• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

A Study in Contrasts: Akron Groups Explored Racial Relations With Community Audit in Early 1950s

Posted on: Monday, 20 February 2006, 09:00 CST

By Mark J. Price, The Akron Beacon Journal, Ohio

Feb. 20--Akron residents were making great strides, but the journey was long and the path was steep.

No one could measure the progress until someone unfolded the map and studied it.

In the early 1950s, community leaders conducted a large-scale survey of discrimination problems in Akron. The yearlong study uncovered startling truths and opened a frank discussion on race relations in the city.

The idea for an audit emerged in April 1951, after Akron served as the host city for a regional conference of the National Urban League. More than 150 delegates from 17 Midwestern cities attended the forum at the new Akron Community Service Center at 250 E. Market St.

New York resident Lester B. Granger, executive director of the National Urban League, gave a keynote address on crashing racial barriers.

"The aim is to cause the barriers to be dropped by industry officials who realize that the color of a man's skin isn't important if he's qualified," Granger told the audience. "We should not handicap ourselves by refusing to use all our able-bodied producers. We're doing that as long as we think in terms of prejudice in refusing employment to a qualified Negro."

Locally, there were still plenty of barriers to crash.

Because of migration from the South, Akron's black population had nearly doubled in the 1940s -- jumping from 12,015 to 23,878 -- while the city's total population rose from 244,791 to 274,605.

Yet, some places were off-limits to a segment of society.

Following the Urban League's suggestion, local citizens united in 1951 to evaluate race relations.

More than 250 people assisted the Akron Community Audit Committee, a panel formed to gauge the treatment of minorities. The Rev. Alva I. Cox, executive secretary of the board of education at the North East Ohio Conference of the Methodist Church, served as chairman.

About 40 groups sponsored the survey, including the United Rubber Workers, NAACP, American Legion, Frontiers Club, Akron Council of Churches, Akron Jewish Center, YWCA, United Auto Workers, Akron Public Library, League of Women Voters, Akron Education Association and Mayor's Committee on Civic Unity.

Committee volunteers represented a diverse group of ethnicities, religions, backgrounds and occupations. With questionnaires in hand, they fanned out to collect information from officials, employers and residents.

Participants interviewed nearly 100 black families about discrimination in Akron. They quizzed businesses about racial concerns and then dispatched secret teams to test the responses.

Employment, housing, civil protection, recreation, health and medicine, public accommodations and education were the main fields of inquiry.

"The study was made in all areas in an objective fashion," Cox noted at the time. "One feature that has helped in checking the reliability of all data, insofar as the attitudes and action of people are concerned, was the family interview, which was conducted in the homes of the people being interviewed."

A half-century later, some of the responses are jarring:

-- "We never go to a restaurant because we know they won't serve us."

-- "On buses, some people stand up rather than take an empty seat beside you."

-- "We don't try to find a place to live in a white neighborhood because they wouldn't rent us a place."

-- "I've had two years of business school and yet I get refused jobs over and over again. Why, they won't even interview you."

Older residents felt resigned. Younger ones were bitter.

"All agreed that conditions have changed greatly during the past few years, but not enough and not fast enough," the survey concluded.

The Akron Community Audit, a 60-page report published in 1952, discovered serious discrimination in housing, restaurants, recreation and employment.

Most respondents agreed that "Akron was a good place to live, except. "

Financial institutions and real estate agents attempted to restrict minority purchases of homes in certain areas, surveyors found. Some deeds had covenants that excluded black residents. Some banks refused to give home loans to people who were financially qualified. Sellers were censured if they broke ranks.

"The Negro population is to be found in almost every major area of Akron except in the more exclusive areas," the report noted. "Successful efforts have kept Negroes from moving into Firestone Park, Fairlawn, South Hawkins Street, Westgate Homes and in any section of Cuyahoga Falls."

Akron Metropolitan Housing Authority's 10 housing projects operated on a segregated basis. For example, the 274 family units at Edgewood Homes were all white, while the 276 family units at Elizabeth Park were all black.

Sometimes the segregation even continued after death. Two of seven cemeteries in Akron refused the burial of blacks.

Job discrimination

In the early 1950s, African-Americans had limited opportunities for employment.

About 4,000 of the 12,000 blacks in Akron's workforce were employed at Goodyear, Firestone, Goodrich and General. Most were unskilled workers, laborers or janitors.

Rubber plants had only recently begun to employ black workers in "white jobs." Out of 2,000 tire-building positions, only a dozen went to blacks.

"No Negroes in industry, other than janitor supervisors, have ever become a part of management," the report noted. "Of the more than 10,000 regular white-collar workers employed by the big four rubber companies, not one is a Negro."

City government had about 280 black employees. Most toiled in the Sanitation Department and the Division of Sewerage. Seven of Akron's 257 police officers were black, and they patrolled black neighborhoods.

According to the survey, other common occupations open to blacks included bellboys, porters, maids, waiters and busboys.

They could work at hotels, but they couldn't stay at them.

The audit committee sent teams of four -- two blacks and two whites -- to visit hotels and restaurants in Akron. The two blacks would arrive first to request a room. The two whites would follow as a separate unit.

"All Akron hotels, but one, discourage Negro patronage," the survey found. "Many of the hotels refer Negroes to the small hotels in town operated by Negroes."

Treatment was generally good in downtown restaurants, but surveyors found antagonism at several dining places near rubber factories.

Black customers complained of second-class treatment. Managers made them wait in line until they got discouraged and left. Waitresses let them sit at tables without taking orders. Many were told they could order food to go but couldn't eat inside. Some restaurants served paper cups to black customers and glasses to white customers.

In the survey, recreational facilities were found to have major disparities.

Ice-skating rinks were open to everyone. However, roller-skating rinks often barred blacks or held separate nights for them.

Commercial swimming pools did not admit blacks and often claimed to be private clubs. Only one commercial bowling alley admitted blacks. Others claimed that "the leagues were full."

Praise for progress

Akron theaters won praise for progress. Blacks no longer were segregated into balconies.

Other victories were noted.

The audit teams found no discrimination in 57 schools. Classrooms were integrated. Eight schools had black teachers.

The police and courts were considered good.

Most doctors and dentists treated patients equally. Doctors of all races enjoyed equal privileges in hospitals.

Everyone was welcome at the library and art institute.

The Beacon Journal had started to publish the wedding announcements of black residents.

After the study was released in November 1952, a banquet was held at the YWCA to discuss the results. More than 200 attended.

Granger, from the National Urban League, returned as keynote speaker. He was pleased with the survey's depth.

"The audit is only a start," he told the crowd. "It has placed Akron in a position to do a social engineering job that will see everyone get a fair share of opportunity."

He urged the community to "challenge discrimination instead of trying to avoid it."

Old patterns can be broken with persistence, he said.

"If we start looking forward, we can get ahead of the problem and be near the goal in 10 years," Granger said.

Mark J. Price is a Beacon Journal copy editor. He can be reached at 330-996-3769 or send e-mail to mjprice@thebeaconjournal.com.

-----

Copyright (c) 2006, The Akron Beacon Journal, Ohio

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.

Source: Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, Ohio)

More News in this Category