Posted by (+10304) 16 years ago
"Uncovering Black History In Montana"
By Karen Ogden
GREAT FALLS TRIBUNE
February 5, 2007
http://www.greatfallstrib.../702050306
In the archives of the Cascade County Historical Society are tens of thousands of black-and-white photographs of Great Falls' early citizens ...
Black and white - and Native American - but mostly white.
In fact, local historian Ken Robison could find only a handful of images depicting what was a vibrant African-American community in Great Falls in the early 20th century.
"That's one area where we're pretty desperate," said Robison, who points out that the dearth of materials is statewide.
He's part of a large-scale effort, led by the Montana Historical Society, to preserve and document Montana's African-American heritage before precious information slips away in fading memories and musty attics.
As Black History Month kicks off nationwide, the Historical Society is asking the state Legislature to approve a $14,000 grant to move the project forward.
"It's an easy task for us to convince people that this is a worthwhile project," said Kate Hampton, National Register historian for the Society.
African Americans were among the many ethnic groups who shaped Montana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Hampton said.
"There were large pockets of African Americans in Great Falls, in Miles City, in Butte," she said. "But in fact every community did boast diversity."
Contemporary Montanans can find lessons in their experience, said Cultural Anthropologist Alan Thompson, one of the lead researchers on the project.
"Just like the importance of Indian Education For All, we have a real opportunity as communities to learn from each other," said Thompson, of Helena.
Thompson is continuing the legacy of his aunt, the late state librarian Alma Jacobs, who led some of the earliest efforts to document Montana's African-American History.
The documents, artifacts and photographs that Alan Thompson and other researchers find are being compiled in a computer database that will be available to the public at the Historical Society.
The Society hopes to eventually secure funding to put the database on its Web site.
"Students and educators will for the first time have a substantial historical database available to steer their study on Black history," said Robison, who is on the project's advisory committee, along with fellow Great Falls resident Bob Harris.
Women preserve history
The project was launched with a two-year, $14,000 Cultural and Aesthetics grant through the Montana Cultural Trust.
In the first phase, to be finished in June, researchers are scouring the Society's archives for any artifacts, documents or photographs related to African-American history.
Although much of the information was previously catalogued, it often was split up in different collections and not referenced as pertaining to black history. Related materials, such as photos and documents on a particular event, often weren't cross-referenced.
Among the items researchers found are a collection of attendance ribbons from the Montana Federation of Colored Women's Clubs, including one worn by Jacobs, who also served at the helm of the Great Falls Public Library. Jacobs oversaw construction of the new library building in 1967.
The ribbon collection is "just a wonderful tangible representation of a part of history that we're trying to get uncovered," said Patty Dean, project historian.
By the early 1930s, the club had chapters in Great Falls, Kalispell, Bozeman, Helena, Billings and other towns across the state.
The club's minutes span its post World War II years, when the group lobbied for civil rights legislation, to its vote to disband and start a college scholarship fund for African Americans in 1971.
"It illustrates for one thing how a lot of times women are the ones who keep the history of a family or a community," Dean said.
The club's minutes, photos and ribbon collection are now cross-referenced in the database.
Good jobs beckon
The second phase of the project will expand the research to communities across the state.
The Historical Society will instruct community historians on how the database was constructed so they - likely through their county historical society - can conduct similar research.
For that work, the Society is seeking a second, $14,000 Cultural Trust grant although, because of a funding shortfall, it is only recommended for $7,000, Hampton said.
Much of the project's work is documenting everyday, working people, Dean said.
Researchers, with the help of senior citizen volunteers, are combing Census data from 1870, the first Census taken in Montana, through 1930 for African American citizens.
So far they've documented 2,810 people. Montana's black population grew from 183 in 1870 to 1,834 in 1910. That compares with 2,692 in the 2000 Census.
Gus Thornton is among the earlier arrivals. He was first counted as an 18-year-old miner in Unionville, near Helena, in 1870. By 1910 he was 59 years old and widowed, but still mining. He lived in Helena with a 66-year-old quartz miner named Andrew Smith.
Peter Hambright, a Tennessee native, fought in the Spanish American war and was deployed to Cuba before arriving in Montana with the military shortly after 1900. He played in the band of the U.S. Army's 10th Cavalry, a black regiment also known as the "Buffalo Soldiers."
Hambright is listed in the 1910 Census in Billings, where he worked as a railroad clerk and lived in a white neighborhood.
He left Billings with his wife, Mattie, and three children in the 1920s and moved to a predominantly black neighborhood in Chicago.
Suppose Hambright's descendants want to explore their family history.
When the database is online, they will be able to learn about his Montana years with a simple Google search.
"Black genealogy is huge," Dean said. "There's a whole family reunion industry and self-published books about families and it's very, very popular with African-American families."
A better life
Historians also would like to know what became of Montana's prominent, early African-American figures.
George Williams, for example, worked as Great Falls' first black police officer in 1892.
He patrolled the upper-class, white lower north side.
"His part of town was an area where blacks were even dissuaded to own property," said Great Falls artist Brian Morger, who recentlydepicted Williams in a painting honoring the city's early lawmen.
The Montana Law Enforcement Museum is selling prints of the painting as a fundraiser for a permanent museum location.
As he prepared to paint, Morger searched in vain for a photo of Williams
"I just kind of intuited what he looked like," he said.
Like Williams, many African Americans came to Montana looking for good jobs.
Many wanted to escape post Civil War violence toward blacks in north/south "border states" such as Kentucky and Missouri, Dean said.
Some came with the fur trade, or to work as woodcutters for steamboats traveling to Fort Benton.
Later, the railroad drew African Americans, often as porters or clerks. Like today, many came with the military, Dean said.
"Mostly they were people coming in for the same reasons that non-African Americans were coming in," Hampton said. "They were interested in farming, they were interested in business and they succeeded in every corner of the state."
By Karen Ogden
GREAT FALLS TRIBUNE
February 5, 2007
http://www.greatfallstrib.../702050306
In the archives of the Cascade County Historical Society are tens of thousands of black-and-white photographs of Great Falls' early citizens ...
Black and white - and Native American - but mostly white.
In fact, local historian Ken Robison could find only a handful of images depicting what was a vibrant African-American community in Great Falls in the early 20th century.
"That's one area where we're pretty desperate," said Robison, who points out that the dearth of materials is statewide.
He's part of a large-scale effort, led by the Montana Historical Society, to preserve and document Montana's African-American heritage before precious information slips away in fading memories and musty attics.
As Black History Month kicks off nationwide, the Historical Society is asking the state Legislature to approve a $14,000 grant to move the project forward.
"It's an easy task for us to convince people that this is a worthwhile project," said Kate Hampton, National Register historian for the Society.
African Americans were among the many ethnic groups who shaped Montana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Hampton said.
"There were large pockets of African Americans in Great Falls, in Miles City, in Butte," she said. "But in fact every community did boast diversity."
Contemporary Montanans can find lessons in their experience, said Cultural Anthropologist Alan Thompson, one of the lead researchers on the project.
"Just like the importance of Indian Education For All, we have a real opportunity as communities to learn from each other," said Thompson, of Helena.
Thompson is continuing the legacy of his aunt, the late state librarian Alma Jacobs, who led some of the earliest efforts to document Montana's African-American History.
The documents, artifacts and photographs that Alan Thompson and other researchers find are being compiled in a computer database that will be available to the public at the Historical Society.
The Society hopes to eventually secure funding to put the database on its Web site.
"Students and educators will for the first time have a substantial historical database available to steer their study on Black history," said Robison, who is on the project's advisory committee, along with fellow Great Falls resident Bob Harris.
Women preserve history
The project was launched with a two-year, $14,000 Cultural and Aesthetics grant through the Montana Cultural Trust.
In the first phase, to be finished in June, researchers are scouring the Society's archives for any artifacts, documents or photographs related to African-American history.
Although much of the information was previously catalogued, it often was split up in different collections and not referenced as pertaining to black history. Related materials, such as photos and documents on a particular event, often weren't cross-referenced.
Among the items researchers found are a collection of attendance ribbons from the Montana Federation of Colored Women's Clubs, including one worn by Jacobs, who also served at the helm of the Great Falls Public Library. Jacobs oversaw construction of the new library building in 1967.
The ribbon collection is "just a wonderful tangible representation of a part of history that we're trying to get uncovered," said Patty Dean, project historian.
By the early 1930s, the club had chapters in Great Falls, Kalispell, Bozeman, Helena, Billings and other towns across the state.
The club's minutes span its post World War II years, when the group lobbied for civil rights legislation, to its vote to disband and start a college scholarship fund for African Americans in 1971.
"It illustrates for one thing how a lot of times women are the ones who keep the history of a family or a community," Dean said.
The club's minutes, photos and ribbon collection are now cross-referenced in the database.
Good jobs beckon
The second phase of the project will expand the research to communities across the state.
The Historical Society will instruct community historians on how the database was constructed so they - likely through their county historical society - can conduct similar research.
For that work, the Society is seeking a second, $14,000 Cultural Trust grant although, because of a funding shortfall, it is only recommended for $7,000, Hampton said.
Much of the project's work is documenting everyday, working people, Dean said.
Researchers, with the help of senior citizen volunteers, are combing Census data from 1870, the first Census taken in Montana, through 1930 for African American citizens.
So far they've documented 2,810 people. Montana's black population grew from 183 in 1870 to 1,834 in 1910. That compares with 2,692 in the 2000 Census.
Gus Thornton is among the earlier arrivals. He was first counted as an 18-year-old miner in Unionville, near Helena, in 1870. By 1910 he was 59 years old and widowed, but still mining. He lived in Helena with a 66-year-old quartz miner named Andrew Smith.
Peter Hambright, a Tennessee native, fought in the Spanish American war and was deployed to Cuba before arriving in Montana with the military shortly after 1900. He played in the band of the U.S. Army's 10th Cavalry, a black regiment also known as the "Buffalo Soldiers."
Hambright is listed in the 1910 Census in Billings, where he worked as a railroad clerk and lived in a white neighborhood.
He left Billings with his wife, Mattie, and three children in the 1920s and moved to a predominantly black neighborhood in Chicago.
Suppose Hambright's descendants want to explore their family history.
When the database is online, they will be able to learn about his Montana years with a simple Google search.
"Black genealogy is huge," Dean said. "There's a whole family reunion industry and self-published books about families and it's very, very popular with African-American families."
A better life
Historians also would like to know what became of Montana's prominent, early African-American figures.
George Williams, for example, worked as Great Falls' first black police officer in 1892.
He patrolled the upper-class, white lower north side.
"His part of town was an area where blacks were even dissuaded to own property," said Great Falls artist Brian Morger, who recentlydepicted Williams in a painting honoring the city's early lawmen.
The Montana Law Enforcement Museum is selling prints of the painting as a fundraiser for a permanent museum location.
As he prepared to paint, Morger searched in vain for a photo of Williams
"I just kind of intuited what he looked like," he said.
Like Williams, many African Americans came to Montana looking for good jobs.
Many wanted to escape post Civil War violence toward blacks in north/south "border states" such as Kentucky and Missouri, Dean said.
Some came with the fur trade, or to work as woodcutters for steamboats traveling to Fort Benton.
Later, the railroad drew African Americans, often as porters or clerks. Like today, many came with the military, Dean said.
"Mostly they were people coming in for the same reasons that non-African Americans were coming in," Hampton said. "They were interested in farming, they were interested in business and they succeeded in every corner of the state."
She's currently working on a book on the same topic.
Johnnie and Robin Gerber and my Mom. All my great sources of area history.