Embedded Files
Frieda refuses to go to Isaley's for ice cream in Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye. When Mr. Henry gives her a quarter to send her and her sister, Claudia, off from the house, he expects the girls to take the money with their childish simplicity and unquenchable desire for sugary snacks. However, instead of going to Isaley's as Mr. Henry suggests, they go to Miss Bertha's. Frieda is afraid that they would meet Maureen Peals who is considered the prettiest Black girl at school because of not only her light skin but also her (and other peers') keen awareness of her superiority due to her near whiteness. The scene is particularly striking when we know the racist history of Isaly's, which Morrison slightly changes its name to "Isaley's" in the novel without failing to remind her readers of the well-known dairy brand in the Midwest. Lorain residents, especially of the Black community, once called Isaly's "Jim Crow" store. And, Morrison growing up in the 1940s Lorain must have witnessed the legal battle between the white manager of the store and African American activists at the court. Frieda's discomfort at Isaley's because of its association with Maureen Peels' color-based privilege alludes to how African Americans in Lorain perceived the popular local store.
Isaly's Food had many branches in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Indiana. This Canonsburg branch boasts about its modern, uniform look like the art deco lettering. Photo by Mrs. Ralph M. McAfee. Retrived from "The History of Isaly's."
Isaly's Food Store was located at 632 Broadway in Lorain, near the Palace Theater and Central High School--the busiest street in downtown. The store was popular not only for its dairy products but also as an ice cream parlor for Lorain residents. [If you want to know more about the history of this company, read this.] However, the store's manager, E. A. Henry, served Black customers only through its backdoor, while offering the main parlor only for whites. For this reason, the store was infamously nicknamed "Jim Crow" store. In September 1942, according to the Cleveland Black newspaper, Call and Post, the store was sued by several Black residents in Lorain because it refused to serve them for the reason of their race even when the state of Ohio already adopted the Ohio Civil Rights Codes. Those who entered yet were denied "full enjoyment of the accommodation" were Rev. C. L. Flemings, M. C. Wooten, Jeane Jones, and John R. Willis and his wife. The latter couple filed suits of five hundred dollars each in common pleas court against E. A. Henry, manager of the store.
Here is what the article, published in Call and Post on September 26, 1942, says about the incident.
The Willises were the first of the group to enter the Isaly's to ask for service at the counter, but the server proceeded to wait on other white patrons who came in later. After a period of time, the couple asked the server about the reason that they were not served. The server immediately admitted, "we don't serve colored here." At this point, Willis approached the manager, Henry, and inquired more specifically about the policy of the Isaly's. Henry then insisted that they could obtain service in the rear of the store, but that he had a right to refuse service at the counter to people of color. Shortly afterward other African Americans presented themselves at the Isaly's counter and were in turn denied "full accommodation" as given to the whites who continued to enter. It is said that then Willis approached Henry once again to warn that the latter had the option of serving the people or facing damages in court. He kept his word.
Eating Ice Cream, San Augustine, Texas, 1939, Courtesy of the Library of Congress
The Willises and other African Americans had known well how the manager would have reacted to their resistance. Furthermore, they acknowledged that the newly revised Civil Rights Codes could protect them from the store's racist policy. Unsurprisingly, Henry threatened to call the city police if the group did not leave their seats at the counter. The group refused to leave their seats on this demand and remained seated until the police arrived. While Henry insisted on his right to refuse to serve them, John Willis reminded the police that it was Henry who was guilty of violating the law and that the group was within its rights under the Ohio Civil Rights Code. He rather used the police officer as a witness to Henry's violation of the state law, and the officer consented to do.
Wesley United Methodist Church on 7th Street, Lorain. Google Image. The map on the right shows the close distance between the church and Isaly's.
In fact, those brave African Americans were members of the Wesley United Methodist Church on 7th Street in Lorain or participants in the church's conference. The refusal on the part of the management to serve African Americans at that time not only embarrassed members of the conference but awakened local Black people to the necessary work confronting the as to erasing these discriminatory conditions in the town. The case was presented by Attorney Virgil Burgett, a young white man who was known to be successful with cases involving African Americans.
Finally, according to another article in Call and Post on December 12, 1942, Mr. and Mrs. Willis won the case when the court ordered the store to pay five hundred dollars to the couple for its "prejudice and undemocratic principles." This is the first time that African Americans were able to win a Civil Rights suit in the Courts of Lorain County. Call and Post says that the decision was "a surprise to the Negro citizens of the community, as it was believed that it was near impossible to get a jury in Lorain County to uphold the rights of Negroes in Civil Rights Cases. Despite the uncertainty, they did not give up their fight for justice.
"Lorain Couple Wins Civil Rights Damages," Call and Post, on December 12, 1942.
Undated photo of John R. Willis. Retrieved from Richardson's blog.
They were gone, but their spirit is alive. We don't have any photos of the Willises and other documents to show their lives in Lorain yet. Nevertheless, we know that the Black liberation tradition continues from generation to generation. The renowned professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University, John R. Willis, is John R. Willis's son and the Lorain native, Toni Morrison's cousin. This means that the Willises are the author's uncle and aunt. [See Kristina L. Richardson's "Toni Morrison, John Ralph Willis, and Black Muslim History."] Professor Willis was born and raised in Lorain, Ohio. His fields of research included the history of Islam in Africa and the sources of legal opinion in Islam. He passed away at 69 in 2007.
Cite this page (Chicago): Woo, Jewon. "Price for Ice Cream, 1942," LCCC African American History Project, accessed December 13, 2024, https://sites.google.com/view/lccc-aa-project/price-for-ice-cream-1942?authuser=0.
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