Post on 07-Apr-2023
BELMONT DEVILLIERS: REFLECTIONS IN SEGREGATION HISTORY
Maria C. Leite, M.A.
University of West Florida
Susan Jans-Thomas, Ph.D.
University of West Florida
Robert M. Thomas, Ph.D.
Independent Historian
BELMONT DEVILLIERS: REFLECTIONS IN SEGREGATION HISTORY
The study will investigate how segregation laws in the beginning of the twentieth century
impacted the urban development of Belmont-DeVilliers area in the city of Pensacola, Florida.
The research will explore the progression of Belmont-De Villiers neighborhood from a center
where African American musicians and entertainers performed during the segregation years
between the 1940s and 1970s to the current project of revitalization of the area after a period of
abandonment and progressive violence that started during the 1950s. Photographic examination
will present past and current pictures of local business that contributed to the formation of the
cultural distinctiveness of this area. In addition to photo inquiry, data from this study will rely on
archival research, compiled oral stories, and public record documents.
Introduction
The end of Civil War and the termination of slavery in the United States did not establish
immediate freedom or equal rights for African Americans. Especially in the South, which
according to the 1860 U.S. census was densely populated with blacks, emancipation was an
inconceivable threat. Between the years of 1790 and 1860, the number of slaves increased in
3,300,000 in the United States making a total of 4,000,000 in the country. (US Census Bureau,
1860)
The Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments, which respectively ended
slavery, and assured black citizens civil and political rights (The U.S. National Archives &
Records Administration) did not prevent segregation laws to impose unfair and unequal
treatment for African Americans that culminated in actual mandatory physical separation of
whites and blacks in public places and neighborhoods. These laws “deprived African Americans
of their civil rights by defining blacks as inferior to whites, as members of a caste of subordinate
people” (Davis,n.d.).
The segregation laws, known as Jim Crow laws, became naturally associated to the same
name character created by Daddy Rice in 1836. Rice was a white entertainer in the 1830s, who
covered his face with charcoal and impersonated the caricature of a black man. Jim Crow was
the personification of black inferiority created by “white man to amuse white audiences” (Rise
and Fall of Jim Crow) that by the 1850s became a common act in minstrel performances.
Although the origin of the segregation laws and Jim Crow becoming synonyms is imprecise, by
1900 the term Jim Crow was fully associated with the racist laws (Davis,n.d.).
In the south, the segregation laws trespassed all boundaries of cruelty and brutality.
Between the 1960s Ku Klux Klan constant bombings in Alabama (McKinstry, 2011) and the
horrifying stories such as the brutal murder of Emmett Louis Till in Mississippi in 1955 (Mobley
& Benson, 2003), the city of Pensacola in Florida, despite the occurred lynchings from 1900 to
1935 (Franklin & Wills, 2007), developed a prosperous business area considered “the place to
be” (Morgan in Pensacola News Journal, February 4, 1999) by African Americans during the era
of Jim Crow. This area became known as West Hill or simply Belmont-DeVilliers, names of the
two main streets that intersect in the core of the area.
This paper is an investigation of how Jim Crow laws impacted the development of
Belmont-DeVilliers. Data from archival research, photo inquiry, literature, and online sources
will support the timeline portraying the neighborhood’s fast growth as an active business center
from the 1900s until 1950s, its decay and abandonment, and the current revitalization project
initiated in 2004 with the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) of the City of Pensacola.
The revitalization project Belmont/DeVilliers Neighborhood Land Use Plan (CRA, 2004) is
currently bringing the neighborhood back to life after years of abandonment.
Pensacola Black Neighborhoods
In the year of 1999, Pensacola News Journal initiated a series of stories written by
Pensacola inhabitants about the Pensacola black communities. “Pensacola Lost neighborhoods
Collection” consisted in a series of newspaper columns focused in the three black communities
formed in Pensacola during the segregation years. During the segregation years these
neighborhoods were established at east and west of Palafox street area and became known as
Tanyard, Hawkshaw, and the West Hill or Belmont DeVilliers. During the segregation and
integration periods the three neighborhoods suffered transformations that altered their social and
physical characteristics. For instance, Diane Gaines Jackson (February 4, 1999) stated: “I
practically watched it [Tanyard] go from a primarily residential to a primarily commercial area.
It was sad. It’s always been sad to me” (Pensacola News Journal, February 4, 1999). The
Tanyard was one of the oldest neighborhoods in Pensacola. Located between Baylen and Reus
Streets, the neighborhood that almost occupied the south of Garden Street area, housed a
diversity of families “including free black families, European immigrants of every origin, and
Pensacola Creoles, whose lineage was European and African” (Pensacola News Journal,
February 4, 1999).
The Hawkshaw was primarily an old family neighborhood according to Helen Sunday
Perkins (February 4, 1999), who walked from home in Seville to school No.104 in Hawkshaw.
Perkins described Hawkshaw as a “very quiet” neighborhood where “everyone had little gardens
out in the back yard and they kept an eye on the children when they pass by”. Rita Jones
(February 4, 1999) explained that the Hawkshaw was “racially and economically” integrated.
She stated, “Words cannot fully describe the feeling of camaraderie, togetherness, respect and
admiration that crossed all racial and economic lines”. Jones explained that in the Hawkshaw
“everyone was one big family” and they would not even think about segregation. The interstate
110 construction, the Bayfront Parkway modernization, the Gulf Power corporate headquarter
built in the 1980s, and the demolition of Aragon Court, an “all white federal housing project
demolished in 1998”, represented the extinguishing of the neighborhood in the late 1990s.
(Pensacola News Journal, February 4, 1999).
The Belmont DeVilliers area or West Hill, as it was also known, “was the center of
entertainment and everything else in the black community”, said Robert “Cooker” Morgan
(February 4, 1999) who lived in the area since he was 10 years old. Morgan defined Belmont
Devilliers area as the “City within a city” and explained the development of the area during the
1900s was due to the increasing segregation of the new neighborhoods during Jim Crow laws,
which defined “where African Americans could and could not build their homes”. Belmont
Devilliers was an active business and entertainment center that contained doctor’s offices, beauty
salons, groceries stores, nightclubs, restaurants, pharmacies and other commercial
establishments. (Pensacola News Journal, February 4, 1999).
The history of Pensacola shaped Belmont DeVilliers from the late 1880s until today. The
area, initially developed as a strong residential zone that reached its zenith during the 1930s and
1940s, experienced the beginning of its architectural decadence in the 1950s when constant
demolition of buildings weakened its physical features and reduced its social configuration at a
certain level. However, some of the “residential, commercial, religious and public” original
structures are still present in the neighborhood. (Historic Pensacola Preservation Board, 1998 in
CRA, 2004)
“Traditionally know as part of West Hill”, the Belmont DeVilliers area evolved as a
portion of a larger suburban area “between the 1880s and the 1930s”. When the Jim Crow laws
took place in 1905, racial separation gradually increased in Pensacola and the Belmont
DeVilliers area developed prosperously as the center of African American business community.
(Historic Pensacola Preservation Board, 1998 in CRA, 2004)
The area surrounding the Belmont and DeVilliers Intersection includes 35 city blocks, or
the equivalent to 100 acres. Table 1 shows structural development in the area. (CRA, 2004).
Table 1
Construction Years Number of Structures Percentage of Structures
Built before 1919 94 28%
Built in the 1920’s and 1930’s 133 39%
Built between 1940 and 1959 44 13%
Built between 1960 and 1979 17 5%
Built since 1980 53 15%
Total Structures 341 100%
It is possible to see that the Belmont DeVilliers peak in structural development happened
between 1920s and 1930s. In contrast, the lowest development period is between the 1960s until
1979. There was a slight increase in construction and structural improvements starting in the
1980s.
In 2004, the population of Belmont DeVilliers was of approximately 969 inhabitants,
which corresponded to 2% of the population in Pensacola. Sixty Seven percent of the population
was Black, 30% was White, and 3% was composed by persons of other races. These numbers
were inversely proportional to Pensacola demographics, which was composed by 65% of White
persons, 31% of Black persons and 4% of persons of other races. (CRA, 2004).
Segregation and Integration: Belmont-DeVilliers Glory and Decadence
The emancipation of slaves came finally with the end of Civil War, in 1865 (Franklin &
Wills, 2007). Section 1 of the Thirteenth Amendment, passed by Congress on January 31, 1865,
stated: “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the
party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to
their jurisdiction.” (The U.S. National Archives & Records Administration).
Subsequently, passed by Congress on June 13, 1866, the Fourteenth Amendment’s
section 1 stated:
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction
thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State
shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens
of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property,
without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal
protection of the laws. (The U.S. National Archives & Records Administration)
And by February 3, 1870, Section 1 of the ratified Fifteenth Amendment ultimately
established that “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged
by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of
servitude” (The U.S. National Archives & Records Administration).
Sadly, despite the Amendments, African Americans were deprived from experiencing the
promised freedom through a rigid system of segregation laws (The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow).
For instance, thirty-one years after the end of slavery in the Unites States, the U.S. Supreme
Court decided against Homer Adolph Plessy, “who brought a suit challenging the legality of the
Separate Car Act in Louisiana”. This act made obligatory the creation of separated railroad cars
for blacks and whites (Wills, 2004). The Plessy v. Ferguson decision, in 1896, contextualized in
the Jim Crow period, preceded the laws that allowed “states, municipalities, and business could
separate blacks and whites as long as the provisions for blacks were equal to those provided for
whites”. These laws became legitimized as “separate but equal”, however, the reality was the
factual inequality between the public and private services and accommodations provided for
blacks and whites that made the blacks susceptible to receiving inferior treatment in relation to
whites. (Wills, 2004)
In Pensacola, during Jim Crow years, African Americans who had business located in
Palafox Street, were forced to relocate into the designated black districts in the city (Franklin &
Wills, 2007). That’s when black business successfully developed supported by black shoppers
from various segregated areas. For instance, during these years, Belmont DeVilliers area
business provided services to over 5,000 African American Residents (Franklin & Wills, 2007).
The period between the 1920s and the 1960s was marked by the Belmont DeVilliers tremendous
growth as the African American Businesses and entertainment center. Well-established
businesses such as Sam Charles’s Shoe Store and Dr. H.G. Williams Drugstore migrated from
Palafox Street to Belmont DeVilliers area (Wills, 2004). Persons who frequented the area during
the 40s, 50s, and 60s confirmed there were near 58 business including the Jones Pharmacy, the
radio station WBOP, Blue Dot Café (currently active), Morris Funeral Home (currently active),
Abe’s 506 Club, and the Savoy Ballroom, among others (Wills, 2004).
Jones Pharmacy was located at 500 N. DeVilliers Street (Corner of DeVilliers and LaRua
Streets). The building where Pensacola Drug Company, owned by Dr. H.G. Williams, was
previously located no longer exists (Robino, November 24, 2011). The Radio Station WBOP was
located on the second floor of the building at 431 West Belmont Street, while Gussie’s Record
was located downstairs (Pierce, 2005). These two businesses were the representation of
development through music for African Americans of Pensacola. WBOP was an essential
component within the black community. Robert Morgan, former DJ at WBOP in the video
Gussie’s Record Shop and WBOP Radio, which was part of the series Timeless Voices,
remembered when the radio was created:
We started on the air April 1st 1968. WBOP was started maybe two years ahead of that
time but it was not a planned black full-grown station. It was owned and operated by
whites and they actually didn’t make any money, so they decided to take advantage of
what would’ve been the new trend in AM radio and that is … a black broadcasting,
which we normally had two people that started the station and that was a …myself and
Wally “the Cat” Mercer by having the all-day-shifting only two men, we played
everything Rhythm and Blues, Jazz, and Gospel. (Hurt, 2006)
Gussie’s shop was very popular and more than a record shop, it “was a symbol of musical
history within Pensacola’s black community” (Hurt, 2006). The shop closed in the 1980s and the
building was out of use until the recent renovation in 2008 (belmontdevilliers.com). The building
was totally reconstructed in 2008 and currently houses the Five Sisters Blues Café.
Belmont DeVilliers became known as a great entertainment zone. Businessmen, such as
Abe Pierce Sr. made a history of success in the area. The Savoy Club, owned by Pierce, became
“one of the few places the people of color could congregate in a social setting”. The club was
also used for meetings where the citizens would discuss the needs in the city. Pierce contributed
to the visibility of DeVilliers neighborhood when brought artists such as Ike and Tina Turner,
James Brown, B.B. King, and Louis Armstrong, among others, to Pensacola area. The Abe’s 506
Club and Abe’s Package and Liquor Store, also owned by Pierce, generated an important niche
of jobs for many individuals who “found opportunity scarce in the larger world of segregation”.
In the 1940s, the USO club was opened on Belmont Street to offer a place for the black military
people. The club for white military was located on Spring Street. (Pierce, 2005)
During the 1930s and 1940s, the Savoy Gardens Night Club (or Savoy Ballroom) and the
USO Club were the popular entertainment for young adults in the black community. With the
growth of the community and the popularity of different types of music two additional clubs
were created, the Abe’s 506 and J.P. Newton Sugar Bowl (named Bunny Club in the 1960s),
both located on Belmont Street. The Belmont DeVilliers most popular times happened during the
40s, 50s, and 60s when African American artists were deprived “from performing on white only
venues” due to segregation laws (Hurt, 2006). However, the Chitlin Circuit, “a touring circuit
that provided employment for hundreds of black musicians” (Ward, December 20, 2011),
assured artists such as Billie Holiday and Etta James “a chance to earn their living as
performers”. When the Chitlin Circuit came to Pensacola they performed at Abe’s 506 (Hurt,
2006).
The Brown v. Board of Education decision of desegregating schools in 1954, and the
Civil Rights Laws in the 1960s ceased the creation of idiosyncratic laws that oppressed blacks
during the previous years finally putting an end to the Jim Crow era (Wills, 2004). However,
court-mandated integration happened only in 1969 (Franklin & Wills, 2007)
In Pensacola, the 1970s and 1980s known as the integration years, provoked
transformations that changed the picture of the night life in Belmont DeVilliers area. For
instance, with the integration African American musicians were no longer limited to perform on
black only venues. Also, an increase in the acts prices made it difficult for the clubs to afford
bringing new artists (Hurt, 2006). In 2011, the Bunny Club building is the only memory of the
Belmont DeVilliers 40s, 50s, and 60s glorious nightlife. The building currently houses the
DeVilliers Cultural Heritage Museum.
Inhabitants of the Belmont DeVilliers area expressed their memories in the book
DeVilliers: A City within the City of Pensacola Florida. Allen Gibson shared her impressions of
the transformations suffered in the area:
The Block was full of activity. The carnival like neighborhood scenes consisted of the
506 Club, the Sabers Lounge, Doc Greens, the Bunny Club, the Elks, the traffic and the
streets packed with people. The Pony League Ball Park was the spot where neighborhood
children could play ball. Bruce’s pool was on the other side of Main Street. The life
guards, Neal and Trump, watched carefully as many black children took their first
attempts at swimming. By 1970 all of this was gone: the pool was demolished and a
lawyer’s office is presently next door to the site. (Pierce, 2005)
Revitalization Project – Belmont/DeVilliers Use Land Plan
In 2004, “the City of Pensacola’s Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) in
conjunction with consultants Herbert-Halback, Inc. (HHI) and Peggy Fowler & Associates”
initiated the area revitalization project Belmont/DeVilliers Neighborhood Land Use Plan. The
project aims to recover the historical and cultural aspects on the area, through a structural
redevelopment plan. (CRA, 2004)
As a result of the partial completion of the project, which aimed “to develop a plan for
land use in the neighborhood that will help protect, preserve, and enhance the quality of life in
the area” (CRA, 2004), the four blocks in the intersection of Belmont and DeVilliers Streets
received new sidewalks and street lamps in 2006 (Franklin in Franklin & Wills, 2007). With the
active participation of residents and business owners in series of open forums, the plan’s initial
goal was to keep the current zoning and “lay out a preferred future and a variety of
implementation strategies that the CRA will cooperatively incorporate into the
Belmont/DeVilliers Redevelopment Work Program” (CRA, 2004). The plan, however, was not
intended to address all issues in the community. For instance, the Belmont DeVilliers area still
suffers with issues related to “perception of crime deterring ownership, inadequate neighborhood
services, and maintenance and improvement of existing roads” (CRA, 2004).
The reality of Belmont DeVilliers in 2011 consists in brick sidewalks, new streetlamps,
and parking lot spaces in the four-block Belmont and DeVilliers Streets intersection, while the
other blocks still keep their old sidewalks, insufficient lighting and lack of parking spaces. Also,
it is possible to see signs of the Weed and Seed project, implemented in the early 2000s by the
U.S. Justice Department with the aim to “weed out the crime and seed in neighborhood
restoration” (Franklin in Franklin & Wills, 2007)
Participants of public workshops conducted during the Belmont DeVilliers Land Use
Plan developmental phase were asked to provide their current impressions and future
expectations for the neighborhood. Table 2 shows the most frequent topics mentioned in 5 words
(or sentences) that described Belmont DeVilliers in 2004 and the expectations for the area in 20
years (CRA, 2004).
Table 2
Belmont/DeVilliers in 2004 Belmont/DeVilliers in 20 years
1. Rich in Culture/History 1. Vibrant and safe – “Perfect Picture
Book”
2. Few Opportunities 2. Restored, renovated, more owner
occupied, and affordable properties
3. Crime 3. Thriving neighborhood businesses
4. Blighting Conditions 4. Heritage tourist center promoting arts
and culture
5. Integrated 5. Active and accessible
Conclusion
It is plausible to conclude that the segregation years were the main factor contributing for
the development of Belmont DeVilliers area as an active business and entertainment center that
effectively served the African American community. Ironically, integration, during the 1970s,
brought decadence and took away the prosperity that ruled the neighborhood in the previous
decades. Members of the community in series of interviews expressed their dissatisfaction with
the process of integration and how it changed negatively the character of Belmont DeVilliers
area. Dana Gamel stated:
What brought Belmont and DeVilliers down was when segregation ended and blacks
were able to move more where ever they wanted to move, and many chose to leave the
area. Many of former residents would come back to the churches, the foundations of the
community, but unfortunately, the businesses were closed during these hours, so the
people didn’t shop there anymore. (Pierce, 2005)
In addition, the death of some of the key businessmen, such as Abe Pierce Sr., JP
Newton, and R. Morris marked “the end of an era” according to community members (Pierce,
2005). Beginning in the 2000s, the neighborhood initiated its reinvention process through series
of interviews and oral stories sessions conducted in various shops in the area, such as Ernestine’s
Café (at DeVilliers by the DeVilliers Cultural Heritage Museum) and the Belmont Art and
Culture Center. (Pierce, 2005)
Some of the old businesses witnessed the transformations and are still current in the
Belmont DeVilliers area. Table 3 shows active businesses in 2004/2005 (Pierce, 2005) and
current businesses in 2011 (Google Maps).
Table 3
2004/2005 Businesses 2011 Businesses
BACC Not found
The Window Factory Currently Located at 401 North Reus Street
Gussie’s Current Five Sisters Blues Café at 421 Belmont Street.
The shop closed in the 1980s (belmontdevilliers.com).
Allen’s Cuts and Styles Not found
The Dwarf Not found
Bunny Club Current DeVilliers Cultural and Heritage Museum.
Located at 500 West Belmont Street
Ernestine’s Café Current DeVilliers Café located by the DeVilliers
Cultural and heritage Museum at Belmont DeVilliers
Streets Intersection
Michael Allen Electrical Current Unity Contractor Enterprises located at 500
Belmont Street (old Bunny Club building). Sign at the
entrance of DeVilliers Café
JT’s Computers Located at 409 North De Villiers Street
Benboe’s Funeral Home Located at 416 W. Wright Street (2011)
Blue Dot’s Barbecue Located 310 North DeVilliers Street (2011)
According to data from Google Maps and photo inquiry, Michael Allen Electrical is
currently part of Unity Contractor Enterprises, which is located at 500 Belmont Street. JT’s
Computers is located at 409 North DeVilliers Street, which is the same building where the
current DeVilliers Café is located. A sign advertising Allen Electrical is located at the entrance
of DeVilliers Café.
The current dilemma is how segregation laws could play a key role in Belmont DeVilliers
growth and splendor between the 1920s and early1960s, and how the Civil Rights Movement
later, with the offering of “new opportunities and freedoms” for black people, contributed for the
complete decadence of the previously known as the “economic and social ‘black Mecca’ of
Pensacola” (Franklin in Franklin & Wills, 2007).
Belmont DeVilliers is currently searching for its integrated cultural, social, and economic
identity through the revitalization project and in alignment with the city development. However,
it is a long-term project that involves a variety of aspects to be fully implemented. Franklin (in
Franklin & Wills, 2007) stated:
The Belmont DeVilliers area is expected to be a direct corridor to the city’s planned
Maritime Park Project, a corridor that could mean increased tourist traffic and an ideal
opportunity for economic growth in the area.
In the restoration plan for Belmont DeVilliers, some elements have been instituted
immediately, but others may take five, ten, or twenty years to be fully realized in this
area. (Franklin & Wills, 2007)
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