Indiana Blacks in the Twentieth Century

"Indiana Blacks in the Twentieth Century" is the long-awaited sequel to Emma Lou Thornbrough's classic study, "The Negro in Indiana before 1900: The Study of a Minority" (1957; reprint by Indiana University Press, 1993). Thornbrough (1913-1994), the acknowledged dean of black history in Indiana, wrote seminal essays on the Klan in Indiana and on the movement to remove barriers to public accommodations in the state, and before her death she also completed a full study of the history of busing in Indianapolis to desegregate the public schools. In the last decade of her life Thornbrough worked on the present study, a pioneering survey of Indiana's African American population in a century full of momentous change. Thornbrough, a lifelong Indianapolis resident, Butler University professor, and active in the Greater Indianapolis NAACP, had a personal knowledge of many of the events and personalities she analysed. "Indiana Blacks in the Twentieth Century" chronicles the growth, both in numbers and in power, of African Americans in a northern state that was notable for its antiblack tradition; Indiana's 1851 constitution had forbidden free Negroes even to migrate into the state. Thornbrough shows the impact of the Great Migration of African Americans to Indiana during World War I and World War II to work in war industries, linking the growth of the black community to the increased segegation of the 1920s, when all-black high schools were built in Indianapolis, Evansville, and Gary. The author also shows how World War II marked a turning point in the movement in Indiana to expand the civil rights of African Americans, leading to the landmark law ending legal segregation in the schools in 1949. "Indiana Blacks in the Twentieth Century" describes the impact of the national civil rights movement on Indiana, as young activists, both black and white, challenged segregation and racial injustice in many aspects of daily life, often in new organisations and with new leaders. In Gary the African American majority elected Richard Hatcher mayor in 1967, where he served until 1987, one of a handful of big city black majors with long tenures, until the hard times of the late 1980s led black voters to try new leadership. The final chapter by Lana Ruegamer explores ways that black identity was affected by new access to education, work, and housing after 1970, demonstrating gains and losses from integration.