Filed under: News, Race and Civil Rights
Most of the X and Y generation know "
Idlewild" from the feature film, a creative and visually stimulating sleeper starring
Big Boi and
Andre 3000.
But the actual town in Lansing, Mich, has a rich history that the
National Register of Historic Sites has finally recognized as a historic site.
In a series of articles in the
Lansing State Journal, reporters have documented that history.
The idea for the town started with white developers, eyeing a market for black vacationers. In 1912, they bought almost 2,700 acres of overcut timberland, nestled between two lakes. They called it "Idlewild": a place to be idle in the wild. A vacant lot was $35, paid for at $1 a week.
Soon, blacks were taking over.
The town was visited by the likes of
Madame C.J. Walker. "I consider Idlewild a great, national progressive movement," she wrote in 1918. She bought a lakefront lot and announced plans for a summer home and "a school for teaching hair culture."
The city had a large black population and a number of elite visitors from the black community, including
W.E.B. Du Bois,
Dr. Daniel Williams,
Della Reese,
Jackie Wilson and
Sarah Vaughn.
As the 20th century started, 16,000 blacks lived in Indianapolis, more than the combined total for Cleveland, Detroit, Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids. There were juke-joints, roller rinks and a dance troupe -
the Idlewild Revue - that toured the country.
But eventually integration split the black community and Idlewild lost some of its luster. Night clubs and restaurants disappeared. Even still, though, as a rural community, the beauty remained, and many blacks still came on vacation or retired there.
But in recent years, redevelopment has begun. Federal enterprise zone incentives have helped, and a new theater opened. And now with it's National Registry Historic status, more dollars will come in and new generations will know and perhaps come visit the historic destination.
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