October 24, 2025 • 53 mins
Rabbii and Trey Modlin reflect on the history and impact of Black Clevelanders, from Ohio’s first Black mayor to stories of slavery and the Underground Railroad. They examine political shifts, past discrimination, and the struggle for equality, while stressing the need to support Black-owned businesses and foster unity, spirituality, and community strength today.
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
This is w O v U Studios.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Good afternoon people, this is black Thought. Everything must change
to inform, to inspire, and to impact on w o
v ninety five point nine f M. This is your host,
a Rabbi along with Trey Martlin filling in for the
Black Unicorn. Trey, how are you this afternoon.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
That's a good Tuesday afternoon. You know, weather's beautiful. See
the studio doesn't happen this much. Usually I'm walking in
as you guys are walking out. Yes, yeah, this is
definitely a unique We still start of the.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Month, yes, and other day it's an opportunity. Also, it's
good always talking with you and getting your insights. We
had we had a wonderful weekend. We uh we spent
some time. I have a great granddaughter about fifteen months old,
and we went out to a Mexican restaurant and had
a little Mexican food. Uh well, I treated my wife.
(01:04):
We we went to uh red Lobster out on three
six and ate a little uh lobster and pasta and
and then Saturday night we went to the Hilton to
commemorate the life and celebrate the life of Attorney James Willis,
(01:28):
who's ninety nine years old and still practicing law, although
he lives in Atlanta now. But we had a wonderful
time listening to his life and the contributions he has
made to the citizens of Cleveland, especially those of African
(01:50):
American ethnicity, and talking about that we have so many
Clevelanders who have contributed so much to the history of Cleveland,
to the history of Ohio, to the country. We were
(02:15):
minded of mister Johnson, who many people don't know was
the first black mayor in Ohio. All right, mister Johnson.
There's an area in ward one around the Seville Lee
and McCracken Road area called Miles Heights, and that was
(02:41):
a little municipality, and mister Johnson was the first mayor
of Mile Heights in nineteen twenty nine. I'm looking at
the uh. There was a news black newspaper, all right
in nineteen oh three called the Cleveland Journal, all right,
that was very prominent. The Plaine Dealer, man, I didn't really,
(03:06):
I didn't know the Plane Dealer was almost it's almost
Trey or what Lissi's twenty five and seventeen years the
Plain Dealer would be two hundred years old.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Did not know that yet didn't know it went back
that far.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Yeah, eighteen forty two, yes, okay, And they were very
they were very, very kind to the African American community
back then. They talked very positively about the kind of
progress that African Americans made and contributed to the greater
(03:42):
Cleveland area. The first black settler in Cleveland, a guy
named pek p E A K. E. Was one of
the first black settlers. We're interested in a young lady
(04:04):
who was named Lucy, who was freed by her slave
owners in Pennsylvania, and she came to Ohio and was
re enslaved, came to Cleveland and was re enslaved. M
(04:31):
And they had many people both black and white, to
be supportive of her, and uh um, she was really
re re arrested and held uh and eventually appealed her
(04:55):
case and it was proven that by the courts then
that she was slave, she had not been emancipated and
was sent to serve some people in South Carolina. You
(05:18):
had people back then who had the courage, and this
is what I'm talking about, man, They had the courage.
They tried to rescue Lucy. Their efforts were so strong
and powerful that when they had Lucy's trial, they had
(05:39):
one hundred and fifty marshals deputy marshals all right to
guard the court room because black people were enraged. In fact,
one lady was so angry that she threw pepper in
some of the marshals and she was arrested and tried.
(06:03):
But the judge had sympathy on her and only find
her one cent, all.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Right, versus cens back in the day, or like dollars now.
But still that's the minimum.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Yeah, yeah, well one cent. We'll get a whole lot
of a whole lot of stuff back then, all right,
But I mean it's um um. The deputies were called
the corpse of the core of rascals. I'll just Lucy
was guarded by one hundred and fifty special deputies to
(06:36):
prevent her release by force. The leader characterized the appointment
of such a large group as their gross insult to
the people of Cleveland and called the deputies a corps
of rascals. The Herald said some of the deputies were
men who have often honored the record of the police court.
(07:00):
There's so many, so many interesting things that have gone
on here in the in the Cleveland. She finally died
in nineteen o six, at the eight of seventy two
at what is now Metro All right after the Emancipation Proclamation.
(07:24):
She was finally free, came back to Cleveland, married a guy,
and she was buried here in the Woodland Cemetery. She
was seventy two years old as she had fell down
a flight of stairs and she was Her funeral was
(07:46):
held out at Mount Zion Congregational Church. I don't know
if that's behind the veteran.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
From here.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Yeah, the Museum Area Veterans Hospital.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Yeah, Okay, I know exactly what you're talking about.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Yes, Paul Sadler is the pastor there. It's it's so much.
You had the Fugitive Slave Acts in eighteen fifteen reached
(08:23):
the Western Reserve and with the assistance of anti slavery friends,
they were directed across Lake Erie to the Colonies to
escape to Canada. And for that reason, Canada has a
large population of African Americans there because it became a refuge.
(08:44):
I know, when we went up to Niagara Falls, there's
a bridge from the Niagara Falls, New York over to
the Canadian side that you the uh, that was the
crossing point where slaves tried to get to and once
(09:05):
they got across uh that bridge, they were in Canada
and and they were safe.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
Uh bridge Rainbow Bridge. I don't know if it was
called that then.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Oh yeah, okay. The uh the game of hockey, all
right was was was invented by by a group of
escaped slaves, all right. Uh. Uh they had learned to
ice skate and they got sticks and a pieces of coal.
(09:35):
Uh and uh we used the the coal as pucks.
I guess that's why pucks are black, you know. Uh, yes, okay,
And I mean you know, it's it's so much we
we have contributed. The Underground Railroad was a volunteer organization
(09:55):
and it estimated that about forty thousand future has passed
over the Ohio Underground to freedom, aided by fifty There
were fifteen hundred and forty operators one five hundred and
forty people who were involved in transporting escaped slaves from
(10:17):
the South endo Canada. These operators, our station masters, manned
stations space ten to thirty miles apart. Travel between stations
was invariably by night by farm wagon, and the operators
concealed the fugitives throughout the daytime until darkness again afforded
(10:38):
the opportunity to convey the merchandise under the innocent load
of produce to the next station. Successive relays brought the
fugitives to a late port and sympathetically late captains helped
to complete the journey to Canada and freedom. After the war,
(11:00):
research into the Underground reveal information about the illegal work
carried on in Cleveland and the Western Reserve. Cleveland was
designated as Hope in one of the secret codes of
the Underground. It was the terminal for seven routes from
following cities Norwalk, Norwalk, Norwalk, Madina, New Philadelphia, Ohio, Erie
(11:26):
Canals from Portsmouth, the Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad from
Alliance by the Cleveland and Western and Cincinnati and Springfield Railroads.
There is a facility in Chagrin Falls. I don't if
(11:50):
you take Chagrin Boulevard into Chagrane Falls, you come to
the light at Main Street, make a right turn, go
to the next light and make a left turn. And
the second house from the corner was one of the stops.
And then they tell me I have not done the research,
(12:12):
but in talking with some of the people in the
Wade Park area, the Alhambra was what was the Alhambra
apartment buildings. I think they're on the corner of eighty
eighty six and Wade Park was an underground railroad stop
along with over the stops in Oberlin, Ohio. Also, you know,
(12:39):
and I think the kinds of cooperation that we garnered
and gave one another back then. You know, I talked
this morning. I was a little frustrated. I don't understand
no knowing and understanding our history, knowing how we got
to where we are now. Okay, And young people your city,
(13:04):
where you're sitting because someone else who looks like you
and and sometimes others paid a price for you to
sit where you sit. Okay. I remember the pastor of
Fidelity Baptist Church eighty fourth and Wade Park was killed
in the movement. He was protesting some land in the
(13:29):
Wade Park area around eighty ninth and Wade Park and
they ran over him with a bulldozer. I remember living
in in in Cleveland and you could not use the
white water fountains and may Company Higbees or alleys all right,
(13:50):
or the seven department stores. Cleveland had seven department stores
at the time. You had may Company Bailey's, Higbees, Lion, Taylor's,
Bond Sterling, Linda Davis and Hallie's. To use the restroom,
you had to go out behind the stores to use
(14:12):
the restroom. I remember the Mahara Steakhouse at eighty ninth
and Wade Park. All right, we could go there, but
we had to go. We could go to the back
door and get an order to go the Spaghetti Inn
that was also in that area around sixty sixth Street,
(14:35):
the same thing. I remember. There was a restaurant on
wood on fifty fifth Street between haul north Court and
Woodland where the teachers used to when I was in
elementary school, but asked me to go up and get
their lunch. I could go in in order to get
(14:57):
their lunch and pay for it, but I could not
sit in there eat. There was Marshal drug Store on
the corner of fifty fifth in Woodland, Okay, two drug stores.
One was a white drug store, Marshals, Okay, they had
a lunch counter, and then there was a black drug
(15:17):
store across the street. Shortest drug store as spelled s
h a U T e R. S. Shorters a drug
store and you if you went into Marshals and got
a sandwich and a coke or a drink when they
went back. Then they served you out of saucers and mugs.
They broke your mug and your plate. That's how they
(15:40):
came up with the plastic containers with inserts.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
They broke it, yes, what indented or snapped in half.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
They were taking shatter it because no one was supposed
to ever eat behind a black person again, and it
was caught. We've seen them money. But back then, a
saucer cost two cents, you know, a glass costs a
mug called so you know, maybe two three cents, you know,
like that. But they came up with these little plastic
(16:14):
plastic bottoms. You had little paper inserts. And then the
hot dogs. He had the little plastic boats. That's what
they came up with him for, all right, because they
were losing so much money breaking because so many of
us was beginning to have a little money where you
could go, I mean, you could get listen, you got
a hot dog and a coke for a dime, all right.
(16:36):
That was I mean, that was high cotton back then. Man. Okay,
we bought our house in nineteen fifty four on Star Avenue.
I mean, I mean we we was in high Cotton.
We paid eight thousand dollars for it. Four bedrooms, one bath,
(16:57):
living room, dining room, and a pantry.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
For a lot of people, that's that's not even gonna
make rents for a year.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Yeah, some for places don't make rent for a month, yes, okay. Uh.
And and so we we we we don't understand how
far we have come and the prices that had to
be paid. I was a member of Corps uh in
(17:26):
in in in Alabama, uh and got to to to
experience the taste, the smell, the tension, uh, the trauma
of the pure hatred that was poured out. Uh. I
remember going back also, and we'll get back to this book,
(17:49):
going back when originally I'm from Macon, Georgia, and in
the summertime we would go back and and uh New
York Central Railroad. You get the New York Central Railroad.
Uh here at the Cleveland terminal. Okay, either the New
York Central or the humming Bird, all right, which okay,
(18:10):
and you uh you could take that to Cincinnati, and
Cincinnati you had to change. They changed to the southern
all right. In the New York Central of the humming Bird.
Everybody set together. But you got to Cincinnati, you had
you had a since you had a separate, segregated, uh facility.
(18:34):
And then when you got to Chattanooga, Tennessee, you changed
again and you got mad. You woo man, you had
a coach. I mean you got the worst of the worst,
uh of the coach. And I several years ago, we
were in Chatnooga, uh at the train station and what
(18:56):
used to be the black waiting room was now souvenir store,
but you could not come into the main terminal. It's
it's it's uh just even even after the movement in
my hometown, Making Georgia, Uh, they still up until rather recently,
(19:24):
they had they still had colored waiting room in the
Greyhound bus station. And so it's it's uh huh today
or no, there was, it was some you know, it
was some time ago. But uh they they they they
still had the colored waiting room. I know, I know
(19:46):
in the eighties. It was in the eighties, all right,
they still had. Okay, But then yet again that I
look at my hometown, or Making, Georgia, Uh, Cleveland is
struggling to get a black museum, and the folks in
Making came together and they have a beautiful three million
dollar edifices. Uh for the Black Museum there. But just
(20:11):
I just this there, there was there was something here
or there's something missing here. I don't know what it
is that Cleveland has lost. But Cleveland was one of
the most progressive cities in the country, and we we
have it in this book. And much of the contributions
(20:33):
that was made here was made by by by black folks.
Uh you you I I had meant to talk about. Uh,
let me let me finish this thought that that being
one of the most progressive cities in the country, we
had the best educational system in the country. Other cities
(20:57):
used to come here to view what we were doing. Okay,
uh to educate our people we had even with separate
but equal, all right, we were better off than a
young person today. We we we don't want to. We
(21:19):
we know if there's a there is a move to
redistrict the city of Cleveland, But sixty six percent of
the adults in Cleveland are functionally illiterate. And then what well,
it's now ward five okay before redistricting, and what is
now ward seven before redistricting? Do you know ninety five
(21:42):
percent of the adults cannot read, write, or do math
on a fourth grade level, as of a survey of
Case Western Reserve, March twenty first, nineteen twenty twenty one.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
That's scary to think of that.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
Yes, okay, now here's the city that led the nation
and education now is one of the worst. Okay.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
Um.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
We had the best transportation system in the country, all right.
Other cities came here to view our transportation system, a
public transportation system. We were the dressing fashion capital of
the world. If you wanted to learn how to dress
and how to put fashions together, you came to Cleveland, right. Uh.
(22:31):
We we we we were just you know, we we were.
We were one of the leaders in in in uh
in industry. We had the steel mills here, we you
know you uh, the population, the population at one time
we were we back and forth with Detroit, with the
(22:54):
sixth and seventh largest city in the country. That there's
something that we have lost. The black community. We were
almost locked in for that. I mean, yes, you had
some folk for a few living in Cleveland Heights. You
had a few, maybe one or two living in Shaker
(23:16):
Maple Heights, Garfield Heights, maybe one in one or two
East Cleveland. Back then, when I'm going back, in the sixties,
fifties and sixties, East Cleveland was known as little West Virginia.
All right. Look like everybody who came from west from
West Virginia settle in East Cleveland. You had the large
(23:40):
Jewish community, you had the Oriental community, you had Little Italy,
and you had your Black community. And we were together.
I mean, we looked out for one another. We we
helped one another. We if if my family I had
(24:04):
some problems, your family would come over and give us
a hand. If you couldn't pay your rent, if you
couldn't pay your rent, you you they had house rent parties.
That's what I learned. There were twenty eight singles in
a fifth of liquor, yea many A fifth of say
(24:27):
Bourbon Supreme or Old Granddad back then maybe cost a
dollar fifty cents, all right, but you you sold twenty
five twenty five cents first shot, all right. And we
bought hot dogs, hamburgers, perch. You sold fish sandwiches, chicken sandwiches,
(24:51):
hot dogs, hamburgers, or in the winter time you had
chitling dinners, you know, yeah, yeah, okay, And and man
you we we we and daddy daddy. Uh he would
either have a poker game going and cut tentsent out
of out of every dollar from every part or or
(25:13):
the same thing they played. Uh they shot dice. Okay,
but bye bye this wild start Friday night. By Sunday morning,
family X would have their rent money. This is how
we you know, we looked out for one another. Uh.
We didn't lock our doors. You could walk into my
(25:34):
house and go in the kitchen and get something to eat.
You know, you you were, you were, you were a
part of the family. You know. Okay, I could go
in your house the same thing. Uh, well, we would
go south. We didn't lock the door. We come back
and there wo be a note miss ghosting that came
in and got a cup of sugar. You know, you
know stuff like that. I just uh we I'm uh.
(25:57):
It seems it seems that the more integrit did we become,
the more distance we we have distant we have come
to one another. Well listen to let's let's take a
station break, folks. You have been listening to Black Thought.
Everything was changed to inform, to inspire, and to impact
on w O v U ninety five point nine e
(26:20):
N We'll be right.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
Back you by w O v U ninety five point
nine f M. From the two one six to the
World w O v U ninety five point nine f M.
Cleveland's Urban alternative.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
All right, folks, you're back here with black thought. Everything
must change. On w O v U ninety five point
nine f M. This is the Black Rabbi and Trey
Mardlin bringing you today's episode. I want to skip here
to UH just skipping around the political UH arena begin
(27:43):
to take up, begin to make some shifts. Right after
the World War DOING and after World War two, politically,
blacks continued the efforts to UH to send representatives at
Ohio General Assembly. Chester Gillespie was elected to the ninety
fifth General Assembly nineteen forty three to forty four. Of
(28:06):
the election of more than one Negro to Cayhoga County delegation,
such as occurred in the seventy first General Assembly eighteen
ninety four to forty eight I mean ninety five was
not repeated until the ninety sixth General Assembly nineteen forty
(28:26):
seven nineteen forty five, when Harry E. Davis was selected
to the Senate and Francis E. Young and William Saunders
to the House. Davis was the second man of color
to HOVA office fifty four years after the election of
John Pete Green on June tenth, nineteen forty seven. Davis
(28:47):
had the distinction of presiding over the Senate, the first
black legislature to have such honor. Discriminary attitude. The discriminatory
attitude against blacks at place as a public accommodation continued,
although the war years were filled with pronouncements regarding unity
of the citizen ry and promoting the war effort. Uculd
(29:11):
Beach Park continued to deny certain facilities to them. There
was certain I remember going to use Euclid Beach Park
and there's certain things like that. They had a pavilion.
You know, we couldn't go in there. Most of the rides.
We could participate in it, but that was just about it.
(29:31):
They had some stands where you could get a hot
dog or get some popcorn, you know, something like that,
but that was just about it. They really didn't want
you out there. Okay. Giaga Lake was another Chippewa Lake.
It was another Purity Spring was another all right. We
found some souloents in being able to go to the
Cleveland Zoo and oh Man Garfield Park was oh Man.
(29:55):
That was that was almost a no no you, but
then we were able to later go. In nineteen forty five,
members of the two interracial groups, the Committee of Racial
Equality Corps Okay and the Americans for Democratic Action eighty
eight were club by perk by park police at Euclid
(30:20):
Beach Park when they attempted to use the dance hall
and that was the provision Okay. The police were charged
with assault, but on their plea that the groups were
unruly and only sufficient force to deal with the situation
was used, a conviction was not obtained. The following year,
(30:41):
nineteen forty six, a park policeman was found guilty of
assaulting a black man at the park. Charles V. Carr
Burton Bell Carr Okay, a black councilman, was successful in
having the council passed a licensing ordinance that carried the
penalty of loss of license improven cases of racial discrimination.
(31:04):
In nineteen forty one to nineteen fifty the decade Black
Democrats Democratic Democrat Democratic candidates in large numbers sought election
to the city council. In nineteen forty one city election,
Reverend Armandey Walker, pastor of Saint James M. E. Church,
(31:24):
although not a resident of the ward, entered the eleventh
ward race after repeatedly calling for the correction of unwholesome
conditions in the war. Reverend Walker inexperienced the ward politics
was soundly defeated by Payne Parker organization. Charles Carr ran
against W. O. Walker in the seventeenth Ward, but was defeated,
(31:49):
and Harry T. Gassaway was returned to his seat in
the eighteenth ward. In nineteen forty three, AUGUSTA. Parker continued
the eleventh ward.
Speaker 1 (32:02):
W O.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
Walker in the seventeenth and Gasaway in the eighteenth were
re elected. This election brought Jean Merle Capers, who I
loved man. One of the things I wished I had
done was get with her and have her write the
history that she held shed I think when she died
(32:23):
she was one hundred and three or one hundred and
five years old. Merle Jane Capers.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
Say long life.
Speaker 2 (32:30):
Yes as a writing candidate to the eleven War, but
she provided little opposition to Parker at this stage of
her career. In nineteen forty five election was characterized by
strong challenges by Democratic candidates, although heret Gasaway was easily
elected in the eighteenth Ward and the three other wards,
(32:53):
the increase in support for Democratic candidates was most evident.
Parker in the eleventh barely nosed out uh Jean Merle
Capers by one hundred and fifty eight votes. Missus Capers,
after her defeat in nineteen forty three, had campaign vigorously
appealing to the women of the war and building the
organization that almost resulted in her election in the twelfth
(33:17):
Ward Theodore Williams. Ted Williams provided Hermann Finkol with more
opposition than had been evident for four years, and lost
by seven hundred votes. Charles B. Carr's third attempt to
unsee w. Walker was finally successful, but he won by
a margin of only forty one votes. Miss Capers returned
(33:41):
to the level Ward pol political arena in nineteen forty seven,
flushed from the confidence inspired for her near upset of
Parker two years previous. Parker, with Lawrence o' payne support,
put up a a well financed and energetic campaign and
won by almost six hundred votes. James Bell, Democrat, who
(34:02):
later was to appear prominent to the war eleven polled
about fifty votes. In a right end campaign, the Republican
organization pitted Wyatt Brownlee against charlesby Carr in the seventeenth ward,
were car won by seven hundred votes. Clin's car had
started having. One of the things he had started doing
(34:23):
then was having picnics at the zoo. Uh and you
know you know you got water well, you got watermelon.
I think hot dogs. But it was it was all man.
We were all mad. It would be plush. Oh okay,
let's see uh. Clar Sharp Republican again conducted a vigorous
(34:47):
and well managed campaign in the eighteenth ward. Sharp was
a former old foe because of his business and civic achievements,
but was unable to cope with the organization which gassed
Away had developed. Theodore Williams again tried in the twelfth
ward and worked unincreasingly in the door to door campaign,
(35:08):
but was unable to disturb the grip which Hermann Finkle
had on the twelfth ward. Williams was defeated by margin
of two to one. The nineteen forty one local actually
again showed that black voters had not left the Republican
Party entirely. A heavy vote for Harry Blithon, the Republican
(35:33):
candidate for mayor and the primary, brought hope for the Republicans,
and the Calling Post wrote, there's a definitely trend back
to Republican Republicanism in the Negro Awards now that relievers,
reliefers and w w P ay ers are going back
to work. The return seemed apparent since Blython carried the
(35:59):
Negro War, although Frank J. Lauchiey, Democrat, was elected mayor.
Thus the black Wards continued to remain Republican locally. However,
in nineteen forty three, Loch Lachey swept every ward in
the city but the twelfth, which was controlled by the
Republican Herman Finkel. The black Wards supported Franklin D. Roosevelt
(36:23):
in nineteen forty four. In nineteen forty five, the election
of Thomas A. Burke as mayor illustrated the Democratic inroads
in these Wards. He won all the awards which had
been traditionally Republicans. The Republican strength locally, even the Republican
stronghold of Herman Finkel War twelve, which Lachey had not
(36:46):
been able to carry, was favorable to Burke. However, in
the nineteen forty six state and county elections, Thomas Herbert
secured about five thousand more votes in the Black Wars
than did the popular Frank Laoschi and the race for
governor of Ohio. This was a switch from the support
Laosie received five years previous when he ran for mayor
(37:10):
and carried three of the four wards the Republicans. Republicans
still had a tremendous hold on the black voter, as
shown in nineteen forty seven city elections. In one of
the most overwhelming Democratic victories in the Cleveland election, the
Republican candidate Eliot Ness. The Elliot Nests recognized that name
(37:34):
Yes carried the seventeenth ward by about two hundred votes.
He won Easiley in the eighteenth but lost by only
small margins in the eleventh and twelfth wards. The Calling
Post analysis of the election resulted claimed that a composite
of all black voters favorite Nests by about one thousand votes.
(37:55):
The Calling Posts had refused for years to believe that
the friend to Democrats was permanent. A statement published following
the nineteen forty six election claimed that the Black Wards
were coming back to the Republicans. Following the death of
Roosevelt and because of the general post war prosperity. However,
(38:19):
a year later, the editor apparently had been convinced that
in a die heart statement, admitted, the trend of elections
over the past ten years shows that the Negro vote,
without any discernible reason, is following the Democrats. The Republicans
are losing the grip they once had on the Negro vote,
(38:42):
although the whole history of the state and local politics
shows a recular of Negro achievements under the Republicans. The
paper also stated that the not immigrant but in Magrant,
Okay negro had turned to the Democrats, but reinstated reiterated
(39:05):
that the only history of the Negro achievement in the
Democratic Party had been in the reign of Roosevelt. This, uh,
(39:33):
this is this is this is the precursor to the
mass exodus of the black voter from from the Republican
Party in the sixties. This this subtle shift back and
forth kind of back and forth platforms. Yeah, right, and
(40:04):
with Kennedy running for president, Okay, he had a clear
message to the black community, a very clear message to
the black community. And then part of the thought of
the community back then, I'm back let's see nineteen sixty,
(40:24):
I'm twenty. I'm twenty one years old. Okay, I'm twenty
two years old. Nineteen sixty, okay, fifty seven, I was
eighteen nineteen sixty, it's three years. Yeah, I'm twenty one.
I'm twenty one years old. And that's when I first voted.
(40:46):
The first time I voted, and I voted for Kennedy.
I registered as a Democrat, okay. And the thought back then, Trey,
was that we had a stronghold in the Republican Party.
So if we if we could hold that stronghold and
go over to the Democratic Party or the Dixocrats they
(41:07):
were called, then okay we could then we would then
have uh parody kind of in both parties, and we
could get get more. What happened though, during that period
of time, you had a shift of the hardcore racist
(41:28):
all right from the Democratic Party go to the Republican Party,
and so then that began to make that shift. I
have I have problems. I have problems with the left
wing right wing kind of concept and how they have
(41:51):
been labeled. Right wing is uh hear, hardcore social and
physical conservatives all right. Left wing is socialists and progressives,
on a whole. When you really examined the black community,
(42:16):
the black community is more conservative socially, all right, and
to some degree economically because we did not have the
kind of money's disposable income. If I'm making sense, okay,
(42:38):
and so let's let's go back. Let's go back a
few decades where white banks would not accept black money.
You could not put your money if you're a black person,
you could not put your money in a black banks
a Cleveland at one time I'm talking about I'm talking
(43:01):
about pre pre pre twenty first century, mid up to
mid nineteen twentieth century, Cleveland had four black banks, and
Quincy Savings and Loans was the last of those four
black banks. You could not put your money into a
(43:25):
white bank, and so you either put your money a
little mattress in a coffee can, had a notthle in
the floor, a boiling the floor, you know kind of situation.
And it was black folks who saved Cadillac. Right, Cadillac
was gonna go out of business after the depression, okay,
(43:46):
And black folks had money because their money wasn't in
the white banks when the banks crashed, and so they
were able to come and pay cash. I listen, man,
I remember. I think it was either nineteen nineteen forty
nine somewhere around and there, maybe fifty all right. When
Cadillacs reached one thousand dollars, I said, wow, a whole
(44:09):
thousand dollars for a car man. That was high cotton
back then. And so the kinds of things that we
have gone through as a people and survived where many
people probably would have. The four hundred and sixty years
(44:31):
that we've been forced to be in magrants, not immigrants,
but in magrants has been traumatic. I had the opportunity
to talk with doctor JORYD. Degrew last year. She is
the author of post Traumatic Slave Syndrome Okay. And then
(44:55):
a few about a month or so ago, Kenny dow
Doll brought Uma Johnson here and they had an opportunity
to talk with Uma privately. There are some some some
people who are doing some things, and my suggestion to
(45:17):
my community is let's find out who's doing the positive
things and let's uh, let's not reinvent the wheel. Let's
get with those organizations. There are people who are saying
that the NAACP is no longer responsive to the black
(45:38):
community in the way that it was sixty years ago.
All right, let's join the NAACP okay, and begin to
do some things from the inside. You can't do anything
all outside criticizing. Okay.
Speaker 1 (45:58):
You mentioned in this morning all the organizations you think
should come together and merge. Wh Why do you think
that hasn't happened.
Speaker 2 (46:07):
Everybody's trying to protect their own turf. We want to
we want to operate in silos. We don't want to
share the limelight. Okay. Just just think what the Urban
League is more like business jobs okay. If they got
(46:31):
in tandem again with the na A CP, okay, and
they would be the legal support okay for the Urban
League all right. Uh. And then you have the black journalists,
all right, who could take and make sure that the
proper I don't will say that the news news gets out,
(46:55):
the truth gets out. All right. So you got the
black journalist now okay, supporting the legal organization and the
business organization. Okay. And then you have your faith organizations
who have closer touch, in touch with the community right now,
(47:17):
they can reach out and touch the community. The church,
the mosque, you know, can reach out and touch the community,
and and and and take the pulse of the community
also and feed it back to the organizations, so the
organizations will kind of know how to adjust their agenda,
(47:40):
not change, but sometimes it just takes an adjustment in
the agenda, all right, to meet the needs of the people,
all right. And you know, you know we have when
we before we came to this country for the we
were brought to this country, for the most part, we
were very spiritual people. But it seems like the more
(48:06):
the more it appears that we are prosperous the Father,
we get away from our spirituality. And I think part
of maybe what's being said by God is that, hey,
I want, I want my people to return to me,
all right, and I think if we don't, there's some
more things. And I firmly believe, you know that that
(48:31):
if we would take in as a people, all right,
I'm looking at nine one one, how we black folk
really came together? Okay during COVID, you know, we really
(48:52):
we couldn't go to church because everything was quarantined. But
it seems that that was a cohesiveness that was redeveloped,
that you we cannot leave our spirituality and expect to succeed.
Speaker 1 (49:07):
Especially promoting small businesses that would. We're probably more susceptible
to being closed down than.
Speaker 2 (49:14):
Yes businesses, and that too. You know, let's support business.
And I buy my hats now for mister gilberts or
all twenty nine hundred large mere one twenty nine hundred
large meal. Okay. Then I have a brother who sells
hats out of his cars, but he's an African American,
so I you know, I give him the business. All right.
(49:37):
I try to go to a black cleaners, all right.
If I don't go to the black cleaners, I go
to the Oriental cleaners. I don't go to do Somer's, Okay,
if I'm making sense, I buy my vegetables at Farmer
Jones Market on Broadway. All right. Not only do I
buy as patronizing blackfoot, but I save money. Call agree
(50:00):
at Giant Eagle costs two dollars and twenty nine cents
a pound at Farmer Jones because ninety nine cents a pound.
So where do you think I'm gonna go? Okay, it
makes may, It makes sense. I eat a docs of
dots on Harvard, the black restaurant Upscale Restaurant right there,
(50:23):
almost next door to Burger King on Harvard and Lee Road.
You know, I go. I mean, I probably will eat
dinner today at at Angie's, Okay. I mean, so we
have to be careful that we make sure we began
(50:46):
to spend our money in our communities. And even even
rather than rather than going to home depot, there's a
hardware store, although it's white on I'd rather go to
the hardware store in the community where I live. Need
(51:08):
to go outside, take the money outside of the community,
if that makes sense.
Speaker 1 (51:11):
Okay, yeah, for the longest So there's a going eastbound.
Carnegie has been closed for about a year now at
least as of all that construction. So in order to
get back to like from downtown to the east side,
you end up having to take take that side, not Cedar.
Speaker 2 (51:32):
The Cedar or or car Cedar or Chester, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (51:37):
Chester, and that that whole road. It's it's where it
featured a bunch of restaurants that were in the Green Book.
I mean, I don't have it on me, but I
know every time I drive down that that's actually I've
learned about it within the last year or so. A
bunch of black owned businesses.
Speaker 2 (51:55):
Yes, so we we we have to to make sure
that we we everybody else looks out for them the
sales except us. Okay, Well, listen, Trey, it's about time
for us to get out of here. Trey, you have
any last words?
Speaker 1 (52:10):
Pretty much prett much slow the show just you know,
trying to find ways to support each other to here
in twenty twenty five as we did in nineteen sixties,
the century, these decades before that. So yess the main
takeaway here.
Speaker 2 (52:26):
Now we're going to try to do this. I borrowed
this book from from a Jewish lady that I know
she had it. Okay, and I I've tried to buy
a copy. Is four hundred and twenty six dollars to
buy a copy today, I may go on and spend
the money and buy it. Well, folks, listen, this is
up for black thought you have been listening to on
(52:47):
WOVU ninety five point nine FM. Until next time. I
will drink from my part of the river, and no
one shall keep me from it until next week. Shaloam hobbab.
Speaker 1 (53:01):
This is w o v U Studios.
This is w O v U Studios.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Good afternoon people, this is black Thought. Everything must change
to inform, to inspire, and to impact on w o
v ninety five point nine f M. This is your host,
a Rabbi along with Trey Martlin filling in for the
Black Unicorn. Trey, how are you this afternoon.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
That's a good Tuesday afternoon. You know, weather's beautiful. See
the studio doesn't happen this much. Usually I'm walking in
as you guys are walking out. Yes, yeah, this is
definitely a unique We still start of the.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Month, yes, and other day it's an opportunity. Also, it's
good always talking with you and getting your insights. We
had we had a wonderful weekend. We uh we spent
some time. I have a great granddaughter about fifteen months old,
and we went out to a Mexican restaurant and had
a little Mexican food. Uh well, I treated my wife.
(01:04):
We we went to uh red Lobster out on three
six and ate a little uh lobster and pasta and
and then Saturday night we went to the Hilton to
commemorate the life and celebrate the life of Attorney James Willis,
(01:28):
who's ninety nine years old and still practicing law, although
he lives in Atlanta now. But we had a wonderful
time listening to his life and the contributions he has
made to the citizens of Cleveland, especially those of African
(01:50):
American ethnicity, and talking about that we have so many
Clevelanders who have contributed so much to the history of Cleveland,
to the history of Ohio, to the country. We were
(02:15):
minded of mister Johnson, who many people don't know was
the first black mayor in Ohio. All right, mister Johnson.
There's an area in ward one around the Seville Lee
and McCracken Road area called Miles Heights, and that was
(02:41):
a little municipality, and mister Johnson was the first mayor
of Mile Heights in nineteen twenty nine. I'm looking at
the uh. There was a news black newspaper, all right
in nineteen oh three called the Cleveland Journal, all right,
that was very prominent. The Plaine Dealer, man, I didn't really,
(03:06):
I didn't know the Plane Dealer was almost it's almost
Trey or what Lissi's twenty five and seventeen years the
Plain Dealer would be two hundred years old.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Did not know that yet didn't know it went back
that far.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Yeah, eighteen forty two, yes, okay, And they were very
they were very, very kind to the African American community
back then. They talked very positively about the kind of
progress that African Americans made and contributed to the greater
(03:42):
Cleveland area. The first black settler in Cleveland, a guy
named pek p E A K. E. Was one of
the first black settlers. We're interested in a young lady
(04:04):
who was named Lucy, who was freed by her slave
owners in Pennsylvania, and she came to Ohio and was
re enslaved, came to Cleveland and was re enslaved. M
(04:31):
And they had many people both black and white, to
be supportive of her, and uh um, she was really
re re arrested and held uh and eventually appealed her
(04:55):
case and it was proven that by the courts then
that she was slave, she had not been emancipated and
was sent to serve some people in South Carolina. You
(05:18):
had people back then who had the courage, and this
is what I'm talking about, man, They had the courage.
They tried to rescue Lucy. Their efforts were so strong
and powerful that when they had Lucy's trial, they had
(05:39):
one hundred and fifty marshals deputy marshals all right to
guard the court room because black people were enraged. In fact,
one lady was so angry that she threw pepper in
some of the marshals and she was arrested and tried.
(06:03):
But the judge had sympathy on her and only find
her one cent, all.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Right, versus cens back in the day, or like dollars now.
But still that's the minimum.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Yeah, yeah, well one cent. We'll get a whole lot
of a whole lot of stuff back then, all right,
But I mean it's um um. The deputies were called
the corpse of the core of rascals. I'll just Lucy
was guarded by one hundred and fifty special deputies to
(06:36):
prevent her release by force. The leader characterized the appointment
of such a large group as their gross insult to
the people of Cleveland and called the deputies a corps
of rascals. The Herald said some of the deputies were
men who have often honored the record of the police court.
(07:00):
There's so many, so many interesting things that have gone
on here in the in the Cleveland. She finally died
in nineteen o six, at the eight of seventy two
at what is now Metro All right after the Emancipation Proclamation.
(07:24):
She was finally free, came back to Cleveland, married a guy,
and she was buried here in the Woodland Cemetery. She
was seventy two years old as she had fell down
a flight of stairs and she was Her funeral was
(07:46):
held out at Mount Zion Congregational Church. I don't know
if that's behind the veteran.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
From here.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Yeah, the Museum Area Veterans Hospital.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Yeah, Okay, I know exactly what you're talking about.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Yes, Paul Sadler is the pastor there. It's it's so much.
You had the Fugitive Slave Acts in eighteen fifteen reached
(08:23):
the Western Reserve and with the assistance of anti slavery friends,
they were directed across Lake Erie to the Colonies to
escape to Canada. And for that reason, Canada has a
large population of African Americans there because it became a refuge.
(08:44):
I know, when we went up to Niagara Falls, there's
a bridge from the Niagara Falls, New York over to
the Canadian side that you the uh, that was the
crossing point where slaves tried to get to and once
(09:05):
they got across uh that bridge, they were in Canada
and and they were safe.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
Uh bridge Rainbow Bridge. I don't know if it was
called that then.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Oh yeah, okay. The uh the game of hockey, all
right was was was invented by by a group of
escaped slaves, all right. Uh. Uh they had learned to
ice skate and they got sticks and a pieces of coal.
(09:35):
Uh and uh we used the the coal as pucks.
I guess that's why pucks are black, you know. Uh, yes, okay,
And I mean you know, it's it's so much we
we have contributed. The Underground Railroad was a volunteer organization
(09:55):
and it estimated that about forty thousand future has passed
over the Ohio Underground to freedom, aided by fifty There
were fifteen hundred and forty operators one five hundred and
forty people who were involved in transporting escaped slaves from
(10:17):
the South endo Canada. These operators, our station masters, manned
stations space ten to thirty miles apart. Travel between stations
was invariably by night by farm wagon, and the operators
concealed the fugitives throughout the daytime until darkness again afforded
(10:38):
the opportunity to convey the merchandise under the innocent load
of produce to the next station. Successive relays brought the
fugitives to a late port and sympathetically late captains helped
to complete the journey to Canada and freedom. After the war,
(11:00):
research into the Underground reveal information about the illegal work
carried on in Cleveland and the Western Reserve. Cleveland was
designated as Hope in one of the secret codes of
the Underground. It was the terminal for seven routes from
following cities Norwalk, Norwalk, Norwalk, Madina, New Philadelphia, Ohio, Erie
(11:26):
Canals from Portsmouth, the Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad from
Alliance by the Cleveland and Western and Cincinnati and Springfield Railroads.
There is a facility in Chagrin Falls. I don't if
(11:50):
you take Chagrin Boulevard into Chagrane Falls, you come to
the light at Main Street, make a right turn, go
to the next light and make a left turn. And
the second house from the corner was one of the stops.
And then they tell me I have not done the research,
(12:12):
but in talking with some of the people in the
Wade Park area, the Alhambra was what was the Alhambra
apartment buildings. I think they're on the corner of eighty
eighty six and Wade Park was an underground railroad stop
along with over the stops in Oberlin, Ohio. Also, you know,
(12:39):
and I think the kinds of cooperation that we garnered
and gave one another back then. You know, I talked
this morning. I was a little frustrated. I don't understand
no knowing and understanding our history, knowing how we got
to where we are now. Okay, And young people your city,
(13:04):
where you're sitting because someone else who looks like you
and and sometimes others paid a price for you to
sit where you sit. Okay. I remember the pastor of
Fidelity Baptist Church eighty fourth and Wade Park was killed
in the movement. He was protesting some land in the
(13:29):
Wade Park area around eighty ninth and Wade Park and
they ran over him with a bulldozer. I remember living
in in in Cleveland and you could not use the
white water fountains and may Company Higbees or alleys all right,
(13:50):
or the seven department stores. Cleveland had seven department stores
at the time. You had may Company Bailey's, Higbees, Lion, Taylor's,
Bond Sterling, Linda Davis and Hallie's. To use the restroom,
you had to go out behind the stores to use
(14:12):
the restroom. I remember the Mahara Steakhouse at eighty ninth
and Wade Park. All right, we could go there, but
we had to go. We could go to the back
door and get an order to go the Spaghetti Inn
that was also in that area around sixty sixth Street,
(14:35):
the same thing. I remember. There was a restaurant on
wood on fifty fifth Street between haul north Court and
Woodland where the teachers used to when I was in
elementary school, but asked me to go up and get
their lunch. I could go in in order to get
(14:57):
their lunch and pay for it, but I could not
sit in there eat. There was Marshal drug Store on
the corner of fifty fifth in Woodland, Okay, two drug stores.
One was a white drug store, Marshals, Okay, they had
a lunch counter, and then there was a black drug
(15:17):
store across the street. Shortest drug store as spelled s
h a U T e R. S. Shorters a drug
store and you if you went into Marshals and got
a sandwich and a coke or a drink when they
went back. Then they served you out of saucers and mugs.
They broke your mug and your plate. That's how they
(15:40):
came up with the plastic containers with inserts.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
They broke it, yes, what indented or snapped in half.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
They were taking shatter it because no one was supposed
to ever eat behind a black person again, and it
was caught. We've seen them money. But back then, a
saucer cost two cents, you know, a glass costs a
mug called so you know, maybe two three cents, you know,
like that. But they came up with these little plastic
(16:14):
plastic bottoms. You had little paper inserts. And then the
hot dogs. He had the little plastic boats. That's what
they came up with him for, all right, because they
were losing so much money breaking because so many of
us was beginning to have a little money where you
could go, I mean, you could get listen, you got
a hot dog and a coke for a dime, all right.
(16:36):
That was I mean, that was high cotton back then. Man. Okay,
we bought our house in nineteen fifty four on Star Avenue.
I mean, I mean we we was in high Cotton.
We paid eight thousand dollars for it. Four bedrooms, one bath,
(16:57):
living room, dining room, and a pantry.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
For a lot of people, that's that's not even gonna
make rents for a year.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Yeah, some for places don't make rent for a month, yes, okay. Uh.
And and so we we we we don't understand how
far we have come and the prices that had to
be paid. I was a member of Corps uh in
(17:26):
in in in Alabama, uh and got to to to
experience the taste, the smell, the tension, uh, the trauma
of the pure hatred that was poured out. Uh. I
remember going back also, and we'll get back to this book,
(17:49):
going back when originally I'm from Macon, Georgia, and in
the summertime we would go back and and uh New
York Central Railroad. You get the New York Central Railroad.
Uh here at the Cleveland terminal. Okay, either the New
York Central or the humming Bird, all right, which okay,
(18:10):
and you uh you could take that to Cincinnati, and
Cincinnati you had to change. They changed to the southern
all right. In the New York Central of the humming Bird.
Everybody set together. But you got to Cincinnati, you had
you had a since you had a separate, segregated, uh facility.
(18:34):
And then when you got to Chattanooga, Tennessee, you changed
again and you got mad. You woo man, you had
a coach. I mean you got the worst of the worst,
uh of the coach. And I several years ago, we
were in Chatnooga, uh at the train station and what
(18:56):
used to be the black waiting room was now souvenir store,
but you could not come into the main terminal. It's
it's it's uh just even even after the movement in
my hometown, Making Georgia, Uh, they still up until rather recently,
(19:24):
they had they still had colored waiting room in the
Greyhound bus station. And so it's it's uh huh today
or no, there was, it was some you know, it
was some time ago. But uh they they they they
still had the colored waiting room. I know, I know
(19:46):
in the eighties. It was in the eighties, all right,
they still had. Okay, But then yet again that I
look at my hometown, or Making, Georgia, Uh, Cleveland is
struggling to get a black museum, and the folks in
Making came together and they have a beautiful three million
dollar edifices. Uh for the Black Museum there. But just
(20:11):
I just this there, there was there was something here
or there's something missing here. I don't know what it
is that Cleveland has lost. But Cleveland was one of
the most progressive cities in the country, and we we
have it in this book. And much of the contributions
(20:33):
that was made here was made by by by black folks.
Uh you you I I had meant to talk about. Uh,
let me let me finish this thought that that being
one of the most progressive cities in the country, we
had the best educational system in the country. Other cities
(20:57):
used to come here to view what we were doing. Okay,
uh to educate our people we had even with separate
but equal, all right, we were better off than a
young person today. We we we don't want to. We
(21:19):
we know if there's a there is a move to
redistrict the city of Cleveland, But sixty six percent of
the adults in Cleveland are functionally illiterate. And then what well,
it's now ward five okay before redistricting, and what is
now ward seven before redistricting? Do you know ninety five
(21:42):
percent of the adults cannot read, write, or do math
on a fourth grade level, as of a survey of
Case Western Reserve, March twenty first, nineteen twenty twenty one.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
That's scary to think of that.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
Yes, okay, now here's the city that led the nation
and education now is one of the worst. Okay.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
Um.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
We had the best transportation system in the country, all right.
Other cities came here to view our transportation system, a
public transportation system. We were the dressing fashion capital of
the world. If you wanted to learn how to dress
and how to put fashions together, you came to Cleveland, right. Uh.
(22:31):
We we we we were just you know, we we were.
We were one of the leaders in in in uh
in industry. We had the steel mills here, we you
know you uh, the population, the population at one time
we were we back and forth with Detroit, with the
(22:54):
sixth and seventh largest city in the country. That there's
something that we have lost. The black community. We were
almost locked in for that. I mean, yes, you had
some folk for a few living in Cleveland Heights. You
had a few, maybe one or two living in Shaker
(23:16):
Maple Heights, Garfield Heights, maybe one in one or two
East Cleveland. Back then, when I'm going back, in the sixties,
fifties and sixties, East Cleveland was known as little West Virginia.
All right. Look like everybody who came from west from
West Virginia settle in East Cleveland. You had the large
(23:40):
Jewish community, you had the Oriental community, you had Little Italy,
and you had your Black community. And we were together.
I mean, we looked out for one another. We we
helped one another. We if if my family I had
(24:04):
some problems, your family would come over and give us
a hand. If you couldn't pay your rent, if you
couldn't pay your rent, you you they had house rent parties.
That's what I learned. There were twenty eight singles in
a fifth of liquor, yea many A fifth of say
(24:27):
Bourbon Supreme or Old Granddad back then maybe cost a
dollar fifty cents, all right, but you you sold twenty
five twenty five cents first shot, all right. And we
bought hot dogs, hamburgers, perch. You sold fish sandwiches, chicken sandwiches,
(24:51):
hot dogs, hamburgers, or in the winter time you had
chitling dinners, you know, yeah, yeah, okay, And and man
you we we we and daddy daddy. Uh he would
either have a poker game going and cut tentsent out
of out of every dollar from every part or or
(25:13):
the same thing they played. Uh they shot dice. Okay,
but bye bye this wild start Friday night. By Sunday morning,
family X would have their rent money. This is how
we you know, we looked out for one another. Uh.
We didn't lock our doors. You could walk into my
(25:34):
house and go in the kitchen and get something to eat.
You know, you you were, you were, you were a
part of the family. You know. Okay, I could go
in your house the same thing. Uh, well, we would
go south. We didn't lock the door. We come back
and there wo be a note miss ghosting that came
in and got a cup of sugar. You know, you
know stuff like that. I just uh we I'm uh.
(25:57):
It seems it seems that the more integrit did we become,
the more distance we we have distant we have come
to one another. Well listen to let's let's take a
station break, folks. You have been listening to Black Thought.
Everything was changed to inform, to inspire, and to impact
on w O v U ninety five point nine e
(26:20):
N We'll be right.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
Back you by w O v U ninety five point
nine f M. From the two one six to the
World w O v U ninety five point nine f M.
Cleveland's Urban alternative.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
All right, folks, you're back here with black thought. Everything
must change. On w O v U ninety five point
nine f M. This is the Black Rabbi and Trey
Mardlin bringing you today's episode. I want to skip here
to UH just skipping around the political UH arena begin
(27:43):
to take up, begin to make some shifts. Right after
the World War DOING and after World War two, politically,
blacks continued the efforts to UH to send representatives at
Ohio General Assembly. Chester Gillespie was elected to the ninety
fifth General Assembly nineteen forty three to forty four. Of
(28:06):
the election of more than one Negro to Cayhoga County delegation,
such as occurred in the seventy first General Assembly eighteen
ninety four to forty eight I mean ninety five was
not repeated until the ninety sixth General Assembly nineteen forty
(28:26):
seven nineteen forty five, when Harry E. Davis was selected
to the Senate and Francis E. Young and William Saunders
to the House. Davis was the second man of color
to HOVA office fifty four years after the election of
John Pete Green on June tenth, nineteen forty seven. Davis
(28:47):
had the distinction of presiding over the Senate, the first
black legislature to have such honor. Discriminary attitude. The discriminatory
attitude against blacks at place as a public accommodation continued,
although the war years were filled with pronouncements regarding unity
of the citizen ry and promoting the war effort. Uculd
(29:11):
Beach Park continued to deny certain facilities to them. There
was certain I remember going to use Euclid Beach Park
and there's certain things like that. They had a pavilion.
You know, we couldn't go in there. Most of the rides.
We could participate in it, but that was just about it.
(29:31):
They had some stands where you could get a hot
dog or get some popcorn, you know, something like that,
but that was just about it. They really didn't want
you out there. Okay. Giaga Lake was another Chippewa Lake.
It was another Purity Spring was another all right. We
found some souloents in being able to go to the
Cleveland Zoo and oh Man Garfield Park was oh Man.
(29:55):
That was that was almost a no no you, but
then we were able to later go. In nineteen forty five,
members of the two interracial groups, the Committee of Racial
Equality Corps Okay and the Americans for Democratic Action eighty
eight were club by perk by park police at Euclid
(30:20):
Beach Park when they attempted to use the dance hall
and that was the provision Okay. The police were charged
with assault, but on their plea that the groups were
unruly and only sufficient force to deal with the situation
was used, a conviction was not obtained. The following year,
(30:41):
nineteen forty six, a park policeman was found guilty of
assaulting a black man at the park. Charles V. Carr
Burton Bell Carr Okay, a black councilman, was successful in
having the council passed a licensing ordinance that carried the
penalty of loss of license improven cases of racial discrimination.
(31:04):
In nineteen forty one to nineteen fifty the decade Black
Democrats Democratic Democrat Democratic candidates in large numbers sought election
to the city council. In nineteen forty one city election,
Reverend Armandey Walker, pastor of Saint James M. E. Church,
(31:24):
although not a resident of the ward, entered the eleventh
ward race after repeatedly calling for the correction of unwholesome
conditions in the war. Reverend Walker inexperienced the ward politics
was soundly defeated by Payne Parker organization. Charles Carr ran
against W. O. Walker in the seventeenth Ward, but was defeated,
(31:49):
and Harry T. Gassaway was returned to his seat in
the eighteenth ward. In nineteen forty three, AUGUSTA. Parker continued
the eleventh ward.
Speaker 1 (32:02):
W O.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
Walker in the seventeenth and Gasaway in the eighteenth were
re elected. This election brought Jean Merle Capers, who I
loved man. One of the things I wished I had
done was get with her and have her write the
history that she held shed I think when she died
(32:23):
she was one hundred and three or one hundred and
five years old. Merle Jane Capers.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
Say long life.
Speaker 2 (32:30):
Yes as a writing candidate to the eleven War, but
she provided little opposition to Parker at this stage of
her career. In nineteen forty five election was characterized by
strong challenges by Democratic candidates, although heret Gasaway was easily
elected in the eighteenth Ward and the three other wards,
(32:53):
the increase in support for Democratic candidates was most evident.
Parker in the eleventh barely nosed out uh Jean Merle
Capers by one hundred and fifty eight votes. Missus Capers,
after her defeat in nineteen forty three, had campaign vigorously
appealing to the women of the war and building the
organization that almost resulted in her election in the twelfth
(33:17):
Ward Theodore Williams. Ted Williams provided Hermann Finkol with more
opposition than had been evident for four years, and lost
by seven hundred votes. Charles B. Carr's third attempt to
unsee w. Walker was finally successful, but he won by
a margin of only forty one votes. Miss Capers returned
(33:41):
to the level Ward pol political arena in nineteen forty seven,
flushed from the confidence inspired for her near upset of
Parker two years previous. Parker, with Lawrence o' payne support,
put up a a well financed and energetic campaign and
won by almost six hundred votes. James Bell, Democrat, who
(34:02):
later was to appear prominent to the war eleven polled
about fifty votes. In a right end campaign, the Republican
organization pitted Wyatt Brownlee against charlesby Carr in the seventeenth ward,
were car won by seven hundred votes. Clin's car had
started having. One of the things he had started doing
(34:23):
then was having picnics at the zoo. Uh and you
know you know you got water well, you got watermelon.
I think hot dogs. But it was it was all man.
We were all mad. It would be plush. Oh okay,
let's see uh. Clar Sharp Republican again conducted a vigorous
(34:47):
and well managed campaign in the eighteenth ward. Sharp was
a former old foe because of his business and civic achievements,
but was unable to cope with the organization which gassed
Away had developed. Theodore Williams again tried in the twelfth
ward and worked unincreasingly in the door to door campaign,
(35:08):
but was unable to disturb the grip which Hermann Finkle
had on the twelfth ward. Williams was defeated by margin
of two to one. The nineteen forty one local actually
again showed that black voters had not left the Republican
Party entirely. A heavy vote for Harry Blithon, the Republican
(35:33):
candidate for mayor and the primary, brought hope for the Republicans,
and the Calling Post wrote, there's a definitely trend back
to Republican Republicanism in the Negro Awards now that relievers,
reliefers and w w P ay ers are going back
to work. The return seemed apparent since Blython carried the
(35:59):
Negro War, although Frank J. Lauchiey, Democrat, was elected mayor.
Thus the black Wards continued to remain Republican locally. However,
in nineteen forty three, Loch Lachey swept every ward in
the city but the twelfth, which was controlled by the
Republican Herman Finkel. The black Wards supported Franklin D. Roosevelt
(36:23):
in nineteen forty four. In nineteen forty five, the election
of Thomas A. Burke as mayor illustrated the Democratic inroads
in these Wards. He won all the awards which had
been traditionally Republicans. The Republican strength locally, even the Republican
stronghold of Herman Finkel War twelve, which Lachey had not
(36:46):
been able to carry, was favorable to Burke. However, in
the nineteen forty six state and county elections, Thomas Herbert
secured about five thousand more votes in the Black Wars
than did the popular Frank Laoschi and the race for
governor of Ohio. This was a switch from the support
Laosie received five years previous when he ran for mayor
(37:10):
and carried three of the four wards the Republicans. Republicans
still had a tremendous hold on the black voter, as
shown in nineteen forty seven city elections. In one of
the most overwhelming Democratic victories in the Cleveland election, the
Republican candidate Eliot Ness. The Elliot Nests recognized that name
(37:34):
Yes carried the seventeenth ward by about two hundred votes.
He won Easiley in the eighteenth but lost by only
small margins in the eleventh and twelfth wards. The Calling
Post analysis of the election resulted claimed that a composite
of all black voters favorite Nests by about one thousand votes.
(37:55):
The Calling Posts had refused for years to believe that
the friend to Democrats was permanent. A statement published following
the nineteen forty six election claimed that the Black Wards
were coming back to the Republicans. Following the death of
Roosevelt and because of the general post war prosperity. However,
(38:19):
a year later, the editor apparently had been convinced that
in a die heart statement, admitted, the trend of elections
over the past ten years shows that the Negro vote,
without any discernible reason, is following the Democrats. The Republicans
are losing the grip they once had on the Negro vote,
(38:42):
although the whole history of the state and local politics
shows a recular of Negro achievements under the Republicans. The
paper also stated that the not immigrant but in Magrant,
Okay negro had turned to the Democrats, but reinstated reiterated
(39:05):
that the only history of the Negro achievement in the
Democratic Party had been in the reign of Roosevelt. This, uh,
(39:33):
this is this is this is the precursor to the
mass exodus of the black voter from from the Republican
Party in the sixties. This this subtle shift back and
forth kind of back and forth platforms. Yeah, right, and
(40:04):
with Kennedy running for president, Okay, he had a clear
message to the black community, a very clear message to
the black community. And then part of the thought of
the community back then, I'm back let's see nineteen sixty,
(40:24):
I'm twenty. I'm twenty one years old. Okay, I'm twenty
two years old. Nineteen sixty, okay, fifty seven, I was
eighteen nineteen sixty, it's three years. Yeah, I'm twenty one.
I'm twenty one years old. And that's when I first voted.
(40:46):
The first time I voted, and I voted for Kennedy.
I registered as a Democrat, okay. And the thought back then, Trey,
was that we had a stronghold in the Republican Party.
So if we if we could hold that stronghold and
go over to the Democratic Party or the Dixocrats they
(41:07):
were called, then okay we could then we would then
have uh parody kind of in both parties, and we
could get get more. What happened though, during that period
of time, you had a shift of the hardcore racist
(41:28):
all right from the Democratic Party go to the Republican Party,
and so then that began to make that shift. I
have I have problems. I have problems with the left
wing right wing kind of concept and how they have
(41:51):
been labeled. Right wing is uh hear, hardcore social and
physical conservatives all right. Left wing is socialists and progressives,
on a whole. When you really examined the black community,
(42:16):
the black community is more conservative socially, all right, and
to some degree economically because we did not have the
kind of money's disposable income. If I'm making sense, okay,
(42:38):
and so let's let's go back. Let's go back a
few decades where white banks would not accept black money.
You could not put your money if you're a black person,
you could not put your money in a black banks
a Cleveland at one time I'm talking about I'm talking
(43:01):
about pre pre pre twenty first century, mid up to
mid nineteen twentieth century, Cleveland had four black banks, and
Quincy Savings and Loans was the last of those four
black banks. You could not put your money into a
(43:25):
white bank, and so you either put your money a
little mattress in a coffee can, had a notthle in
the floor, a boiling the floor, you know kind of situation.
And it was black folks who saved Cadillac. Right, Cadillac
was gonna go out of business after the depression, okay,
(43:46):
And black folks had money because their money wasn't in
the white banks when the banks crashed, and so they
were able to come and pay cash. I listen, man,
I remember. I think it was either nineteen nineteen forty
nine somewhere around and there, maybe fifty all right. When
Cadillacs reached one thousand dollars, I said, wow, a whole
(44:09):
thousand dollars for a car man. That was high cotton
back then. And so the kinds of things that we
have gone through as a people and survived where many
people probably would have. The four hundred and sixty years
(44:31):
that we've been forced to be in magrants, not immigrants,
but in magrants has been traumatic. I had the opportunity
to talk with doctor JORYD. Degrew last year. She is
the author of post Traumatic Slave Syndrome Okay. And then
(44:55):
a few about a month or so ago, Kenny dow
Doll brought Uma Johnson here and they had an opportunity
to talk with Uma privately. There are some some some
people who are doing some things, and my suggestion to
(45:17):
my community is let's find out who's doing the positive
things and let's uh, let's not reinvent the wheel. Let's
get with those organizations. There are people who are saying
that the NAACP is no longer responsive to the black
(45:38):
community in the way that it was sixty years ago.
All right, let's join the NAACP okay, and begin to
do some things from the inside. You can't do anything
all outside criticizing. Okay.
Speaker 1 (45:58):
You mentioned in this morning all the organizations you think
should come together and merge. Wh Why do you think
that hasn't happened.
Speaker 2 (46:07):
Everybody's trying to protect their own turf. We want to
we want to operate in silos. We don't want to
share the limelight. Okay. Just just think what the Urban
League is more like business jobs okay. If they got
(46:31):
in tandem again with the na A CP, okay, and
they would be the legal support okay for the Urban
League all right. Uh. And then you have the black journalists,
all right, who could take and make sure that the
proper I don't will say that the news news gets out,
(46:55):
the truth gets out. All right. So you got the
black journalist now okay, supporting the legal organization and the
business organization. Okay. And then you have your faith organizations
who have closer touch, in touch with the community right now,
(47:17):
they can reach out and touch the community. The church,
the mosque, you know, can reach out and touch the community,
and and and and take the pulse of the community
also and feed it back to the organizations, so the
organizations will kind of know how to adjust their agenda,
(47:40):
not change, but sometimes it just takes an adjustment in
the agenda, all right, to meet the needs of the people,
all right. And you know, you know we have when
we before we came to this country for the we
were brought to this country, for the most part, we
were very spiritual people. But it seems like the more
(48:06):
the more it appears that we are prosperous the Father,
we get away from our spirituality. And I think part
of maybe what's being said by God is that, hey,
I want, I want my people to return to me,
all right, and I think if we don't, there's some
more things. And I firmly believe, you know that that
(48:31):
if we would take in as a people, all right,
I'm looking at nine one one, how we black folk
really came together? Okay during COVID, you know, we really
(48:52):
we couldn't go to church because everything was quarantined. But
it seems that that was a cohesiveness that was redeveloped,
that you we cannot leave our spirituality and expect to succeed.
Speaker 1 (49:07):
Especially promoting small businesses that would. We're probably more susceptible
to being closed down than.
Speaker 2 (49:14):
Yes businesses, and that too. You know, let's support business.
And I buy my hats now for mister gilberts or
all twenty nine hundred large mere one twenty nine hundred
large meal. Okay. Then I have a brother who sells
hats out of his cars, but he's an African American,
so I you know, I give him the business. All right.
(49:37):
I try to go to a black cleaners, all right.
If I don't go to the black cleaners, I go
to the Oriental cleaners. I don't go to do Somer's, Okay,
if I'm making sense, I buy my vegetables at Farmer
Jones Market on Broadway. All right. Not only do I
buy as patronizing blackfoot, but I save money. Call agree
(50:00):
at Giant Eagle costs two dollars and twenty nine cents
a pound at Farmer Jones because ninety nine cents a pound.
So where do you think I'm gonna go? Okay, it
makes may, It makes sense. I eat a docs of
dots on Harvard, the black restaurant Upscale Restaurant right there,
(50:23):
almost next door to Burger King on Harvard and Lee Road.
You know, I go. I mean, I probably will eat
dinner today at at Angie's, Okay. I mean, so we
have to be careful that we make sure we began
(50:46):
to spend our money in our communities. And even even
rather than rather than going to home depot, there's a
hardware store, although it's white on I'd rather go to
the hardware store in the community where I live. Need
(51:08):
to go outside, take the money outside of the community,
if that makes sense.
Speaker 1 (51:11):
Okay, yeah, for the longest So there's a going eastbound.
Carnegie has been closed for about a year now at
least as of all that construction. So in order to
get back to like from downtown to the east side,
you end up having to take take that side, not Cedar.
Speaker 2 (51:32):
The Cedar or or car Cedar or Chester, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (51:37):
Chester, and that that whole road. It's it's where it
featured a bunch of restaurants that were in the Green Book.
I mean, I don't have it on me, but I
know every time I drive down that that's actually I've
learned about it within the last year or so. A
bunch of black owned businesses.
Speaker 2 (51:55):
Yes, so we we we have to to make sure
that we we everybody else looks out for them the
sales except us. Okay, Well, listen, Trey, it's about time
for us to get out of here. Trey, you have
any last words?
Speaker 1 (52:10):
Pretty much prett much slow the show just you know,
trying to find ways to support each other to here
in twenty twenty five as we did in nineteen sixties,
the century, these decades before that. So yess the main
takeaway here.
Speaker 2 (52:26):
Now we're going to try to do this. I borrowed
this book from from a Jewish lady that I know
she had it. Okay, and I I've tried to buy
a copy. Is four hundred and twenty six dollars to
buy a copy today, I may go on and spend
the money and buy it. Well, folks, listen, this is
up for black thought you have been listening to on
(52:47):
WOVU ninety five point nine FM. Until next time. I
will drink from my part of the river, and no
one shall keep me from it until next week. Shaloam hobbab.
Speaker 1 (53:01):
This is w o v U Studios.
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