Now Recorded on Film, Memories of ‘the Black Y’ Provoke Smiles and Tears
In his barbershop on Church Street here, 78-year-old Sam Johnson can close his eyes and dance once more as a teenager inside the cracker box Emerson Street branch of the Y.M.C.A.
“Oh, the music, the ballgames,” said Mr. Johnson, who also remembers scraped knees, games of checkers and first kisses. “It was the place to be.”
The place not to be, for Mr. Johnson and other blacks in the 1950s, was the main branch of the Y.M.C.A. in this lakefront Chicago suburb. Even in Evanston, a place that likes to boast about its diversity, black people were forbidden to join the main Y, just as they were unwelcome at many clubs and beaches.
“It was the only place we could go,” said Byron Wilson, 91, recalling his childhood at the Emerson Street branch.
Known around town as “the black Y,” it served as the heart of the African-American community for more than 50 years after opening in 1914. Young people played basketball, learned to swim, box and play Ping-Pong. The little Y.M.C.A. branch hosted proms for black students, father-and-son banquets, even a performance by Nat King Cole.
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“Oh, the music, the ballgames,” said Mr. Johnson, who also remembers scraped knees, games of checkers and first kisses. “It was the place to be.”
The place not to be, for Mr. Johnson and other blacks in the 1950s, was the main branch of the Y.M.C.A. in this lakefront Chicago suburb. Even in Evanston, a place that likes to boast about its diversity, black people were forbidden to join the main Y, just as they were unwelcome at many clubs and beaches.
“It was the only place we could go,” said Byron Wilson, 91, recalling his childhood at the Emerson Street branch.
Known around town as “the black Y,” it served as the heart of the African-American community for more than 50 years after opening in 1914. Young people played basketball, learned to swim, box and play Ping-Pong. The little Y.M.C.A. branch hosted proms for black students, father-and-son banquets, even a performance by Nat King Cole.