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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