View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by University of Houston Institutional Repository (UHIR) THE NEIGHBORHOOD UNION AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE WEST SIDE OF ATLANTA _______________ A Dissertation Presented to The Faculty of the Department of History University of Houston _______________ In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy _______________ By Brittany L. Hancock December, 2015 THE NEIGHBORHOOD UNION AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE WEST SIDE OF ATLANTA _______________ An Abstract of a Dissertation Presented to The Faculty of the Department of History University of Houston _______________ In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy _______________ By Brittany L. Hancock December, 2015 ABSTRACT The Neighborhood Union, an African American clubwomen’s association, focused its activities on the West End neighborhood of Atlanta, and worked from to 1908 to 1961 to achieve improvements in this community. Neighborhood Union members dedicated their lives to uplifting their neighborhood and used intelligent measures to fight against racial inequalities. The Neighborhood Union turned inward to solve neighborhood problems, such as the city providing only very few municipal, social, and civic services for African Americans. Neighborhood Union members solved these problems with or without the support of the white political patriarchal power structure and diligently worked to provide vocational training, child- rearing strategies, educational reform, improvements in public health, and care for neighbors during the Great Depression. Through the Neighborhood Union’s carefulness, the organization transformed the shape of the West Side of Atlanta from a run-down section of the city with few vocational courses and extracurricular activities for youth, derelict streets and schools, and few public health services, into one with hope through the creation of playgrounds and sponsoring child-centered programs, vocational training for young adults, addressing the lack of municipal services through public health campaigns, improving educational facilities, and increasing access to health services. The NU crafted strategies to improve their neighborhood and other black neighborhoods in Atlanta, despite living under an oppressive white male patriarchal structure. To create such improvements required the NU to turn both inwardly and outwardly, providing services the city failed to provide, while also reaching out to white allies and white policymakers for community improvements. The Neighborhood Union used two community building strategies to improve their neighborhoods, the first of which included focusing its efforts on children and women. This strategy evolved from the Neighborhood Union’s belief that children, as future citizens and representatives of the race, needed to learn necessary skills to effectively combat racial inequities. Their focus on women stemmed from this conviction, with the strategy being that women, as caretakers of children and the home, possessed the most direct influence on these future citizens; therefore, these women needed to receive training and skills necessary to effectively raise successful children. The Neighborhood Union’s second strategy focused on teaching preventative education, designed to thwart social, personal, and health maladies before they occurred, such as the spread of disease, vice, and crime. The Neighborhood Union’s legacy is apparent throughout the modern-day West End neighborhood of Atlanta. Presently, Booker T. Washington High School, the first black high school in Atlanta and the creation of which the Neighborhood Union helped to secure, is still a publicly run school as of 2015. The Neighborhood Union’s years of fighting for healthful recreation avenues for children contributed to the establishment of Washington Park, which is still in existence and located near Booker T. Washington High School. The NU also played a direct role in the formation of the Atlanta School of Social Work, now the Whitney M. Young School of Social Work at Clark Atlanta University. Finally, its most enduring legacy, the Neighborhood Union Health Center, secured during the 1950s, still serves its community at 186 Sunset Avenue. The Neighborhood Union undoubtedly changed the character of its community, fighting against an often reluctant city government to ensure for citizens and future citizens the rights to receiving education, public health, and social services. The Neighborhood Union’s lasting legacy, which is still apparent in present-day Atlanta more than a century after their efforts began, exemplifies the abilities of regular citizens to fight against oppression and inequality to bring about real and tangible changes that enduringly impact communities. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation on the Neighborhood Union would not have come to fruition without the support and help from a number of people and institutions. The forms of support and guidance I have received include emotional, academic, and financial backing, and I am grateful to all who have helped me along during this lengthy process. Unfortunately, I cannot thank everyone who has lent an ear during times of stress, but the following individuals and institutions have invaluably helped steer this dissertation. To begin, I owe everything I have to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Without Him walking beside me, I would have lacked the courage to embark upon this journey to earn my Ph.D. I know He will stay with me as I take the next steps in my academic career. Often times during this process, I felt I faced insurmountable challenges and a number of family and friends provided emotional care by offering advice and lending open ears to which I was able to vent my frustrations. I am deeply grateful for my mother and father, Laurel and Gordon Hancock, who supported me throughout my academic endeavors. Our daily phone calls lifted my spirits in difficult times, and their financial support during this process contributed to the creation and success of this project. I apologize to them for the frantic early morning wake-up calls, as we live in different time zones, but they always woke up and made themselves available to offer support and guidance. My sisters, Melanie Hancock and Ashley Saavedra have inspired me and talked me through challenging times, and to them I offer my most sincere gratitude. Moreover, I would like to express my appreciation for my extended family members, who have also unwaveringly supported me throughout my academic career. I thank my grandmother, Opal Swick, Uncle, James Swick, and Aunt and Uncle, Teresa and Stephen Hansen, for their love, compassion, and understanding. I also have dear friends who contributed to my ability to complete this dissertation. Erika Merrifield, my best friend and the mother of my goddaughter, has tirelessly listened to my concerns, needs, and fears as I navigated this process. William and Doris Hames provided me a home during my research trip to Atlanta, Georgia, for which I am immensely grateful. They also gave emotional support, a warm meal to come home to, and assistance throughout the research process. In addition to friends and family, several institutions and faculty members impacted this dissertation. I thank my degree-granting institution, the University of Houston, for providing funding, including a scholarship that funded my Atlanta research trip, the Doctoral Student Tuition Fellowship, the funds from which enabled me to take a semester off from teaching responsibilities, giving me additional time to focus on my dissertation. My advisor, Dr. Nancy Beck Young has guided me through the Ph.D. process from the beginning. She is my rock. Without her advice, sets of revisions, and preparations, I may have lost hope. She also provided support during moments of crisis and talked me through demanding times during this journey and, to her, I extend my heartfelt thanks. I would also like to thank my committee members for their hard work and commitment to the success of this project. Dr. Todd Romero, Dr. Eric Walther, and Dr. Maria Gonzalez, all of the University of Houston, provided revisions and creative feedback, which were crucial to the completion of this manuscript. Additionally, several archival institutions allowed me to enter their facilities and conduct the research necessary for this dissertation. I could never have written the story of the Neighborhood Union without the information housed in these archives. I spent the majority of my research time at the Archives Research Center in the Robert W. Woodruff Library at the Atlanta University Center, to whom I extend my thanks for their time and cooperation. I personally thank Kaiyan Shabazz for his assistance during this process. In addition, much of my research comes from the Kenan Research Center, at the Atlanta History Center, to whom I also extend my gratitude. Moreover, while its chapter did not make the final version of this manuscript, I would like to thank MARBL, the Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library in the Robert W. Woodruff Library at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, as well. Finally, I extend my deepest thanks to Louie Davis Shivery, long time secretary and historian of the Neighborhood Union. She diligently worked for decades to preserve the legacy of the Neighborhood Union through her meticulous record-keeping of the association’s activities. Without her efforts and dedication, writing this dissertation