THE BUTLER-TARKINGTON NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION AND THE FIGHT

AGAINST RESIDENTIAL SEGREGATION IN INDIANAPOLIS

Lydia Anne Prebish

Submitted to the faculty of the University Graduate School in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts in the Department of History, Indiana University

July 2021

Accepted by the Graduate Faculty of Indiana University, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts.

Master's Thesis Committee

______Anita Morgan, Ph.D., Chair

______Paul Mullins, Ph.D.

______Nancy Marie Robertson, Ph.D.

ii

© 2021

Lydia Anne Prebish

iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would first like to thank my chair, Dr. Morgan, for her patience, enthusiasm, and consistent support throughout this project. I am also grateful for my committee members,

Dr. Mullins and Dr. Robertson, whose insights and edits helped polish my research.

Special thanks is owed to Callie McCune and Jordan Ryan for their early suggestion of a topic that led to this paper, and their inclusion of me in scholarship and research on redlining in Indiana. I also wish to thank Evan Miller, Special Collections Associate for the archives at Butler University, for his assistance in research and continued support of my project this past year. I also owe special thanks to Dr. George Geib, professor emeritus of history at Butler University, for sharing his scholarship and history of Butler-

Tarkington and the neighborhood association. I am grateful for all my professors, my mentors, and my family, whose unceasing encouragement helped me arrive where I am today.

iv Lydia Anne Prebish

THE BUTLER-TARKINGTON NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION AND THE FIGHT

AGAINST RESIDENTIAL SEGREGATION IN INDIANAPOLIS

The Butler-Tarkington Neighborhood Association (BTNA) is a community group organized in 1956 by a few concerned couples living in the Butler-Tarkington neighborhood on the north side of Indianapolis. These couples, both Black and white, witnessed a demographic change in their community as their white neighbors fled for the suburbs as the black population expanded. The BTNA, inspired to create an organization that would promote residential integration rather than continued segregation, worked to educate neighbors on the realities of integration, promote neighborhood conversation and comradery, and worked to influence the local and state governments on the impact of segregation that harmed their community.

One of the first neighborhood organizations of its kind in the country, the BTNA still exists today, but little is known about their early history. This paper looks at the

BTNA’s efforts to promote residential segregation in their community through activism, conversation, and legislative change. Additionally, this paper analyzes the BTNA success in its efforts to integrate the community during their first decade of existence.

Anita Morgan, PhD, Chair

v TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of Figures ...... vii Introduction …...... 1 A Brief History of Residential Segregation ...... 7 A Closer Look at Indianapolis and Segregation ...... 16 Flight to the Suburbs ...... 20 History of the BTNA ...... 23 Bibliography ...... 46 Curriculum Vitae

vi LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1. “Copy of Newspaper With Handwritten Note.” Richardson Family Home on 4150 North Illinois Street, Indianapolis, Ind., 1954-55, n.d., Box 8, Folder 11. Roselyn Comer Richardson Papers, 1900-1997. Indiana Historical Society, 1993.0236...... 3

Figure 2. “Sketch of Second Floor.” Richardson Family Home on 4150 North Illinois Street, Indianapolis, Ind., 1954-55, n.d., Box 8, Folder 11. Roselyn Comer Richardson Papers, 1900-1997. Indiana Historical Society, 1993.0236...... 4

Figure 3. "Indianapolis Map." Robert K. Nelson, LaDale Winling, Richard Marciano, Nathan Connolly, et al., “Mapping Inequality,” American Panorama, ed. Robert K. Nelson and Edward L. Ayers,https://dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/redlining/#loc=10/39.787/- 86.474&city=indianapolis-in...... 14

Figure 4. "A1 Area Description." Robert K. Nelson, LaDale Winling, Richard Marciano, Nathan Connolly, et al., “Mapping Inequality,” American Panorama, ed. Robert K. Nelson and Edward L. Ayers,https://dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/redlining/#loc=10/39.787/- 86.474&city=indianapolis-in&area=A1&adview=full&adimage=1/40/-154.426...... 15

Figure 5. "Map: The Butler-Tarkington Area and Points of Interest." Butler-Tarkington Neighborhood Association, Articles of Incorporation and History, Box 1 Folder 1...... 25

Figure 6. “Butler-Tarkington Newsletter, September 1960.” No. 1. Butler-Tarkington Neighborhoods Association Newsletters 1960-1963 Folder 1...... 31

vii

Introduction

In 1956, Roselyn Richardson and her real-estate agent entered a home on North

Illinois Street in the Butler-Tarkington neighborhood, just north of downtown

Indianapolis, Indiana. As Mrs. Richardson walked through the house, she would stop to sketch floorplans, noting individual details about the character of the house and its potential. On May 11, a Friday, Roselyn wrote in her personal appointment calendar:

“Bought a beautiful home today—so excited I am about to burst—can’t tell anybody yet.”1 The reason behind the Richardson’s secrecy was not the usual desire for privacy, but rather because the Richardsons were Black, and they were moving into a historically white-exclusive neighborhood.

Roselyn had been able to tour the home in the first place only because of her light skin. She could “pass” as white, and their realtor was willing to risk their license to help the family find a home.2 A collection of Roselyn’s documents are housed at the Indiana

Historical Society archives, and tucked within the folder about the home purchase is a handwritten comment on a sticky note, where Roselyn had later reflected “we weren’t trying to stop ‘racism’—just needed more room for our family.”3 Regardless of whether the Richardsons were attempting to “stop” racism or not, their family’s move was part of

1 Calendar 1956, Box 9, Folder 6, Roselyn Comer Richardson Papers, 1900-1997, 1993.0236, Indiana Historical Society. 2 Allyson Hobbs, A Chosen Exile: Black People Passing in White America (Cambridge: Harvard University, 2016). “Passing” has a complicated history. It has historically described when a person of multiracial ancestry appeared or presented themselves as white. For some, passing meant using their visual appearance to circumvent instances of racial segregation and discrimination, and for others it meant fully assimilating into the white majority. 3 Richardson Family Home N. Illinois Street, Box 8, Folder 11, Roselyn Comer Richardson Papers, 1900-1997, 1993.0236, Indiana Historical Society.

1 a larger effort that played a part in the establishment of the Butler-Tarkington

Neighborhood Association, one of the first neighborhood organizations in the nation intended to promote residential integration.

2

Figure 1. “Copy of Newspaper With Handwritten Note.” Richardson Family Home on 4150 North Illinois Street, Indianapolis, Ind., 1954-55, n.d., Box 8, Folder 11. Roselyn Comer Richardson Papers, 1900-1997. Indiana Historical Society, 1993.0236. The photo shows a copy of the newspaper clipping featuring the listing for what would become the Richardson’s home in the Butler-Tarkington neighborhood. Below the newspaper is a handwritten note from Roselyn, which reads “When we were looking at a house –a larger house with more yard! We weren’t trying to stop ‘racism’ just needed more room for our family. Finally found it at 4150 N. Illinois, a forbidden area for Black people.”

3

Figure 2. “Sketch of Second Floor.” Richardson Family Home on 4150 North Illinois Street,

Indianapolis, Ind., 1954-55, n.d., Box 8, Folder 11. Roselyn Comer Richardson Papers, 1900-

1997. Indiana Historical Society, 1993.0236. Roselyn’s note reads: “In 1955—when we were searching for a new home—only one Courageous Jewish Realtor would show us whatever was listed. My light skin permitted me to do the looking--and then I had to write detailed reports for

Rich (my husband) to see—also draw charts etc. ... No black people were ‘allowed’ by Real

Estate Dealers to even ‘look at property east of Capitol Ave and north of 38th St -Neither were

Bank loans and mortgages’” [continued on the back] “After a few weeks, calm, fair-minded folk decided that they liked this neighborhood too well to move because our family of black people had bought a home here—thus was formed the Butler-Tarkington Neighborhood Association to include old neighbors and welcome new ones of whatever color.”

4 Henry Richardson, Jr. and Roselyn Richardson were no strangers to segregation.

Henry was an attorney and a leader for many years in the struggle for civil rights in

Indiana. He broke racial barriers in the 1930s serving as both a state representative and

judge, was responsible for organizing a local chapter of the Urban League, and in 1953

won an important case for integrated housing in Evansville while working as a legal

representative for the NAACP alongside future U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood

Marshall.4 Before her marriage, Roselyn had traveled throughout the southern United

States as a skilled social worker, and later she was active in numerous civic, religious, and political organizations, and served as director of the Shortridge High School Career

Sampling Program.5 Together, Henry and Roselyn became active in school desegregation in 1942 when their son was denied entrance to their neighborhood Indiana Public School

(IPS) #43. Roselyn and another mother appealed the decision to the superintendent of the

Indianapolis Public School District and lost. This event became part of the community

struggle that led to the 1949 passage of House Bill No. 242, which prohibited racially

segregating schools. Henry Richardson helped draft the bill and assisted the bill’s

sponsor, State Representative and Democrat, James Hunter, guide it through the

legislature.6

Even with their status as a prominent couple fighting discrimination in

Indianapolis, the Richardsons still faced residential segregation when they attempted to

4 Biographical Sketch, Collection Guide, Henry J. Richardson Jr. Papers, 1910-1992, 1985.0613, Indiana Historical Society, https://www.indianahistory.org/wp- content/uploads/henry-j-henry-johnson-richardson-papers-1910-1992.pdf. 5 Biographical Sketch, Collection Guide, Roselyn Comer Richardson Papers, 1900-1997. 6 Biographical Sketch, Collection Guide, Roselyn Comer Richardson Papers, 1900-1997.

5 purchase a home, as did all non-white and other minority groups. Roselyn later reflected

on their experience and commented that not long after their move, an organization of

“cooler, calmer, and fair-minded people” formed in the Butler-Tarkington neighborhood

to “stabilize, integrate and adapt the area to change.”7 This organization grew to become

the Butler-Tarkington Neighborhood Association. The organization adapted its goals over

the years to meet new community needs, and in the 1960s earned a reputation as a

successful example of a group promoting racial integration. Despite its significance,

relatively little has been written about the organization’s foundation and early history.

This thesis addresses the residential discrimination that led to the formation of Butler-

Tarkington Neighborhood Association and analyzing how the organization’s early efforts

(defined as 1956-1968) attempted to bring an end to residential segregation within their

neighborhood. While other factors ultimately prevented the neighborhood from becoming

geographically integrated in the long run, the Butler-Tarkington Neighborhood

Association was able to promote integrated community efforts and encourage larger

legislative change through activism, education, and conversation.

7 Wilma Moore, “A Heart For Service: Inside the Roselyn Richardson Collection,” Traces of Indiana and Midwest History, Winter 2011: 28; “Historical Significance of the Butler-Tarkington Neighborhood,” Butler-Tarkington Neighborhood Association, http://butlertarkington.org/history/#sthash.lZxha9Nw.ECdT5OOS.dpbs.

6 A Brief History of Residential Segregation

To understand the context in which the Richardsons sought to purchase a home,

and in which the Butler-Tarkington Neighborhood Association was created, it is

important to understand the larger history of residential segregation, by examining some

examples of critical scholarship at the national and local histories of residential

segregation. Nationally, an essential text on the history of residential segregation, is The

Color of Law.8 In this work, Richard Rothstein explains that “until the last quarter of the twentieth century, racially explicit policies of federal, state, and local governments defined where whites and African Americans should live.”9 To identify the racially

explicit policies at the local level in Indianapolis, insights from both Polite Protest by

Richard Pierce and Indiana Blacks in the Twentieth Century by Emma Lou Thornbrough complement Rothstein’s work and permit an understanding of the history of race and racism in Indianapolis.10

In The Color of The Law, Rothstein asserts that the practice of residential segregation by government action undeniably violates the Constitution and the Bill of

8 Richard Rothstein, The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America (New York: Liveright, 2017). While Color of Law is a recent and notable resource on the history of residential segregation, other notable titles include Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Home Ownership (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina, 2019); Kenneth T. Jackson, Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States (Oxford: 1987); Charles Abrams, Forbidden Neighbors: A Study of Prejudice in Housing (New York: Harper, 1955); N.D.B Connolly, A World More Concrete: Real Estate and The Remaking of Jim Crow South Florida (Chicago: University Press, 2014). 9 Rothstein, The Color of Law, vii. 10 Richard Pierce, Polite Protest: The Political Economy of Race in Indianapolis, 1920- 1970. (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2005); Emma Lou Thornbrough, Indiana Blacks in the Twentieth Century (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2000).

7 Rights, specifically through three amendments. The Fifth Amendment prohibited the federal government from unfair treatment of citizens, the Thirteenth Amendment prohibited slavery, or in general, treating African Americans as less-than, and the

Fourteenth Amendment prohibited state governments from treating people unfairly and unequally.11 Yet, regardless of the legality, residential segregation expanded throughout the United States by a variety of means, and its lasting impact persists today.

In 1866, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act, which prohibited actions deemed to perpetuate the characteristics of slavery.12 Rothstein interprets this Civil Rights Act to include any actions which made African Americans second-class citizens, including racial discrimination in housing. In 1883, though, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected

Congress’ interpretation of its own powers, and, while agreeing that the Civil Rights Act authorized Congress to “‘pass all laws necessary and proper for abolishing all badges and incidents of slavery in the United States,’ disagreed that exclusions from the housing market could be a ‘badge or incident of slavery.’”13 This decision resulted in the rejection of residential segregation protections promised by the Civil Rights Act until well into the next century, when the Fair Housing Act was passed in 1968.14 For more than a century, community discrimination, embraced and reinforced by the federal government, as well as at the state and local legislative levels, through numerous racially explicit laws, regulations, and practices, created a nation of racially segregated housing.

11 Rothstein, The Color of Law, viii. 12 Rothstein, The Color of Law, 46. 13 Rothstein, The Color of Law, viii. 14 Rothstein, The Color of Law, ix-x.

8 Throughout the U.S. during the early twentieth century, residential segregation

was primarily fueled by local policies and zoning codes. Proponents of segregation found

ways to establish new practices and circumvent existing laws to uphold their racist

beliefs. In 1916 in Indianapolis, the City Council attempted to pass an ordinance intended

to separate white and Black residential communities. The measure was intended to create

“sanctions against whites moving into a ‘portion of the municipality inhabited principally

by Negros’ or African Americans establishing residence in a ‘white community,’ unless

the occupying party had the written consent of a majority of the opposite race inhabiting

the neighborhood.”15 Pierce notes that the writers of this ordinance intended it to promote

“good order and general welfare,” and while the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the

ordinance, its approval was not ultimately necessary for upholding segregation in

Indianapolis, as banks denied loans to African Americans, and real estate agents in

Indianapolis refused to show African Americans property outside of designated areas.

As in Indianapolis, white people throughout the U.S. attempted to zone their communities

based on racial discrimination. In 1917, the U.S. Supreme Court found in Buchanan v.

Warley that racially discriminating zoning ordinances violated the 14th Amendment, but

many border states and southern cities ignored the Buchanan decision.16 Homeowners began to utilize property limitations, termed “restrictive covenants,” to preserve segregated environments. The covenants included language in individual home deeds to prohibit future resale to non-whites. Property ownership was often accompanied by a neighborhood association, which owners were required to join. These neighborhood

15 Pierce, Polite Protest, 61. 16 Buchanan v. Warley, No. 245 (United States Supreme Court November 5, 1917).

9 associations included a white-only clause for membership in their associations, further

excluding non-whites from entry into the neighborhood.17

One of the nation's most prominent city planners, Robert Whitten, wrote in 1922 that “establishing colored residence districts has removed one of the most potent causes of race conflict” and he advised city neighborhoods “to be protected from any further damage to values resulting from inappropriate uses, including the encroachment of the colored race.”18 Throughout the United States, in addition to banks and real estate

agencies, local white individuals and groups took matters into their own hands to enforce

segregation. When African Americans moved into predominantly or exclusively white

neighborhoods, white residents harassed them into leaving. In Indianapolis, for example,

one neighborhood group of residents, the Capital Avenue Protective Association,

constructed “spite fences” around unwanted neighbor’s homes in 1920, building high

walls surrounding three-fourths of the property of the Black family who moved into their

neighborhood.19 Another locally understood “custom” in Indianapolis was the “White

Supremacy Dead Line,” enforced by the North Indianapolis Civic League, at 27th Street.

The group declared that “no blacks should reside between 28th and 38th Streets.”20 Some

tactics of the white supremacist groups became increasingly violent and aggressive. In

1924, a Black family survived a hand grenade thrown through their window after they

moved into a white neighborhood. Following the event, handbills appeared in

17 Rothstein, The Color of Law, 79. 18 Rothstein, The Color of Law, 46. 19 Pierce, Polite Protest, 59. You can learn more about the Capital Avenue Protective Association through this blog post by Dr. Paul Mullins, archeologist and professor of anthropology at IUPUI: https://paulmullins.wordpress.com/2019/01/20/racist-spite-and- residential-segregation-housing-and-the-color-line-in-inter-war-indianapolis/. 20 Thornbrough, Indiana Blacks, 52.

10 surrounding neighborhoods asking “DO YOU WANT A NIGGER FOR A

NEIGHBOR?”21 North of the “dead line,” Mapleton Civil Association members

“pledged not to sell or rent property to anyone except a white person” and put in their statement of aims: “One of our chief concerns is to prevent members of the colored race from moving into our midst, thereby depreciating property values fifty percent, or more.”22 While violence and aggression prevented many African Americans in

Indianapolis from moving out of their restricted zones, white people went one step farther and began to use property value depreciation as a key loophole to instigate residential segregation.

This practice of rezoning neighborhoods became a common way to prevent

African Americans from living near whites. Fear mongering and zoning ordinances, however, did not prevent wealthier African Americans from moving to neighborhoods they could afford. Rothstein notes that “[f]requently, the African Americans who attempted to pioneer the integration of white middle-class neighborhoods were of higher social status than their white neighbors, and they were rarely of lower status.” 23 In order to prevent this from continuing, housing policies in President Franklin Roosevelt’s New

Deal sought to provide incentives for white families to move to the suburbs while actively preventing African Americans from following suit.24

21 Pierce, Polite Protest, 59. 22 Pierce, Polite Protest, 59. 23 Rothstein, The Color of Law, 59. 24 Rothstein, The Color of Law, 63. In 1933, under President Roosevelt’s leadership, Congress instituted the New Deal, which included two housing programs: one to support existing homeowners unable to make mortgage payments, and a second to make first- time home ownership possible for the middle class.

11 The first of these programs, passed in 1933, was the Home Owners Loan

Corporation (HOLC). The HOLC sought to rescue homes subject to foreclosure by

purchasing existing mortgages and issuing new mortgages with repayment schedules up

to fifteen years. What resulted was a discriminatory practice where banks refused or

limited mortgages for people of color, ethnic minorities, and low-income workers in

specific geographic areas. This process came to be known as “redlining” because of the

red lines used to mark “hazardous” homes and neighborhoods on the maps created and

distributed by the HOLC. The practice funneled financing opportunities to native-born white families and away from African American and immigrant families, not because the people in lower-grade areas were more likely to default on their mortgages, but because lenders wanted to provide mortgages to neighborhoods they one-sidedly deemed as more likely to experience long term success.25

25 Robert K. Nelson, LaDale Winling, Richard Marciano, Nathan Connolly, et al., “Mapping Inequality,” American Panorama, ed. Robert K. Nelson and Edward L. Ayers, accessed April 24, 2021, https://dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/redlining /#loc=10/39.787/- 86.474&city=indianapolis-in&text=intro. The HOLC used these grades in its refinancing decisions. Given that “these agents [were] required by their national ethics code to maintain segregation” it was not surprising that they, and thus the HOLC, considered racial compositions of neighborhoods in gauging risk. The data compiled by agents was organized by the HOLC into corresponding area descriptions which included “neighborhood's quality of housing, the recent history of sale and rent values, and, crucially, the racial and ethnic identity and class of residents that served as the basis of the neighborhood’s grade.” The grades assigned ranged from “A” to “D,” and were translated on to color-coded maps. Neighborhoods receiving the highest grade of “A”— colored green on the maps—were considered “Best” and deemed minimal risks for banks and other mortgage lenders. “B” areas were labeled blue and considered “Still Desirable.” “C” neighborhoods were yellow and listed as “Definitely Declining. ” Those receiving the lowest grade of ‘D,’ colored red on maps, were considered “Hazardous.” This practice, known as "redlining,” made it difficult (if not impossible) for people in certain areas to access mortgage financing and become homeowners.

12 The second housing program established through the New Deal was the Federal

Housing Administration (FHA). Created in 1934, the FHA insured bank mortgages; when deeming who would be eligible for the insurance, the FHA performed its own appraisals of properties to ensure their lender would have a low risk of the buyer defaulting. The

FHA appraisal standards included a whites-only requirement, making racial segregation an official requirement of the federal mortgage insurance program. Congress believed that properties in racially mixed neighborhoods, or white neighborhoods near Black ones that could integrate, were too risky for insurance. The appraisals, conducted by local real estate appraisers for the federal agency, were guided by the Federal Housing

Administration’s Underwriting Manual, which included the instruction "if a neighborhood is to retain stability it is necessary that properties shall continue to be occupied by the same social and racial classes. A change in social or racial occupancy generally leads to instability and a reduction in value."26

These conditions, ranging from government-sponsored practices, racially

restrictive covenants, zoning ordinances, and real estate industry practices, all contributed

to a system of residential segregation. It was within this racially divided environment that

the Richardsons sought to purchase a home in a predominantly white area, and where the

Butler-Tarkington Neighborhood Association formed to combat segregation and promote

neighborhood integration through community conversation and stabilization.

26 Rothstein, The Color of Law, 65.

13

Figure 3. "Indianapolis Map." Robert K. Nelson, LaDale Winling, Richard Marciano, Nathan Connolly, et al., “Mapping Inequality,” American Panorama, ed. Robert K. Nelson and Edward L. Ayers, https://dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/redlining/#loc=10/39.787/- 86.474&city=indianapolis-in. Picture shows the map produced by the Home Owner’s Loan Corporation in 1937. The Butler-Tarkington neighborhood is labeled “A1” in green and is circled on the map.

14

Figure 4. "A1 Area Description." Robert K. Nelson, LaDale Winling, Richard Marciano, Nathan

Connolly, et al., “Mapping Inequality,” American Panorama, ed. Robert K. Nelson and Edward

L. Ayers, https://dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/redlining/#loc=10/39.787/-

86.474&city=indianapolis-in&area=A1&adview=full&adimage=1/40/-154.426. The picture

shows a scan of the Home Owner’s Loan Corporation Area Description for the Butler-Tarkington neighborhood. The description is dated March 30, 1937. Under “inhabitants” it lists native white: executive, and other white-collar type; nominal foreign-born; no Negroes.

15 A Closer Look at Indianapolis and Segregation

In Indianapolis, African Americans had been present since the city’s inception; by

1827, out of the 1,066 residents, 55 were African American.27 Their initial presence,

however, did not deter the writers of the state Constitution in 1851 from halting the migration of a non-white population. Article XIII stated: “No negro or mulatto shall come into or settle in the State, after the adoption of this Constitution.”28 Further, the 1851

Constitution claimed “All contracts made with any Negro or Mulatto coming into the

State, contrary to the provisions of the foregoing section, shall be void” and that any person employing “such Negro or Mulatto, or otherwise encourage him to remain in the

State, shall be fined in any sum not less than ten dollars, nor more than five hundred dollars.”29

By the onset of the Civil War, 498 African Americans constituted nearly three

percent of the city’s population, and Indianapolis’ Black community continued to grow,

making up nearly 10 percent of the city’s population in 1900.30 In Polite Protest, Pierce

points out the population of Black people in Indianapolis was the largest percentage of

any city north of the Ohio River, and by 1910, Indianapolis had the sixth largest African

American population among United States cities.31 During the growth of American

industry and World War I, African Americans continued to migrate north to fill labor

shortages. Between 1870 and 1920, Indianapolis’ Black population doubled in size,

27 Pierce, Polite Protest, 2. 28 “Article 13 - Negroes and Mulattoes,” 1851 Constitution, Indiana Historical Bureau, https://www.in.gov/history/2858.htm#:~:text=No%20negro%20or%20mulatto%20shall,t he%20adoption%20of%20this%20Constitution. 29 “Article 13- Negroes and Mulattoes.” 30 Pierce, Polite Protest, 3. 31 Pierce, Polite Protest, 11, 58.

16 increasing 59 percent between 1910 and 1920.32 As the percentage of African Americans

grew in northern cities like Indianapolis, so too did efforts to continue to segregate them

in public accommodation, schools, and housing.

By 1930, 12 percent of the Indianapolis population was African American, with

this population having increased 175 percent in the previous three decades.33 But as the

African American population in Indianapolis grew from 15,931 in 1900 to nearly 44,000

in 1930, the increased population did not expand to residences throughout the city, rather

they were “restricted to a finite area.”34 Pierce identifies that in Indianapolis, there were

“three distinct, non-contiguous African American neighborhoods” formed prior to World

War II, including Pat Ward’s Bottoms along the canal northwest of downtown along

Indiana Avenue, an area north of the Bottoms along present day Doctor Martin Luther

King Jr., Street, and on the east side near Douglass Park in present-day Brightwood.35 As

previously noted, local government and individual efforts were common in Indianapolis

to prevent African American residential expansion. In general, Indianapolis employers

and union officials, according to Pierce, “were among the worst violators of equal rights

in the United States. While Indiana did not have as complete a system of Jim Crow as

many African Americans remember in their southern homes, it did have its own unique brand of discrimination.”36

According to Thornbrough in Indiana Blacks in the Twentieth Century, “opposing

discrimination in access to housing became one of the main objectives of the civil rights

32 Pierce, Polite Protest, 12. 33 Pierce, Polite Protest, 61. 34 Pierce, Polite Protest, 61. 35 Pierce, Polite Protest, 57. 36 Pierce, Polite Protest, 12.

17 struggle.”37 In a report of the Race Relations Clinic sponsored by the Indianapolis Church

Federation in 1945, findings showed that the underlying cause of obstacles faced by

Blacks who sought to buy homes was white prejudice.38 Thornbrough notes, “with the

notable exception of the 1949 law abolishing segregation in public education, no civil

rights legislation was adopted between the end of the war and 1961.”39 However,

Thornbrough emphasizes, “in spite of obstructionist tactics in the state legislature, there was evidence that the times were ripe for change and a meaningful struggle for civil rights.”40 It was in the post WWII period that changes in civil rights in Indianapolis

began to take shape, especially regarding residential segregation. These changes were

primarily motivated by middle-class African Americans throughout the state, through institutions such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

(NAACP), the Urban League, and various fraternal and non-governmental organizations,

who rallied support for efforts against racial discrimination.41

As African Americans began to slowly move into the area northwest of the central

city, around Butler University, neighborhood civic groups and the Indianapolis Real

Estate Board continued to attempt to prevent movement into specific residential areas. In

1927, “unknown parties threw an improvised bomb” onto the porch at the residence of

Mr. and Mrs. Goodwin, located at 501 West 29th St. The article title highlights that this

incident was thought to be part of the continued “intimidation of negro citizens of the

37 Thornbrough, Indiana Blacks, 149. 38 Thornbrough, Indiana Blacks, 149. 39 Thornbrough, Indiana Blacks, 136. 40 Thornbrough, Indiana Blacks, 136. 41 Thornbrough, Indiana Blacks, 138.

18 community.”42 In 1944, when two African American families moved into homes on 29th

Street, they were met by a mob of 500 white people, who threatened the new homeowners with “bodily harm and the destruction of houses” if they did not leave, declaring the homes to be part of a “restricted district.” The Indianapolis Recorder quoted a “spokesman for the whites” who claimed that “the area…had been declared restricted to whites only by the residents living therein and the encroachment of Negro home-owners will not be tolerated.” According to the article, real estate operators interviewed said “they sold sites in the district to colored buyers because they were willing and able to pay higher prices than the whites.”43 In addition to Black homeowners who were able to pay a higher price for a home in a white neighborhood, wealthier

Blacks occasionally were able to evade real estate restrictions through risk-taking real estate agents and white property buyers who would then resell the properties to African

Americans. Some moves into historically all-white neighborhoods were made by African

Americans, like the Richardsons, by buying well-built homes in older, neighborhoods as former white occupants left the neighborhoods surrounding the city for the suburbs.

42 “Vandals Bomb Home.” Indianapolis Recorder, 23 July 1927, https://newspapers.library.in.gov/?a=d&d=INR19270723-01.1.1&srpos=2&e=------192- en-20-INR-1--txt-txIN-bomb------. 43 “Mob Threatens Two Families Moving Into White District” Indianapolis Recorder, 9 September 1944, https://newspapers.library.in.gov/?a=d&d=INR19440909-01.1.2&e=-- 1944---1944--en-20-INR-1--txt-txIN-white+mob------.

19 Flight to the Suburbs

Between 1950 and 1960, the population within Indianapolis city boundaries

“grew only by 10 percent, but population in the suburban areas of Marion County

increased 76 percent.”44 The population movement can be explained by multiple factors,

but it also gives evidence of “white flight,” a term used to describe where white residents

fled city neighborhoods for the suburbs because of an encroaching Black population.45

As Black families slowly moved into neighborhoods closer to “white only” borders,

white families fled in increasingly larger numbers to the suburbs. Black families able to

afford to move out of the congested Black sections of the city slowly expanded into

neighborhoods no longer predominantly occupied by white people. By 1957, the area

between 24th and 28th Streets, previously off limits to Black residents, increased in the

proportion of Black residents from three percent to an estimated eighty-seven percent. 46

This move was also influenced by a real estate practice known as blockbusting, where

“speculators bought properties in borderline Black-white areas; rented or sold them to

African American families at above-market prices; persuaded white families residing in these areas that their neighborhoods were turning into African American slums and that values would soon fall precipitously; and then purchased the panicked whites’ homes for less than their worth.”47 It was a cycle, where integrating neighborhoods initially saw property values increase because of African American’s being forced to pay more for

44 Thornbrough, Indiana Blacks, 116. 45 Rothstein, The Color of Law, viii. However, it should be noted that many Americans wanted to move to the suburbs, but because of the systematic oppression and segregation, many Black and minority people were unable to move out of the city, furthering the segregated status of the suburbs. 46 Thornbrough, Indiana Blacks, 152. 47 Rothstein, The Color of Law, 95.

20 homes than their white counterparts, only to have property values plummet as speculators

created panic in enough white homeowners who, in turn, sold their homes at a

dramatically discounted rate.

Some homeowners, however, instead of abandoning their city for the suburbs,

chose to stay in their homes and work towards creating racially integrated neighborhoods.

According to Thornbrough, the Butler-Tarkington Neighborhood Association became

“the first and probably the most successful of several neighborhood organizations in which blacks participated along with whites in maintaining racial balance.”48 In contrast,

Pierce argued while the overall racial composition of the entire neighborhood suggested

successful integration, the spatial segregation within Butler-Tarkington was extensive.

Pierce identified African Americans who moved into the neighborhood as primarily

occupying “the southern portion of the neighborhoods, near 38th street” compared to the

white blocks further north near 56th Street, which remained almost exclusively white.49

While Thornbrough addresses the important existence of the BTNA as an early attempt in

American history for residential segregation, Pierce acknowledges the reality that Butler-

Tarkington did not geographically achieve integration. But understanding the community’s success goes beyond statistics and requires looking at the continual efforts of the BTNA through their first decade. The following timeline and history for the foundation and early years of the Butler-Tarkington Neighborhood Association, highlight

48 Thornbrough, Indiana Blacks, 152. 49 Pierce, Polite Protest, 75.

21 the organization’s struggles and achievements in civil rights statistically and based on its

larger impact in the community.50

50 The Butler-Tarkington Neighborhood Association collection in Special Collections at the Butler University Library is divided into 12 manuscript boxes. The collection dates from 1956 to 2008. The collection contains BTNA’s history, Board of Managers meetings, newsletters, planning and zoning issues, correspondence, and miscellaneous association activities. The bulk of the collection is divided into BTNA history briefs, Articles of Incorporation, meeting minutes, and newsletters. The state of the papers was originally in disarray and are referred to in my citations by their most identifying descriptor.

22 History of the BTNA

Bounded by Meridian Street, 38th Street, and the Indianapolis Water Company

Canal, Butler-Tarkington neighborhood sits at the north-west side of downtown

Indianapolis. Originally settled by German farming families in the 1800s, the area grew

into a farming village that served as a stop for travelers on their way to and from

Indianapolis. This downtown connection was strengthened in the latter half of the 1800s

when the city’s street railway was extended to the recently developed Crown Hill

Cemetery and the opening of Fairview Park. As suburban housing replaced the farms, the

neighborhood developed in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and changes

in transportation can be seen in the types of housing moving north. The architecture

designs changed to accommodate housing from the age of street cars to auto suburbs.51

The neighborhood was named for the recently relocated Butler University and Hoosier

author Booth Tarkington, who lived at 4270 North Meridian Street from 1923 to 1946.52

The neighborhood was “primarily composed of white middle-class residents” and

“remained very stable from the 1920s to the 1950s.”53 However, this stability was

“disrupted” following World War II, when:

Court decisions arising out of the Civil Rights Movement were beginning to open previously all-white neighborhoods to people of color. As population pressures south of 38th Street stimulated a northward migration of the city’s resident African American population, Butler-Tarkington began to experience a series of “ugly racial incidents” and a rapid turnover

51 “Neighborhoods: Butler-Tarkington,” The Polis Center, https://polis.iupui.edu/about/community-culture/project-on-religion-culture/study- neighborhoods/butler-tarkington/. 52 “Neighborhoods: Butler-Tarkington,” The Polis Center. 53 Historical Significance, Articles of Incorporation & History, Box 1 Folder 2, Page 13, Butler University.

23 in its population. Long-term residents began to move north and west out of the neighborhood.54

According to records in the organization’s archives at Butler University, Butler-

Tarkington’s increase in Black residents became a cause for “consternation” among some white residents, but a separate “number of neighborhood residents discovered they shared attitudes, particularly about the situation in the neighborhood” and elected to found the

Butler-Tarkington Neighborhood Association to achieve an ideal, racially integrated,

beautiful neighborhood.55

In the early spring of 1956, four couples, two white and two Black, gathered to

discuss the changes in their neighborhood. Reverend and Mrs. Frederick Williams held a

meeting at their home attended by Dr. and Mrs. Alexander Moore, Dr. and Mrs. Lowell

Thomas, and Dr. and Mrs. Roland Usher. Additionally, Professor William Biddle,

Director of the Community Dynamics Institute at Earlham College, along with his wife,

were also in attendance “to encourage the group and offer advice based on their extensive

background in community work.”56 At the first meeting, the organizers formed a

neighborhood association as an “ambitious and daring concept, realizing the potential

difficulties ahead and the possibility of its coming to an untimely end.”57 The founders

were clearly aware of the impact that their group could have, and that they needed to plan

carefully for the future.

54 1968 Document 2, Articles of Incorporation & History, Box 1 Folder 1, Butler University. 55 1968 Document 2, Articles of Incorporation & History, Box 1 Folder 1. 56 1968 Document 2, Articles of Incorporation & History, Box 1 Folder 1. 57 1968 Document 2, Articles of Incorporation & History, Box 1 Folder 1.

24

Figure 5. "Map: The Butler-Tarkington Area and Points of Interest." Butler-Tarkington

Neighborhood Association, Articles of Incorporation and History, Box 1 Folder 1. The photograph shows a scan of a map of the Butler-Tarkington area, featuring points of interest such as the local churches and schools. The map, produced by the BTNA, dates to the 1960s.

25 Prior to its second meeting, the group chose not to extend an invitation to the

newspaper, believing both that “it was too early to expose the group to publicity” and the

importance of “when the time did arise, a representative of the Negro press should be

invited to prevent “a ‘scoop’ by a Caucasian newspaper.”58 The second meeting did include two additional attendees, including a professor from Butler who resided in the area and a representative of the Council of Social Agencies. They brought to the four founding couples’ attention that local Tarkington Park was in danger of being bulldozed for a parking lot. The group understood that losing the park meant a change in how the neighborhood was perceived. Without a park, it would likely no longer be considered a desirable neighborhood with family-friendly amenities, and families would continue to move to the suburbs. Additionally, changing the park to a parking lot would allow zoning changes, and these could increase the number of undesirable business or multi-family units within the neighborhood. In response to these threats, the group organized itself as the Butler-Tarkington Neighborhood Committee (BTNC). Members drafted a petition to the Park Board requesting that it preserve the playground. By December, the petition had

800 signatures and the Board decided to keep the park intact. It was later persuaded “to appropriate funds to clean up the play area, equip it, and provide playground supervision.”59

Following its initial success with the park, the BTNC began to hold monthly

meetings for neighbors at the North Methodist Church, at 38th and Meridian. In addition

to the committee formed to study park development, committees were also formed to

58 1968 Document 2, Articles of Incorporation & History, Box 1 Folder 1. 59 1968 Document 2, Articles of Incorporation & History, Box 1 Folder 1.

26 study zoning ordinances and their enforcement, and to find study materials “pertaining to

urban problems.”60 In June 1958, the organization appeared for the first time in a

newspaper. Highlighted by the Indianapolis Star as an “inter-racial community group,”

the Star announced the BTNC’s upcoming public program featuring speaker Calvin

Hamilton of the Metropolitan Planning Commission.61 More than 100 people attended,

and many of the new attendees quickly became BTNC members.62 In the aftermath, the

discussion of “panic selling” in the neighborhood became a point of controversy among

the members of the BTNC. Some white members proposed to develop block

organizations which would “give information to white families in those areas into which

Negroes had moved” and “to extend such information into areas which so far exhibited

no noticeable awareness that they were in the path of natural Negro residential

expansion.”63 Black members of the BTNC resisted this proposal, but “white members could not understand the antagonism which their proposals elicited.”64 It became clear

that for the Black residents, the block organizations harkened back to the protective

associations that “‘[held] the line’ against Negro home purchasers.”65 Additionally, many

of the Black participants in the BTNC had “been accused of being modern ‘Uncle Toms’

in that they seemingly were cooperating with whites to halt the availability of desirable

homes to a Negro community which was desperately short of living space.”66

60 1968 Document 2, Articles of Incorporation & History, Box 1 Folder 1. 61 “Urban Planning To Be Discussed,” Indianapolis Star, June 17, 1958. 62 1968 Document 2, Articles of Incorporation & History, Box 1 Folder 1, 6. 63 1968 Document 2, Articles of Incorporation & History, Box 1 Folder 1, 5–6. 64 1968 Document 2, Articles of Incorporation & History, Box 1 Folder 1, 6-7. 65 1968 Document 2, Articles of Incorporation & History, Box 1 Folder 1, 6. 66 1968 Document 2, Articles of Incorporation & History, Box 1 Folder 1, 6–7.

27 According to the archives, the co-chairmen of the BTNC, Dr. Moore and Dr. Robert

Erickson, “resolved the matter by failing to provide for any future activities or meetings.”67 Over the summer, the BTNC became inactive, but in the fall of 1958 a few members reignited the organization.

In 1959, a new president was elected, attendee numbers at meetings slowly grew, a statement of purpose was evaluated, and new committees presented information on other neighborhood programs in other cities. The revitalized organization devoted attention to “immediate issues of life in the community: how to welcome new neighbors; how to maintain constructive relationships with neighbors unaccustomed to home ownership; how to cope with juvenile delinquency.”68 Documents in the collection note that while no complete answers were found, “study and discussions became vigorous, and attempts were made to deal with them.”69 In 1960, the organization saw its greatest change in tangible movement towards achieving its goals. It was officially incorporated as the Butler-Tarkington Neighborhood Association, Inc. (BTNA), and published its first newsletter in September. A portion of the newsletter introductions reads:

Five years ago a small group of residents realized that the Butler- Tarkington area was in a state of apprehension over the arrival of additional residents in the neighborhood…residents of interest in a stable and pleasant community is common to all middle class citizens, but they also saw that a handful of pigment cells was making a barrier between one group of middle class citizens and another middle class citizens that had the same stake and interest in the community. During these five years the men and women of the organization worked to restore the lines of communication. This newsletter is one more voice through which the residents of Butler-Tarkington can be reminded that the beauty, charm,

67 1968 Document 2, Articles of Incorporation & History, Box 1 Folder 1, 6. 68 1968 Document 2, Articles of Incorporation & History, Box 1 Folder 1, 7. 69 1968 Document 2, Articles of Incorporation & History, Box 1 Folder 1, 7.

28 and the stability of Butler-Tarkington is the work of all of us who live within its boundaries.70 The newsletter also announced that a constitution and by-laws were adopted earlier in the

year and reiterated that the purpose of the BTNA would continue to be “to conserve and

improve the neighborhood by promoting cooperative efforts among residents, schools,

churches and civic groups” and additionally to “actively foster better communication

among the residents, with the view to preventing intergroup conflicts and to promoting

the idea of democratic living.”71 The newsletter listed the newly engaged committees

enlisted to carry out the activities of the BTNA, which included Programming, Zoning,

Public Information, Recreation, Membership, and Special Projects. These committees

would continue to change over time to adapt to the growing needs of the BTNA.

In addition to organizational updates included in the newsletter was a section

titled “What About Property Values,” which addressed the fear some residents had, as

they felt “pressured into considering the sale of their homes because property values are

supposedly going to fall drastically.”72 The section quoted American journalist Vance

Packard’s 1959 book Status Seekers and a 1958 University of Berkeley report of the

Commission on Race and Housing. It explained that one of the “firmly held articles of faith among realtors” is that when a non-white family moved into a white neighborhood, property values would go down, justifying “people to put discrimination on a we’re-

tolerant-but-you-gotta-be-realistic basis.”73 The three-year Berkeley study found that in

reality, property values only went down in the case of the “self-fulfilling prophecy”

70 Butler-Tarkington Newsletter, September 1960, 1, Butler University. 71 Butler-Tarkington Newsletter, September 1960, 2. 72 Butler-Tarkington Newsletter, 2. 73 Butler-Tarkington Newsletter, 3.

29 model, where values would go down in an “already run down” neighborhood when white

neighbors panicked, believing the “entry of non-whites was evidence of deterioration,”

and sold their homes at lower prices and gutting the market. The article in the newsletter

read, “Alternatively, if white residents of an area are in no hurry to leave, but non-whites

are eager to come in, the pressure of non-white demand may bid up the price of

houses.’”74 The conclusion was that “non-white entry into residential areas does not necessarily depress real estate values’” and that in the cases investigated by the Berkeley

Commission, “‘the entry of non-whites was found to have either no effect or a favorable

effect on property-selling prices in the majority of cases.”75 This article made clear that

the BTNA was committed to not only working with like-minded neighbors to increase

diversity and create an integrated neighborhood, but also to educating those who had not

yet become “like-minded,” or struggled to understand the realities behind the forces of

residential segregation. The BTNA continued throughout its first decade of activity to

educate and inform not only its neighborhood residents but also to offer programming to

the entire Indianapolis community.

74 Butler-Tarkington Newsletter, 3. 75 Butler-Tarkington Newsletter, 3.

30

Figure 6. “Butler-Tarkington Newsletter, September 1960.” No. 1. Butler-Tarkington

Neighborhoods Association Newsletters 1960-1963 Folder 1. The photograph shows a copy of the first newsletter of the Butler-Tarkington Neighborhood Association. It is dated September

1960.

31 Despite community efforts, in 1961, vandals defaced two homes owned by Black

people in the previously all-white block of 4700 and Illinois. The Indianapolis Recorder

reported on May 13, 1961 that “race-hating vandals” had struck earlier in the week,

leaving “a sickening display of four-letter words sprayed on stone walls and screens, Nazi swastikas painted on walls and cut in a lawn, broken bird-baths and lamp-posts, and slashed awnings”76 The Indianapolis News noted that of the two homes vandalized, one

family had moved in the prior month, and the second family anticipated moving within a

few days. Mayor Charles H. Boswell “decried the affair as a ‘blot on the good name of

Indianapolis’” and commented that “‘according to all Christian principles and according

to the provisions of our respective Constitutions, state and national, people have a right to

live wherever they can afford to live.’”77 Anna Richardson, then president of the BTNA,

responded to the incident saying that “‘We are deeply shocked and concerned about this

situation’ [and that] association representatives ‘will call on the families right away to see

what help we can give.’”78 On May 14, the Indianapolis Star published that the BTNA,

along with six other groups, was appealing to the Indianapolis office of the Federal

Bureau of Investigation for help in researching the vandalism of homes recently

purchased by Black families in previously all-white blocks. The appeal was signed by the

BTNA, as well as representatives from the Indianapolis Human Relations Council,

Indianapolis Church Federation Race Relations Committee, National Association for the

Advancement of Colored People, Catholic Interracial Council, Jewish Community

76 Charles Preston. “Vandals Attack on New Neighbors,” Indianapolis Recorder, May 13, 1961. 77 “Vandals Damage Two Negro Homes,” Indianapolis News, May 11, 1961. 78 Anna Richardson was not related to Henry or Roselyn Richardson.

32 Relations Council, and the Lutheran Human Relations Association.79 The Star’s article

identified “three reports of ‘explosions’ at Negro homes recently…in the 5700 block of

North Illinois Street…near 34th Street and Carrollton Avenue, and 47th and Illinois streets.”80 In response to the demand for action, Lt. James C. Fox of the Internal Security

Division of the State Department, was quoted in the Star as saying that the reported

explosions “could have been cars or trucks backfiring” and that the evidence of

firecrackers at some of the locations “was the work of misguided teen-agers.”81

The publicity surrounding the vandalism garnered greater attention for the BTNA

and its efforts to promote integration and a peaceful, friendly neighborhood community.

By December of 1961, membership had increased from 60 to 245.82 In 1962, the BTNA

hosted Noble P. Hollister, the executive director of the Indianapolis Board of Zoning

Appeals, to speak at one of their public meetings.83 That same year for their sixth annual

dinner, the BTNA invited Irving Horowitz to speak. Horowitz was the executive director

of the Hyde Park-Kenwood Community Conference in Chicago, an organization that also

worked to maintain real estate values and preserve a stable, interracial community.84 In

the summer of 1962, the Church Liaison Committee sponsored a film series at four area

churches. Provided by the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith, the films included

“Property Values and Race,” “High Wall,” “An American Girl,” and “Burden of

79 “7 Groups Ask FBI To Act In Vandalism,” Indianapolis Star, May 14, 1961. 80 “7 Groups Ask FBI To Act In Vandalism.” 81 “7 Groups Ask FBI To Act In Vandalism.” 82 1968 Document 2, Articles of Incorporation & History, Box 1 Folder 1, 7. 83 “Zoning Chief to Talk,” Indianapolis Star, February 3, 1962. 84 “Official of Race Relations Group Will Speak Here,” Indianapolis News, March 26, 1962.

33 Truth.”85 The Indianapolis News reported that in the discussion following the first showing, one college student “reminded the group that integration, especially forced integration like desegregated college dormitories, is not the same as acceptance of the

Negro.” Additionally, BTNA vice president Dr. Poplin explained that the purpose of the

organization was not only racial “but human,” highlighting the necessity for people to

learn to understand one another better “if our community problems are to be solved.”86 In

the following years, the BTNA zoning committees vehemently fought proposals that

included multi-unit buildings that would alter the single-unit residential aspect of the

neighborhood, as well as applications for businesses to continue encroaching on the

neighborhood.87 The larger organization would go on to produce a half-hour television

program for local TV station WTTV, “to champion the open occupancy civil right

theme.” The program, produced with the Church Federation of Greater Indianapolis and

the Indiana Civil Rights Commission, was a dramatic and satirical way to emphasize

“what happens when a Negro moves into a previously all-white neighborhood.”88 In

1963, Indiana Governor Welsh announced plans for the first annual statewide Conference

on Civil Rights at a BTNA meeting, where he praised the group, stating “you have

attempted, voluntarily and privately, with progress that has gone unnoticed, to reduce the

blight and tensions of racial discrimination in housing.”89 Two attendees of the

85 1968 Document 2, Articles of Incorporation & History, Box 1 Folder 1, 8. 86 “Be Tolerant, Integration Group Urges,” Indianapolis News, June 15, 1962, https://www.newspapers.com/image/311501506. 87 1968 Document 2, Articles of Incorporation & History, Box 1 Folder 1, 8. 88 Frank Wilson, “Racial Satire Tries To Open Closed Door,” Indianapolis News, February 19, 1965. 89 “State to Study Housing Bias, Welsh Announces,” Indianapolis Recorder, May 18, 1963.

34 conference, Mrs. Anna Richardson, vice-chairman of the membership committee, and Dr.

Roscoe Polin, vice-president, noted that many of the steps advocated by the New York

City Commission on Human Rights, which helped lead a workshop, included many of the

steps integrated into the BTNA program. Some steps suggested by the NYCC included

holding block meetings in a home to build a sense of “togetherness,” forming visitation

committees to speak to those who may be wavering or have particular concerns and

getting responsible real estate agencies to show homes to members of all groups.90

In 1966, BTNA’s housing committee decided to re-evaluate its goals by presenting a program for stabilizing the neighborhood. The four aspects of the program were:

1. Stability: which held block meetings designed to encourage present Butler-Tarkington residents not to sell their homes, the main purpose being the prevention of ‘panic selling.’ 2. Advertising: which was to use a new BTNA brochure to attract people into moving into the area. 3. Housing Referral: which was to follow up leads provided by the Advertising group and to refer them to sellers. 4. Greater Indianapolis Housing: which was to work with city and county governmental units and the Indianapolis Real Estate Board, among others, in bringing about the goal of open housing throughout the Marion County area, thus easing the possibility of reaching racial balance in the Butler-Tarkington area.91

The first act to uphold these goals was the installation of a telephone in the home of the Dr. George and Mrs. Naomi Siskin. The primary use of the phone would be to refer prospective buyers to real estate agents, and to give residents of Butler-Tarkington detailed housing information.92 The following year, in 1967, the Long-Range Planning

Committee announced their five-year plan. While it did not stray dramatically from the

90 Butler-Tarkington Newsletter, October 1962, 4, Butler University. 91 1968 Document 2, Articles of Incorporation & History, Box 1 Folder 1, 9. 92 1968 Document 2, Articles of Incorporation & History, Box 1 Folder 1, 9.

35 historic intentions of the neighborhood group, it did offer distinct changes in the

recruiting efforts of the BTNA.

A five-year plan dated April 2, 1967, states:

The greatest challenge facing American cities today is that of providing satisfying housing for families of all races, religions, ethnicity, and economic levels. To the extent that this challenge can be met successfully, our cities will prevent mass exodus of citizens to suburbia, maintain stable well conserved communities, and perpetuate the historical role of the city as a dynamic focal point of socio-economic integration and expression. It is becoming increasingly apparent to planners and urban leadership that the flight to suburbia of middle-class residents, in particular, is denying our cities of a much-needed source of financial and leadership potential. The ultimate reversal of this trend will not be realized wholly through governmental action and non-discriminatory ordinances, but will require also the efforts of private citizens who believe that well-planned integrated communities are in the best interest of their city and future generations of Americans.93

The five-year plan also re-iterated the three goals of the BTNA: to increase the existing

degree of racial integration and to stabilize that pattern; to conserve and enhance the

quality of current housing; and to develop services, facilities, and the amenities of

middle-class living commonly found in newer urban and suburban neighborhoods.

Acknowledging its status as the “leading organization of its kind in Indianapolis,” the

writers of the five-year plan of the BTNA addressed that the organization had the

opportunity to play a crucial role as a guide to stimulate other communities in the city and

the nation faced with similar challenges. From its simple beginnings as a gathering of a

few like-minded neighbors, the BTNA found it now needed trained professional

leadership. The BTNA’s work in the community to promote residential integration had

been valiant, but unfortunately resulted in a greater isolation of the African American

93 Untitled Document [Five-Year Plan], April 2, 1967, Butler University.

36 population within the limits of the Butler-Tarkington neighborhood. The five-year plan states:

For over 15 years, [Butler-Tarkington] has been the neighborhood of choice for middle and upper-class Indianapolis Negroes. Paradoxically, the very efforts of the BTNA to develop harmonious inter-group relationships have intensified the problems of building an integrated community. Indianapolis as a whole needs open occupancy. “Fair Housing” activities in the city have been minimal. BTNA must be prepared to take the initiative, if necessary, in organizing fair housing activities and in aiding Negro families to settle in other parts of the city.94

The “intensified problem” addressed was the reality that the southern portion of

the Butler-Tarkington neighborhood had, in the last eleven years, become re-segregated, this time with 90% of the households owned and occupied by African Americans.95 The

initial panic-selling following World War II had led to white flight, a surplus of

previously-white owned homes being sold to incoming African American families, and

then the continual movement of white families out of that portion of the neighborhood and an increasing number of African Americans moving into that portion, as opposed to moving farther north within the Butler-Tarkington neighborhood boundaries.

Additionally, the five-year plan addressed the essential need for integrated schools in the maintenance of an integrated residential area, having found that “once a school has been defined as ‘segregated’ or becoming segregated in the minds of many white parents, the school district becomes unacceptable as a place of residence.”96 Of the two public schools and one Catholic grade school in the area, they found that IPS #86 and

St. Thomas Aquinas were satisfactorily integrated. IPS #43 however, was found to be

94 Untitled Document [Five-Year Plan], 7. 95 Untitled Document [Five-Year Plan], 8. 96 Untitled Document [Five-Year Plan], 8.

37 95% African American.97 The BTNA recognized that these statistics would discourage

white parents from moving to the school district, and that desegregation of the school

needed to be pursued.

In response to the need to go beyond the boundaries of the Butler-Tarkington

neighborhood to produce real change regarding thought and legislation surrounding

residential segregation, the BTNA introduced several in-organization and community

efforts to institute tangible change. In 1967, BTNA president Dr. Robert Henderson was

named co-chairman of a steering committee for the organization of a federation of

neighborhood civic associations to promote stable integration in central Indiana. The

group consisted of representatives from five neighborhood associations, including

BTNA.98 Additionally, BTNA member Orville Garden was appointed to the State of

Indiana Civil Rights Commission to assist in stabilization of the integration pattern.99

The in-organization efforts that resulted from the five-year plan of the BTNA involved a

more significant restructuring. While still attempting to promote fair housing in the

community, the BTNA decided that moving forward “the major active efforts of the

Neighborhood Association are oriented toward attracting white families to the Butler-

Tarkington area.”100 These changes, outlined in a document labeled “Not For

Distribution,” from August 6, 1968, included that recruitment efforts would involve weekly real estate advertisements in local newspapers, maintenance of their year round telephone housing service, advertisements in national magazines, letter writing

97 Untitled Document [Five-Year Plan], 8. 98 1968 Document 2, Articles of Incorporation & History, Box 1 Folder 1, 10. 99 1968 Document 2, Articles of Incorporation & History, Box 1 Folder 1, 10. 100 “Not For Distribution,” 1968, 1, Butler University.

38 campaigns by those in universities and private industries to incoming employees, and

most interestingly, an agreement with a real estate broker, who “will spend full-time selling in the Butler-Tarkington area according to its housing policy, in return for which

Butler-Tarkington provides the name of potential purchasers to the agent exclusively.”101

The advertisements, published in the Sunday Indianapolis Star, New Republic, and

Saturday Review real estate sections, would serve to entice potential buyers, featuring

headlines such as “Join the Flight from Suburbia,” and the BTNA by name along with the

housing referral service telephone number.102 From there, the telephone number

connected the potential buyer to one of the BTNA volunteers, who referred residents to

the agent. Additionally, the telephone number also served to connect residents seeking to

sell their home to this agent. Finally, the realtor would work with sellers and buyers to

promote an integrated neighborhood. According to the BTNA’s findings, “many white

families are willing to move onto predominantly Negro blocks provided they can have

reasonable assurance that other white families either have or will also continue to move

onto the block and that the racial balance will remain essentially stable.”103 It was the

belief of the BTNA that the role of the realtor would be vital in securing the initial

families willing to “pioneer” these blocks. To encourage buyers to intervene in “critical

blocks” the BTNA suggested several specific ways that it might go about this, guaranteed

that they secured a “revolving fund of about $10,000 to be supplied by a foundation.”104

These suggestions included small loan of a few hundred dollars for families buying into

101 Not For Distribution, 2. 102 1968 Document 2, Articles of Incorporation & History, Box 1 Folder 1, 10–12. 103 Not For Distribution, 3. 104 Not For Distribution, 3.

39 the neighborhood to cover closing costs and other incidental charges; small, short-term second mortgages; encouraging sellers to delay disposing of their home until an appropriate buyer was found; and the occasional outright purchase of homes by assuming mortgages or making down payments until resold to a new family.

In March of 1968, Mary Elizabeth Martz was contracted to serve as the exclusive realtor for the BTNA. Her agreement included the BTNA supplying her with exclusive access to all potential buyers uncovered by the BTNA through their recruitment campaign, and in return, Martz would try to place buyers in the BTNA area, “with the expectation of increasing the number of potential buyers even beyond the efforts of the recruitment campaign.”105 It was understood that while Martz also served as a broker listing homes for sale in the BTNA area, that potential listings which came to the attention of the BTNA were made equally available to several members of the BTNA’s brokers list. By the following September, meeting reports showed that 45 names of prospective home buyers had been supplied to Martz, and that she had sold homes to 7 families from this group: one African American family and six white families. Three of the families to whom she showed homes bought homes in the area directly from the owners, and three others, from other brokers. Additionally, four families were working with other brokers, and five families bought homes in other integrated areas after being unable to find a satisfactory house in the Butler-Tarkington neighborhood. Upon re- evaluation of their agreement, the Housing Integration Committee modified the agreement with Martz to “permit the BTNA Information Service to give information about houses which owners wish to sell without services of a real estate broker directly to

105 1968 Document 2, Articles of Incorporation & History, Box 1 Folder 1, 10.

40 potential buyers who contact the service.”106 Additionally, it was amended so that Martz would be permitted to show and sell homes in other integrated neighborhoods if “after reasonable effort” she found herself unable to find satisfactory properties for clients within the neighborhood.

The BTNA’s desires for neighborhood-wide integration ultimately failed statistically, as the community found itself with cases of distinct segregation between the northern and southern portions. This had been predicted as early as 1961, by then president of the BTNA, Reverend John G. MacKinnon, the minister of All Souls

Unitarian Church. In an article published by the Indianapolis Recorder, the prominent

Black newspaper of Indianapolis, Rev. MacKinnon warned that “over the long run, integration cannot be maintained in any one area of the city. Unless the commitment to open occupancy becomes a part of the way Indianapolis lives, in the course of time the pressure of racial segregation in housing will overwhelm this single area.”107 This sentiment was followed in 1963, by Reverend Raymond T. Bosler, pastor of St. Thomas

Aquinas Catholic parish. Rev. Bosler, who served as an expert in theology for Vatican

Council II, asserted in an article in the Indianapolis News that one of the quintessential issues that needed to be addressed in Indianapolis was that “Negroes should be free to buy any house in this city that they can afford.” He emphasized “this is the only policy which can prevent the creation of a Negro ghetto in our inner city,” noting that such

“ghettos” already existed and were rapidly developing across the United States.108 In

106 Board Meeting Notes, September 3, 1968, Butler University. 107 “Local White Minister Advocates City-Wide Mixed Housing,” Indianapolis Recorder, September 16, 1961. 108 Rev. Raymond Bosler, “Our City’s Plus and Minus,” Indianapolis News, October 1, 1963.

41 spite of the BTNA’s inability to achieve statistical integration, their integration efforts did

have significant success at making an impact in their local community promoting the

ideals of integration.

Rev. MacKinnon and Rev. Bosler both noted their concern that while the efforts

of the BTNA were essential, it would overwhelm the small neighborhood if efforts

towards integration were not expanded beyond their boundaries. As it turned out, four

other neighborhood groups formed in the following decade inspired by the BTNA to

address racial residential issues within their own neighborhoods. In 1962, Reverend

Lester Bill, minister of outreach at Broadway Methodist Church, organized and became

president of the Mapleton-Fall Creek Neighborhood Association (MFCNA), noting that

they copied their “general tactics after the Butler-Tarkington [Neighborhood]

Association.”109 As the MFCNA saw success in their efforts towards neighborhood integration, they in turn helped the Haughville Community Council organize a similar program of “integration, conservation, and improvement.”110 An additional two

neighborhood associations were formed in 1965, one in the area between 28th Street and

Kessler Boulevard and another for the East 38th Street and Sherman Drive area “for the

purpose of achieving successful integration, not preserving segregation.”111 The efforts of these multiple organizations attempted to change the infrastructure of Indiana that legally perpetuated residential segregation, it was the internal efforts of the organizations, that

109 “Minister Urges Justice in Fall Creek Housing,” Indianapolis News, April 20, 1963. 110 “Integration Questions: When and How,” Indianapolis Star, December 15, 1963. 111 “Successful Integration Rests on Resolving The White Paradox,” Indianapolis Star, July 14, 1965.

42 showcased significant changes for those within the community, bringing individual

people together to build a strong, diverse, and equitable neighborhood.

In “BTNA: The Early Years” a short, two-part documentary from 2010, early members of the BTNA community reflected on their experience in Butler-Tarkington neighborhood.112 The introduction of the documentary features an unnamed voice, stating

that “those who stayed [in Butler-Tarkington, as opposed to fleeing to the suburbs]…became the rocks of the community, white and Black.” Another voice recalls that the goal of the BTNA was to ease racial tensions within the community, and that it had “a mind to make this neighborhood for people to prosper, to be abundant, to be happy, to have a good life.” A third voice concludes that “the friendships that developed between races…was beautiful to behold…and [the efforts of the BTNA] worked.”113

Community members Daisy Lloyd, former State Representative, realtor, and activist, and

Father William Munshower, St. Thomas Aquinas parish priest, reflected that St. Thomas’

parish took an active role stressing the importance of integration and the efforts of the

BTNA, proclaiming that “all social affairs given by people of the parish…should make a

concerted effort to see that members of both Black and white races were included.”114

Additionally, Naeemah Joyce Jackson, resident and granddaughter of BTNA president

Marion Griffin, recalled the BTNA youth association dances held at St. Thomas, and that the community activities were not just opportunities for recreation or education, but that

112 Documentary available on YouTube. Inspired by Neil Handley, former BTNA president, produced by John Barth and Todd Lothery in 2010. 113 BTNA: The Early Years (Part 1) (Indianapolis, IN, 2010), http://butlertarkington.org/watch-btna-the-early-years-part- i/#sthash.nyRUgNt8.9E3xz9c9.dpbs. 114 BTNA: The Early Years (Part 1).

43 the BTNA offered a chance at self-discovery. According to Dr. George Geib, a former professor of history at Butler University, the goal of the BTNA was “to create a positive world in which change could take place to move towards a multi-racial community.”115

After more than half a century, the Butler-Tarkington Neighborhood Association is still

in existence today. On its website, its current Mission and Purpose states that the group

serves “To enhance neighborhood livability, to maintain open communication with state

and local government and other neighborhoods and neighborhood associations, to involve

neighbors in neighborhood activities, to eliminate prejudice and discrimination, to defend

human and civil rights, and to combat juvenile delinquency.”116 Early leaders in the

organization recognized quickly that geographic and statistical integration were

practically impossible goals to strive for, and while the BTNA’s initial foundation was

established with good intentions, it took trial and error to establish practices that would not only actively educate and positively impact but also simultaneously integrate their community to the degree that was feasible.

When Roselyn Richardson first visited her future house in the Butler-Tarkington neighborhood, she had to hide her Blackness to even risk entering the community. The

Richardsons understood that with their move into the neighborhood, they faced the threat of violence to their family and property. Within a year of the Richardsons’ move, the

Butler-Tarkington Neighborhood Association had formed, not only working to prevent the circumstances that the Richardsons had faced, but also actively striving to integrate

115 BTNA: The Early Years (Part 2) (Indianapolis, IN, 2010), http://butlertarkington.org/watch-btna-the-early-years-partii/#sthash.IuKxetQT.dpbs. 116 “BTNA Board,” Butler-Tarkington Neighborhood Association, https://www.butlertarkington.org/btna-board.

44 their neighborhood. While the BTNA’s initial efforts were not always equitable, through trial and error, members came to embrace practices that would educate their neighborhood, and the larger Indianapolis community, on the effects of segregation and importance of integration. The BTNA worked to ensure that its integration efforts condemned racist actions in their neighborhood and hosted educational programming to promote a more productive co-existence. The BTNA strove to integrate the neighborhood not only in geographic layout, but also through the schools, churches, and social groups as well. The efforts of the Butler-Tarkington Neighborhood Association are important to recognize not because they achieved any outstanding forms of community-wide integration but rather because they continued on through their challenges and faced setbacks head on. With each road block they faced, the BTNA adapted to find a solution for their community to meet their goals, and their programming and outreach gathered a diverse community of people seeking not only an integrated neighborhood but looking to build a more just and equitable America.

45 Bibliography

Primary Sources

Archives:

Butler Tarkington Neighborhood Association, 1956-2008. Special Collections and Rare Books, Irwin Library, Butler University, Indianapolis, IN.

Henry J. Richardson Jr. Papers, 1910-1992. Indiana Historical Society, Indianapolis, IN.

Roselyn Comer Richardson Papers, 1900-1997. Indiana Historical Society, Indianapolis, IN.

Newspapers:

Bosler, Raymond. “Our City’s Plus and Minus.” Indianapolis News, October 1, 1963. Newspapers.com

“Integration Questions: When and How.” Indianapolis Star, December 15, 1963. Newspapers.com.

“Local White Minister Advocates City-Wide Mixed Housing.” Indianapolis Recorder, September 16, 1961. Hoosier State Chronicles.

“Minister Urges Justice in Fall Creek Housing.” Indianapolis News, April 20, 1963. Newspapers.com.

“Mob Threatens Two Families Moving Into White District.” Indianapolis Recorder, September 9, 1944. Hoosier State Chronicles.

“Official of Race Relations Group Will Speak Here.” Indianapolis News, March 26, 1962. Newspapers.com.

“State to Study Housing Bias, Welsh Announces.” Indianapolis Recorder, May 18, 1963. Hoosier State Chronicles.

“Successful Integration Rests on Resolving The White Paradox.” Indianapolis Star, July 14, 1965. Newspapers.com.

Frank Wilson. “Racial Satire Tries To Open Closed Door.” Indianapolis News, February 19, 1965. Newspapers.com.

Preston, Charles. “Vandals Attack on New Neighbors.” Indianapolis Recorder, May 13, 1961. Hoosier State Chronicles.

“Urban Planning To Be Discussed.” Indianapolis Star, June 17, 1958. Newspapers.com.

“Vandals Bomb Home.” Indianapolis Recorder, July 23, 1927. Hoosier State Chronicles.

46 “Vandals Damage Two Negro Homes.” Indianapolis News, May 11, 1961. Newspapers.com.

“Zoning Chief to Talk.” Indianapolis Star, February 3, 1962. Newspapers.com.

“7 Groups Ask FBI To Act In Vandalism.” Indianapolis Star, May 14, 1961. Newspapers.com.

“Be Tolerant, Integration Group Urges.” Indianapolis News, June 15, 1962. Newspapers.com.

Secondary Sources

Articles

Moore. Wilma. “A Heart For Service: Inside the Roselyn Richardson Collection.” Traces of Indiana and Midwest History. Winter 2011.

Books

Hobbs, Allyson. A Chosen Exile: Black People Passing in White America. Cambridge: Harvard University, 2016.

Pierce, Richard. Polite Protest: The Political Economy of Race in Indianapolis, 1920- 1970. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2005.

Rothstein, Richard. The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America. New York: Liveright, 2017.

Thornbrough, Emma Lou. Indiana Blacks in the Twentieth Century. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2000.

Websites

Buchanan v. Warley, No. 245. United States Supreme Court November 5, 1917. https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/245/60/.

Butler-Tarkington Neighborhood Association. “BTNA Board.” https://www.butlertarkington.org/btna-board.

Butler-Tarkington Neighborhood Association. “Historical Significance of the Butler- Tarkington Neighborhood.” http://butlertarkington.org/history/#sthash.lZxha9Nw.ECdT5OOS.dpbs.

Indiana Historical Bureau. “Article 13 - Negroes and Mulattoes, 1851 Constitution.” https://www.in.gov/history/2858.htm#:~:text=No%20negro%20or%20mulatto%2 0shall,the%20adoption%20of%20this%20Constitution.

47 Nelson, Robert K., Winling, LaDale, Marciano, Richard, Connolly, Nathan, et al., “Mapping Inequality,” American Panorama, ed. Robert K. Nelson and Edward L. Ayers, https://dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/redlining/#loc=10/39.787/- 86.474&city=indianapolis-in.

YouTube. “BTNA: The Early Years (Part 1).” Filmed 2010, Indianapolis, IN. http://butlertarkington.org/watch-btna-the-early-years-part- i/#sthash.nyRUgNt8.9E3xz9c9.dpbs.

YouTube. “BTNA: The Early Years (Part 2).” Filmed 2010, Indianapolis, IN. http://butlertarkington.org/watch-btna-the-early-years- partii/#sthash.IuKxetQT.dpbs.

48 Curriculum Vitae Lydia Anne Prebish Education

Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis

Master of Arts from Indiana University in Public History, July 2021

University of Tulsa, Cum Laude

Bachelor of Arts in History and certificate in Museum Studies, May 2019

Professional Experience Missouri History Museum (January 2021 – Current), SeeSTL Tour Guide.

Indiana Humanities (August 2020 – Current), Public History Graduate Assistant.

Indiana Historical Society (August 2019-May 2020), Exhibits Department Graduate Assistant.

Gilcrease Museum (August 2018-May 2019), Anthropology Department Intern.

St. Louis Art Museum (June-July 2018), Department of Decorative Arts and Design Intern.

Missouri History Museum (May-August 2017, June-August 2016), Clothing and Textiles Intern.

The Campbell House Museum (June-August 2016), Collections and Tour Intern.

Honors and Awards

Elite 50, Graduate and Professional Student Award, IUPUI (Spring 2021)

Walter Nugent Graduate Paper Prize for “Butler-Tarkington Neighborhood Association” at the annual Indiana Association of Historians meeting (Spring 2021)

Elected President of the Graduate Student History Association at IUPUI for 2020-2021

academic year

Honorable Mention for “Flu Julia” research paper at 22nd Annual TU Graduate Student

Research Colloquium (Spring 2019)

Kimberly Hanger History Award for “Flu Julia” research paper, University of Tulsa

(Spring 2019)

James Ronda Outstanding American History Scholar Award, University of Tulsa (Spring

2019)

William A. Settle Jr. Outstanding History Undergraduate Award, University of Tulsa

(Spring 2017)

Conferences, Exhibits, and Committees

Paper: “Butler-Tarkington Neighborhood Association.” Indiana Association of Historians Annual Conference. Virtual, Spring 2021.

Committee: Indiana Historical Society Fall 2020 Living the Legacy Steering Committee member.

Exhibit: “Life in Detail: Panoramic Photography in Indiana” exhibit curated for the Indiana Historical Society, on display August-November 2020.

Paper: “Flu Julia” at the University of Tulsa Graduate Research Conference. Spring 2019.

Paper: “The National Historic Preservation Act and the Pioneer America Society” at the Missouri Conference on History and the University of Tulsa Graduate Research Conference. Spring 2017.