URBAN LIFE AND URBAN LANDSCAPE Zane L. Miller, Series Editor Blocker final.indb 1 1/30/2008 6:00:31 PM Blocker final.indb 2 1/30/2008 6:00:31 PM A LITTLE MORE FREEDOM African Americans Enter the Urban Midwest, 1860—1930 JACK S. BLOCKER T H E O H I O S TAT E U N I V ER S I T Y P R E ss / CO L U MB us Blocker final.indb 3 1/30/2008 6:00:32 PM Copyright © 2008 by The Ohio State University. All rights reserved. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A little more freedom : African Americans enter the urban Midwest, 1860–1930 / Jack S. Blocker. p. cm. — (Urban life and urban landscape) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-8142-1067-3 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-8142-1067-8 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. African Americans—Middle West—History. 2. Human geography—Middle West. 3. African Americans—Migrations—History. 4. Migration, Internal—United States— History. 5. Urbanization—Middle West—History. 6. Racism—Middle West—History. 7. Middle West—History. I. Title. E185.915.B55 2008 977'.0496073—dc22 2007022590 This book is available in the following editions: Cloth (ISBN 978-08142-1067-3) CD-ROM (ISBN 978-08142-9152-8) Cover design by Laurence Nozik Type set in Adobe Caslon by Jennifer Forsythe Printed by Thomson Shore, Inc. The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanance of Paper for Printed Library Materials. ANSI Z39.49-1992. 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Blocker final.indb 4 1/30/2008 6:00:32 PM TO SuSAN AND DAVID, FOR All THE REASONS; AND TO THE MEMORY OF Katherine Irene (Blocker) Anderson (1952-2004) Blocker final.indb 5 1/30/2008 6:00:32 PM Blocker final.indb 6 1/30/2008 6:00:32 PM CONTENTS List of Illustrations ix List of Tables xi List of Abbreviations xiii Acknowledgments xv INTRODUCTION 1 PART ONE: Getting There, 1860–1890 13 1 Reconnaissance Parties 15 PART TWO: Black Striving in White Worlds, 1860–1910 37 2 Small Town: Washington Court House, 1860–1900 39 3 Small Cities: The Springfields 69 4 In White Worlds: Politics 84 5 Violence: Patterns of Attack and Riposte 104 PART THREE: Moving In and Moving On, 1860–1930 135 6 A Taste of Lemon Pie: Urban Experience in the South 137 7 The Advance Guard Arrives 150 8 New Black Worlds 183 CONCLUSION 214 AppENDICES Appendix A: Tables 221 Appendix B: Histories of African American Life in Northern Nonmetropolitan Communities, 1860–1930, and Oral History Collections Consulted 243 Appendix C: Migrant Oral History Interviews 247 Notes 253 Index 321 Blocker final.indb 7 1/30/2008 6:00:32 PM Blocker final.indb 8 1/30/2008 6:00:32 PM LIST OF IlluSTRATIONS Figure 1.1 Sex Ratio of Net Black Migration to Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, 1870–1930 19 Figure1.2 Gainers and Losers of African American Urban Population Share in Ohio, 1860–1890 32 Figure 1.3 Gainers and Losers of African American Urban Population Share in Indiana, 1860–1890 33 Figure 1.4 Gainers and Losers of African American Urban Population Share in Illinois, 1860–1890 34 Figure 2.1 Map of Washington Court House 42 Figure 2.2 The headstone of Alexander Anderson, Civil War veteran and leading spirit in church and lodge 55 Figure 2.3 The magnificent monument to the King of Andersonville 58 Figure 2.4 The obelisk of the Scott/Weaver family 61 Figure 2.5 Headstones of the Scott/Weaver family 62 Figure 2.6 John T. Oatneal in 1903 66 Figure 4.1 Jailings of Blacks and Whites in Fayette County, Ohio, 1875–1899 92 Figure 5.1 Ohio National Guardsment form a gauntlet to convey William Dolby from the jail to the courthouse door 113 Figure 5.2 The bullet holes in the courthouse doors 115 Figure 6.1 Black Urban Populations within and Estimated Gross Outmigration from the East South Central States, 1890–1900 145 Figure 6.2 Black Urban Populations within and Estimated Gross Outmigration from the East South Central States, 1900–1910 145 Figure 6.3 Black Urban Populations within and Estimated Gross Outmigration from the East South Central States, 1910–1920 146 Figure 6.4 Black Urban Populations within and Estimated Gross Outmigration from the East South Central States, 1920–1930 146 Figure 7.1 Estimated Gross Black Migration into the Lower Midwest, 1860–1930 151 Figure 7.2 African American Population Growth by Origin, Ohio Cities, 1890–1900 162 Figure 7.3 African American Population Growth by Origin, Indiana Cities, 1890–1900 162 ix Blocker final.indb 9 1/30/2008 6:00:32 PM List of Illustrations Figure 7.4 African American Population Growth by Origin, Illinois Cities, 1890–1900 163 Figure 7.5 Gainers and Losers of African American Urban Population Share in Ohio, 1890–1910 169 Figure 7.6 Gainers and Losers of African American Urban Population Share in Indiana, 1890–1910 171 Figure 7.7 Flanner House, Indianapolis 172 Figure 7.8 Senate Avenue YMCA, Indianapolis 174 Figure 7.9 Olivet Baptist Church, Chicago, ca. 1903 175 Figure 7.10 Memorial to President William McKinley’s reelection visit to Chicago’s Quinn Chapel in 1900 176 Figure 7.11 Newly hired African American police officers in Chicago, 1903 177 Figure 7.12 The Rev. Reverdy Ransom and the African American Settlement House he founded in Chicago 178 Figure 7.13 Gainers and Losers of African American Urban Population Share in Illinois, 1890–1910 180 Figure 8.1 Gainers and Losers of African American Urban Population Share in Ohio, 1910–1930 188 Figure 8.2 Gainers and Losers of African American Urban Population Share in Indiana, 1910–1930 191 Figure 8.3 Gainers and Losers of African American Urban Population Share in Illinois, 1910–1930 194 Figure 8.4 City Choices of Georgia-born Ohioans, 1890–1930 202 Figure 8.5 The Changing Sex Balance in Large Midwestern Cities, 1890–1930 206 x Blocker final.indb 10 1/30/2008 6:00:32 PM LIST OF TaBleS Table 1.1 Step Migration in Three Periods 22 Table 2.1 Occupational Category of Workers, Washington Court House, Ohio, 1890 43 Table 2.2 African American Wealth and Population Shares, Washington Court House, Ohio, 1860–1890 44 Table 2.3 Possible Determinants of Wealth-Holding, Adult Males, Washington Court House, Ohio, 1890 46 Table 2.4 Possible Determinants of Wealth-Holding, Adult Females, Washington Court House, Ohio, 1890 47 Table 3.1 Occupational Category of Workers, Springfield, Ohio, 1900 71 Table 3.2 Possible Determinants of Home Ownership, Adult Males, Springfield, Ohio, 1900 73 Table 3.3 Possible Determinants of Home Ownership, Adult Females, Springfield, Ohio, 1900 74 Table 3.4 Occupational Category of Workers, Springfield, Illinois, 1900 78 Table 3.5 Possible Determinants of Home Ownership, Adult Males, Springfield, Illinois, 1900 79 Table 3.6 Possible Determinants of Home Ownership, Adult Females, Springfield, Illinois, 1900 80 Table 5.1 Percentage African American in Violent Towns 121 Table 5.2 Lynching Rates, 1890–1909 124 Table 6.1 Principal Destinations of African American Migrants within and from the East South Central States, 1860–1930 141 Table 6.2 Southern Migrant Oral History Interviewees’ Birth Community Size by Period of Migration 147 Table 6.3 Migrant Oral History Interviewees’ Last Southern Community Size by Period of Migration 148 Table 8.1 The Spread of All-White Towns 196 AppENDIX A A.1 Blacks and Whites in Ohio’s Urban Hierarchy, 1860–1890 221 xi Blocker final.indb 11 1/30/2008 6:00:32 PM List of Tables A.2 Blacks and Whites in Indiana’s Urban Hierarchy, 1860–1890 222 A.3 Blacks and Whites in Illinois’s Urban Hierarchy, 1860–1890 223 A.4 Antiblack Collective Violence in the Lower Midwest, 1885–1910 224 A.5 Outmigration in the East South Central States, 1860–1930 228 A.6 Blacks and Whites in Ohio’s Urban Hierarchy, 1890–1910 229 A.7 Blacks and Whites in Indiana’s Urban Hierarchy, 1890–1910 230 A.8 Blacks and Whites in Illinois’s Urban Hierarchy, 1890–1910 231 A.9 Who Left? Men Living in Washington Court House, Ohio, in 1890 Who Did Not Appear in the 1900 Census 232 A.10 Who Left? Women Living in Washington Court House, Ohio, in 1890 Who Did Not Appear in the 1900 Census 233 A.11 Who Left? Men Living in Springfield, Ohio, in 1900 Who Did Not Appear in the 1910 Census 234 A.12 Who Left? Women Living in Springfield, Ohio, in 1900 Who Did Not Appear in the 1910 Census 235 A.13 Who Left? Men Living in Springfield, Illinois, in 1900 Who Did Not Appear in the 1910 Census 236 A.14 Who Left? Women Living in Springfield, Illinois, in 1900 Who Did Not Appear in the 1910 Census 237 A.15 Blacks and Whites in Ohio’s Urban Hierarchy, 1910–1930 238 A.16 Blacks and Whites in Indiana’s Urban Hierarchy, 1910–1930 239 A.17 Blacks and Whites in Illinois’s Urban Hierarchy, 1910–1930 240 A.18 Pathways for the Great Migration 241 AppENDIX C C.1 Pace of Oral History Interviewees’ Migration 250 C.2 Origins of Oral History Interviewees 250 C.3 Oral History Interviewees’ Community of Residence in the Urban Hierarchy 251 xii Blocker final.indb 12 1/30/2008 6:00:32 PM LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AH Agricultural History AnRS Annual Review of Sociology AS The American Slave: A Composite Autobiography, ed.