- Good evening.
I wanna thank you all for coming to this month's series
on Blacks in America.
This is in collaboration with the Beloit Public Library.
My name is Terese Craig,
and I'm excited to present Linda Fair this evening
as your facilitator.
We will be exploring Beloit's black history
and some of the first, many of the firsts here in Beloit.
And for those of you, if this is your first time joining us,
we began a monthly series back in April,
and we're just doing different topics of exploration
regarding the contributions of black Americans
from a narrative that is not about enslavement,
so about the contributions to our country.
So I'm really excited that we get
to explore our hometown of Beloit.
And at this point, with no further ado,
I will turn it over to Linda Fair.
[audience applauding]
- Thank you, Terese.
Thank you all for being here tonight.
"History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived,
"but if faced with courage,
"need not be lived again," Maya Angelou.
Today, I will be talking to you
about Beloit's black history,
some of the best-kept secrets in this state.
Today's presentation will feature subtopics
on the beginning, the Great Migration,
education, faith in the black church,
employment opportunities, healthcare,
and Beloit black history firsts.
The beginning.
In the beginning, there was Mr. And Mrs. Emmanuel Craig.
They were the earliest blacks to settle in Beloit in 1839.
He was a coachman who lived to be 115 years old.
In 1855, there were 2,753 people in Beloit
and only 18 blacks.
In 1860, there were 4,098 people with only 27 blacks.
1910, the number increased to 15,000 people,
and only 60 blacks.
Then we get to 1920, where the population became 21,284
with 834 blacks.
Now fast forward to 2019,
the city is populated with 15% African Americans.
Besides the Craigs,
there were other people, too, Joseph Bowling.
He came in 1846 from Raleigh, North Carolina.
And he was the first boot maker.
And also, the Gilliam Perry family.
The Craigs were among those who witnessed the formation
of the township government in 1842,
and the founding of Beloit College in 1846,
two years even before Wisconsin statehood.
Then there was the Waffle family,
William and his mother and brother.
They settled in Beloit in the 1850s
and was one of the town's first blacksmiths.
Then came the Strothers family
and along with the Bond family.
Each of these people came seeking greater change,
greater prosper for their family.
Then we get to the good part,
one of the better parts I like to say.
"Beloit, Beloit, Beloit,"
said the train conductor as he carried loads of people
from the South to the North to work at Fairbanks Morse.
He called out again, "Beloit, Beloit, Beloit."
No one moved.
Then he said, "Fairbanks,"
and the whole train emptied.
[audience laughing] They didn't know
where they were going except to Fairbanks.
They knew they were coming north.
They knew they were coming to Fairbanks.
They had no idea what the name of the city was,
but they knew that they were going to Fairbanks.
So they unloaded the train,
and that's when the Great Migration began.
There was a labor shortage Fairbanks was facing,
but the work was still there and great in need.
World War I had just started,
and most of the white laborers had joined the army
to go fight in the World War I.
So that became a labor shortage.
Then when John McCord, one of the janitors
that worked at Fairbanks cleaning the main office
and some of the bigger offices, told them,
"I know how to get some good men.
"I can get you a few good men."
And they said, "Well, what do you mean?
"What are you talking about?"
He said, "I came from the South."
1918, John McCord,
I mean 1914, I'm sorry, he came to Beloit,
and this is now 1918.
And he said, "I know where to find a few good men.
"I know where to get a few good men."
They said, "We're gonna send you down south
"to bring us back 18 men."
"Bring us 18 men who are church men, hardworking,
"and looking for change."
He said, "No problem, I can do that."
So he went down in search of a few good men.
He made four recruiting trips.
After the first trip, another gentleman
by the name of Walter Ingram, who played semi-pro baseball
and knew the ins and outs of the South,
he said, "I'll go with you."
It was a treacherous trip sometimes
because they were faced with those labor laws,
where a lot of the whites
in the South didn't want you recruiting
and bringing people from the South up here
for a chance of hope and prosperity.
So after about four trips, they stopped.
But by this time, they had well-enough laborers,
and people were bringing back their families.
He was a well-liked janitor, and from that moment on,
Fairbanks really entrusted their faith in him.
By this time, Beloit had over 2,000 blacks.
It was a dangerous venture.
One day on a trip coming back,
they stopped in Memphis, Tennessee,
and they witnessed a lynching.
And that was the end of those trips.
They were too frazzled to want to go back
and pursue just for their safety.
And by this time, their families were saying,
"It's not worth it for you to bring others.
"We need you here as well."
After they got all the people up here,
they're like, "What are we gonna do with them?
"Where are they gonna stay?
"We promised them this.
"We promised them housing, we promised them employment."
And that's when they created
what's called the Fairbanks Flats.
Fairbanks Flats is still in existence even.
It was built to house the workers
over on the west side of town just off Shore Drive.
They have all these people here.
And they're like, "Who's gonna manage them?
"What are we gonna do?"
So they felt, we have a group of African Americans here.
They're in a strange land.
We don't want them to turn
to other things that might distract them.
They brought in another black man from South Carolina,
J.D. Stevenson, and he was like their superintendent
of the Edgewater Flats and the Edgewater YMCA.
His job was to find recreational activities for them,
and kinda like a chaperone.
Keep his eye on 'em, provide opportunities for them,
and just as they say, manage them.
Can you manage this population?
They're doing work for us.
We're appreciating it,
but we wanna make sure they're managed.
So in comes J.D. Stevenson from South Carolina.
The Great Migration hit a lot of the cities in the North,
from Chicago to Milwaukee.
Lot of families stopped just short of Wisconsin in Chicago.
Some went over to Milwaukee area.
But Beloit was situated in an ideal location
on a border of Illinois and Wisconsin,
so they could still get reach of their family members
that might be in Chicago.
The Great Migration in Beloit has been mentioned
plenty of times on national websites, TV shows,
and even in the greatest, latest publication,
NThe Warmth of Other Sunsby Isabel Wilkerson,
an author who I'm pleased to say I've met personally.
And in her book, there's a story
about my maternal grandmother, Callie Williams,
so that touches my heart, too.
So as you can see, this really plays an important role
in my life, and why I'm here, and how I got here,
besides the fact that my grandfather came north
from Mississippi as well, to work at the Iron Works foundry.
Once we start populating this area and community,
we're working hard, we're helping people out,
there became a shortage of housing, housing inequalities.
Blacks were not allowed to purchase homes
in certain areas of the city.
Again, they were trying to corral us
in just one area of the city.
There was the tracks down by what's called Turtle Creek,
Short Street, Keep Street.
And then there were the flats over on the west side of town
with Shore Drive, that neighborhood.
Realtors and financial institutions
would not rent, sell,
or finance property to blacks
unless there were already blacks living in that area.
There was even ads that promoted Caucasian only.
I remember seeing an ad as I was researching,
talking about house for sale in the Todd School District,
and it said, "Caucasian only."
Two places would give loans to African Americans in Beloit,
the Beloit State Bank
and the Beloit Building & Loan Association.
And do you know that black females,
whether married or not, income was not included
in their husband's housing application.
Even if she was the breadwinner,
making more than her husband,
they didn't count her income at all.
But yet, a white female, they would count 50% of her income
towards their income to help purchase a home.
So in some of the clauses, you would see on the deeds,
Caucasians or whites only,
or only two black families per six-block radius,
things of that nature.
And this is all real talk, people.
Some things that are definitely for certain
with African Americans and has been in our pipeline,
couple things you could bet on for sure,
education, the black church, and a strong faith.
And education, we feel was the root to success.
Even if our foreparents, our grandparents,
if they didn't even have education,
they knew to let us know and tell people to know
that you need an education, some form of fashion.
Please make sure you get your education.
More than 130 years ago,
siblings Grace and Laurence Ousley grew up
at 731 Church Street.
30 years even before the migration,
the only black household located near Beloit College.
Grace Ousley was the first black
to graduate from Beloit High School.
Notice, this was before it even
became Beloit Memorial High School.
It was called Beloit High School.
She was also the first black female
to graduate from Beloit College in 1904.
Along with Grace was her brother Laurence,
who attended Beloit College as well for three years.
He was in a program called the Beloit Academy.
The Beloit Academy was part of Beloit College,
and what it consisted of
was almost like a pre-college program.
This is where they kinda watched you, monitored you,
to kinda help you become successful
and complete your schooling.
He went three years, and was just one year shy of graduating
when duty called for him to work.
Because at that time, he had to help his mom,
had to help his siblings.
But he encouraged Grace to go forward
and complete her education and supported her.
But that's what we did.
And if anything can be brought out of these Ousley family,
one thing he did for sure upon dying,
he donated $10,000 to be given to someone
to help people of color attend Beloit College.
He believed in reaching back, giving back,
and that's exactly what we're trying to do
and mention to our younger people today.
It's all about giving back.
If he was even on his lowest times, willing to put up
and work hard to make sure they have money to give back,
that's what we need to continue
to instill in our young people today.
He set aside that for people of color
that would need help with school.
What he did was work as a janitor at guess where?
The Beloit Public Library.
It was the Beloit Library.
So coincidence that all of this is coming full circle.
Here, we're speaking about this tonight.
Here's where he lasted.
He worked there 30-plus years
at the Beloit Library as a janitor.
This story of perseverance lives through academic programs
and physical spaces at Beloit College.
There's residence scholars programs.
They're even considering naming some rooms
in the new Powerhouse.
There's a conference room named after Grace Ousley
in South College, Beloit College campus.
Their story is definitely a story of perseverance.
Then again, I talked about neighborhoods,
and the restructuring, and how they tried to corral people
to be just almost segregated to one portion of the city.
There was only one school
that it was 95% African American,
and that school was Strong School.
Strong School was located where Rock County Christian
is located now, right across from Horace White Park.
So again, remember I was talking about Turtle Creek,
if any of you are familiar with that.
That area, Keep Street, all in that area
is where majority of African-American families lived.
So the school that they could only go to was Strong School.
But they weren't sought after like at other schools.
They were put in a portable,
like a portable trailer type of deal, outside of the school,
which was seen as a premeditated tool
to segregate black students from the white students.
All of the educators were white,
which led to students of color
often being overlooked and ignored.
The school closed in 1964, it's no longer there.
Another facet of education,
you might see a familiar face in the room.
[audience laughing]
Barbara Hickman,
she was the first African-American principal
for the School District of Beloit in 1975.
Prior to that, she was the first African-American female
to graduate from UW-Stevens Point.
Now fast forward, I mean rewind from 1975 to 1971,
a star was born, her daughter, Linda Fair.
[audience laughing]
So again, gotta put my mom in it, sorry, guys.
She's been with the district still.
Her only employer ever in her life
is the School District of Beloit.
I've been through 1,000 jobs.
[audience laughing] But that's her only employer.
She still works for them.
She's retired three times,
and she's approaching 60 years
with the School District of Beloit.
She has served in every building in the school district
in some capacity, from Title I director
to principal, administrator, mentor.
She's had her foot in every building.
There's one school in Beloit that's paid homage
to a lot of African Americans here in our community,
and that's the newest intermediate school,
Fruzen Intermediate School, located on Milwaukee Road.
In that building, there is the Grace Ousley Library,
there's the Jim Caldwell Gymnasium,
and the Barbara Hickman Fine Arts Center.
As stated earlier, the foundation for African Americans
has always been the church.
When we didn't know anything else or what else to do,
we knew to fall down on our knees,
and pray, and get to church.
That was our saving grace.
That's what led us through all these years.
That's what has helped us persevere.
And that's what continues to be
one of the greatest things about us, is the black church.
Church has served as a religious and social center.
Especially, think about all the people that transported north
from Houston, Pontotoc, some of those cities,
they didn't really know much about the area,
so their hangout was the church.
They had Bible meetings.
You had choir rehearsals.
It was just their social gathering place.
They rely heavily on their religious beliefs.
It stood as a refuge, as a safe haven.
They were firm believers in the power of prayer and God,
which has gotten us through a lot.
Throughout time, the black church stood
as a stronghold of the black community,
fighting for equality and economic self-sufficiency.
Now as you know, back in the days,
they tried to strip that even away from us.
They didn't want us to sing the Negro spirituals.
They didn't want us to do any of those things.
And as slaves, that's when they began
to come up with beats, and drums, and different things
to still get their message across
so that no one would understand what they were saying,
but they knew, even if it was just humming, humming,
and that's how you know,
"I Know the Lord, He Heard My Cry,"
if you're familiar with that Negro spiritual.
That's one of the things that, that's what they were saying,
"I know the Lord, he heard my cry.
"If nothing else, he's gonna make a way for us.
"He's gonna bring us out of here.
"I know the Lord, he heard my cry."
Faith has kept us going.
Faith will continue to keep us going.
The oldest black church in Beloit is Bethel AME.
Bethel AME is over 135 years old.
The founder of the Methodist church was Richard Allen.
Following the Methodist church was the Baptist faith.
The Baptist faith formed Emmanuel Baptist Church
April 17th, 1917, to meet the spiritual needs
of the Great Migration.
'Cause now you have all these people here.
We can't all be in one denomination.
We can't all be in one church.
So they began to spread off, and break off,
and venture off, and create their own type of church.
So later, a few months after Emmanuel,
came New Zion Baptist Church.
And both of these churches just celebrated
their 100th-year anniversary about a year ago.
They are still pillars in our community.
Their pastors, the Dr. Reverend Floyd Prude, Jr.,
may he rest in peace.
They led their congregation to continue
to have a stronghold on their faith.
Reverend U.S. Pride from New Zion Baptist Church,
there's U.S. Pride Park on Shore Drive named after him.
Reverend D.W. Johnson, who was instrumental as well
with the Edgewater YMCA and the Fairbanks Flats,
and he was helping J.D. Stevenson keep control
of the migrants that came up from the South.
So it's really been that teamwork approach
with the black church and the community.
Even now when all else fails, you turn to the black church
when things aren't going right.
Your spirituality is what's leading
and helping you along the way.
I can just keep remembering as I'm speaking
is another Negro spiritual that says,
"If it hadn't been for the Lord on my side,
"where would I be?"
This is what kept our people going.
This is why I'm here to talk to you tonight,
because I know someone believed and prayed for me
and had that faith.
Employment opportunities.
Of course, the big houses were Fairbanks Morse,
Beloit Iron Works, the foundry.
The people that came up from the South,
they thought they were in heaven,
but they were still faced with some of the segregation.
They still were getting overlooked
for positions within the company.
They still were getting overlooked
to become superintendents, foremans, and all those things.
All they wanted was their labor,
but at the time, that's what they needed,
and they would bring back...
Thank you.
They would bring back their families.
If they weren't bringing their families back,
they were sending money home.
Sending money south, preparing.
Here, when they were here,
you had tons of family members staying under one roof.
Just till we make it, till we get on our own feet,
they stayed under one roof.
You had grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings, everyone,
'cause that's all about family.
They were reaching back and taking care of each other.
Some employment opportunities that we had,
most of the black males worked at Fairbanks
or Beloit Iron Works.
Beloit Iron Works changed from Beloit Iron Works
to the corporation, Beloit Corporation.
Black females could work as maids or prostitutes.
It's a reality.
They were doing what they had to do,
but that was something that they did.
The City of Beloit didn't hire any blacks at all.
And there were no retail or office jobs available.
A lot of times, the dad or the husband
will work the foundry 12, 14 hours a day,
come home to a meal.
And all the mom did was take care of the house,
get the food together, take care of the kids,
make sure they get there.
And that's why they kept instilling in them,
education, education, education, get your education.
And that was their ticket.
They figured if you get your education,
this'll be your ticket out of here.
You saw your dad coming in with the smut
and all of that from the foundry all over them.
You saw later in life that some people got cancer,
based off of inhaling all of those chemicals from that.
But they did what they had to do.
They did that to satisfy their family needs.
They had to do what they had to do.
We have been a people of hard work
and dedication for a lifetime.
That's what we do.
You do what you gotta do to make it for your family.
Healthcare.
Until 1928, there were three Beloit hospitals.
Now we only have the one, Beloit Memorial Hospital.
Blacks were able to get wards or semiprivate rooms.
1929, Beloit Municipal Hospital,
which was located over on Olympian Boulevard,
known as Hospital Hill for the sledders in the place,
they were one of the-- opened a segregated hospital,
and no blacks could have wards there at all.
There was a doctor by the name of Dr. Evans,
and he would see patients only on Sundays.
So if you were sick or needed to be seen,
you had to wait till Sunday.
Dr. William Marshall was the first black doctor in the city.
And Alta Gordon was the first black nurse
at Beloit Municipal Hospital, at the old hospital.
Then you fast forward to the '90s,
and we had Dr. Cheryl Peterson
become the first female doctor.
She worked for Beloit Health System in the early '90s.
And she was also the first Beloit doctor
to do the Norplant contraception implant.
Along with some of the struggles with trying to satisfy
and fill the need of recreation,
families started turning to drugs, alcohol,
anything to just kinda keep going.
And it became an epidemic definitely in the '80s
with crack taking over the scene.
And Mrs. Mardella Shipp,
she began what's called Beloit Inner City Council in 1984.
It was a substance abuse center
for those families who needed to come in
and have counseling, receive some education about it,
and just to help.
It was called Beloit Inner City,
and it helped reach out to others.
And it was like a sliding paying scale, sliding fee scale,
no real money if you had insurance.
But she was just there to work with our families,
so they would know they had a place to go for refuge
or to get the help they needed.
Beloit black history firsts.
We have tons of black history firsts that we could mention.
One I'm gonna share, too,
this wasn't planned, ladies and gentlemen,
but Walter Knight who's in our room as well,
he was the first city councilor in 1976,
the first African-American city council member,
elected in 1976.
And besides that, he also ran the union
at Fairbanks Morse for over 25 years.
Then he was the loan executive director
of what's called Rock County OIC,
Opportunities Industrialization Center,
which was a on-the-job training center
which helped with education, GED,
a trade, construction, all of those things.
Now fast forward to 2019, two or three days ago,
they just dedicated the Portland Avenue Bridge, Highway 213,
in honor and remembrance--
in honor of Mr. Walter Knight.
It's now called the Walter Knight Memorial Bridge.
So I believe in giving people credit
[audience applauding] where credit is due.
Stand up, Mr. Knight.
[audience laughing]
[audience applauding]
As some of the older people say,
"Give me my flowers while I can yet smell them
and see them,"
so we're giving you your kudos.
But again, he paved the way for so many of us
to be able to do what we're doing.
And he was strictly a politician,
kept a game face on all the time.
As you noticed, he still has one on.
And he's shy and very humble, so we appreciate you.
Then there was Dr. Rosa Smith, superintendent of schools.
She was the first African-American superintendent
for the School District of Beloit.
Clarence Bolton was our first mail carrier.
And his wife, Carolyn Bolton, was the first councilor
for the School District of Beloit.
There's Diane Henry, she was the first city clerk
back in the '70s when they finally started to hire blacks.
She was hired as the city clerk.
Otha Williams, school psychologist,
still works for the School District of Beloit.
Some of you may just know him from Otha's Ribs.
That's his part-time job. [laughing]
His real profession is school psychologist.
And Mr. Bob Gilliam, the fire chief.
He was the first African-American fire chief
for the City of Beloit.
And Edie Caldwell, the first female police officer,
she was hired in 1977.
And then there's Johnny Watts.
He was a basketball player,
and the first African American
to play in the state tournament.
Tons of other people have paved the way
and done many things.
And it's all, you know, very impressive.
And at the time when they were doing these things,
they weren't doing it so that I could stand here in 2019
and shout their names out.
They did it because it was in their heart.
It was in their mind.
It was embedded into them to reach out,
do what you gotta do, take care of your family,
and help leave a legacy for some others to follow.
Now we must never forget, "Sometimes it is impossible
"to know where you are headed
"without reflecting on where you came from.
"Understanding your heritage, your roots,
"and your ancestry is an important part
"of carving out your future."
And nevertheless, I couldn't say it louder,
I'm from Beloit and couldn't be prouder.
Thank you. [audience chuckling]
[audience applauding]
Now if we have any questions, comments, cares, concerns?
Yes, Terese?
- Terese: Can you just share your interest in this topic?
Because I'm aware that you do this every year
during Black History Month.
But I've always been amazed at here
and how you pull together this info.
- Yeah, some people say, "Are you a history buff?"
Most recently, I became into that.
I think the older you get,
you find your interests lead you a different path.
And when Black History Month came 2017, I think it was,
or 2018, I'm getting older, I'm losing track on that,
so I just thought, first of all, we don't teach
this type of stuff in a school, in a classroom.
You're not gonna find this in a book
that you're gonna go home and do a report on.
Different schools have different approaches
for Black History Month.
And a lot of our young people have no idea.
They think life is grand.
I got a iPhone, I got a iPad, I got the PlayStation.
This just all came.
I didn't have to do anything for it.
So I just think that they need to know
and reflect on where we've been.
And it generated a lot of interest.
So I said, "Each day, I'm gonna share a fact."
As I mentioned before,
I was born and raised here my entire life,
so I've seen the city transition
from back in the '70s to now.
I know what I went through.
I sat around, listened to my mom talk, listened to others.
I've been dragged to meetings my whole life
[audience laughing] sitting in the back
of a room listening, finding out about issues
that they were trying to fought,
from the Black Teacher Caucus to the NAACP,
to the Greater Beloit Minority Coalition
to the OIC Auxiliary.
So I'm there just taking in everything.
But who knew that I would retain it?
I did retain it, [audience laughing]
and it became an interest to me.
So I said couple years ago, "Each day,
"I wanna share something about Beloit."
Because you hear so often Harriet Tubman,
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
You might hear Frederick Douglass.
You might hear Sojourner Truth, Rosa Parks.
You hear the same five over and over and over again,
but there's things, gems in your own backyard
that you can reflect on
and know that they've done great things,
and the ways they paved for you to be able
to do some of the things you do.
We have pre-collegiate programs
at Beloit College now, Help Yourself.
We have students going there, the black student.
Different things that are going on,
but there were people who fought for those rights,
and I don't think our students knew that,
or the young people knew that.
So I said, "I'm just gonna toss it out.
"Each day, I'ma give a fact."
So I started reading, researching,
interviewing people, talking to people.
And then it became just like, you don't even wanna sleep
because you just start reading,
and you just get thirsty for more knowledge and information,
and you're like, "Ooh, ooh, ooh."
So it just really became like a bubble.
So I did it for the first year, and I was like,
"Hmm, I don't know if I could find anything else."
I did 28 whole days with a lot of information one year,
and came back the next year with it.
And then to hear the feedback
and the positive feedback from our community members
from all walks of life, from all colors,
and they're sharing it.
And they're like, "Thank you for this information."
Because they never knew.
'Cause where would you find out about it?
We don't have encyclopedias anymore, [laughing] you can't go
unless you maybe google some stuff.
So they didn't know where it was and what to do about it,
so I just thought that each time,
that'll be my giving back to the community.
I'm gonna share with you
and hope that you pass the torch on,
and maybe someone keeps this legacy going.
Been approached to write books,
which has always been one of my bucket list items,
different things of that nature.
So I'm hoping that I can just continue
to reach this, inspire some,
'cause if we don't teach each other, who else will?
We have to share the information.
So again, and it became just that passion,
so it just kinda took off like that.
And again, like I said,
you just get thirsty for more knowledge,
and then you just read and read, and then you cry some,
you laugh some, you smile some, but it's our history,
and we cannot sweep it under a rug.
It needs to be told.
Yes.
- Woman: So first, thank you for your commitment
to do all the research 'cause I know
it's quite a commitment.
But for the community at large, what would you say
or how you would ask the community at large
to help spread this type of message
and get this information out to the broader community?
- And her question was, how can we get this information out
to the broader community?
I would say, as far as if you're a teacher,
or if you're involved in different community groups,
invite speakers, read, hold book club meetings,
find a topic that you want to research
and get more in depth on it.
Bring in people, like I said, we have two living icons
in our presence right now that will be more than glad
to come talk someday, you know.
So just kinda reach back and do that.
And don't be afraid to ask.
Again, 'cause it takes teamwork to make the dream work.
We all gotta put our heads together.
My way may not be the right way.
Maybe someone else has another idea.
But the more we get the information out,
maybe it starts with the Daily Newsputting in something.
Maybe again, like I said,
it starts with the afterschool program type of deal,
a club, whatever.
We just gotta come together on it
and see ways that we can utilize this information.
- Woman: So you had
the names of two of the towns in Georgia?
- In Mississippi.
- Mississippi. - Mm-hmm.
- And I know you said,
and I know this from other reading I've done,
there were four towns.
- Pontotoc, Mississippi.
These all are cities in the northern part of Mississippi.
And they used to call Beloit "Mississippi North,"
because the city was heavily populated.
Even like right now, there's so much population
that derived from the South.
Houston, Mississippi, Pontotoc, Mississippi,
New Albany, Mississippi, and West Point.
- This is all-- - All in Mississippi.
- In all northern part?
- Northern part of Mississippi.
And again, like I said, a lot of times,
they did a lot of carpooling,
wasn't even cars, but like walking in groups,
because they were afraid to be alone by themselves,
because what they noticed is that although we're north,
and although there's no slavery here,
there's still that racial tension in the area.
So they always wanted to be safe and wanted to be secure.
That's when they worked together.
If anything I could take, what I found out
is it was more togetherness to me back then.
It wasn't so divided.
Even though we were already divided in the town.
You had your pockets here on the east side of town.
You had your pockets on the west side of town.
They had the two school districts, they were called.
Beloit Public Schools 1, which was east side of the river,
and Beloit Public Schools 2,
which was west side of the river.
And the superintendent of the school
was the president of the school board,
and their wives were the assistant.
[all laughing]
But like I said, there's tons of stories.
There's a lot more that I coulda elaborated on.
We could talk about social and recreation clubs.
Again, blacks weren't allowed in different areas
like the Alumni House, which is downtown.
It was called the Pop House back in the day.
And blacks were not allowed to do that.
So that's when they formed their own organizations,
their own social groups such as the Women's Culture Club,
the Quest Club.
They formed their own communications
and ways to dance,
and hang out, and create their own.
Bell's Bar off of Maple, the Socialite Club,
Leon Davidson, Davidson Square.
And then other pastimes such as bowling.
They helped implement the first black bowling league,
which it was called the Saturday Night Major League,
and they bowled in South Beloit, Illinois.
So they made their own way.
Sometimes, I don't know if you guys watched
the award show the other night, the BET Awards.
Tyler Perry said something very, very dynamic and profound.
He said, "I stopped wanting to sit at the table,
"and built my own."
And that's exactly what African Americans did.
I can't join you at your table, I'll build my own.
And that's what he did with Tyler Perry Studios.
And that was just very profound to me and inspiring.
And somehow, I just think that our younger people need
to have that same energy, so we just gotta kinda be in here.
I found out if it's on a screen,
they'll probably read it or watch it.
Anything that's on with technology nowadays.
But that was just so profound to me that he said that.
- Woman: So I noticed in your research
that some things kinda changed mid '60s.
Would you say that has to do
with the national civil rights movement?
- Definitely, I would say definitely it did.
Because at this time now, it's a national--
it's becoming national.
The laws are changing all the way around.
There were places still like Milwaukee,
who tried to not abide by the national laws.
And then there was Vel Phillips from Milwaukee,
who fought hard for rights for the community of Madison.
Then there's people in Madison like Velma Bell Hamilton,
different ones.
Every city, I like to say, in this area
had one or two activists, one or two leaders
that really tried to press the issue
of equal rights for all.
And then there's over by Lake Geneva,
the town of Ivanhoe, I think it is.
It's a black community.
Our kids don't know anything about that.
It was founded by blacks, owned by blacks, and everything.
Just a few minutes away from here,
over outside of Lake Geneva.
But that's not in a book,
so you almost gotta just preach that word.
That would be a great place for a field trip,
you know what I mean?
So this can really grow.
We can make it a club type of deal,
those who are really interested, families, parents.
This could be something that we could really grow
and prosper to getting to know your history
and knowing what's going on.
Reverend Pride, they marched with Dr. King
back in the '60s, the march to Selma march.
He was part of that, Reverend U.S. Pride was.
Again, very instrumental.
And one other thing, like I said,
the church has always been our foundation,
and they weren't divided.
We had the Beloit Community Ministers Fellowship.
We had people partnering up and working together.
And if anything, that's getting a little divided.
Everybody's just interested in saving themselves
when we need to save ourselves.
Any other questions, comments, cares, concerns?
Thank you.
- Thank you. [audience applauding]