Black Baton Rouge Yesterday and Today

Looking Back to Effectively Move Forward

Written by Dr. Lori Martin and Christopher J. Tyson, JD TABLE OF CONTENTS

Looking Back to Effectively Move Forward 1

Introduction 2

Black Baton Rouge Before the Civil War 3

Civil War and Black Reconstruction 5 The Black Church 7 Black Schools 10 Black Businesses 12 Influential Figures in Black Baton Rouge 15

The Civil Rights Era 17 The Construction of the Interstates 18 Southern University Growth and 18 Challenges Brooks Park 20 Baton Rouge Bus Boycott 20 Black College Student Protests 21 Black Power Movement 23 School Desegregation in Baton Rouge 23 Social Justice Leaders and Politicians 25

Post Civil Rights to the Present 28 School Desegregation Continues 28 Southern University in the 2000s 29 Notable Black Baton Rouge Politicians and 30 President Obama's Visit

Black Baton Rouge Today: Going Forward 32 Key Summaries 34 The Bus Boycott of 1953 & Social Justice Leadership Black Schools in Baton Rouge Black Churches in Baton Rouge

Engagement Guides 37 Community Organizations Faith Communities Individuals

LOOKING BACK TO EFFECTIVELY MOVE FORWARD

c.1900 Hickory Street School, which later became The Baton Rouge Colored High School before becoming McKinley High School in 1927. Sankofa is an African word from the Akan tribe in Ghana. It is intended to be a complete and exhaustive retelling convey the need to make “benevolent of the history of Black people in Baton use of the past” in order to make Rouge. Rather, this effort is but a progress into the future. The literal “broad slice” of the experiences of translation of the word and symbol is Baton Rouge’s Black citizens, their “it is not taboo to fetch what is at risk institutions, and the broader of being left behind.” At the heart of community context in which they the concept is the importance of a existed. careful investigation of the past in order to understand the present and gain knowledge needed for the future. "It is not taboo to fetch what is at This work is rooted in the spirit of risk of being left behind." sankofa. from the Twi language of the Akan people in Ghana

At MetroMorphosis, we firmly believe that any meaningful efforts to It is also important to note that this is positively impact communities of color not a finished document. Our hope is in Baton Rouge must be rooted in the that community members, history knowledge of the communities arrived buffs, educational institutions, and at the current state of affairs. Being other community based organizations unaware of the events, activities and will take this document and add to it decisions that have shaped what we and share with others. Finally, and see in the city’s Black neighborhoods most importantly, this document is renders one ill equipped to effectively not put forth to be simply read. While contribute to real progress. It is we hope the reader will find the imperative to acknowledge that what content engaging, our sincere desire is exists today is a product of who the that this document will serve as a people of this community have been conversation starter. We hope and what the people of this community families, neighborhoods, churches, have done. schools and other organizations will create real engagement with this If this document is to fulfil its purpose, writing and robust conversations a few things are important to about what it means to Baton Rouge’s recognize. First, this is not designed to future.

1 INTRODUCTION

Louisiana’s state capital is home to a rich history and dynamic community stretching back hundreds of years. Present day Baton Rouge has distinguished itself nationally and internationally through its ever-expanding economy and diverse culture. The Baton Rouge metropolitan area is comprised of nine parishes with a total population of over 850,000 per the U.S. Census’s 2019 estimate, making metropolitan Baton Rouge the nation’s 70th largest metropolitan statistical area. East Baton Rouge Parish, the regional anchor, contained over 440,000 residents as of the 2019 U.S. Census update estimate, making it the most populous parish in Louisiana.

East Baton Rouge Parish consists of residents living in the cities of Baton Rouge, Baker, Central, Zachary and in unincorporated East Baton Rouge Parish. The City of Baton Rouge and East Baton Rouge Parish are governed by a consolidated government structure that features a combined Mayor-President and Metropolitan Council, commonly referred to as City-Parish government. The cities of Baker, Central and Zachary have their own separate municipal governments while falling under the Mayor-President and the Metropolitan Council in their capacity as heads of East Baton Rouge Parish.

Present day Baton Rouge is home to the state’s flagship university, Louisiana State University, one of the nation’s largest historically Black colleges and universities, Southern University, and the Baton Rouge Community College. The Port of Greater Baton Rouge is the 10th-largest in the nation. Situated directly north of downtown on the eastern banks of the Mississippi River, ExxonMobil’s Baton Rouge oil refinery is the fifth largest oil refinery in the nation and the thirteen largest in the world. It is one of many petrochemical facilities located on the river and stretching from Baton Rouge south to New Orleans. Despite the dominance of the petrochemical industry, state government and Louisiana State University are the region’s largest employers.

As of 2019, the city of Baton Rouge has an estimated population of 220,236 that is over 54% Black, and the city’s Black community has a distinct social fabric and history of its own. The story of Black Baton Rouge in many ways tracks the story of Black communities throughout the nation. It is a story about the remarkable triumph over the horrors of slavery, the exploitation of Jim Crow segregation, the cumulative consequences of the historically racialized maldistribution of resources and the systematic exclusion of the city’s Black residents from civic life and economic opportunity.

2 BLACK BATON ROUGE BEFORE THE CIVIL WAR

Current-day Southern University near the Plank Road Corridor is said to be the site of the dividing line between the Houma Tribe and the Bayougoula Indian Tribe territories. The dividing line was marked by a red cypress stick, which influenced the name Baton Rouge.

Baton Rouge was founded in 1699 and was the site of many historic events and home to many people, including many of African ancestry. The city of c. 2011 The Red Stick Sculpture to commemorate the exchange Baton Rouge dates back over 200 that led to Baton Rouge getting its name. Located on the present- years. From its incorporation in 1817 day campus of Southern University, the sculpture was designed by Alumni Frank Hayden until the early part of the 20th century, Baton Rouge was a relatively small town bound by the present-day owners endeavored to construct a road Spanish Town to the north, the Baton to connect Baton Rouge to a train Rouge National Cemetery to the east, depot north of the city in Clinton, the Mississippi River to the west, and Louisiana. This led to the construction Beauregard Town to the south. During of Plank Road, named for its early the era of slavery, many Black people construction of wooden planks. were enslaved while some others were free. Regardless of their enslavement Baton Rouge was home to many active status, Black residents of Baton Rouge plantations prior to the Civil War. in the early 1800s and beyond were Plantations in East Baton Rouge Parish treated as chattel or as second-class included Scotland, Magnolia, and citizens. Longwood. Longwood Plantation, located in South Baton Rouge, a sugar In 1709, the first enslaved Africans cane plantation, was established were brought to Louisiana. Their around 1785. The first records of sugar forced labor was employed to production on the plantation are dated transform the region by removing the 1828. Over 300 hogsheads of sugar old growth forests and installing were produced that year (a hogshead cotton and sugar cane plantations in was a standard unit of measurement of the 18th and 19th centuries. As cotton about 48 inches long and 30 inches in and cane were extremely cyclical diameter). The property changed hands industries, Baton Rouge plantation many times over the years. In 1845, owners concentrated on volume Josiah Barker sold the plantation to his business in the peak periods. To son, Thomas Hazard Barker, for the accomplish this goal, plantation sum of $150,000. 3 Thomas Barker sold the property two Court of Louisiana confirmed in an years later to Thomas Mille and 1816 ruling that self-purchase was still Jacques Philippe Meffre Rouzan along enforceable in the state. A new law with 93 slaves. Enslaved Africans were followed the U.S. southern trend of included in land deals. As a former site increasing restrictions on manumission governed by plantation culture, Baton in the nineteenth century, passing laws Rouge’s roots of racial tension run requiring freed slaves to leave the state deep beneath the city. and new regulations on free people of color, culminating in re-enslavement During the enslavement period, laws in the 1850s.” Louisiana was also home to free people of color. However, the brutality Although the system of slavery and inhumanity of the race-based included many prohibitions against chattel slave system were also far- people of African descent having reaching; slavery impacted the lives of money and placed restrictions even on even free people of color, who were in Black residents of free status, Black Louisiana as early as the 1720s. Prior people were able to accumulate wealth to the Civil War, Louisiana had the and not only purchase the freedom of largest population of free people of some of their relatives but also operate color in the nation. Irrespective of lucrative businesses. The forced their status as free people, Black separation of the races created people in the state did not enjoy the opportunities over time for dollars to same rights and privileges as members circulate within segregated Black of the dominant racial group. Free communities. Many Black businesses Black residents during much of the thrived in Baton Rouge from the 1800s 1700s were legally prohibited from through the 1970s. cohabitating with slaves and from aiding fugitive slaves. In fact, it was Sweet Olive Cemetery is one of the not out of the ordinary for the whites significant contributions by influential to use free Black people to punish the free people of color of South Baton enslaved. Rouge. Established in 1850, Sweet Olive Cemetery was one of only two African The passing of the Louisiana colony American cemeteries in Baton Rouge from the hands of the French to the until 1926, and it was the closest to the Spanish, along with manumissions that center of 19th-century Baton Rouge. followed the American Revolution, First African Baptist Benevolent Society contributed to the growth of the free and Sons and Daughters of Mount Black population in the state. An Pleasant Baptist Church were the article in the North Carolina Law official incorporators. The cemetery is Review comparing the enslavement bordered by North Boulevard, Delphine systems of Cuba, Virginia, and and Baxter Streets, Louisiana Avenue, Louisiana describes the ability of and South Twenty-Second Street. The slaves to win their freedom in cemetery was closed due to Louisiana during the 1800s as overcrowding, financial problems, and exceptionable. “Compared to other legal disputes. Appeals for state states in the United States, the support were rejected on the basis that lingering influence of civil law in Black communities should fund their Louisiana allowed greater rights of own cemeteries at the same time the manumission, including the right to state was funding Confederate sue for freedom without a next of kin cemeteries. or guardian ad litem. The Supreme 4 FROM BLACK RECONSTRUCTION TO THE EARLY 20TH CENTURY c.1888 The Training School for Wives and Mothers , from the book In Christ's Stead: Autobiographical Sketches During Reconstruction, over 40 Black representatives occupied seats in the Louisiana State Senate in 1868.One of Civil War and Black Reconstruction The Civil War had a tremendous impact these representatives and a very on the city. Baton Rouge was under influential person of this period is Union control by the spring of 1862. Pinckney Benton Stewart (P.B.S.) With the end of the Civil War, the Pinchback. When P.B.S. Pinchback, a formerly enslaved began to migrate to Black New Orleanean, was elected to Baton Rouge in large numbers from the Louisiana State Senate in 1868, he the surrounding areas. Between the joined a legislature that included forty- years of 1860 and 1880, the Black two Black representatives during population of Baton Rouge expanded Reconstruction. Pinchback would serve from 33% to 60% of the population.The briefly as the state’s first Black state capital was then moved to Governor and Congressman. Opelousas and ultimately Shreveport prior to the Battle of Baton Rouge and returned in 1882 after the end of Reconstruction. Black soldiers fought during the Civil War in Baton Rouge, and the city was also a haven for slaves seeking freedom. From the years leading up to the Civil War c. 1863 Famous "The through the years immediately Scouraged Back" photo following the conflict, the Black depicted Private Gordon population in Baton Rouge almost who fled slavery to join union forces in Baton doubled as the number of whites Rouge. decreased during the same period. The Black residents endured the promises Jim Crow laws first appeared in and failures of Reconstruction. For Louisiana in 1868. Pinchback is example, while Black males in Baton credited with marshalling support for Rouge could vote after the adoption of the establishment of Southern the 15th Amendment and Black males University, which was chartered in 1880 held important elected positions, in New Orleans. In 1877, the limitations were still placed on access Democratic Party – at the time violently to valued resources such as wealth, committed to the re-establishment of status, and power. 5 of white supremacy and the end of They experienced the exploitative Reconstruction through the removal of system of sharecropping and convict federal troops – regained control of leasing – the latter the genesis of a the state legislature. Most Black system that has led to Louisiana’s citizens were totally disenfranchised record setting incarceration rates. by the new state constitution of 1898 and were excluded from politics for The criminalization of Black life decades. through the Black Codes, Jim Crow and convict leasing established patterns in Black communities and in white society that normalized criminalization as the sole state response to the strivings and setbacks of Black people. The collateral consequences are Gov. Pinckney Benton Stewart (P.B.S.) Pinchback cumulative, impacting family was the first Black governor composition, labor participation and of Louisiana. Elected during cultural expression. reconstruction, Pinchback served for one year, but was later elected to the U.S. South Baton Rouge’s T.T. Allain Senate After the end of Reconstruction, the Jim Crow era began. During this period of After the federal troops were legal segregation and discrimination, withdrawn from the South, Black Baton Black people from all economic Rouge residents were again backgrounds called South Baton Rouge marginalized and disenfranchised. their home. Many prominent and According to a report about the influential Black families and experiences of African-Americans after individuals lived in the area from the Civil War in Louisiana, “Where before the Civil War until the 1960s. cotton was king, tenancy and One such individual was Theophile T. sharecropping prevailed. Allain, also referred to as T.T. Allain. Sharecroppers were provided with the Born on a plantation on November 29, land, tools, and seed by the landowner 1851, Allain was born a slave. His with an expectation that they produce mother was a slave, and his father was a certain amount of crop. The whole a slave owner who treated him as a family—husband, wife, and children— free person. He traveled with his father worked the crop together. They would to Europe and was educated in the not actually get paid until that crop was North. Theophile Allain went on to harvested and sold. With no source of become a Black farmer, merchant, and regular income, they had to purchase politician. Allain was elected to the their own food and clothing, etc. on Louisiana State Legislature in 1870 but credit extended by the landowner at denied a seat due to balloting the plantation store. These stores irregularities. He served as election featured exorbitant prices and high supervisor in 1872, as a member of the interest that made it nearly inevitable Louisiana House of Representatives the crop would not cover the expenses from 1872 through 1874, and in the the farmer accrued during the year and Louisiana Senate from 1874 until 1880. kept the sharecropper in a cycle of He served in the Louisiana House again constant debt.” between 1881 and 1890. After his death on June 17, 1921, Allain was buried in Baton Rouge’s Black community bore the historic St. Joseph Catholic witness to the promise and failures of Cemetery in South Baton Rouge. Reconstruction. 6 Theophile Allain was not only a resulted in the creation of kinship successful business owner, farmer, and networks, for example. Laws politician, he (along with Pinchback) prohibiting Black people from learning also played an integral role in to read or write throughout many establishing Southern University in places in the United States, including in 1880. Southern University is a Louisiana for a time, limited the impact historically Black university in north of education on the lives of far too Baton Rouge, and it was the only many people of African ancestry, institution in the city for Blacks especially during the 1800s and the pursuing postsecondary degrees until first half of the 20th century. There is the 1960s. The original site for no shortage of predominantly Black Southern University was New Orleans churches in South Louisiana, including until it relocated to Baton Rouge in in South Baton Rouge. Area Black 1914. The state’s flagship school, churches include Bethel AME, Mount Louisiana State University, is located in Zion Baptist, Shiloh Baptist, and Mount South Baton Rouge but prohibited Pleasant Baptist Church. Church Black youth from enrolling in classes leaders were often also important or even stepping foot on campus. community leaders. Many college-educated residents of South Baton Rouge are graduates of Churches, the Black church in Southern University. Theophile Allain particular, played a particularly supported a state-supported Black significant role in the lives of African institution even when some influential Americans from the days of slavery to Black individuals believed the Reconstruction to the early part of the establishment of the institution of 20th century and beyond. The Black higher learning represented a church, according to DuBois and concession to racial segregation. It was others, was the center of social not uncommon for Black people to interaction in the Black experience. For establish their own institutions when much of the early history of people of excluded from predominantly white African descent in the United States, institutions, including colleges and the church was the hospital where universities. There is an academic African Americans who were wounded building at Southern University named and hurting went to get well. The Black for Theophile Allain to honor his church was where people of African contributions to the creation of this ancestry got information and institution. T.T. Allain Hall houses the amusement. The Black church was the math and computer science place where African Americans pooled departments. their resources and mobilized their collective efforts to identify and The Black Church address the challenges facing their According to W.E.B. DuBois, a pioneer race. It is therefore not surprising that in sociology in North America, founder many of the early figures and places of the National Association for the associated with civil rights movements Advancement of Colored People in America have their origins in faith (NAACP), and author of The Souls of traditions. Black Folks, churches historically played a far more important role than Mount Zion Baptist was organized in the family or even schools in the 1858 by two pastors, one Black – Pastor African American experience. The Isaac Palmer and one White – Pastor disruption of the biological family John Brady.

7 Eight others participated in the According to East Baton Rouge Public organization including Henry Strong, Library, “The Blundon School and Silas Green, and Martha Hinton. The Orphanage also had its beginning church was originally located at 335 here.” African Methodist churches still Maximillian Street in South Baton exist in Baton Rouge. Bethel African Rouge. It moved to its present location Methodist Episcopal Church is located at 356 East Boulevard in 1954. The in South Baton Rouge and, in 2016, street the church is on was recently hosted the national unveiling of a U.S. renamed in honor of a former pastor postal stamp dedicated to one of the of Mount Zion Baptist Church, Rev. T.J. founders of the denomination, Richard Jemison. Jemison not only led the Allen. church for many years, he also was an important leader in national Baptist Black residents of South Baton Rouge and civil rights organizations. He was have worshipped at Mount Pleasant one of the leaders of the historic 1953 Baptist Church since the church was Baton Rouge bus boycott, which served organized in 1870. Two dozen residents as a model for the 1955 Montgomery of South Baton Rouge were members of bus boycott. The latter boycott the congregation in 1947. Located at catapulted Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King 1743 Convention Street, the Jr. onto the national stage in the fight predominantly Black church remains an for equal treatment for all Americans. important fixture in the community. Rev. Charlie Green Jr. is the current pastor.

Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church is another pillar of the Black Baton Rouge community. It was organized in 1872 by Rev George Byrd. Reverend Byrd was succeeded by Rev. Jack Mitchell in 1906. Originally located on Boyd Street in the historical Spanish town area, Shiloh moved to its present sit on South 14th Street in 1932. Rev. Mitchell retired in 1944 after passing the c. 1953 Black Baton Rougeans organized free carpools to allow those leadership to Rev. Dudley T. Smith. boycotting the bus system to still be able to meet daily Following in the footsteps of his father, responsibilities. This boycott served as a blueprint for the more well- known Bus Boycott in Alabama two years later. Rev. Charles T Smith became the pastor of Shiloh after the death of Rev. Dudley Wesley Chapel Methodist Episcopal T Smith in 1962. During the leadership Negro Church, founded in 1866, was of Rev. Charles T. Smith, the church and remains an important social purchased property on both 14th and institution in South Baton Rouge. “The 13th street (renamed Eddie Robinson beginning of WESLEY was in the First Sr Drive). The current church and its Methodist Church (White) then located first building used for education, on the corner of Laurel and Fourth located at 185 Eddie Robinson Sr. Street. When an attempt of Drive, were constructed in the 1970s. segregation was made, a seed was Shiloh continues to provide a number planted in the minds of those who of resources for the Black community wanted something for themselves and including an early learning center, for those who followed after them.” credit union, men’s transitional housing

8 facility and a drug prevention program. Progressive Baptist Church is a historic Currently, the congregation of over faith-based institution in the heart of 3,500 members is led by Pastor Fred the Black community of South Baton Jeff Smith, who succeeded his father, Rouge. Progressive Baptist Church was Rev. Charles T Smith, in 2013. organized in 1916. When it was organized, there were over 300 Mount Pilgrim Baptist Church is the members. The historic Black church, first church established in the historic currently located at 998 Julia Street, Black neighborhood of Scotlandville. remains actively engaged in its Organized in 1893, the first sanctuary commitment to the spiritual needs of was a wood-framed building on an acre members and to the broader needs of of land on Scenic Highway purchased the surrounding community and city. for $50. Rev. Harden Jackson was the The church is among a coalition of leader of the founding congregation. community-based organizations Many of the pastors thereafter had working to improve the quality of life affiliations with Southern University. for residents throughout the city, For example, the eighth pastor, Rev. including the Black community in South Jesse B. Bilberry Jr., was part of Baton Rouge. The current pastor, Rev. Southern University’s administration Melvin Rushing, is a participant in an until he was seated in 1984. On the initiative called “Together Baton same original site, the Mount Pilgrim Rouge.” complex includes a large sanctuary, administrative offices, an educational Founded in 1916 by Jenkins Johnson, center, and the Family Life Center. The J.S. Jones, I.S. Powell, Jake Spears, and current pastor is Rev. Ronnie O. Blake. Wesley Gaines, Mount Carmel was established with services being held at New Light Missionary Baptist Church is Odd Fellows Hall. Rev. Netters another pillar of the Scotlandville officiated until Rev. Samuel Watkins community. Founded by Rev. Tony was elected the first pastor. A member Scott, the church was organized in of the church, Ernest o’Connor, built 1895. Rev. Scott was also a sugar cane the first sanctuary in 1920 after the farmer. The first sanctuary originally congregation grew to about 30 located on a patch of land located near members. It was located on Sora Street the Nicholas Wax Memorial Cemetery. in Scotlandville. Mount Carmel This building was destroyed by a storm continued to expand including a larger in 1910. The church was rebuilt in a structure in 1939, an expansion in new location on Crane Street. A 1949, a larger sanctuary in 1961, and charter was established for New Light an annex in 1982. During this time of in 1935 when the church was still a expansion, the church was renamed one-room structure. New Light is now Greater Mount Carmel in 1951. located at 650 Blount Road since 1981 Expansion temporarily displaced the while under the direction of Dr. H.B. membership in 1961 who then used Williams. In 2002, the Community Cook’s Theatre on Scenic Highway while Outreach Center was added to help the larger sanctuary was under provide services to the Scotlandville construction. Pastor Clee E. Lowe community. Among these was a 2005 currently leads the Greater Mount partnership with Pennington Carmel congregation. Biomedical research to conduct a study on diabetes. Rev. Gil Wright, the current pastor, succeeded Dr. Williams in 2005. . 9 Many African Americans are Catholic in equipped for 200 students on South Louisiana, and there remains a Boulevard, and an industrial school substantial African American Catholic and boys’ living quarters on what is community in Baton Rouge today. Prior now Louise St. Most of the to the early 1900s, Black Catholics construction was sponsored by attended mass at either St. Joseph financial and material contributors in Cathedral or St. Agnes Catholic church. the North, particularly New Yorkers. On Christmas Day in 1918, the first The Blundon Home served the Black mass was celebrated at the first community during a period when there exclusively Black Catholic in Baton were few public schools educating Rouge, St. Francis Xavier Catholic Black children in the South. Church. The brick sanctuary was built with the help of the parishioners. The Black Schools predominantly Black parish not only Race was used to facilitate the unequal provided for the spiritual needs of treatment of Black students for many Black Catholics in the diocese, it years, including in Louisiana and other provided schools for them as well. parts of the Deep South. During the 1800s, Louisiana had a law on the For centuries, Black churches have books that resulted in a one-year served as places where Black prison sentence for anyone found congregants went to have their violating the ban on the education of spiritual needs met. Black churches free or enslaved Blacks. African necessarily met other basic needs, Americans continued to face obstacles especially during times where in their quest for a quality education segregation, enforced by actual even as American schools were used to violence and the threat of violence or assimilate white immigrants from by unjust laws, excluded Blacks from Southern, Central, and Eastern Europe participation in predominantly white who arrived en masse between the social institutions. One example is the 1880s and early 1920s. These Blundon School and Orphanage also immigrants were considered less called the Blundon Home. The Blundon desirable than whites already in the School and Orphanage started in 1889 country but were still preferable to in the basement of the Wesley Black workers and other people of the Methodist Church in South Baton color in the nation at the time. Schools Rouge. Children received instruction functioned not to prepare Black during the day while adults were students for inclusion into the larger educated at night. Enrollment society but to prepare them for life at surpassed the allotted space leading to the bottom of the economic and social relocation to a building on North structure. Compulsory school Boulevard, known as the Live Oak attendance was connected to the School. Most of the students were poor different approaches to education for and could not afford to pay tuition. Blacks and whites. However, in lieu of money, many paid tuition with items like cornmeal, Black people in Baton Rouge have a chickens, flour, and sweet potatoes. long history of creating their own The Blundon Home founder, Mrs. educational opportunities when laws Polluck Blundon later bought property and social norms placed formal and on South Boulevard where several informal restrictions on their access to buildings were constructed beginning predominantly white educational in the early 1890s including a home, a institutions. printing office, a five-room school 10 For instance, The Fourth District Baptist Association ran Baton Rouge Academy beginning in 1906. A suggestion was made in the early 1890s for the association to buy a tract of land for a denominational school. The Fourth District Baptist Association purchased land referred to as the O’Connor Tract on Perkins Road. The doors opened on September 23, 1893, to educate Black boys and girls. Prof. 1987. Students at St. Francis Xavier Catholic School in Baton J.L. Croosiey was the school’s first Rouge, the only African- American Catholic School in the Diocese principal. Another school that served of Baton Rouge. Photo from the The Catholic Commentator Black students was the Rosenwald School. It was one of more than 5,000 schools throughout the South funded in the Diocese of Baton Rouge. The in part by the Julius Rosenwald school, which opened its doors in Foundation. The foundation’s aim was 1920, educates students from pre- to improve the quality of public kindergarten to the eighth grade. education for Blacks in the early part According to the school’s website, Holy of the 20th century in the South. Family Academy, the first Catholic school for Black worshippers in Baton In 1907, Dr. J.M. Frazier, Sr. started the Rouge, was sold and the money Hickory Street School to educate the received was loaned to the parish to children of Black sharecroppers and build St. Francis Xavier Catholic School, others both in the region and from as the first parochial school in the far away as Mississippi. He outgrew Diocese of Baton Rouge. The school his initial location and opened the draws students from the immediate Baton Rouge Colored High School in neighborhood and from areas such as 1913 near the corner of Perkins Road Zachary and Gonzales, Louisiana. St. and Bynum Street. The first class Francis High School opened in 1955 graduated four students in 1916. The but was torn down in 1961 to make school grew even more and on way for the interstate system. “That September 19, 1927 the original same year the old elementary school, McKinley Senior High School opened which had also served as the convent, on Texas Street, currently Thomas H. was moved to the site of the present Delpit Drive. For several decades Saint Francis Xavier Church. A new McKinley was the only high school for school was constructed on the Black students in the city and for much property, and opened its doors in of south Louisiana. McKinley High 1963. The church provided educational School was also home to a number of opportunities for Black children when sports teams in 1941 including they were excluded from basketball, football, baseball, predominantly white institutions and volleyball, and indo ball. The school suffered when the predominantly Black has contributed to the success of many community was literally divided by the athletes and coaches, including Eddie construction of the interstate system Robinson, Don Chaney, Tommy Green, with little regard for the immediate Calvin Nicholas, and Carl Stewart. and long-term effects of the decision on the historic Black neighborhoods St. Francis Xavier Catholic School is a and their residents and institutions. fixture in South Baton Rouge. It is the only African American Catholic school 11 Southern University Laboratory School, Southern University was established often referred to as Southern Lab, was in New Orleans in 1880 with just 12 established in 1922 to provide students, five faculty, and a total teachers’ training for Southern budget of $10,000. The university University education majors. Dr. Clark, relocated to Baton Rouge in 1914. the president of Southern University, believed that a training school was necessary to equip students who planned to become educators. Originally, the school was named the Southern University Model Training School. It changed to Southern University Demonstration School in the 1930s; then was renamed the Southern University Laboratory School a few years later. Southern Lab became 1914. When Southern University moved from New Orleans to accredited in 1936. In 2022, the school, Scotlandville, this was the only inhabitable building on the that educates children from pre- campus. It currently serves as the Archives and Information Kindergarten through high school, will Center. Photo from Facebook be 100 years old and will have Black Businesses graduated thousands of Black students Schools, churches, and cemeteries and prepared thousands of Black were not the only places where racial teachers. groups were separated by law or by the racial norms of a given time Despite laws forcing the separation of period. Blacks were not permitted to Black and white students across the attend the same theaters as whites United States and informal and formal during the Jim Crow era. Blacks in efforts to restrict Black access to Baton Rouge did not miss out on education, schools for Black children entertainment opportunities simply predated the landmark Brown v. Board because whites refused them of Education of Topeka, Kansas. Baton admission to facilities designated for Rouge African American male and whites only. female students were being educated by African American male and female The Cook Theatre located in adults who served as teachers or in Scotlandville was the first Black some other supportive role. Blacks owned theater in Louisiana. created their own educational Originally opened in the 1930s at opportunities when laws and social 8254 Scenic Highway, the theater was norms placed formal and informal a wooden structure that may have restrictions on their access to previously served as the Cook family predominantly white educational blacksmith’s shop. 35 millimeter film institutions. was very flammable and the theater was completely destroyed by fire in Louisiana State University was off- 1944 - partly because white limits for Black residents in Baton firefighters refused to assist a Black Rouge making Southern University the owned business. The owner, James choice for many dating back to the Cook Sr, rebuilt on the same site in 1800s. Southern University has 1945 a cinder block structure that conferred degrees to students from operated as a movie theater for Black Baton Rouge schools for generations. audiences for over 30 years.

12 James Cook Sr. was a graduate of Southern University Laboratory school and Southern University with a degree in mathematics. After being unable to secure a job as an engineer, he worked as a laborer at Standard Oil to support his family until the movie theater became successful.

Black visitors and residents throughout the city stayed at Hotel Lincoln and took in shows at the historic Lincoln The Lincoln Theater was an important fixture in Black Baton Theater. The theater, located on the Rouge. Remembered as one of the only places Black people corner of Eddie Robinson Sr. and could take in a movie, it also served as meeting space for Civil Rights groups. Residents continue efforts to preserve the Myrtle Drives, opened in 1949. It was history of and to restore the building. Shown here in 2018, one of three major Black theaters in murals adorn the exterior seemingly as a tribute to the artistry Baton Rouge at the time. Movies were the building represents. 75¢ then. The building also housed several Black-owned businesses, called a fortress of refuge for including insurance companies, a thousands, and now it needs to be laundromat, and a barbershop. Efforts saved.” The Lincoln Theater Center to restore the theater are continuing. Foundation Board is working to restore the building by trying to turn the Lincoln into the Black History Hall of Fame.

The Grand Theatre was located on Twelfth Street at North Boulevard in South Baton Rouge. According to Cinema Treasures, Grand Theatre “was built in the late-1890’s as an opera house and dance hall which was patronized by African Americans. The building was later converted into a movie theatre. The Grand Theatre Opening in the mid 1930s, Cook's Theatre was the first Black is listed in the 1945 Film Daily owned theater in the city. The original structure was destroyed by fire in 1944 but was later rebuilt and served Black theater goers for Yearbook as closed with 475 seats. In over 30 years the 1950’s the theatre was converted into a nightclub.” Another famous The upstairs rooms in the Lincoln place to enjoy a movie was the Theater were used during the civil Temple Theater. The Grand United rights struggles in the 1950s. One Order of the Odd Fellows began longtime resident of South Baton construction of the building that Rouge reflected on the significance would house the theater in 1924. The of the theater to the Black Roof Garden—housed in the same community. The resident recalled building as Temple Theater— that the theater “had been our place, featured local and national bands, this was our salvation right here.” including Cab Calloway, Louis With the end of legal segregation in Armstrong, and Duke Ellington the city, “soon, one-by-one, things among others. started to vanish, and so did the essence of the Lincoln. It was once 13 The Scotlandville neighborhood, was established around 1916 and is surrounding Southern University, was still considered the go-to place for a major hub of Black businesses in haircuts. Soon after, Thomas Delpit Baton Rouge. Centered on the moved to Baton Rouge from New intersection of Scenic Highway and Orleans in his early twenties and Scotland Avenue, Scotlandville was opened the Suburban Ice Cream Shop basically a self-sufficient haven for in 1935 with 34¢. Two years later, it Black residents in Baton Rouge during became Chicken Shack. According to Jim Crow. The primarily Black middle- Joseph Delpit, son of Thomas who took class residents of Scotlandville and over the business, The Chicken Shack Black residents from other areas of was a community place, “like a Baton Rouge had access to consumer cafeteria for the neighborhood Black goods and services from Black owned kids.” Thomas Delpit bought them businesses like grocery stores, clothing school uniforms, fed them, and helped stores, funeral homes, pharmacies, get them jobs. The restaurant also automotive sales and repairs, and played host to meetings of the civil realty services. Started in 1919, Kelly’s rights movement. Blue Line was the first bus company in Scotlandville and it was Black owned. Development of Black Baton Rouge Arteal Kelly and his wife Amanda, who In the decades after the Civil War, started the bus line, were also the first Baton Rouge never exceeded its pre- Black grocers in the area when they war population of roughly 5000. All of opened their store that same year. The that changed when Standard Oil (now bus line was used to help Exxon) arrived in Baton Rouge and accommodate the travel needs of Black opened its oil refinery in April of 1909. residents within the Scotlandville area In January 1919, The Lamp – Standard and in the broader Baton Rouge area. Oil’s nationally circulated trade publication- wrote glowingly about the Webb’s Barber Shop and the Chicken refinery as a replacement to the area’s Shack are among the longstanding cotton fields and primitive slave Black businesses still in existence economy. It declared the refinery “an today in South Baton Rouge. Webb agent of Post-Reconstruction Barber Shop, founded by Henry Webb, reconciliation” uniting northern

c. 1960 Barbers at Webb's Barber Shop located in South Baton Rouge. Webb's opened in the early 1900s and continues to provider services today. Photo courtesy of the East Baton Rouge Library Digital Archives

14 expertise and southern natural Southern University faculty and staff resources. The company’s arrival quickly populated Scotlandville and the dramatically altered the city’s economy University sponsored the area’s first and development trajectory. The small professional offices and financial town boomed and grew exponentially. institutions. In segregated Baton Rouge, Standard Oil, along with Southern Black settlement was limited to University and Leland College, Scotlandville, South Baton Rouge, and contributed to the growth of the Black the Eden Park area. These areas grew working class. This in turn contributed into hubs for Black political, social, to class divisions with the Black economic, and cultural activity in the community more broadly as some – early decades of the twentieth century. albeit a relatively small number - became decidedly middle-class. Some Influential Black Figures in Baton argue that these class dynamics and Rouge the relatively stable working and Despite limited opportunities to achieve middle class employment available to a working class or middle class lifestyle, Black residents in Baton Rouge civic engagement grew among the small hampered the community’s activism city’s Black community. In 1932, Gus during the height of the civil rights Young was one of only three Blacks in movement. East Baton Rouge Parish allowed to register to vote. He was a member of Standard Oil employed or did business the board of directors for the local with Blacks residents, including Baton National Association for the Rouge businessman Horatio Advancement of Colored People Thompson, the first Black man in the (NAACP) chapter and the city’s Bi-Racial South to operate an Esso service- Committee. In 1938 he founded the station franchise. A resident of South First Ward Voters League, which Baton Rouge, Thompson became the politically organized what is now the Capital City’s first Black millionaire. He Eden Park neighborhood. One of the played an important role in the history major thoroughfares of the Eden Park of Blacks in Baton Rouge, including community was renamed to honor the during the historic bus boycott. contributions of Gus young. Despite the stable employment these opportunities provided for some, more than a third of Black adults were unemployed in the early decades of the twentieth century. Most of those with jobs earned low wages as Gus Young was one of three domestic or unskilled laborers. The Black people allowed to vote in exploitation of Black labor significantly East Baton Rouge Parish. Photo undercut wealth creation in the Black courtesy of Mary Jetson community. Rigid residential segregation meant that while Black Eddie Robinson Sr. is one of the most neighborhoods contained relative class recognizable names in college sports. diversity, the city’s worst poverty could Robinson was the son of parents who be tracked along race and geography. never earned high school diplomas. Nevertheless, his parents encouraged After Southern University relocated him to pursue his desire to get a college from New Orleans to Scotlandville, education. After graduating from Louisiana in 1914, a small community McKinley High School, Robinson developed immediately north of Baton attended Leland College located in Rouge and the new Standard Oil plant. Baker, Louisiana, where he excelled as 15 quarterback. Robinson wanted to At the time of Coach Robinson’s coach after his college career, but death, tributes poured in from all coaching opportunities were few and over the globe. far between. Robinson found a job working in a feed mill in Baton Rouge. Samuel Freedman of the New York He soon became aware of an opening Times wrote about opening day for a for a football coach at Louisiana museum in the coach’s honor and NegroNormal and Industrial Institute, reflected on Robinson’s experiences which later became Grambling growing up in South Baton Rouge. University. Robinson’s coaching career Freedman observed that the only way began in 1941 and the rest is history. a Black person in love with the game The McKinley High School graduate of football could attend a game at coached more than 200 players who the state university was to show up went on to play in the NFL. Doug at 5:00 a.m. on Saturdays to clean Williams, a Super Bowl champion, is the stadium. Three years after just one of the professional players Robinson’s death at the age of 88, Robinson coached over the course of Louisiana appropriated $3.3 million his career. By October 7, 1995, he for the museum. Over the entrance became the first college football coach to the museum on Grambling’s to break the 400- win barrier. campus is a replica of the Temple Theater’s marquee, which is a landmark in South Baton Rouge and the place where Robinson played basketball and watched Westerns as a young person. In addition to the museum memorializing his accomplishments, the predominantly Black South Baton Rouge neighborhood surrounding the high school Eddie Robinson Sr. graduated Coach Eddie Robinson, Sr. broke barriers to become one of the from now has a street named in his winningest coaches in college football history. His legacy reached beyond the football field; he now has a street named after him, a honor. museum celebrating his achievements and countless players and fans with loving stories to share.

According to the Eddie G. Robinson Museum website: “It didn’t take Coach Rob, as he is affectionately known, long to prove his worth. Following his initial season, Coach Robinson took command and dismissed some players who he felt were not living up to expectations. The results came soon thereafter, as the next season Coach Robinson’s team posted a perfect 9-0 season with the team going undefeated, untied, and Horatio Thompson, a businessman who became the city's first unscored upon. Grambling was only the Black millionaire, played an important role in the Baton Rouge Civil Rights Movement. He was also the first Black man to second collegiate team to have shut out operate an Esso Service Station. Esso would later become every opponent, a feat which has not known as Exxon. been repeated since.” 16 THE CIVIL RIGHTS ERA

At the beginning of every year since the early 1980s, the nation pauses to remember and to reflect on the life and legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. A few weeks later, many Americans turn their attention to the contributions of people of African ancestry in America as part of Black History Month. Atlanta, Montgomery, and Selma are among the cities that come to mind when one thinks about Black history in America. Baton Rouge was the site of many significant events in the fight for social justice during the 20th century, including a bus boycott 1960s. Approximately 2000 citizens marched through downtown that inspired and motivated Baton Rouge to protest the arrest of 23 Southern University participants in the broader civil rights students who staged sit- ins to protest lunch counters who refused to serve African- Americans. Photo courtesy of the EBR movement throughout the Deep South Parish Library and beyond.

While Black people sought social In this section, we discuss the justice, hate groups pushed back to continued development of Baton Rouge maintain the status quo. Hate groups and its influence of the Black dot the political landscape in America. community and its institutions. We Louisiana is home to a number of hate examine the fight for social justice in groups, including the Ku Klux Klan. Just Baton Rouge that in many ways mirrors as Black residents of Baton Rouge were the fight for social justice in other parts fighting for equal treatment, members of the Deep South and the nation. of the KKK were not only organizing Among the most notable examples of but protesting publicly to maintain a fights for equal treatment are the separation between the races in all establishment of Brooks Park, the 1953 areas of life. Members of the Klan Baton Rouge bus boycott, the Kress sit- could be seen on the steps of the state ins, and efforts to desegregate schools. capitol in the 1960s. State troopers and National Guard formed barricades between the KKK and Black demonstrators for civil rights.

Baton Rouge Black residents 1960s. Protests to end racial discrimination at downtown experienced unequal treatment for lunch counters brought centuries but maintained the belief together over 2000 citizens. that change was possible. Shown here on the corner of Florida and Third St. passing Liggett's Drugstore.

17 Construction of the Interstates almost exclusively through the city’s The interstate development greatly Black neighborhoods, literally splitting impacted development patterns in the Old South and Valley Park Baton Rouge and, as was the case in neighborhoods down the middle. virtually every other metropolitan Across the nation interstate area, set the stage for suburban development targeted Black sprawl. The passage of President neighborhoods as a way to effect “slum Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Federal-Aid clearance” and remove Black residents Highway Act of 1956 led to the creation from valuable land in and near of over 41,000 miles of highways and downtowns. The highway systems also marked a new chapter in the nation’s offered White suburban residents easy urban development. Baton Rouge was access to employment and commerce connected to the state’s network of downtown and the new bedroom highways with U.S. 190, Airline communities developing on the edge Highway, which linked the city with of town. “White flight,” as it was southwestern Louisiana and New termed, characterized a new phase of Orleans. U.S. 190 entered the city residential racial segregation across the Huey P. Long-Oscar Allen subsidized and facilitated by an Bridge, which opened in 1940. By the unprecedented level of federal mid-1950s plans were underway for spending and national policy. In the another bridge that would connect decades that followed the impact of Baton Rouge with a new national these policies reshaped the shape of highway system. American metropolitan regions, and Baton Rouge was no exception. The northern route of Baton Rouge’s interstate system began downtown Southern University Growth and with an independent freeway known as Challenges the Baton Rouge Expressway that By the middle of the 20th century, opened in 1957. The first section Southern University was a major extended roughly one mile between institution and source of pride for Spanish Town Road and Plank Road Black Baton Rouge residents. Black and comprised what is known today as residents studied in a number of fields Interstate 110. Interstates 10 and 12 at Southern University and maintained were planned in the 1950’s and added community ties. Nutrition programs to the national highway system in were popular at HBCUs throughout the 1957. Construction of the expanded country for generations. Southern interstate system began in the 1960’s University’s nutrition program and the Horace Wilkinson Bridge attracted Black students from South opened in 1968, bringing I-10 across Baton Rouge and beyond. The nutrition the river just south of downtown. program is still popular today. The Interstate construction continued until mission of the program is to advance the mid-1970s, by which time the city the health and wellness of individuals had stretched out along I-12 and was through the education of beginning to grow along I-10 towards professionals, provision of research- New Orleans. based programs, and generation and dissemination of knowledge. The The interstate development greatly program prepares graduates to enter impacted development patterns in dietetic internships, assume careers in Baton Rouge and, as was the case in food and nutrition and related areas, virtually every other metropolitan and engage in graduate study. The area, set the stage for suburban vision of the program is to offer an sprawl. Interstate construction cut 18 educational environment that ballet and meet academic embraces excellence in instruction, requirements. research, and outreach. Southern University’s legendary Drum Graduates of Southern University Corps and Dancing Dolls are fixtures at remain active in the community and in home and away games, especially for political positions throughout the the football program. The university’s Capital City. For example, Dr. Clyde program boasts a long list of student Johnson was a biology professor athletes who proudly wore the Jaguar in1960s. A former student at Southern uniform and later played University, he continued to be involved professionally in the NFL. Players from in the off-campus community by the 1960s and the 1970s include Pete seeking a position on the city council. Barnes, Al Beauchamp, Donnie Davis, Alumni created Southern University Alvin Haymond, Frank Pitts, and Clyde Alumni Federation to support their Williams. Mel Blount, another beloved university. According to the prestigious alumnus of the football official web page, the federation’s program, was inducted into the mission is to support the goals and National Football Hall of Fame in 1989. objectives of the university through He played for many years with the recruitment, financial support, public Pittsburgh Steelers. relations, community outreach, talent loyalty, dedication, and commitment to Southern University has played an the highest standards. Consisting of important role in the lives of Black more than 100,000 graduates, the Baton Rouge residents seeking an Southern University Alumni is actively education at virtually every stage of engaged throughout the United States life. Notable graduates of Southern and the globe. Led by a history of University include American Idol judge dynamic, dedicated, and capable Randy Jackson. Jackson attended leaders, the federation strives to keep Robert E. Lee High School in South graduates connected and exposed to Baton Rouge when the school’s mascot opportunities, recognize alumni was a confederate general and Black accomplishments, bring awareness to students were given confederate flags issues that affect the university, and as souvenirs during commencement above all continue the fight to ceremonies. preserve the university and its mission. The administration came under fire Black residents have enjoyed taking in from many Black residents in Baton and participating in many of the Rouge during the 1960s because the activities that make Southern university was at the center of the civil University a special place for alumni rights struggle. Students enrolled at and for the surrounding community. Southern University regularly Southern University Drum Corps and supported and led efforts to integrate Dancing Dolls are just two examples. places of public accommodation. The Both groups are pictured here in university was not always supportive performances from 1965. The Dancing of the student protests. Threats of Dolls have the privilege of dancing to expulsion were made and realized in the music of the world-renowned some cases, including in sit-ins staged Southern University band, of which the at local lunch counters. The sit-ins drum corps is an important part, were inspired by similar acts of civil known the world over as the “Human disobedience throughout the South, Jukebox.” Students must audition and including in Greensboro, North perform tap, jazz, modern dance, and 19 Carolina. Protestors were welcomed Elvin “Tampoo” Dalcourt, also a into Black churches in South Baton longtime resident of South Baton Rouge to share their stories and Rouge and a youngster in the 1940s, receive encouragement. Despite the was a first person in the new racial turmoil and tensions facing the swimming pool in Brooks Park and a city of Baton Rouge and the nation in legendary swimmer in his the 1960s and the controversies over neighborhood. Southern University’s official response to student protests, students at the historic university continued to find opportunities to learn and grow personally and intellectually.

Brooks Park In the three-mile neighborhood of “old” South Baton Rouge, Black residents endured exclusion from public places, including City Park, a City Park was off- limits to Black citizens and without access, Black municipal pool near the predominantly people had no safe pools in which to swim. Many children drowned Black neighborhood in South Baton which led to the demand for safe places for Black kids to swim and Rouge that was off-limits to Black play. Brooks Park opened in 1949. Pictured here are kids swimming in 1953. Photo courtesy of EBR Parish Library residents for many years. Although Black tax dollars were collected for the The approach of building a Black only maintenance of the pool, as were white pool was unpopular with some who tax dollars, fears about the mixing of refused to donate money because the races in social settings kept Blacks they believed the community should and whites from equal access to the organize to integrate the pools its tax facilities. Without a safe place to swim, dollars were going to support. Black youths sought relief from the hot Activists attempted to integrate City summer months wherever they could Park pool in 1963. In a move that was find water. Sadly, several drowned. In indicative of the white community’s an interview with Around the Bar staunch commitment to racial magazine, longtime South Baton Rouge segregation, the whites-only pool was resident Judge Trudy White described closed and subsequently filled in. her grandfather’s role on the board of United Negro Recreational Association Baton Rouge Bus Boycott (UNRA). Other members of the board Long-simmering resentment over the included Thelma Lois Cary Tacneau. city’s rigid segregation and Jim Crow Rev. Willie K. Brooks was the board order manifested itself in the Baton president. The board led efforts to Rouge Bus Boycott of 1953. Residents raise money to purchase a safe place of Baton Rouge fought to end for Black children to swim and play. discrimination in many areas of public Brooks Park which opened in 1949 life, including on city buses. In 1950, across from City Park’s whites-only the city banned Blacks from owning pool. Judge White, a graduate of bus lines and soon thereafter raised McKinley High School, observed that the bus fare for the majority Black Brooks Park was later donated to ridership. Fed up with standing when BREC, the agency responsible for the seats in the city buses separating operation of parks in East Baton Rouge white and Black riders remained Parish. empty, the Black community lobbied for Ordinance 222, a municipal order 20 which relaxed Jim Crow segregation on Beginning on Monday, June 15, 1953 the buses. The ordinance called for the Black community refused to ride seating on a first come, first serve the buses several days, relying instead basis. The residents were successful in on a free ride system. The collective securing Ordinance 222. The ordinance protest movement had a forceful stated Blacks were required to sit from financial impact. The boycott lasted the rear to the front, while whites had about two weeks before a compromise to sit from the front to the rear. was reached between the leadership of the boycott and those in decision- making positions that allowed for Black riders to sit anywhere on the bus except the first two seats, which were reserved for whites. While the community leaders decided not to carry the protest effort any further, what became known as the Baton Rouge Bus Boycott served as a model for the historic Montgomery Bus Boycott, which led to the emergence of a young leader, Rev. Dr. Martin In 1953, two years before the famed Montgomery Bus Boycott led Luther King, Jr. by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. , Black Baton Rouge called for fair treatment while riding the city bus in the first bus boycott. Photo from 64parishes.org Black College Student Protests Baton Rouge’s civil rights history did The bus drivers, all white, refused to not end with the bus boycott. Black comply with the ordinance. Black college students in Baton Rouge community leaders decided to protest participated in Louisiana’s first sit-ins. segregation on the public buses. B.J. Instead of applauding the students for Stanley, the head of the local NAACP, their bravery, the university punished and Reverend T.J. Jemison, pastor of them. The students found refuge and Mt. Zion First Baptist Church, wrote comfort in the Black community of and distributed a flier advising Black Baton Rouge, where they were riders of their rights: “If the driver welcomed into area churches to tells you, you can’t sit in the front of receive support and financial the bus, quote the law to him and assistance with their legal defense. don’t move. If he calls the police and The response exposed the timid the police tell you to move, quote the nature of the city’s Black leadership, law to him. If he insists, don’t resist the grip state leadership had on Black arrest, but get his name or number so institutions like Southern University that he can be referred to the proper and the class dynamics undermining authorities.” The bus drivers went on collective action in the city. strike and gained the support of the Specifically, the city’s relatively stable state attorney general who said the Black middle class – facilitated by ordinance was in conflict with the employers like Southern and Exxon – segregation laws of the state and was ambivalent about its role in the therefore illegal. Black residents in broader civil rights struggle unfolding Baton Rouge refused to ride the bus across the nation. once the drivers returned to work after the attorney general’s ruling. The In 1960, Southern University students residents instead established a free- wanted to show support for the ride system, a method that was used during the Montgomery bus boycott in 21 Alabama in 1955. 1960s. Calls for racial equality led to demonstrations and protests in downtown Baton Rouge. Photo from the EBR Parish Library Digital Archives

February 1st student sit-in protests previous day for picketing businesses organized by Black college students in that refused to serve Blacks. One of Greensboro, North Carolina. these businesses was Liggett’s Drug Concerned that the Greensboro Store, which was located on the corner events might spark similar actions in of Third and Florida Streets in Louisiana, on March 15, 1960 the downtown Baton Rouge. State Board of Education ordered all college presidents to take disciplinary In 1972, students at Southern action to thwart protest activity. University organized demonstrations Southern’s president, Felton G. Clark, to demand changes on their campus. convened the student body to They wanted more input on the announce that he would expel any curriculum and improvement of the students taking part in physical spaces on campus. They were demonstrations and demand the also frustrated about the disparity in resignation of collaborating faculty funding between the historically white members. In spite of the warnings, university Louisiana State University Southern student activists went to and Southern University. The state downtown Baton Rouge’s Kress board allocated half the amount per department store and took seats at Southern University student that was the whites-only counter. They were allotted for the state flagship promptly arrested. university. One protest interrupted a football game at the packed stadium to The students were expelled and it was bring attention to their concerns. This only after substantial student body movement of nonviolent protest came protests that President Clark worked a to a deadly end November 16, 1972 deal out with the protest leaders for when a heavily armed law enforcement them to transfer to other schools or presence arrived to remove students resign from the University. The Black from an administrative building. The Baton Rouge community were again students were there to demand that forced to support protesting Black the current university president, Leon students. On December 15, 1961, Netterville, drop the charges on a about 2,000 people marched without group of student protesters who were incident through Baton Rouge to arrested the night before. Officers clad protest the arrest of almost two dozen in riot gear started to inundate the Southern University students the students with tear gas. During this

22 attempt to disperse the students, a Muslims and took place near historic shotgun blast was fired into the crowd Temple Theater. According to an article hitting two students. Leonard Brown published in the January 11, 1972, died at the scene. Denver Smith died Times-Picayune, two sheriff’s deputies shortly after arriving at the hospital. and two Black males were killed in The officer who fired the shot was South Baton Rouge in what was never identified. The Southern described as “a street shootout University student union was renamed between law enforcement officers and the Smith-Brown Memorial Union to a group identified by city officials as honor the students who lost their lives Black Muslims.” According to the on that day. article, shots were fired around noon after Black youths blocked a city street in South Baton Rouge. The cars reportedly belonged to out-of-state residents. Although all was quite by nightfall, “Louisiana National Guardsmen were posted at gun stores in the city and about 100 Guardsmen were on duty in front of the city hall.” The article also stated almost 30 people went to area hospitals for treatment of injuries related to the conflict. The injured included Black residents of Baton Rouge, police officers, and journalists. Twenty Black men were arrested in the deaths of the Students promote civic engagement in 2019 outside the Smith- Brown Memorial Union on the campus of Southern University. The sheriff’s deputies, eight of whom were student union was renamed for the two students who lost their lives charged with murder. Officials claimed during student protests on the campus. Black Muslims from Chicago arrived in Black Power Movement the city weeks earlier with plans of Baton Rouge was not only a significant taking over the city and “they were city in the civil rights movement but able to get some militants, like any also in the Black Power movement. On other community has, to side with August 20, 1967, a large rally was held them.” The official account of the so- in Baton Rouge at the climax of the called “racial battle” was not the same historic 11-day, 105-mile civil rights as accounts from Black residents in march from Bogalusa to Baton Rouge. South Baton Rouge who were Rallying cries of “Black Power” could eyewitnesses to the event. be heard. Billy Brooks, director of the Louisiana Black People Advancement School Desegregation in Baton Association, led the group chants on Rouge the steps of the Louisiana State Just days before the June 15, 1953 Capitol. Many young Black residents Baton Rouge Bus Boycott, the United were eager to join the fight for social States Supreme Court had ordered five justice of the 1960s. cases challenging racial segregation in Baton Rouge was home to and hosted public schools to be re-argued, after many Black Muslims, especially in the the initial hearings ended with a late 1960s and early 1970s. One of the deadlocked Court. The cases were most notorious and deadliest protests reargued at the end of 1953 and on in the city’s history involved Black May 17, 1954 a unanimous Supreme Court issued its historic decision in 23 Brown v. Board of Education of integration faced constant physical, Topeka. The decision declared school emotional and psychological attacks. segregation inherently unequal and a Their brave actions placed them on the violation of the U.S. Constitution’s frontlines of the nation’s growing Equal Protection Clause. The decision school integration movement. was the beginning of the end of Jim Crow and legal segregation. It was a watershed event in the nation’s history, felt from coast to coast, Though Louisiana State University is within minutes throughout the South and, indeed, in of the Black community in Baton Rouge. However, it likely didn’t South Baton Rouge, it was not accessible to many of occur to the city’s residents that just the residents of that as the 1953 bus boycott had earned it community. Maxine Crump, historic distinction, so too would its creator of Dialogue on Race Louisiana, has the response to the Brown decision and distinction of being the first school desegregation. Black female student to live in a campus dorm when she did so in the 1960s. In 1956, Black parents sued the East Photo from LinkedIn Baton Rouge Parish School Board in Davis et al. v. East Baton Rouge Parish Louisiana State University’s flagship School Board. The school board campus is within a stone’s throw of answered the suit by adopting a Black residents in South Baton “freedom of choice” approach to Rouge. Unfortunately, the campus integrating schools. This resulted in has not always been accessible to little change. While the suit was local Black residents. The first Black ongoing, parents continually sought to female student to live in a dorm on integrate Baton Rouge Schools. campus was Maxine Crump, founder of Dialogue on Race Louisiana, in the In 1962, efforts to integrate Baton 1960s. Not only were Black residents Rouge Junior High School were made in South Baton Rouge excluded from by Rev. Arthur Jelks, former president attending games in Tiger Stadium, of the local chapter of the NAACP. He the home of the university’s football escorted a group of African American team, but Blacks were also girls, including his daughter Patricia to prohibited from attending the school enroll in the school. Although the or playing on any of its athletic decision to end school segregation teams until the 1970s. occurred eight years earlier, Principal R.L. Smith turned them away. The following year, thirteen students desegregated Baton Rouge High School when the 1963-1964 school- year began on September 3rd. They were selected from McKinley High School and Southern University Laboratory School and their actions were profiled in the national news. The NAACP and local church leaders had trained the Black students for Collis B. Temple, Jr. (middle), pictured here with his sons, was the what they might expect, and those first player to integrate LSU's men's basketball team in 1971. thirteen students and the ones who Photo from Sports Illustrated followed in the initial years of 24 Many men and women played active roles during the civil rights era in Baton Rouge. Alexander Pierre “A.P.” Tureaud was the local attorney for the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund. For about two decades beginning in the 1940s, Tureaud handled most of 1972. Kerry Pourciau the desegregation cases in Louisiana. was the first Black LSU He was also involved in efforts student Government president. Photo from throughout the state, including in lsu.edu Baton Rouge, to desegregate city buses. Tureaud was also instrumental in the desegregation of Louisiana State University, the Medical Center, and the LSU Law School. His son, A.P. Tureaud, Jr., became the first African American student to enroll at LSU. Alexander Pierre Tureaud Sr sued the state for his son to attend the University. 1991. Renee Boutte Meyer as the first However, because the lawsuit ended in African- American a mistrial, Tureaud Jr was not allowed crowned LSU to finish the first semester. Today, A.P. Homecoming Queen. Photo from lsu.edu Tureaud Hall sits on the Louisiana State University campus in honor of his social justice work across Louisiana.

Another attorney important to the civil rights movement in Baton Rouge is Johnnie Jones Sr. He played an important role in many events demanding social justice in Baton Rouge. Jones became the first Black 2008. Frist Black Dean of lawyer to become a member of the the E.J. Ourso College of Baton Rouge Bar association. He was Business at LSU. Photo involved in the 1953 Baton Rouge bus from lsu.edu boycott, the Brooks Park case, and is the attorney of record on the 1956 Social Justice Leaders and Clifford Eugene Davis Jr. et al v. The Politicians East Baton Rouge Parish School Board Efforts to desegregate schools, ban et al. desegregation case. Attorney discrimination in areas of public Jones was also involved in activism accommodation, and gain full voting outside of the courtroom. He was rights were met with much resistance. deeply involved in activism at Southern Sit-ins at Kress and efforts to University, including working to integrate local schools and establish a campus NAACP chapter. He universities left their tolls on the city, also helped organize a voter’s school especially busing and one of the to counteract misinformation among longest desegregation cases in the Black citizens about their voter’s nation. Out of the continued struggle rights. for social justice across the city emerged great civic and political leaders. 25 Dr. Butler dedicated much of his time to the Blundon Home, an orphanage in South Baton Rouge, and was a founder of the First Savings and Loan In 1964, Dr. Freya Association in October 1956. The Dr. Anderson Rivers was the Leo S Butler Community Center located first Black woman to attend LSU. Pictured at 950 E. Washington St in South Baton here in 2013, Dr. Rivers Rouge was named in his honor and shares excerpts from continues his commitment to the her memoir, Swallowed Tears. Picture from community. Centrally located for the Facebook persons of this community, the center offers a number of services to the residents of South Baton Rouge In 1953, A.P. Tureaud, Jr. including a medical clinic, after school was the first African- tutoring and a senior employment American to enroll at LSU after his father, Civil program. Rights lawyer, AP Tureaud, Sr. sued the Dr. Louis James was one of the giants state. Pictured here in 2015, Tureaud, Jr. in the history of civil rights from South discusses the turmoil he Baton Rouge. Dr. James graduated expereinced during his from McKinley High School. He earned 55 days as an undergraduate. Picture a medical degree from Howard from lsureveille.com University after receiving a degree from Southern University. He served in the US Army and was a member of In 1943, Johnnie Jones, Sr. joined the military Mount Zion First Baptist Church. He and served in World War was the first African American on the II. Upon retuning to Executive Board of Baton Rouge Baton Rouge, he became a lawyer and General Hospital, among other firsts has been instrumental for Blacks with ties to South Baton in several Civil Rights Rouge. Dr. Louis James participated in cases including the Baton Rouge Bus the bus boycott and Kress lunch Boycott and the Kress counter protests during the 1950s and lunch counter sit- in. 1960s. Another longtime civil rights Photo from The Advocate activist was Dr. Curtis Gilliam. He was the first Black optometrist in Baton Rouge and a president of the Baton Alex Pitcher Jr., and Leo S. Butler are Rouge chapter of the NAACP. He also two more examples of activists has the distinction of being the first pursuing social justice in Baton Rouge. Black person from Louisiana to join the Pitcher was a lawyer for the NAACP. US Marine Corps serving in World War He worked on the 1956 Clifford II. Dr. Gilliam was an active participant Eugene Davis Jr. et al v. The East in the bus boycott and efforts to Baton Rouge Parish School Board et desegregate the local school board. Dr. al. desegregation case along with Gilliam was one of many Black World Johnny Jones Sr. Leo S. Butler was the War II veterans who began to lead first male to graduate from the Baton social and political organizing efforts Rouge Colored School in 1918 (the upon returning home from war. school became McKinley High School).

26 Acie Belton was an engaged Scotlandville resident, a veteran of World War II, and employee of Exxon

(formerly Standard Oil). Along with Pearl George was Nicholas Harrison Sr., Raymond P instrumental in Civil Scott, O.M. Amacher, A.A. Lenoir, T.J. Rights efforts in Baton Rouge. She also served Jordan, Arthur Franklin, Henry Franklin, as the city's first Black G.B. Robinson, Bonnie V. Moore, Simon female city council Lewis, and Vaughn Parris, Belton member when she was founded and was the president of the elected in 1976. Second Ward Voters League in 1946. He and his colleagues mounted a successful campaign to register voters increasing the number of Scotlandville African American voters from 137 to over 2000 by 1949. Belton also helped create an organization to help Black people obtain jobs in public Joe Delpit, owner of the government agencies called FOCUS longest- run business in Baton Rouge, was the (Federated Organization for the Cause city's first Black elected of Unlimited Self-Development). Belton official. held a number of political positions representing the Scotlandville residents. He was elected to the school Joseph A. Delpit paved the way, becoming board in 1970, appointed to the state the first Black elected official to the city parole board by Governor David Treen council in the 1960s. He attended several in 1980, and elected to the Metro predominantly Black schools in South Council in 1988. The Baton Rouge Baton Rouge, including St. Francis Xavier annual award for lifetime achievement for elementary school and McKinley is named in Belton’s honor. Senior High School. Since 1959, Delpit has owned and operated the Chicken Shack, a Pearl George was very influential in the restaurant started by his father in 1935 struggle for social justice in Baton with only 34¢ in capital. Joseph A. Delpit Rouge. She participated in the lunch remains active in Baton Rouge. Delpit counter sit-ins. She was arrested many remains an important figure in South times for her participation in Baton Rouge and throughout the entire demonstrations for access to city. He is the first Black councilman to accommodations, including for trying serve the city. He also served briefly as to integrate the City Park pool. During mayor pro tempore. He was re-elected to this period, George became the a second term on the council with a first president of the NAACP youth council. primary victory. While on the council, he In 1976, she became the first Black was elected chairman of the executive woman elected to the Metro Council committee and was appointed by the serving until 1988. George was also an governor to the Greater Baton Rouge Port advocate for the Eden Park Commission. In November 1975, Delpit neighborhood. She participated in was elected state representative of establishing a library in the area and District 67 in the first primary and served founded the Eden Park Community on the municipal and parochial affairs Center. She also established the committee, the agriculture committee, Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank in and the appropriations committee. 1982. 27 POST CIVIL RIGHTS TO THE PRESENT

2016. The city's younger generation prepare to usher in change in Baton Rouge

After the end of the Civil Rights implemented forced busing in order to Movement, Black communities in Baton achieve racial balances similar to those Rouge grew and experienced progress, of the district’s demographics. even though racial tensions remained. From that moment until this, Black In the first year of court-ordered Baton Rouge continues to feel the busing alone, the school system lost effects of the past. In this section, we 7,000 white students. Private schools continue to examine school had been growing in Baton Rouge since desegregation that shaped the the 1960s – without question a reaction development of the city and the to desegregation. The 1981 decision surrounding areas. Next, notable Black accelerated white flight from public figures of Baton Rouge and world schools. While not unique to Baton politics are presented along with their Rouge, this white flight had profound impact on the Black community. Lastly, impacts not only on the school system, we provide a brief glimpse at the but residential and commercial status of present-day Black Baton development throughout the parish Rouge. and in the surrounding parishes. White residents not only left the school School Desegregation Continues system, they departed entire School integration would prove to be neighborhoods – many of which were much more transformative for Baton also integrating as factors such as the Rouge than could have been 1970’s oil boom, the end of legal understood on September 3, 1963 segregation and the emergence of when the first Black students entered affirmative action in employment Baton Rouge High School. The 1956 expanded opportunities for the school desegregation case of Davis et region’s Black population to enter the al. v. East Baton Rouge Parish School middle class, and, accordingly, spaces Board laid dormant until Federal legally reserved for whites only. District Court Judge John Parker inherited the case in 1981. He decided In the decades following Judge Parker’s that the school board had been decision, whites went from being a running a dual school system in majority of public school students to a violation of Brown. He ordered small and rapidly diminishing minority. immediate desegregation through a plan that closed fifteen schools and 28 In the latter quarter of the twentieth schools and the emerging metropolitan century neighborhoods such as Glen character of the Baton Rouge region. Both Oaks, Broadmoor, Melrose Place and Zachary and Central withdrew from the Istrouma transformed from being East Baton Rouge School System creating either majority white or racially their own school districts, which are balanced to being majority Black, predominately white. predominantly low income. Few white families choose to remain. Property values in these neighborhoods stagnated or fell as the disproportionate wealth and wealth- creating capacity of the city’s white community fled neighborhoods now stigmatized as Black and thereby devalued economically and socially. From left to right, Elaine Boyle Patin, Dr. Velma Jackson, and Dr. Freya Anderson Rivers in 2018 recalling their experiences integrating Baton Rouge Magnet High School and Lee High School in 1963. Photo from wbrz.com The school desegregation battle and its impact on the racial composition of neighborhoods led to a spatial Southern University in the 2000s remaking of the city most exemplified According to the university’s official web in the shifting definitions and page, enrollment at Southern University terminology used to describe the city’s system still enjoyed good enrollment neighborhoods and sub-regions. When numbers. “Targeted recruitment Judge Parker handed down his 1981 campaigns, an innovative alumni ruling, Baton Rouge’s southern edge enrollment initiative, and creative was largely defined by the I-10/I-12 recruitment strategies helped boost Fall split. The College Drive and the 2015 enrollment for the Southern Jefferson Highway corridors were the University System. Overall enrollment for southern-most commercial centers in the SU System increased by 490 students the parish. Neighborhoods like (12,884), nearly four percent. Enrollment Sherwood Forest and Shenandoah numbers show the overall enrollment for constituted the southeastern portion the SU System flagship campus in Baton of the parish, with most 1970’s-1980’s Rouge increased by more than 200 real estate development stretching students over the previous year. The eastward on I-12 to Livingston Parish freshman class enrollment increased by as opposed to southward towards 31 percent. A breakdown of the Southern Ascension Parish. University Baton Rouge (SUBR) enrollment data indicates 6,389 students with 1,210 When the school desegregation case new freshmen. Recently, the Baton Rouge was finally settled in 2003, the East campus began a recruiting campaign, Baton Rouge Parish School System ‘Pathway to Prominence,’ that directly served a majority Black and poor correlated to an influx of applications for population. Significant growth and admission. Campaign tour stops in Dallas, development occurred in Livingston Houston, Atlanta, and Texas allowed and Ascension parishes. Population students to hear from University growth in neighboring parishes and in administrators and student government the growing East Baton Rouge Parish leaders, as well as hear and see the SU cities of Zachary and Central reflected Jaguar Marching Band and cheerleaders both the long backlash to school perform.” desegregation in Baton Rouge public

29 University of Wisconsin-Lacrosse, followed by a master’s degree in the same area from Regent University. Mayor Broome moved to Baton Rouge at 22 with her parents from her birthplace, Chicago. Before starting her political career, Mayor Broome worked for local television station, Black students and a white teacher arrive to WBRZ, as a reporter. She left McKinley High School in journalism in the 1980s when she was 1970 under a court- elected to the Baton Rouge Metro ordered desegregation plan. Photo by Charles Council, becoming a fixture of local Gerald and state government. Mayor Broome’s political career is full of Notable Black Baton Rouge Politicians firsts. She was the first African and President Obama’s Visit American female elected to the In 2005, Baton Rouge elected its first Louisiana State House of Black mayor, Melvin “Kip” Holden, who Representatives to represent East and served until term limits ended his tenure West Baton Rouge Parishes from 1992 in 2016. Growing up in Scotlandville, to 2005. During her time as Mayor Holden earned his bachelor’s representative, she became the first degree at the state flagship school in female elected as Speaker Pro 1974, Louisiana State University and his Tempore. Mayor Broome was elected master’s degree at Southern University to the Louisiana State Senate in 2004, in 1982 – both in journalism. He also again becoming the first Black woman earned a law degree from Southern to occupy her seat. She also became University in 1985. Mayor Holden was a the first woman President Pro- fixture in Baton Rouge politics since his Tempore of this house of the first elected position in 1984, as a Louisiana Legislature. Mayor Broome member of Baton Rouge Metro Council. has been passionate about civil rights He held a position in the Louisiana since childhood. She talked about House of Representatives from 1988 racial divisions and voiced concerns until he was elected to the Louisiana about police interactions with the Senate in 2002, then vacated that post Black community as her 2016 to occupy the office of Mayor-President. campaign unfolded during a summer The ascension of a Black man to the of protests following the fatal office of mayor signaled racial progress shooting in July of Alton Sterling by a in a city dogged by a troubled racial Baton Rouge police officer. Alongside history and ever-widening racial her political career, the mayor has disparities. But the state of Black Baton served as an adjunct instructor at the Rouge today reflects several enduring Manship School of Mass tensions and contradictions that Communication at Louisiana State frustrate the city’s growth ambitions, University, Baton Rouge Community cultural aspirations and image. College and Southern University.

The current leader of Baton Rouge and The Black Baton Rouge community East Baton Rouge Parish, Mayor Sharon has a long legacy of political leaders Weston Broome, became the first who have fought for social change in woman, first Black woman, and second their city and state. In addition to the Black Mayor-President of Baton Rouge in historical significance of their 2017. She received her bachelor’s degree contributions, a monumental in Mass Communications from the 30 many of the audience members never thought they would drive through “the Bottom” on purpose, park their cars on unfamiliar streets, and set foot on McKinley’s campus. For Pratt and others, it was simply incredible.

Pratt added that the president’s visit was not just about politics. The visit was also about seeing a man who could have bought two-for-a-penny In 2016, then President Barack Obama held a town- hall meeting at butter cookies from the corner store McKinley High School that included students, parents, teachers, near Pratt’s house. He could have elected officials and community members. been with Pratt and his friends at the presidential visit adds another layer of Chicken Shack listening to music, pride to Black residents of Baton Rouge. talking stuff while gorging two-piece South Baton Rouge hosted the nation’s orders with two sides. The visit was first Black president in January 2016. Of also about Pratt’s late grandmother, all the places in the world the president Annie Rose, and how he wished she could have chosen, he chose to meet the could have been in the crowd to see predominantly Black residents of South the president. Pratt lamented that, Baton Rouge in one of the first places after explaining to her that this was Blacks could receive a high school really “the Obama,” the Black education in all of Southern Louisiana. president everyone was talking about, He chose to visit the site of the nation’s she probably would have wept tears first bus boycott. A place many residents drawn from a lifetime of pain and of the region only drive through on their racism. way from home in the suburbs to work and back was chosen by the president for a town hall meeting during his last year in office. Louisiana has hosted many presidents and presidential hopefuls. Area residents from across Baton Rouge braved cold temperatures waiting in long lines at McKinley High School Alumni Center for a limited number of free tickets to hear President Obama speak in the gymnasium of the current McKinley Senior High School.

Edward Pratt, columnist for the Advocate and former president of the McKinley High School Alumni Association, penned a wonderful piece highlighting the significance of President Obama’s visit in a section of the city regarded today by some as a distressed community. Pratt described how he felt watching the president of the United States walking into the gymnasium in the middle of a cheering audience. He remarked how 31 BLACK BATON ROUGE TODAY: GOING FORWARD 2020. Youth activists host a rally downtown in response to officer- involved shootings that resulted in the deaths of several women around the country. Photo by Sherreta R. Harrison

Baton Rouge celebrated its 200th continued to densify as developments anniversary in 2017 and today is the like Perkins Rowe added a new center of the nation’s 70th largest experiential and decidedly upscale metropolitan area. In the last two dimension to the city’s shopping. decades, the city’s identity has During the same period the morphed from that of a mid-sized, neighborhoods of North Baton Rouge insular capital city to a metropolitan, experienced rapid disinvestment, a regional economy boasting over trend that had been taking place since 850,000 residents and stretching school desegregation and intensified across nine parishes. Like many cities after the turn of the century. since the 1990s, Baton Rouge has embarked on a relatively successful If the big-box shopping centers of campaign to remake its downtown and Siegen Lane were emblematic of South revamp its image as a sleepy bedroom Baton Rouge’s commercial boom, the community into a more cosmopolitan vacant and blighted storefronts of destination. In the midst of this Plank Road were emblematic of North activity, however, the southward shift Baton Rouge’s rapid demise. In 2013, of economic investment and social Earl K. Long hospital closed its Airline activity effectively isolated north Baton Highway location, a staple in the area Rouge. Spatial factors impact social since the early 1960’s and the only phenomena, and it is impossible to emergency room for miles. The closure comprehend the issues within north became a rallying cry for community Baton Rouge without acknowledging its activists across the city who worried relative isolation from the mainstream about continued disinvestment and a of the city’s social and economic life. neglected North Baton Rouge. Across town, a petition drive to form a new The early decades of the 21st century city out of the southern, saw a “new” South Baton Rouge with unincorporated areas of East Baton an affluent identity reflected in an Rouge Parish began in 2015. The initial explosion of luxury home development effort fell short but a second effort in along Highland Road and in 2019 was successful and voters in the neighborhoods like Santa Maria, area proposed for incorporation University Club, Willow Grove, and approved the petition to create the Bocage Lakes. The Perkins corridor new city of St. George. Like the exodus

32 from Baton Rouge schools in the 1960s, which they can raise a family and issues of schools and who attends them pursue their vision of the good life. underlie the motivations for the new Throughout history, this has been the proposed city. The matter is currently in rallying cry of Black Baton Rouge. Calls litigation. for justice and equity persisted in 2020 as the nation grappled with The north-south divide and its racial ongoing displays of systemic injustice. implications were magnified in the July and a global pandemic. Understanding 2016 shooting of Alton Sterling, which how we arrived at the present state of was followed by the ambush and murder the city is an important step in of three Baton Rouge police officers. The devising solutions to squarely address internationally-covered event gave rise our challenges. What now lies before to discussions about the impact of racial us is the opportunity to draw from our and spatial stratification not only on the past and design a future where all bonds of community, but on the city’s Baton Rouge citizens can thrive. economic development competitiveness. A month later and as these Works Cited conversations were growing, Baton Emanuel, Rachel, Ruby Jean Simms, Rouge was hit with record flooding that and Charles Vincent. 2015. Images of impacted over 70,000 structures in the America: Scotlandville. Charleston, metropolitan region. The back to back South Carolina. Arcadia Publishing. tragedies placed an international spotlight on the city and elevated the Martin, Lori Latrice and Raymond A. community’s focus on resilience. Flood Jetson. 2017. Images of America: recovery continues and conversations South Baton Rouge. Charleston, South about the perils of racial and spatial Carolina. Arcadia Publishing. stratification for the city’s identity, economic fortunes and general appeal QuickFacts. United States Census. are ongoing. available at: https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fac North Baton Rouge, a major widening of t/table/US/PST045219 I-10, and an overhaul of the City- Park/LSU Lakes underscore the ever- Urban Congress History of Baton evolving nature of the city’s built Rouge. MetroMorphosis. available at: environment. New voices are advancing https://web.archive.org/web/20180825 conversations about racial equity, 102827/http://theurbancongress.com/ transit-oriented development, and wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Urban- climate change. These conversations are Congress-History-of-Baton-Rouge.pdf already shaping new urban development pursuits and will undoubtedly influence Where We Live. Build Baton Rouge. the shape of the city in the years ahead. available at: https://buildbatonrouge.org/about- Conclusion us/where-we-live/ In many ways Baton Rouge is a great place to live, but its true potential will ultimately be determined by its ability to Prepared by Maretta McDonald with contributions from effectively manage ongoing and Christopher Tyson, Lori Latrice Martin, Raymond A. Jetson, emerging challenges. The challenges are and Sherreta R. Harrison not in spite of the city’s history, but a direct result of it. All of the city’s residents want the same basic things: a safe, prosperous community within 33 Black Baton Rouge Yesterday & Today LOOKING BACK TO EFFECTIVELY MOVE FORWARD

The Bus Boycott of 1953 & Social Justice Leadership Section Summary

Historically, Black communities of Baton In addition to the bus boycott of 1953, Rouge have fought to thrive beyond the Black Baton Rouge social justice leaders were limitations placed upon them. These limitations, involved in efforts to desegregate schools and such as segregation and racial discrimination, gaining full voting rights. Black men and women have been challenged by many men and women, filled integral roles during the civil rights era in especially during the civil rights era. Black Baton Rouge. Alexander "A.P. Tureaud was the resentment towards segregation and Jim Crow local attorney for the NAACP Legal Defense and social order boiled into intense efforts to end Education Fund. He handled the majority of discrimination in many areas of public life, such desegregation cases for 20 years starting in the as public transportation and education. As a 1940s and is recognized as a key player in the result, activists and social justice leaders took a desegregation of Louisiana State University, the stand to improve life for the Black residents of Medical Center, and LSU Law. Johnny Jones Sr. is Baton Rouge. the first Black lawyer of the Baton Rouge Bar After much frustration with the segregated Association and was involved in the Baton Rouge seating on buses, increased bus fares, and bus boycott, the Brooks Park case, and organized inability to own their own bus lines, Black a voter's school to educate Black citizens about residents lobbied for Ordinance 222, a municipal voting rights. Alex Pitcher was a lawyer for the order that relaxed segregation rules on the bus. NAACP and worked on the Clifford Eugene Davis The ordinance passed and established seating to et al v. EBR Parish School Board et al operate on a first come first serve basis, allowing desegregation case with Johnny Jones Sr. Black people to have access to seating previously Another leader, Leo S. Butler, was the first male reserved for whites only. In response, white bus to graduate from the Baton Rouge Colored High drivers went on strike until the ordinance was School (later McKinley High) in 1918. Butler made illegal. Black leaders such as B. J. Stanley, founded the First Savings and Loan Association the head of the local NAACP, and Rev. T.J. in 1956 and dedicated much of his time to the Jemison, pastor of Mount Zion Baptist Church, Blundon Home, an orphanage and school in advised Black riders of their rights. "If the driver South Baton Rouge. Dr. Louis James also tells you you can't sit in the front of the bus, graduated from McKinley High School, going on quote the law to him and don't move. If he calls to earn degrees from Southern University and the police and the police tell you to move, quote Howard University. Dr. James was the first Black the law to him. If he insists, don't resist arrest, person on the Executive Board of Baton Rouge but get his name or number so that he can be General Hospital, a participant in the bus boycott referred to the proper authorities." The strike and Kress sit-ins, and the first Black person to gained bus drivers the support of the state join the U.S. Marine Corps during WWII. Pearl attorney general, who declared the ordinance George was an activist and participant in the was in conflict with segregation laws, and thus Kress sit-ins as well. George was arrested many illegal. Once white drivers returned to work, the times for her protest demonstrations, including Black community refused to ride the buses, trying to integrate the City Park pool. She was establishing a free ride system. The outcome of a the president of NAACP Youth Council, the first collective protest proved effective after two Black woman elected to the Metro Council in weeks of boycotting. Black folks were granted 1976, founder of the Eden Park Community the choice of sitting anywhere on the bus except Center, and also established the Greater Baton the first two seats, which were reserved for white Rouge Food Bank in 1982. Joseph A. Delpit was folks. This collective action served as a model for the first Black elected official to the city council in the Montgomery, AL bus boycott in 1955. the 1960s and was elected state representative of District 67 in 1975. 34 Black Baton Rouge Yesterday & Today LOOKING BACK TO EFFECTIVELY MOVE FORWARD

Black Schools in Baton Rouge Section Summary

Black residents of Baton Rouge created grade. A high school component, St. Francis High educational opportunities for themselves when school, opened in 1955 and was torn down in laws and policies restricted their access to white 1961 to be replaced by the new interstate educational institutions. In the 1800s, anyone system. Also in 1961, the initial location of the who provided education to free or enslaved elementary school was moved to the present site Black people violated Louisiana law, facing one of St. Francis Xavier Church. By 1963, a new year of imprisonment. Despite this, Black men building for the school was constructed on the and women were determined to endure any site and opened to serve Black children. St. challenges in pursuit of quality education, Francis served many Black students who were especially for their children. Unlike white excluded from predominantly white institutions immigrants, Black people were not educated to and suffered tremendously when the be included in society following emancipation. construction of the new interstate divided the Instead, schools that were accessible to Black Black community, causing long-term effects folks focused on jobs positioned at the bottom negatively impacting the quality of life for Black of economic and social structures. Therefore, residents and institutions in South Baton Rouge. Black schools dedicated to a higher standard of Southern University Laboratory School, also learning were established by Black people known as Southern Lab, opened in 1922 to themselves. provide teachers' training for education majors In 1907, Dr. J.M. Frazier, Sr. established the attending Southern University. Originally, the Hickory Street School, educating the children of school was named the Southern University Black sharecroppers from as far as Mississippi. Model Training School, then changed to Because the school grew rapidly outgrew its Southern University Demonstration School in the original location, Fraizer opened the Baton 1930s. Southern University's president, Dr. Clark, Rouge Colored High School located at the corner believed providing specific training for future of Perkins Road and Bynum Street in 1913. Four educators was imperative. The school became students were the first to graduate from high accredited in 1936. Southern Lab as we know it school in 1916. With continued growth, Fraizer today educates students in grades K-12. Next opened a third location for the school, known year (2022), the school will be 100 years old, today as McKinley Senior High School. The initial leading a legacy of producing thousands of Black location of Mckinley High was Texas Street, now graduates. known as Thomas H. Delpit Drive. McKinley These Black schools along with many others Senior High remained the only high school that are essential to the fabric of the Black Baton Black students could attend for several decades. Rouge community. Black students were taught By 1941, McKinley housed several sports teams by Black educators when laws and social norms including basketball, football, baseball, volleyball, prohibited access to predominately white and indo ball. The school is also recognized for institutions. In creating their own educational the success of prominent athletes and coaches opportunities, Black Baton Rouge residents like Eddie Robinson, Don Chaney, Tommy Green, secured their own path to success. Calvin Nicholas, and Carl Stewart. The first and only Catholic school in the Diocese of Baton Rouge for Black students was opened in 1920. St. Francis Xavier Catholic School educates young students ranging from pre-kindergarten to eighth 35 Black Baton Rouge Yesterday & Today LOOKING BACK TO EFFECTIVELY MOVE FORWARD

Black Churches in Baton Rouge Section Summary

One important source of sustenance for Under the leadership of Rev. Charles T. Black communities was the church. Black Smith, the church purchased additional property churches established throughout the city have on 13th and 14th street to expand the church in and continue to serve as critical pillars of the the 1970s. Since this new expansion, Shiloh has community, providing spaces for social and continues to provide several resources for interaction, spiritual healing, education, and the Black community such as an early learning efforts to create social change. Many of the early center, credit union, men’s transitional housing, leaders and locations associated with the civil and a drug prevention program. Today, Pastor rights movements in America are rooted in Black Fred Jeff Smith leads a congregation of 3500 church traditions. members. In 1858, Pastor Isaac Palmer and Pastor John In 1893, starting from a wood-framed Brady organized Mount Zion Baptist. The original building on an acre of land, Mount Pilgrim location of the church at 335 Maximillian Street Baptist Church was established in Scotlandville in South Baton Rouge. In 1954, Mount Zion under the leadership of Rev. Harden Jackson. Still Baptist was moved to its present location at 356 located at its original location on Scenic Highway, East Boulevard. The street was later renamed the church houses a large sanctuary, after Rev. T.J. Jemison, a prominent leader of the administrative offices, an educational center, and church who played important roles in local and a Family Life Center. Mount Pilgrim is currently national civil rights initiatives, such as the Baton led by Rev. Ronnie O. Blake. Rouge bus boycott in 1953. New Light Missionary Baptist is also a significant Another important social institution in South resource in the Scotlandville community. The Baton Rouge is Wesley Chapel Methodist church was founded in 1895 by Rev. Tony Scott, Episcopal Negro Church, founded in 1866. a sugar cane farmer. Its original location was on Wesley Chapel started at the First Methodist a patch of land near the Nicholas Wax Memorial Church (a white church), located on the corner of Cemetery; however, a storm destroyed the Lauren and 4th street at the time. Born from the building in 1910. The second building was built minds of people who wanted something for on Crane Street, then moved to its present themselves, Wesley Chapel became its own location at 650 Blount Road in 1981. Dr. H.B. entity following segregation. The church is the Williams was the leader of New Light during this original home of the Blundon School and move. The church’s Community Outreach Center Orphanage, founded by Ada Polluck Blundon in was opened to provide services to the 1889. Housed in the basement of the church, the Scotlandville community. For example, in 2005 Blundon Home provided education to Black the New Light partnered with Pennington children during the day and adults at night. Biomedical to conduct a study on diabetes. Shiloh Missionary Baptist another pillar of the Today, New Light is under the direction of Rev. Black Baton Rouge community, was organized in Gil Wright. 1872 by Rev. George Byrd on Boyd Street in the These historic Black churches along with historical Spanish town area. The church was many others in the Baton Rouge area have moved to its present location on 14th Street served the basic and spiritual needs of Black (renamed Eddie Robinson Sr. Drive) in 1932. people for many generations, especially during Shiloh Missionary’s legacy of leaders includes the Jim Crow era when segregation was enforced Rev. Jack Mitchell (1906-1944), Rev. Dudley T. through strict laws, threats, and violence. Thus, Smith (1944-1962), Rev. Charles T. Smith (1962- we can understand why the Black church plays 2013), and Pastor Fred Jeff Smith (2013 – an integral role in the story of Black Baton present). Rouge.

36 Black Baton Rouge Yesterday & Today LOOKING BACK TO EFFECTIVELY MOVE FORWARD

Community Organizations Engagement Guide Suggested Tips for Engaging with this document

AS AN ORGANIZATION Post a copy of the document on your community’s website Share a link to the document through social media Mention the importance of knowing our local history when the organization gathers Engage program staff to design discussion opportunities Use the document to support your Black History month observations Update or create your organization’s history document

ENGAGING WITH THE DOCUMENT Identify parts of the document that most relate to the focus of your organization Give special attention to any geographical connections Create discussion opportunities with the below as a starting point: How would you describe the role of organizations in the history of Baton Rouge? What stands out to you about the organizations mentioned in the history of Baton Rouge? What is similar or different about the role of Black organizations historically as compared to the present? How can being familiar with the history of organizations in Black Baton Rouge history impact the future of organizations and communities? What did you learn about the history of Baton Rouge from the document? Share the document and the engagement guide with other organizations

37 Black Baton Rouge Yesterday & Today LOOKING BACK TO EFFECTIVELY MOVE FORWARD

Faith Communities Engagement Guide Suggested Tips for Engaging with this document

AS A COMMUNITY Post a copy of the document on your community’s website Share a link to the document through social media Consider mentioning the importance of knowing our local history during times the community gathers Engage your teaching and youth ministries to design discussion opportunities Use the document to support your Black History month observations Update or create your church’s history document

ENGAGING WITH THE DOCUMENT Give special attention to the section on Black churches in the document Give special attention to any geographical connections Create discussion opportunities with the below as a starting point: How would you describe the role of Black churches in the history of Baton Rouge? What stands out to you about black churches in the history of Baton Rouge? What is similar or different about the role of Black churches historically as compared to the present? How can being familiar with the history of Black churches in Baton Rouge impact the future of churches and communities? What did you learn about the history of Baton Rouge from the document?

Intentionally support children in becoming familiar with the history of their community Share the document and the engagement guide with other organizations

38 Black Baton Rouge Yesterday & Today LOOKING BACK TO EFFECTIVELY MOVE FORWARD

Individuals Engagement Guide Suggested Tips for Engaging with this document

ENGAGE FAMILY, FRIENDS, NEIGHBORS, COWORKERS, AND COLLEAGUES Share a link to the document and the engagement guide with those in your network of relationships Mention the document to all of the organizations or groups with which you are associated Use the document to design your own Black History month observations Be intentional in starting conversations among the children Document your family's history with writings, photographs, video or voice recordings

ENGAGING WITH THE DOCUMENT Give special attention to the sections of the document that interest you most. Give special attention to familiar communities in the document. Create discussion opportunities with the below as a starting point: What stands out to you in the history of Baton Rouge? What is similar or different about Baton Rouge historically as compared to the present? How can being familiar with the history of Black Baton Rouge impact the future of the community? What did you learn about the history of Baton Rouge from the document?

Intentionally support children in becoming familiar with the history of their community

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