Ghetto As a Method of Racial Segregation

Since Cleveland has been discovered, the ghetto has been created from the beginning. A ghetto is a specific part of a city where it is a run-down area where a group of minorities is settling. The Ghettos had been created by the white people kicking out the poverty-stricken African Americans into the run-down area on the east side of the city of Cleveland. The main reasoning for this was it would be so much easier for the white folks to get to specific locations a lot quicker and simpler. Back in this time period, racism was still very prominent and it was not going away anytime soon. While the Ghetto was being created, this also caused a rise in crime rate and especially violence. Throughout this essay, I will be conducting knowledge and gathering information on the history of Cleveland’s ghetto.

The Ghettos had begun to appear in the 1800s and as well as the 1900s. The comparison of African Americans to whites who settled in this area was so high compared to any of the other major cities in the Northern Hemisphere. Since the Ghettos had first been created, many white people believed it was a way to eradicate the African Americans during this time period. The Ghettos had begun because of all of the racism that has been taking place in the early 1900s. The Ghetto was known as an environment located on the east side of the city.

The problem with this suburb was its living conditions. Examples of the living conditions would be described as, some houses would not be completely safe for living in, they were poorly structured, and there were not that many outlets where the settlers would be able to purchase products in need of survival. They were as bad as they could possibly be. The population of African Americans moving into the suburban area of Cleveland was only on the rise and it showed no signs of slowing down. The population of African Americans rapidly increased up to 30% within the span of a few years. The economy in this setting was far from perfect. Horrible paying jobs, not a lot of housing for the citizens of the city, and the living conditions were just outright disgusting. As the 1900s progressed, the occupational status of African Americans was on the decline. This was because a lot of businesses did not want someone of that skin tone working for them during this time period.

A main contributing factor causing the increase of the population was a result of the plenty of occupational opportunities that were available up North compared to the South. With the population growing, it also required numerous houses to be built for all of the incoming migrants. At this time, the white people would kick out the poor African Americans and they were forced to settle on the east side of the city which was very impoverished. “An analysis of population statistics by wards for 1900 and 1910 indicates that 17.8 percent of the black population in 1900 lived in wards which were less than 0.5 percent black; in 1910 only, 6.4 percent lived in such wards”. As the population of African Americans moving to the Ghettos was forever increasing, there was not enough housing to sustain all of the people that needed homes.

This would bring along a rise in crime and violence within the ghetto. The poor families that would be residing in this horrible suburb would also not be able to afford proper schooling which would result in these kids misbehaving, joining gangs, etc. “Increasing discrimination and violence against blacks kept even middle-class African Americans within the Central-Woodland area. At the same time, discrimination in public accommodations increased.”. Particular reasoning for all of this crime and violence would be that the African Americans would be so frustrated that this would be the only way they will be able to release all of their anger and aggression.

Different forms of discrimination were performed all over the city and you will see it everywhere you go. For example, segregation in schools as well as restaurants. The type of discrimination that you would witness in restaurants, the waiters and waitresses would either refuse service to African American customers or they would just charge them more for their meal. This is mainly directed toward wealthy African Americans. During this time, if African American was healthy enough, they would have no problems whatsoever, they would just have to pay extra for whatever they needed. As soon as segregation and discrimination hit the schools, numerous white students would leave that school and go to a separate institute with fewer African American students if none at all. Discrimination within the schooling system would also lead to teachers giving white students better grades compared to African American students as well as “playing favorites”. That just goes to show how common discrimination was during this time period.

Along with the horrible lifestyle that African Americans were living during this time period, along came brutal and low-paying jobs. Even though these jobs were not that well-paying, they still caused a lot of African Americans to migrate to Cleveland. The population was only increasing over the next couple of years. “Most of these jobs were in unskilled factory labor, but some blacks also moved into semi-skilled and skilled positions. The rapid growth in the city’s black population also created new opportunities”. Around this time, a handful of churches were being built because of all of the ongoing discrimination and hatred toward African Americans.

The African Americans who were moving from the South to the North took it as a blessing in disguise. They may have believed that this was a way for them to put the past behind them and start a new and better life. A handful of these jobs were being opened up because of all of the men who had to leave to fight in the war. Many businesses were really determined to find new workers or else they would be running themselves out of business. When the Migration occurred, they had no other choice, but to let many of these African Americans take what used to be the predominantly white persons’ well-paying occupation.

Along with all of these new opportunities, came along the Great Migration of 1916. Within the early 1900s, African Americans barely made up about three percent of the entire population of the state of Ohio. The Great Migration has done nothing but increases the amount of diversity within the state. “The “new” immigration from eastern and southern Europe was proportionally smaller in Cleveland than elsewhere in the North, and in 1910 the German-born continued to be the city’s largest immigrant groups with a population of 41,406; the Irish remained fourth (exceeded by the Russians and Hungarians) with 11,316.”. The Great Migration had taken place all through World War II. This created a handful of jobs for the citizens of Ohio. The opportunities and jobs that were being created for all of the citizens who had settled in Ohio were being created by the economy and they were motivated to start a new life with the opportunities that were given.

Even though African Americans and this country were trying to move past discrimination as a whole, it was still very noticeable in this world. It was also very difficult being an African American woman as well. A large portion of them have worked as much and if not more than the males in this city. This was before the women’s rights movement in the 1960’s so most people believed that what women had to say or do have no effect on anything whatsoever. This made their lives in the ghetto so much tougher than they needed to be.

Living in the ghetto was already as tough as it could be because of the high crime rate, and the horrible living conditions it also did not help that there was not that much housing for the African Americans who had migrated from the South to the North. The hostility between the African Americans and the whites was at an all-time high at this stage in the migration because they felt like they were being disrespected. At this point, the African Americans had enough of being discriminated against and just wanted to be treated like the normal people that they are. All of this aggression and hatred that had been built up over all of these years finally led to the Hough Riots of 1966.

Hough was considered a highly populated African American district where a lot of discrimination would occur in the city. These riots had taken place on July 18 in the late evening and they later concluded on July 25th. The Hough Riots of 1966 were a result of all of the racial tension between African Americans and white people. The riots had gotten so bad that the National Guard had to take it into their own hands.

With all of this hostility and crime going on, it was only a matter of time before something very similar to this situation would happen. These riots were a major wake-up call for the country about how discrimination and segregation needed to come to an end or these riots would not stop. The Hough Riots caused multiple deaths and twenty-plus injuries. The people who had luckily survived these riots were traumatized. Many people believed that this specific riot was controlled or prepared by a certain group of people, but there was no evidence to support the claim.

After these riots had occurred many people saw all of the racial inequality that the African Americans were being put through. Approximately one year later, Cleveland elected its first African American mayor in the history of the city and his name was Mr. Carl Stokes. One of his first activities as mayor was showing his support for racial equality. He showed how he wanted to decrease all of the tension and hostility that blacks and whites had against each other. Mr. Stokes was also responsible for starting a fundraising program that was specifically for recovering the neighborhoods of the Cleveland area.

This showed that he wanted to help people of all races and social classes. He did not see any color or differences in his own eyes. This was a major step in order to eradicate all of the segregation that had taken place in the city. Mr. Stokes was practically showing the African Americans and the entire country, that just because his skin color is different, it does not mean that he would not be able to run a city. He is showing his fellow brothers and sisters that they could do anything that they put their minds and hearts into and that the white person cannot tell them what they can and can’t do.

After several months of Carl Stokes being in office, there was sadly a very similar situation that had taken place in Glenville. This was known as the Glenville shootout. This event had taken place on July 23rd, 1968. This shootout was between the Cleveland police force and African American protestors. Unfortunately, this shootout ended in the deaths of a lot of people who had supported Carl Stokes. “The predominantly white police force became Stokes’s bitter foe, and racial division deepened throughout the city” (Carol Poh Miller & Robert A. Wheeler, 2009, p. 169). (n.d.). With the shootout killing a large portion of Mr. Carl Stokes’s people who had supported his campaign, he had to do it all on his own. He later won the reelection by stating that they should not worry about their personal vendettas and just focus on the good of the city.

The population of African Americans in Cleveland was increasing from here on out. The city had actually started to produce really well. You could also notice somewhat of a decline in racial segregation and discrimination. There were more jobs being created as well as housing. Numerous abandoned buildings were being torn down in order to create these new and well-paying jobs. It was very obvious that the economy and the city as a whole were headed in the right direction, but it did not last very long whatsoever. Once a single company moved its business, the city turned into a ghost town yet again and over 100,000 jobs were lost within a matter of a few years. “But in 1969, the National Screw business moved to a more efficient one-story plant in Mentor, and leaving with it was more than a thousand jobs”.

As soon as the National Screw business decided to relocate to a more productive area, citizens that resided in the Cleveland area were out of jobs and were practically forced to leave to find new occupations. As soon as a business decision to relocate, it was very similar to the domino effect. The businesses kept relocating based on how successful they were going to be. This would cause a tremendous decline in the population. Cleveland itself would continue to decrease in population, but the cities on the outskirts would continue to flourish because of all of the opportunities they had to offer. “As the city’s population declined, the proportion of its African American population rose dramatically, from 16 percent in 1950 to 38 percent in the 1970s and 44 percent in the 1980s”.

Around this time, Cleveland was slowly but surely, becoming a predominantly African American populated city. This left the businesses that had not relocated with no choice but to hire African Americans to keep their enterprise intact. This would cause a lot of them to obtain jobs fairly quickly, but they were still considered poor. A contributor to them still remaining poor was because they had low-paying jobs, but they had no choice because it was all the city had to offer. However, the counties that work located in the vicinity of Cleveland continued to strive because that is where the former business in Cleveland had shifted to. Cleveland would continue to struggle for the next twenty-plus years but this would later change. It was no secret that the city of Cleveland was struggling, but it ended once news broke of a lot of manufacturing businesses moving into the city. This would cause a massive increase in population for all of the newcomers looking for blue-collar jobs.

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