I – Ice Cream Served?

A-Z Challenge 2025

For this year’s A to Z Challenge, I will be posting an event for that date involving someone in my family tree. Of course it will also involve the letter of the day. It may be a birth, a death, a christening, a journal entry, a letter or a newspaper article. If the entry is a news item, it will be transcribed immediately below. Click on photographs to enlarge in another window.

L>R – Robert Pope, Jennie Allen Turner, Alice Turner, Daisy Turner. Back – Beulah Allen Pope. 1921 on a trip to Detroit.
The Emancipator, Montgomery, Alabama • Sat, Apr 10, 1920 Page 2

MASTER WILLIAM PRICE ENTERTAINS.

Master Willie Price delightfully entertained at a party in honor of Master Harold Scott of Talladega, Ala. Delicious refreshments were served. Among those present were: Hazel Shipman, Annie Marie and Lonnie Miller, Theo. Alexander. Hazel Miller, Louise and Elizabeth Lewis, Agertha Lee Cook, Rebecca Wiley, Lelsie Hooks, James Lewis, Myrtle, Rosebud and Leon White, Margaret Johnson, Alice Turner, Ruth Harris, Agnes Tondee and Homer Hamilton.

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If delicious refreshments were served at a children’s birthday party, I think cake and ice cream would be among them. If they didn’t make it themselves, perhaps they bought it from Kratzer Ice Cream Co., that advertised in the same edition of The Emancipator.

The Emancipator, Montgomery, Alabama • Sat, Apr 10, 1920 Page 3

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Alice Turner, who was a guest at the birthday party was my maternal grandmother Fannie Turner Graham’s little sister. She was my great aunt. I knew her.

Other posts about Alice:

Finding Alice
Memories of Alice – 5 Family Members in 3 Generations Remember
More about Alice (Wright) Turner
Just The Facts – Timeline For My Great Aunt Alice

H – Home Entertainment at the Tulane’s

A-Z Challenge 2025, Montgomery Alabama

For this year’s A to Z Challenge I am posting an event involving someone in my family tree for that date. It may be a birth, a death, a christening, a journal entry, a letter or a newspaper article. If the entry is a news item, it will be transcribed immediately below. Click on photographs to enlarge in another window.

Willie Lee Allen Tulane and husband Victor Tulane on their porch. Montgomery, Alabama..
The Emancipator Montgomery, Alabama • Sat, Apr 13, 1918 Page 3

KINGS DAUGHTERS CLUB ENTERTAINS

The Kings Daughters, one of the working clubs of the Old Ship Church, very pleasantly entertained Messrs. Allen Carleton, Oscar Saffold, Prof. Finley and the church choir, at the home of Mr. and Mrs. V. H. Tulane, 10 S. Ripley St., Tuesday evening, April 9th. A fine musical program was rendered, the numbers including vocal and instrumental selections by those present, and, besides, a variety of choice selections by the Victrola, after which enjoyable refreshments were served.

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Miss F. M. Turner, manager, was my maternal grandmother. She was the Tulane’s niece.

In 1918 Victor and Willie Lee Tulane and their daughter Naomi lived in a comfortable apartment over Tulane Groceries. In addition to the grocery store, Victor Tulane also was very active in the life of the community. He was on the Board of Trustees of Tuskeegee Institute and cashier of the local Penny Bank.

They lost two young daughters early in their marriage and Willie Lee was overly protective of the surviving daughter, Naomi. Naomi was a student at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee in 1918. They were active members of the Old Ship A. M. E. Church.

Willie Lee Allen Tulane was my great grandmother Jennie Allen Turner’s sister.

This is the house that goes with the porch. It now houses the Alabama PTA. This photo is from google.

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V.H. Tulane
Naomi Tulane
“Child of Victor Tulane…”
“Tulane Calls on Members of Race to be Patriotic”

G – Going Back to 1972 Black Religion Symposium

A-Z Challenge 2025, Cleages

For this year’s A to Z Challenge, I will be posting an event for that date involving someone in my family tree. Of course it will also involve the letter of the day. It may be a birth, a death, a christening, a journal entry, a letter or a newspaper article. If the entry is a news item, it will be transcribed immediately below. Click on photographs to enlarge in another window.

My father, Rev. Albert B. Cleage Jr. later Jaramogi Abebe Agyeman

For several years after the 1967 Detroit Riot/Rebellion, my father received many invitations to speak around the United States. His participation in the Duke University Black Religion Symposium was one such instance.

For those who want to hear more from the Black Religion Symposium, audio of the speeches is available here -> Black Religion Symposium. The date on this page is for August, but the paper above gives April as the date and I’m going with that date. My father is the first speaker after the introduction.


F – Forgive this writing

A-Z Challenge 2025, African-American Genealogy & Slave Ancestry Research, Indianapolis, Pearl Reed's Letters

For this year’s A to Z Challenge, I will be posting an event for that date involving someone in my family tree. Of course it will also involve the letter of the day. It may be a birth, a death, a christening, a journal entry, a letter or a newspaper article. If the entry is a news item, it will be transcribed immediately below. Click on photographs to enlarge in another window.

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While looking for some of his ancestors several years ago, my cousin Peter Olivier found a packet of  letters online written by my grandmother Pearl Reed (Cleage) from 1903 to 1905. They were for sale by Michal Brown Rare Books who “specialize in Americana, especially manuscript materials. We offer manuscript letters and archives, diaries, journals, personal and business correspondence from the 17th century through the 20th.“

By the time I found out that the letters existed, they had been sold to the University of Georgia in Athens. I thought it was strange because neither my grandmother Pearl Reed nor Homer Jarrett, the young man she was exchanging letters with, were well known. Homer seems to have saved every piece of mail he ever received. Eventually all of those hundreds of pieces (which included my grandmother’s letters) ended up being sold after his death. In their entirety they give a unique picture of the era in which they were written.

I immediately got in touch with Special Collections Library at The University of Georgia in Athens.  I was able to purchase scans of all 41 letters and envelopes very reasonably. I was very excited to have a look into my 19 year old grandmother’s life through her letters. It was lucky that the University purchased them. I could never have afforded to buy them.

Below is one of the letters in the package. It was written on April 7, 1904.

Courtesy of Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library/University of Georgia Libraries. Click to enlarge.
Homer Jarrett, at a later date.

Homer Jarrett
#230 Bird St., City

2730 Kenwood Ave
City
April 7, 1904

Dear Homer;
Forgive me for not writing sooner, but don’t you know I did write but tore up the letter a few hours after. Mother is very ill now and has been since Easter eve. I am having a terrible time. I could not go to church Easter Morn and have just received an invitation to a friends at her birthday anniversary but had to send her my regrets. Pity me.
Your little friend

P.S. I am in an awful hurry, forgive this writing.

Your Pearl

P.S. Minnie’s address is #337 Colfax Ave. Benton Harbor Mich.

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Pearl Reed about 1904
Pearl Doris Reed 1904

Pearl Reed was my paternal grandmother. Homer was a friend of my grandmother. Minnie was my grandmother’s older sister who was married to Homer’s cousin and had moved from Indianapolis with her husband and family to Benton Harbor, Michigan.

At this time my grandmother was about 20 years old. She had graduated from high school and lived at home with her mother and her oldest brother, George. One other brother lived nearby with his family. Another brother lived in Chicago and all three of her living sisters lived in Benton Harbor, Michigan with their families. Her oldest sister died around 1900.

My grandmother would not meet my grandfather for several more years.

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Read more about my grandmother’s letters in these posts:
My Grandmother’s Letters
Finding The Letters
The Letters – The People

E – Effigies Hung

A-Z Challenge 2025

For this year’s A to Z Challenge, I will be posting an event for that date involving someone in my family tree. Of course it will also involve the letter of the day. It may be a birth, a death, a christening, a journal entry, a letter or a newspaper article. If the entry is a news item, it will be transcribed immediately below. Click on photographs to enlarge in another window.

Rev Albert B. Cleage Jr.
Ann Arbor News 1968-04-05

Detroit Churchmen Hanged In Effigy

DETROIT (AP) – Archbishop John F. Dearden, the Rev. Albert Cleage, Milton Henry and Richard Lobenthal were found hanged in effigy Thursday in Detroit’s Kennedy Square.
The name-carded, stuffed-clothing figures were cut down quickly by police.
Archbishop Dearden heads the Detroit archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church. The Rev. Albert Cleage and Milton Henry, are leaders among “Black Power” advocates, and Lobenthal is Michigan director of the Jewish Antidefamation League.
Police said they did not know who hanged the four in effigy, but suspected “right wingers who have created similar incidents in recent months.” They did not name the “right wingers.”
The figures were strung up on the superstructure of a new underground parking garage in the square.

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Oddly enough, although I was 21, I don’t remember anything about this event. I wonder if it was not printed in the Detroit papers. I found this article in an Ann Arbor paper. Rev. Albert B. Cleage Jr. is my father.

Note: From November 1967 to August 1968, both daily papers, the Detroit Free Press and the Detroit News were on strike. That is why it didn’t appear in my search of those papers online. Also why I didn’t know about it.

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My friend, historian Paul Lee, put this short clip of an interview with my father, Rev. Albert B. Cleage Jr. by Chet Huntley on YouTube. It is from late 1967 or early 1968, not long after the 1967 Detroit riot.

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1300 Lafaytte – Apartment for Security 1968 – A post about my father’s life during that time

D – Darling Baby Girl

A-Z Challenge 2025, African-American Genealogy & Slave Ancestry Research

For this year’s A to Z Challenge, I will be posting an event for that date involving someone in my family tree. Of course it will also involve the letter of the day. It may be a birth, a death, a christening, a journal entry, a letter or a newspaper article. If the entry is a news item, it will be transcribed immediately below. Click on photographs to enlarge in another window.

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Marilyn and Mary Virginia Elkins. 1954

Thirty four years after the birth of yesterday’s cuddly baby girl, Mary Virginia Graham Elkins gave birth to a darling baby girl. On April 4, 1954 my first cousin, Marilyn Graham Elkins was born to Frank and Mary V. (Graham) Elkins.

Marilyn was the fifth and last grandchild of Mershell and Fannie (Turner) Graham.

My mother with the rest of the cousins Barbara, Kristin, Pearl and Dee Dee. Dee Dee and Barbara are Marilyn’s older sisters.
In the back yard.
My grandparents, Fannie & Mershell Graham in their yard, 1958.
Frank “Bud” Elkins. Marilyn’s father

C – Cuddly Baby Girl Arrives

A-Z Challenge 2025, African-American Genealogy & Slave Ancestry Research, Detroit, Grahams

For this year’s A to Z Challenge, I will be posting an event for that date involving someone in my family tree. Of course it will also involve the letter of the day. It may be a birth, a death, a christening, a journal entry, a letter or a newspaper article. If the entry is a news item, it will be transcribed immediately below. Click on photographs to enlarge in another window.

Cuddly Mary Virginia Graham April 1920. Mignon, daughter of the couple that owned the house on the left with the bow.
The Emancipator, Montgomery, Alabama • Sat, April 10, 1920 Page 2

BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENT.

The hearts of Mr. and Mrs. Merchell Graham were gladened Saturday, April 3rd, by the arrival of a sweet baby girl. Mr. and Mrs. Graham now reside in Detroit, Mich., but both are former Montgomerians.

Mary Virginia Graham

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Mershell and Fannie (Turner) Graham. August 1919. Detroit, Michigan.

Mr. and Mrs. Mershell Graham were my maternal grandparents. Mary Virginia Graham, born April 3, 1920 was my mother’s older sister and my aunt.

My grandfather, Mershell Graham came to Detroit from Montgomery, Alabama in 1917. He proposed to my grandmother, Fannie Turner in 1918. She accepted and they were married on June 15, 1919 at Fannie’s home in Montgomery and left the same day for Detroit.

They roomed with friends from home and lived there when Mary Virginia was born. Mershell worked in an Auto plant as an inspector. My grandmother did not work outside of the home after her marriage.

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The Proposal – 1918
The Proposal Accepted – 1918
Mershell Graham and Fannie Mae Turner Marriage License – 11 June 1919
Graham-Turner Wedding – 1919 Montgomery Alabama
F – FAMILY, MY GRAHAMS in the 1920 Census

B – Battle Creek Enquirer Tallies Louis Cleage’s Votes

A-Z Challenge 2025, Cleages, Detroit

For this year’s A to Z Challenge, I will be posting an event for that date involving someone in my family tree. Of course it will also involve the letter of the day. It may be a birth, a death, a christening, a journal entry, a letter or a newspaper article. If the entry is a news item, it will be transcribed immediately below. Click on photographs to enlarge in another window.

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On April 2, 1951, my uncle Dr. Louis J. Cleage ran for the University of Michigan Board of Regents. I had no idea until I found a newspaper item in The Battle Creek Enquirer. He did not win but received 3,547 votes.

Battle Creek Enquirer, Battle Creek, Michigan • Wed, Apr 18, 1951Page 7

I am just going to transcribe the paragraph with the Board of Regents votes, bottom first column, top of second, above:

“Regents of the University, (two Regents elected): Roscoe O. Bonisteel, Republican, 409.966; Leland I. Doan, Republican, 410,302; Murray D. Van Wagoner, Democrat, 315,955; Wheaton L. Strom, Democrat, 258,214; Arthur L. Leach, Prohibition, 7,173; Roville L. Heltzel, Prohibition, 5,899: Louis J. Cleage, Progressive, 3,547; Richard Fox, Progressive, 3,818; James Sim, Socialist Labor. 1,591; Theo A. Grove, Socialist Labor, 1,641; Howard Lerner, Socialist Workers, 1,181; and William H. Yancey, Socialist Workers, 1,182.”

Romanul American Detroit, Michigan · Saturday, March 31, 1951. Dr. Louis Cleage, second from right.

I was surprised to find that a Romanian Newspaper seemingly has him on their slate of candidates. I can’t be sure as I do not speak Romanian, but it looks that way to me.

C.D. Gallant-King to the rescue with a translation! “The faces of some of the candidates that the newspaper recommends you support, through your vote, in the April 2 elections in the state of Michigan.”

In 1951 Dr. Louis Cleage was 36 years old. He and his father, Dr. Albert B. Cleage SR shared a practice at Cleage Clinic. He lived at 2270 Atkinson, Detroit, Michigan with his parents and five of his siblings – Henry, an attorney in private practice; Hugh, a postal worker; Barbara secretary/receptionist at Cleage Clinic and Anna who was a pharmacist at Cleage Clinic. Two siblings had married and lived out of state. They were my father, Albert jr and Gladys.

Cleage Clinic as it looked after being closed.
2270 Atkinson about 1949.

Other posts about Louis Cleage

L – Louis Cleage
Uncle Louis Plays the Organ – 1956
Louis Cleage – W8AFM
Building Louis’ Cottages – Idlewild 1943 to 1945
Y Is For Louis Cleage’s Yacht – late 1940s
X is for X-Ray – Story of Louis Cleage’s Puffy Finger – early 1940s
Dr. Louis Cleage Proves Billy Eckstine’s Voice Influences Blood Pressure

A – An April 1 Wedding for Jeanette

A-Z Challenge 2025, Montgomery Alabama

This is my 12th year doing the A to Z April Challenge. For this year’s A to Z Challenge I am posting an event involving someone in my family tree for that date. It may be a birth, a death, a christening, a journal entry, a letter or a newspaper article. If the entry is a news item, it will be transcribed immediately below. Click on photographs to enlarge in another window.

Jeanette McCall
The Emancipator Montgomery, Alabama Sat, April 6, 1918 Page 3

McCALL-McEWEN WEDDING.

Miss Jeanette McCall, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Edward McCall, of this city, and Lieutenant Robert A. McEwen, who is stationed at Camp Dodge, were quietly married Monday morning, April 1st, at Des Moines, Iowa. Lieutenant McEwen is a native of Winnona, Miss., and will probably sail for France at an early date.

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Lieutenant Robert A. McEwen did indeed eventually get sent to France after completing his training at Camp Dodge.

I do not know if Jeanette’s husband is in this photo.
Jeanette and Robert Anderson McEwen

I wondered how Jeanette and Robert met when they lived in different states. Then I saw that Robert McEwen graduated from Rust College in Holly Springs, Mississippi. Jeanette’s older sister Otillia was a teacher at Mississippi Industrial College, right across the road from Rust College. Jeanette visited her frequently, giving her the opportunity to meet Robert Anderson McEwen.

The couple lived in Chicago after he left the service. He was a dentist and she did not work outside of the home. They had two sons.

Jeanette McCall was my grandmother Fannie Turner Graham’s first cousin. Their mothers, Mary Allen McCall and Jennie Allen Turner, were sisters. She died in 1931 of influenza on top of tuberculosis. She was 34 years old.

You can read more about Jeanette and her all too short life in these posts:
Jeanette McCall McEwen – Death Certificate 1897 – 1931
Jeanette McCall McEwen
Jeanette McCall McEwen – 1897 – 1931
Cousins on the Running Board

You can find more information about Black soldiers at Camp Dodge at links below
Black World War 1 Soldiers at Camp Dodge
Black Officers at Fort Des Moines Iowa

Intro to my A to Z Challenge

A-Z Challenge 2025
#AtoZChallenge 2025 Rectangular Banner

For this year’s A to Z Challenge, I will post an event for that date that involves someone in my family tree. The letter of the day will also be involved. It may be a birth, a death, a christening, a journal entry, a letter, a poem or a newspaper article. I have pre-written all of my posts, although I may nudge them a little here and there. Below is an index to my posts 2025.