{"id":8063,"date":"2020-02-17T16:38:24","date_gmt":"2020-02-17T16:38:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.archivingwheeling.org\/blog\/?p=8063"},"modified":"2020-02-17T17:24:42","modified_gmt":"2020-02-17T17:24:42","slug":"no-colored-employees-surveys-of-jim-crow-wheeling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.archivingwheeling.org\/blog\/no-colored-employees-surveys-of-jim-crow-wheeling","title":{"rendered":"“No Colored Employees…” Surveys of Jim Crow Wheeling"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Note:<\/strong> The following article references documents from 1927-1931, when Wheeling was a \u201cJim Crow\u201d city still segregated by race. Some of the terms used are offensive to modern sensibilities. The original terms have been retained for historical context and accuracy.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

One of the most important collections housed in the Ohio County Public Library\u2019s Archives<\/a> is undoubtedly the Wheeling YWCA collection.<\/a>\u00a0The organization\u2019s\u00a0current mission statement includes \u201celiminating racism, empowering women and promoting peace, justice, freedom and dignity for all,\u201d but during the reign of \u201cJim Crow<\/a>\u201d segregation, the YWCA was required to have a separate branch to provide activities and programs for African American girls and women. The \u201cBlue Triangle<\/a>\u201d was located in a house on 12th Street, and its records are among the most important of those housed in the YWCA Collection.<\/p>\n

In addition to photographs<\/a> and documents related to its regular programs, the Blue Triangle collection contains numerous primary source documents with vital demographic information about Wheeling\u2019s African American community during the \u201cJim Crow\u201d period.
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\u201cA Survey of Housing and Home Ownership\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

One such document contains the text of a 1936 speech called \u201cWheeling\u2019s Twentieth Man<\/a>,\u201d delivered over WWVA radio by the town\u2019s only black lawyer, Harry H. Jones. The collection also contains a 1928 survey similar to the one on which Jones must have relied for his numbers eight years later.<\/p>\n

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The survey of Negro Housing and Home Ownership in Wheeling lists the city\u2019s population at 75,000 (an interesting discrepancy with the 1930 census figure<\/a> of 61,659). This survey then lists \u201c2005 Negroes,\u201d including 1009 males and 996 females (less than 3% of the total population).<\/p>\n

\u201cWheeling is noted for its large iron, steel, and tinplate mills and the manufacture of all kind of fabricated products from these basic materials. Also for its large foundries, glass, pottery, aluminum, sheet metal, structural iron and steel, tile, tobacco, calico prints, proprietary medicines, furniture, hand stogies, large bakeries, meat packing, stamping, match, tanneries, and numbers of diversified industries.\u201d -From the 1928 survey<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

According to the survey, in 1927-28, Wheeling citizens owned 14,032 dwellings housing 17,399 families. Among African Americans,\u00a032.8% owned the homes they lived in, and\u00a0129 families owned property valued at $625,550.00 ($4,849 per, or $71,890.00 in 2020 dollars);\u00a0264 families lived in rented homes with average monthly rent of $16.92 ($250.00); and\u00a020% rented from other blacks.<\/p>\n

As for employment, Wheeling had\u00a0250 industries employing over 9500 and,\u00a0\u201cdue to the large number of diversified industries, the labor supply is plentiful and high class.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regarding African American workers, \u201cSome of the industries that employ Negroes are, Wheeling Steel Mill (200), River Side Mill (35), Wheeling Foundry, Creek Mill & Iron Works, [sic] a large number of Negroes are coal miners.\u201d<\/p>\n

Specifically, there were 47 black janitors, \u201c88 miners, 15 hotel waiters, 27 general house work, 5 boarding house, 6 chefs, 6 contractors, 5 foundry, 7 railroad, 2 cleaning and pressing, 5 merchants, 1 postman, 42 day laborers, 13 porters, 5 chauffeurs, 4 barbers, 13 mechanics, 4 brick masons, 12 steel mills, 5 firemen, 1 policeman, 4 elevator operators, 3 ice delivery\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Among professional black workers, \u201c2 dentists, 5 physicians, 5 ministers, 1 pharmacist, 18 teachers\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Per capita income for Wheeling\u2019s 284 black families with wage earners was about $1440.00 per year, or $21,349.00 in 2020.<\/p>\n

Black-owned and operated businesses included \u201c4 barbershops, 2 cleaning and tailoring, 2 grocery stores, 3 hotels, 3 ice and transfer, 3 pool rooms, 5 cafes, 1 theatre, 1 drug store, 1 repair and upholstery, 3 taxi companies\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA Survey of the Conditions Regarding Our Colored Population\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Another key file in the Blue Triangle Collection includes a 1931 Board of Public Recreation of the City of Wheeling survey of many of the largest employers in Wheeling and the Upper Ohio Valley at the time, regarding their employment of African Americans.<\/p>\n

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Signed \u201cE.T. Attwell, Director\u201d the \u201cNegro Survey\u2026.Questionnaire\u201d asked companies for their number of total employees and the number who were colored men or colored women. Of the 24 companies whose responses are still in the file, none said they employed black women.<\/p>\n

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The Elm Grove Coal Mine employed 300 black men and was willing to hire more.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Of the 11 companies who said they employed colored men, the numbers ranged from one to an impressive 300 (of 700 total \u2013 almost 43%) for the Elm Grove Mining Company.<\/p>\n

Additional information sought included the \u201cAverage Daily Wage, which ranged from a low of $2.50 at the Wheeling Country Club, to a high of $5.50 at Bryan and Bippus Boiler Works,\u201d and whether the work was \u201cSkilled or Unskilled.\u201d Only 3 of 24 companies said they had blacks working in \u201cSkilled\u201d jobs.<\/p>\n

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Elm Grove coal mines were among the biggest employers of black men in the 1930s. In this 1939 image, the night shift at Valley Camp Coal is roughly half black and half white.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The most interesting responses came in reply to the last section of the questionnaire, which read:<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you have no colored employed please state:<\/p>\n

Have you ever employed colored: ___<\/p>\n

If conditions improve, would there be opportunity in your business later on for employment of any of our colored citizens, Men ___ \u00a0Women? ___ i.e., How many: ___\u201d<\/p>\n

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The McLure Hotel listed 115 total employees, 25 of whom were \u201cColored Men.\u201d Most were probably porters, like the men In this circa 1920s McLure postcard. OCPL Archives, Postcard collection.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Generally, we don\u2019t know to whom the surveys were sent, but one reply was signed.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Numerous companies simply answered \u201cno\u201d or \u201cnone\u201d to all of these questions. Both Extruded Metal Products (a foundry) and Standard Sand and Gravel stated, \u201cNo colored employees.\u201d The Spence Bags Stove Company went a step further: \u201cOur men are skilled workers with two or three exceptions and we have never had occasion to use Negro men or women.\u201d Imperial Glass made sure to note that all of its 260 employees were \u201cWhite,\u201d and Central Glass plainly stated, \u201cWe do not employ colored people.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Central Glass works was clear about its employment policy.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Wheeling Steel and Wheeling Corrugating took an egalitarian, free market stance: \u201cCannot answer. All depends on conditions. Colored are taken in employ on equal basis with whites, according to demand and supply.\u201d Despite this claim, the largest employer in town had 1543 total employees, only 20 of whom were black men, less than 1.2% (blacks comprised about 3-4% of the Wheeling population at the time).<\/p>\n

The table below charts the responses of all 24 of the companies whose survey reply letters are still in the file. The survey responses can be viewed below the table. Click here to see all 24 originals.<\/a><\/p>\n