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>> ALL RIGHT.
WELCOME TO GRCC’S RACE, ETHNICITY, AND IDENTITY CONFERENCE.
I’M LISA GLOEGE AND I’M A FACULTY MEMBER IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCE DEPARTMENT,
AND IT’S MY PLEASURE TO INTRODUCE
A GRCC ALUMNI TODAY, DR. BOB HENDERSHOT,
WHO TEACHES AT GRCC, TEACHES HISTORY HERE.
HE ALSO HAS A VERY LONG C.V. FULL OF GOOD THINGS.
HE HAS HIS ASSOCIATE’S FROM GRCC,
AND THEN HE’S GOT HIS BACHELOR’S FROM M.S.U.
AND HIS MASTER’S AND PhD FROM CENTRAL MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY
AND THE UNIVERSITY OF STRATHCLYDE, GLASGOW.
SO, HE’S ALSO THE DIRECTOR OF OUR IRISH STUDIES PROGRAM
AND HAS A LONG LIST OF PUBLICATIONS AND COURSES TAUGHT AT GRCC,
SO I THINK WE WILL LEARN A LOT FROM HIM TODAY.
PLEASE WELCOME. (applause and cheering)
>> THANK YOU VERY MUCH, DR. GLOEGE, FOR THAT LOVELY INTRO.
IT’S A GREAT PLEASURE TO BE HERE WITH ALL OF YOU TODAY
TO TALK ABOUT A VERY IMPORTANT TOPIC.
THE TITLE OF THE TALK IS “IDLEWILD’S RAPTURE--
"RACE, POWER, AND CULTURE IN AMERICA’S BLACK EDEN.”
AND THIS IS AN INTERESTING THING TO EXPLORE
ON A LOT OF DIFFERENT LEVELS.
IT’S ONE, OF COURSE, ONE OF THE PREMIERE AFRICAN-AMERICAN RESORT COMMUNITIES
IN THE UNITED STATES,
AND ITS HISTORY IS VERY MUCH A HISTORY OF AMERICA IN THE 20th CENTURY.
SO, WHAT I WOULD LIKE TO DO IS SHARE A COUPLE OF THOUGHTS
AND GO THROUGH SOME THEMES OF THE PERIOD,
AND THEN LOOK AT IDLEWILD IN PARTICULAR.
AND THEN, I WOULD LIKE TO HAVE A LARGER CONVERSATION
WITH ALL OF YOU ABOUT THE--
OF COURSE, THE BURNING QUESTION FOR ALL HISTORIANS IS,
“WHAT IS THE HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS OR THAT THING?”
AND THE IDLEWILD COMMUNITY IS AN IMPORTANT PART OF THAT.
YOU KNOW, HOW CAN WE PLACE IT IN ITS HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE
AND HOW CAN WE DISCUSS THAT?
SO, I’VE GOT A COUPLE OF IDEAS,
BUT I’D ALSO LIKE TO HAVE THAT CONVERSATION WITH YOU.
THIS IS AN INTEREST THAT I’VE HAD FOR A WHILE,
BUT EVEN THOUGH I GREW UP IN MICHIGAN, I DID NOT--
AS I CHILD, I DID NOT KNOW THAT IDLEWILD EVER EXISTED, GROWING UP HERE IN--
ON THE WEST SIDE OF G.R.
BUT IT WAS NOT UNTIL I WAS IN GRADUATE SCHOOL
THAT I LEARNED ABOUT IT FOR THE FIRST TIME,
AND THAT'S WHEN I WAS DOING MY MASTER’S
UP AT CENTRAL MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY, THERE IN MT. PLEASANT.
AND DURING SUMMER SEMESTER, I GOT A STUDENT WORKER POSITION
AT THE ARCHIVE UP THERE, CALLED THE “CLARKE HISTORICAL ARCHIVE.”
AND THE DIRECTOR PUT ME TO WORK WRITING TEN MINUTE RADIO SCRIPTS
FOR NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO.
AND THAT’S WHAT I DID ALL SUMMER, AND THEN HE WOULD READ THEM ON--
THROUGH THE LOCAL N.P.R. AFFILIATE, AND THERE WAS--
IT HAD SOME WACKY NAME LIKE “STORIES FROM MICHIGAN’S ATTIC”
OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT,
BUT I GOT SOME FREEDOM TO EXPLORE MICHIGAN HISTORY
AND ELEMENTS OF IT THAT I LIKED.
AND ANYWAY, I GOT TO PROWL IN THE ARCHIVES, YOU KNOW,
THERE AT THE CLARKE DURING THE DAY
AND THEN WRITE THESE SCRIPTS,
AND ONE OF THESE THINGS THAT I STUMBLED ONTO WAS IDLEWILD.
AND I WAS INSTANTLY FASCINATED,
BECAUSE THE...
THE UNIQUENESS AND THE SIGNIFICANCE OF IT JUST SORT OF DID JUMP IMMEDIATELY.
AND THEN, I THOUGHT, “HOW IS IT POSSIBLE THAT I DIDN’T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THIS,
"YOU KNOW, UNTIL I WAS 22 YEARS OLD?”
AND THAT WAS A QUESTION THAT’S KINDA STUCK WITH ME.
ANYWAY, SO I WROTE THE RADIO SCRIPT AND WE RAN THE TEN MINUTE SPOT,
AND THEN I HAD TO MOVE ON TO OTHER RADIO SCRIPTS,
BUT I ALWAYS REMAINED INTERESTED IN IT,
AND ABOUT A DECADE AGO,
THERE WAS A FLURRY OF SCHOLARLY INTEREST IN IDLEWILD,
AND THERE WERE SOME INTERESTING BOOKS WRITTEN,
AND I’LL MENTION THEM, OF COURSE, AS WE GO ON.
BUT, UM...
WHAT I WANTED TO DO TODAY
WAS TO PLACE IDLEWILD IN ITS HISTORICAL CONTEXT...
AND THEN, TALK WITH YOU ABOUT ITS HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE.
IDLEWILD THE CITY, THE COMMUNITY,
IS LOCATED IN A VERY REMOTE SPOT IN NORTHERN MICHIGAN,
IN WHAT’S CALLED LAKE COUNTY, AS YOU CAN SEE HERE,
AND IT’S SORT OF RIGHT SMACK IN THE MIDDLE OF LAKE COUNTY,
WHICH... IS... NICE,
BECAUSE IT'S IN, YOU KNOW, THE UPPER PART OF THE LOWER PENINSULA,
AND OF COURSE, THERE ARE VAST PINE FORESTS
AND THERE ARE LOVELY LAKES AND...
IT’S A NICE ENOUGH AREA, I SUPPOSE.
BUT REALLY, GIVEN THE BEAUTY OF MICHIGAN AT LARGE,
IT’S UNREMARKABLE IN MANY WAYS.
IT’S NOT ON THE COAST.
IT’S NOT PART OF THE SLEEPING BEAR DUNES.
IT DOESN’T HAVE SOMETHING LIKE MACKINAC ISLAND TO DRAW PEOPLE.
BUT EVEN THOUGH IT’S REMOTE, IT DID HAVE A PARTICULAR DESTINY
AND A ROLE TO PLAY IN A LARGER AMERICAN, EVEN GLOBAL, STORY,
RIGHT, AS AN AFRICAN-AMERICAN RESORT COMMUNITY.
DURING THE ERA OF SEGREGATION,
WHICH WAS, AS YOU KNOW, A VERY LONG TIME
IN THE HISTORY OF AMERICA,
BLACK AMERICANS WERE NOT WELCOME AT MOST VACATION LOCATIONS.
BUT SEVERAL MICHIGAN BUSINESS PEOPLE--
UM, A SERIES OF HUSBAND AND WIFE PAIRS--
THEY DETECTED THAT THERE WAS A MARKET, RIGHT?
AN UNTAPPED MARKET FOR A BLACK RESORT.
AND THAT RESORT BECAME IDLEWILD.
AND IT WAS BEGUN IN 1912.
THAT’S WHEN THEY FIRST PLOTTED THE TERRITORY.
SO, 100 YEARS AGO.
IT’S PERHAPS APPROPRIATE THAT WE’VE INCLUDED IDLEWILD
IN OUR RACE AND ETHNICITY CONFERENCE THIS YEAR
BECAUSE IT IS THE CENTENNIAL COMING UP THIS SUMMER,
AND THERE’S A VARIETY OF CELEBRATIONS IN REMEMBRANCE,
YOU KNOW, EVENTS PLANNED.
BUT ANYWAY, IT WASN’T UNTIL AFTER THE FIRST WORLD WAR
THAT THE COMMUNITY BECAME VERY POPULAR, AND IT GREW VERY QUICKLY.
AND IN TIME, IT WOULD COME TO DOMINATE, YOU KNOW,
THAT WHOLE INDUSTRY OF AFRICAN-AMERICAN RESORT COMMUNITIES,
AND BECOME ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS IN HISTORY.
MANY AFRICAN-AMERICANS, PERHAPS MAKING VIRTUE OUT OF NECESSITY,
BELIEVED THAT ESTABLISHING A RESORT LIKE THIS
WAS ALSO IMPORTANT TO DEMONSTRATING THE CAPABILITIES OF AFRICAN-AMERICANS,
AND PUNCTUATING THE LIES, RIGHT...
THE HYPOCRISY AND THE LIES OF THE DOMINANT SOCIETY
THAT JUSTIFIED SEGREGATION THROUGH A VARIETY OF MEANS.
BUT ANYWAY, WHAT THE CREATION OF IDLEWILD IN 1912
AND THE SALE OF THE FIRST LANDS THERE IN 1915
AND ITS GROWTH DURING THE INTER-WAR PERIOD,
THE RESULT OF ALL OF THIS IS A VERY AMAZING SAGA.
A STRIKING STORY THAT HAS A LOT TO TEACH US ABOUT THE UNITED STATES,
ABOUT THE HISTORY OF MICHIGAN,
ABOUT RACE RELATIONS IN THE 20th CENTURY IN GENERAL.
AS I SAID, IDLEWILD HAS ENJOYED, YOU KNOW, SOME SCHOLARLY ATTENTION,
BUT MY GOAL IN THIS PROJECT IS TO PLACE IT INTO A WIDER HISTORICAL CONTEXT...
TO FULLY UNDERSTAND THE HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS COMMUNITY--
WHICH, AS I SAID, I’D LIKE TO TALK WITH YOU ALL ABOUT,
YOU KNOW, TOWARD THE END OF OUR TIME TOGETHER TODAY.
TO UNDERSTAND THAT HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE,
WE HAVE TO HAVE LITTLE BIT WIDER LENS,
ESPECIALLY TO BEGIN WITH.
IDLEWILD’S STORY BEGINS IN THE EARLY 20th CENTURY,
WHICH IS AN ERA-- OH, I HAVE A MAP HERE OF THE IDLEWILD COMMUNITY AS WELL,
AND, AS YOU CAN SEE, THERE’S SEVERAL NICE LAKES,
AS WELL AS A VARIETY OF DIFFERENT DISTRICTS AS WELL.
BUT ANYWAY, WE’LL COME BACK TO THAT LATER, TOO.
TO UNDERSTAND IDLEWILD-- PUT IT INTO CONTEXT, RIGHT?
IN THE EARLY 20th CENTURY,
THIS IS AN ERA OF INTOLERANCE, IT’S THE ERA OF JIM CROW,
IT’S AN ERA OF INEQUALITY, AN ERA OF INTENSE RACISM.
THE WORDS "JIM CROW" MEANT A WAY OF LIFE,
YOU KNOW, THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES.
AT THE SAME TIME,
EUROPEAN EMPIRES DOMINATED ALMOST EVERY INCH OF AFRICA, RIGHT,
AND EXPLOITED ITS RESOURCES AND ITS PEOPLE.
AT THE SAME TIME, IN THE INTER-WAR PERIOD,
PEOPLE THROUGHOUT THE WORLD STRUGGLED TO GET THOSE IN POWER
TO LIVE UP TO THEIR IDEALS AND PROMISES, RIGHT,
OF DEMOCRACY AND OF THE RHETORIC OF SELF-DETERMINATION.
SO, CONFRONTING SEGREGATION IN THE UNITED STATES
WAS ACTUALLY PART OF A MUCH LARGER STRUGGLE--
A GLOBAL STRUGGLE--
AS MANY PEOPLE WHO SPENT TIME AT IDLEWILD FULLY RECOGNIZED.
BUT TO ZOOM IN ON MICHIGAN’S HISTORY FOR A MOMENT.
MICHIGAN, AS A NORTHERN STATE, HAD NEVER BEEN A SLAVE SOCIETY...
MEANING IT’S ECONOMY WAS NEVER BASED ON SLAVE LABOR.
AND AFTER THE CIVIL WAR, OF COURSE, IT HAD FORMALIZED INTO LAW,
AS DID MANY NORTHERN STATES, SPECIFIC LAWS, RIGHT?
CIVIL RIGHTS STATUTES THAT FORBID DISCRIMINATION IN PUBLIC SPACES.
AND THAT LAW WAS AMENDED IN 1919 TO TRY AND MAKE IT MORE POWERFUL,
AND THAT IN-AND-OF-ITSELF IS ACTUALLY QUITE TELLING,
THAT THEY HAD TO TRY TO AMEND IT TO MAKE IT WORK.
THESE LAWS WERE NOTORIOUSLY UNENFORCED, RIGHT?
THE LAWS WERE ON THE BOOKS,
BUT IT DIDN’T REALLY MEAN ANYTHING IF THE STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS
WEREN’T WILLING TO ENFORCE IT, WHICH WAS THE CASE.
AND...
THAT’S THE CASE FOR MUCH OF THE STATE’S HISTORY.
INDEED, THE TERM “JIM CROW” AND ALL THAT IT IMPLIES,
WAS NOT ONLY FOUND IN THE SOUTHERN STATES, BUT IN THE NORTH AS WELL.
FEDERAL LAW MAKERS, STATE, AND LOCAL LAW MAKERS,
THEY ENACTED A WIDE VARIETY OF POLICIES
TO CONFINE AFRICAN-AMERICAN PEOPLE’S OPPORTUNITIES
IN THE FIELDS OF HOUSING IN THEIR NEIGHBORHOODS...
AND IT RESTRICTED THEM IN OTHER WAYS AS WELL.
HIGHWAY POLICIES, RIGHT, AS WELL AS HOUSING POLICIES,
THEY WERE USED INTENTIONALLY.
THEY RAVAGED AFRICAN-AMERICAN COMMERCIAL AND RESIDENTIAL AREAS IN THIS TIME.
GOVERNMENTS-- THEY SUBSIDIZED THE MOVEMENTS--
THE PRIMARILY-- YOU KNOW, THE MOVEMENT OF WHITE FAMILIES TO THE SUBURBS,
INTO WHICH BOTH HOMESTEADS AND JOBS WERE MOVING AT THE SAME TIME,
AND, OF COURSE, THE RESULT WAS INCREASING TENSIONS.
TENSIONS GREW, OF COURSE, DURING THE PERIOD OF THE GREAT MIGRATION,
AS TENS OF THOUSANDS OF SOUTHERN-BORN AFRICAN-AMERICANS
MOVED INTO THE NORTHERN CITIES, RIGHT, IN THE 1910s AND '20s
AND '30s AND '40s AND AFTER.
THEIR GOAL IN THIS GREAT MIGRATION, OF COURSE, LIKE MANY SOUTHERN WHITES,
WAS TO ESCAPE RURAL PRO--
WAS TO ESCAPE RURAL POVERTY AND TO WIN JOBS.
WIN JOBS IN THE WORLD’S MOST VIBRANT INDUSTRIAL ECONOMIES,
IN PLACES LIKE CHICAGO AND DETROIT
AND ALL ALONG TODAY’S I-75 CORRIDOR, YOU KNOW?
WITH PONTIAC AND FLINT AND SAGINAW.
ALL OF THOSE INDUSTRIAL CITIES, THEY OFFERED ENORMOUS OPPORTUNITY
AND IT WAS A MAGNET FOR PEOPLE FROM ALL OVER THE COUNTRY,
INCLUDING AFRICAN-AMERICANS.
AND WITH THAT GROWING POPULATION MOVING NORTH,
BECOMING PART OF MICHIGAN SOCIETY...
YOU HAD BOTH WORKING CLASS AFRICAN-AMERICANS
AND MIDDLE CLASS AFRICAN-AMERICANS.
A VERY VIBRANT BLACK MIDDLE CLASS, RIGHT,
BECAME PART OF MICHIGAN SOCIETY.
AND THEY WERE ENTREPRENEURS, PROFESSIONALS,
RETAILERS, ARTISTS.
AND OF COURSE, MIDDLE CLASS AFRICAN-AMERICANS,
THEY FACED THE SAME HOUSING DISCRIMINATION,
JIM CROW PRACTICES, *** VIOLENCE, AS DID POOR FAMILIES.
NEARLY SIMULTANEOUS TO THIS GROWING POPULATION
OF AFRICAN-AMERICANS IN MICHIGAN
BEGAN THE HISTORY OF WHAT WE TODAY CALL “WHITE FLIGHT.”
OKAY, FROM CITIES LIKE DETROIT.
YOU KNOW, A GROWING EXODUS OF EMPLOYERS
TO CHEAPER LAND IN THE SUBURBS.
WITH IT CAME THE RED LINING OF REAL ESTATE PRACTICES,
DENIED AFRICAN-AMERICANS EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR HOUSING.
IN TYPICAL SUPPLY-AND-DEMAND FASHION, YOU KNOW, AFRICAN-AMERICANS' HOMES,
THEY FELL IN VALUE, AS WHITES, WHO WERE DRIVEN BY FEAR OF CRIME,
POOR SCHOOLS, THEIR DECLINING HOME VALUES,
AND THEIR PREJUDICE, RELOCATED TO THE ‘BURBS.
THERE IS AN AXIOM IN MICHIGAN’S CULTURE, MAYBE MANY OF YOU HAVE HEARD IT,
AND THE AXIOM TELLS US THAT, YOU KNOW, IF YOU’RE POOR AND WHITE,
THEN YOU LIVE IN A MOBILE HOME PARK.
AND IF YOU’RE POOR AND BLACK, YOU LIVE IN A CITY GHETTO.
AND WHILE THAT AXIOM, RIGHT, MAY BE SOMEWHAT REVEALING
OF MICHIGAN’S HISTORY OF SEGREGATION, IT’S ALSO INCOMPLETE, RIGHT?
BECAUSE IN REALITY, EVEN WEALTHY BLACKS WERE PROHIBITED
FROM LIVING IN WHITE NEIGHBORHOODS, RIGHT,
DUE TO WHITE’S FEAR OF DECLINING PROPERTY VALUES, RIGHT?
EVEN IF THEY WEREN’T PERSONALLY RACIST,
THEY WERE STILL LIVING IN A RACIST SOCIETY
AND THEY KNEW THAT IF AFRICAN-AMERICANS--
THEY PERCEIVED THAT IF AFRICAN-AMERICANS MOVED INTO THEIR COMMUNITY,
THAT THEIR MAJOR INVESTMENT, THEIR HOUSE, WOULD DECLINE IN VALUE.
AND SO, THEY WANTED TO MOVE OUT,
WHICH A LOT OF PEOPLE HAD THAT PERCEPTION
AND, AS A RESULT, LOTS OF HOUSES WENT ON THE MARKET,
LOTS MORE BEING SOLD, RIGHT,
DROVE THE PRICES DOWN TO BE COMPETITIVE.
IT MADE IT CHEAPER FOR THE IMPOVERISHED, YOU KNOW, COMMUNITIES TO MOVE IN,
AND IT WAS A SELF-PERPETUATING PHILOSOPHY.
AGAIN, TO UNDERSTAND THE HISTORY OF IDLEWILD, MORE CONTEXT IS REQUIRED.
THE PUBLICATION OF W. E. B. DUBOIS’ FAMOUS BOOK “THE SOULS OF BLACK FOLK,” 1903.
AND IT IS DUBOIS...
PEOPLE WHO READ HIS WORKS WOULD WRITE HIM LETTERS AND ASK HIM,
YOU KNOW, “PROFESSOR, WE’RE DISCUSSING YOUR WORK IN OUR CIRCLE THIS WEEK
"AND WE WOULD LIKE TO KNOW HOW TO SAY YOUR NAME PROPERLY.”
AND HE WOULD REPLY AND SAY, “THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR ASKING,
"MY NAME IS TO BE PRONOUNCED AS TWO DISTINCT SYLLABLES WITH AN AUDIBLE ‘S.’”
RIGHT-- OR “DUBOIS.”
BUT HIS FAMOUS WORK, RIGHT, ONE OF HIS MOST FAMOUS WORKS,
IS CALLED “THE SOULS OF BLACK FOLK,” PUBLISHED IN 1903.
AND IT’S A WONDERFUL WORK OF AMERICAN LITERATURE.
UM...
BUT IN THIS BOOK, HE HERALDS A NEW, MORE CONFRONTATIONAL APPROACH TO CIVIL RIGHTS.
AND IT’S, OF COURSE, IN THIS BOOK THAT HE VERY WISELY ARGUED--
VERY ASTUTELY ARGUED-- THAT THE PROBLEM OF THE 20th CENTURY
IS THE PROBLEM OF THE COLOR LINE.
AND IN THAT STATEMENT, HE’S NOT SIMPLY TALKING ABOUT THE UNITED STATES, RIGHT?
HE’S OFTEN QUOTED OUT OF CONTEXT.
HE’S ACTUALLY TALKING ABOUT THE WORLD...
THE FEAR OF THE MARXIST CHALLENGE OR ALL THE OTHER ISSUES, RIGHT,
THAT PEOPLE ARE CONCERNED WITH.
THE REAL DOMINANT STRUGGLE IN THE 20th CENTURY
WAS THE ENDING OF RACISM, WHICH, YOU KNOW, HE WISELY ANALYZED
IS THE CAUSE OF MANY WARS
AND POVERTY AND DISLOCATION AROUND THE PLANET.
WELL, ANYWAY, IN HIS BOOK, RIGHT,
DUBOIS-- THE FIRST AFRICAN-AMERICAN TO RECEIVE HIS PhD FROM HARVARD--
HE CONDEMNED THE OLDER PHILOSOPHY OF BOOKER T. WASHINGTON, RIGHT,
THE PHILOSOPHY OF ACCOMMODATION,
AND WASHINGTON’S IDEA THAT AFRICAN-AMERICANS SHOULD...
CONFINE THEIR AMBITIONS TO MANUAL LABOR.
DUBOIS CALLED FOR A MORE ACTIVIST APPROACH
AND THAT IMMEDIATELY STARTED TO TOUCH OFF A REACTION, RIGHT?
A REACTION THAT, AGAIN, IS VERY APT TO WHAT WE’RE TALKING TODAY.
THE "NASHVILLE BANNER" EDITORIALIZED HIS BOOK AND IT ARGUED THAT,
“THIS BOOK IS DANGEROUS FOR THE *** TO READ,
"FOR IT WILL ONLY EXCITE DISCONTENT
"AND FILL HIS IMAGINATION WITH THINGS THAT DO NOT EXIST
"OR THINGS THAT SHOULD NOT BEAR UPON HIS MIND.”
SO, EVEN IN THE REACTION TO THE BOOK, RIGHT,
WE CAN SEE THE RACIST TIMES, RIGHT, THAT HE WAS PUBLISHING IN.
BUT DUBOIS, AS USUAL, WAS MUCH MORE PERSPICACIOUS THAN HIS CRITICS,
AND IN 1908, JUST A FEW YEARS AFTER ITS PUBLICATION,
AFTER ANTI-BLACK RIOTING TOOK PLACE IN SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS,
DUBOIS AND A GROUP OF AFRICAN-AMERICANS AND WHITES,
THEY WOULD MEET IN HARPER’S FERRY, VIRGINIA,
AND THEY WOULD-- TOGETHER, RIGHT--
THEY WOULD CREATE AMERICA’S FIRST NATIONAL CIVIL RIGHTS ORGANIZATION.
AND THAT, OF COURSE, IS THE N.A.A.C.P.
THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE.
AND THIS TOOK OFF, RIGHT, THE TIMING WAS RIGHT, RIGHT,
THEIR ACTION, RIGHT, IT FIT WITH THE MOOD AND THE ATMOSPHERE
AND THE ENERGY OF THE ERA.
AND VERY QUICKLY THEY HAD A VERY LARGE NATIONAL FOLLOWING.
BY 1914, THEY HAD 6,000 MEMBERS ACROSS THE UNITED STATES
IN 50 CITIES.
RIGHT, TIMES WERE CHANGING.
THE MORE ACTIVIST APPROACH THAT DUBOIS HERALDED...
WAS COMING TO BE.
THAT NEW SPIRIT OF ACTION ALSO SPURRED REACTION, RIGHT,
FROM RACISTS IN THE UNITED STATES, OF WHICH, OF COURSE, THERE WERE MANY.
A GREAT EXAMPLE OF THIS, AND ONE THAT SPEAKS VERY MUCH DIRECTLY
TO WHY IDLEWILD WAS NECESSARY,
IS THE CHICAGO RIOT OF 1919.
AND THIS IS A HORRIFIC ELEMENT OF CHICAGO’S AND AMERICA’S HISTORY.
INNUMERABLE LIVES WERE DAMAGED AND DESTROYED,
NOT JUST PROPERTY, RIGHT,
BUT THE ENTIRE PSYCHOLOGY OF A COMMUNITY
WAS BRUTALIZED IN THAT CITY.
BUT THE TELLING THING ABOUT THIS,
THAT SPEAKS TO WHAT I WANT TO GET TO LATER WITH IDLEWILD,
WAS WHERE IS STARTED.
AND IT STARTED AT THE BEACH, RIGHT THERE ON LAKE MICHIGAN
WHERE THERE WAS SWIMMING.
AND, OF COURSE, THE BEACHES WERE SEGREGATED IN CHICAGO,
AND THERE WAS AN AFRICAN-AMERICAN SECTION
AND AFRICAN-AMERICANS WERE ENJOYING THE BEACH, YOU KNOW, IN CHICAGO.
AND ONE OF THE PEOPLE ON THE ADJACENT WHITE BEACH
GOT IT INTO THEIR HEAD THAT ONE OF THE--
ONE OR TWO OF THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN SWIMMERS
WERE SORT OF CROSSING THE BOUNDARY IN THE WATER
AND SWIMMING INTO THE WHITE SECTION.
AND THE RESULT IS PEOPLE BEGAN TO THROW STONES
AT AFRICAN-AMERICAN PEOPLE SWIMMING IN THE WATER,
AND ONE PERSON DIED.
STRUCK IN THE HEAD WITH A STONE AND DROWNED HIM.
ANYWAY, SOCIAL TURMOIL WAS THE RESULT.
AND, UH...
THAT’S JUST SORT OF THE BEGINNING OF THE CHAOS OF THIS PERIOD.
IT’S A PERIOD OF GREAT CHANGE IN THE 1920s,
AND IT SEEMED TO BE A TIME, TO MANY PEOPLE,
IN WHICH LONGSTANDING CONCEPTS AND PRACTICES AND TRADITIONS
LIKE SEGREGATION WERE BEING CHALLENGED.
THE PERCEPTION OF DRAMATIC CHANGE WAS ENOUGH TO GENERATE A VERY LARGE,
EVEN IF A SOMEWHAT SHORT-LIVED, RESURGENCE OF SUPPORT
FOR AN ORGANIZATION THAT HAD PREVIOUSLY BEEN UNKNOWN
IN THE HISTORY OF STATES LIKE MICHIGAN.
AND THAT’S, OF COURSE, THE ***, OR THE KU KLUX ***.
THE *** OF THE '20s WAS NOT THE *** OF THE RECONSTRUCTION ERA
IN AMERICAN HISTORY.
THIS WAS A NEW ORGANIZATION FOUNDED IN ATLANTA--
ACTUALLY, JUST OUTSIDE OF IT WHEN THEY--
IT WAS REFOUNDED IN 1915 WHEN THEY BURNED A CROSS
ON TOP OF STONE MOUNTAIN.
THEY ADOPTED THE NAME AND THE HOODED GARB OF THE EARLIER GROUP
AND, AS WITH THE EARLIER ERA OF THE ***,
ACTIVISM AND TERROR...
ANTI-AFRICAN-AMERICAN SENTIMENTS WOULD BE A VERY LARGE PART
OF THE NEW ***’S DOGMA AS WELL,
JUST AS THEY HAD BEEN IN THE FIRST ***.
BUT THE NEW *** PUT A MUCH GREATER EMPHASIS
ON WHAT THEY CALLED “100 PERCENT AMERICANISM,”
AN OLD-TIMEY MORALITY.
IN ADDITION TO ITS HATRED OF AFRICAN-AMERICANS,
THEY EXPANDED THEIR PLATFORM OF HATE TO INCLUDE IMMIGRANTS,
PARTICULARLY CATHOLIC IMMIGRANTS,
AS WELL AS JEWISH PEOPLE AND COMMUNISTS AND ANY GROUP
THAT DIDN’T FIT WITH THEIR VERY NARROW VISION
OF WHAT AMERICA WAS SUPPOSED TO BE.
AND THE *** IN THIS ERA OF AMERICAN HISTORY,
IT SPREAD FROM THE SOUTH TO MANY OTHER PARTS OF THE COUNTRY,
PARTICULARLY IN THE '20s.
VERY FAST, AS WELL, RIGHT?
FOR EXAMPLE, IN THE EARLY 1920s, OHIO, INDIANA, AND ILLINOIS,
WITH MORE THAN HALF A MILLION KLANSMEN,
HAD THE HEAVIEST CONCENTRATION OF *** STRENGTH IN THE UNITED STATES.
IN MICHIGAN, MICHIGAN ADDED ANOTHER 70,000 KLANSPEOPLE,
WHICH IS PROBABLY A CONSERVATIVE NUMBER, RIGHT, TO THAT.
THUS, GIVING THE AMERICAN MIDWEST, RIGHT, THOSE FOUR STATES--
OHIO, INDIANA, ILLINOIS, AND MICHIGAN--
OVER A THIRD, RIGHT, OF THE COUNTRY’S *** MEMBERSHIP.
IN MICHIGAN, DETROIT BECAME, OF COURSE, ONE OF THE CENTERS
OF *** ACTIVITY IN THE STATE,
BUT THERE WERE ALSO VERY ACTIVE AND LARGE *** ORGANIZATIONS
IN GRAND RAPIDS, FLINT, BAY CITY, MICHIGAN.
UH, JACKSON, MICHIGAN, LANSING, MICHIGAN.
KALAMAZOO, SAGINAW, PONTIAC, MUSKEGON.
I MEAN, THIS WAS A VERY POPULAR MOVEMENT THROUGHOUT THE STATE,
ALL THOSE CITIES HAD LOCAL CHAPTERS.
BUT YES, THE WAYNE COUNTY PROVISIONAL *** IN 1921 HAD 3,000 PEOPLE.
IN 1923, IT HAD GOTTEN SO LARGE THAT THEY’D INDUCT NEW MEMBERS
IN OUTDOOR CROSS BURNING CEREMONIES.
RIGHT, THAT’S HOW THEY GOT THEIR NEW RECRUITS IN.
BUT IT WASN’T JUST IN THOSE TYPES OF TERRITORIES, RIGHT?
IT WASN’T JUST IN URBAN CENTERS WHERE YOU HAD SUCH A LARGE POPULATION.
THE MIDWESTERN POPULARITY CARRIED INTO RURAL AREAS AS WELL.
FOR EXAMPLE, NEWAYGO COUNTY, HAD ONE OF THE LARGEST
AND DENSEST *** MEMBERSHIPS IN THE STATE.
AND THERE'S A BRITISH HISTORIAN NAMED CRAIG FOX,
WHO HAS RECENTLY WRITTEN A WONDERFUL BOOK ABOUT THIS,
AND IT’S A TERRIFYING BOOK IN MANY WAYS, BUT IT’S CERTAINLY--
THE CONTENT OF IT IS IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTANDING RACE RELATIONS IN AMERICA.
THE BOOK IS CALLED “EVERYDAY KLANSFOLK--
"WHITE PROTESTANT LIFE AND THE *** IN 1920s MICHIGAN.”
NOW, NEWAYGO COUNTY DOES NOT HAVE VERY MANY AFRICAN-AMERICANS IN IT,
BUT IT IS DIRECTLY BORDERED ON ITS NORTHERN EDGE BY LAKE COUNTY,
WHERE IDLEWILD IS LOCATED.
AND SO, IT'S CERTAINLY RELEVANT TO TALK ABOUT, YOU KNOW,
THE ATMOSPHERE WHERE THEY BUILT IDLEWILD
AND HOW IT IS SURROUNDED BY, YOU KNOW, PLACES LIKE THIS,
WHERE, YOU KNOW, FOR EXAMPLE, AT THE FUNERAL OF A KLANSMAN, RIGHT,
THE WHOLE COMMUNITY IS OUT, RIGHT?
AND SOME OF THE RECORDS, OF COURSE, STILL EXIST, RIGHT?
WHOEVER L. ANDERSON WAS OF NEWAYGO COUNTY, MICHIGAN, RIGHT,
HAD A MEMBERSHIP CARD WHICH APPARENTLY HE TREASURED, RIGHT?
AND THEY HAD DETAILED RECORDS,
FREQUENT SERVICES RIGHT UP THERE IN NEWAYGO COUNTY.
AND OF COURSE, AT THE HEYDAY OF IDLEWILD,
THIS IS VERY CLOSE BY, RIGHT,
AND EVEN IN JUST TRYING TO ESCAPE INTOLERANCE AND BIGOTRY IN THE CITIES,
EVEN IF YOU GO INTO THE WILDS OF NORTHERN MICHIGAN,
IT’S NEVER FAR AWAY.
AND SO, YOU KNOW, OBVIOUSLY, THE *** DIDN’T LAST
AT THAT LEVEL OF POWER FOR VERY LONG.
I MEAN, BY THE 1920s, IT HAD THOROUGHLY DISCREDITED ITSELF
AND HAD CRISES WITHIN ITS INTERNAL LEADERSHIP
AND HAD BEEN WIDELY CONDEMNED IN THE AMERICAN PRESS.
BUT STILL, IN THE '20s,
WHICH IS WHERE I’LL FOCUS SOME OF MY REMARKS ON IDLEWILD TODAY,
THIS WAS THE ATMOSPHERE IN MICHIGAN.
SPEAKING OF THE ATMOSPHERE IN MICHIGAN,
THE '20s ARE A VERY INTENSE TIME IN RACE RELATIONS.
IN MANY WAYS, IT PROVIDED GLIMPSES OF MICHIGAN’S FUTURE, AS WELL AS ITS PAST.
RACIAL TENSION AND ACTIVISM SET IMPORTANT PRECEDENTS, RIGHT?
FOR EXAMPLE, IN 1925, THE MAN IN THE PHOTO HERE IS DOCTOR OSSIAN SWEET.
AND HE WAS A PHYSICIAN, HE WAS A MEDICAL DOCTOR,
AND INITIALLY HE WAS BORN IN FLORIDA
BUT HE’D STUDIED IN EUROPE AND TAKEN SOME OF HIS DEGREES THERE AND--
VERY GOOD DOCTOR.
AND ULTIMATELY, HE’D RELOCATED TO MICHIGAN, TO DETROIT.
AND OF COURSE, HE HAD TO PURCHASE A HOME FOR HIS FAMILY.
AND, YOU KNOW, AS A MIDDLE CLASS PERSON,
HE WANTED TO BUY A HOUSE IN A MIDDLE CLASS NEIGHBORHOOD
ON DETROIT’S EAST SIDE-- THAT’S WHERE HE BOUGHT HIS HOUSE.
AND AS THEY-- AS HE AND THE FAMILY-- AS HE AND HIS WIFE, GLADYS,
AND THEIR CHILDREN ATTEMPTED TO MOVE IN, A MOB OF WHITE PEOPLE FROM THAT COMMUNITY,
FROM THAT NEIGHBORHOOD, DESCENDED ON HIS HOME,
GATHERED AROUND HIS HOUSE,
TO PROTEST HIS FAMILY'S ARRIVAL IN THEIR NEIGHBORHOOD.
AND THE FAMILY TOOK SHELTER IN THE HOME.
THE MOB BEGAN TO THROW STONES INTO DR. SWEET'S HOUSE
AND THERE WAS TALK IN THE CROWD OF SETTING FIRE TO THE HOUSE.
AND OF COURSE, HIS WHOLE FAMILY IS INSIDE.
BUT YES, THE STONES ARE BEING THROWN AND ULTIMATELY WHAT HAPPENS
IS THAT SOMEONE INSIDE THE HOUSE USED A FIREARM TO DEFEND THE HOUSE.
THEY FIRED INTO THE CROWD... ULTIMATELY, KILLING ONE PERSON IN THE MOB
AND WOUNDING ANOTHER.
AND DR. SWEET, RIGHT, AND HIS WIFE, GLADYS--
THEY WERE BOTH ARRESTED AND CHARGED WITH ***.
IT WAS NOT SELF-DEFENSE.
IT WAS FIRST-DEGREE *** WAS THE CHARGE,
AND THEY WENT TO TRIAL,
AND THIS BECAME A FAMOUS NATIONAL CASE
THAT REVEALED A LOT ABOUT THE TENSIONS IN AMERICAN SOCIETY IN MICHIGAN.
AND THE TRIAL ENDED, RIGHT--
THE FIRST TRIAL ENDED WHEN YOU HAD A JURY THAT WAS UNABLE TO DECIDE, OKAY?
THE JUDGE IN THAT TRIAL WAS FRANK MURPHY, RIGHT--
ANYONE TAKING MICHIGAN HISTORY WILL KNOW THAT FRANK MURPHY
IS USUALLY ON THE SIDE OF THE UNDERDOG,
ON THE SIDE OF RIGHT AND MORAL JUSTICE IN HISTORY.
HE WAS-- BEFORE HE WAS GOVERNOR, HE WAS THE JUDGE IN THAT CASE.
BUT YES, RIGHT, IT WAS A DIVIDED JURY, RIGHT-- NO VERDICT.
SO, THEY HAD TO TRY THE CASE AGAIN,
AND IT BECAME EVEN MORE DRAMATIC ON A NATIONAL SCALE.
AND THIS TIME, RIGHT, THE CASE WON THE ATTENTION
AND THE SUPPORT OF THE N.A.A.C.P.
AND THEY HAD A VERY GOOD LAWYER AS WELL,
BECAUSE THE N.A.A.C.P. BROUGHT IN CLARENCE DARROW, RIGHT,
THE FAMOUS CLARENCE DARROW, RIGHT, WHO AGAIN WAS A VOICE THAT,
LOOKING BACK IN HISTORY,
WAS OFTEN ON THE SIDE OF RIGHT IN THIS ERA.
AND...
THE TRIAL WAS ABOUT RACE, RIGHT, AS MUCH AS ANYTHING ELSE.
DARROW, HIS TASK WAS ENORMOUS
BECAUSE HE HAD TO CONVINCE AN ALL-WHITE JURY, RIGHT,
THAT DR. SWEET AND GLADYS SWEET, RIGHT,
WERE DEFENDING THEIR HOMES AND THEIR FAMILIES.
AND...
HE DID IT.
AND DR. SWEET AND GLADYS WERE BOTH ACQUITTED OF THE CRIME,
BOTH THE DEFENDANTS WERE RELEASED.
AND THAT WAS AN AMAZING VICTORY, RIGHT?
IT SET, OF COURSE, A VERY IMPORTANT PRECEDENT,
RIGHT, UNDER THE LEGAL SYSTEM.
THE RIGHT THAT THE SWEETS--
THE IDEA THAT THE SWEETS HAD A RIGHT TO DEFEND THEIR PROPERTY
AND THEIR LIVES AND THEIR FAMILIES.
YES, IT WAS A VICTORY.
YES, IT'S AN IMPORTANT PRECEDENT.
YES, IT PUNCTUATED CHANGE...
BUT IT ALSO DID NOT HERALD A CHANGE IN THE ATTITUDES OF MANY
OR EVEN A MAJORITY OF WHITE PEOPLE IN THE STATE OF MICHIGAN.
AFRICAN-AMERICANS WOULD HAVE TO CONTINUE TO STRUGGLE FOR DECADES...
TO FIND EQUAL HOUSING, TO BE ABLE TO MOVE INTO NEIGHBORHOODS LIKE THIS ONE--
THAT'S DR. SWEET'S HOUSE, THERE IN THE IMAGE.
DETROIT IN THE 1940s SHOWS THAT THAT IS TRUE, RIGHT,
THAT THE STRUGGLE HAD TO CONTINUE.
THE ARRIVAL OF HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF SOUTHERNERS
DURING THE GREAT DEPRESSION,
AND AS WE MOVE INTO THE ERA OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR,
HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF SOUTHERNERS CAME INTO, PARTICULARLY DETROIT, RIGHT,
AND AS I SAID, FLINT AND OTHER CITIES, AND THEY WERE BOTH BLACK AND WHITE, RIGHT?
AND THEY BROUGHT, YOU KNOW, SOUTHERN CULTURE WITH THEM INTO MICHIGAN.
CHANGED MICHIGAN FOREVER IN INNUMERABLE WAYS,
BUT SOUTHERN WHITES ALSO BROUGHT THEIR RACISM, RIGHT,
WITH THEM INTO THE CITY,
WHICH MERGED WITH MICHIGAN RACISM...
AND THIS INTENSIFIED LONG-SIMMERING RACIAL TENSIONS.
MUCH OF THE PROBLEM RELATED, ONCE AGAIN, TO HOUSING, TO PUBLIC SPACE,
TO WHERE PEOPLE WERE ALLOWED TO BE.
NOW, HOUSING WAS IN VERY SHORT SUPPLY IN DETROIT
BECAUSE OF THE RAPID POPULATION GROWTH,
BUT THE HOUSING PROBLEM WAS PARTICULARLY ACUTE
FOR THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN POPULATION...
BECAUSE OF ATTEMPTS TO CONFINE THOSE WORKING CLASS FAMILIES
TO SEGREGATED SECTIONS.
DESPITE THE FAVORABLE RULING IN THE SWEET CASE,
SEGREGATED HOUSING PRACTICES CONTINUED TO BE ENFORCED, RIGHT,
NOT ONLY BY MEANS OF PUBLIC PRESSURE,
SUCH AS MOB ATTACKS, RIGHT, BUT ALSO VERY RESTRICTIVE GOVERNMENT POLICIES.
THE GOVERNMENT HELPED TO MAINTAIN THAT LEVEL OF SEGREGATION.
SO, ALL THROUGH THE GREAT DEPRESSION, WRETCHEDLY INADEQUATE,
OVERCROWDING CONDITIONS, IN THEIR HOUSING.
AND HIGH UNEMPLOYMENT BECAUSE OF, AGAIN,
RACIALLY DISCRIMINATORY PRACTICES IN PLACES LIKE FORD MOTOR COMPANY
ONLY ADDED TO AFRICAN-AMERICANS' DEPRESSION ERA, YOU KNOW,
MISERY AND DIFFICULTIES.
AND YOU GOT THE NEW DEAL UNDER PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT.
I MEAN, THEY TRIED TO DO A LITTLE BIT.
THEY TRIED TO HELP ALLEVIATE LIVING CONDITIONS FOR A FEW.
IN '42, FOR EXAMPLE,
WHEN THEY OPENED THE SOJOURNER TRUTH HOUSING PROJECT
IN A WHITE NEIGHBORHOOD OF DETROIT,
WHITE CITIZENS RIOTED, RIGHT,
TO DRIVE AFRICAN-AMERICANS OUT OF THAT COMMUNITY.
AND IN THE MONTHS AHEAD, THE MAYOR OF DETROIT, EDWARD JEFFRIES,
WAS UNDER INTENSE PRESSURE FROM HIS WHITE VOTERS TO RESIST ANY EFFORT
TO MOVE AFRICAN-AMERICANS OUT OF THE GHETTO.
PRESSURES WERE EXERTED TO KEEP ANYONE FROM MOVING OUT,
OR SELLING OR RENTING A HOUSE TO AN AFRICAN-AMERICAN PERSON.
IN AUGUST OF 1942, "LIFE MAGAZINE" DID A STUDY ON DETROIT
AND THEY SAW IT AS A GREAT POWDER KEG... AND THEY WERE RIGHT.
THEY SAID THAT, "DETROIT IS DYNAMITE," OKAY,
WHICH HAD BEEN AN ADVERTISING SLOGAN TO DRAW PEOPLE TO THE MOTOR CITY
AND TO FIND JOBS THERE,
BUT "LIFE MAGAZINE" MEANT A DOUBLE MEANING FOR THIS, RIGHT,
THAT BECAUSE OF RACIAL TENSION, THAT IT WAS ACTUALLY DYNAMITE.
AND IT TURNED OUT THAT, OF COURSE, "LIFE" WAS CORRECT
AND THE NEXT YEAR, DETROIT ERUPTED INTO RIOTS,
DURING THE MIDDLE OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR.
AND WITHOUT GOING INTO GREAT DETAIL, BECAUSE I DO WANT TO GET TO IDLEWILD,
THE DETROIT RIOT WAS THE PRODUCT OF TENSION, BIGOTRY, RACISM, HATE, FEAR,
AND IT BOILED OVER, RIGHT, IN THE CITY, RIGHT,
INTO MASSIVE ATTACKS AND ENORMOUS VIOLENCE.
THIRTY-FOUR PEOPLE WERE KILLED.
THIRTY-FOUR PEOPLE LOST THEIR LIVES, RIGHT, IN THE RIOTS.
OVER 400-- I THINK IT'S 433 PEOPLE WERE WOUNDED ULTIMATELY
IN THE VIOLENCE OF THE RIOTS.
PROPERTY VALUE DESTROYED WAS ESTIMATED AT ABOUT $2 MILLION.
AND AGAIN, DESPITE ALL THE PROGRESS THAT HAD BEEN MADE, YOU KNOW,
THROUGH THE EFFORTS OF THE N.A.A.C.P. AND THE SWEET CASE AND SO MANY OTHER THINGS,
A LONG ROAD WAS YET TO GO.
AND THE RIOTS CERTAINLY PUNCTUATED THAT, RIGHT?
THE WORLD COULD SEE IT IN NEWSPAPERS...
A LOT OF HATE IN THOSE IMAGES.
IN THE NEXT ERA, AGAIN-- RIGHT, THE POINT IS HERE
THAT ALL THROUGH THE ERA OF IDLEWILD'S HISTORY,
INTOLERANCE-- DESPITE IT BEING CONFRONTED IN EACH OF THESE GENERATIONS--
IT'S REMAINED-- SO STRONG IT WAS, RIGHT,
THAT IT HELD OUT THROUGHOUT THE MAJORITY OF THE 20th CENTURY,
EVEN IN THE NORTH.
DEARBORN, RIGHT, AGAIN ON THE EASTERN SIDE OF THE STATE, RIGHT,
ORVILLE HUBBARD WAS THE MAYOR OF DEARBORN FOR ABOUT 100 YEARS--
(laughing) OR SO IT SEEMED
TO PEOPLE IN THAT SECTION, RIGHT?
FROM '42 TO '78, ORVILLE HUBBARD WAS THE MAYOR.
THIRTY-SIX YEARS.
HIS NICKNAME IN THE HISTORY OF MICHIGAN IS "THE DICTATOR OF DEARBORN"
AND IT'S A WELL-DESERVED TITLE.
HE WAS THE MOST OUTSPOKEN SEGREGATIONIST IN AMERICA,
NORTH OF THE SEGREGATION LINE--
NORTH OF THE MASON-DIXON LINE, EXCUSE ME.
DURING HIS ADMINISTRATION, NON-WHITES ARE AGGRESSIVELY DISCOURAGED
FROM MOVING INTO THE CITY OF DEARBORN.
HIS FAMOUS CAMPAIGN IN THE CITY WAS CALLED "KEEP DEARBORN CLEAN,"
WHICH WAS WIDELY UNDERSTOOD, YOU KNOW, THROUGHOUT THOSE 30-SOME YEARS,
TO MEAN "KEEP DEARBORN WHITE."
THAT'S WHY PEOPLE VOTED FOR HIM, THAT'S WHERE HIS POWER CAME FROM.
HE MADE HIS CAREER ON BEING A CHAMPION OF SEGREGATION.
DEARBORN, IN THE HUBBARD YEARS, BECAME A NATIONAL SYMBOL OF NORTHERN SEGREGATION.
WHEN HE LEFT OFFICE IN 1978,
DEARBORN HAD A POPULATION OF 90,000 PEOPLE,
20 OF WHOM WERE AFRICAN-AMERICAN, OKAY?
GIVEN THOSE NUMBERS,
HIS CAREER TRYING TO MAINTAIN SEGREGATION WAS SUCCESSFUL.
IN 1948, HE LED A CAMPAIGN TO DEFEAT A REFERENDUM
TO BUILD A LOW-INCOME HOUSING PROJECT, RIGHT, IN DEARBORN,
AND HE ARGUED THAT THAT WOULD TURN DEARBORN INTO A "BLACK SLUM."
AND HE HANDED OUT CARDS--
HIS ADMINISTRATION HANDED OUT CARDS TO VOTERS TELLING THEM TO VOTE "NO" TO--
AND THE CARDS SAID, "KEEP NEGROES OUT OF DEARBORN."
OF COURSE, HE HAD MANY CRITICS.
I HAVE AN IMAGE OF HIM, RIGHT.
HERE HE'S BEING SUBPOENAED BY THE MICHIGAN STATE GOVERNMENT
AND HE'S JUMPING UP AND DOWN, HAVING A LITTLE TANTRUM ON HIS SUBPOENA,
AND THIS WAS A LITTLE RITUAL THAT HUBBARD WOULD PERFORM EVERY TIME
THAT OTHER ASPECTS OF GOVERNMENT TRIED TO REIGN HIM IN.
SHOWING HIS COMMUNITY WHAT HE THOUGHT OF VOICES TRYING TO PRESSURE HIM
TO CREATE AN EQUAL SOCIETY.
AT ONE POINT, THE LYNDON JOHNSON ADMINISTRATION ACTUALLY--
THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT PUT HIM ON TRIAL FOR CONSPIRACY
TO VIOLATE HUMAN RIGHTS.
THERE WAS A CITIZEN OF DEARBORN WHO WAS RUMORED-- JUST RUMORED--
TO BE CONSIDERING SELLING HIS HOME TO AN AFRICAN-AMERICAN FAMILY,
AND THE MAYOR INCITED A MOB ACTION AGAINST THAT OTHER CITIZEN.
SO ANYWAY, HE WAS PUT ON TRIAL BY THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
AND ACQUITTED OF ALL CHARGES.
FOR MANY YEARS, HE WAS VERY UNABASHED IN HIS COMMENTS ABOUT SEGREGATION.
HE OFTEN GAVE INTERVIEWS TO SOUTHERN NEWSPAPERS,
LIKE, FOR EXAMPLE, "THE MONTGOMERY ADVERTISER."
AND HE SAID, "THEY CAN'T GET IN HERE.
"WE WATCH IT.
"EVERY TIME WE HEAR OF A *** MOVING--
"FOR INSTANCE, WE HAD ONE LAST YEAR--
"IN, WE RESPOND QUICKER THAN YOU DO TO A FIRE.
"THAT'S GENERALLY KNOWN.
"IT'S KNOWN AMONG OUR OWN PEOPLE AND IT'S KNOWN AMONGST THE NEGROES HERE."
AND IT'S VERY INTERESTING TO LOOK AT HOW BLATANT HE IS
ABOUT ADMITTING THAT TO THE NATIONAL PRESS.
IT WAS NOT SOMETHING TO BE ASHAMED OF, RIGHT,
FOR HIM, IN HIS MIND,
AND FOR MANY OF HIS POLITICAL SUPPORTERS.
HE WAS ALSO VERY OPEN AND CANDID ABOUT THE TACTICS THAT USED, RIGHT,
TO DISCRIMINATE AGAINST PEOPLE.
FOR EXAMPLE, HE ONCE GAVE ANOTHER INTERVIEW
WHERE HE EXPLAINED HOW A GOVERNMENT COULD,
WITHOUT NECESSARILY DOING ANYTHING ILLEGAL,
TERRORIZE PEOPLE, OKAY,
AND PURGE THEM FROM COMMUNITIES.
AND HE WOULD SAY THAT, "WELL, IF AN AFRICAN-AMERICAN FAMILY
"MOVES INTO DEARBORN, WE WILL OFFER THEM POLICE AND FIRE PROTECTION
"THAT IS A LITTLE BIT TOO GOOD."
MEANING THAT, ONCE AN HOUR ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT,
POLICE AND FIRE TRUCKS WOULD PULL UP IN YOUR DRIVEWAY, KNOCK--
POUND ON YOUR DOOR, WAKE YOU UP,
BECAUSE SUPPOSEDLY THERE'D BEEN A CALL
ABOUT SOME KIND OF CIVIL DISTURBANCE, RIGHT.
SO, YOU CAN'T SLEEP.
AND THEY'D DO THAT ROUTINELY UNTIL PEOPLE WOULD LEAVE THE CITY.
AND OF COURSE, IF ANYONE ASKED, THEY WOULD JUST SAY,
"WELL, WE'RE RESPONDING TO AN EMERGENCY CALL.
"WE CAN'T NOT RESPOND TO AN EMERGENCY CALL."
BUT ANYWAY, THAT'S JUST ONE SUCH TACTIC, RIGHT,
AND OF COURSE, HUBBARD'S JUST AN EXAMPLE-- HE'S HARDLY ALONE IN HIS VIEWS.
I ALSO DON'T WANT YOU TO LEAVE TODAY--
I DON'T WANT ANYONE TO LEAVE WITH THE IMPRESSION
THAT SEGREGATION, INTIMIDATION, AND HATE
WERE FOUND ONLY ON THE EASTERN SIDE OF THE STATE.
FOR EXAMPLE, GRAND RAPIDS,
DESPITE THE SMALLER POPULATION OF AFRICAN-AMERICANS IN THE CITY,
COMPARED TO DETROIT, FIT A VERY SIMILAR PATTERN.
COUPLE OF EXAMPLES FROM OUR OWN COMMUNITY'S HISTORY--
IN 1908, ONE OF THE MAJOR VETERINARY COLLEGES IN THE REGION
WAS THE GRAND RAPIDS MEDICAL COLLEGE.
AND...
THE COLLEGE IN THAT YEAR DECIDED TO REFUSE ADMISSION
TO TWO SECOND YEAR MEDICAL STUDENTS,
THEIR NAMES ARE FELIX BOOKER AND WESLEY McCOY.
THEY HAD ALREADY BEEN IN THE COLLEGE FOR ONE YEAR
AND THEN ADMINISTRATORS IN THE COLLEGE DECIDED TO EXPEL THEM, RIGHT,
DESPITE THE FACT THAT THEY'D SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED A YEAR OF THEIR EDUCATION.
THEY EXPELLED THEM ON THE BASIS OF THEIR RACE ALONE.
AND MR. BOOKER AND MR. McCOY,
THEY TOOK THEIR CASE TO THE GRAND RAPIDS, YOU KNOW, CIRCUIT COURT.
THEY ARGUED THAT IT WAS IN CLEAR VIOLATION OF THAT 1885 MICHIGAN LAW,
ARGUING THAT THIS WAS NOT LEGAL.
AND THEY WON-- THEY WON THE CASE...
AND THE COURT ORDERED THEM TO BE REINSTATED
AS STUDENTS IN GOOD STANDING IN THE COLLEGE.
AND AT THAT POINT IN THE CITY, AND ESPECIALLY ON THE COLLEGE CAMPUS,
THERE WAS AN UPROAR.
THERE WERE OTHER STUDENTS IN THAT COLLEGE, RIGHT HERE IN THE CITY,
THEY, UH... THEY PROTESTED...
THE RE-ENTRANCE OF BOOKER AND McCOY.
THIRTY-FOUR STUDENTS, RIGHT-- AS BOOKER AND McCOY ENTERED THE COLLEGE
TO TAKE THEIR SEATS TO RESUME THEIR CLASSES,
34 STUDENTS MARCHED OUT IN PROTEST
AND THEY CHANTED, RIGHT, IN THE STREET, RIGHT, IN A LARGE PROTEST THEY ARGUED--
THEY CHANTED, RIGHT, "THIS IS A WHITE MAN'S SCHOOL."
AND, "LYNCH 'EM IF THEY DON'T KEEP OUT."
IN THE LOBBY, THE WHITE STUDENTS CREATED AN EFFIGY OF AN AFRICAN-AMERICAN
AND CARRIED IT INTO THE STREETS, AND THEN, AS THE PRESS SAID,
"DID A LIVELY WAR DANCE AROUND IT."
I'M NOT SURE EXACTLY WHAT THAT MEANS BUT IT SOUNDS RATHER INTIMIDATING.
BUT BOOKER AND McCOY, RIGHT, WERE DETERMINED TO STAY
AND THE COLLEGE THAT HAD BARRED THEM ENTRANCE, YOU KNOW,
WOULD NOT LET THEM IN, DESPITE THEIR VICTORY IN THE FIRST CASE.
THE COLLEGE ANNOUNCED TO THE COMMUNITY HERE IN GRAND RAPIDS
THAT IT HAD CONCLUDED THAT THE PRESENCE OF TWO AFRICAN-AMERICAN STUDENTS
"IRREPARABLY DISRUPTED THE DECORUM OF TOTAL CAMPUS LIFE."
THE SCHOOL THEN HIRED ITS OWN ATTORNEYS AND WENT BACK TO THE COURTS.
THEY TOOK IT TO THE COURT OF APPEALS,
AND THEY MANAGED, AT THAT LEVEL, TO GET THE RULING OVERTURNED,
AND BOOKER AND McCOY WERE NEVER ALLOWED TO RESUME THEIR STUDIES
AT THE GRAND RAPIDS MEDICAL COLLEGE.
AND THAT WAS 1908.
IT WOULD BE 18 YEARS BEFORE SEGREGATION IN GRAND RAPIDS
WAS ONCE AGAIN CHALLENGED.
THIS TIME, IN 1925, OVER THE ISSUE OF A THEATER.
IN 1925, A GRAND RAPIDIAN NAMED EMMET BOLDWIN--
EXCUSE ME-- BOLDEN-- WHO WAS AFRICAN-AMERICAN,
WHO WAS A DENTIST, RIGHT, BY TRADE.
HE WAS A NATIVE OF GRAND RAPIDS,
AND HE ATTEMPTED TO GO TO ONE OF THE MAJOR THEATRES, RIGHT, IN THE CITY,
WHICH IS ACTUALLY JUST KIND OF DOWN BY--
USED TO BE DOWN BY IONIA ON MONROE AVENUE,
CALLED "THE KEITH," RIGHT-- THE KEITH THEATRE.
AND THE KEITH THEATRE HAD A POLICY OF SEGREGATING ITS AUDIENCE.
WHITE PEOPLE WERE ALLOWED TO SIT DOWN ON THE MAIN LEVEL, RIGHT,
AND, OF COURSE, AFRICAN-AMERICANS WERE FORCED--
IF THEY WANTED TO GO TO THE THEATRE, THEY HAD TO SIT ON THE UPPER BALCONY.
AND THIS IS AN IMAGE FROM INSIDE THE KEITH.
OF COURSE, YOU'RE MUCH FURTHER BACK FROM THE STAGE,
YOU'RE MORE SEGREGATED FROM THE DRAMA AND FROM THE MUSIC
AND FROM THE ACOUSTICS AND THE ACTION IN GENERAL.
NOW, THEY--
BOLDEN UNDERSTOOD THAT HE WAS CHALLENGING THE LAW, RIGHT,
AND HE WAS GOING TO MAKE THAT STRUGGLE.
AND, OF COURSE, HE WAS DENIED ENTRANCE...
AND HE REFUSED TO ACCEPT, YOU KNOW, THE SEGREGATED SEATING.
THIS WAS A VERY DEROGATORY THING TO BE OFFERED SEATING
IN THAT LEVEL OF THE THEATRE.
AND THE COLLOQUIAL LANGUAGE OF GRAND RAPIDS, AT THE TIME,
TO REFERENCE UPPER, SEGREGATED SEATING IN THE BALCONY IS--
IT'S A HORRIBLE EXPRESSION THAT WAS WIDELY USED IN THE CITY.
IT'S UGLY-- IT'S A HATE-FILLED TERM.
THEY CALLED IT "*** HEAVENS."
CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?
AND...
LIKE A SAY, A HORRIBLE, HATE-FILLED TERM.
AND HE REFUSED TO BE SEGREGATED IN THAT WAY.
AND SO, HE ALSO WOULD TAKE HIS CASE TO THE COURT... OKAY?
HE SPENT YEARS IN THE COURTS.
ULTIMATELY, HE ENLISTED THE HELP OF THE N.A.A.C.P. TO GET JUSTICE
AND CHANGE THAT THEATRE'S PRACTICE,
WHICH THIS TIME, IN '25, RIGHT, SAME YEAR AS DR. SWEET'S CASE, RIGHT,
HE WON A VICTORY... OKAY?
SO, THERE ARE VICTORIES UNDER THE LAW, RIGHT.
SEGREGATION IN THE CITY OF GRAND RAPIDS WAS DEALT A BLOW,
BUT IT DIDN'T KILL IT.
IT WAS NOT OVER.
THE QUIET PATTERN OF SEGREGATION CHARACTERIZED EVERY CITY, EVERY COMMUNITY,
AND LIFE IN THIS STATE, AS IT DID EVERYWHERE ELSE.
LIKE I SAY, JIM CROW IS NOT A SOUTHERN STATE PHENOMENON.
IT WAS PART OF LIFE AND HISTORY IN THE NORTH AS WELL.
OF COURSE, MICHIGAN HAD ALREADY ESTABLISHED ITSELF
AS A PREMIERE VACATION DESTINATION.
FAMOUS COMMUNITIES, SUCH AS MACKINAC ISLAND AND MANISTEE
AND PETOSKEY AND LUDINGTON HAD BECOME FAMOUS, RIGHT?
THEY WERE CHARACTERIZED, LIKE EVERY OTHER PART OF LIFE IN THE STATE,
BY BOTH OVERT AND MORE SUBDUED SEGREGATION PRACTICES.
BUT THE MESSAGE WAS CLEAR, RIGHT, THAT AFRICAN-AMERICANS WERE NOT WELCOME.
WE MERELY HAVE TO LOOK AT IMAGES SUCH AS THOSE FROM EASTERN GR--
YOU KNOW, THE EAST GRAND RAPIDS COMMUNITY THERE
WITH THE FERRIS WHEELS AND SO ON...
WE WILL SEE ONLY WHITE PEOPLE.
RIGHT, THE MACKINAC ISLAND ADVERTISING AND POSTCARD INDUSTRY, RIGHT...
YOU'LL NEVER SEE AN AFRICAN-AMERICAN IN THE IMAGERY FROM THAT ERA, RIGHT,
FROM MACKINAC ISLAND.
THROUGHOUT ALL THE LOVELY BEACH COMMUNITIES,
THROUGH ALL THE BEAUTY THAT MICHIGAN HAD TO OFFER,
SEGREGATION TAINTED IT ALL.
OF COURSE, PEOPLE ENJOYED IT.
OF COURSE, IT MADE MICHIGAN FAMOUS.
OF COURSE, IT CREATED REVENUE AND JOBS...
BUT BECAUSE OF SEGREGATION,
THE JOY, THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES, RIGHT,
THE RELAXATION, THE PEACE OF MIND--
ALL OF THAT WAS DENIED TO MANY AMERICANS ON THE BASIS OF RACE.
AND OF COURSE, WE SHOULD PAUSE AND NOTE HERE,
THAT'S A COMMON DYNAMIC.
WHEN AMERICANS WENT ON HOLIDAY IN THE PERIOD OF SEGREGATION,
THEY BROUGHT THEIR RACISM WITH THEM, OKAY?
IT HAPPENED THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES,
BUT OF COURSE, IT'S IN THIS SAME ERA THAT CUBA, RIGHT,
IN PARTICULAR, HAVANA...
A FOREIGN CAPITAL OF A FOREIGN COUNTRY, RIGHT,
THAT HAVANA BECAME LIKE THE LAS VEGAS OF ITS DAY,
AND MANY AMERICANS WOULD VISIT HAVANA.
AND THERE WERE CASINOS AND BEACHES AND SHOWS AND SO ON.
AND, BECAUSE AMERICAN BUSINESS
WAS SORT OF THE BEATING HEART
OF HAVANA'S INDUSTRY,
AND WHITE AMERICANS WERE, RIGHT, WHEN THEY WERE ON HOLIDAY,
THEY DIDN'T WANNA ASSOCIATE WITH PEOPLE WITH DARKER SKIN.
THE GOVERNMENT IN CUBA ACTUALLY BANNED ITS OWN PEOPLE,
IF THEIR SKIN WAS CONSIDERED TOO DARK,
FROM GOING TO THOSE BEACHES AND WORKING IN THOSE HOTELS.
IT DID THAT TO CATER TO THE TASTES--
THE RACISM OF PEOPLE FROM THE NORTHERN COUNTRY.
SAME THING, RIGHT-- PARIS WAS A COMMON DESTINATION FOR MORE AFFLUENT AMERICANS.
PEOPLE IN FRANCE, PEOPLE IN PARIS,
THEY LOVED JAZZ MUSIC IN THE '20s AND '30s,
AND THEY WOULD INVITE IN MANY ARTISTS AND SO ON TO PERFORM AT THE HOTELS
AND THE BIGGER THEATRES,
AND THEY WOULD STAY IN THE HOTELS WHERE THEY PERFORMED...
BUT SO WOULD MANY WHITE AMERICANS.
AND THE WHITE AMERICANS WERE THE MAJORITY OF THE CLIENTELE FOR THAT HOTEL
AND THE WHITE AMERICANS DEMANDED THAT THE PARISIAN HOTEL SEGREGATE ITSELF
AND, IN ORDER TO STAY IN BUSINESS WITH AMERICAN TOURISTS, RIGHT,
PARIS WAS SEGREGATED BECAUSE OF AMERICAN RACISM.
AND SO, THIS IS-- WHAT'S HAPPENING IN MICHIGAN IS PART OF A LARGER STORY.
AND ALL THAT TAKES US TO IDLEWILD.
LAKE COUNTY WAS NOT AN ISLAND OF RACIAL TOLERANCE,
AND THE WHITE DEVELOPERS OF IDLEWILD
WERE NOT TRYING TO STRIKE A BLOW FOR CIVIL RIGHTS, LIKE I SAY.
THERE WAS A SERIES OF FAMILIES, RIGHT--
OF WHITE MICHIGANIANS WHO WERE DEVELOPERS,
AND THEY DETECTED THAT THERE WAS A MARKET, RIGHT,
FOR A MIDDLE CLASS AFRICAN-AMERICAN RESORT COMMUNITY.
AND THEY BELIEVED THAT IF THEY CREATED THAT IN THE ERA OF SEGREGATION,
THAT THEY COULD SELL LAND AT A PROFIT AND MAKE MONEY.
THEY SIMULTANEOUSLY DEVELOPED ANOTHER RESORT NOT FAR AWAY,
NEAR THE TOWN OF BALDWIN, THAT WAS FOR WHITES ONLY.
SO, AS I SAY, I MEAN, THEY WERE NOT NECESSARILY
A CIVIL RIGHTS-MINDED GROUP OF DEVELOPERS.
BUT THEY WERE CORRECT, RIGHT, IN THEIR BELIEF
THAT THERE WAS A MARKET FOR SOMETHING LIKE IDLEWILD,
AND OF COURSE THEIR-- IT'S GOING TO GROW QUITE QUICKLY, AS I SAID.
IT'S THE CENTENNIAL THIS YEAR.
THEY BEGAN PLOTTING OUT THE LANDS THAT THEY'D PURCHASED
AND THEN SELLING THEM, RIGHT, IN 1912.
(sigh)
THEY WERE RIGHT ABOUT THE FACT THAT PEOPLE WOULD WANT TO COME TO MICHIGAN
AND BE ABLE TO HAVE THAT EXPERIENCE.
THE RAPID GROWTH OF IDLEWILD BETWEEN 1917 AND 1920
CERTAINLY PUNCTUATES THAT.
THERE ARE LOTS OF IMPORTANT REASONS FOR THE GROWTH OF IDLEWILD.
FOR EXAMPLE, MANY MIDDLE CLASS AMERICANS WANTED TO BUY LAND THERE.
THEY FELT IT WAS IMPORTANT, AGAIN, TO DEMONSTRATE THE CAPABILITIES
OF AFRICAN-AMERICANS,
AND IT WAS CERTAINLY EXCITING TO DO THAT
WHILE ALSO BEING ABLE TO TAKE PART IN A VACATION.
SOME OF THE FIRST PEOPLE TO BUY LAND IN IDLEWILD
AND TO CREATE THEIR HOUSES AND CABINS THERE
WERE COMMUNITY LEADERS FROM ACROSS THE COUNTRY.
FOR EXAMPLE, DR. DANIEL HALE WILLIAMS, OKAY, IN THE IMAGE HERE,
WAS AN AFRICAN-AMERICAN SURGEON.
INDEED, HE WAS THE FIRST SURGEON IN THE UNITED STATES
TO OPERATE SUCCESSFULLY ON THE HUMAN HEART,
AND THAT WAS 1893.
FROM CHICAGO, RIGHT, WHERE HE PRACTICED MEDICINE, RIGHT,
HE DECIDED THAT IT WOULD BE NICE TO BE ABLE TO HAVE A VACATION, RIGHT,
AND GET OUT OF CHICAGO WHICH, AS WE'VE SEEN IN THE RIOTS OF 1919,
WAS CHARACTERIZED BY RACIAL TENSION AND BIGOTRY.
RIGHT, AN ESCAPE, FOR AT LEAST PART OF THE YEAR
TO A WILDERNESS IN NORTHERN MICHIGAN.
HE HELPED TO RECRUIT OTHERS.
FOR EXAMPLE, CHARLES CHESTNUT,
PICTURED HERE IN THE LATER PERIOD OF IDLEWILD'S HISTORY WITH HIS GRANDSON.
THEY'RE CATCHING FISH IN IDLEWILD LAKE.
CHARLES CHESTNUTT IS A NOTABLE AFRICAN-AMERICAN NOVELIST AND ESSAYIST
FROM THIS TIME PERIOD.
HE WAS ALSO OFTEN A CONTRIBUTOR
TO THE N.A.A.C.P.'S MAGAZINE, "THE CRISIS,"
AND A CLOSE FRIEND OF W.E.B. DUBOIS'.
BUT HE WAS ALSO ONE OF THE EARLY PEOPLE TO MAKE IDLEWILD GROW.
ANOTHER GREAT LEADER, RIGHT, WHO HELPED TO KICK OFF IDLEWILD,
WAS C.J. WALKER, WHO WAS FREQUENTLY KNOWN AS "MADAME C.J. WALKER."
C.J. WALKER WAS...
THE FIRST SELF-MADE FEMALE MILLIONAIRE
IN THE UNITED STATES.
NOT FIRST-MADE AFRICAN-AMERICAN FEMALE MILLIONAIRE,
FIRST FEMALE SELF-MADE MILLIONAIRE IN THE UNITED STATES, AND SHE WAS--
SHE CREATED HER OWN COSMETICS INDUSTRY,
AND BECAME AN INDUSTRIALIST, RIGHT,
THROUGH THAT INDUSTRY AND WAS A VERY POWERFUL FIGURE,
AND, OF COURSE, SHE WAS ONE OF THE ONES TO BUY UP SOME LAND IN IDLEWILD,
AND SPEND MUCH TIME THERE... OKAY?
OTHERS AS WELL-- L.L. FOSTER WAS THE PRESIDENT OF FISK UNIVERSITY, RIGHT,
ANOTHER EARLY MEMBER IN IDLEWILD, OKAY?
TOGETHER, DR. DAN AND OTHER NOTABLES
FROM PLACES LIKE CLEVELAND AND CHICAGO,
THEY FOUNDED THE IDLEWILD IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION.
AND IT'S THIS BODY OF LEADERS,
NOT THE WHITE DEVELOPERS WHO INITIALLY CONCEIVED OF THIS IDEA--
IT'S THIS BODY, THE I.I.A., THAT MADE IDLEWILD WHAT IT IS.
RIGHT, IT WAS AN AFRICAN-AMERICAN BODY, RIGHT, AND THEY CONSPIRED TOGETHER,
THEY WORKED VERY CLOSELY TOGETHER, VERY DEDICATED TOGETHER,
TO MAKE IDLEWILD SOMETHING THAT ALL AFRICAN-AMERICANS IN THE COUNTRY
COULD BE PROUD OF... OKAY?
THEY WORKED TOGETHER TO FACILITATE ITS GROWTH,
TO PLAN ITS GROWTH AT EVERY STEP OF THE WAY.
THEY PLANNED ITS NIGHTCLUBS, THEY PLANNED A POST OFFICE,
BARBERSHOPS, MEDICAL SERVICES, GROCERY STORES,
A ROLLER RINK, FILLING STATIONS-- I MEAN, ALL THESE DIFFERENT PARTS
THAT EVENTUALLY CAME TO BE IDLEWILD, RIGHT--
IT WAS THEIR VISION.
OKAY, FILLING STATIONS, CHURCHES, AUTOMOBILE REPAIR SHOPS,
POLICE AND FIRE PROTECTION.
I MEAN, THEY HAD A SWEEPING VISION OF HOW TO CREATE A SUSTAINABLE
AND EVER-GROWING AFRICAN-AMERICAN RESORT COMMUNITY.
OKAY, SO YES, IDLEWILD MIGHT HAVE BEEN INITIALLY CONCEIVED
AND PLOTTED BY WHITE BUSINESS PEOPLE,
BUT IT'S AN AFRICAN-AMERICAN SUCCESS, RIGHT?
THEY'RE THE ONES WHO MADE IT AN ICON IN AMERICAN HISTORY.
IN ITS EARLY DAYS, IDLEWILD WAS A PLAYGROUND
MOSTLY FOR THE MORE AFFLUENT AFRICAN-AMERICANS OF THE PERIOD.
HOWEVER, IT STEADILY DID BECOME MORE ACCESSIBLE
TO MIDDLE AND WORKING CLASS PEOPLE, RIGHT, OVER THE YEARS.
THE COMMUNITY'S LEADERS BECAME VERY, VERY GOOD AT SELLING IDLEWILD,
AND THEY TOOK OUT ADVERTISEMENTS IN PAPERS ACROSS THE COUNTRY
AND THEY WERE SUCCESSFUL IN BRINGING PEOPLE HERE.
BUT THEY HAD TO EDUCATE PEOPLE ABOUT WHAT IDLEWILD WAS,
WHAT IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE, WHY IT WAS SPECIAL.
OKAY, SO THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE WAS CREATED, RIGHT,
TO HELP FACILITATE ITS GROWTH, TO GET THE MESSAGE OUT THERE, RIGHT,
AND THE LANGUAGE THAT THEY USED IN THE PAMPHLETS THAT THEY HANDED OUT,
IN THE NEWSPAPERS THAT THEY PUBLISHED IN, RIGHT,
IS VERY TELLING.
FOR EXAMPLE, RIGHT, "IN THIS EXHILARATING SUMMERLAND,"
THIS IS FROM THE '20s, "ALL OUTDOORS IS YOUR PLAYGROUND.
"HERE IS THE FINEST FISHING ON THE CONTINENT.
"SWIMMING, HIKING, HORSEBACK RIDING ON UNUSUAL TRAILS,
"PICNICKING IN *** FORESTS, AND A HUNDRED OTHER RECREATIONS.
"YOU WILL FIND FRIENDLINESS AND HOSPITALITY EVERYWHERE
"IN THIS VACATION LAND.
"SO, WHY NOT TREAT YOURSELF TO A DELIGHTFUL, IDEAL VACATION
"AMONG THE LAKES AND FRAGRANT PINES OF WESTERN MICHIGAN
"AT 'AMERICA'S MOST DISTINCTIVE NATIONAL RESORT?'"
QUOTATIONS THERE AT THE END--
THE EXTRA ONES UNDER, "AMERICA'S MOST DISTINCTIVE NATIONAL RESORT,"
ARE THOSE OF THE PEOPLE WHO PUBLISHED THE PAMPHLET, THEY'RE NOT MINE.
RIGHT, THEY KNEW WHAT THEY WERE BUILDING, RIGHT?
AND THEY WERE SELLING NOT JUST A VACATION, BUT ESCAPE.
THEY WERE VERY EXPLICIT IN WHAT THEY WERE DOING
AND WHY PEOPLE WOULD WANT TO COME THERE.
"IDLEWILD IS CONTROLLED BY NEGROES,"
THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE TOLD ITS POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS.
"ALL TOWNSHIP OFFICIALS ARE OF OUR RACE.
"THE SAME APPLIES TO OUR POST OFFICE AND LOCAL BUSINESSES.
"HERE, YOU CAN ENJOY THE VACATION OF YOUR DREAM,
"FREE FROM THE EMBARRASSING DISCRIMINATORY AND PETTY PREJUDICES
"WHICH YOU MIGHT ENCOUNTER ELSEWHERE.
"IF YOU'VE NEVER BEEN HERE BEFORE,
"YOU WILL BE ASTONISHED AT THE PLEASURE AND RELIEF YOU WILL EXPERIENCE,
"SECURE IN THE KNOWLEDGE THAT YOU ARE 'WANTED.'"
THAT'S WHAT MADE IDLEWILD UNIQUE, RIGHT.
THAT'S WHAT MADE IT SPECIAL-- RIGHT, WAS THAT ABILITY TO WELCOME PEOPLE.
THE LANGUAGE USED IN THE ADVERTISING DEMONSTRATES MANY THINGS
ABOUT THIS TIME PERIOD.
YES, IDLEWILD WAS A PRODUCT OF ITS TIME,
AND EMERGED OUT OF SEGREGATION.
BUT IT ALSO TELLS US THE REASONS FOR ITS SUCCESS,
FOR ITS VERY RAPIDLY GROWING POPULARITY THROUGHOUT THIS TIME PERIOD.
THAT MESSAGE CAUSED PEOPLE TO RESPOND IN DROVES.
THEY CAME OUT, ULTIMATELY,
IN THE TENS OF THOUSANDS TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS.
IDLEWILD QUENCHED A THIRST, RIGHT?
AND THAT'S PART OF THE HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE THAT I WANNA TALK ABOUT.
THEY RESPONDED BOTH FOR A NORTHERN MICHIGAN VACATION,
WHICH IS NICE FOR MANY REASONS-- FIREFLIES, STARS, CAMPFIRES,
YOU KNOW, FISHING, HIKING, WHO WOULDN'T LIKE THAT?
BUT IDLEWILD ALSO WAS AN ESCAPE FROM THE INTOLERANCE
THAT PEOPLE LIVED WITH EVERY DAY OF THEIR LIVES, RIGHT,
IN THE URBAN CENTERS OF THE GREAT LAKES REGION.
IN ITS HEYDAY, IDLEWILD OFFERED OPPORTUNITIES
THAT WERE NOT AVAILABLE, RIGHT, IN OTHER PLACES.
WHERE ELSE COULD YOU FIND A HORSE TO RIDE,
IN THE GREAT LAKES REGION?
IDLEWILD DEVELOPED ITS OWN GROCERY STORES, RIGHT,
SO YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO FEAR SHOPPING.
AND SO, EVERYTHING WAS WELCOMING, EVERYTHING WAS COMFORT.
AT FIRST, OF COURSE, IT WAS QUITE SIMPLE, RIGHT?
BUT THEN THE LAKES GREW UP AND PEOPLE BROUGHT BOATS, RIGHT,
THE ISLANDS WERE DEVELOPED, RIGHT.
THEY BUILT A LOVELY BEACH.
I WAS THERE-- I WENT UP FOR A VISIT TO IDLEWILD ABOUT NINE DAYS AGO,
AND IT WAS ONE OF THOSE REALLY NICE WARM DAYS WE HAD,
WITH THIS BIZARRE MARCH HERE IN MICHIGAN.
AND I STOOD ON THAT BEACH AND YOU CAN STILL-- IT'S STILL LOVELY.
THE WATER'S STILL CLEAR, RIGHT-- THE ISLAND IS STILL OVER THERE, RIGHT.
THAT'S IDLEWILD LAKE, RIGHT, AND THEN THE ISLAND, AS WELL,
HAD MORE CABINS AS WELL AS A LARGER CLUBHOUSE AND SO ON, BUT YEAH.
HERE'S A BEACH WHERE IT'S NOT CRAMMED IN, RIGHT, IN THE MIDDLE OF--
YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE--
THERE'S NOT A WHITE BEACH NEXT TO IT
THAT PEOPLE ARE GOING TO THROW ROCKS AT YOU FROM, RIGHT?
I MEAN, IT'S ENTIRELY FOR AFRICAN-AMERICANS.
OKAY, AND IT'S BEAUTIFUL.
BUT JUST TO RELAX-- YOU CAN SEE IN ALL THE PICTURES OF IDLEWILD,
PEOPLE JUST ENJOYING THEMSELVES.
THE EARLIER PICTURES, PEOPLE--
THERE'S NOT THAT MANY ACTIVITIES, BUT THE JOY IS GENUINELY EXPRESSED.
"A CATCH IN PARADISE LIFE."
I LIKE THE FISHING CLOTHES... YOU KNOW, FROM THE PERIOD, RIGHT.
I DON'T LOOK THAT FANCY WHEN I GO FISHING.
BUT CANOEING, HORSEBACK RIDING, TO BE ABLE TO PLAY SPORTS,
TO BE ABLE TO JUST HANG OUT ON THE BEACH, RIGHT,
THESE ARE PLEASURES THAT IN THIS ERA, RIGHT--
A VACATION BECAME AN AMERICAN TRADITION, RIGHT?
TO BE AN AMERICAN, TO EXPERIENCE THAT AMERICAN DREAM
IS REFERENCED IN THE ADVERTISING LITERATURE,
THAT'S WHAT PEOPLE DESERVED, RIGHT?
THAT WAS PART OF WHAT IT WAS TO BE AN AMERICAN--
TO BE EQUAL, RIGHT, YOU DESERVED THAT AS WELL.
AND BY PARTICIPATING, THEY EXPRESSED THAT.
TENS OF THOUSANDS OF VISITORS.
IN THE LATE 1950s, AND THE EARLY 1960s, THIS WAS LARGELY THE HEYDAY OF IDLEWILD,
ABOUT 25,000 PEOPLE CAME THERE IN THE SUMMER MONTHS.
MAY, JUNE, JULY, RIGHT-- THEY TOOK IT DOWN IN AUGUST, LABOR DAY.
BUT YES, 25,000 PEOPLE, RIGHT, MIGRATING UP THERE
AND THAT'S AN AMAZING THING.
MANY PEOPLE WOULD BUY PLOTS OF LAND
AND THEY WOULD CONSTRUCT THEIR OWN CABINS
AND THEIR FAMILY WOULD GO UP THERE EVERY SEASON.
OTHER PEOPLE WOULD JUST RENT A CABIN FOR A FEW DAYS OR A WEEK,
AND THEN, IN TIME, ALSO,
THE COMMUNITY'S HOTELS BEGAN TO GROW UP
AND YOU COULD GO JUST FOR A FEW DAYS.
BUT THE REAL DRAW AT THE HEIGHT OF ITS EXPERIENCE
YOU KNOW, IN THE LATE '50s AND '60s,
WAS THE NIGHTLIFE IN IDLEWILD.
IT WASN'T JUST THE BEACH AND THE FOREST AND BEING ABLE TO GO FISHING
AND BEING ABLE TO RELAX,
AND TO BE COMFORTABLE IN A WAY THAT FEW OTHER COMMUNITIES IN THE WORLD
OFFERED AT THAT TIME, BUT IT WAS THE ARTS.
RIGHT, IT WAS AN ENTERTAINMENT, IT WAS A MUSIC CULTURE, RIGHT?
ANYBODY WAS ANYBODY IN AFRICAN-AMERICAN ENTERTAINMENT PLAYED IDLEWILD WITH--
ON A REGULAR BASIS-- I MEAN, THAT WAS PART OF WHAT MADE IT STRONG.
SO, SAMMY DAVIS JR., B.B. KING, ARETHA FRANKLIN,
LOTS OF NAMES THAT YOU'LL RECOGNIZE, RIGHT?
LOUIS ARMSTRONG, JAMES BROWN, FOUR TOPS, RIGHT?
LOTS OF THESE PEOPLE,
LOTS OF THESE ARTISTS, GOT THEIR START AT IDLEWILD,
THE FOUR TOPS GOT THEIR START AT IDLEWILD.
I MEAN, THEY REALLY KNEW HOW TO PACK IN THE CROWDS, RIGHT?
THE PEOPLE WHO ORGANIZED ALL OF THIS ENTERTAINMENT.
AND THEY SHOWCASED SOME OF THE FINEST ENTERTAINERS OF THEIR GENERATION.
WELL, ANYWAY, THERE WAS AN INTERVIEW THAT WAS DONE
WITH ONE OF THE DANCERS AT IDLEWILD, RIGHT?
HER NAME WAS LOTTIE "THE BODY" GRAVES,
AND SHE FONDLY REMEMBERED IDLEWILD
AS "THE BLACK ATLANTIC CITY, THE BOARDWALK, LAS VEGAS."
LOTTIE "THE BODY" SAID, "IT WAS LIKE HEAVEN."
RIGHT, AND A LOT OF PEOPLE DESCRIBED IT THAT WAY,
AND IN FACT, IT BECAME KNOWN AROUND THE COUNTRY AS "BLACK EDEN."
RIGHT, AND THAT'S HOW DIFFERENT IT WAS-- IT WAS LIKE GOING TO HEAVEN, IT WAS--
AND IT'S JUST LAKE COUNTY, MICHIGAN,
BUT TO THAT COMMUNITY IN THAT TIME IN HISTORY, RIGHT, IT WAS LIKE HEAVEN.
"THE PARADISE CLUB" WAS THE PREMIERE VENUE.
ITS "FIESTA ROOM," ABOVE ALL ELSE, WAS WHERE EVERYONE WANTED TO GO
TO EXPERIENCE THE BEST SHOWS.
LOTS OF THEM WERE WELL-KNOWN PERFORMERS,
AND OTHERS, NOT AS WELL-KNOWN.
BUT IT WAS SPECTACLE, RIGHT?
AS ANY GREEK DRAMATIST KNOWS, RIGHT,
THERE'S SIX, YOU KNOW, CRUCIAL COMPONENTS, RIGHT, TO DRAMA.
PLOT, THEME, CHARACTER, LANGUAGE, RHYTHM, AND SPECTACLE.
AND THEY HAD THE SPECTACLE, RIGHT?
THEY HAD THE THEME, RIGHT,
THEY HAD THE SIGNIFICANCE OF IT ON DISPLAY, RIGHT?
AND IT WAS AN AMAZING SIGHT TO BEHOLD, RIGHT?
THE DANCERS, THE STAND-UP COMICS, THE MUSICIANS,
THEY DID TAP, RIGHT, THEY DID EVERYTHING,
AND YOU COULD HAVE YOUR CHOICE OF WHAT YOU WANTED.
OF COURSE, MANY PERFORMERS LIKED TO VISIT IDLEWILD
BECAUSE NOT ONLY DID YOU GET WORK AND BE ABLE TO PRACTICE YOUR ART
AND MAKE YOUR WAGE,
BUT THEN YOU WERE ALSO IN IDLEWILD,
WHICH WAS LOVELY, YOU KNOW, DURING THE DAY.
THIS GROUP HERE IS MUSICIANS,
BUT THAT'S LOUIS ARMSTRONG, THERE IN THE BOAT,
THERE ON LAKE IDLEWILD.
IN THE OFF-SEASON, THE ARTISTS AND PERFORMERS
OF THE IDLEWILD, YOU KNOW, GROUP,
THEY WENT ON TOUR AROUND THE COUNTRY,
AND THIS IS CALLED "THE IDLEWILD REVUE."
ALL RIGHT, AND IT'S ARTHUR BRAGGS WHO PUT THIS TOGETHER.
BUT THEY TRAVELED AROUND THE COUNTRY
AND THEY BROUGHT THIS ART TO PLACES THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES
AS WELL AS CANADA AND MEXICO, RIGHT,
AND THEY STIMULATED OTHER ARTISTS,
AND THEY ENCOURAGED OTHER PEOPLE, RIGHT, WITH THEIR ART,
AND THE IDLEWILD SOUND WORKED ITS WAY INTO, YOU KNOW,
THE MUSICAL CULTURE OF THE UNITED STATES.
EVENTUALLY, MUCH OF THE IDLEWILD SOUND BECAME THE MOTOWN SOUND
AND THE TWO MERGED, WITH GROUPS LIKE THE FOUR TOPS.
THEY REACHED A MUCH WIDER AUDIENCE, RIGHT, THROUGH "THE IDLEWILD REVUE."
AGAIN, IT WAS GOOD WORK, AND CREATED A LOT OF EMPLOYMENT,
BUT ALSO THE OPPORTUNITY TO DEVELOP ART.
AT FIRST, THE EXPERIENCE IN IDLEWILD WAS QUITE RUSTIC.
YOU KNOW, THE FIRST GENERATIONS OF PEOPLE TO STAY AT IDLEWILD, RIGHT,
MANY OF THEM WHO DIDN'T OWN CABINS, YOU COULD RENT A CABIN.
THERE WAS A SERIES OF CABINS MADE ON THE ISLAND IN PARADISE LAKE--
IN IDLEWILD LAKE.
THERE'S TWO MAJOR LAKES-- THERE'S IDLEWILD LAKE AND PARADISE LAKE.
AND ON THE ISLAND, RIGHT, ON IDLEWILD LAKE,
THERE'S A ROW OF CABINS WHICH WERE AFFECTIONATELY CALLED "THE DOGHOUSES,"
RIGHT, BY PEOPLE WHO WENT THERE.
LARGELY BECAUSE THEY LOOKED LIKE REALLY BIG DOGHOUSES.
THERE'S ONE DOOR AND ONE WINDOW AND A COUPLE OF BUNKS.
AND THAT WAS NOT UNCOMMON IN RESORT COMMUNITIES
ACROSS THE STATE AT THAT TIME.
BUT YES, IT WAS RUSTIC ACCOMMODATION.
BUT OF COURSE, THAT'S JUST SOMETHING YOU HAD TO PUT UP WITH.
THE POINT WAS NOT TO BE INSIDE ANYWAY.
THE POINT WAS TO BE OUTSIDE, SWIMMING, FISHING, CANOEING,
HORSEBACK RIDING, HIKING, YOU KNOW,
ALL THE WONDERFUL THINGS THAT PEOPLE LIKE TO DO.
AND WE HAVE SOME WONDERFUL PRIMARY SOURCES, RIGHT,
FROM THIS TIME, PEOPLE WHO WROTE ABOUT THEIR EXPERIENCES.
IN 1928, A YOUNG MAN NAMED HARRY SOLOMON,
WHO EVENTUALLY MOVED TO IDLEWILD PERMANENTLY,
HE WRITES ABOUT HIS FIRST EXPERIENCE THERE.
HE WAS 12 YEARS OLD.
HE SAYS, "IN AUGUST OF 1928, AT THE AGE OF 12,
"I, MY FATHER, MOTHER, SISTERS, AND BROTHER MADE THE TRIP TO IDLEWILD.
"I REMEMBER IT TOOK 24 HOURS TO GET THERE FROM DETROIT
"IN A MODEL-T FORD AFTER MANY FLAT TIRES.
"I REMEMBER MY SISTER BECOMING CARSICK FROM THE TRIP.
"I REMEMBER THAT IDLEWILD WAS RUGGED, NATURAL, AND BEAUTIFUL,
"WITH DIRT ROADS, TRAILS, AND VERY FEW MODERN CONVENIENCES.
"THERE WERE NO ELECTRIC LIGHTS, NO ELECTRIC WATER PUMPS,
"THERE WERE KEROSENE LAMPS, NO INSIDE TOILET FACILITIES.
"I SAW, FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE, SNAKES, PORCUPINE, DEER,
"BEAR, RABBIT, AND MANY KINDS OF BIRDS IN THEIR NATURAL HABITAT.
"I SAW MY FATHER SHAVE BY THE LIGHT OF THE SUN FOR THE FIRST TIME.
"WE SPENT TWO VERY BEAUTIFUL WEEKS IN A COTTAGE.
"WE HAD MANY CAMP-TYPE MEALS.
"THIS WAS MY FIRST EXPERIENCE OF WHAT A VACATION WAS LIKE."
IT WASN'T ALWAYS RUSTIC, RIGHT?
IT DEVELOPED, RIGHT?
YOU'VE GOT HOTELS, THE NIGHTCLUBS,
THE ART AND MUSIC CULTURE THAT WE WERE JUST TALKING ABOUT,
AND THEY BROUGHT IN MORE PEOPLE TO SHARE THIS EXPERIENCE.
SHARING IDLEWILD WITH AMERICA,
WITH AFRICAN-AMERICANS, WAS AN IMPORTANT PART
OF THE COMMUNITY'S DEVELOPER'S VISION, RIGHT?
SO, THEY BROUGHT IN WHAT THEY CALLED "EXCURSION GROUPS."
THEY USED BUSES TO BRING IN LARGE GROUPS OF PEOPLE FROM MAJOR CITIES
THROUGHOUT THE MIDWEST, EVEN JUST FOR A DAY, RIGHT,
THEY'D BRING IN DOZENS AND DOZENS OF PEOPLE, RIGHT,
TO GO SWIMMING ON THAT BEACH, RIGHT, TO HEAR A QUICK SHOW,
AND THEN BACK ON THE BUS.
BUT THE IDEA BECAME IDLEWILD WAS SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE--
THE RIGHT TO A VACATION, THE RIGHT TO A DAY OUT,
THE RIGHT TO AN ESCAPE FROM BIGOTRY...
AND RELAXATION WAS AN AMERICAN EXPERIENCE.
BUT YES, THERE WERE LOTS OF ACTIVITIES THAT GREW UP AROUND IDLEWILD.
NOT EVERYBODY WANTED TO GO TO A FLOOR SHOW EVERY NIGHT,
AND SO, THERE WERE CARD GAMES,
THERE WERE MORE TRADITIONAL DANCES, THERE WERE--
FLOWER AND GARDEN SHOWS BECAME A HUGE COMPETITION
AMONGST THE REGULARS AT IDLEWILD,
AND EVERY YEAR, THEY'D HAVE A COMPETITION OF WHO COULD CREATE THE BEST GARDEN.
THERE WERE FASHION SHOWS.
OF COURSE, THERE WERE REGULAR PARADES AND CELEBRATIONS, RIGHT,
ALL THROUGH THE SUMMER HOLIDAYS.
THERE'S LOTS OF INTERESTING 4th OF JULY ART, RIGHT,
WITH THE COMMUNITY AT IDLEWILD'S CLUBHOUSE,
WITH THE AMERICAN FLAG, AND CELEBRATING, YOU KNOW, THEIR COUNTRY.
IN TERMS OF FASCINATING PRIMARY SOURCES,
CARLEAN GILL, PICTURED HERE,
WAS WHAT WAS CALLED A "FIESTA DOLL," RIGHT, IN THE HEYDAY OF IDLEWILD,
AND SHE WAS A DANCER, RIGHT,
AND SHE PARTICIPATED IN THIS UNIQUE CULTURE.
UM, AND SHE HAS A DESCRIPTION, RIGHT?
SHE GAVE AN ORAL INTERVIEW A FEW YEARS AGO WHERE SHE DESCRIBES THIS.
AND SHE TALKS ABOUT, YOU KNOW, WHEN SHE WAS A YOUNG WOMAN, RIGHT,
ONE OF HER FRIENDS WAS AN EMPLOYEE AT IDLEWILD--
CREATED OPPORTUNITIES OF EMPLOYMENT FOR A LOT OF PEOPLE AS WELL.
ANYWAY, SHE SAYS, "ONE DAY A FRIEND, A DANCER AT THE PARADISE CLUB IN IDLEWILD,
"TOLD ME ABOUT A JOB OPPORTUNITY.
"I'D NEVER BEEN TO SEE IDLEWILD, BUT I'D BEEN TO SEE 'THE IDLEWILD REVUE'
"TRAVELING SHOW IN DETROIT.
"I WENT AND TRIED OUT."
SHE TALKS ABOUT HOW SHE WENT AND ASKED HER MOTHER IF IT WOULD BE OKAY,
AND HER MOTHER WAS VERY SUPPORTIVE.
"ARTHUR BRAGGS, THE OWNER OF THE PARADISE CLUB, ACCEPTED ME.
"WE WENT TO IDLEWILD TO REHEARSE IN EARLY SUMMER.
"PEOPLE FROM NEW YORK CAME TO FIT US FOR COSTUMES, $5,000 AND UP,
"FOR ONE GIRL FOR THREE EVENTS.
"THE BEGINNING ACT, THE MIDDLE ACT, AND THE FINALE.
"A MONTH BEFORE IDLEWILD OPENED, COOKS, WAITRESSES,
"BAND ACTS, MIDDLE ACT, FINAL ACT, SHOWGIRLS, DOORMEN CAME.
"EVERYTHING WAS FIRST CLASS," SHE SAYS.
"WHITE TABLECLOTHS, BEST OF STEAKS.
"AT THE TIME, IT GAVE YOU A SENSE OF BELONGING.
"MR. BRAGGS GOT CABINS FOR US AND PAID A DECENT SALARY.
"IDLEWILD WAS FABULOUS, LIKE NEW YORK OR PARIS.
"IT WAS WHERE THE TOP-OF-THE-LINE BLACK ENTERTAINERS WENT.
"THE SHOWS WERE DIRECTED AND PRODUCED BY BLACK PEOPLE IN THE UPPER CLASS.
"BLACK PEOPLE WENT THERE
"BECAUSE THEY COULDN'T GO TO RESORTS LIKE THOSE IN FLORIDA.
"I WAS ONE OF FOUR SHOWGIRLS, OR 'PRANCERS.'
"THEN, MAYBE YOU'D HAVE A COMEDIAN AND TAP DANCERS.
"AFTER LABOR DAY, THE SHOW CLOSED.
"THEN, WE WENT ON THE ROAD IN THE BUS."
SHE TALKS ABOUT BRINGING DOWN THE SHOW
AND THIS VERY INTERESTING IDLEWILD PRACTICE EVERY SEASON,
WHERE THE LAST SHOW,
THE PEOPLE WHO DANCED WOULD SWAP COSTUMES WITH THE MUSICIANS
AND THE MUSICIANS WOULD HAVE TO DANCE
AND THE DANCERS WOULD PLAY THE INSTRUMENTS
AND HOW EVERYONE THOUGHT THAT THAT WAS SO HILARIOUS AND--
YOU COULD JUST TELL THAT THEY KNEW HOW TO HAVE FUN UP THERE.
ANYWAY, THEN SHE SAYS,
"THEN, WE WENT ON THE 'IDLEWILD REVUE' SHOW ON THE BUS--
"KANSAS CITY, NEW YORK, CHICAGO, NEW JERSEY, BOSTON, OKLAHOMA, CANADA.
"I REMEMBER TRAVELING TO NIGHTCLUBS,"--
WHEN IN DOING THE REVUE AROUND THE COUNTRY,
SHE SAYS, "WE COULDN'T GO IN THE FRONT DOOR.
"WE COULDN'T GO IN TO THE AUDIENCE."
SO, THIS TAKES US TO IDEA OF IDLEWILD'S HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE.
OBVIOUSLY, IDLEWILD WAS FUN.
ALL RIGHT, AND PERHAPS ONE OF THE PRINCIPLE REASONS FOR ITS EXISTENCE
WAS THAT SO MANY PEOPLE COULD ENJOY THEMSELVES.
BUT, IN THIS CONTEXT, IT WASN'T JUST FUN.
JOY, IN THIS CONTEXT, IS PROFOUND.
NOT ONLY DID THIS COMMUNITY OFFER SAFE HAVEN,
IN A WORLD FRAUGHT WITH INTOLERANCE AND HATE AND VIOLENCE.
IT SIMULTANEOUSLY PROVIDED OTHER THINGS
THAT COULD NOT REALLY BE FOUND EASILY IN AMERICA.
SUCH AS EMOTIONAL AND PHYSICAL REJUVENATION.
RIGHT, CONSTANT STRESS, RIGHT,
IN YOUR EVERYDAY LIFE, RIGHT?
DISCRIMINATION, BIGOTRY, IN THE WORKPLACE, IN THE SCHOOL SYSTEM,
IN THE NEIGHBORHOODS, RIGHT?
IN IDLEWILD, PEOPLE COULD ESCAPE THAT CULTURE, RIGHT?
AND IMAGINE BEING ABLE TO ESCAPE, RIGHT, THAT ENVIRONMENT OF TENSION,
WHAT THAT COULD DO, RIGHT,
THAT COULD ALLOW YOU TO CARRY ON MORE EASILY FOR THE NEXT YEAR, RIGHT?
SO, IT'S NOT JUST PHYSICAL, BUT IT'S ALSO EMOTIONAL.
IT'S PEACE.
IT'S NOT JUST PEACE AND QUIET
AND, YOU KNOW, JUST FRESH AIR AND BIRDS SINGING,
BUT IT'S A TYPE OF PEACE THAT ONLY IDLEWILD COULD PROVIDE.
MOREOVER, THE IDEA OF BEING ABLE TO HAVE A VACATION HAD,
BY THIS POINT IN AMERICA'S HISTORY--
CERTAINLY IN THE '20s AND '30s, AND IN THE '40s AND '50s DURING IDLEWILD'S HEYDAY--
A VACATION...
BECAME INTRINSIC TO THE AMERICAN IDENTITY, OKAY?
IT BECAME A RIGHT AND A PRIVILEGE THAT ALL WORKING AMERICANS, RIGHT,
SHOULD HAVE ACCESS TO.
A CENTRAL ELEMENT.
A VACATION WAS-- IT HAD BECOME A CENTRAL ELEMENT OF A LIFE
THAT WAS LIVED IN THE SPIRIT OF THE AMERICAN DREAM.
AND IF YOU DIDN'T HAVE A VACATION, RIGHT,
THEN YOU WEREN'T REALLY AN AMERICAN.
AT IDLEWILD, AFRICAN-AMERICANS--
THEY WERE ABLE TO STAKE THEIR CLAIM TO THAT DREAM AND TO THAT RIGHT.
ANY MAP OF THE COMMUNITY--
LIKE THE ONE I HAD UP EARLIER AND FORGOT TO MENTION--
ANY MAP OF THE COMMUNITY DEMONSTRATES
THE PEOPLE OF IDLEWILD'S COMMITMENT TO THAT AMERICAN IDEOLOGY AND VALUES.
YOU DRIVE AROUND IDLEWILD TODAY,
YOU SEE STREETS THAT ARE NAMED "JEFFERSON," "PAINE," "ADAMS,"
"WILBERFORCE," "DUBOIS AVENUE," "MIRACLE STREET," "JOY STREET,"
"UNITY STREET," "PARADISE BOULEVARD," RIGHT?
IDLEWILD REPRESENTS PEOPLE'S AMERICAN IDENTITY.
RIGHT, IT REPRESENTS, YOU KNOW, THE FACT THAT EVERYONE
SHOULD BE ABLE TO HAVE THAT EXPERIENCE.
SO, TO SAY THAT FUN AND RELAXATION WERE THE ONLY REASONS FOR IDLEWILD
WOULD BE DISTORTED, IT WOULD BE TOO REDUCTIVE.
MANY PEOPLE WHO LIVED, WORKED, AND VACATIONED AT IDLEWILD--
THEY UNDERSTOOD THAT THAT COMMUNITY WAS MORE THAN MAY HAVE INITIALLY MET THE EYE.
IT WAS SYMBOLIC.
IT WAS SYMBOLIC IN MANY WAYS.
EQUALITY, CAPABILITIES OF FUTURE AFRICAN-AMERICANS, RIGHT?
IT WAS SYMBOL OF ALL OF THAT.
IT WAS A SYMBOL THAT DIRECTLY CONFRONTED THE LIES
ABOUT AFRICAN-AMERICAN LIMITATIONS AND INFERIORITY
THAT ARE WIDELY PERPETUATED BY THE SCIENTIFIC RACISM OF THAT ERA,
BY THE EUGENICS MOVEMENT, RIGHT?
IDLEWILD CONFRONTED ALL OF THE LIES BY THOSE RACIST MOVEMENTS.
EVERYTHING THAT SAID AFRICAN-AMERICANS WERE LESS,
IDLEWILD HELPED TO DEBUNK THAT.
SOME OF THOSE WHO LIVED AND VISITED IDLEWILD, RIGHT,
THEY HAD DIFFERENT IDEAS ABOUT EXACTLY HOW IDLEWILD WAS SIGNIFICANT.
FOR EXAMPLE, MANY PEOPLE IN IDLEWILD IN THE '20s
REMEMBERS OF MARCUS GARVEY'S U.N.I.A.,
THE UNIVERSAL *** IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION.
MR. GARVEY HIMSELF VISITED IDLEWILD IN THE ERA, RIGHT,
AND ULTIMATELY, THE PEOPLE IN IDLEWILD--
THEY BUILT ONE OF 16 U.N.I.A. HALLS IN THE STATE,
AND IT'S STILL THERE-- THE STRUCTURE-- IT'S NO LONGER IN USE.
BUT THE HALL IS STILL THERE.
OKAY, INDEED, FOR PEOPLE IN THE U.N.I.A., RIGHT,
FOLLOWING, YOU KNOW, GARVEY'S VISION, RIGHT, OF CIVIL RIGHTS ACTION,
THEY WOULD SEE IDLEWILD AS A DEMONSTRATION OF AFRICAN SUCCESS
AND AFRICAN-AMERICAN BEAUTY.
ONE REASON TO BE PROUD OF ONE'S BLACK IDENTITY,
AND IT WAS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR BLACK BUSINESSPEOPLE, OKAY?
GARVEYISM WAS VERY POPULAR, ESPECIALLY IN THE '20s AND '30s.
FOR THOSE PEOPLE WHO WENT TO IDLEWILD
AND WERE MORE INCLINED TO SUPPORT THE VISION OF THE N.A.A.C.P.
AND FOLLOW DR. DUBOIS' VISION...
DUBOIS HIMSELF WAS VERY VOCAL ON IDLEWILD
AND WOULD WRITE ABOUT IT IN HIS MAGAZINE, "THE CRISIS,"
OF WHICH HE WAS ALSO THE EDITOR, AND HE SAYS, "FOR SHEER PHYSICAL BEAUTY"--
HE'S VERY POETIC, DR. DUBOIS.
"FOR SHEER OF WATER AND GOLDEN AIR,
"FOR NOBLENESS OF TREE AND FLOWER AND OF SHRUB,
"OF SHINING RIVER AND SONG OF BIRD AND THE LOW MOVING WHISPER
"OF SUN, MOON, AND STAR,
"IT IS THE BEAUTIFULLEST STRETCH THAT I HAVE SEEN FOR 20 YEARS.
"AND THEN ADD TO THAT, FELLOWSHIP.
"SWEET STRONG WOMEN AND KEEN-WITTED MEN FROM CANADA AND TEXAS,
"CALIFORNIA AND NEW YORK, OHIO, MISSOURI, AND ILLINOIS.
"ALL SONS AND GREAT-GRANDCHILDREN OF ETHIOPIA.
"ALL WITH THE WIDE LEISURE OF REST AND PLAY.
"CAN YOU IMAGINE A MORE MARVELOUS THING THAN IDLEWILD?"
OKAY.
HIS VISION OF IDLEWILD, RIGHT, FROM THE N.A.A.C.P. VIEWPOINT,
IDLEWILD'S EXISTENCE STRESSED THE EQUALITY OF BLACK AND WHITE AMERICANS.
IT PUNCTUATED THE HYPOCRISY AND THE REASONS USUALLY GIVEN
TO MAINTAIN JIM CROW LAWS AND PRACTICES ACROSS THE COUNTRY.
STILL OTHERS BELIEVED IN THE OLDER IDEOLOGY
OF BOOKER T. WASHINGTON
AND THEIR ACCOMMODATION PHILOSOPHY WITH SEGREGATION,
BUT REALLY, IT'S THE FIRST TWO THAT ARE THE MOST POPULAR MOVEMENTS, RIGHT,
AMONGST THE PEOPLE WHO VISITED AND WORKED IN IDLEWILD.
I LIKE THIS IMAGE HERE.
THAT IS W.E.B. DUBOIS IN IDLEWILD, RIGHT, WITH A FRIEND OF HIS.
HE OWNED LAND THERE BRIEFLY, WHICH HE BOUGHT FROM DR. DAN,
THE HEART SURGEON FROM CHICAGO, RIGHT,
AND WAS A REGULAR VISITOR THERE IN THE '20s AND '30s.
SO, THIS IS THE CULTURAL LEGACY OF IDLEWILD.
RIGHT, IT MEANS MORE TO PEOPLE
THAN JUST A FISHING TRIP OR A DAY AT THE BEACH.
OKAY, THE CULTURAL LEGACY OF IDLEWILD IS JOY AND CREATION
AS RESISTANCE AND SOCIAL CHANGE.
THOSE THINGS AREN'T NECESSARILY DIFFERENT.
SOMETIMES, THEY'RE THE SAME.
JOY AND CREATION AS RESISTANCE AND SOCIAL CHANGE.
IDLEWILD MEANT SO MUCH TO SO MANY DIFFERENT PEOPLE.
IT MEANT POLITICAL MEETINGS, RIGHT?
IT MEANT PROFESSIONAL OPPORTUNITIES, RIGHT,
TO DEVELOP A BUSINESS, RIGHT, TO BE ON A CITY COUNCIL, RIGHT?
IT MEANT ORGANIZATIONAL EXPERIENCE, RIGHT, AND ALL THOSE THINGS.
IT MEANT LEADERSHIP ROLES, IT MEANT GOVERNMENT EXPERIENCE,
IT CREATED SO MANY JOBS, IT ALLOWED SO MANY ARTISTS
AND MUSICIANS AND SINGERS TO PRACTICE THEIR GIFTS
AND HONE THEIR SKILLS.
OKAY, AND ALL OF THAT HAS A RIPPLE EFFECT THROUGHOUT HISTORY.
FOR EXAMPLE, ONE OF MY FAVORITE GROUPS FROM THE MOTOWN SOUND
IS THE FOUR TOPS, OKAY?
THE FOUR TOPS-- THEY GOT THEIR START PLAYING THE PARADISE CLUB IN IDLEWILD,
AND ON TOUR WITH THE REVUE, RIGHT, "THE IDLEWILD REVUE."
AND THEY PRODUCED SONGS OF LOVE AND HAPPINESS AND HEARTBREAK
IN A STYLE THAT EVENTUALLY BECAME ONE OF THE ARCHETYPES
OF THE MOTOWN SOUND...
YOU KNOW, THE RHYTHMS OF THE MOTOWN SOUND,
THE TOPICS OF THE MOTOWN SOUND, THE LYRICS OF THE MOTOWN SOUND.
THEIR BIG HITS, RIGHT, UNDER THE MOTOWN LABEL,
SUCH AS "BABY, I NEED YOUR LOVIN'"
AND "I CAN'T HELP MYSELF" AND "REACH OUT," YOU KNOW,
THOSE WERE IDLEWILD SONGS AND THOSE WERE IDLEWILD, YOU KNOW, LYRICS
AND IDLEWILD RHYTHMS AND IDLEWILD THEMES.
AND THAT BECAME PART OF THE MOTOWN SOUND... OKAY?
AND WITH MOTOWN, RIGHT--
A LOT OF THOSE ARTISTS WHO WENT BIG IN MOTOWN, RIGHT,
THEY HAD EXPERIENCE PLAYING IDLEWILD.
OKAY, SO THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE TWO HAS TO BE RECOGNIZED.
MOTOWN, AND EVERYTHING THAT THOSE ARTISTS DID,
CHANGED THE MUSICAL LANDSCAPE OF AMERICA FOREVER, RIGHT?
IN THE '60s, BECAUSE OF MOTOWN, RIGHT,
WHITE TEENAGERS STARTED TO DANCE TO THE MUSIC OF BLACK ARTISTS.
GORDY, RIGHT-- BERRY GORDY, ONE OF THE LEADERS OF MOTOWN WOULD EXPLAIN, RIGHT--
HE SAID, "WHEN I WENT TO WHITE RADIO STATIONS
"TO GET RECORDS PLAYED, THEY WOULD LAUGH AT ME.
"THEY THOUGHT I WAS TRYING TO BRING BLACK MUSIC TO WHITE PEOPLE, TO CROSS OVER.
"AND I SAID, 'WAIT A MINUTE!
"'IT'S NOT REALLY BLACK MUSIC... IT'S MUSIC BY BLACK STARS.'
"I REFUSE TO BE CATEGORIZED-- THEY CALLED MY MUSIC ALL KINDS OF STUFF.
"RHYTHM AND BLUES, SOUL, AND I SAID, 'LOOK!
"'THIS MUSIC IS POP.
"'POP MEANS POPULAR.
"'IF YOU SELL A MILLION RECORDS, YOU'RE POPULAR.'"
THE SLOGAN OF MOTOWN BECAME, RIGHT, "THE SOUND OF YOUNG AMERICA."
RIGHT, AND HE WAS RIGHT.
I MEAN, THIS MUSIC, RIGHT, THAT CAME OUT OF IDLEWILD,
THAT MERGED WITH THE MOTOWN EXPERIENCE,
IT DID HAVE REVERBERATING EFFECTS THROUGHOUT SOCIETY, RIGHT?
ANOTHER WONDERFUL SOCIOLOGIST AND HISTORIAN IS DR. CORNEL WEST
FROM PRINCETON UNIVERSITY,
AND HE ARGUES THAT "THE GENIUS OF BERRY GORDY
"IS THAT HE PERCEIVED A VACUUM
"IN THE MUSICAL CULTURE OF THE NATION,
"AND HE WAS ABLE TO CONVINCE YOUNG BROTHERS AND SISTERS LIKE ME
"ON THE BLACK SIDE OF TOWN THAT THIS WAS MY MUSIC.
"AND AT THE SAME TIME, HE WAS ABLE TO CONVINCE
"WHITE BROTHERS AND SISTERS ON THE OTHER SIDE OF TOWN
"WHO WERE LISTENING TO THE BEACH BOYS, THAT MOTOWN WAS THEIR MUSIC, TOO."
OKAY.
IN THIS WAY, THE MUSIC THAT CAME OUT OF THIS ERA, IT WAS A STEP--
IT WAS ANOTHER STEP TOWARDS AT LEAST MENTAL DESEGREGATION.
RIGHT, THAT NOW THE EXPERIENCE OF ONE COMMUNITY
WAS THE EXPERIENCE OF ANOTHER COMMUNITY
AND THEY SHARED THAT... RIGHT?
IT BECAME THE HALLMARK OF A GENERATION, RIGHT,
AND THERE'S LOTS OF WAYS TO SEE THIS,
BUT SOME OF YOU IN THE CROWD MAY REMEMBER--
OH, THAT'S THE FOUR TOPS LATER ON.
THEY WERE QUITE YOUNG IN THAT PICTURE.
BUT SOME OF YOU MIGHT ALSO REMEMBER THIS MOVIE CALLED "THE BIG CHILL," OKAY?
THAT'S A LITTLE BIT DATED NOW,
BUT THAT'S ONE OF THOSE GREAT COMING OF AGE,
DEALING WITH ADULTHOOD MOVIES IN THE '80s,
AND IT'S ABOUT THAT GENERATION THAT GREW UP WITH THE MOTOWN SOUND.
AND IT'S A MOVIE-- LOOK AT THEIR FACES-- IT'S A MOVIE ABOUT WHITE YUPPIES, OKAY?
BUT THE SOUNDTRACK TO "THE BIG CHILL" IS THE MOTOWN SOUNDTRACK.
THAT WAS THE SOUNDTRACK OF THEIR LIVES, THEIR EXPERIENCES... RIGHT?
AS I SAY, IT'S A STEP TOWARDS MENTAL DESEGREGATION.
SO, WHAT HAPPENED TO IDLEWILD?
WHAT HAPPENED IS CIVIL RIGHTS,
YOU KNOW, STARTED TO WIN SOME VICTORIES IN THE 1960s
THROUGH A LOT OF PEOPLE'S STRUGGLE.
IDLEWILD'S SUCCESS AND POPULARITY WOULD NOT LAST FOREVER AFTER THIS.
THE PUBLIC ACCOMMODATIONS ACT IN '64 WAS A BIG ONE,
BUT THEN OTHER CIVIL RIGHTS LEGISLATION AS WELL.
MANY AFRICAN-AMERICANS BEGAN TO PATRONIZE WHITE ESTABLISHMENTS
THAT HAD PREVIOUSLY BARRED THEM.
TO DO OTHERWISE WOULD MEAN THAT ALL THOSE PEOPLE, BOTH BLACK AND WHITE,
WHO HAD RISKED EVERYTHING, INCLUDING THEIR LIVES,
TO PRODUCE REAL, LASTING SOCIAL CHANGE IN AMERICA,
HAD DONE SO IN VAIN.
AS THE POPULARITY OF "SEPARATE BUT EQUAL" FADED INTO THE PAST,
THE GROWING INTEREST, RIGHT,
AND THE RESULTING SUCCESS OF THE INTEGRATION MOVEMENT
CHANGED IDLEWILD'S HISTORY.
THIS ALLOWED AFRICAN-AMERICANS TO ENJOY THE SAME, WIDER-RANGING CHOICE
OF VACATION SPOTS AS OTHER AMERICANS...
OKAY, AS WHITE AMERICANS.
AT THE SAME TIME THAT THIS WAS HAPPENING,
A LOT OF THE FOUNDING LEADERS IN IDLEWILD EITHER RETIRED OR PASSED AWAY,
AND THE YOUNGER GENERATION HAD THIS HUGE CRISIS TO DEAL WITH,
IN TERMS OF PEOPLE CHOOSING OTHER PLACES
AND, AT THE SAME TIME, THEY DIDN'T HAVE AS MUCH EXPERIENCE
AS THE GENERATION THAT HAD ALL SEEMED TO RETIRE AND PASS AWAY
JUST IN ADVANCE OF THIS LEGISLATION.
SO ANYWAY, IT MADE IT DIFFICULT FOR THE NEXT GENERATION
TO MAINTAIN THEIR CUSTOMER BASE.
RIGHT, PEOPLE WERE HUNGRY TO SEE OTHER VACATION SPOTS, AND...
WHILE LAKE COUNTY, MICHIGAN, IS NICE, SO ARE THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS,
YOU KNOW, SO IS FLORIDA, RIGHT, AND SO IS SO MANY OTHER PLACES,
AND PEOPLE WANTED TO SEE THOSE, TOO, RIGHT?
AND MANY PEOPLE CHOSE TO VISIT OTHER PARTS OF THIS COUNTRY
RATHER THAN IDLEWILD EVERY SINGLE YEAR.
AND AS A RESULT, IDLEWILD FELL INTO DECLINE.
AND SOME OF THE QUINTESSENTIAL BUILDINGS, YOU KNOW,
THEY DON'T LOOK MUCH TODAY.
YOU KNOW, THIS IS THE-- I TOOK THIS PICTURE,
LIKE I SAID, A LITTLE OVER A WEEK AGO,
AND THAT'S THE "FLAMINGO CLUB," RIGHT.
THAT'S THE "FIESTA ROOM."
IT'S-- THERE'S A HISTORICAL MARKER AROUND IT,
AS THERE ARE SO MANY IN THE IDLEWILD COMMUNITIES,
BUT IT'S NO LONGER A FOCAL POINT
OF AMERICAN ENTERTAINMENT CULTURE.
AND ANYWAY, CHANGE ACROSS THE COUNTRY,
CHANGE ACROSS THE WORLD BY THE '60s,
DECOLONIZATION AT THE SAME TIME AS CIVIL RIGHTS LEGISLATION IN AMERICA,
CHANGED IDLEWILD FOREVER.
BUT-- I JUST WANNA END TOWARDS THIS NOTE, IS THAT IDLEWILD IS STILL HERE, OKAY?
IT'S STILL A COMMUNITY.
IT'S STILL A VACATION SPOT.
ACCORDING TO THE LAST CENSUS, THERE'S ABOUT 780-SOME PEOPLE
WHO LIVE IN IDLEWILD YEAR-ROUND.
BUT STILL, DURING THE SUMMER MONTHS,
DURING THE SEASON, AS THEY STILL CALL IT, RIGHT,
THAT NUMBER SWELLS TO WELL OVER 5,000.
RIGHT, PEOPLE STILL OWN CABINS UP THERE.
IT'S STILL PRIMARILY AN AFRICAN-AMERICAN COMMUNITY,
THOUGH THERE IS A POPULATION OF WHITE PEOPLE AS WELL,
WHO LIVE AND VACATION IN IDLEWILD.
THEY HAVE MUSIC FESTIVALS TO THIS DAY.
IT'S ALSO A RETIREMENT COMMUNITY, RIGHT, AS WELL,
AND THERE'S SEVERAL DIFFERENT BUSINESSES THERE THAT MAKE IT LOVELY.
AGAIN, SOME OTHER IMAGES, RIGHT, THAT'S THE ENTRANCE, RIGHT.
IT IS A HISTORIC COMMUNITY.
THERE IS A CULTURAL CENTER THERE THAT YOU SHOULD VISIT DURING THE SEASON,
YOU KNOW, WHEN IT'S OPEN, IF YOU'RE EVER UP THAT WAY,
IF YOU'RE GOING TO BALDWIN OR YOU'RE GOING CANOEING
IN THE PIER MARQUETTE OR SOMETHING,
STOP OFF IN IDLEWILD AND VISIT THAT MUSEUM AND CULTURAL CENTER.
IT'S WORTH YOUR TIME.
BUT YEAH, THIS IS PARADISE LAKE.
RIGHT, THERE'S A LOVELY PARK.
THERE'S THAT BEACH THAT WE SAW IN THE PERIOD PHOTOS.
HISTORICAL MARKERS ARE INTERESTINGLY DONE.
THAT'S THE CLARITY OF THE WATER IN THE LAKE.
RIGHT, IT'S JUST GORGEOUS...
AND A LOT OF FUN AS WELL.
BUT ANYWAY, FOR MORE INFORMATION ON IDLEWILD'S SEASONAL EVENTS, RIGHT,
I WOULD HAVE YOU GO TO THIS WEBSITE HERE
FOR THE IDLEWILD AFRICAN-AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, RIGHT,
AND THEY HAVE A CALENDAR THERE OF UPCOMING EVENTS,
AND THERE'S A CONTACT INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE WHO MAINTAIN THE SITE,
AND THEY'D BE HAPPY TO TELL YOU MORE
ABOUT EVERYTHING THAT'S GOING ON THIS YEAR FOR THE CENTENNIAL.
LIKE I SAID, IT'S INTERESTING WORK.
IDLEWILD'S STILL HERE, RIGHT, IN THE MUSIC FESTIVAL,
IN THE CULTURES THAT THEY HAVE EVERY YEAR--
ARE STILL A PART OF THAT RICH TAPESTRY
OF MICHIGAN'S HISTORY IN MODERN SOCIETY, TOO.
SO, I WANTED TO SEE IF THERE'S ANY QUESTIONS,
AND ALSO TO SEE THIS ISSUE OF HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE, RIGHT--
WHY DOES IDLEWILD MATTER?
I MEAN, I HAD SOME IDEAS,
BUT I'M ALSO CURIOUS ABOUT WHAT IDEAS YOU HAVE,
AND WE ARE--
>> I'VE GOT A MICROPHONE HERE, IF YOU'VE GOT A QUESTION.
>> EXCELLENT.
HOLD ON, WE GOTTA GET THE MIC.
THANK YOU.
>> LIKE, DURING THE HEYDAY, LIKE, WAS IT RELATIVELY CLOSED OFF
TO POTENTIAL WHITE VISITORS, TOO?
OR, WERE THEY-- WAS IT ACCOMMODATING FOR WHITE PEOPLE
WHO WANTED TO EXPERIENCE THAT, TOO?
>> WELL, NO, IT WAS--
AND ACTUALLY, IN SOME OF THE HISTORICAL PHOTOGRAPHS THAT I FOUND--
AND THERE'S LOTS OF RICH HISTORICAL PHOTOS,
INCLUDING IN THE BOOK THERE,
"THE BLACK EDEN-- THE IDLEWILD COMMUNITY,"
IT'S A COLLECTION OF PERIOD PHOTOS.
AND THERE ARE WHITE PEOPLE IN THE PHOTOS.
SOME OF THEM I HAD IN THE SHOW HERE HAD WHITE "IDLEWILDERS,"
AS THEY WERE CALLED.
SO NO, IT WAS NOT SEGREGATED.
I MEAN, IT WAS PRIMARILY AFRICAN-AMERICAN, YOU KNOW,
IN TERMS OF OWNERSHIP AND BUSINESSES AND PARTICIPANTS AND SO ON,
BUT THAT'S BECAUSE OF THE NATURE OF THE WORLD AT THE TIME.
SOME OF THE BANDS, YOU KNOW, HAD WHITE MUSICIANS,
AS WELL AS AFRICAN-AMERICAN MUSICIANS,
AND THEY WOULD RELAX ON THE BEACH TOGETHER DURING THE DAY
AND THEN PLAY THE PARADISE ROOM AT NIGHT.
YEAH.
>> ALSO, LIKE, YOU TALKED ABOUT THE EXCURSION GROUPS.
>> YEAH.
>> AND THEY WOULD TAKE THE BUSES FROM CITIES AROUND MICHIGAN,
OR JUST THE COUNTRY, OR-- WHO WOULD ORGANIZE THAT?
LIKE, WAS IT PEOPLE FROM IDLEWILD, OR--
>> YEAH, IT WAS PEOPLE WHO RAN THE IDLEWILD CLUBHOUSE.
AND THEN, EVENTUALLY, THE PARADISE ROOM WOULD DO IT AS WELL.
AND THEN, SOME OF THE HOTELS WOULD DO THAT,
BECAUSE A LOT OF PEOPLE, YOU KNOW, ESPECIALLY IN--
THE EXCURSION GROUPS WERE FOR PEOPLE OF LESS MEANS, YOU KNOW,
THEY COULDN'T AFFORD TO RENT A CABIN FOR A WEEK OR--
BUT THE MIGHT BE ABLE TO RENT A HOTEL ROOM FOR A COUPLE OF DAYS.
AND THEY DIDN'T NECESSARILY OWN A CAR, RIGHT?
AND SO, THIS HELPED MORE PEOPLE FROM DIFFERENT SOCIOECONOMIC BACKGROUNDS
MAKE IT TO IDLEWILD AND PARTICIPATE.
AND SO, YES, IDLEWILD COMPANIES WOULD PLAN THESE BUSES--
THEY WOULD TAKE OUT ADS, YOU KNOW, IN NEWSPAPERS,
"YOU WANNA GO TO IDLEWILD, BE AT THIS PLACE AND TIME,
"BUY A TICKET ON THE BUS,
"TAKE YOU UP THIS DAY, TAKE YOU BACK THAT DAY."
AND SORT OF AN ALL-INCLUSIVE PACKAGE,
OR AT LEAST TRANSPORTATION AND THE ROOM AND SOME BOARD...
YEAH.
>> DID ANY WHITE SEGREGATIONISTS OR *** MEMBERS TRY TO DISBAND IT?
>> NOT THAT I WAS ABLE TO FIND.
AND DESPITE THE LARGE POPULATION OF *** PEOPLE
IN NEIGHBORING NEWAYGO COUNTY,
I'VE NEVER SEEN ANYTHING TO DOCUMENT AN ATTACK.
I'D BE INTERESTED TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THAT.
I IMAGINE THAT IT WOULD HAVE BEEN--
IF I WERE AN AFRICAN-AMERICAN
TRAVELING THROUGH NEWAYGO COUNTY TO LAKE COUNTY, RIGHT,
I IMAGINE THAT THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN TENSE, OKAY.
I MEAN, KNOWING THE POPULARITY OF THE ***
AND HOW THEY CONTROLLED THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND SO ON,
AND IN SO MANY PARTS OF THE COUNTRY.
ESPECIALLY WHEN, LIKE THE AUTHOR SAID, WHEN YOU GET A FLAT TIRE,
WHEN YOU'RE BROKEN DOWN.
SO, I IMAGINE THAT THAT'S PART OF THE EXPERIENCE,
BUT I'VE NEVER READ ABOUT ACTUAL CONFRONTATIONS.
THE *** WAS NOT ALWAYS OVERT.
I MEAN, IT BECAME-- IN MANY COMMUNITIES, ITS POPULARITY
LED IT TO BECOME MORE OF A SOCIAL ORGANIZATION,
LIKE THE ELK'S CLUB OR SOMETHING. (audience laughing)
AND IT-- NOT EVERY--
AND SOME OF THE *** GROUPS WERE VERY ACTIVE
IN A CAMPAIGN OF HATE AND TERROR,
AND OTHERS, LESS SO.
BUT I CAN'T SAY THAT IT DID EVER HAPPEN, I CAN'T SAY DIDN'T EITHER.
>> I'M CURIOUS...
WHERE WAS THE WHITE RESORT IN BALDWIN LOCATED?
WAS THAT THE BIG STAR LAKE AREA?
OR WAS IT WOLF LAKE OR PARTICULAR ANYWHERE?
>> IT WAS TOWARDS THE WOLF LAKE, RIGHT, ABOUT FOUR MILES OUTSIDE OF BALDWIN.
>> OKAY. >> YEAH.
I DON'T KNOW THAT IT EVER HAD A PARTICULAR NAME IN THAT ERA, RIGHT,
BUT IT WAS DESIGNED AS A SERIES OF PLOTS OF LAND
THAT COULD BE SOLD TO PEOPLE,
AND IT WAS DESIGNED TO BE SOLD TO ONLY WHITE PEOPLE,
WHEREAS IDLEWILD WAS FOR AFRICAN-AMERICANS.
>> GREAT STORY... AND YOU TOLD IT BEAUTIFULLY.
THANK YOU.
(audience laughing)
I'M CURIOUS ABOUT ANOTHER SIDE OF THE STORY, MAYBE,
AND I'M NOT SURE HOW MUCH YOU FOUND IN YOUR RESEARCH,
BUT IT'S A QUESTION OF ACCESS.
IT'S INTERESTING, WHEN YOU TALKED ABOUT SO MANY DIFFERENT GROUPS OF PEOPLE
SEEING THESE POSITIVE ASPECTS OF IDLEWILD
FROM THE FOLLOWERS OF MARCUS GARVEY ALL THE WAY TO PEOPLE
WHO WOULD IDENTIFY WITH BOOKER T. WASHINGTON,
BUT IS THERE A CLASS ISSUE HERE?
THE TALENTED TENTH SHOWING UP
IN THIS BEAUTIFUL SPOT IN MICHIGAN AND VACATIONING
AND MOST AFRICAN-AMERICANS MAYBE NOT BEING ABLE TO EXPERIENCE THAT?
OR WAS THERE AN ATTEMPT TO REACH OUT ACROSS SOCIAL CLASS LINES?
IS THAT AN ISSUE? >> I THINK THAT, OF COURSE,
INITIALLY, IT WAS CONCEIVED OF AS A MIDDLE CLASS AFRICAN-AMERICAN RESORT.
AND I THINK THAT, FOR AT LEAST THE FIRST GENERATION OF IDLEWILDERS,
THAT WAS THEIR SOCIAL BACKGROUND.
DURING THE DEPRESSION, OF COURSE, GROWTH WAS CURTAILED, RIGHT,
BUT AFTER WORLD WAR II,
THERE WERE SERIOUS EFFORTS MADE TO EXPAND IT,
TO MAKE IT ACCESSIBLE TO THE WIDEST POSSIBLE NUMBER OF PEOPLE,
AND THAT'S WHY WE GET INTO EXCURSION GROUPS.
AND...
I THINK THE CLIENTELE WAS ALWAYS LARGELY, YOU KNOW, MIDDLE CLASS, RIGHT?
IT WAS HEAVIER CONCENTRATED IN THE MIDDLE CLASS THAN WORKING CLASS,
BUT WORKING CLASS PEOPLE DID HAVE ACCESS TO IT AS WELL.
UM...
AND, THIS KIND OF IS AN ADDENDUM TO THAT,
IN TERMS OF THE EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES THAT IT CREATED--
IT CREATED EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES FOR WORKING CLASS AFRICAN-AMERICANS
AS WELL AS MIDDLE CLASS AFRICAN-AMERICANS.
AND I THINK CARLEAN GILL IS A GOOD EXAMPLE OF THAT.
SO, A LOT OF PEOPLE'S LIVES WERE IMPACTED BY IT.
BUT YES, ESPECIALLY IN THE EARLY PERIOD,
IT WAS LARGELY A MIDDLE CLASS EXPERIENCE TO BE IN IDLEWILD.
I HAVE NOT YET GOTTEN THE QUESTION I ANTICIPATED.
>> WANNA ANSWER IT ANYWAY? (audience laughing)
>> I WAS WONDERING IF SOMEONE WOULD ASK ME
WHERE THE NAME "IDLEWILD" COMES FROM.
AND THE ANSWER IS, I DON'T KNOW. (audience laughing)
AND I'VE LOOKED, I'VE LOOKED, BUT IT'S--
YOU KNOW, BEFORE J.F.K. AIRPORT WAS J.F.K.--
IT WAS IDLEWILD AIRPORT.
THERE'S A PLACE IN THE NOVEL "ANNE OF GREEN GABLES"
THAT IS CALLED "IDLEWILD'S A QUIET MEETING PLACE"
WHICH PREDATES-- THE NOVEL PREDATES IDLEWILD BY A FEW YEARS,
BUT I CAN'T FIND ANY DIRECT REASON FOR WHY IT WAS CALLED "IDLEWILD."
BUT IT BECAME A JOKE--
ER, IT BECAME A COMMON UNDERSTANDING OR A COMMON JOKE FOR THE IDLEWILDERS,
UM, THAT IDLEWILD IS A PLACE
WHERE MEN CAN BE IDLE AND WOMEN CAN BE WILD.
(audience laughing) AND SO, FOR THE PEOPLE AT IDLEWILD,
I MEAN, THAT'S ALWAYS BEEN SORT OF THEIR EXPLANATION FOR WHERE THAT CAME FROM.
WELL, ANYWAY, IT'S BEEN A PLEASURE.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR ATTENTION, AND FOR THE CONFERENCE FOR INVITING ME.
(applause)