Code,990008
Subject,Dianne R. McIntyre
Date,5/31/2013
Interviewer,Timothy Klypchak
Abstract,"Dianne McIntyre was born at Mt. Sinai Hospital in Cleveland and grew up in Glenville early on and then moved to the Mt. Pleasant area with her mother and father on East 141st Street. Their family was the first black family on the block, although her father grew up around the corner. She recalls the onset of white flight and the neighborhood changing from white to black. She talks about how her parents made sure they had substitutes for things they could not do because of their race. She recalls stories about the change in demography of John Adams High School and understanding the de facto segregration in Cleveland. McIntyre talks about her mother, Dorothy, and her growing up in LeRoy, New York. Dianne tells more of her mother's life when she discusses getting her pilot's license. She tells about her father's family coming to Cleveland and her father working at Westinghouse as a driver and then at the U.S. Postal Service. She points out the Murtis Taylor Center as a point of interest in the community."
Tags,"African Americans, Glenville, Mt. Pleasant, schools, Martin Luther King Jr., Civil Rights Movement, Bruce Klunder, John Adams High School, Dorothy Layne McIntyre, aviation, Tuskegee Airmen, John D. Rockefeller, Hamilton F. Biggers, Murtis Taylor, Karamu House, McIntyre, white flight, Euclid Beach Park, Poles, Baltimore MD, Great Migration, St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, cheerleading, Jim Crow, segregation, ""Best Location in the Nation"""
Special Notes,Two parts to interview A & B; Dianne accidentally bumps the microphone a few times during the interview
(Part A) 0,"Introduction, Birth at Mt. Sinai"
1,"Father bought home with brother, Cyrill on Westchester Ave. in Glenville"
2,Friends Dorothy and Precious lived in funeral home down street
3,"Discussed playing outside as a child, hopscotch and marbles; community was not stratified by class"
4,Notes most women did not work and community was primarily black
5,Story about mother (Dorothy) cutting sleeves in summer and sewing them back in the fall; no talk of poverty as children
6,"""In those days we were negros and we among ourselves called ourselves colored"""
7,Discusses moving from Glenville to Mt. Pleasant E 141st and going Rickoff Elementary
8,"New neighborhood predominantly white, first black family in area even though father grew up around the corner"
9,"One Asian family lived several houses down, the Tameras"
10,"School was integrated and blacks were a minority, best friend Judy Fox, mother Catholic and father Jewish"
11,House next door possibly rental property
12,"Most neighbors owned their homes, little by little African Americans moved in, population change was not noticable in school"
13,"School teachers were primarily white, mentions school was like a newly integrated southern school"
14,"Teachers may not have been encouraged to be married, teachers looked like little grannies"
15,"Ms. MacNamara and Ms. Bennett,  tutored students who spoken little English.Went to school with a lot of Eastern European and Italian students"
16,"Junior high school Alexander Hamilton predominantly white, John Adams more towards half black and half white around 1962-1964 Integrated in grad school but"
17,"Sister reminds her that she was not part of the boycott when Rev. Bruce Klunder died. Remembers schools being overcrowded, schools built with attachments"
18,Got to see Martin Luther King Jr. at Cory Church and at Municipal Stadium
19,"Mother was aware of racial bias, excited about happenings in Civil Rights Movement"
20,"Bruce Klunder was protesting building of school in black area, sit insand laydowns to stop bulldozers"
21,"Protest in schools by not attending for a day, sister Donna participated in protest, walked to school down Kinsman in elementary schoo"
22,"There was one black cheerleader at John Adams every year and was a different girl, wanted to be the second cheerleader at one time"
(Phone Rings and end of Part A.) 23,"Ann Hadley got the cheer spot over Dianne, semi-protest arose in small circle. Phone rings; interview segment ends."
(Start of Part B) 0,"'Called ourselves colored or negro', Continues with not making cheer squad (senior varsity), People were writing complaint letters; problem was both Ann and Diane were good"
1,"the next year, Dianne became part of the cheer squad along with another black girl"
2,"Most (white)girls on cheer squad  part of Sokol Tyrs on 131th and Melzer,  Polish gymnists"
3,"The routine drew cheers from both crowds during football games, No black Sokol Tyrs; it was not spoken but understood that blacks did not go to gym even though it was in neighborhood; still admired what Sokol Tyrs were good at"
4,"Neighborhood grew blacker over time, realators tell whites to sell while they can make money, Grew up during white flyte era"
5,Considered looking up friends on Facebook that left; neighbors helpful when family moved to neighborhood
6,"neighbors weren't hateful, they just moved out. Lived around the corner from grandparents. Fathers family moved to 142nd St. in 1928"
7,Father played on baseball teams with whites; the full cost or down payment for the was paid by Hamilton F. Bigger (friend of Rockefeller)
8,Dr. Biggers left endowment for Diane's grandfather; did a play about her father's stories; alot of Cleveland history
9,Contacted Dr. Biggers' family about play
10,Dance school in Glenville then moved to Mt. Pleasant but an all black dance school; learned that they could not go to white dance school later; De facto segregation
11,did not think they were missing anything from not getting white business; felt full and fullfilled; black business support is not the same
12,"went to the drive-in movies; playground in front of drive-in, a little white boy asks her if she is a little colored girl"
13,Little boy seemed delighted that he met a person of color; whiteness was all around if you lived in a black community
14,"The Center, an after school program (The Mt. Pleasant Community Center), The Murtis Taylor Center, Children could take art or dance. Mt. Pleasant had a day camp and all kinds of community activities."
15,Friday nights  would go to The Center
16,"Played music and danced, with local singing groups. Center started in the 1940s by Murtis Taylor to bring races together"
17,People in Cleveland were very good dancers; went to event in Manhattan (Polis Event) People from Cleveland danced better than other people
18,Cleveland was good at social dancing and ballroom dancing; father told her about black and white ballrooms and Euclid Beach amusement park
19,"Black people could not go to the beach or ballroom, no signs keeping blacks out it was just understood; if you disobeyed the police would be asked to remove you; alot of picnics as a child because blacks were not welcome"
20,"Parents made it so they were comfortable and there was nothing missing, creating substitutes to what they were not allowed to do; Baltimore as a child"
21,talks about going to Baltimore to visit aunt (mother's sister) and uncle
22,built a house in Baltimore County; at the top of a hill where street was elite black
23,none of the houses looked alike because they built their own; hardly ever saw any whites there; aunt talked in the public schools
24,Uncle Wesley was lightskinned and mistaken for white; more of a distain for whites because he would heard what they said behind their blacks
25,"he did not try to pass as white, people just assumed he was white"
26,Mom from Le Roy New York; few black families with a few black families; integrated into the community but some advances were hindered; Italian boy wanted to take mother to the prom
27,Mother knew going to prom would cross a line that people do not cross; no knowledge of interracial couples; mixed race couples lived in black communities
28,"children were considered black, there was no sense of identity crisis, where as today they could be a third race; fathers friend Mr. Parker married a German lady"
29,Some of Mr. Parkers children married white individuals but growing up were associated with other black students
30,"Father born in Jacksonville,Florida in 1914; grandfather from Kingston Jamaica and grandmother from Georgia and Florida; grandfather scouted north to move"
31,Dianne's father and uncle Cyril lived in New Jersey with mothers parent; Great Grandfather was son of slave master
32,"Great grandfather was white; grandfather worked for Englander, could get good jobs because he had  a West Indie accent"
33,People love English accents even for persons of color; father arrived in 1917; was on record as a night watchmen for Englander
34,actually kept the books at night so the public did not know. Englander suggested Dianne's father to Dr. Biggers
35,Homeopathic medicine; father went to school with Jesse Owens
36,"Some of father's associates were professional gangsters; one time at a gas station talked to someone he was familiar with, said it was someone he grew up with and said the guy he was talking to was friendly but would kill his mother if it came to it"
37,Father did railway mail; would throw and catch mail
38,mail was deposited near tracks; father was also a driver
39,the man he drove for sold day dresses and her father drove him all over the eastern U.S.; could not stay in hotels with man he was driving
40,Story about father staying in New Hampshire
41,"father did not like to talk about raciail tensions, loved to travel and drive; worked at Westinghouse and then post office"
42,father attended St. Andrew's and liked to take care of children in the neighborhood; father had three brothers
43,"father and uncle's were handsome ""ladykillers""; Mother grew up in Le Roy, NY from Culpepper, VA"
44,Lived in a huge house in Le Roy; grandfather would bring other people from Culpepper to work the land; grandmother passed away from T.B.
45,
46,Mother did well in high school; essay contest story about switch for being black
47,in high school mother worked in hardware store and worked in back room so public could not see her; mother wanted to be with more blacks
48,Attended West Virginia State; could have gone to Howard for free because of Uncle George Lightfoot
49,Mother taught labs because her classes from upstate New York were advanced; subsidizing tution aiding cost to her father
50,West Viriginia State started offering aviation becuase of WWII; School was next to airport
51,"as a little girl, mother loved planes and tried out; would take one woman in a group of ten men and Dorothy was accepted"
52,"Three point landing by instructor; had to do loops and turns, went up with Hathcock to do nose dive"
53,story about saving plane when Hathcock froze up
54,Logged hours in Rochester and Cleveland and slowly gave it up when she had children because it was dangerous
55,Some men she flew with became Tuskegee airmen; Dorothy applied for WASP and was possibly denied for being black
56,Showed up for an ad that requested private fliers and was told the position was all filled up
57,"Dianne talks about rarely seeing female pilots, let alone black female pilots"
58,went up once with mother when they (Dianne and Donna) were little; group of women pilots invited Dorothy to lunch to tell stories
59,Mentions Mt. Pleasant community center
60,people grouped in pockets in the city of Cleveland
61,happy growing up in the city
62,"Gym teachers selected cheerleaders, had final say construction of 1 out of 8 on the cheersquad was by design and did not reflect school population"
63,"segregated clubs in high school like fraternities and sororities, volunteer clubs"
64,White families did not talk about why they were moving
65,In people's minds that it may have been economically important to move
66,"talks about the name on the street sign Anna ""Mama"" Chapman"
67,Murtis Taylor was friends with the Jelliffes and mentions Karamu
68,(gets up to show picture)
69,More about Murtis Taylor
70,
71,
72,"Never heard black people call Cleveland ""The Mistake on the Lake"", Sings ""Best Location in the Nation"" campaign song for United Way"
73,Talks about lost partriotism of Cleveland over time
74,Use to teach dance classes at Karamu in the Glenville area during riots with national guard blocking the way
75,Alot of things were burned down in the black community; bad guys were admired in the black communities