African American Builders in Cleveland's Lee-Seville Neighborhood Survey

Abstract: "Cleveland's African American population grew tremendously during the first several decades of the 20th Century with the growth of industry and the mass exodus of Southern Blacks to northern industrial, like Cleveland. As the African American population grew, prejudice and segregation grew, with the an expanding Black population confined to Cleveland's Cedar-Central neighborhood. There existed only a few Black enclaves outside of this one over-crowded neighborhood. One such enclave existed in Lee-Seville, which had been formed when the integrated Village of Miles was annexed into Cleveland in 1932. The African American population of Lee-Seville grew with the development of the Seville Homes, temporary housing for War Workers in 1946. In this area, a unique 'surrogate suburb' or 'suburb in the city' developed for African Americans. In this particular neighborhood, an integrated population and the availability of inexpensive land created a unique condition where African Americans could achieve the dream of home ownership in a suburban setting. A number of African Americans with experience in engineering or construction, took advantage of this opportunity in order to make home ownership available for African Americans. In this work, they pooled resources to found their companies experimented with ways of building less expensively through the use of new materials - such as perforated brick - or methods, such as 'Co-operative building,' and worked to achieve greater opportunities for themselves and other African Americans. This opportunity existed for a short time - about a decade - before the larger area integrated, making a lot more suburban housing available to the African American homebuyer." Project funding was provided in part by a Historic Preservation Fund grant to the Ohio History Connection administered by the State, Tribal, Local Plans and Grants division, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior (grant number P18AF00011).

African American Builders in Cleveland's Lee-Seville Neighborhood Survey

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