade later there were few black physicians with the right to practice in the local hospitals. By

1930 only six black doctors served on the staff of Lakeside Hospital. One of

Garvin's chief complaints was the lack of respect afforded to African American physicians in Cleveland. He cited the physicians' attempts to gain greater access to patients requiring hospitalization and the lack of inter-racial collegiality among

360 The family of Dr. Ossian Sweet in Detroit was not as lucky. Dr. Sweet was arrested for murder as he attempted to defend his home from mob violence in Detroit, Michigan in 1925. For additional information of the story of Ossian Sweet see Phyllis Vine, One Man's Castle: Clarence Darrow in Defense of the American Dream (N.Y.: Amistad, 2005) and Kevin Boyle, Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights and Murder in the Jazz Age (N.Y.: Henry Holt and Company, 2004).

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the majority of physicians in the city. Certainly this problem was not unique in

Cleveland, nor was it unexpected. The gulf across the color line widened dramatically in the years following the Great Migration. As the size of the black population grew in the city, so did the racism leveled against African

Americans. 361

Garvin leveled his criticism at prejudiced whites writing:

Parlor sanitarians and nordic (sic) propagandists are inclined to point to the black health menace, but except in isolated instances, little is done to alter the conditions…thus among the many 'so-called problems' arising out of Negro migration has been the problem of providing suitable hospitalization, suitable medical attention and suitable nursing care. 362

Garvin correctly believed that the spread of disease among Cleveland's poor blacks was a result of crowded living conditions, lack of knowledge regarding communicable diseases, and insufficient medical resources. In short, the problems were not racial problems; rather, they were problems that stemmed from poverty and lack of education.

Residents of Cleveland were ill-prepared to deal with the huge influx of poor, unskilled, rural southerners who arrived in response to the industrialization of Cleveland. When the black population of Cleveland was less

361 Black Physicians in the Jim Crow South , 76; Charles H. Garvin, "Negro Physicians and the Hospitals of Cleveland." Journal of the National Medical Association, Volume 22, Issue 3 (July- September 1930), 126. Charles Garvin was also a lifetime member of the NAACP. This was yet another element that distinguished him from members of the original members of Cleveland's original black elite. Most members of the earlier generation shunned the organization begun by W.E.B. DuBois. The exception to that was Charles W. Chesnutt. Although Chesnutt was a personal friend of Booker T. Washington, he publicly sided with DuBois' organization. 362 "Negro Physicians and the Hospitals of Cleveland," 124.

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than one percent in the 1880s, most people of color went unnoticed by the majority of the city's residents. By the end of the Great War, there were enough blacks living in the city for problems associated with racism to become a major issue. 363

In 1927, Cleveland was still debating the issue of access to medical and hospital care. By that time, members of the New Negro hierarchy in the city favored establishment of a separate facility that would service the black community. They wanted train black nurses, and allow African American physicians to train and to practice there. Labeled The Mercy Hospital Campaign, several African American physicians and the "New Negro" politician Thomas

Fleming began to raise the funds necessary to fulfill their dream. This program created yet another fissure between members of the old elite and the new negro.

Although George A. Myers was no longer the powerbroker he had been decades before, he was still a Cleveland institution and retained the respect and support of politicians in the city. In 1928 George A. Myers and Harry Smith joined forces to defeat the project they labeled a "Jim Crow Hospital." Myers wrote a series of letters to William Hopkins, City Manager of Cleveland enclosing copies of editorials that appeared in The Cleveland Call, The Cleveland Post, The

Cleveland Gazette, and The N.Y. Age via The Associated Press supporting his position regarding the proposed hospital. 364

363 A Ghetto Takes Shape, 157-167 passim. 364 George A. Myers to William Hopkins, February 6, 1928. GAM Papers; A Ghetto Takes Shape, p. 266; Laura Tuennerman-Kaplan, Helping Others, Helping Ourselves: Power, Giving and

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Hopkins replied in a "personal and confidential" letter to Myers writing:

I did not reply to your letters because I did not know how to answer letters so unlike anything I should have expected from you. Years ago you gave me my first impression of Harry Smith as a constitutional troublemaker of the most dangerous sort. I have never had reason to dispute the correctness of that judgment of yours; on the contrary he has continually added proofs of its correctness. Yet you send me copies of his editorials as if they deserve attention and tell me that the colored people voted against the hospital bonds out of hatred for Dudley Blossom [Cleveland City Welfare Director]. And in your telling I find no evidence of sorrow on your part in the face of actions so stupidly ungrateful. Did anyone tell these colored people that they needed these new hospitals more than any other class of people …365

Hopkins tried to convince Myers that people without the financial means to access private medical care placed the greatest burden on the publicly funded facilities. Members of the New Negro leadership community welcomed the idea that Cleveland would soon have better medical care and they supported the idea of Mercy Hospital. They wanted facilities where African American interns could train and where African American nurses could train. They had accepted the reality that de facto segregation was in place in Cleveland and that they had to work within the system to achieve any progress.

This was unacceptable to Myers. He understood that if Mercy

Hospital was built it would be perpetually under funded and inferior to the facilities designated for white people. Myers resented the way that Dudley

Community Identity in Cleveland, Ohio, 1880-1930 (Kent, OH.: Kent State University Press, 2001), 115. 365 William R. Hopkins to George A. Myers, January 31, 1928, GAM Papers.

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Blossom circumscribed the lives of blacks in Cleveland. Myers asserted that he and others heard Blossom state unequivocally that "he would not open the City

Hospital for our girls to train as nurses or for Negro doctors to intern." 366

This was a dilemma beyond the capacity of either man to solve.

Hopkins did not appear to have the same inherent racism that Myers accused

Blossom of harboring, but Hopkins did appear paternalistic toward African

Americans in general. Despite that paternalistic behavior, he treated Myers with respect and as a social and political equal. He referred to African Americans as

"your own people," but the manner in which he addressed Myers was one in which equals debate a point of contention. Hopkins reminded Myers of his writing:

You denounce the effort made by your own people to have a hospital of their own, where they would have the first right to service and training…You call all such hospitals "Jim Crow Hospitals." Your English used to be more accurate. If my understanding of the meaning of that wretched term is correct, it has always applied to places and facilities to which colored people must go and to which white people may not go. nobody has proposed such a hospital here… In the matter of arbitrary intolerance and the effort to secure the advancement of your people through threats of political reprisal and race hatreds you seem to have gone over to Harry Smith bag and baggage…[your people] cannot afford to draw the color line when they are at best only a small minority even in the communities where their populations are the largest…[the] future progress of the colored people like all of their progress hitherto must come

366 George A. Myers to William Hopkins, February 6, 1928. GAM Papers. City Hospital in Cleveland was finally integrated in 1930. See A Ghetto Takes Shape, 273.

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largely through the goodwill and active help of the great masses of white folks who want to do the best that can be done for them as fast as it can be done on a permanent basis. 367

Several issues must be discussed regarding the content of the letter from Hopkins to Myers. First, and perhaps foremost, the tone of this letter incensed George Myers. He fired back at Hopkins insisting that he had two purposes in writing the letter: " 1st to serve my people and 2nd to serve a friend."

Myers told Hopkins that he endeavored to present both sides of the controversy and to include his own position on the Mercy Hospital debate. Myers referenced articles and editorials. Myers stated that "the ministers of our leading churches, as well as many of the smaller, were and still are opposed to the movement for any separate hospital (Jim Crow) or the opening of any mixed, or so called one, until the present City Hospital is open to all nationalities alike, regardless of race, color or creed." It is unquestionable that Myers was consistently opposed to any form of segregation throughout his entire life. He would rather have no facilities rather than segregated facilities. Although he was personally opposed to segregation, he couched his writing in terms that were tailored to his reader. "I am unilaterally opposed to any and all forms of segregation, in whole or in part, when it comes to manhood or civic rights, and as we are taxed in common with

367 William R. Hopkins to George A. Myers, January 31, 1928, GAM Papers.

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all other nationalities to maintain and support the City Hospital … we are justly entitled to their every use and benefit." 368

If all the people in the city were taxed to insure services, then all people were entitled to receive services. It was a simple argument. Hopkins tried to persuade Myers that the new facility designated for African Americans was necessary making the argument that "colored people furnished from four to five times their quota of patients in the City Hospital and that the need for new facilities is due to the exceptional pressure they were putting upon all our hospital facilities…" Clearly, Hopkins was blaming the need for additional hospital facilities on the increased number of people who were living in Cleveland, many of them African American. He also inferred that blacks used the hospitals more frequently than whites did. 369

In response, Myers felt a need to remind Hopkins that although he and

Smith agreed on this particular issue, they were not cut of one cloth. Speaking of

Smith, Myers stated, "we have never trained together politically. He was a

Forakerite and I, like you, a Hannarite. The same conditions exist today." With

that remark, Myers reminded Hopkins that they had survived in the political

trenches together, they were political allies. It was still in their best interest to

368 George A. Myers to William Hopkins, February 6, 1928. GAM Papers. Although Myers opposed segregated facilities for people of his race, as a member of the elite in Cleveland and also by virtue of his wealth and recognized status, George Myers was not subjected to the injustice of segregation in Cleveland. He could go anywhere he wanted and do what he chose. Unlike many other people, Myers could go to any hospital, any hotel, any restaurant in the city because he was George A. Myers. there is no evidence that he was discriminated against in Cleveland ( or anywhere). 369 William R. Hopkins to George A. Myers, January 31, 1928, GAM Papers.

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work together for the betterment of the city they both loved and called home.

Even though he and Smith were of the same race, the political alliance that

Myers and Hopkins shared was also important. Their interests were the same before and there was no reason that their interests should not remain united. 370

The second point of contention in Hopkins letter was Hopkins' comment

that advancement and opportunity for African Americans had occurred because

of the "goodwill and active help" of white people. It is unlikely that Myers would

have agreed with that statement. Myers believed that all progress was a result of

the constant strivings of the black elite and their efforts to prove to whites that

there were no differences between the races. Such an idea reaffirmed historian

Glenda Gilmore's premise that elite African American men ascribed to the

premise of a shared manhood; a notion of manhood based on a shared world

view and class status. The "best men" served as role models to which others

would aspire. Together the best men ( regardless of race) would order society in

a way that would benefit the masses. 371

Although Myers and Hopkins had a shared political history (as Hanna

men), Myers took the argument one step further telling Hopkins that although

their political affiliation was important, when it came to racial discrimination he

would cast his lot with Smith. Myers felt it was important that "whenever any

370 By this Myers means that Harry Smith was a supporter of Senator Foraker and Myers and Hopkins were allies of Senator Hanna and his political machine. This was said to emphasize to Hopkins the close political ties and histories that Myers and Hopkins shared in the service of a man they both revered decades earlier. George A. Myers to William Hopkins, February 6, 1928. GAM Papers 371 Glenda Gilmore, Gender and Jim Crow: Women and the Politics of White Supremacy in North Carolina 1896- 1920. (Durham: University of North Carolina Press, 1996), 76-79.

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Negro was or is unjustly discriminated against or deprived of his manhood rights, we [Myers and Smith] have always been, as all Negroes should be, as one in their defense." 372

Despite his lifetime of loyalty to the Republican Party, Myers valued his loyalty to race even more. At this moment in his life he would not make his choice based strictly on party politics. Myers' loyalty to his race lasted throughout his life. After the death of Hanna and McKinley, the ties that bound him to the

Republican Party weakened. They were still important, but Myers would not allow party loyalty to undo a lifetime of fighting segregation and discrimination.

The effort to build an interracial hospital remained an ongoing issue in Cleveland. By the mid-1930s, the need for a hospital that would allow African

American physicians full access became apparent. The Forest City Hospital

Association became a reality in 1939 but Forest City Hospital was not built until the 1950s. 373

372 George A. Myers to William Hopkins, February 6, 1928. GAM Papers 373 For a discussion on the Forest City Hospital see: Vanessa Northington Gamble, Making a Place for Ourselves: The Black Hospital Movement 1920- 1945. (N.Y.: Oxford University Press, 1995) , chapter 5. This section depicting the influence of African American physicians in Cleveland is noticeably shorter than those sections discussing physicians in the two southern cities. Not only is it brief, but it is limited to the closing years of this dissertation. It is telling that there were no African American physicians in Cleveland who asserted political power there during the late 1800s. Initially, the African American population was small in Cleveland. When African American doctors completed their medical training, they established practices in areas with black populations large enough to allow them to earn a living. Most African American physicians realized that the majority of their patients would be of their own race. Understanding that, before 1900 they looked to cities other than Cleveland to establish a practice. The increase in the numbers of African American physicians in Cleveland coincided with the Great Migration. Not coincidently, those years were also the years where those men designated as being part of the New Negro class moved to a position of prominence displacing the influence of the more traditional members of the African American elite in Cleveland. Members of the New Negro cadre went on to forge different types of relationships with the powerful white men in Cleveland. They did not straddle the color line in the ways their

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Even though hospital facilities were lacking for African Americans in

Cleveland between 1880 and 1920, houses of worship were not. Men of the cloth

who served in Cleveland's houses of worship had tremendous opportunities to

work together across the color line. Cleveland was born as a homogenous

territorial extension of New England. By the first decades of the twentieth century

it had evolved into a city of Americans, immigrants from Europe, and black

migrants from the American South. Long-time residents watched as the city

transitioned into a multiracial, culturally diverse but religiously tolerant city.

Achieving a successful juxtaposition of races, cultures and religions required

enormous flexibility on the part of all residents. 374

Cleveland began as a city that boasted primarily Presbyterian and

Congregationalist Churches, reflecting the New England heritage of its residents.

A hundred years later, one of the fastest growing America cities was home to a

wide variety of faiths reflecting its multicultural composition. In 1807,

Presbyterians organized the first official religious congregation in Cleveland.

Black Clevelanders had a presence in the city from almost its earliest days

organizing the first African Methodist Episcopal Church, St. John's A.M.E.

Church, in 1830 when the entire population of Cleveland was just over one

predecessors had. A very few African American physicians in Cleveland had working relationships with peers across the color line, but they were not highly influential in Cleveland society. The one possible exception to this is Charles Garvin. He eventually served on the Board of Directors for Karamu House and became the first African American trustee for the Cleveland Public Library. All of Garvin's influence was well after the closing years of this study. In 1920, Garvin was just beginning to gain recognition in the city of Cleveland. Encyclopedia of Cleveland History, http://ech.case.edu/ech-cgi/article.pl?id=GCH (accessed August 5, 2012. 374 Michael J. McTighe "Babel and Babylon on the Cuyahoga: Religious Diversity in Cleveland" in Birth of Modern Cleveland, 231- 269.

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thousand people. The African Methodist Episcopal Churches grew slowly and did not become a dominant force in the community until the Great Migration in the second decade of the twentieth century. 375

Half a century after the Presbyterians organized, Catholicism had become the dominant religion in Cleveland. The vast number of European immigrants who spread west sought opportunity in the emerging industries of the region. Despite the growth and importance of the Catholic Church in Cleveland, few African Americans were initially listed on the rolls of the local parishes. The majority of Catholics in Cleveland were European immigrants lured to the city in search of jobs during the great industrial boom of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. 376

In 1880, there was little overt racism in Cleveland's Catholic churches. Black Catholics who lived in the city worshipped in their local, neighborhood parish churches because there were so few black Catholics in the city. White Catholics initially felt little need to exclude black Catholics because their numbers were so few. The small population of black Catholics in the city was also responsible for their lack of influence within the Catholic Church. When immigrants arrived in Cleveland, whether from Europe or from the American

375 Encyclopedia of Cleveland History, http://ech.case.edu/ech-cgi/article.pl?id=P16 accessed September 28, 2012; Kusmer, A Ghetto Takes Shape, 30 & 92. Historian George Knepper referred to Ohio as "near a microcosm of America as one could find in the late Nineteenth Century." Ohio and Its People, 80; 265. 376 Presbyterians built the church in what is today East Cleveland. Cleveland Timeline created by Case Western Reserve University http://ech.cwru.edu/timeline.html accessed July 28, 2012. A Ghetto Takes Shape, 92; John J. Grabowski, There Are No Strangers At the Feast: Catholicism and Community in Northeastern Ohio (Cleveland: Western Reserve Historical Society, 2008), 11.

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Deep South, they brought their culture and religion with them. Although there is only one Roman Catholic faith, the cultural ways that faith was approached varied from community to community. It was not until the 1920s, as a result of the

Great Migration, that there were enough African American Catholics in Cleveland to warrant a parish devoted to their specific needs.

The Catholic Church established Cleveland's first African American parish in 1922, Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament. The establishment of a black parish reflected the changing dynamic of race relations in Cleveland. In 1900, there were slightly less than 6,000 African Americans in a city of nearly 400,000 people. However, by 1920 there were more than 34,000 African Americans in

Cleveland with the overall population nearing 800,000 people. The dynamics of race relations in the 1920s showed that racism had become a driving force in the once relatively egalitarian city. 377

Many of the immigrant blacks living in Cleveland migrated north

from the Deep South during the nineteen-teens, bringing with them foreign ways

of life. Their foreign ways, meaning the culture of the Deep South, were every bit

as alien to resident Clevelanders as the ways of those immigrants who arrived

from the shores of Europe. African American immigrants, like those from Europe,

eventually congregated together in ethnic neighborhoods reestablishing life as

377 There Are No Strangers At the Feast , 40. Population figures quoted in A Ghetto Takes Shape, 10 from the U.S. Census Reports 1850-1930. Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament Church was build on E. 79th Street just south of Central Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio. One black Cleveland resident remarked in 1915, "We have no 'LITTLE AFRICA" in Cleveland…There is not a single street in this city that is inhabited by nothing but Negroes." Robert I. Drake, "The Negro in Cleveland," Cleveland Advocate , September 18, 1915 quoted in A Ghetto Takes Shape, 42.

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they knew it in their former homes. For poor immigrants, the establishment of a home and securing employment took all their energy. Their objective was to provide sustenance for their families. The majority did not have the time, money or energy to pursue an interest in political power or influence. They left the pursuit of such things to members of the elite. As a result, virtually no African

American political power or influence emerged from the black Catholics who lived in Cleveland between 1880 and 1920. 378

Elite African American Protestants had always worshipped in

churches throughout the city. Charles W. Chesnutt and his family attended the

predominantly white Emmanuel Episcopal Church and were welcomed there in

full fellowship. The services at Emmanuel were sedate and formal and Chesnutt's

daughter Helen described the people who worshipped there as "among

Cleveland's finest people." Certainly the opportunity for a black family to worship

with full equality in an elite white church was not afforded to all African Americans

living in Cleveland, but it does stand as an example of the interracial cooperation

that was possible, although rare in church, across the color line. The welcoming

of Chesnutt and his family at Emmanuel was evidence that class as a factor was

sometimes more important than race. Chesnutt and his family would have been

highly uncomfortable worshipping in a traditional African American church. The

378 VanTassel, 1996, 54-56; A Ghetto Takes Shape, 92; John J. Grabowski, There Are No Strangers At the Feast: Catholicism and Community in Northeast Ohio. (Cleveland: Western Reserve Historical Society, 2008.) p. 11. In 1910 there were 560,663 people living in Cleveland, Ohio. Of that population, 8,448 were African American, 1.5% of the population. By 1920, Cleveland's population had increased to nearly 797,000 people of whom 34,451 were African American, 4.3% of the population. Dorothy Ann Blatnica "At the Altar of Their God:" African American Catholics in Cleveland 1922- 1961. (New York: Garland Publishing, 1995) 15.

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emotionalism of the service would not have been in harmony with the cerebral

Victorian lifestyle the family enjoyed. 379

So secure was the Chesnutt family in their fellowship at Emmanuel

Church, that when they purchased a new home after living in their previous home for sixteen years, they bought the new home (in a white neighborhood) within walking distance of Emmanuel Church. The Chesnutt family may have been the only African American family attending the church, but there is no indication that they were treated as anything other than complete equals. That does pose the question of whether they were seen as any different than anyone else in the congregation. Of course there was no outreach by the Emmanuel Episcopalian

Church to others in the African American community. For all intents and purposes, the Chesnutt family lived just as any other (white) family in the congregation. 380

John P. Green, a cousin of Charles W. Chesnutt did not attend

Emmanuel Episcopal Church. In 1890, Green was one of the founding members

379 Helen M. Chesnutt, Charles W. Chesnutt: Pioneer of the Color Line (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1952), p. 49. A Ghetto Takes Shape, p. 105 and 30. There were no Episcopalian churches dedicated to African Americans in Cleveland when the Chesnutt family arrived in the city. Helen Chesnutt recalled that church was not simply attending services on Sunday morning, but an entire community experience. Charles' wife Susan was part of the women's organization and the children participated in Sunday school and other activities. The services at the Episcopalian Church were formal in nature and would not have had the emotionalism found in traditionally African American churches. Historian Kenneth Kusmer wrote that St .John's A.M.E. Church catered to mostly lower class blacks in its early years. People who attended services there initially did so because they felt "our of place attending the staid services of the integrated congregations." The Chesnutt family likely would have felt out of place in services at St. Johns. Churches in Cleveland were not segregated prior to the Great Migration. It is unlikely that that worshipper would have been turned away from entering a church or participating in a service. Chesnutt inferred that his was the only African American family at Emmanuel Church and other members of the elite generally attended primarily African American churches. 380 Charles W. Chesnutt, p . 184

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of a new church, St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, a congregation formed to cater to elite blacks in Cleveland. When referring to St. Andrew's Episcopal Church,

Kenneth Kusmer described it as a "smaller and more or a 'social' church than"

Mt. Zion Congregational Church. Kusmer also wrote that "Mt. Zion was larger, less snobbish, and more inclusive in its membership." By the era of the Great

Migration, Mt. Zion had become so "inclusive" that even members of the "New

Negro" society, such as attorney and city councilman Thomas Fleming could boast membership in that congregation. For some members of the black elite, the atmosphere at Mt. Zion had too much camaraderie and was too inclusive to members of the African American community. Although they recognized the need for racial cooperation across class lines within the black community in the early twentieth century, some members of the elite did not believe that cooperation should have to extend to the more private social events of their religious congregation. Members of the African American elite jealously guarded access to their private social sphere. 381

For many years membership in some church congregations was as exclusive as membership in some social organizations. By inferring that St.

Andrews Church had an aura of exclusiveness, Historian Kenneth Kusmer reminds the reader that elite society was simply that. Many people began to believe that they could spend most of their time cloistered in the womb of people

381 A Ghetto Takes Shape, 94; 144-45.

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of their own social sphere and ignore those who did not live lives that mirrored their own. 382

As mentioned above, the first African Methodist Episcopal Church in Cleveland has a history almost as old as the city itself, being established only thirty-four years after the first white European Americans surveyed the region. By the end of the nineteenth century St. John A.M.E. Church was part of the social and religious fabric of the African American community. George A. Myers attended and was an integral part of the St. John's congregation. It was there at

St. John's that Myers became closely associated with the Reverend Reverdy C.

Ransom. 383

A.M.E. Bishop Daniel A. Payne appointed Ransom to pastor at St.

John's in 1893 and he served there until 1896. It was during that brief tenure in

Cleveland that Ransom became enmeshed in Republican Party politics. As a minister of one of the most influential African American churches in the city,

Ransom associated with members of the black elite. In Cleveland, several members of the black elite had close relationships with Mark Hanna and that brought Ransom into the active political fold. 384

382 A Ghetto Takes Shape, 94; 144-45. 383 Annetta L. Gomez-Jefferson The Sage of Tawawa: Reverdy Cassius Ransom, 1861- 1959 (Kent: Kent State University Press, 2002), p. 38. George A. Myers grew up in a family that worshipped in the African Methodist Episcopal tradition in Baltimore. His father, Isaac Myers was very involved as a layman in the affairs of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Baltimore. 384 The Sage of Tawawa, p. 39; Calvin S. Morris, Reverdy C. Ransom: Black advocate of the Social Gospel (Lanham: MD.: University Press of America, 1990), 104.

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Ransom was an advocate of the concept of a religious philosophy known as "The Social Gospel." The Social Gospel was an early 20th century innovation that was exemplified by the ways the black church incorporated religion into every facet of African American life. Church was not simply a place to pray on Sunday morning. It incorporated all forms of uplift into a religious framework. Thus the church became the center for spiritual awakening, moral training, daycare and early childhood education, as well as social and literary societies. Women served in leadership positions governing women's and children's affairs. Using these tools, Ransom quickly expanded the size of the already large congregation he served. These years were also on the cusp of the migration of southerners to the great industrial north. Ransom took advantage of all the potential opportunities to increase membership in an already large congregation. 385

During his years in Cleveland, Ransom became an advocate for the

Republican Party. He was clearly influenced by the aura of Cleveland's black elite and the intense charisma exerted by Mark Hanna's political machine. Myers always referred to political activity "as playing the game." By reaching out to colleagues in other cities, Myers incorporated the Reverend into the well- established political fold. In the case of Ransom, the political influence he exerted, particularly in his earlier years, occurred from his interaction with Myers and his associates. In 1896, the bishopric of the A.M.E. Church transferred

385 Reverdy C. Ransom, 104; The Sage of Tawawa, 43-47.

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Reverdy Ransom to a new congregation in Chicago. As one of the Republican

African American political leaders of Cleveland, George A. Myers contacted his

Republican counterpart, Samuel Thompson, in Chicago recommending Ransom for inclusion in the local political scene. Thompson wrote Myers commenting that he "called on Rev. Ransom and found him very agreeable [saying] I shall try to cultivate this friendship." 386

Later in his life, Ransom no longer maintained exclusive party

loyalty. After he left Cleveland, during his reassignment to Chicago, Ransom

examined the Republican Party more critically. He urged members of his

congregation and blacks throughout the region to carefully research those

running for office and to vote based on the candidates proven record. Eventually

"Ransom concluded that the G.O.P. had betrayed the loyalty and trust of black

people and no longer deserved their support." In the election of 1912, Ransom

supported Woodrow Wilson. Like other African Americans who believed Wilson's

rhetoric, Ransom became quickly disillusioned with the racist policies of the

twenty-eighth president of the United States. 387

It is important to recognize the existence of Cleveland's African

American churches, but it is also important to note that unlike churches in the

South, Cleveland churches were not the nexus of black leadership and politics.

African Americans participated freely in the political process in Cleveland without

the influence of religious institutions. They voted, they campaigned, and they ran

386 Sam Thompson to George A. Myers, December 10, 1896, GAM Papers. 387 Reverdy C. Ransom, 147; 152.

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for office. Before the Great Migration in Cleveland, race did not restrict participation in political activities. Whereas in the South, churches and benevolent societies had initially been the training ground for ambitious elite men, the political arena was available to satisfy those needs for black residents of the North.

Predominantly white churches in Cleveland were not deeply involved in politics either. Dr. Charles F. Thwing was representative of white clergy in Cleveland even though he served as president of Western Reserve

University rather than as a pastor of a church. Thwing was an ordained minister of the Congregational Church. In 1903, The editors of the Cleveland Journal

published Dr. Thwing's remarks that demonstrated his philosophy on the issue of

race. He spoke at a convention of the American Missionary Association in

Cleveland . Because these remarks were made more than a decade before the

Great Migration, many white people in Cleveland were still generally tolerant

regarding the issue of race. 388

It is apparent from his remarks that Dr. Thwing did not believe in complete equality of the races. He made his perspective perfectly clear; however, he did believe in the unlimited potential capacity of the individual. Those views were also clear when he said:

388 In 1898 publican of a magazine titled Success began in Philadelphia. In 1902, the magazine sponsored a contest asking readers to provide a list of fifty of the greatest living Americans. Two of the men listed in the category "educators" were Booker T. Washington (black) and Charles F. Thwing (white). In 1903, the America Missionary Association held its annual convention in Cleveland ,Ohio. Dr. Thwing delivered an address at the convention on "the race problem." The November 14, 1903 edition of the Cleveland Journal published some of Dr. Thwing's remarks from that address.

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The question is not whether the Negro race is more or less civilized than the Anglo-Saxon. The Negro race is less civilized than the Anglo-Saxon; but that is not of present concern. The question is not whether certain individual black men are superior or inferior to certain white men. The question is not whether the best white men are better than the best black men, or whether the worst black men are worse than the worst white men. The question is not whether the Negro shall belong to the subject class. The question is not whether the Negro shall live in America; for he is here to live. He refuses to emigrate; he declines to die.

The question is whether the Negro shall be regarded as a man. The question is whether he belongs to the human race. If he be a man, all rights which belong to a man should be given to him; if he be a man, all duties which belong to a man should be given to him to do. If he be a man…all men are created free and equal and have a right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. If he be a man, the question goes back to Mount Sinai--to the ten commandments. If he be a man, the question belongs to the Four Gospels-- and to the great commandment--"Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."

Therefore the question is not of the south, not of the north. It is a question of humanity, of the perfectibility of man…Therefore the question is of and for the race, but it is also a question of and for the individual…he is to make himself the finest type of the man …he is to be the best; he is to do the best. Such is a duty; such a privilege belongs to the Negro as a man… 389

As president of a university that admitted and graduated qualified African

Americans, Charles Thwing knew that for an individual, race was not a limiting factor. He recognized that the progress of African Americans had been limited due to racism and the institutionalized effects of slavery. Speaking to a religious

389 Cleveland Journal, November 14, 1903.

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organization and employing his training as a minister, Thwing framed his remarks using the common language of the Bible. He carefully crafted his message in a way so that no one in the audience would misconstrue the meaning. It would be difficult for religious people to fail to recognize the theme of common humanity of man. They would certainly understand the message: "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." Thwing hammered home his message. As Christians, God expected Christians to disregard any feelings they might harbor toward a race as a whole. If a person called himself a Christian, he had a Christian duty to recognize the common humanity of others. A Christian had a duty that transcended race. 390

The question arises, based on a close reading of this speech, whether

Thwing's manner toward African Americans was paternalistic or egalitarian. It is apparent by his remarks regarding race in general that he believed in white superiority, but he also implied that racial inferiority was not inevitable. He was speaking to an assembly that valued education in all forms. The American

Missionary Association had religious education as its central cause, but they endorsed and labored for universal education. Despite their mission to make education accessible, administrators at the American Missionary Association were unapologetically paternalistic. They had the best interests of those they served at heart and it is likely that Thwing did as well. But he did have personal relationships with members of Cleveland's black elite and valued those

390 Gospel of Mark 12:31; Gospel of Matthew 22:39 KJV

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friendships as personal relationships with individual men. George A. Myers was a close person friend of Dr. Thwing. Writing to a friend about his relationship with

Thwing Myers said, "Our mutual friend Prexy Thwing of Western Reserve, after

30 yrs or more of good services, has seen fit to tender his resignation. Many regret to see him leave (I among them)…Thwing and I are and have been warm friends for years." In Thwing's case, if he behaved in a paternalistic manner at all, he was paternalistic toward groups of people, not toward friends. When friendships were formed, they developed between individual people. 391

Paternalism, and the sometimes accompanying racism, within religious

groups was an ongoing problem, even as late as the 1890s. The Cleveland

Gazette published an editorial questioning the relevance of that paternalism so

many years after emancipation.

The intelligent Afro-Americans in the Methodist Episcopal Church are demanding that one of their number be made a bishop. They base their demand on the Afro-American membership of 200,000. As usual, there are a number of "eminent (white) Christian brothers" in the church who are anything but pleased with the demand. This, because the Afro- American bishop would be called upon to preside over conferences in which were white ministers and be associated more or less with eh other bishops (white), when in council, etc. In plain words, they object to the superior association which the elevation of an Afro-American to the bishopric of the M.E. church will make necessary. And they call themselves

391 Thwing was personal friends with George A. Myers, Charles W. Chesnutt and Charles Garvin C. Thwing to George A. Myers, November 5, 1909, GAM Papers. Thwing personally participated in the guarding of Garvin's home in 1925. (see pages 48-49 above); Thwing to George A. Myers, November 24, 1915, GAM Papers; Thwing to Myers, March 12 and 15, 1917; George A. Myers to James Ford Rhodes, July 26, 1921 GAM Papers

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Christians. If they reach Heaven, what are they going to do then? 392

It is likely that the above article was written by Harry Smith, editor of the

Gazette. Stylistically, the language usage is comparable with other pieces he wrote . Smith was far more militant in his language and far more strident in his approach than members of the African American elite. He did not share their background or Victorian culture. He was unapologetic in his public criticism and condemnation of those whom he believed were limiting race progress. Smith was not satisfied that Benjamin Arnett was elected to the office of Bishop in the

African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1888, four years before this article was penned. The A.M.E. Church was an African American institution. Smith abhorred all forms of segregation, even self-imposed segregation. He believed that if separatism was condoned in any capacity, it would lead to institutionalized segregation throughout society. Smith would have been pleased if Arnett was elected bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, but he did not condone the separate African Methodist Episcopal organization. 393

Bishop Benjamin W. Arnett did not live in Cleveland or have a permanent assignment to the A.M.E. Church there; however, he was intimately involved in the religious and political life of the city. He lived in Columbus, Toledo and

Cincinnati and also served in Ohio state government representing the Republican

Party ticket. Arnett was elected to political office in 1885 serving as a member of

392 Cleveland Gazette, January 23, 1892. 393 For more information on Benjamin Arnett see: Michael Pierce, "Benjamin Arnett and the Color Line in Gilded Age Ohio" in Warren Van Tine and Michael Pierce, Builders of Ohio: A Biographical History. (Columbus, Ohio State University Press, 2003), 178-191.

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the Ohio House of Representatives from an overwhelmingly white district in

Green County. 394

Bishop Benjamin Arnett was content to be part of the African Methodist

Episcopal Church. He was not born into the black elite, but he was born free in

the North in 1838. Arnett, who ultimately made his home base at Wilberforce

University in Wilberforce, Ohio, became a master at straddling the color line in

many capacities. He was an educator, a minister, a politician, an elected official,

and an activist. "Those who knew Arnett characterized him as a man driven by

ambition." Because he was not a member of the black elite, and not part of the

inner circle of that group, there was considerable animosity toward him and the

power he exerted for many reasons. George Myers was used to wielding the

power in Cleveland. He was Senator Mark Hanna's most trusted confident in the

city and perhaps the state. Ralph Tyler was concerned that the Myers faction

was losing influence to those who revolved in the orbit around Arnett. Tyler

voiced his fears to Myers saying:

It appears that the President [McKinley] and Senator Hanna are under such lasting obligations to Bishop Arnett, man woman and child, has been taken car of can the rest of us hope for recognition. This is the straw that breaks the camel's back. Every colored man here on the ground is hot over it. To be plain, I am damn sick of the whole business, and I now throw up my hands and quit …If Bishop Arnett is to run the

394 "Benjamin Arnett and the Color Line in Gilded Age Ohio," 178-191. Arnett's political activity put him in close contact with George A. Myers and the rest of Cleveland's black elite. Arnett was also deeply involved with the Hanna political machine. For this reason he was included as a member of the social and political luminaries of Cleveland. For more on Benjamin Arnett see the section on politicians at the beginning of this chapter.

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whole damn business, why let him do it--but not with our assistance.

Young Arnett (Bishop Arnett's son), the debaucher of girls, appointed to the position of Chaplain; a long list of deserving colored men, whose name happens not to be Arnett, ignored completely---Oh I am sick of the whole damn business. 395

The tone of Tyler's letter makes Tyler's frustration clear. Tyler believed

Arnett was not only usurping privileges Myer's had earned, but was abusing the trust McKinley and Hanna had placed in him. Arnett was practicing nepotism in securing privilege for his son. In Tyler's estimation, the fact that Arnett's son was

"a debaucher of girls" and was abusing the position he was granted was an abomination. Correspondence between Tyler and Myers several months later indicated that Arnett's son had been relieved of his position as a military chaplain.

Tyler had returned to the political fold; and Tyler asked Myers to use his influence to recommend a suitable (African American) replacement for Arnett's son. 396

Tyler's regained faith in the system when Reverend Arnett's son was dismissed. He firmly believed that if men of the African American elite lived by the ethics and standards that qualified them as elites they would continue to stand with white men of similar status. They were united by a common bond of

Victorian manhood and that bond transcended race. Because society expected religious men to maintain higher standards than their non-religious peers, Tyler

395 "Benjamin Arnett and the Color Line," 179. Ralph W. Tyler to George A. Myers, June 22, 1898, GAM Papers 396 Ralph Tyler to George A. Myers, October 5, 1898, GAM Papers.

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was correct in his expectation that young Arnett's behavior deserved rebuke. A scandal caused by one prominent person could spread the taint of scandal to that person's associates. At the same time, exemplary behavior could elevate an entire cohort.

Calvin S. Morris argued in his study of Reverend Reverdy C. Ransom, that

"black clergymen [were] the undisputed leaders of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century black community." Morris is correct in asserting that African

American clergymen were influential community leaders, but in Cleveland they were not the driving force in shaping the black community. Members of the clergy counseled their parishioners. They provided social services and secular education. They nurtured the spiritual needs of the community, and sometimes fought for the civil rights of their parishioners, but most were not politically powerful.

In Cleveland, Ohio, between 1880 and 1920, physicians and members of the clergy were far less significant than men who engaged in the game of electoral politics. African American political leaders in Cleveland exerted far more influence to affect change than either physicians or members of the clergy.

Perhaps one reason why politics was the undisputed realm of power in Cleveland was the significant political influence Ohio had nationally during these decades.

Five Ohio Republicans served as president of Ohio from 1880 to 1920. Beginning with Rutherford B. Hayes, who was president in 1880 and ending with Taft,

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elected in 1908, there was enormous opportunity for ambitious, elite, African

American men affiliated with the Republican Party. 397

Members of Cleveland's African American elite community saw themselves as "Best Men." Historian Glenda Gilmore argued that "the Best Man was not real but a theoretical device that worked to limit democracy by invoking the language of merit." In the logic of that image, all men were not created equal; some men deserved more power and influence because of their inherent worth.

This was a very real concept to men of Cleveland's African American elite. They believed democracy was far too important to put in the hands of ordinary people.

It was the duty of educated, moral, competent men to order society in such a way that it best served the needs of all the people. Members of the African American elite believed they epitomized that model and they were the equal of any white men participating in the political arena. Some powerful white men agreed. 398

Members of the best white men were willing to share political power in

Cleveland, Ohio during the decades before the Great Migration. That sense of equality across the color line began to fade when Cleveland and other northern cities were infused with waves of uneducated southern migrants early in the twentieth century. Members of the original African American elite grew old; they were replaced by younger men representing the New Negro image. In Cleveland, mutually beneficial cooperation between members of the elite across the color

397 Calvin S. Morris, Reverdy C. Ransom: Black advocate of the Social Gospel (Lanham: MD.: University Press of America, 1990), 2. 398 Gender and Jim Crow, 62.

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line gave way to wary compromise by two camps each hoping to maximize their agenda while relinquishing as little as possible to their colleagues across the color line.

From the 1930s to the 1960s there was minimal cooperation and little progress made in bridging the gap between blacks and whites. African

Americans would not make significant gains in their quest to reclaim political power until the modern civil rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s.

Conclusion

Following Reconstruction and well into the era of Jim Crow, Charleston,

South Carolina, was a city of contradictions. Certainly, the racial lines were hardening despite the valiant efforts of an educated, talented, cosmopolitan black elite that had been in place for over a hundred years. Some individuals managed to flourish and succeed while the majority of the population was crushed beneath the domination of the legacy of the former Confederacy. Prior to the Civil War,

Charleston was one the most prosperous and most vibrant cities in the South.

The devastation of war, followed by the earthquake of 1886 were too much to overcome. Charleston never regained her former glory. Without the free labor of the enslaved, the city had little hope of significant rebirth.

Politically, the black elite in Charleston were not effective players on the national scene during the twentieth century. Perhaps it was a lack of dynamic members of the South Carolina Republican Party that caused the demise or that virulent racism was more intense and extreme there than in either New Orleans or Cleveland. South Carolina's Republican Party was gradually but steadily disfranchised and ultimately wielded too little power on the national stage to be considered a political threat to the revitalized Democratic Party. In Charleston, only a few members of the black elite were able to secure the remaining crumbs of political patronage. Those appointments were secured through the skillful politicking of Booker T. Washington and other members of the black elite

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including George A. Myers and Walter Cohen. Following Washington's death in

1915, there was not enough interest and not enough other people influential enough to champion the cause of South Carolinians in the nation's capital.

Perhaps if Charleston as a city had been able to wield more power, there would have been more politicians at the national level willing to make an effort to sustain power in that city; however, powerful Democrats crushed Republican political power in South Carolina. Patronage appointments became a casualty of the demise of the Republican Party and virtually all opportunities were lost. 399

African American elite physicians in Charleston maintained an active presence in the city, but their accomplishments were muted over time. Dr. Alonzo

McClennan was perhaps most effective in rising above the color barrier. He announced publicly that he and his staff had cared for the family of a lynched postmaster. At the time he did not know if his actions would jeopardize his family, his career or even his life. Had he not possessed adequate support and affiliations across the color line, it was unlikely that he would have been so forthcoming about his actions. 400

The Jenkins Orphanage still exists but was later moved to North

Charleston. None of Charleston's black elite, with the exception of perhaps

Robert Smalls and William D. Crum, are remembered today except perhaps by

399 See Charleston! Charleston! Chapter 5, section 4 "Redemption and the Charleston Style," 301- 322; Black Carolinians , 196; 265. Powers writes convincingly regarding the out-migration of many members of the ambitious black elite. He refers to a 1915 edition of the Charleston News and Courier that suggested there was "no longer room for blacks in America" and the only solution was deportation. 400 For more information on Alonzo McClennan see chapter 2, 90- 107.

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historians who look for clues in the past. Based on the historical and geographic importance of Charleston and the fact that it was a slave society from its inception, there should have been a greater legacy from its African American elite during the post-Reconstruction era. 401

Of the three cities included in this study it could be argued that Charleston

had the smallest impact on black progress from 1880-1920. The city that once

showed potential for racial equality and harmony became a wasteland of

unfulfilled dreams for members of the African American elite. Try as they might

members of the black elite were unable to achieve their goal of a post-racial

world in twentieth century Charleston. Their places were not assumed by a

younger generation of black leaders. We do not see the transfer of power from

the old guard to the New Negroes as we do in Cleveland. The city of Charleston

never regained the power it exerted nationally in the antebellum era and the

power of the black elite withered along with the city. Although South Carolina

became a lost cause, the legacy of Republican activism appeared to remain

functional longer in New Orleans than it did in Charleston.

Compared to Charleston, New Orleans exhibited a wealth of possibilities

following the Civil War. Perhaps it was because of its greater racial and religious

diversity that New Orleans provided more opportunities for more people over a

longer period of time. Historian Justin A. Nystrom wrote, "Critics miss the point

when distracted by the presence of Catholicism or Creole culture or when they

401 See pages 58-64 and 107-108 for William D. Crum and pages 47- 53 for Robert Smalls.

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suggest that, as the regions largest city, New Orleans was anomalous in the overwhelmingly rural South." Nystrom also wrote: that "New Orleans is an excellent location for a study of the postbellum South because it contained so many of the elements that made the region tumultuous." Nystrom was correct in describing the region as tumultuous. Certainly, New Orleans was unique in its history, but it was not at all representative of other southern cities or the surrounding rural areas. It was an entity all its own. The culture that existed in

New Orleans existed nowhere else in America. The conclusions drawn based upon life there cannot be used to explain any other American city during the post-

Reconstruction era. New Orleans was spared the worst devastation of the Civil

War. Its multicultural society evolved in ways unseen elsewhere in America.

Republican power evoked cooperation across the color line in New Orleans, much more like that in northern cities. New Orleans was far more Catholic than other southern cities and the majority of priests where white. That prompted cooperation across the color line for religious purposes. New Orleans was inherently bilingual and that divided residents along ethnic boundaries in addition to race and class. For all of these reasons, New Orleans cannot be considered representative. 402

There were ample and unique opportunities for people of all cultures to straddle the color line in New Orleans. Intercultural experiences were

402 New Orleans was recaptured by Union forces early in the Civil War and therefore was spared much of the devastation suffered by other important Confederate cities. For more on New Orleans' multicultural heritage see chapter 2, pages 119- 125. Justin A. Nystrom, New Orleans After the Civil War: Race Politics and a New Birth of Freedom. (Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 2010) , 3.

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more the norm than single culture communities. The variety of races, religions, and social classes that existed in New Orleans from 1880 to 1920 provided a multifaceted environment that could have been used as a laboratory for plans to reform much of the nation. Like any other sizable American city, the vast majority of people living there were poor and struggled to survive in a changing world.

The elite individuals discussed all had abilities, opportunities and ambitions that far exceeded the majority of people in the region. Many were talented enough to succeed regardless of race or class. They rose above circumstances that thwarted the plans of most. The elites shaped the environment in which they lived. Regardless of race, these men not only straddled the color line, but they bent it in ways that suited their purposes. African American elites who lived in

New Orleans were unwilling to allow race to be the defining element in their lives as they worked hard to improve their world. The whites who cooperated with the black elites saw opportunities for growth and success that others ignored. Blacks and white, English-speaking and Francophones cooperated for the improvement of all. Because definitions of race and class were so complicated in New Orleans, there were many opportunities to maintain status and power despite the hardening of racial rules for the majority of society.

Speaking of New Orleans, historian John W. Blassingame remarked that "In New Orleans, as perhaps no other American city, there were many cracks in the color line. Negroes frequently interacted on terms of perfect equality with whites in public institutions and in social relations." The state that

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boasted the first African American governor in America could have been the example of a racial success story for the rest of America. Black and white men united by family ties and a desire to move their state into the future had unlimited opportunities but they failed to capitalize on them. 403

The "New Negro" class in New Orleans did not fill the gap that we saw filled in Cleveland. The nadir in New Orleans came earlier there than in

Cleveland but later than Charleston. Despite the best efforts of Archbishop

Janssens, the Catholic Church took its first steps toward segregation during the last decade of the nineteenth century. At first the segregation was voluntary, but ultimately New Orleans succumbed to Jim Crow regulations in the city's churches. The promises of Reconstruction would wait until the middle of the

Twentieth Century to become a permanent reality in the Big Easy. 404

As might be expected when comparing Cleveland to New Orleans and Charleston, the northern city had a dramatically different experience regarding the color line. When the African American population there was small,

Cleveland's black elites experienced either no racism or minimal racism. The level of racism increased proportionately to the size of the black population in the city. It is highly likely that some poor blacks in Cleveland experienced dramatic episodes of racism, but poor immigrants from all over the world experienced similar mistrust and abuse in Cleveland. Affluent and professional blacks were generally treated with respect. Well-educated African American gentlemen

403 Black New Orleans, 210. 404 For a discussion on self-segregation in the Catholic Church in New Orleans, see pages 192-197.

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appeared to have almost unlimited opportunities in Cleveland. John P. Green seemed to live almost a charmed life in his adopted city. He was afforded the opportunity to gain an education, he ran successfully several times for elective office and was friends with some of the wealthiest men in the city. George A.

Myers also seemed to move effortlessly between the black and white worlds and appeared to be welcomed equally in both. He forged an unprecedented social and professional network across the color line. His extraordinary success was not limited to Cleveland. Myers' network extended from the Great Lakes to the

Gulf of Mexico and from Washington, D.C. to the Mississippi River. He credited his political and financial success to hard work and smart alliances. He was a stalwart member of the Republican Party for many years, but never depended on politics for his livelihood. His economic independence allowed him the flexibility to be dependent on no one. Myers and other members of the black elite maintained a strong presence in Cleveland until their deaths. By 1930, there was only one man left from the original cohort of black elites of the post-

Reconstruction era, John P. Green, who continued to work as an attorney in his adopted city until his death. 405

Politicians were clearly the most powerful members of the black elite in Cleveland. Physicians and members of the clergy were far less influential in this northern city than they were in the South and emerged as a cohort much

405 George A. Myers died in 1930 on the day he retired from ownership of his barbershop in the legendary Hollenden Hotel. He was 70 years old. John P. Green lived in Cleveland until his death in 1940 resulting from a motor vehicle accident. He was 95 years old at his death

310

later. Cleveland was an industrial powerhouse from 1880 to 1920. Business was what drove the city. Because there were few African Americans living there before the beginning of the twentieth century, there was far less need for African

American ministers and physicians to serve the black public. Elite blacks had very little trouble obtaining services from their white colleagues. There was little need for physicians and ministers to use their occupations as a platform for social acceptance in society in Cleveland. As a result, successful businessmen forged the interracial networks that launched them into politics and political influence. It was not until the cadre of African American elites died off that there was a need for a new paradigm in Cleveland. 406

The 1930s ushered in the era of the New Negro in Cleveland and the racial climate became markedly different. This was the advent of the true nadir in the city. It began in the 1920s, and by 1930 there was no doubt that racial egalitarianism for members of the elite was a thing of the past in Cleveland.

Formal segregation of the races was the rule rather than the exception. Like the two southern cities studied, Cleveland elites had lost their ability to rise above race politics. The younger men who represented the New Negro image did not have the same social and political influence in the city. They were influential within the black community, but they could not command the same respect or privilege that members of the old elite did. They did not share the same Victorian standards or lifestyle as the previous generation. Their lives did not mirror the

406 George A. Myers died in 1930, Charles Chesnutt died in 1932, Ralph Tyler died in 1921, Jere Brown in 1913.

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powerful whites who dominated the city. The dynamics of this new era of race relations took hold and remained firmly entrenched until the onset of the modern civil rights movement in the 1960s.

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