Code,990004
Subject,Donna McIntyre Whyte
Date,5/24/2013
Interviewer,Dr. Mark Souther
Abstract,"Donna McIntyre Whyte is a Cleveland native, born in 1948, and grew up in the Glenville neighborhood, and then later on to the Mt. Pleasant area. Her father taught her and her sister many domestic and handy skills such as how to work on cars. She lived close to her grandparents, close enough to walk their alone as a child. Her grandparents have interesting stories, and she appreciated them and spent a lot of time with them. She does not recall any distinct instances of segregation, but does remember when the building of John F. Kennedy High School, and that the boundaries they drew for the school district seemed like a racial boundary in order to make Kennedy an ""all black school."" At this time in the early to mid sixties, white families were fleeing the city and created South High School, the ""white"" equivalent to JFK. Whyte attended John Adams High School because it had honors programs and because her father went there. She was friends with people who went to JFK because the school was built her junior year. The interview stops at her high school graduation. She provides a great account of what it was like to grow up in the Glenville and Mt. Pleasant areas in the 1950s and 1960s."
Tags,"John Adams School, White-Flight, Cleveland African-American Experience, John F. Kennedy High School, Mt. Pleasant, Cory Methodist Church, St. Andrews Episcopal Church, Rickoff School, Charles Dickens School, Color-Line"
Special Notes,
minutes:,
0,"Donna was born in Cleveland Ohio, Mt. Sinai Hospital (105th and Chester) Glenville 1948"
1,"Lived on Westchester, then moved to Mt. Pleasant are (140th & Kinsman)"
2,"Describes the house on Westchester, Distinguishes the difference between duplex's and side by side doubles"
3,"Her father grew up on 142nd and Glendale, the house still stands."
4,Westchester 10405-----     (140th) 3703 e 140th street----  3842(7) her grandparents address
5,"As young kids they would walk to their grandparents house. She remembers when she was old enough to cross 105th and Superior, a busy street"
6,"All kids in her school lived close enough to walk, they did not have school busses. House on Westchester: felt like one big house."
7,"They could get to the other side of the house through the basement. Had many first cousins,"
8,"The houses in Glenville, the houses were much larger than those in Mt. Pleasant. Recalls the radio, and her first dog on westchester"
9,"Remembers the weather when she was young, saw the tree next door fall on their tree."
10,Many people she remembers who lived in the Westchester area moved to the Mt Pleasant area.
11,"When they moved to Mt Pleasant, there was a broader representation of class, there was a difference in how they spoke. She started to use ""black dialect"" double negatives, the word ain't."
12,"grandparents lived on 142nd street, walked to their house"
13,"Recalls Cory methodist church, she took dance lessons there. Elaine Gibbs Redmond dance instructor"
14,"Shopped in the 105th and euclid area ""our downt own was the 105th and euclid area"""
15,"Doesnt recall which shops, but really remembers dancing in the basement at the church"
16,"Her sister and her took Ballet, and then Elaine Gibbs was friends with her father. took dance in 1953"
17,"When they lived in Mt Pleasant, they walked to class.."
18,They attended St. Andrews Episcopal church on Cedar. The second or 3rd Af-Amer. church est. in cleveland.
19,talks about their faith
20,Her family all followed the same faith
21,"she did not attend church after she left for college, b/c she could not relate to a white episcopalian church."
22,She was used to the way that they practiced at St. Andrews ...
23,"Her mother made friends with the people that her husband knew, they formed something like a sorority."
24,"Her Father: Francis Benjamin McIntyre from Jacksonville florida, his father from Jamaica, her mother from S. Carolina"
25,"THe McIntyres ended up in New York,"
26,Her grandpa worked on the Panama Canal ... and her grandpa was hired as John D. Rockefeller's Doctor's Chauffeur
27,Her grandma was a seamstress...
28,"Her grandmother's father was a white man, her grandmother's mother was Native american. Called her ""baba"""
29,Her father was 4 when they moved to Cleveland (went to John adams High school) father didnt finish high school. Her dad worked for the post office / served in WWII
30,"Mother moved to cleveland in 1941 and met her father and they married in 1942. The ""legacy"" of the four McIntyre brothers"
31,"She remembers her grandfather worked as a chauffer, they lived in the cedar central area, and the doctor wanted them to move out of that area and built them the house on 142nd"
32,"Dr. Biggers, Rockefeller's Doctor, wanted that her grandfather didn't work anymore."
33,"chauffeurs had to know how to fix cars as well as drive them, and her grandfather passed the skills down to her father, and her father to her."
34,the four McIntyre boys also did domestic work b/c they didnt have sisters
35,"In the school curriculum required that girls sew, and the boys did not."
36,"Her grandparents worked for white people, Dr. Biggers, in his will wrote that her grandfather would not have to work anymore."
37,"Her father liked to teach children how to do, what he enjoyed to do. His father was the fun one, mother kept the order. ""A really happy life, a happy childhood"""
38,"When they moved to Mt. Pleasant, that was the first time she met anyone on ""relief"" (govt assistant-financial help)"
39,"But as a child she didn't really understand what ""relief"" was. Her friend on ""relief"" did not have a father."
40,"Her mother was not from cleveland, and so they traveled every year (they drove) her parents would switch seats and not stop the car."
41,She learned to drive when she was really young.
42,Her first time driving was probably in virginia on her grandfather's farm. Talks about childhood recreation self-made games
43,"the car her parents had 1956 chevy, 4-door blue & white. her parents always drew Pontiac's or Chevrolet's"
44,"They had a 1962 Bonneville convertable at one point. Her grandfathers farm was in Culpepper, VA (actually an in-law relationship)"
45,speaks about the relationship to the owner of the farm.
46,"One of her relatives had a white father,"
47,"Her grandfather looked like Walter Brennan to her, though he is a white actor and her grandfather was half white."
48,"her grandfather remarried, and his 2nd wife passed he raised DOnna's mother on his own with their Aunt in Leroy, NY"
49,"They lived in his 2nd wife's home. And her aunt who helped raised Donna's mother, moved to Baltimore"
50,"So, they'd travel to Baltimore to quite often."
51,"She doesn't recall running into Jim Crow laws or segregated, but her aunt in Baltimore taught at a segregated school."
52,"Discusses the white neighbors she did have, leaving the area."
53,"By the time she finished elementary school, there weren't any white students left. She can't recall understanding Jim Crow laws"
54,"There was an unspoken understanding that ""white people didn't want to live around black people"""
55,In the Jr. High Level things were a bit more integrated but because the Jr. High's drew students from a larger radius
56,"Her sister was the ONLY black cheerleader at her school, but by the time Donna was in school there were more than one. Moved in 1953 t o140th street, and there were still white people there."
57,"Children on 140th street could either go to Rickoff school (146 & Kinsman) , or Charles Dickens she went to Rickoff and it was overcrowded"
58,"Charles Dickens was less crowded, and did not have half-day classes."
59,"For some reason her class was not subjected to the half-day classes, because it happened the year after. When John F. Kennedy was built.."
60,"She attended John Adams, graduated 1966. She graduated in January, because of her birthday falling before September. Schools were crowded."
61,"37 or 38 hundred students at John Adams when she went, J.A. was arguably the best school on the East Side because of the AP programs"
62,"John Adams was the ""college prep"" school. But, when Kennedy was built (Sept. 1965 it opened)"
63,"When they found out what the boundary lines were for Kennedy, it was clearly race (""it had to be"")"
64,"They were trying to ""make Kennedy a black school"" Lee-Harvard area was a big area of white-flight"
65,"The demographics of the community changed quickly. The bounday lines ""didn't make sense as far as a student's accessability"""
66,"Kennedy didn't have an ""advanced"" program or AP classes, ""it felt like an insult"" The school district gave honors students the option to stay at Adams."
67,"Kennedy became their football rival, though it seemed they all knew each other (Donna would go to Kennedy's class reunions, too)"
68,Mt. Pleasant (130th and Abelle) the district that John Adams fell in.
69,South was built for the white students . She guesses her graduating class was 3/4 african american
70,Dr. Mark Souther discusses doing another interview.
71,.....
72,"In second grade the school identified 8 students and they kept the 8 of them together, and combine them with the students 1/2 year ahead of them."
73,"All 8 of them (black students) were unable to graduate with the Class ""B""students because they were too young"
74,Her class was unable to take Algebra (lack of resources)
75,"She was born the day after the deadline, so she felt cheated of advanced classes, and graduated late, awkward timing of graduation"
76,That felt like a violation of opportunities
77,Many kids went to summer school in order to graduate before Kennedy was built to avoid going there (to graduate before having to go)
78,......
79,..... commentary
80,commentary about re-scheduling