This is my ninth year of blogging the A to Z Challenge. Everyday I will share something about my family’s life during 1950. This was a year that the USA federal census was taken and the first one that I appear in. At the end of each post I will share a book from my childhood collection. Click images to enlarge.
Abbie Allen
The Graham’s in the 1950 Census I wrote this two years ago. Let’s see what I got right and what I got wrong. I over-estimated his yearly salary which was not $3,200 but $2,900. He had worked 42 weeks during the past year not the 52 I had him working. Aunt Abbie was indeed 75 years old and sharing their home.
I answered more questions than were asked because certain questions were only asked to one member of the household. I was right about the family possibly being enumerated as white instead of Negro based on their looks. And I knew that my grandfather was not a veteran. Pretty good average, I think.
Census Sheet from 1950 Census Archives. Some people were asked extra questions. The red line leads from those family members to the extras. Click to enlarge.
Our August 1950 Visit. Barbara Elkins, my grandfather Mershell, Kris(me), Dee Dee Elkins, Grandmother Fannie.
In 1950, my maternal grandfather, Mershell C. Graham worked at Ford Motor Company. He was 62 years old. Up until 1949, there was on pension program for workers in the auto factories. Up until that point people worked as long as they could because they couldn’t afford to retire. In that year the UAW and Ford Motor Co. came to an agreement about retirement payments. Workers would now receive $100 a month, which included their social security payments. My grandfather retired in December 1953 when he reached 65. His Social Security payment was $85.00 so Fords would add $15 and bring it up to $100 a month. April 1, 1950 was the date the company began making deposits into the account that would fund those payments.
Gaston and Josephine, another favorite.
Two little pigs make an exciting journey across France to catch a steamer to the USA. You can see all the illustrations at this National Museum of American History Site -> Gaston and Josephine.
This is my ninth year of blogging the A to Z Challenge. Everyday I will share something about my family’s life during 1950. This was a year that the USA federal census was taken and the first one that I appear in. At the end of each post I will share a book from my childhood collection.
For the month of April, 1950 there were half a dozen articles about the committee that was trying to find ways to help families that were being evicted from the site of a new school. Over the month different plans were submitted, but there was always a hitch – the white potential neighbors didn’t want black people to move in; electrical wires would need to be moved; some of the houses were not in shape to be moved; and on and on. The plan was thus prevented from being put into action. In the end, the families were evicted and no new homes were provided. Here is the first article from the Springfield Union, February 23, 1950. Page 2
Committee Studying Help To Families Facing Eviction
Co-operative Purchase of Apartment Block, House Moving, Use of School Are Considered
Co-operative buying of an apartment, moving houses on rollers, and remodeling the former Strickland School for use as living quarters have all been discussed by a committee, still in its organizational stage as possible methods for relieving the plight of the 22 families on Union and Monroe Sts. who received eviction notices to make room for construction of the new East Union St. School.
Councilman Paul R. Mason said last night Rev. Albert Cleage, pastor of St. John’s Congregational Church, Lindsay B. Johnson, Jr., athletic director of St. John’s Church, and himself comprise the committee. He said Councilman August Luca, who has expressed concern over the plight of the families, and other civic leaders would be asked to serve on the committee.
“If anything can be done for our families, it should be considered. The committee will explore every possible avenue to find homes for these people,” Councilman Mason said.”
About the co-operative plan, Councilman Mason said, “If these families are not in a position to buy a new home individually they might be able to co-operate on buying an apartment house. They would then be part owners and part tenants.”
Another possibility that the committee has considered is the purchase of the Strickland School, now believed to be in private hands, but not used and remodeling it for living quarters.
Councilman Lucia has suggested that some houses could be moved to another location on rollers as was done recently in the Barendo St. area. After investigation Councilman Mason was of the opinion that this could be done with some houses but said it was “questionable whether all of them are in condition to be moved.”
Councilman Mason also brought up the point last night of his claim that “policy of segregation is the same thing as a policy of discrimination against Negroes.”
He cited the case of Joseph Ingram of 693 Union St., a Negro and one of those who recently received a 60 day eviction notices from the Law Department. “Joe, a veteran, has a wife and two children, and is expecting another child. He told me applied to the Springfield Housing Authority for quarters in one of the housing projects, but was told to come back when he was notified officially of his eviction,” Councilman Mason said.
“Even if Joe is now at the top of the list and a vacancy occurs in a white tenement, he could not be considered for the housing unit, because the Authority’s policy is to segregate the Negro families into separate apartments,” he said.
Councilman Mason said he asked Housing Authority Chairman John I. Robinson last night what would happen if a Negro were next in line, but the only vacancy was in a white apartment. He said Mr. Robinson couldn’t answer it, saying simply, “No case such as that has ever come up.”
From the Springfield Union, February 23, 1950. Page 2
Four year old me playing a little plastic record with my little sister one year old Pearl.
This is my ninth year of blogging the A to Z Challenge. Everyday I will share something about my family’s life during 1950. This was a year that the USA federal census was taken and the first one that I appear in. At the end of each post I will share a book from my childhood collection.Click all images to enlarge.
The Elkins Family in 1949. Frank, Dee Dee, Mary V. holding Barbara. In Mary V’s parent’s (Mershell and Fannie Graham) backyard.
My Cousin Dee Dee Elkins McNeil Remembers 1950
Mr. Jackson, Dee Dee Elkins and Janet Milben 1951. Mr. Jackson and his wife also lived in the 4 family flat.
I was born in 1943 and we lived on the corner of McDougall and Hunt Street on the East Side of Detroit, just South of Charlevoix. It was a 4-family flat. We lived upstairs. Mom worked at the County Building as a secretary. Daddy was an independent Electrician with a truck that had Elkins Electric Company painted on the side.
Elaine & Eleanor Millben were twins who lived in the same four-family flat. We lived upstairs on the left-hand side and they lived downstairs on the right-hand side.They used to baby-sit me. We called their mom Aunt Cecil and their dad Uncle Lorn. They had an older brother “Larry” and a younger sister “Janet” who was my best friend for many years. We were born just months apart and rolled in the same baby buggy that Aunt Cecil used for the twins. We’ve all remained friends over the years to present.
2640 – 2644 McDougall on Goggle today.
I also witnessed a big plane crash that happened in Detroit when we lived on McDougall. Three small planes came down just a few blocks from our house. I watched them crash to the ground. Mary V. was hollering at me to get up on the porch, cuz it looked like one of those planes was coming down right on our house. It was a scary moment. A flying instructor and his students ran into each other. As I recall, one plane crashed into a commercial building on Charlevoix, one crashed into a house and another one crashed into a school yard. (Note: I remember hearing about that crash. I was not quite three, but remember looking up at planes when they passed overhead for a long time afterwards.)
The crash site was 0.2 miles from the Elkins home at 2640 McDougal
Daddy also was in business with Aunt Maude and co-owner of MMM Shrimp Hut (Triple M short for Maude Mazique Miller). They opened later on and I used to be a waitress at that restaurant in the summer. I think I was twelve at the time, so that had to be in the mid-fifties. The MMM Shrimp Hut was on Warren Avenue on the East side. I think we moved from McDougall to 2034 Calvert Street around 1950, going to the West side of Detroit (between 12th and 14th Streets). I think one of those streets was renamed for Martin Luther King Jr many years later. Daddy had a storefront business for Elkins Electric Co on the East Side. I think it was on Warren Avenue also near John R.
I drove back to the McDougall residence the last time I was in town. It looks a lot different now. It used to have a black, wrought-iron fence around it.
Looking in the Census
Census Sheet from 1950 Census Archives. Some people were asked extra questions. The red line leads from those family members to the extras. Janet Millben appears right above the Elkins family. The Jackson’s were not at home. Click to enlarge.
The family lived at 2644 McDougall in Detroit, Michigan, where they had also lived the previous year. Frank L. Elkins was listed as head. He was 30 years old and married. He and everybody in the household was Negro and had been born in Michigan. Frank worked 60 hours a week as the proprietor or his electrical contracting company. He earned about $2,000 in the past year.
Mary V. was listed as the wife of Frank. She was also 30 years old. She had been a housewife during the past year and not worked outside of the house. Her hours were unrecorded. She answered the extra questions given to certain numbers on the census roll. We find she had attended two years of business college and that her parents were born in the United States.
Doris D. was six years old and Barbara was two.
The Saggy Baggy Elephant
I really wanted to find a book about the tooth fairy that I remember looking at when we visited Dee Dee and Barbara. Unfortunately, I don’t know the title of the book and so can’t find it online. Maybe Dee Dee will read this and remember!
This is my ninth year of blogging the A to Z Challenge. Everyday I will share something about my family’s life during 1950. This was a year that the USA federal census was taken and the first one that I appear in. At the end of each post I will share a book from my childhood collection.
My mother helping me hold my many dolls. Notice that Pearl always has only one doll.
Democracy is Not ‘Separate’
Click to enlarge
To the Editor of The Union:
Sir: In answer to “Home Owner” whose letter appeared June 21, there are three things I would point out. First, Americans believe in democracy, which means equality for all people — not separate equality, but plain and simple equality.
Second, no matter which way you look at it, Negroes are people just like other people. If at times they seem different, it is because misguided people like you have forced them to live under “separate” subhuman conditions.
Third, from coast to coast in the North of this country Negro people and white people live, work, play and worship together in happiness and in peace because there are Americans who believe in democracy, Christianity and love, and are big enough to live by them.
Doris Graham Cleage Springfield
Below is the letter my mother was responding to.
The Race Problem and Housing
Click to enlarge
To the Editor of The Union:
Sir: In regard to the colored people buying homes among the white home owners, would first say, personally, I have nothing against them, for there are many fine folk among these people; but is it fair and right to us homeowners, who have worked to keep up our own homes, pay taxes, and make improvements within the laws of this city?
Do we have no voice in this matter, when we are being forced out? Would the city fathers, who advocate the merging of the two races here in this city, wish to live in the same neighborhood?
In a neighborhood supposed to be made up of happy congenial people, would the colored people be happy among us, and would we be? I have no doubt we would not. Our only alternative will be to sell to them, and try to start over. Why doesn’t the city build proper housing conditions for them in a district of their own? Is it too late?
Would like to hear how other home owners feel concerning this problem.
This is my ninth year of blogging the A to Z Challenge. Everyday I will share something about my family’s life during 1950. This was a year that the USA federal census was taken and the first one that I appear in. At the end of each post I will share a book from my childhood collection.Click all images to enlarge.
The Cleages in the 1950 Census – A preview I wrote two years ago. Let’s see what I got right and what I got wrong. I had it pretty much right. My grandfather had worked 24 hours in the past week to my uncle Louis’ 60 hours so he was semi-retired as my aunt remembered. My youngest aunt Anna was not listed as pharmacist although she had completed 5 years of college. Perhaps she started working after the census was taken. The neighbor right below her, Mr. Tootles, was listed as a pharmacist.
Pearl and Albert Cleage. My Paternal Grandparents.
In April 1950 my uncle Henry Cleage passed the bar exam. In May my aunt Barbara eloped with Ernest Martin and in December, my uncle Louis Cleage ran for the Detroit School Board. None of these things were included on the Census record.
Census Sheet from 1950 Census Archives. Some people were asked extra questions. The red line leads from those family members to the extras. Click to enlarge.
Henry W. CleageLouis J. Cleage
The Cow in the Silo. Poor Grady gets stuck in the silo and has Crisco rubbed all over her so she can slip out.
This is my ninth year of blogging the A to Z Challenge. Everyday I will share something about my family’s life during 1950. This was a year that the USA federal census was taken and the first one that I appear in. At the end of each post I will share a book from my childhood collection.
Did you know that Basketball was invented in Springfield, Massachusetts by Dr. James Naismith while working at the local YMCA? You can hear him talk about it in the short interview below.
When my father was pastor of St. John’s Congregational Church from 1945-1951, he had an active youth program, with boys basketball being an important component.
“Cleage’s work was appraised in retrospect by the church historians in the commemorative volume The History of St. John’s Congregational Church in 1962, more than a decade after he returned to Detroit. At the outset of Cleage’s ministry at St. John’s, it was noted:
‘Mr. Cleage soon inaugurated a strong youth program for the church. Membership in St. John’s Pilgrim Fellowship and College Forum was greatly sought after, and lectures of these groups grew each week. Included among the popular activities begun by Mr. Cleage were the junior and senior dramatic workshops.
Lindsay B. Johnson Jr. and Rev. Albert B. Cleage, Jr.
A vigorous church athletic program that produced winning basketball teams coached by Mr. Cleage and Mr. Lindsay B. Johnson Jr., was another product of the new minister’s youth program. During this period, a Brownie Scout group was organized under the leadership of Miss Adele Pickens, a Springfield school-teacher.'”
This is my ninth year of blogging the A to Z Challenge. Everyday I will share something about my family’s life during 1950. This was a year that the USA federal census was taken and the first one that I appear in. At the end of each post I will share a book from my childhood collection.
Me in 1950, arms spread in the backyard on Union street.
Amazingly, the 1950 Census will be the first one I will personally appear in! I have spent years looking through old census records and trying to piece together the lives of my Ancestors. When I realized that the 1950 census would be released on April 1 this year, I was pretty excited that now I would get to see what picture the census gives of a year I know. Although I was only three when that census was taken in April, 1950, I remember and I recall those days. Sort of. With the help of news articles and photographs I will go through my family’s life in 1950 during this A to Z Challenge.
Although the news items show that my family was active and aware of what was happening at the time, I was blissfully unaware as I lived my young life. I was living through that simpler time everyone remembers as the past, but the adults were living through lives that were as complex as any. And so it goes.
A poem I wrote six years ago about this photo.
I was almost four
swirling
in the backyard. My
life beginning.
August 2016 sitting at my
desk
writing
listening to Sati. The
ceiling fan creaks
around my husband's voice on
the phone.
Outside cars pass.
Me in front of the parsonage. October 1950 Springfield, Massachusetts.
I have gone through a couple of possible themes for this year’s A to Z Challenge… my grandfather Poppy’s migration from Alabama to Detroit in 1917, and revisiting favorite posts from the past 12 years of blogging.
Cick for more info on the AtoZ Challenge
Then I realized that the 1950 U. S. census would be released on April 1 and I decided that was what I wanted to be doing all of April and beyond, looking at the 1950 Cenus because I WAS THERE!
So, that is going to be my theme. I’ve written a few hypothetical posts about what I expect to find, now I can fact check and see what was really going on. Or what my family told the census taker anyway. Also included will be various facts about what was going on in my four year old life – what books was I being read, visits to and from Detroit, what toys was I playing with, milk delivery by horse and wagon and what was the news of the day (which most likely passed me by at the time).
I am going to try and get some posts written between now and then, after all there are three weeks and if I do one post a day, it’ll be almost as stressful as doing one post a day during the challenge. Not quite though. I can do all of them except those that I actually need to see the 1950 Census for. I think.
This will be my ninth A to Z Challenge. My first was in 2012 and I missed last year, only doing two before dropping out. I’m looking forward to reliving life as a four year old, with good knees and my life before me.
