by Louis ‘Hop’ Kendrick, For New Pittsburgh Courier
Too many persons in my estimation only reflect on the importance of Black History when Blacks were the legal property of another man, in the years when we were treated worse than animals. In those years we were denied a multitude of jobs, public accommodations, admission to major colleges, public recreation, police positions in city, county, state and federal and we were compelled to sue the federal government to become equal in all branches of the military. It is my conviction that we don’t put enough emphasis on the multitude of achievements by those Black men and women, who did more than just complain about the condition of Black people.
Pittsburgh has often been described as the most backward city in America when it comes to Blacks and in my estimation it deserved it. However there were Blacks who were not content to allow these conditions to go unchallenged and began to mobilize to change Black History. These individuals were the forerunners of Supermen, Superwomen. There were no MBE programs, affirmative action programs, quota programs and not one “colored” person was in position to demand that we be included.
However in 1949 (73 years ago), I was blessed to begin to meet these colored giants (we were not called Black yet), who owned furniture stores, realtors, drug stores, attorneys, doctors, dentists, radio station, restaurants, beer distributors, gas stations, cocktail lounges, night clubs, jewelry stores, contractors, funeral parlors, barber shops and beauty salons, insurance companies, unions and in later years a television station. There were also educators and college professors. There were Black congregations under the leadership of progressive ministers who built churches from the ground up.
In 1936, my father who was working in a federal program WPA resigned and upon arriving at home was asked by my mother, “Since you quit your job how do you intend to support your family, the six of us—your four children and the two of use?” My father responded by saying, “It is my conviction that my Lord and Savior will provide me with the health and strength to provide for my family.” And God did. The business my father created existed 47 years from 1936 to 1983. Daddy and 35 other like-minded persons who owned their own trucks formed an association and overwhelmingly did very well for themselves.
(Louis “Hop” Kendrick is a contributor to the New Pittsburgh Courier.)
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