Overview
When black residents first arrived in Fort Wayne, or were brought here, their community had to be carved from nothing. First came the neighborhoods and the jobs, then the influx of new residents along with new trades.
By the mid-1940s, an organization was needed to support the needs and wants of the city’s growing Black community, as the Fort Wayne Urban League was incorporated in 1949.
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Transcript
Aisha Arrington
My name is Aisha Arrington, and I’m the President and CEO of the Fort Wayne Urban League.
At That Time: The Fort Wayne Urban League Soundwalk Project. Sponsored by the Fort Wayne Media Collaborative, Indiana Humanities, the Indiana Landmarks Black Heritage Preservation Program, and PNC Bank. Recorded, in part, at the WELT Studios.
Where Do We Live: Early Fort Wayne
Roberta Francis Ridley
How do we pull together upward mobility? That’s when we help ourselves. When people come together, then you have to figure out how they are going to make it happen.
My name is Roberta Francis Ridley.
I do genealogy. I chair the African-American Genealogical Society of Fort Wayne.
The research has shown that the first African Americans that actually showed up in Fort Wayne arrived with the building of the Fort; they were here as a result of military presence. I guess if we gave a fair range, it would be around 1772 to 1780.
The next phase of significance would have to be the Civil War, although we have settlements of African Americans taking place in Fort Wayne much earlier than that—approximately 1832 to 1835.
Redlining has always been in play, whether they called it that or not. Even if we go back to West Columbia versus East Columbia Streets, East Columbia was primarily Black-inhabited and home to foreign immigrants.
They even had their own photographers, grocery stores, and other businesses.
They mostly put up these little tent houses—shanty houses—down by the river.
In the late 1870s and 1880s, we see a much larger influx. They were primarily coming from the South. They brought truckloads and train carloads of African-American workers to the North to work in the factories and the coal mines of Kentucky.
Who helps them when they get there? They go to the churches. Turner Chapel was a force to be reckoned with in terms of where to go to get help.
When you start talking about education, around 1872, the laws indicated that Black and white children could not go to school together.
So again, back to the church… We had African-American teachers teaching in the church. My great-grandmother was one of them.
Denise Porter
My name is Denise Porter.
I got named the historian for Fort Wayne’s Union Baptist Church. Union was formed in 1892, just a few years after the founding of the oldest African-American church here, which is Turner Chapel AME Church. In 1892, the total Black population of Allen County was less than 300 people. And you’re gonna say half of those weren’t church-going people.
Dr. Miles S. Edwards
My name is Dr. Miles S. Edwards.
My great-grandfather came to Allen County, Fort Wayne, Indiana, in 1898, so we’ve been here that long.
I grew up on Dalman Avenue, which was previously Helen Street, right next to the South Side Market, on Warsaw and Dalman Street.
It was like a Rosewood. We had big houses, everybody had pianos growing up, and my sister still lives in our family’s home. Not too many people can say their family has been on those streets for over 100 years—since 1900.
Denise Porter
My father was born in 1920 and lived in the area that was called Westfield, off Ardmore Road and Jefferson Blvd.
Roberta Ridley
The Westfield area was where African Americans were directed.
Joanna Patterson
Westfield was a place where Black people could buy their own land.
One of the best-known entrepreneurs in Westfield was Carl Wilson, owner of Wilson’s Chicken Shack Restaurant. It attracted people from all over the Midwest.
My name is Joanna Patterson.
I grew up in Westfield. It was pretty much centered on the home, jobs, church, and the neighborhood.
The steel mill was there, and we lived behind Slater Steel growing up.
Westfield was the rolling mill district. That’s what they called it.
We heard the trains quite a bit because there was a train right there by Slater Steel.
Denise Porter
The less desirable places to live were along the railroad tracks because of the noise, pollution, and things of that nature. So African Americans typically lived in those areas.
Dr. Alfred Brothers Jr.
The road and railway networks—that’s been the godsend for this city. Where the current post office is used to be a big railroad depot.
My name is Dr. Alfred Brothers Jr.
I spent 22 years in the Air Force.
I’m now a retired engineering program manager.
To me, the Urban League and business co-exist.
Carol Cartwright
The Urban League has been in Fort Wayne since 1920 and was one of the earliest, they say, not-for-profit human services agencies.
My name is Carol Cartwright.
I’ve been involved with the Urban League in one way or another since 1971, either as an employee or a volunteer.
Aisha Arrington
In 1920, large groups of African Americans migrated North to Fort Wayne to escape the Jim Crow South, seeking better economic and social opportunities. To accommodate them, a small group of progress-minded Black leaders created the Fort Wayne Community Association. The needs grew as more Black residents arrived, looking for assistance with housing, employment, health, economic development, and civil rights. The Association, now aligned with the mission of the National Urban League, became the precursor of the Fort Wayne branch.
First housed out of 507 East Wallace Street, the small group called their home the Phyllis Wheatley Community Center and worked primarily in the field of recreation and social groups.
Roberta Ridley
The Wheatley Center was really thriving. One of them, at 436.
Joanna Patterson
It was a place where they would go for recreation. They played ping pong, games, and had tutoring.
Roberta Ridley
They had a girls’ reserve program there, which helped African-American women gain employment.
Dr. Alfred Brothers Jr.
My background is obviously as a genealogist and a historian. When you look at it, the 1940s were a major turning point for this community when job opportunities opened up—for example, in the police force, schools, and other places. Before that, non-professional jobs were the main option.
Carol Cartwright
Part of the role of the Urban League from the beginning was seeking equity.
Joanna Patterson
My aunt Jackie Patterson was one who fought and continued to fight for equal rights and equality. After leaving Westfield, she was part of the Urban League, National Urban League, and served as President of those organizations.
The Fort Wayne Urban League is where she started as a teenager. She volunteered, and President [Robert] Wilkerson gave her different assignments she could work on in the office.
Aisha Arrington
Research for this project was, in part, provided by the diligence of the late/great Jacqueline Patterson.
The Fort Wayne Urban League, under the direction of Mr. Wilson, in 1946 began to make a serious attempt to align its program with the people and functions of the National Urban League. The far-seeing leaders knew it could remain a viable organization, geared more specifically to housing, employment, industrial relations, community organization, and race relations.
The Fort Wayne Urban League was incorporated on October 1, 1949, located at 436 East Douglas Ave.
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