The 981 Project Podcast By cover art

The 981 Project Podcast

By: Tamela Rich
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  • Summary

  • Join Tamela Rich for dispatches from all 981 miles of the Ohio River: people, places, history, culture, and more.

    the981project.com
    Tamela Rich
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Episodes
  • In the Heart of Lincoln Country, I toured Lincoln Gardens

    In the Heart of Lincoln Country, I toured Lincoln Gardens
    Jun 2 2024
    When I visited Evansville, Indiana, on a bright summer day in 2021, its revived waterfront and fabulous murals captivated me. Since then, I delved into Timothy Egan’s book about the Midwestern Klan, where I discovered that Evansville was a hotbed for KKK activity in the 1920s. Unlike the Klan that terrorized the South during Reconstruction, its second wave looked beyond Blacks to hate and harass. It was nativist, focused on driving out Catholics and first-generation immigrants, as well as Jews—together with Blacks they’d always targeted, they manufactured a much wider target for hate. It’s important to note that Blacks had been unwelcome in Indiana since its first Constitution specified, “No negro or mulatto shall come into, or settle in the State, after the adoption of this Constitution.” Intrigued by Indiana’s history of trying to maintain a WASP state (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant), I decided the Evansville African American Museum would be a vital stop. The museum sits in a neighborhood that’s been called Baptisttown since the 1800s, in a building dating back to Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal Era. Constructed in 1938, it narrowly avoided demolition in the 1990s and opened as a cultural institution in 2007. Its story as compelling as those it narrates.Evansville in the New Deal EraBy the turn of the (last) century, 54 percent of Evansville’s Black citizens lived in Baptisstown, and by WWI, the neighborhood became overcrowded to where a third of its residents had no access to sewage systems. Think for one second how miserable that must have been on a hot summer’s day (any day for that matter). Racial segregation in Evansville was of course rooted in Indiana’s Constitutional “Black Laws” but it was later exacerbated by racial restrictive covenants known as “deed restrictions” banning Blacks from living or owning property in most parts of the city. The use of deed restrictions were widespread throughout the country, with more cities adopting them than not. Although the Supreme Court ruled the covenants unenforceable in 1948, it took the Fair Housing Act of 1968 to outlaw them. But Indiana’s segregation predated deed restrictions. By the time the federal Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) analyzed Evansville neighborhoods in 1937, segregation was well-entrenched: 90% of Evansville's Black population lived in one of four neighborhoods. The HOLC outlined those four neighborhoods in red on the maps that they provided to lenders and insurance companies to use in deciding whether to do business in an area. Most companies avoided “redlined” neighborhoods, but if they did business there, it would be at a higher interest rate or insurance premium than offered elsewhere.As I hinted earlier, FDR’s Public Works Administration (PWA) tried to ameliorate the nation’s Depression-induced housing crisis by building 51 projects in 31 cities (seven were in Ohio River cities, including Evansville). The PWA was not focused on desegregation. It followed a “neighborhood composition rule,” meaning PWA housing projects should reflect the previous racial composition of their neighborhoods. Legal scholars note that this violated African Americans’ constitutional rights, but that was a battle for another day. To Evansville’s credit, local leaders resisted efforts to place the housing project outside the city limits, or to use the PWA to clear the neighborhood for white residents, as had happened in PWA communities elsewhere, despite the guidelines.Evansville is in the heart of Lincoln Country, so the community’s name, Lincoln Gardens, resonated. For about $1m, Lincoln Gardens housed roughly 500 residents in 16 buildings of 182 low-cost apartments. It was the second PWA community to be built in the country.First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt brought a touch of celebrity to Lincoln Gardens when she visited Baptisttown in November, 1937. Here’s an excerpt from her “My Day” newspaper column:First we went to lay a wreath on the tomb of Private Gresham, who was the first solider killed overseas during the World War. Then to look at the slum clearance project in the colored section of the City, which is evidently a matter of great pride to the Mayor. He is very happy that this undesirable section from the point of view of housing, has been wiped out. He told me that the new houses would rent at approximately the same amount per room as the old ones which had been extremely high considering what they were. That is one point in any slum clearance project which has to be watched, for there is no use in providing new housing at a cost beyond the incomes of the former residents of the neighborhood.As much as I love Eleanor, her fusty descriptions are cringy.Visiting the MuseumOn a balmy late-April morning, Ms. Janice Hale took me for a personal tour of the museum. She had lived in Lincoln Gardens with her mother and sister in the sixties, so her memories and reflections resonated ...
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    13 mins
  • May '24 Trivia Time!

    May '24 Trivia Time!
    May 22 2024
    The more I learn about the Ohio River’s regional history and culture, the more I feel like I’m taking a Virginia history class. You’ll see why when you take this month’s trivia quiz! If you want a leg up, check out this prior newsletter concerning Virginia’s land claims.Note to my fabulous new subscribers: It’s the rare person who can answer all ten trivia questions without any prep. I couldn’t answer them without a significant amount of research, either! Do your best and enjoy learning something new. Answers in the footnotes.QUESTIONSAll answers are in the footnotes.The first two questions refer to this map. * How did this huge swath of land (above in green) come to be named Virginia? Check all that apply.* When Sir Walter Raleigh’s self-funded settlement on Roanoke Island failed, he needed to curry favor with Elizabeth (the Virgin Queen) to finance another attempt. Part of his pitch was that the new country would be called “Virginia.”* One word: hubris. * Four words: The Doctrine of Discovery.* In what order was Virginia subdivided into colonies? I have alphabetized the answers, so put them in order.* Colony of Carolina.* Colony of Maryland.* Colony of Pennsylvania.* Colony of Plymouth (Plymouth Colony).* Refer to the map below. Virginia was still a huge state in 1783, even after it had been subdivided into the colonies in Q2. Which Virginia founding father, himself trained as a surveyor, authored a plan for ceding Virginia’s northwestern lands to the Confederation Congress in 1784?* Let’s talk about the Virginia Military District in Ohio. In return for ceding its land claims to the Confederation Congress in 1784, Congress granted Virginia roughly 4.2 million acres to provide military bounty land grants as payment (in lieu of cash) for its veterans of the American Revolutionary War. When was the remaining land no longer eligible to be granted to these Virginia veterans? Only one of these is correct:* When the Northwest Territory was established in 1787.* When Ohio became a state in 1803.* On February 18, 1871, when any unsurveyed and unsold District land was ceded to the state of Ohio.* In 1872, when the Ohio legislature gave this land to the Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College (now The Ohio State University).* The Northwest Territory was established in 1787 by the Confederation Congress. When did the Territory cease to exist?* When Ohio became a state in 1803.* When the Indiana Territory was finally settled into the states of Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Illinois (1809).* The Northwest Ordinance that established the Territory specifically prohibited slavery. I wrote about that here. Which of these is true of the history of slavery in this region? More than one may apply.* Slavery was introduced to Illinois in 1719 by Philip Francois Renault who brought 500 slaves with him from San Domingo via the Mississippi River. * While the Northwest Ordinance prohibited slavery, this did not apply to any slaves already in the Territory when it was established (1787).* Enslavers continued the practice by using contracts of indenture that allowed indentured workers to be bought, sold, and inherited.* What is the importance of the Southwest Territory? Choose as many as apply.* It’s formal name is the Territory South of the River Ohio, and was created from lands of the Washington District that had been ceded to the U.S. federal government by North Carolina (which had once been Virginia).* The new territory was essentially governed under the same provisions as the Northwest Ordinance, but the Article outlawing slavery was not applied to the Southwest Territory. * Kentucky and Tennessee were carved out of this Territory.* Virginia produced a lot of presidents and governors. Which Virginia-born governors in the six Ohio River states were slaveholders? More than one choice may apply.* Ohio Governors Thomas Worthington and Allen Trimble* Indiana Governors William Henry Harrison and Thomas Posey* Illinois Governor Edward Coles* Kentucky Governors George Madison and Christopher Greenup* In a departure from the “Virginia Method” of surveying land, The Northwest Territory used the Rectangular Survey System (RSS). This system can be thought of as a grid that covers the U.S. What was the difference between it and the Virginia Method? More than one may be correct:* The Virginia Method used chains and compasses to mark lines from a starting point, typically a natural feature such as a large white oak tree. * Surveying in Virginia was not based on the metric system.* Virginian surveyors were directed to define polygons that enclosed high-quality land for farming and to exclude areas with poor soil.* Beginning with the Seven Ranges in present-day Ohio, the Rectangular Survey System has been used as the primary survey method in the United States. Which states do NOT use this method exclusively?* Ohio* California* Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Wyoming* WisconsinAnd that’s a wrap ...
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    20 mins
  • Did you know the Revolutionary War had a Northwestern Front?

    Did you know the Revolutionary War had a Northwestern Front?
    May 10 2024
    Every class I took on the American Revolution focused on the thirteen colonies. In my limited knowledge of the war, the French and Spanish were doing their own things west of the Mississippi, leaving the British-owned but lightly settled Illinois Country in between that saw no real action. I had no idea that the southern part of the old Northwest Territory had been a theater of war until I got a postcard advertising the Filson Historical Society’s Northwest & Indigenous Revolution Tour. It was time to expand my world view from where I’d left it in high school. Our main tour stops were Fort de Chartres, St. Genevieve, The St. Charles Heritage Museum, The Lewis & Clark Boat House Museum, Cahokia Mounds, George Rogers Clark National Historical Park, and its neighboring site Grouseland on the campus of Vincennes University.France and Spain in the RevolutionThe Bourbon kings of France and Spain were cousins. I would have had to know this to say that I forgot it. The two kingdoms were allied against the British during the Seven Years War, 1756–1763, (we call it the French and Indian War). France was badly beaten by the British during that war, and longed for vengeance. From the Seven Years War to the Revolution, the land west of the Mississippi to the Rocky Mountains, called Louisiana, went back and forth between France and Spain and involved a secret treaty. Here’s a video to explain how and when it happened. You might have to watch it a couple of times—I did! The way these monarchs played with colonies reminds me of third-graders learning chess moves.Anyhow, the upshot of all this is that through 1777, France covertly supported the Revolution with guns, weapons, and cash through a shell company (thanks, Ben Franklin!). French volunteers poured into the continent, chief among them Lafayette. After a decisive American win at Saratoga, France formally declared war on England in 1778. Spain joined France as an ally in 1779 without declaring war on England itself. As had happened in the Seven Years War, the clash of empires began spreading across the globe, heavily in the Caribbean, and the British cut their losses in North America.Speaking of Franklin, I’m enjoying the AppleTV series of that name starring Michael Douglas in the title role. George Rogers Clark Takes Center StageBorn near Charlottesville, Virginia, the founder of Louisville, Kentucky, George Rogers Clark played a key role in this story. We talked about him at nearly every stop on our Filson Society tour. To set the stage for the Illinois theater of war, remember that the Seven Years War included the France relinquishing its Illinois territorial claims to England. At the start of the Revolution, the British relied heavily on native tribes to attack backcountry farms and settlements using guns and ammunition they provided. These attacks had the greatest threats to Virginians in Kentucky County (south of the Ohio River), which the Virginia General Assembly had created 1776. Yes, Kentucky was a Virginia county before it became a state.At the age of 26, Clark requested and was granted public orders from the governor of Virginia to proceed against the British in the Illinois frontier. He also got a secret commission to launch an attack west into British-held territory. His goal was to seize Detroit, but he started easier targets (see the map above) which had few British forces to defend them.In his most successful moments he (Clark) crossed over and acted as an Indian war chief: he used their tactics, employed their methods to create group cohesion, shared their sense of honor and justice, terrorized his opponents into believing in his savagery, and even committed what Europeans regarded as atrocities. At the same time, he could put on a uniform and transform himself into a Virginia gentleman. ~National Park ServiceWith Clark’s victories in hand, after France’s recognition of the new American Republic, the Virginia legislature created the county of Illinois in 1778, comprising all the lands lying west of the Ohio River to which Virginia had any claim. Clark’s Legacy: In 1783, the Revolutionary War officially ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris, and Clark returned to private life. Of importance to The 981 Project was Clark’s role in allotting lands across the Ohio River from Louisville to men who had taken part in his campaigns. He also was appointed a commissioner to make treaties with tribes north of the Ohio River who were continuing their raids into Kentucky. Fast forward to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s dedication of the Clark memorial June 14, 1936. Here’s part of his address:George Rogers Clark did battle against the tomahawk and the rifle. He saved for us the fair land that lay between the mountains and the Father of Waters. His task is not done. Though we fight with weapons unknown to him, it is still our duty to continue the saving of this fair land. Now, let’s look at Clark in the present moment. ...
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    12 mins
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