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

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Straddling the Color Line: Social and Political Power of African American Elites in Charleston, New Orleans, and Cleveland, 1880-1920 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 by 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 ii 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 iv 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. v 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 vi 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. 3 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.
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