Walking Tour of the Near Southside

Andrea McLaughlin created and executed an incredibly effective curriculum for the Spring Break program at the Concord Center based on the Neighborhood of Saturdays project. The panel discussion generated a lot of interest, and there's no question that the children's drawings at the exhibit gathered a lot of attention. 

One thing we felt was particularly interesting about the Spring Break project was the walking tour. We've provided a map here for anyone interested in experiencing just how much the community has changed.

Additionally, I've made Andrea's curriculum available for download for any interested educators. 

Exhibit Opening

The Split but not Separated: Recapturing the Legacy of the Near Southside exhibit opened at the Concord Neighborhood Center on April 27th. It will remain there for three weeks.

 The exhibit opening was by all accounts a great success! It was great to see people from both within and without the community engaging with the material and having some wonderful conversations.  A special thanks to everyone that attended.

Indiana Core Standards guide to the Split but not Separated exhibit.

In the interest of assisting educators in using Neighborhood of Saturdays and Split but not Separated materials in the classroom, we have put together a short overview of how some of the standards can be applied to the issues raised in the book and exhibit. - Split Education Team

Kindergarten:
Standard 1: History Past and Present
Explore differences and similarities in the lives of children and families of long ago and today. Compare the lives of African American and Jewish children living on Indianapolis’ Near Southside during the first half of the 20^th century to the lives of children in Indianapolis today. How was their community similar or different from communities in Indianapolis today?

Standard 3B: Geography: Human and Physical Systems
Describe how different groups of people have different ways of living. How did the Jewish and African American communities on Indianapolis’ Near South Side live? How were their ways of life different from one another? How did they manage to live together despite these differences?

 Grade 1:
Standard 1A: History Comparing Past and Present: 
Have students consider the differences between their daily lives and the lives of people in the past. 

Standard 3B: Geography Human and Physical Systems: Describe differences between the Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jewish ethnic groups. Describe and compare Sephardic Judaism to Baptist Christianity. 

Grade 2: 
Standard 1A: History - Local History Past to Present
Identify when the Near Southside neighborhood was established. Identify and discuss early founders, settlers and notable people and the effects they had on it. Explain how life in the community has changed from the beginning to present day. 

Standard 3B: Geography - Human and Physical Systems
Describe the differences between the schools mentioned in the book and the student’s school. Explain how the differences in school location can determine what activities occur. 

Grade 3:
Standard 1A: History - Early Regional Culture and Settlement
Describe and contrast the cultures of the Sephardic Jews and the African Americans and how they both affected the Near Southside neighborhood. Discuss local people of note, including founders and leaders. Identify what qualifies these people as noteworthy. 

Standard 1B: History- Chronology, Analysis, and Interpretation 
Identify important events that shaped and changed the neighborhood and create a timeline. Discuss personal stories from the book and distinguish fact from fiction in those. 

Grade 4:
Standard 1D: Indiana History: 20^th Century to the Present
Describe changes in 20^th century Indiana brought about by people, movements, and events. Discuss African American migration to Indiana from the South during and after WWII (Second Great Migration). 
Standard 3B: Geography: Human and Physical Systems
Describe the impact cultural groups have had on the state. What impacts have African American groups and Sephardic Jewish groups had on Indiana? 

Grade 5:
Standard 2B: Civics and Government - Structure and Function
Examine how the routes for new roads and interstates are determined and how public feedback through the expression of opinion, campaign donations and voting influences these decisions.  

Grade 6:
Standard 1B: History - Medieval History Period and the Renaissance to the 16th Century 
Describe influence of religion on society and its impact on the migrations of Jewish people from Spain to Turkey. 
Standard 1D: History: Europe and the Americas in the 19th to 21st Century
Trace paths of immigration of Sephardic Jews in America. Describe the impact that the end of slavery and industrialization had on the migratory patterns of African Americans. Describe aspects of segregation and the civil rights movement in Indianapolis. 

Grade 8:
Standard 1D: History - Chronology, Analysis, and Interpretation
Discuss how life in the Near Southside was different than the students’ modern life. In particular, not how attitudes about race relations and segregation have shifted over the course of the 20^th and 21^st centuries.

Standard 4A: Economics - Development of the Nation and the Economy
Examine and discuss the effects of the Great Migration of African Americans impacted the urbanization and economic growth of the Northern states. 

Additional Reading Related to the Split but not Separated Exhibit

Further Reading Regarding African American and Jewish Communties in the U.S.

Alexander, Joseph Trent.  “Great Migrations: Race and Community in the Southern Exodus, 1917-1970,” Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University, 2001.

Anthrop, Mary E.  “The Road Less Traveled: Hoosier African Americans and Liberia,” Traces (Winter 2007): 12-21

Blackwell, Carolyn. “African Americans.” The Encyclopedia of Indianapolis. Ed. David J. Bodenhamer and Robert G. Barrows. 1994.

Cohen, Mark. Last Century of a Sephardic Community: The Jews of Monastir, 1839-1943. New York: Foundation for the Advancement of Sephardic Studies and Culture, 2003.

Erez-Boukai, I. Oral Histories of the Etz Chaim Sephardic Jewish Congregation. Ft. Wayne, Indiana: Indiana Jewish Historical Society, 2001.

Golden, Jonathan and Jonathan Sarna. "The American Jewish Experience through the Nineteenth Century: Immigration and Acculturation." nationalhumanitiescenter.org. n.p., Oct 2000.

http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/nineteen/nkeyinfo/judaism.htm

           

Glazier, Jack. “American Sephardim, Memory, and the Representation of European Life.” Charting Memory: Recalling Medieval Spain. Ed. Stacy N. Beckwith. 2000.

This Far By Faith: Black Hoosier Heritage (Indianapolis: Indiana Committee for the Humanities, 1982). (Ip977.2 T448)

Thornbrough, Emma Lou. Since Emancipation: A Short History of Indiana Negroes, 1863-1963. (Indianapolis: Indiana Division American Negro Emancipation Centennial Authority, [1964]) (I325.26 T497s)

Further reading regarding segregation and race relations in Indiana and the U.S.

Aquila, Frank D. Race Equity in Education: The History of School Desegregation 1849-1979 Center for Urban and Multicultural Education, School of Education, Indiana University, 1979.

Lane, Russell A. A History of Segregation and Integration in the Indianapolis Public Schools from 1847 to 1960. Indianapolis Public Schools, Indianapolis, 1960.

Lowe, Robert Allen. Racial Segregation in Indiana: 1920-1950. Ball State University, 1965.

Thornbrough, Emma Lou. Segregation in Indiana during the Klan era of the 1920's. Mississippi Valley Historical Review, Vol. XLVII, No. 4, March 1961.

Jackson, Kenneth T. The Ku Klux Klan in the city, 1915-1930. Oxford University Press, 1968.

Finkelman, Paul. The Era of Integration and Civil Rights, 1930-1990. Garland Pub., Mar 1, 1992

Further Reading regarding Indianapolis’s Local History

 Bodenhamer and Barrows. The Encyclopedia of Indianapolis. Indiana University Press, 1994.

 Caldwell, Howard; Jones, Darryl (1990). Goodall, Kenneth, ed. Indianapolis. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 

Dunn, Jacob Piatt (1919). Indiana and Indianans. Volume III. Chicago & New York: American Historical Society. p. 1230.

Historic Indianapolis: http://historicindianapolis.com/

National Park Service Historical Travel Itinerary: http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/indianapolis/

Wissing, Douglas. The Shapiro’s Story. Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History. Indiana Historical Society. Fall 2009. 

The Origin Story of an Exhibition

Modupe Labode, Assistant Professor, History and Museum Studies & Public Scholar of African American History and Museums 

Usually professors don’t explain how and why they come up with the assignments that they give students, but in this case, the events that resulted years later in Split But Not Separated,\ deserve some discussion.

Several years ago, my colleague, IUPUI anthropology professor Susan B. Hyatt, mentioned the possibility of collaborating on a project. Students in the community research class were beginning a new project. They were going to collect oral histories from residents of the Near Southside, a community about which many Indianapolis residents knew little (it barely appears in standard texts of the city’s history), and the students would focus on the experiences of Sephardic Jews and African Americans.  Sue knew that I was going to teach Museum Methods, and she wondered if students in this class could create an exhibition based on the work of the anthropology students.  I was excited about the possibility of the students in this class—most of whom are undergraduates in the Museum Studies certificate program—doing something that had a real world application and immediately agreed.  By the end of the spring semester of 2010, the Museum Studies students had created a series of exhibit panels featuring major themes of the Near Southside’s past, such as businesses, religion, immigration, and Interstate 70.  We debuted the panels at a reception and the community greeted them with enthusiasm.  As successful as these panels were, however, they didn’t add up to an exhibition.

Over the years I watched from the sidelines as Sue Hyatt’s students continued their research and as the community members shared their memories. I was inspired by the collaborative nature of the research, the students’ investment in the project, and the generosity of the elders. I was moved by the genuine joy at the 2012 book-launch of The Neighborhood of Saturdays: Memories of a Multi-Ethnic Community on Indianapolis’ South Side. (In the introduction of this book, Sue Hyatt provides more background about the development of this innovative project: http://www.ulib.iupui.edu/digitalscholarship/collections/NoS?show=extra_3  )  As I read the book and reflected on the meetings and receptions I had intended, I thought that it was time to revisit the idea of an exhibition.  I was convinced that with the support provided by the book—and Sue Hyatt—the Museum Methods students could create an exhibit that will not only showcase their talents, but also the important story of the Near Southside residents.

This spring, the students in Museum Methods have been applying the theory they have learned in this and other classes as they designed the exhibition, wrote label text, selected images, planned the educational programs, among other tasks. Appropriately, Split but Not Separated will open at the Concord Neighborhood Center, an organization with deep roots in the Near Southside. Ms. Niki Girls, the executive director of the Concord Center, was immediately open to the idea of hosting an exhibition in the gymnasium, a prospect that not every busy community leader would welcome.  After three weeks at the Concord Center, the exhibition will travel to South Calvary Missionary Baptist Church and then to Etz Chaim Sephardic Synagogue. In this way, we hope that that the legacy of the residents of the Near Southside will reach new audiences.

For more information, see: 

·         “The Neighborhood of Saturdays” collection on the IUPUI University website: http://www.ulib.iupui.edu/digitalscholarship/collections/NoS

·         IUPUI Museum Studies Program: http://liberalarts.iupui.edu/mstd/

The Split but not Separated Team

       The Team Behind the Split but not Separated Exhibit

 The Interpretation and Layout teams collaborate on the next step of the project.

The Split but not Separated: Recapturing the Legacy of Indianapolis's Near Southside exhibit is the final project of Dr. Modupe Lobode's MSTD 405 course, Museum Methods, at IUPUI. 

The exhibit is an extension of Neighborhood of Saturdays project, which was conducted by IUPUI students under the direction of Dr. Susan B. Hyatt.

The Layout team familiarizes themselves with the exhibit frames.

 The Split but not Separated team is:

Project Director 

Dr. Modupe Labode

Interpretation

Mark Belloni

Hayley Brayer

Laurie Fancher

Ben Gerwig

Eriko Kawaguchi

Ashley Lewis

Education

Laura Kirkham

Rachel Moore

Keenan Salla

Kelsi Wagner

Layout & Design

Trista Hemphill

Danielle McAdams

Andrea Overman

Marketing & Public Relations

Bethany Crocker

Meghan Hunter

Amelia Roberts

Split but not Separated press release.

New exhibit opening on Sunday, April 27, at Concord Neighborhood Center highlights the recaptured memories of the former multi-ethnic community on Indianapolis’ Near Southside.

Indianapolis’ Near Southside was home to a diverse community whose memories are both touching and enlightening, their tale one of family and community interacting at levels often unknown in today’s times. A new pop-up exhibit opens at the Concord Neighborhood Center on April 27, 2014  highlights the ties between African-Americans and Jews who lived together in that community prior to the construction of I-70. The opening reception for the exhibit, entitled Split But Not Separated: Recapturing the Legacy of the Near Southside, takes place on Sunday, April 27, 2014 from 2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. at the Concord Neighborhood Center, located at 1310 South Meridian. The exhibit was developed by undergraduate students enrolled in the Spring 2014 Museum Methods class who curated photographs and other materials associated the history of this community and who conducted additional research. The program will begin at 2:30 p.m.

This pop-up exhibition was inspired by an earlier student research project. In 2010, Anthropology students from IUPUI began collecting oral histories, photographs and other memorabilia from Africa American and Jewish elders, who had grown up together on the Near Southside. That research is captured in an oral history book, The Neighborhood of Saturdays, which was published in 2013 by Dog Ear Press. The exhibit presents another view of the history of the community and moves the story into the future by involving the views of children who are currently participating in programs at the Concord Neighborhood Center.

During this past Spring Break, IUPUI Anthropology major Andrea McLaughlin, who was one of the student researchers who worked on the project in 2010, ran a series of workshops for middle school children, who read and discussed the book and who used it as a starting point for them to think about their own ideas of “community” and about the history of the area where the Concord is located. One of the highlights of the program was a session where the young people met with elders from the neighborhood who answered questions about growing up on the streets adjacent to the Concord Center. The students’ work will be highlighted in the exhibition.

The program will include a discussion, moderated by IUPUI History and Museum Studies professor Modupe Labode, in which members of the class will discuss their relation and interpretation of the project. Throughout, guests will have the opportunity to examine the exhibition and speak with community members. The exhibit will remain at the Concord Center for three weeks, after which time will be shown at South Calvary Missionary Baptist Church, still located on the Near South. It will then move to Etz Chaim Sephardic Congregation, located on Hoover Road, where many members of the Jewish community settled after they left the south side in the 1950s and ‘60s.

For more information about The Neighborhood of Saturdays project, including images contributed by community members, go to the IUPUI University Library Website: http://www.ulib.iupui.edu/digitalscholarship/collections/NoS

For more information about the exhibit, contact:

Modupe Labode, Assistant Professor, History and Museum Studies

IUPUI

317-274-3829

mlabode@iupui.edu