Kenadi Smith is a second grader who attends the annual Candlelight Vigil honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at the Dr. Carter G. Woodson African American History Museum. There, she watched the performances of two young African-American’s, Maya Stevenson and Aleisha Mandela, along with the Florida Orchestra. While watching the Florida Orchestra, Smith noticed the one African-American woman who played the violin next to all white males. While Smith is not old enough to have experienced racial segregation, she understands that life should be full of love, peace, unity, and harmony.
This story was originally published at The Weekly Challenger on January 18, 2018. Click on the link below to read the full story:
Lewis speaks on the importance of voting, optimism in the face of fear, and endorses Charlie Crist
photo by Jonah King, John Lewis and Charlie Crist preparing to talk to the crowd
BY JONAH KING Neighborhood News Bureau
Civil rights is a 9-word problem: “Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, I Have a Dream.”
Those nine words are the universal American understanding of the civil rights movement of the 1960’s.
Another two words you may want to add to the list are John Lewis. You’ve still only breached the surface, but Lewis’s experiences and perspective speak volumes to the cold dark realities of racism and the peaceful combat against it in the civil rights era.
Lewis is a proponent of getting in trouble, something we were told as kids by our parents not to get in. But the trouble Lewis is talking about he refers to as good trouble, the same sort of trouble that got him arrested during the sit-ins and the march on Selma.
At the event hosted by the University of South Florida St. Petersburg, Lewis and Crist spoke on the state of the election, expressed their political views, and Lewis reflected on the Civil Rights era. Lewis also gave a ringing endorsement for Charlie Crist’s House bid. Crist won the seat defeating incumbent Republican David Jolly.
Filmed by USFSP student, Tracy Darity, this video shows her concerns regarding “concerning gentrification, the Warehouse Arts District,” and the lack of entertainment options in Midtown, St. Petersburg. According to Darity, “as a person of color, I believe this is a very important topic, and it saddens me that black community has grown numb to what is taking place around them.”
Most people know that Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargel, and Frank Robinson are three of the greatest baseball players of all time. What people may not know is that these ballplayers, along with others, were a part of Midtown history.
During the late 1950’s and 1960’s, many of the teams in major league baseball conducted spring training in St. Petersburg. This era was a time of racial tension and segregation. Baseball was not exempt from these divisive issues. During spring training, most teams typically stayed at one of two hotels in St. Petersburg; the Vinoy and the Soreno.
Segregation issues resulted in the minority players being denied the right to stay with the team in those hotels. Instead, the minority ballplayers sought housing in St. Petersburg’s African-American community. Paul Stewart, whose grandparents housed some of the ballplayers, remembers the era well. “Here were these guys making all of this money and they couldn’t even go downtown and sit to have a meal. Can you imagine having all this money and you couldn’t spend it because you can’t go places. That stuck in my mind then and now. They had to live in our house and couldn’t live with all ballplayers in a hotel.”
Local families around the Midtown community invited the ballplayers into their homes for lodging and meals. It was not unusual for those Midtown homeowners to have every available room filled with mattresses and rollaway beds to accommodate the visiting ballplayers. Players were invited to share meals with the host families. They were treated like family.
Beatrice Harper and her husband, along with their grandson, Paul Stewart, opened their homes for lodging and meals at 1739 18th St. S. in Midtown to several famous ballplayers, including Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargel and Frank Robinson. Stewart recalls his experiences he had with the visiting ballplayer Roberto Clemente. “I had twin beds in my room, and Roberto Clemente used to be my roommate when they came up.”
The hosts and their families had unique opportunities to interact with the famous ballplayers. One such opportunity, Paul Stewart remembers was helping Robert Clemente learn English in the evenings, in his room, after practice. “He was just learning English and what we would do at night was we would sit up in the bed and he would try to explain to me different events that happened to him during the day and he wanted to know what should he have said, so I would try to give him the English version of what he should say in certain situations.”
The neighborhood children also enjoyed special opportunities to play impromptu baseball games with the baseball superstars. In the backyard, behind the Harper home, the neighborhood kids fashioned a baseball diamond where the big leaguers would come over and play with them after returning from practice. “My buddies and I cut the grass with lawnmowers. We had our own little baseball field back there. It was big enough to hit the ball as long as we wanted”, said Stewart. Some of the players who joined in in the games were Clemente and Stargel. Stargel was known as the clown of the group and kept everyone laughing.
Despite having to endure the injustice of segregation, the ballplayers presence in Midtown enhanced the already deep and proud history of the area.
Listen to the interview recorded during the “Telling Tampa Bay Stories: Midtown” event in partnership with WUSF.
BY MIRANDA BORCHARDT AND BRIANNA ENDERS NNB Reporters
MIDTOWN — Teresa Williams stood on the balcony of the historic Swain Apartments looking out onto The Deuces, 22nd Street South.
Before the interstate, the desolate street was a hub of activity.
“They say it used to be hopping back then,” she said.
The interstate was built through the community in the late 1960s, forcing residents to relocate, “it became a dead area,” Williams said.
Williams is the property manager of the business and apartments at the corner of 22nd Street and 15th Avenue South. She inherited this responsibility from her parents, William and Annette Howard, the current owners who are no longer able to maintain the buildings due to health conditions.
Annette, a member of the 22nd Street Redevelopment Corporation, suffered a stroke in 2010.
“(The community group’s) goal was to revitalize, make it functional, utilize it better,” Williams said.
The commercial building was originally constructed in 1954 by Dr. Robert James Swain, a progressive dentist. He established his practice in 1954 and continued to practice dentistry in St. Pete until his death in 1996, according to StPete.org.
Swain was an influential figure in the community, known for pressing for equal opportunity during the segregation era.
He challenged Section 3 of the City of St. Petersburg’s Charter, which established separate residential and commercial areas for whites and African Americans in 1931, according to StPete.org.
The state-of-the-art Swain Dental Office was built on the opposite side of 15th Avenue, impeding on the government allocated “white” territory, and was the first dental office for African Americans in the area at the time.
Two years later, in 1956, Swain appended the residential apartment building behind his office to house African American Major League baseball players who were denied the right to stay with their white teammates during spring training.
Annette Howard converted the Swain Dental Office building, which had previously been transformed into a doctor’s office years earlier, into the Golden Shears hair salon. Williams transitioned from her nursing career as an LPN at Bay Pines Medical after her divorce to being a hairstylist in order to “take advantage of what was here (her parent’s property),” she said. It also allowed her to have a more flexible schedule while she was raising her daughter.
Her parent’s health issues in recent years caused Williams to re-direct her focus from being a full time stylist to tending to the well-being of her family members as their primary caregiver and managing the residential property to generate income for the family.
Williams, along with her parents and 99-year-old grandmother, live in the three ground level apartment units and rent out the top three.
“Everything’s so scattered,” she said. “Everything’s like… My life’s like a tossed salad.”
The three one-bedroom units are rented for $600 a month and have original cabinetry with updated flooring, fans and appliances. Williams works to enhance each apartment as tenants cycle through.
William’s dream for the business is a boutique-style salon where stylists would rent their own stations and bring in their own customers.
Making that dream come true could help make this area come alive again.
ST. PETERSBURG – It was just another night where the sound of music and laughter filled the air of this vibrant community. It was Midtown in the 1940s bringing out the African-American culture. But, it was not always that way. It took brave and valiant individuals to build the lively and joyful culture of Midtown. Then, Sidney Harden and his grocery store was one these individuals, and today, it is Elihu and Carolyn Brayboy.
Sidney Harden’s advertisement on the outside of the grocery store’s wall. Published in St. Petersburg Historic 22nd Street South by Peck and Wilson, 2006, 68.
In 1942, Harden opened ‘Sidney Harden’s Grocery Store’ on 22nd Street South. It was the place to get cultural food and resources throughout the community, according to the St. Petersburg Times. The grocery store also served local residents in times of need and comfort.
Harden was a neighbor and hoped the best for his community. According to a staff report from the City of St. Petersburg Community Preservation Commission, when local residents didn’t have enough, he gave and was known to hire residents for minor labor in exchange for food. He is remembered for his donations to different charities in the hope to make Midtown a better place for those in the community.
In the 35 years since the closing of Sidney Harden’s Grocery Store, that same passion and determination can be seen in Elihu and Carolyn Brayboy, better known as Mr. B and Mrs. B, and their hope to build a stronger and diverse Midtown. Despite a tough start and individuals’ perception of Midtown as being a rough place, the Brayboys decided to start their own business. They even have a reply for those with a misconception of Midtown.
“We’re putting the neighbor back into the hood,” said Elihu Brayboy. “Therefore it is a neighborhood.”
The café was renovated to meet modern day demands while keeping the design and layout of the historical Sidney Harden’s Grocery Store.
Although it was not what they intended, it became a place they now hold dear and true. Like Harden, the Brayboys are trying to invigorate the community. With just the start of a café, the Brayboys hope other businesses will see the opportunity Midtown has to offer.
“We value it and our view is it’s a great area and all it needs is love,” said Elihu Brayboy.
Named after Elihu Brayboy’s mother, Mary ‘Chief’ Brayboy Jones, a native of South Louisiana who catered to many celebrities such as Teddy Pendergrass, the Chief’s Creole Café serves a taste of Creole dishes including shrimp and grits, spicy jambalaya and Creole gumbo. Along with a delicious meal, customers have a choice of a spacious, elegant and vintage dining room or the outdoor patio setting to enjoy.
Chief’s Creole Café celebrates their first year anniversary on Nov. 1. The celebration starts with a momentous ribbon-cutting ceremony on Oct. 30 with Mayor Rick Kriseman. The event leads into the ‘Masquerade Under The Stars’ with live entertainment and dancing.
“We are ready for the storm,” said Kenny Roberts, a restaurant employee. “We know it’s coming.”
This is just the start of a new and diverse Midtown. The Brayboys and their employees are definitely excited, but so are those in the community.
“I really think that it’s a real treasure to this community,” said Cumberbatch. “For what (the Brayboys) are providing I think it’s really something good to help in the resurgence of this community to getting back to those memorable iconic places that so many residents in this community are familiar with.”
