Museum Corner July 2020

Building on the efforts of others

By Becky Buher, Guest columnist, published in the Times -Mail Newspaper July 8, 2020

In the history of Lawrence County, there have been many people who quietly, each in their own way, have made contributions to the fabric of our local society. Below are just a few historic local African American men and women who have silently contributed to advancing our community.

Minnie Green

In my lifetime, I particularly remember a woman who worked next door to my home when I was a child in the 1940s. Minnie Green worked for Daisy and Indiana Sen. E. B. Crowe. She cooked for them and took care of their household. Minnie always welcomed me. Sometimes, I would tag along as she worked. She never seemed to tire of all my childish questions. When Minnie was cleaning, she might give me an empty powder box or perfume bottle. I considered these castaways my special treasures. She shared her time, but she shared much more — I learned many things from Minnie. She never spoke of race, but I learned from her a most important lesson — that people were all the same, just people, human beings, and that the best gift we could give each other was kindness and respect.

Contributions began early in Lawrence County History

Dive Williams

About 1817, Richard Williams brought his wife, Elizabeth; sons, Henry, Vinson, John; and three African Americans, Dive, Nancy and a young boy, from North Carolina to southern Indiana. By migrating across the Ohio River into slave-free Indiana, Richard Williams became the “former master” to Dive, Nancy and the young boy, and the three became free citizens of color. The boy died shortly after arriving in Indiana. Nancy worked for the Williams family members, and later at the home of Dr. Winthrop Foote.Dive Williams worked for the Williams family and people living in the Rawlins Mill and farm area. Dive was so honest and upright that in 1835 his employers set aside 40 acres for him and his wife, Vina. Their son, Elias Williams, died in the Civil War and is buried in Alexandria, Virginia. Dive Road, Dive Church and the former Dive School community are all still familiar locations here.

William Preston

Preston would have been about 20 years old when he entered the War of 1812 serving as a private in the 15th (Slaughter’s) Regiment, Kentucky Militia. He settled here in 1826, just eight years after Lawrence County was formed.In 1837, he purchased 80 acres from the U.S. government, land located in Perry Township near Springville. He was a member of the Springville Christian Church and was known to be remarkable for his honesty, quietness and devotion to principle. The “1884 History of Lawrence County, Indiana” included a biography of William Preston and reported him to have been one of the oldest settlers of the county — a good man and an honorable citizen. … with 300 acres of well-improved land.”

Slavery and the Civil War

David Mitchell, Kip Brown and John Barnett

Among the articles listed in Goodspeed’s “1884 History of Lawrence County,” African Americans Mitchell, Brown and Barnett were arrested for “Harboring a Negro.” Mitchell, Brown and Barnett owned land near White River close to the old buffalo trace and could have been a route for fugitive slaves moving north. According to Rowena Cross-Najafi and Emily Engstrom’s African American research, “It cannot be stated beyond the shadow of a doubt that Mitchell, Brown and Barnett ran a station on the Underground Railroad, but the arrest record suggests that they provided refuge to people of color in violation of the laws of the time.”

Jennings Larter

According to Cross-Najafi’s research records, “The [Larter] family purchased property near Springville and farmed it until the Civil War broke out, at which time Jennings and his brother Alfred enlisted in the 28th Indiana Infantry Regiment (the only African-American regiment from Indiana). Alfred died in the war. Jennings Larter appears to have been a remarkable man, based on the more than eighty mentions of him in the local newspapers of the time. As a Civil War veteran, he belonged to the Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.) E.C. Newland Post with white veterans. He served on a flag detail for a monument opening ceremony in Indianapolis. He won a number of contracts with the Lawrence County government, to build wells and sewers and to work on public buildings. He sued the county commissioners, and won, for unpaid wages. Jennings Larter was an active member of the A.M.E. Church and acted as a defense lawyer in court cases involving accused African-Americans. He was the only African-American listed on the State of Indiana G.A.R. Honor Roll May 1-23, 1913.”

A 20th Century man

William Levi Clemons

Clemons was born in Mitchell in 1919. He married Hortense Campbell in 1942, and they moved to Detroit where he found work at Continental Motors making 84 cents an hour — he thought that was so much money he didn’t know what to do with it. Work was good, but racial tension existed. After race riots broke out in Detroit in 1943, he came back to Bedford.He became a businessman and acquired the nickname Speedy. He owned and operated Speedy Auto Laundry Hand Carwash. He also worked at Bedford’s General Motors Central Foundry, was a member of UAW Local 440, and retired from GM in 1981. Clemons was the first black member of both the Bedford Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Business Inc. Clemons died in 2011. He had many experiences in his 92 years of life — some good, some bad. You can read many of his life lessons recorded in a booklet written by Teri Klassen (available in the museum library).

Their lives truly mattered. The museum appreciates their contributions and stands in opposition to all forms of racism and oppression.

Source: Dive Williams’ liberation — (“General Index of Mortgages, Liens and Other Instruments, 1818-1861”), The History of Lawrence, Orange and Washington Counties, 1884, African Americans in Lawrence County research by Rowena Cross-Najafi and Emily Engstrom.