YOUNGSTOWN In early 1900s, blacks flocked

Many blacks came to the area in search of jobs.
By JOHN W. GOODWIN JR.
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- By the turn of the 20th century, the black population in Youngstown stood at 915, and just 10 years later the number of blacks had more than doubled to about 2,000.
The black community was growing, and members of the community were continually building the community structures to support the increasing numbers.
By most accounts, black churches have served as the backbone to the black community since the days of Southern slavery. In 1900, the Youngstown area had three churches to service its fledgling black population -- Third Baptist Church on Park Hill Drive, Oak Hill A.M.E. Church on Oak Hill Avenue and St. Mary's A.M.E. on Mahoning Avenue.
All three churches still operate in the city. Oak Hill A.M.E. Church changed its name to St. Andrewes A.M.E. Church and has moved to West Earle Avenue, and St. Mary's A.M.E. Church changed its name to Price Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church and moved to Dryden Avenue.
The minority population continued to grow, and so did the number of black churches in the city. In the first three decades of the century, the black population had grown to about 14,500. Eight black churches emerged during that time.
Wanted better lives
According to Celebrate '96 An Ethnic Encyclopedia: The Peopling of the Mahoning Valley, by Bettijane Walker and Herbert Armstrong, many blacks migrated to the area in the early part of the 20th century in search of better jobs, wages and living conditions. By 1925, the book says, the Youngstown-Cleveland area had become one of 10 major black centers in America.
Along with a place to worship, those incoming blacks had to find proper housing.
However, the "restrictive covenant" -- a deed statement preventing sale of housing to blacks in some neighborhoods -- played an important role in determining where blacks in this area could live in the first half of the 20th century.
Concentrated areas
Most blacks lived in the following areas:
USharon Line: On the East Side, now known as McGuffey Heights, which took its name from a streetcar line that ran from Youngstown to Sharon, Pa., until 1939
UMonkey's Nest: In the city's 3rd Ward, northwest of downtown.
USmoky Hollow: East of Youngstown State University's campus.
Black residents began to branch out to other parts of the city after laws making such deed restrictions unenforceable had been enacted.
Several recreational and youth facilities opened during those early days to service the black community.
Sully Johnson operated the Booker T. Washington Settlement at West Federal Street and West Madison Avenue. In 1926, the center moved to West Federal Street and became the West Federal Street YMCA for the black community. In 1931, a new building was erected where the West Federal Branch operated for 43 years before merging with the main YMCA branch downtown.
That building now serves as the Rescue Mission of Mahoning Valley.
YWCA for blacks
There also was a Young Women's Christian Association for blacks. A Colored Community Center was started at 248 Belmont Ave. in 1918 and eventually became an affiliate of the central YWCA with a mission "to express the purpose of the YWCA to the colored women of the city of Youngstown." The branch was dissolved in 1953.
According to Celebrate '96 An Ethnic Encyclopedia, most blacks who flocked to the area from the South looking for a better life rarely realized that dream. Many were forced to take whatever steel jobs they could get, which were often the dirtiest, hottest and most dangerous.
A 1974 Vindicator article says blacks were originally brought into the steel mills here to replace white workers who had gone off to fight in World War I. Work for the black steel workers continued to be plentiful as a strike broke out in 1919.
During those years, the article notes, "black agents" from the steel mills were sent into the South to recruit black workers from labor camps, railroad chain gangs and other manpower pools to serve as replacement workers for striking whites.
Bad conditions
The black workers were often made to work under worse conditions than those that drove the white workers to the picket line, The Vindicator reported.
Eventually, white workers returned to work and many of the blacks were dismissed from the jobs they held. The 1920s, however, was the greatest period of expansion for mills in the Mahoning Valley, and new job opportunities arose for those laid-off black mill workers.
Conditions in the mills continued to be bad overall during this time, and blacks were still getting the worst jobs. Blacks were often found in the coke ovens, where much gas, smoke and heat were produced, or the chipping department, where there was constant drilling with air hammers.
Reports say that even though blacks held the most dangerous and dirtiest jobs, they were paid the least. Blacks in the 1930s were paid between 37 cents and 40 cents per hour, while other workers were paid between 62 cents and 78 cents per hour.
Union improvements
Formation of the United Steel Workers of America union in the early 1940s is said to have improved working conditions for both black and white steelworkers. Of particular interest to the black steelworker was wording in the union constitution, such as "regardless of race, creed, color or nationality."
Racism still reared its head in the union and steel industry for years, reports say.
Blacks sought employment and opportunities in a variety of other areas, becoming involved in all areas of community life.
Police officers
In 1909, Charles Williams became the first black police officer. He was followed by six other black officers over the next 18 years. The city did not see its first black female police officer until Martha Warner joined the force in 1931.
William Vaughn served as 3rd Ward councilman in 1927 and William Huffman served as deputy sheriff in the 1930s.
There were no black firefighters in the first half of the 20th century, but that and several other changes took place after 1950.
jgoodwin@vindy.com