In 1940 James McCall and his family lived at 4880 Parker Ave. on the east side of Detroit. The house was worth $5,000. He was 58 years old and had completed 4 years of college. He had worked 52 weeks in 1939, earning $1,600 managing a Printing Establishment.
James and Margaret McCall in the early 1940s.
His wife Margaret was 52 years old. She had completed 4 years of high school and was not working outside of the home. She was the informant. Everybody in the house was born in Alabama, had lived in the same house in 1935 and was identified as “W(hite)”. I would guess that people are wrongfully identified as “white” because the enumerator would not ask race, they would assume they “knew” by looking.
Margaret and Victoria McCall – Palm Sunday 1941.
Oldest daughter, Victoria, was 24 years old, single and had completed 4 years of college. She had worked 40 weeks in 1939 as a public school teacher, where she earned $1,600. The youngest daughter, Margaret was 21 years old. She had worked 24 weeks in 1939 and earned $240 as a secretary of a Printing company.
The McCall’s owned their own printing company and published a newspaper “The Detroit Tribune”. My aunt, Mary V. Graham, who was their cousin, worked at the same printing establishment in the 1940 census. In the 1990’s she shared her memories of her work there. Mary V’s job was to read newspaper articles to James McCall because he was blind. From what she read to him, he would formulate his editorial articles. He had a braille typewriter that he used to write the articles. Mary V said she learned so much, reading to him and talking to him about various topics. She remembered that he was a wealth of information and knew a lot about everything.
In late April of 1966 I was 19 and a sophomore at Wayne State University in Detroit. Northern High students walked out of school on April 25 to protest the way they were being (or not being) educated. Several other inner city high schools walked out in sympathy. Northwestern organized a supporting boycott and my sister, Pearl, was a leader. My father and others were providing adult support.
I usually studied in the sociology room of the Main Library, which was in the middle of Wayne’s campus. As I was leaving to go to my next class that day, a guy came up and asked if I was Rev. Cleage’s daughter. I said I was. He asked if I was leading the Northwestern boycott and I said no, that was my sister. We made arrangements to meet after my class on the picket line in front of the Board of Education Building.
We aren’t in the photo but this was the demonstration.
We did and afterwards sat around for several hours talking in the “corner” in the cafeteria at Mackenzie Hall. The “corner” was where black students congregated. I felt strangely comfortable with Jim. Strange for me, anyway, since I didn’t feel comfortable with anybody, unless I was in a political discussion. He tried to convince me to join a sorority and convert the members to revolution. There wasn’t a chance I was going to do that. He also told me that he was “nice”. I asked if he meant as in some people were “revolutionaries”, he was “nice”. He said yes, that’s what he meant.
Michigan State Police Additional Complaint Report Page No. 2 Complaint 99-133-66 file 1.15 Date 4-25-66
(note: seems to be continued from a lost page)…students take part in the meeting and form plans by themselves. Representatives from the following Detroit High Schools were present and pledged to back the walk-out, Cass Tech, Central, Chadsey, Cooley, Denby, Mackienzie, Mumford, Northwestern, Southeastern and Western.
Advisers to the students at this meeting were; Reverend Albert Cleage and Reverend Cameron Wells MED. The school representatives most active at this meeting were; Micheal Bach____, 17, Negro male of Northern HS, Pearl Cleage, 17, Negro female of Northwestern HS and Stanley Parker, 17, Negro male of Southwestern HS.
April 25, 1966: The “Freedom School” session (sic) were held in the day. No police incidents.
At 4:oo PM a demonstration and picket line formed at 5057 Woodward Avenue, the Board of Education building. The demonstrators carried signs demanding upgrading of the education at Northern and other inner-city high schools.
There were about 75 persons demonstrating. About 14 adults appeared to be parents of students, about 12 young people appeared to be high school students, the remainder of demonstrators were persons identified as members of such groups as SNCC, Young Socialist Alliance, Detroit Committee to end the War in Vietnam, Students for a Democratic Society and persons seen at Socialist Workers Party Forums.
The following persons were identified in the picket lines: _____ Allen, Kenneth Cockerel, Edward D’Angelo, Todd Ensign, Robert Higgins, Derrick Morrison, Marc ____, David Neiderhauser, Sol Plafkin, Micheal Patrick Quinlin, Harvey Roes, Sarah Rosenshine, Charles Simmons, Mark Shapiro, Tom____, Peter_______, Jackie Wilson and James Winegar.
April 26, 1966: The students met at the “Freedom School” at 8:00 PM a meeting was held. They returned to the classes at Northern High School. Representatives of the students and the school authorities are going to continue meeting to improve conditions.
__________FAST FORWARD TO APRIL 26, 2012_________
Today, April 26, 2012, I received this email from a community organizer in Detroit about a student walkout yesterday.
“Today, 180 students were suspended for walking out of Western HS yesterday. Their cell phones were taken from them and messages and numbers were gone through by security. The police deleted numbers and messages from the students’ phones.
This month, Frederick Douglass Academy students walked out over constant turnover of teachers and shortage of supplies. The principal being fired was the catalyst in this student lead walk out. The secretary of the school was ultimately fired, as well.
Mumford HS students walked out, refusing to have Mumford put into the Educational Achievement Authority (failing district). The students were suspended and the teacher who told them they are not failures was fired for allegedly encouraging them to walk out.“
To visit a website with information by the involved students about the freedom school that starts today (Friday, April 27) and more, click Southwest Detroit Freedom School. The article is on the left side and there are more links at the bottom of the article. I’m cheered to find organizing going on in response to what happened. Almost makes me wish I was in Detroit.
For more Sepia Saturday offerings, click.
There is no May Pole in this post but there are a couple of Demonstrations that I think will represent May Day.
By 1940 there were only 3 of Eliza’s children remaining in Montgomery, Alabama. Willie Lee Allen Tulane, Abbie Allen and Beulah Allen Pope. Willie Lee lived on S. Union. Abbie lived on Ripley. Beulah and Robert Pope lived on W. Jeff Davis Ave. Scroll down and to the left to see the blue pointer for their house. View the Montgomery Family – 1940 in a map on Google Maps. Enlarge to see the locations.
Willie Lee Allen Tulane. A photo from the 1930s.
Willie Tulane lived at 430 S. Union Street. She owned the home and had lived there in 1935. It was worth $2,000. She gave her age as 55 although, since her age on the 1880 census was 7, she was closer to 67. She had attended 8 years of school. Willie had not worked in the past year. She was the informant. Everybody in the house was identified as Neg(ro).
There were two boarders. Louise McHaney age 25, worked as a private maid. She earned $260 a year. She was single and had attended school for 8 years. The other boarder was Charles Williams, a 52 year old Insurance salesman. He had attended school for 7 years and was married but separated from his wife. He earned $1,040 in 1935. Both boarders had worked 52 weeks out of the past year. You can see a copy of the 1940 Census page with Willie Tulane on it on Ancestry.com HERE.
Abbie Allen, photo – 1966.
Abbie Allen had stopped using her married name, Brown, in the 1930 Census and she still was using her maiden name. She’s listed as a widow. She owned her home at 444 Ripley Street where she had worked as a seamstress for 40 weeks during the past year. She gave her age as 42, although being age 5 in the 1880 census, she was closer to 65. She was identified as Neg(ro). She had lived in the same house in 1935. It had been her parents home and she had lived there since about 1900. It was valued at $500. She had gone to school for 7 years. Abbie was the informant. You can see a copy of Abbie Allen’s 1940 census page on Ancestry.com HERE.
Robert and Beulah (Allen) Pope. Date of Roberts photo not known. Beulah’s photo is from the 1950s.
Beulah and Robert Pope owned their home at 235 W. Jeff Davis Ave. It was worth $400. They had lived there in 1935. Beulah had attended college for 2 years and was not working outside the home. Robert had completed 4 years of college and was a clerk for a wholesale drug company. He had worked for 52 weeks during 1939 and earned $1,720. Both were identified as Neg(ro). He was listed as 58. In 1880 he was listed as 6 years old so he was actually about 66. Beulah was listed as 53. In the 1880 census she was listed as 1 year old so she was closer to 61. Beulah was the informant.
I became interested in how accurate the ages were when I noticed that Aunt Abbie was younger than the youngest sister, Beulah. I went back to the 1880 census to see what ages were given when they were close to their births. I wonder if they just didn’t keep up with how old they were or if they were trying to seem younger.
In the 1940 Census, the Frank and Mary Elkins family was living at 3045 Anderdon Street in Detroit, Michigan. The rent was $30 a week and they had lived in the same house in 1935. Everybody in the household had been identified as “W(hite)”, that was crossed out and “Neg(ro)” was written over it. Unfortunately, no household on this page has the person who provided the information to the enumerator identified.
Frank Elkins at work.
The father of the family, Frank Elkins, was 57 years old and had completed 4 years of high school. He worked at an auto plant as a courtesy driver. One of his granddaughters has informed me that he worked as a driver for Graham Paige Motors.
Three Marys - daughter Mary, mother Mary and my Aunt Mary V. Graham.
His wife, Mary, was 47 and not employed outside the home. She had completed 2 years of High school. She had made $50 in the last year outside of wages or salary. Daughter Mary was 21 and single. She had completed 4 years of high school and was not enrolled in school. She was not employed outside of the home.
Mother Mary Elkins and son Frank “Bud” Elkins
Young Frank was 19, single and had completed 1 year of college. He had attended school sometime since March 1, 1940. He was not employed. His daughter, Dee Dee, remembers that Frank graduated with honors from Cass Technical High School and went right to work, starting Elkin’s Electric Company. He tried to join the Electricians Union, but they barred Black folks from joining. In 1941 Frank and my aunt Mary V. Graham were married at Plymouth Congregational Church.
You can see an image of the original census sheet here Elkins 1940 Census.
To see where my Detroit relatives lived in 1940, click Where we lived.
From top left – my mother Doris Graham; from 1940 Wayne Bulletin; Old Main at Wayne; my mother’s transcript.
In February, 1940 my mother entered Wayne University. She received a full scholarship from the Detroit Board of education and a scholarship from the Delta Sorority for an an additional $100.
How much did it cost to attend Wayne in 1940? For residents of Wayne County, which my mother was, tuition for a full time student was $50. There was a $10 fee for entering freshmen. Textbooks would have been $5 or under.
When I went to Wayne from 1964 to 1968, tuition came to about $300 a year. Text books were still about $10. By the time my daughter attended during the 1998 – 1999 school year, tuition and fees were $3,708 a year. She says one book could cost $50. All of us lived at home and commuted, so had no housing costs.
My granddaughter Sydney, who is a freshman at Georgia State University and lives on campus. She could hardly believe these numbers. I just looked and tuition and housing this year, is over $20,000.
I published a longer post that included this information (without the actual pages) along with entries from my grandmother’s other journals in 2010. I am only including information from 1940 this time.
Feb. 5, 1940 Dear God and Little Book: the mail has just brought us the long looked for letter from Wayne University and the Board of Education that Doris has received the yearly scholarship to Wayne… I shed tears of joy… for more reasons than one or even two and the main reason is she deserves it for being such a sweet little “trick”…even if we do say so ourselves.
February 12 – Doris’s birthday – 17 today. We had a nice dinner, cake, ice cream and gifts for her from all.
March 12, my birthday, among all a purchase certificate from JL Hudson’s from our daughters and dad
April 3 – Mary Virginia is 20 today. We had nice dinner cake and ice cream and gifts from us all – also Aunt Daisy never forgets with money. Dad celebrates Christmas day.
June 7, 1940 Doris received $100 scholarship from the Deltas today… Isn’t that grand! It served 2 years.
June 10 — Mary Virginia has just gotten (through Jim and May) a good job at the County Bldg — God is so good to us. and today our Mershell Jr would have been 19 if he had lived – but we still say – God knows best.
Several days ago Cassmob’s of Family history across the seas blog had an interactive map of places she’s been writing about in Papua, New Guinea. I immediately went to Google Maps to figure out how to do it myself. Below is a map of places my family lived during the 1940 Census in Detroit. If you click on the blue markers it will tell you who lived there and how they are related to my grandparents.
Detroit is divided by Woodward Avenue into Westside and Eastside. My Cleages are all clustered close on the Westside, which is also where I grew up. The Grahams are more spread out on the Eastside. Plymouth had a vibrant youth group program in the 1930 and that is where my parents met. The old Plymouth Congregational Church was urban renewed in the late 1970s and moved location but in 1940 it was located at Garfield and Beaubien, right in the middle of what is now the Detroit Medical Center.
There is a way to insert pop up photographs too which I am going to figure out next.
In 1940 my 75 year old great grandmother, Jennie Virginia Turner, lived with her daughters at 4536 Harding, Detroit, Michigan. She lived about 10 minutes by car (not that they had a car) from her oldest daughter, Fannie Graham and her family on Theodore. Her nephew, James Edward McCall, lived about half way between the two with his family on Parker. She was listed as a widow and retired with 6 years of schooling. Everyone in the house is identified as “Negro”. Jennie gave the enumerator the information.
Aunt Daisy was 48 years old, single, with 4 years of high school. She was the only one in the house working outside of the home. She is listed as a stock girl at a retail fur company. It had been my understanding that Daisy was a seamstress but she was also listed as head stock girl at a fur store in the 1930 census so I guess she wasn’t sewing. My mother told me years ago that Daisy also collected numbers at Annis to supplement the family income. When she lived in Montgomery, AL, Daisy was a teacher for several years and worked in her Uncle Victor Tulane’s grocery store as a clerk.
Aunt Alice was 32 years old, single and had completed 9 years of school. This answered a question I had about Alice, did she finish high school after she moved to Detroit at age 15. I don’t think she did. If she started school at 6, she probably stopped when she moved to Detroit.
Daisy (the arrow points at her) with friends from Annis Furs.
I don’t know who the young woman on the left is, next is my mother, Doris Graham, my uncle Hugh Cleage and my aunt Mary V. Graham. Taken in 1940 in Detroit, Michigan. Photographer not known.
The Old West Side Detroit neighborhood where my father's family and aunts and uncles and cousins lived in 1940. Uncle Jake's house was the second one up from the bottom of the map.
Jacob Cleage was my grandfather Albert Cleage’s oldest brother. He and his wife, Gertrude, lived at 5670 Hartford Avenue, very close to my grandfather’s Cleage Clinic. The house is no longer there, but there are 3 houses on either side of the spot where it stood and it appears that all were built from the same plan.
Empty spot marked by "A" where Jacob and Gertrude Cleage's house once stood.
House near 5670 Hartford Ave. The least modernized house of the 3 and perhaps the closest to what their house looked like.
5670 probably looked like this house that hasn’t been renovated or sided. I think their house would have been painted and kept up. They owned the house and it was worth $1,900 according to the 1940 census.
Jacob Cleage
Gertrude Cleage
There were six people in the household. Everybody was identified as Negro and had been living at the same address in 1935.
According to the census Jacob Cleage was the head of the house. He was 62 years old and had been born in Florida. He worked as a sweeper in an auto plant with 2 years of high school. He earned $1,200 in 1935.
Gertrude Cleage, 58, wife, born in West Virginia. She was not working outside the home and had completed 3 years of high school.
John Cleage, 29, son (SON?? first I heard of Jacob having any children), born in West Virginia. He worked in the stock room of an auto factory and earned $1,600 during 1935. He had 4 years of college and was attending college in 1940. He was married and his wife were seperated.
Jacob Cleage, jr, 24 son (ANOTHER SON???) also born in West Virginia. Not working with 3 years of college and attending college in 1940. He was single.
Robert Evans, 22, lodger, born in Alabama. He had attended school that year and had 2 years of high school. He wasn’t working and had earned no money. He was married.
Countess Evans, 22, wife of a lodger born in Alabama. Shw had 4 years of college, was not working and had earned no money. Countess spoke to the enumerator which probably accounts for the incorrect information.
Jacob Cleage was actually born in Tennessee and Gertrude was born in North Carolina. I never heard that they had any children and I’ve followed them down through the years from the 1880 census and other records and through family stories and photographs. My grandparents lived with them when my father was born in 1911. I can’t find Jacob Jr. or John Cleage any place else, not living apart with a different mother and not in any directories. If all of these young people were living there in 1935, the lodgers would have been 17. Jacob Jr. would have been 19 and John would have been 24. That would have been a house full of students for one working man to support. Jacob Cleage died in 1942, just two years later.
I wish Jacob or Gertrude had been the informant because I’ve got to take much of this with a grain of salt until more information comes my way.
Source: 1940 U.S. census, Wayne Co., Michigan, pop. Sch., Detroit, Ward 14 E.D. 84-785 Sheet No. 11 B HH 191 Jacob Cleage. Informant – lodger. Click to view census sheet.
