On Her Own Ground

possible that they met—Lelia Robinson v. John Robinson, No. 1740, October Term 1913, Testimony before Master, Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, July 16, 1914, p. 4.

  Italian Renaissance courthouse—Historic Washington and Greene Counties brochure, n.d. (pre–1982); Washington County, Pennsylvania, Courthouse History brochure, n.d. (pre–1982).

  train ride—Arden Trolley Museum brochure (Washington, PA), n.d. (pre–1982).

  well-furnished home—Robinson v. Robinson, p. 2.

  CHAPTER 9 BOLD MOVES

  “Now what I would like”—Madam Walker to Booker T. Washington, Jan. 19, 1910 (BTW/LOC, Special Correspondence, Madam Walker file).

  “I know I can not do”—Ibid.

  bids from “white firms”—Ibid.

  “My time and attention”—BTW to MW, Jan. 26, 1910 (BTW/LOC).

  “My heart went out to her”—Agnes “Peggie” Prosser to FBR, Oct. 2, 1922 (MWC/IHS); Prosser was probably born around 1875 or 1876, based on information in her Oct. 2, 1922, letter to Ransom.

  “meeting the postman”—Ibid.

  “so favorably impressed”—“Over 10,000 in Her Employ,” New York Age, undated clipping. (While the official Walker Company history always said that Madam Walker arrived in Indianapolis on Feb. 10, 1910, it appears that she had visited the city at least once during 1909 and had actually moved to the city either in late January or earlier in February.) Also see “Mme Walker announcement,” Indpls Recorder, Feb. 12, 1910, p. 2, and The Walker Manufacturing Co., 1911, p. 13.

  the first president—“Second Annual Session of the Indiana Association of Negro Physicians, Dentists and Pharmacists,” Indpls. Recorder, Aug. 28, 1909; “Negroes Close Sessions,” Indpls. Recorder, Sept. 11, 1909.

  training school for black nurses—Ray Boomhower, “Joseph H. Ward,” in David J. Bodenhamer and Robert G. Barrows, eds., Encyclopedia of Indianapolis (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1994), p. 1411.

  officer of the Knights of Pythias—Ibid.; Emma Lou Thornbrough, The Negro in Indiana Before 1900: A Study of a Minority (Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Bureau, 1985; Bloomington: Indiana University Press edition, 1993), p. 377.

  “THE NOTED HAIR CULTURIST”—“Mme. Walker ad,” Indpls. Recorder, Feb. 12, 1910, p. 4; Mme Walker announcement, ibid.

  her photograph—Ibid.

  revival services—“Lodge News,” ibid.

  hosted a masked ball—“Personal Mention” column, ibid., p. 4.

  Republican downtown men’s club—Robert L. Gildea, “Columbia Club” in Bodenhamer and Barrows, Encyclopedia, p. 459.

  Douglass Memorial parade—“YMCA Notes,” Indpls. Recorder, Feb. 12, 1910.

  Hallie Q. Brown—“The Churches” column, ibid.

  Having just elected—“Business League Officer,” ibid.

  “Don’t fail to call”—“Mme. Walker ad,” ibid.

  “consultation”—Ibid.

  relatively expensive $1—“Mme. Walker ad,” Indpls. Recorder, Mar. 12, 1910.

  A month later—“Is Your Hair Short?” Walker Ad, Indpls. Recorder, Apr. 16, 1910.

  “the patronage of every woman”—“Madam Walker” announcement, Indpls. Recorder, Mar. 19, 1910.

  offering “3 months treatment”—“Mme. Walker Ad,” Indpls. Recorder, Feb. 26, 1910.

  five-room rental flat—“FOR RENT,” Indpls. Recorder, Dec. 31, 1910.

  advertising budget—“It Makes Short Hair Long and Cures Dandruff,” Walker ad, Indpls. Freeman, Apr. 16, 1910. national circulation—Willard B. Gatewood, Slave and Freeman: The Autobiography of George L. Knox (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1979), pp. 31–32.

  one of the most widely read—Louis R. Harlan, Booker T. Washington: The Wizard of Tuskegee, 1901–1915 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1983), p. 98, quotes R. W. Thompson to Emmett Scott, June 21, 1906.

  traveling to small towns—“In Society,” Indpls. Recorder, Apr. 30, 1910.

  “Before the entrance of Mme Walker”—Ida Webb Bryant, “Glimpses of the Negro in Indianapolis—1863–1963,” unpublished manuscript, IHS.

  233,000 people in 1910—Bodenhamer and Barrows, Encyclopedia, p. 29; Polk’s 1910 Indpls. Directory, p. 6.

  within thirty-five miles—Polk’s 1910 Indpls. Directory, p. 6; “Steelville: Where U.S. Population Strikes a Balance,” Washington Post, Sept. 26, 1991, p. A3.

  thousands of freight cars—Polk’s 1910 Indpls. Directory, p. 5.

  100 electric—Edward A. Leary, Indianapolis: Story of a City (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1971), p. 173.

  Auto-parts producers—James H. Madison, “Economy,” in Bodenhamer and Barrows, Encyclopedia, pp. 64–66; Polk’s 1910 Indpls. Directory, p. 6.

  By 1913 it ranked second—Leary, Indianapolis, p. 168.

  21,816 in 1910—Bodenhamer and Barrows, Encyclopedia, p. 55; Z. R. Pettet and Charles E. Hall, eds., Negroes in the United States, 1920–32 (Washington, DC: GPO, 1935), p. 55.

  After an 1821 malaria outbreak—Clyde Nickerson Bolden, “Indiana Avenue: Black Entertainment Boulevard,” MCP thesis, Boston University School of Planning, 1983, p. 7.

  “many saloons and gambling dens”—“J. E. Moorland, Secretary to YMCA International Committee, New York City,” Feb. 6, 1900 (MSRC/YMCA).

  9 percent of the city’s total—Bodenhamer and Barrows, Encyclopedia, p. 55.

  At the turn of the century—“Moorland,” Feb. 6, 1900.

  “Indianapolis had more Negro business”—“Ralph W. Tyler in City,” Indpls. Freeman, Nov. 8, 1913.

  One of its most notable—H. L. Sanders ad, Indpls. Recorder, Feb. 12, 1910, p. 4; “H. L. Sanders Anniversary,” Indpls. Recorder, Oct. 22, 1910.

  $10,000 . . . home—Based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Commerce Department.

  By December—“Local News,” Indpls. Recorder, Dec. 24, 1910.

  an investment property—Audrey Gadzekpo, “Infield Housing Area Is Rich in History and Heritage,” Indpls. Recorder, May 11, 1991.

  That month she reviewed—The Walker Manfacturing Co., 1911, p. 13.

  “Room to Let”—Indpls. Recorder, Dec. 10, 1910.

  “You understand she was struggling”—FBR to Edgar T. Rouzeau, Sept. 25, 1931 (MWC/IHS).

  Within the next few weeks—“In Society,” Indpls. Recorder, Aug. 6, 1910; “Local News,” Indpls. Recorder, Sept. 3, 1910.

  With more than 3.6 million—The Negro Population in the United States 1790–1915, pp. 517–21.

  Ransom, born in Grenada, Mississippi—LWR’s Madam Walker agents convention speech, 1920, p. 1.

  one of sixteen children—A’Lelia Ransom Nelson interview, Dec. 10, 1982, p. 8.

  valedictorian of both classes—LWR, 1920 speech, p. 1.

  “read law for nearly two years”—Ibid.

  “It was in the Fall”—FBR to Rouzeau, Sept. 25, 1931 (MWC/IHS).

  “He always said”—Nelson, Dec. 10, 1982, p. 33.

  “He was very disciplined”—Ibid.

  third black YMCA college chapter—Rayford W. Logan, “William Alphaeus Hunton,” in Logan and Winston, Dictionary of American Negro Biography, p. 339.

  “In those days”—Nelson, Dec. 10, 1982, p. 8.

  A native of Phoebus—LWR, 1920 speech, p 1.

  “honesty and efficiency”—“Att’y Brokenburr—Efficient Young Attorney Gains Enviable Reputation at Bar,” Indpls. Recorder, Feb. 4, 1911.

  “He will not tell”—Indpls. Recorder, Feb. 4, 1911.

  At least for a short period—LWR, 1920 speech, p. 1.

  equivalent of almost $200,000—Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Price Index Conversion Table.

  for several months—“Society Gossip,” Indpls. Recorder, Jan. 21, 1911, p. 4.

  “We had a quarrel”—Robinson v. Robinson, p. 2.

  “We had a talk”—Ibid.

  because “she supports herself”—Ibid., p. 7.

  In August 1911—“City and Vicinity,” Indpls. Freeman, Aug. 12, 1911.

  Among them was Alice Kelly—Ib
id.

  welcome her St. Louis friends—“City and Vicinity,” ibid.; “YMCA Notes,” Indpls. Freeman, Aug. 5, 1911.

  Supreme Keeper of Records—“Supreme Lodge K. of P. Sixteenth Biennial Session in Indianapolis,” Indpls. Freeman, Sept. 2, 1911.

  he was expected to reach the city—“City and Vicinity,” Indpls. Freeman, Aug. 5, 1911.

  “the finest building”—“The Pythian Temple,” Indpls. Recorder, Dec. 3, 1910.

  publicity and decorations committee—“The K. of P. Meeting,” Indpls. Freeman, Aug. 26, 1911, p. 1.

  Supreme Medical Register—“The K. of P. Parade a Monster Demonstration,” Indpls. Freeman, Sept. 2, 1911.

  “I thought to again remind you”—MW to BTW, July 18, 1911 (BTW/LOC).

  “I hope to have the privilege”—BTW to MW, July 21, 1911 (BTW/LOC).

  That same evening—William M. Lewis, “The K. of P. Meeting,” Indpls. Freeman, Aug. 26, 1911.

  “No man of any race”—Ibid.

  most popular vaudeville house—Bodenhamer and Barrows, Encyclopedia, pp. 149–50.

  classically trained black diva—Eileen Southern, The Music of Black Americans—A History (3rd ed.; New York: W. W. Norton, 1997), pp. 246 and 302; Willia E. Daughtry, “Sissieretta Jones,” in Darlene Clark Hine et al., Black Women in America—An Historical Encyclopedia (Brooklyn: Carlson Publishing, 1993), p. 654; “Park Theatre” ad for Black Patti, Indpls. Freeman, Aug. 19, 1911; “Black Patti—Musical Comedy Company Makes Good at the Park Theatre, Indianapolis,” Indpls. Freeman, Aug. 26, 1911.

  “When women get together”—“Calanthe Court Hears Speeches by Members of Supreme Lodge,” Indpls. Freeman, Sept. 2, 1911.

  52,000 members—“Supreme Lodge K. of P. Sixteenth Biennial Session.”

  who now claimed 950 Walker sales agents—Articles of Incorporation of the Madam C. J. Walker Manufacturing Company of Indiana, Sept. 11, 1911, State of Indiana, Office of the Secretary of State.

  “sell a hairgrowing”—Ibid.

  She named herself—Ibid.

  “the two Negro towns”—“Returns Home,” Indpls. Freeman, Apr. 13, 1912.

  CHAPTER 10 “THE SALVATION OF YOUR BOYS AND GIRLS”

  “the Lord prospers her”—“America’s Foremost Colored Woman,” Indpls. Freeman, Dec. 28, 1912, p. 16.

  working-class Germans—Frances Stout phone conversation with author, Nov. 6, 1999.

  coal-oil lamps—L. M. Campbell Adams, “An Investigation of Housing and Living Conditions in Three Districts of Indianapolis,” Indiana University Bulletin, Indiana University Studies, Vol. 8, No. 8 (Sept. 1910), pp. 125–26; Frances Stout, Nov. 6, 1999.

  wood-frame flats—Carolyn Brady, “Indianapolis and the Great Migration, 1900–1920,” Black History News & Notes, Aug. 1996, No. 65, p. 5.

  one-story frame tenements—Ray Stannard Baker, Following the Color Line (New York: Doubleday, 1908), p. 112.

  “Quite a number own”—“J. E. Moorland, Secretary to YMCA International Committee, New York City,” Feb. 6, 1900 (MSRC/YMCA).

  “People had a lot of pride”—Stout, Nov. 6, 1999.

  “Practically everybody had flowers”—Ibid.

  “nothing but gambling places”—“Judge Recalls Police Court Cases Showing Needs of Colored YMCA,” undated clipping (MSRC/YMCA).

  an adjacent coal shed—“New Building Sought for America’s Largest Colored YMCA,” Indpls. Star, Nov. 8, 1911 (MSRC/YMCA).

  “It is utterly impossible”—“YMCA Notes,” Indpls. Freeman, Sept. 2, 1911.

  Since that January—The Crisis, Nov. 1914, Vol. 9, No. 1. (By November 1914 buildings were completed in Washington, Chicago, Indianapolis and Philadelphia. Several more black YMCAs were completed during the next decade.)

  “We must get busy”—“YMCA Notes,” Indpls. Freeman, Sept. 2, 1911.

  As president—“YMCA Notes,” Indpls. Freeman, Oct. 14, 1911.

  helped to raise nearly $275,000—George C. Mercer, One Hundred Years of Service 1854–1954 (Indianapolis: YMCA, circa 1954), p. 91.

  His best-known customer—Gatewood, Slave and Freeman, p. 20.

  policies he had trumpeted—Darrel E. Bigham, “George L. Knox,” in Bodenhamer and Barrows, Encyclopedia, p. 875.

  “harem of an Eastern caliph”—Gatewood, Slave and Freeman, p. 18.

  most powerful black politician—Ibid., pp. 24–25.

  “hair restorative” to rid the scalp—Ibid., p. 11.

  Chicago’s enormously successful—Michael R. Winston, “Jesse Edward Moorland,” in Logan and Winston, Dictionary of American Negro Biography, pp. 448–49.

  conditional $25,000 contributions—Untitled editorial, Indpls. Recorder, Jan. 21, 1911.

  $67,000 in just ten days—“News from Round About: Chicago, Illinois,” Indpls. Recorder, Jan. 14, 1911.

  Moorland’s proposition—Nina Mjagkij, Light in the Darkness: African Americans and the YMCA, 1852–1946 (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1994), p. 76; Winston, “Jesse Edward Moorland,” in Logan and Winston, DANB, p. 449.

  was “so favorably impressed”—Ibid.

  “would eventually help reduce”—Mjagkij, Light in the Darkness, p. 77.

  “establishing an Association”—“Moorland,” Feb. 6, 1900.

  “four to five thousand”—Ibid.

  grown to 15,931—Thornbrough, The Negro in Indiana, p. 228.

  large number from Kentucky—The Indianapolis Study/Flanner House (Indianapolis: Flanner House, 1939), p. 10; Thornbrough, The Negro in Indiana, p. 224. The 1880 Indianapolis population was 6,500 per Gatewood, Slave and Freeman, p. 16; black population of Indianapolis: 1880—6,500; 1890—9,154; 1900—15,931; 1910—21,816 (Flanner House).

  “Vice is on the increase”—“Moorland,” Feb. 6, 1900.

  “It is apparent”—Ibid.

  organized a “Young Men’s Prayer Band”—“The Indianapolis Y,” The Crisis, Mar. 1924, p. 205.

  1905 arrival—Stanley Warren correspondence with author, Dec. 24, 1999.

  membership grew to 400—The Crisis, Mar. 1924, p. 206; “New Building Sought for America’s Largest Colored YMCA,” Indpls. Star, Nov. 8, 1911 (MSRC/YMCA).

  one of the largest Y’s—Several articles of the time call it the “largest” black YMCA (see “New Building Sought for America’s Largest Colored YMCA,” but Mjagkij (Light in the Darkness, pp. 69 and 73) says the Washington, DC, branch had 600 members in 1905 and 1,000 members in 1909.

  “several men sleep”—“Judge Recalls Police Court Cases Showing Needs of Colored YMCA” (MSRC/YMCA).

  communicable diseases “rampant”—Ibid.

  His investigation of 1910—Ibid.

  Taylor’s “encouraging” rehabilitation and “What the young negro”—Ibid.

  “The presence in any city”—“A Commendable Proceeding,” Indpls. Star, Nov. 30, 1910 (MSRC/YMCA).

  “an almost inconceivably narrow”—Ibid.

  “teach him how to”—“New Building Sought.”

  “100 percent American town”—James J. Davita, “Demography and Ethnicity,” in Bodenhamer and Barrows, Encyclopedia, p. 55.

  “the foreign floating element”—Ibid.

  “It is to our selfish interest”—“New YMCA Gets $15,000 Start” (MSRC/YMCA).

  “agreed to bear the greater burden”—“The Colored YMCA,” Indpls. Freeman, Oct. 13, 1911.

  “It is the responsibility”—“YMCA Notes,” Indpls. Freeman, Oct. 14, 1911.

  scheduled “monster rallies”—Winston, “Jesse Edward Moorland,” pp. 449–50.

  “A new building for your association” and “You are belittled”—“Urges Colored Folk to Support YMCA,” Indpls. Star, Oct. 16, 1911 (MSRC/YMCA); Moorland’s cousin, Sarah Newton Cohron, was one of the founders of the St. Louis Colored Orphans’ Home, where Lelia had stayed for a short time during the late 1880s.

  pioneered refrigerated railroad cars—Kevin Corn, “Arthur Jordan,” in Bodenhamer and Barrows, Encyclopedia, p. 852.

  Madam W
alker confidently pledged $1,000—“Colored Folk Pledge $2,900 to YMCA,” Oct. 23, 1911 (MSRC/YMCA).

  “If the association can save our boys”—“Mme. C. J. Walker Who Subscribed $1,000 to the Y.M.C.A. Building Fund,” Indpls. Freeman, Oct. 28, 1911.

  “The Young Men’s Christian Association”—Ibid.

  $500 from Mrs. L. E. McNairdee—“Colored Folk Pledge $2,900 to YMCA.”

  “the first colored woman”—“Mme. C. J. Walker Who Subscribed”; James H. Tilghman, a retired messenger for the Chicago Telephone Company, became the first black man to subscribe $1,000, his life’s savings. (See Mjagkij, Light in the Darkness, p. 78.)

  “an income of $1,000 per month”—“Madam C. J. Walker,” Indpls. Freeman, Nov. 11, 1911.

  Skeptics wondered—“America’s Foremost Colored Woman,” Indpls Freeman, Dec. 28, 1912, p. 16.

  450 canvassers—“YMCA Canvassers to Tour City in Auto,” undated clipping; “Colored Folk Pledge $2,900 to YMCA”; and “New YMCA Gets $15,000 Start” (MSRC/YMCA).

  “By the rules of the campaign”—“Colored Men Rally for New Home” (MSRC/YMCA).

  “I am greatly delighted”—“Second Day Brings Fund to $56,343.62” (MSRC/YMCA).

  aggregate to $8,019.64—“Colored Teams Add $1,845.52,” Indpls. Freeman, Oct. 28, 1911.

  first $250 installment—Ibid.

  more than $64,000—Ibid.

  “are just getting warmed up”—Ibid.

  Poet James Whitcomb Riley—“Day’s Pledges Raise Fund to $75,037.34” (MSRC/YMCA).

  childhood in Greenfield—Gatewood, Slave and Freeman, p. 88–93.

  colored porters of the Eli Lilly—“$73,422.71 Subscribed for Colored YMCA,” Indpls. News, Oct. 27, 1911 (MSRC/YMCA).

  more than $2,000—“Many Small Pledges for Colored YMCA,” Indpls. News, Oct. 30, 1911 (MSRC/YMCA).

  By the end of the day—“$18,705.06 Required in YMCA Campaign,” Indpls. Star, Oct. 29, 1911 (MSRC/YMCA).

  “Unless there is a more generous”—“$18,705.06 Required,” Indpls. Star, Oct. 29, 1911.

  a rousing 200-voice male chorus—“$79,240.34 Subscribed but More Help Needed,” Indpls. News, Oct. 28, 1911 (MSRC/YMCA).