There are six months unaccounted for in my father’s letters. No letter rejoicing in finding a church at last or hashing out the details. I began to wonder what happened during that time. Did my grandmother lose those letters? Did my parents stay in Los Angeles? Did they return to Detroit? What was happening in the world during that time?
The only major event I could find happening in the family, outside of my parents move from Los Angeles, was the death of my Grandmother Pearl Cleage’s oldest brother George Reed on May 28, 1945 in Detroit.
In the larger world a lot was happening. I put together this timeline that covers a small part of it.
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March 29 – Last letter written by my father home from Los Angeles.
April 1, 1945 – U.S. troops invade Okinawa. There were about 35,000 American casualties.
April 12, 1945 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt dies of a cerebral hemorrhage at age 63. Harry S. Truman becomes president of the United States.
April 28, 1945 – Benito Mussolini is captured and executed.
April 30, 1945 – Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun commit suicide as Soviet troops advance through Berlin.
May 7, 1945 – Germany surrenders unconditionally.
May 8, 1945 – V-E Day is declared — Victory in Europe. May 28, 1945 – Uncle George Reed died in Detroit
July 16, 1945 – The world’s first atomic bomb successfully tested in New Mexico
August 6, 1945 – U.S. drops the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan.
August 9, 1945 – U.S. drops the atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan.
August 14, 1945 – Japan agrees to unconditionally surrender.
August 15, 1945 – V-J Day is declared — Victory over Japan.
In late August, 50,000 workers rallied in Madison Square Garden, 30,000 in San Francisco and 20,000 in Detroit demanding higher wages. (For more information, click.)
August 28, 1945 – Rev. Albert B. Cleage appointed pastor of St. John’s Congregational Church in Springfield, Massachusetts.
In September 43,000 oil workers in 20 states walked off the job demanding a 30 percent pay increase. They were followed by 200,000 coal miners, 44,000 AFL lumber workers, 40,000 Bay Area machinists and 70,000 Midwest truckers. (For more information, click.)
October 7, 1945 – Rev. Albert B. Cleage preaches his first sermon as pastor of St. John’s Congregational Church.
In October and November the U.S. closed the 8 remaining internment camps for Japanese and Japanese Americans during WW2. (For more information, click.)
GM workers went out in November for a 30 percent wage increase, shutting down the largest corporation in the U.S for 113 days. (For more information, click.)
Cousin Ernest with the dancing person from the top of the clock behind him.
I have been trying to remember where the top of the grandfather clock was when the clock was at my grandparents house. The ceiling was too low to have it on top. I thought it was on the organ but I couldn’t find a photograph that showed it until today. Here is my cousin Ernest sometime in the 1960s. He grew up to be a doctor and now has the clock, with the top attached in his house. You can read the story and see the whole clock here Loudin’s Jubilee Singers and a Clock.
While trying to identify the people in the hat photo, I looked through my stash and found more photographs with some of the same people. They might have been taken at the same time, but might not have. Several other people were also included. On the back of one was written “Dr. Turner”.
The women are my grandmother Pearl Cleage, Melzetta Gamble, lady in the polka dot hat, Leota Turner. Men are Dr. Alexander Turner and my grandfather Albert Cleage.
I wrote this earlier post which mentions Dr. Turner, “Births, Deaths, Doctors and Detroit – part 2“. It was about the doctors that delivered three of my grandmother Fannie Graham’s babies and was with her two sons when they died. So, I figured that I KNEW Dr. Turner but I decided to look some more anyway. And I thought maybe the lady in the polka dot hat was his wife. Using Ancestry.com, FamilySearch.org, google maps, books and search along with newspaper articles found at GenealogyBank.com I was able to put together the following picture of Dr. Alexander Turner. And I did find his wife but it wasn’t the woman in the polka dot hat.
The “Michigan Manual of Freedmen’s Progress” published in 1915 to”celebrate 50 years of freedom for the former Negro slaves of this nation…” had this to say,
“Turner, Alexander L., M.D., 1042 W. Warren, Detroit. Born in Georgia. Graduate of the medical department of the University of Michigan. Started his practice in Detroit, 1910 and became highly successful in the treatment of diseases peculiar to women and children. Dr. Turner is also a Pharmacist and is the proprietor of two drugstores in the city of Detroit.”
In the 1900 census Alexander L. Turner was a 16 year old boarder living in Ravenna, Ohio. The head of the household was Frederick Loudin who was 64 years old, occupation listed as “Showman”. The others making up the household were: Wife, Harriett, age 54. No children. No occupation. Sister, Adeline Henson 54, widowed with one child and occupation housekeeper. Niece, Leota Henson 33, single with no children, occupation Musician. Alexander’s occupation was “at school.”
Frederick and Harriett Loudin. Click to see more photos.
Alexander graduated from the Ravenna high school in 1904 and then attended Buchtel College in Acron, Ohio. An article in The Gazette, a black newspaper out of Cincinnati, Ohio, ran a short article about Turner’s graduation it read.
“Graduation Present
Alexander Turner was made a graduation present of fifty dollars in gold by F.J. Loudin and wife. Alexander came here from the south a few years ago. He worked at the Loudin home and went to school. He proved to be one of the brightest students that ever attended the Ravenna schools and he was a faithful worker for the Loudins. For his faithfulness he received the reward mentioned above on Tuesday.
The commencement exercises of the high school were held recently in the First Congregational church (white) and Alexander Leigh Turner, one of the few Afro-American graduates who has completed the courses and received a diploma from the schools, fairly thrilled his hearers by his oration on “The Negro and His Progress” forcible and eloquently delivered.”
Later Alexander took the name “Loudin” as his middle name. I can only suppose it was in honor of the Frederick J. Loudin. This story ran on July 2, 1904. On November 3 of the same year Frederick J. Loudin died. His wife, Harriett, died later that same year.
In April of 1905 while a student at Buchtel College Turner and Harry Proctor sued the Ravenna Rollar Rink Co. under the Ohio Civil Rights Law for refusing to allow them to skate after selling them tickets for skating. They won the suit.
After graduating from Buchtel College Turner enrolled in the University of Michigan Medical College. On September 16, 1908 twenty seven year old Alexander L. Turner married 45 year old Leota F. Henson in Ann Arbor Michigan. Leota’s mother lived with them at 603 Catherine St. The house is still there.
In 1912 Turner graduated and the family moved to Detroit where he began to practice medicine. On his WW1 draft registration card he is described as 5 ft. 8 inches, slender with brown eyes and black hair. He lived at 1042 Warren Ave. West and practiced at 287 Saint Antoine St. down the block from Dr. Gambles office. All these places are long gone, urban renewed decades ago.
In 1918 Turner was one of the founders of Dunbar Hospital where he was the chief of surgery. You can read more about the founding of Dunbar in the post mentioned earlier, “Births, Deaths, Doctors and Detroit – part 2”. In that post I also described what the Turner’s suffered when they attempted to move into a house on Spokene Ave, into a white community on Detroit’s west side. At that time some white men forced their way into the house, put a gun to Turner’s head and demanded he sign the house over to them. He did. He and his wife and mother-in-law, were escorted out of the house, their furniture was packed in a van by the mob and in a hail of thrown objects that shattered the windshield, they drove back to their house on W. Warren where they resumed life. Can you imagine the rage, the shame and the helplessness they must have felt as they drove away from that house? I don’t have the address of the house on Spokene, but here is a photograph from google maps that shows houses in that area today.
All of this happened not very far from the Cleages house on Scotten (which was in a black neighborhood), from my grandfather’s Cleage Clinic on Lovett and Mcgraw, the high school my father and his siblings attended and even closer to 5397 Oregon where my family lived in the 1960’s. I’ve marked the places on the map below.
The gazette in Cleveland ran a lengthy article on July 11, 1925 in which they talk about the incident and also a short item supporting the Turners. I will just include the short item.
I did not find anything else about the suit so I can’t report if they won any damages or not. Perhaps they were most pleased with Leota Turner because it was reported that she didn’t want her husband to sign the papers, even though he had a gun to his head. It is said some thought him cowardly for doing so.
In June of 1943 Detroit experienced a race riot. Thirty-four people died during that week. A year later Dr. Turner and his wife returned to Ravenna, Ohio where he died of a heart attack at 11pm on August 12. he was 61 years old. His father was listed as Alfred Turner and his mother as Lucy, maiden name unknown. Dr. Alexander Loudin Turner was buried in Maple Grove Cemetery in Ravenna, Ohio, on August 15. Leota Turner was the informant on the death certificate. She lived until 1955. I will tell her story and that of her uncle Frederick Loudin in part 3, which will fit nicely with the Sepia Saturday theme of the theater.
Leota Henson Turner date unknown.Dr. Alexander Turner, 1926
Since posting “The Hat” on January 12 I have been sucked into a research whirlpool. It wasn’t that hard to find some of the names. I looked on the backs of other photos in the set and found “Dr. Gamble” and “Mrs Gamble” identified.
Of course I wasn’t satisfied with just their names. Where were they from? What building was that in the background? How did they meet my grandparents? Why were they all in the DC area? When were these photographs taken? And who was the lady in the polka dot hat?
I thought the building might be on the Howard University campus in Washington, DC, but looking at photos online I was unable to find one that looked exactly right. I asked my sister, who attended Howard, if she thought it was on the campus and she suggested it was Freedmen’s Hospital, which was established in 1862 and served as the teaching hospital for Howard. The building shown below was new and completed in 1909. Googling “Freedmen’s Hospital” I found several photographs of the hospital that showed me she was right.
Dr. Gamble in front of Freedmen’s Hospital in Washington D.C. My grandparents in back.
Dr. and Mrs. Gamble
I needed the Gamble’s first names to do more research. First I looked at a photograph I have of the doctors who practiced at Dunbar Hospital in 1922 to see if he was there. He was and you can see him third from the right in the first row. His name is listed as Parker G. Gamble. His middle name was actually Blair. My grandfather is on the end of that same row, on the far right.
Next I looked in a book I have called “Michigan Manual of Freedmen’s Progress” published in 1915 to”celebrate 50 years of freedom for the former Negro slaves of this nation…” where I found this entry for Parker Gamble on page 53.
“Gamble, Parker Blair,M.D., 226 E. Lafayette, Detroit. Born at Chattenooga, Tenn. Graduate of Knoxville College and the medical department of the University of Michigan, class of 1912. Like almost all other Negro Professional persons, Dr. Gamble worked his way to his sheepskin and is now successfully practicing medicine in Detroit.”
With this information it was easy to go to Ancestry.com and Familysearch.org and find the following information in census records, draft registration records and marriage records. I also googled and found small bits of information online.
In 1900, 14 year old Parker Gamble was in school. He lived in Hamilton County, Tennessee with his parents, Wesley and Mary Gamble. There were six children in the family ranging from 20 year old Lula who was teaching to 12 year old Jessie. All the younger children were in school. Mary Gamble had birthed nine children and six were still living. Wesley Gamble earned his living as an iron moulder, that is he made molds for casting iron.
Parker attended Knoxville at the same time as my grandfather, Albert B. Cleage. In 1906 he graduated. He enrolled in the University of Michigan Medical College and worked his way through. I wonder if he worked on the cruise lines that went from Detroit to New York, as my grandfather did in the summers to pay for his education. On September 21, 1909 twenty four year old Parker married twenty two year old Melzetta M. Crosby, a teacher in Ypsilanti Michigan. In 1912 he graduated and moved to Detroit to practice medicine.
By 1918 Dr. Gamble had his own practice as a physician and surgeon at 346 St. Antoine on the east side of Detroit. According to his World War 1 draft registration papers he was 5 foot 6 inches tall and weighed 178 lbs with brown hair and brown eyes. His wife, Melzetta Gamble was someone who would always know where he was.
He and his wife had no children. By 1942 according to his his World War 2 draft registration he was an inch taller and had gained 10 lbs. His hair was showing some grey mixed with the brown and he had a mustache.
I found a few things out about him by googling. He wrote a thank you letter to W.E.B Dubois. He introduced another doctor at the National Medical Association Convention held in Detroit in 1927. There is a scholarship for medical students in his name at Wayne State University. Dr. Parker Gamble died in 1948.
Dr. Parker Gamble seems to have led a pretty quiet life. The same cannot be said for Dr. Alexander Turner and his wife Leota Henson Turner who I will write about in part two of Solving Mysteries.
I found this photograph in my Graham album. I have no idea who it is. I don’t know who’s sister it is. I know it isn’t my grandmother Fannie’s sister because I would recognize them. I don’t think it’s my grandfather Mershell’s sister because as far as I know she was a servant with several children by 1918. I looked for information about nursing schools for African Americans Kansas City, MO. in 1918 and turned up nothing, but Zann, a friend of mine, found several short pieces and some photos of the General Hospital for Negroes in Kansas. The uniforms the nurses are wearing look like the same uniforms. So, here is my mystery nurse for this weeks Sepia Saturday.
I can’t make most of this out very well, but here is what I make of it “Made in K.C. Mo. but just found a duplicate and had this developed – 10-10-1918. Over……….your….F. A dm………Normal Ala.”
Inspired by Angela Y. Walton-Raji over at My Ancestor’s Name, I finally did The Ancestor’s Geneameme.
It was started by Geniaus several days ago. The list should be annotated in the following manner: Things you have already done or found: bold face type Things you would like to do or find: italicize (color optional) Things you haven’t done or found and don’t care to: plain type You are encouraged to add extra comments in brackets after each item Which of these apply to you?
The Ancestors’ Geneameme 1. Can name my 16 great-great-grandparents. I can name 12.5. Robert ALLEN, Clara HOSKINS, John AVERITT, Elizabeth Marshall TUCKER, Frank CLEAGE, Judy CLEAGE, ? RICE (He’s the 1/2), Joseph JACKSON, PRISSA JACKSON, Joe TURNER, Emma JONES, Dock ALLEN, Eliza WILLIAMS. 2. Can name over 50 direct ancestors. [yes] 3. Have photographs or portraits of my 8 great-grandparents I have photos of two. Celia Rice Cleage Sherman and Jennie Virginia Allen Turner. 4. Have an ancestor who was married more than three times. One had 4 different partners but was not married to all of them. 5. Have an ancestor who was a bigamist [No.] 6. Met all four of my grandparents [Yes. I grew up in the same city with them and saw them often. One died when I was 11. Two lived until I was in my twenties and One lived until I was 35.] 7. Met one or more of my great-grandparents [Met one, Jennie Virginia Allen Turner. The others died before I was born.] 8. Named a child after an ancestor [All of my children have a family name and an African name.] 9. Bare an ancestor’s given name/s [No but I do have my mother’s maiden name as a middle name, as do several cousins.] 10. Have an ancestor from Great Britain or Ireland [Yes] 11. Have an ancestor from Asia [Well, 23 & me says I do] 12. Have an ancestor from Continental Europe [Not that I’m aware of] 13. Have an ancestor from Africa [Yes] 14. Have an ancestor who was an agricultural laborer [Yes] 15. Have an ancestor who had large land holdings [Joe Turner owned a lot of land but I don’t know how much. Need to find those records.] 16. Have an ancestor who was a holy man – minister, priest, rabbi [My father was a minister. The Grandparents did start some churches.] 17. Have an ancestor who was a midwife [No. I used to want to be a midwife though.] 18. Have an ancestor who was an author [My father and now my sister] 19. Have an ancestor with the surname Smith, Murphy or Jones [Emma Jones Turner] 20. Have an ancestor with the surname Wong, Kim, Suzuki or Ng [No] 21. Have an ancestor with a surname beginning with X [No] 22. Have an ancestor with a forename beginning with Z [No] 23. Have an ancestor born on 25th December [My grandfather Mershell C. Graham did not know the day he was born and picked December 25.] 24. Have an ancestor born on New Year’s Day [Nobody in my tree was born January 1.] 25. Have blue blood in your family lines [No royalty] 26. Have a parent who was born in a country different from my country of birth [No] 27. Have a grandparent who was born in a country different from my country of birth[No] 28. Can trace a direct family line back to the eighteenth century [Yes] 29. Can trace a direct family line back to the seventeenth century or earlier [No] 30. Have seen copies of the signatures of some of my great-grandparents [yes] 31. Have ancestors who signed their marriage certificate with an X [Yes] 32. Have a grandparent or earlier ancestor who went to university [Yes Grandfather Albert B. Cleage Sr. & Great Grandfather Buford Averitt, both finished Medical School. 33. Have an ancestor who was convicted of a criminal offense [Great Grandfather Lewis Cleage spent time in jail for various minor offenses. Other non-direct ancestors spent time in prison.] 34. Have an ancestor who was a victim of crime [Great grandmother Jennie Allen Turner land was stolen after her husband died. Not to mention those held in slavery for generations.] 35. Have shared an ancestor’s story online or in a magazine [On my blogs I share them all the time. More to come.] 36. Have published a family history online or in print [The blogs are sort of a serial history but I hope to do a more organized one, perhaps next year I will start] 37. Have visited an ancestor’s home from the 19th or earlier centuries [No, but if any are still standing would love to.] 38. Still have an ancestor’s home from the 19th or earlier centuries in the family [No] 39. Have a family bible from the 19th Century [Not a family Bible but I have a pocket New Testament that came to my grandfather, Mershell Graham through his brother Jacob who got it from his doctor who was gifted it by relatives in 1875.]
Several months ago 23andme was running a special for African Americans, in order to broaden their genetic base. The price was right (free) so I signed up and received my spit test kit in a timely fashion. I sent it back, curious about what my percentages of DNA from the various continents would be. After a wait of 5 or 6 weeks I was informed that my results were posted. There they are above. None of this was surprising to me. Looking at myself and my relatives I knew there was some European DNA in there. My father’s sister and I had done an Mtdna test awhile ago and both my maternal and paternal grandmother’s lines back to West Africa. The small amount of DNA from Asia, I learned from the 23andme website, could be Native American DNA or it could be from the Asian DNA found in some African’s DNA. They (23andme) cannot predict Native American DNA in African Americans yet because usually it is (they said) mixed with a small amount of European DNA and then there is that African/Asian DNA thing.
Now, as I said, none of this surprised me. And it also didn’t change the way I feel about myself or my ancestry. I know the European DNA is there but the men that “donated” it didn’t leave a story, a whisper or a name on a death certificate as a clue to who they were and where they came from. There is one exception, post slavery, that we have used reasonable clues to pinpoint – including family stories, naming patterns and geography. So, aside from the physical evidence/residue/DNA, they are invisible and likely to remain so, in spite of the “cousins” I find listed in my account.
I had not even thought about finding long lost cousins from the past. The first message I received turned out to be from an old family friend in Detroit. That was amazing and kind of funny. She and her husband were friends of my father’s family for decades and to get a message from her daughter saying we are possible 5th cousins was nice. We don’t know which side of the family we are related through, and I don’t see how we can ever trace it, but it’s nice anyway. I would like to hear from that possible 2nd cousin who hasn’t contacted me yet. That seems close enough to figure out how we’re connected. Maybe I already know them. If only it would be one of Uncle Hugh Reed’s long lost grandchildren. Or maybe my grandfather Mershell Graham’s brother’s or sister’s descendants.
My feeling is that the only way I’m going to find out where the last ancestor’s I’ve found came from, who their parents are, is to find the plantations they were on and look for the records. I don’t think I’ll find out anything shockingly new about those lines from 23andme. My husband received his kit yesterday. Can’t wait to see his percentages.
Lewis Cleage is one of my ancestors that I do not have a photograph of. Above is a photograph of his wife, Celia Rice Sherman holding their granddaughter Barbara Cleage Martin.
This photograph includes their five children. In the front are Albert B. Cleage Sr. (my grandfather), Josephine (Josie) Cleage and Edward Cleage. Behind Albert is Henry and behind Edward is Jacob (Jake).
Below are several descriptions and stories of Lewis by grandchildren who never met him.
Lewis Cleage and Celia were married and had young children. One of them was grandfather Cleage. Lewis C. worked all day for 50 cents. Celia worked all week for 50 cents. He often spent his on good times before he got home. Many nights he spent in jail – drunk – playing the guitar and singing! One evening she waited for him where he worked so she could get him and the money home before he spent it. He had had a drink or two and was cussing and threatening her as they went down a country road toward home. She was hanging on to him and crying. A passing white man stopped them, cursed Lewis, told him to stop abusing his wife, etc. And if he heard in future about him abusing her, he would find him and kill him. They never saw him again, until…
About twenty years later Celia was on the train going to see her children – who were now grown with children of their own. A white man on the train spoke to her. Asked if she wasn’t the same woman he had seen on the country road, etc., etc., and asked how she was! Thought you would enjoy this. Louis remembers everything – knows lots of good stories. Story by Louis Cleage (grandson) as told to Doris Graham Cleage. 1-29-79
Grandfather Louis: Tall, big-boned man in stature, heavy voice, coarse hair. As described by Juanita Cleage Martin (granddaughter) in her writing “Memories to Memoirs” 1990
Lewis Cleage was a large, dark skinned man. He spent a lot of time playing his guitar, drinking and landing in jail. They could hear him in the cabin over at the jail, singing and playing the guitar. He’d get drunk, they’d throw him in jail. He was born in Louden, Tennessee and was shot early on, leaving Celia a widow. As described by Henry W. Cleage (grandson) to Kristin Cleage Williams 1990s
According to his death certificate, Lewis Cleage didn’t die until 1918 in Indianapolis, Indiana. He died of Lobar pneumonia. I think I need to figure out how to find court records and see if I can find him there.
4744 Langley. Jeanette on stoop with son Robert with google maps photograph.
I received Jennette McCall McEwen’s death certificate in the mail this week. I wrote about her earlier here and here. Here is the new information I gleaned both from the death certificate and from a re-reading of other documents I have for this family.
According to both the 1920 census and Robert junior’s birth certificate, the family was rooming at 4744 Langley in Chicago, IL. See a photo of the house above. Little Robert was born at home on January 2. Robert Sr. worked at the post office.
Provident Hospital
On December 16, 1923 second son, Raymond was born in Provident Hospital, one of the first black owned and operated hospitals in the United States. Robert Sr. was a dental student while Jeanette continued to work inside the home. The family had moved to 652 E. 46th St.
By the time of the 1930 Census Robert Sr was a practicing dentist. Jeanette was not working outside of the home. When I first found Robert and Jeanette in the 1930 census several years ago, I wondered why they had no children because I had heard that they were the parents of two boys. After looking at the neighbors I found that 10 year old Robert Jr and 7 year old Raymond were living as lodgers in the apartment of Harry and Zada McClatchey. At the time I thought it must be a mistake, but after looking at the death certificate I realized there was a good reason for the boys to be out of the home.
Jeanette died at home of influenza on December 27, 1931. The informant, the person who gave the personal information on the certificate, was her older brother Leon Roscoe McCall. Her doctor was her brother-in-law Joseph Howard, MD. He had begun treating her on Christmas day, although she became ill on the 20th of December. A contributory cause was “phthisis pulmonalis” or consumption. Jeanette found that she had tuberculosis in February of 1930. The Census took place in April. Robert and Raymond were probably out of the house to keep them from being infected. She had been unable to continue to do her usual work as a housewife since July 1931. Jeanette McCall McEwen was buried in Lincoln Cemetery in Cook County on December 30, 1931. Now I’ll send for Robert McEwen’s death certificate to see if he also died of tuberculosis.
Robert Pope, Jennie V. Turner, Beulah Pope (back) Alice Turner, my Aunt Daisy.
August 18 was my Great Aunt Alice’s birthday. I decided to do a quick post about her. Found a few photographs. Wrote out my memories. Something wasn’t right. I wrote a cousin and my sister asking for their memories. They both sent them and of course all of our memories both overlap and are different. I found my mother’s memories. I looked for more photos. I looked for documents. I realized some of what I “knew” I couldn’t document. So, I’ve spent the last week trying to figure Alice’s life out when there is no one left to ask about particulars. Now I’m working on a timeline to incorporate both the facts and the memories and the contradictions. Today I dug out a photograph I vaguely remembered as being of Alice and my great grandmother Jennie in Canada. As soon as I found it, I realized that the young man and one of the other women were also relatives. The woman behind my great grandmother was her youngest sister, Beulah Allen Pope and her son, Robert is the young man in the front. I recognized them because Robert’s daughter sent me a photograph of them that must have been taken the same day because they are wearing the same clothes. The photo is dated “July 31, 1921 Toronto Windsor, Canada.” I did not realize they were there so early. More wondering and looking. I have ordered Alice’s Social Security application and death certificate hoping to find more information.
There are six months unaccounted for in my father’s letters. No letter rejoicing in finding a church at last or hashing out the details. I began to wonder what happened during that time. Did my grandmother lose those letters? Did my parents stay in Los Angeles? Did they return to Detroit? What was happening in the world during that time?
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concentration camp. (For more information about the photo taken in the camp, click)
Soviet troops advance through Berlin.
ugust 9, 1945 – U.S. drops the atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan.
agreement. World War II is over.
In October and November the U.S. closed the 8 remaining internment camps for Japanese and Japanese Americans during WW2. (For more information, click.)
GM workers went out in November for a 30 percent wage increase, shutting down the largest corporation in the U.S for 113 days. (For more information, click.)
