The Destruction of a Black Suburb (Lincoln Heights, Ohio)

The Atlantic ^ | July 13, 2015 | Alana Semuels

[EveningStar]

... When it incorporated in 1947, this village, called Lincoln Heights, was the first primarily black self-governing community north of the Mason-Dixon line. (Today, the city has one of the highest concentrations of African American residents in the state of Ohio—according to the Census, 95.5 percent.) Lincoln Heights thrived for a while, producing poet Nikki Giovanni, songwriters the Isley Brothers (who wrote “Twist and Shout”), and scholar Carl Westmoreland, who now helps run the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. Hundreds of residents worked at the nearby Wright Aeronautical Plant, manufacturing the B-29 bomber, and at a chemical plant a few blocks away, putting away money to improve their homes and secure their places in the black middle class. So successful was Lincoln Heights in its early days that New York’s governor, Thomas E. Dewey, invited prominent officials to New York City for a ticker-tape parade to honor the village as one of the only self-governing African American communities in the nation, according to Lincoln Heights, by Carolyn F. Smith.

“It really was a situation where people made something out of nothing,” Westmoreland said about the suburb.

But today, Lincoln Heights is struggling. Its median household income of $25,568 is less than half that of Blue Ash, a nearby majority-white suburb. About 16 percent of residents are unemployed, and one-third of families earn below the poverty level. The schools are bad—parents of about 40 percent of students send them to other schools in the area. The town’s police and fire departments shut down in October 2014 after an insurance company pulled the village’s insurance after balking at the number of lawsuits filed over civil-rights violations, wrongful terminations, and wage disputes ... The sense of community and pride that governed the town’s early days have all but disappeared ...

[Mears]

” Are there places blacks have built where they vacation and invite others to vacation? Anywhere? Anywhere in the whole country?”

—

Oak Bluffs on Martha’s Vineyard.

.

[Darren McCarty]

I drive by Lincoln Heights when I'm going on 75. Looks like Detroit or much of Northern Cincinnati.

Here's the thing. The big problem is cultural. I grew up around rural poverty in Northern Michigan away from the major touristy areas. However, we took pride in our community and dealt with the cards we were dealt.

Urban areas are different. Before someone says it's color, blacks in rural areas are different than suburban blacks which are different than inner city blacks. It's cultural.

[Darren McCarty]

About four different areas border Lincoln Heights. Blue Ash isn't one of them.

The Atlantic should be comparing Lincoln Heights with Wyoming, Woodlawn, Evendale, Glendale, and Lockland.

[aposiopetic]

Thanks for that information.

I have been to Blue Ash but don't think I had heard of Lincoln Heights (for what it's worth).

In any event, whether or there are any racial overtones or subtexts, decisions about annexation tend to be driven by one thing, and one thing only: tax revenue to be gained from the annexation.

[Darren McCarty]

There's NOT one successful "majority-black populated and black-run" city in the country.

Southfield's surviving and a middle of the road suburb (better shape than some, worse shape than others), although it's acting mayor is white (and rumored Republican) and City Council president is a black Republican. Council has a white majority now, but it was black majority previously, as was their mayor.

It does have its issues, especially within the last five years. The housing crunch hit and the black middle class there are having undesirables moving into their neighborhoods.

[EveningStar]

ping

[GOPJ]

Not really a fair point. Most of the best resort places were built by WASPs and almost anybody else who eventually buys in there -- Irish, Italian, etc. -- is a "guest" of a sort.

Good point.

[GOPJ]

Although racial discrimination and restrictive covenants persisted on the Island, some of these early black servants became property owners, year-round residents, and small business entrepreneurs, particularly in Oak Bluffs. Much of the property purchased by these early African American Islanders continues to owned by their descendants. In the 1920s the African American Islanders began to offer accommodations in their small cottages that attracted black visitors from Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and other Northeastern cities.

You're right on this x ...

[GOPJ]

x gave me a link ... Seems on wrong on this issue...happens. Thanks for sharing Mears.

[Molon Labbie]

North St. Louis County, same story. A couple dozen towns all with the same issues.

[Las Vegas Dave]

Thanks for the “PING”!

[SaraJohnson]

How is it possible for whitey to continue to fool and cheat these astute people day after day?

---

Some say whities are devils...so we have supernatural evil power to rampage and ruin African Kings and Queens (aka Black Americans). Others say whitey has racism in their DNA and just operate without in our white culture ton think and operate in ways that undermine black people. That is why we are racists and don’t even know it. Only blacks and brown and white communists can see it. I am not kidding.

[Cboldt]

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