During times of intense racial segregation and discrimination in the 18th and 19th centuries, Blacks often chose to form their own, self-sustaining communities that encouraged civic and social equality.
The Hoosier State boasts numerous Black settlements. From Spencer County that touches Indiana’s Ohio River border, to St. Joseph County at the state’s northern border, Indiana’s African-American settlement history is rich.
Because of the efforts at the Indiana Historical Society (IHS), people can now go online to view detailed research on early Black settlements in Indiana. This effort is part of the Early African-American Settlement Heritage Initiative.
“This is great for the public. This is more research and more information we can put out that will benefit the public in terms of anyone looking to research early African-American rural communities,” said Wilma Moore, senior archivist of African-American History at IHS.
With the help of a Lilly Endowment Inc. grant last summer, special IHS researchers began identifying African-American rural settlements that existed in Indiana by 1870. The state was divided up into several regions: North, central, east central, west central, southeast and southwest. Researchers worked with individuals, descendants of Black settlements, organizations and communities to gather information, which went into the development and implementation of the Black settlement initiative. The goal of the project is to identify and frame the kinds of Black settlements that were sprinkled throughout Indiana.
“They looked at census data, specifically the township census data. It wasn’t enough to just look and say ‘there were X number of African-Americans in a given county.’ They had to get a sense of whether or not the people were closely connected in order to form a community,” said Moore. The presence of institutions such as churches, schools and cemeteries were taken into account when determining community.
Based on their preliminary research, they found 61 early Black settlements in 43 counties and put their findings online. This new resource is available at Indianahistory.org/EBS. Research for all 92 counties is also accessible via the website.
The webpages provide an Indiana county map with links to a brief description of the African-American presence in each of Indiana’s 92 counties through 1870, followed by a bibliography. When available, it also includes information about settlement locations and existing historic structures.
Many of the southern Indiana counties have Black settlements. Arguably the most famous is Lyles Station in Gibson County. (For more, see lylesstation.org)
Indianapolis residents may be surprised to know that, at Indianapolis Recorder Newspaper press time, researchers have identified only one documented African-American settlement located in Bridgeport, Wayne Township. Over time, the area was known as Sunnyside and West Parkview. There is also a settlement in Hamilton County where descendants are diligent in preserving their history —Roberts Settlement.
Bryan Glover is a descendant of Elijah Roberts and serves on Roberts Settlement nonprofit board, which stewards of the property located near Noblesville, Ind.
Each July 4th weekend, the family reunites to catch up, and also honor their ancestors.
“If you think about Indiana in the frontier days, you could imagine what a rigorous journey that would have been and to come to a place where they didn’t know anyone and the few things they traveled with, they staked out a new life for themselves. You have to respect what they achieved,” said Glover.
He said the Roberts Settlement family originates from North Carolina and Virginia. The family consisted of established free African-Americans. In the late 1700s and early 1800s as the plantation economy began to grow, whites in the south became suspicious of free Blacks, believing they intended to spark revolts. Due to skepticism, whites began making life hard for free Blacks.
To protect their freedom, in the 1830s, young members of the Roberts family packed up and headed to Indiana, where slavery was prohibited. There, they were able to buy an acre of land in Hamilton County for $1. Eventually, other family members followed, said Glover.
“Blacks also tended to move to places where there were friendly white people nearby. They were connected to the Quaker and Wesleyan community – people staunchly against slavery,” said Glover.
“If you look at some of these old newspapers, you’ll see Blacks and whites worshiping together, living near one another. You don’t even see that today.”
In addition to honoring the community that worked so hard to secure their freedom, Glover said he along with Clover Lane Media and Stephen Vincent, author of Southern Seed, Northern Soil, created a 20-minute documentary based on Roberts Settlement. An ongoing project includes completing their extensive genealogy spearheaded by Glover’s sister, Lezli Davis.
“As Indiana moves into its bicentennial in 2016, we have something to contribute to the African-American story,” said Glover.
While Indiana Black settlement information is certainly integral to history, HIS said it fails to reveal the stories of free Blacks and formerly enslaved people who settled the state much earlier.
For more information or to donate materials to the Early African American Settlement Heritage Initiative, call the Indiana Historical Society at (317) 232-1882 or visit Indianahistory.org. To access early Indiana Black settlement data, log on to Indianahistory.org/EBS.
