Capstone: Dara M. Epison

NOTES ON EDGLEY STREET: Leveraging Data to Portray (and Center) an Ecosystem of Ordinary Black Life in Strawberry Mansion at the Turn of the 20th Century

This project commemorates the Black families that lived alongside the renowned Tanner-Alexander Family.  When the Tanners purchased their home on Diamond in 1872, the only other Black people within their footprint of the neighborhood were documented as living and working in white households.  This portrait of Black life persisted for three decades, until around 1900 when a significant number of Black families moved into our study area-with one caveat: they were mostly clustered on the 2900 block of Edgley, just one-half block north of the Tanners-a finding that complicates conventional narratives of the neighborhood that focus on its history as a vibrant community of German and Eastern European Jews during the Tanner Era. 

From 1900 to 1910, the Black population on Edgley increased by 378%. This figure steadily increased over the following decade, only to sharply decline by 1930.  The census data collected on Edgley Street’s Black residents during this time tells a compelling story.  A story of migrating up from the South at the turn of the 20th century.  Of moving into a mostly white part of the city, surrounded by people speaking various European languages.  Of renting an apartment on Edgley because it was one of the few places in the city that would rent to Black folk.  Of boarding in someone else's home or taking in boarders to supplement income made from working as a domestic or laborer.  Of remaining on the tiny street that was Edgley for multiple decades-moving from building to building on this one block because it was there that lives were cultivated in spite of.