Horace H. Voss, Mayor of Franklin Avenue

Horacious “Horace” H. Voss (1863-1906) was one the political and civic leaders of SLC’s historically Black neighborhood of Franklin Ave, now known as Edison St. 

I refer to him as the unofficial mayor of Franklin Ave. The neighborhood had several prominent leaders who were all active in civics, newspapers, religious organizations, and politics, but Voss was unique in a couple specific aspects: he was the first person of color to serve as a Legislative Officer and owned real estate.

Horace H. Voss. I refer to him as the unofficial mayor of Franklin Ave, Salt Lake City.

Originally from Tennessee, Voss spent a few years in Kansas City, Missouri, before arriving in SLC in 1891.

He quickly became involved with Salt Lake’s small, but active, Black community. He was one of the vocal leaders of the Black Republicans, helped organize the annual Emancipation Day celebrations, was a trustee of Salt Lake's Trinity African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, and was a member of several Black fraternal lodges. 

Notably, Voss was the first person of color to serve as a Legislative Officer in Utah. In 1903 he was appointed to serve as Doorkeeper, a position granted to him by the Utah Republican Party for “delivering the Black Vote.”  This type of appointment was something that the Black community fought for, especially since the position commonly offered was that of dog catcher, a thankless and difficult City position.

Although Edison Street recorded 100% Black residents in the early 1900s, Voss, and his wife Lizzie, were the only Black people to own property in this neighborhood. He owned houses at 254 and 254 ½ S. Edison Street. (Of note there were other Black property owners in Millcreek and on the outskirts of SLC).

Voss was killed on Edison Street in 1906.  A day after stopping an attack on an elderly man, the assailant lured Voss into a boarding house and shot him in an act of revenge for interfering the day prior. His murder was national news with many newspapers tracking each development of the trial of his killer.

His funeral was held at the First Methodist Church on the corner of 200 East and 200 South as it was larger than the AME Church. Both Black and White people attended his funeral, the 24th Infantry Band from Fort Douglas played, and it featured choir performances and speeches. Horace Voss’s mother arrived at the funeral from Tennessee as it was underway. He is buried at Mount Olivet Cemetery.

Civil Rights Lawsuit in 1893

Salt Lake Hot Springs Sanitarium at 52 W 300 South, 1920. From UDSH.

In 1893, Ruth Shelby and Jennie Drake, both African American women, sued a SLC company for discrimination. They lost their case.

On Sept 25 1893, the two women were refused admittance to the newly opened Salt Lake Hot Springs Sanitarium, located at 52 W 300 South.

The Hot Springs Sanitarium, which became known as “the San” was a swimming and bathing establishment featuring hot Sulphur spring water that was piped in from Beck’s Hot Springs, a franchise having been obtained from SLC government.

The San had 2 large pools on the first floor, the large one for men and boys (bathing suits optional) and the smaller one for men and women (bathing suits required). There were also 12 smaller pools for private swimming and family use and 25 private bathtubs.

A few days after the women were refused admittance, they filed a damage suit of $299 each (about $8,900 today) alleging they were discriminated against because of their color.

After the lawsuit was filed, the San released a public statement stating in part “We have nothing against the colored people, but it would be injurious to our business to let them bathe in our sanitarium, and consequently we cannot permit them to do so… The colored people of Salt Lake City ought to realize this and be satisfied to let us alone.”

The case was heard Dec 18 1893, in front of Judge Peter Lochrie, a non-Mormon and a Republican who had voted for Abraham Lincoln.

The women’s attorney argued that because SLC had granted a franchise for water pipes it made the Sanitarium a quasi-public company and that like a railroad company they were bound to accommodate all comers who were willing to pay for the privilege of bathing. The Sanitarium argued that they had the right to refuse anyone.

The judge ruled against the women stating that the Sanitarium was a private business being run for financial gain and when the women entered the premises, they did so by its permission. The business has the right to limit its invitation to the exclusion of certain individuals or classes or close it to everyone.

The Civil Rights Act passed in 1964.

Sources: SL Herald 1893-02-28; SL Herald 1893-09-26; SL Herald 1893-10-01; SL Herald 1893-12-13; SL Herald Republican 1893-12-19; Biographical Record of SLC 1902 pg 217; 

Thanks to Heidi at Utah Archives for (unsuccessfully) trying to find out more about this case in their archives. 

Sanitarium advertisement from SL Herald 1893-09-26

Joan Nabors' Story About Fair Housing

Ads from SL Trib June 28 1963 and SL Trib July 15 1963;
Also showing an older image of the duplex from SLCo Assessor

This Duplex at 1806-1808 Hillcrest Ave SLC was the site of a small win in fair housing during the 1960s.

In 1958, the University of Utah hired its first Black faculty member, Chuck Nabors. His wife, Joan, joined him and moved to SLC in 1961.

In 1963, Chuck and Joan decided to look for a larger apartment and Chuck found a two-bedroom duplex for rent in the Highland Park neighborhood of SLC.

Chuck met with the owners, Elmer and Leone Hale (a White couple). Elmer was a retired SLC Policeman who had downsized to this duplex after their children were grown.

Chuck wanted his wife to see the apartment before he formally rented the place, so he and Joan went to meet with the Hales.

According to Joan’s oral history, the Hale’s “were a little shocked when [Joan] arrived.” Apparently the Hales had thought Chuck was White as he had light skin, but Joan’s skin is darker according to her own description.

The Hales were surprised to find the Nabors were a Black couple but they decided to rent the apartment to them anyway. Chuck and Joan put down a $100 deposit and were given a key. All seemed well until Elmer Hales called a few days later and asked for the key back and refunded the deposit.

The Hales soon advertised the apartment in the newspapers again, this time specifying that they desired “White, LDS” tenants.

A few weeks later, the Nabors received a call from Mr. Hale asking if they had found a new apartment to rent. The Nabors were having trouble finding a place that would rent to a Black couple and said they were still interested.

Elmer Hale said that “he and his wife decided that if they were going to do anything about the problem in Salt Lake, they needed to start now, and that the apartment was open to [the Nabors].” Chuck and Joan Nabor soon moved in and stayed there for many years.

Source: Interview Joan Nabors, 1987. From Marriott Library 

A note: The reason why I consider this a win is that the Hales decided that the previous social norms they adhered to were not appropriate and to make their community better they would make a personal change. This was at a time when civil rights were being discussed on a national level but before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed by Congress.

1806-1808 Hillcrest SLC, 2017. From Google street view.

1806-1808 Hillcrest SLC, 2021.

Alberta Henry and Her Motivation to Create Change

Alberta Henry at the Utah Democratic Convention.
From Special Collections, Marriott Library.

Ms. Alberta Henry was a civil rights activist in SLC.

There is lots of information about her elsewhere, especially by @betterdays2020 and a biography book by Colleen Whitley.

What struck me about Alberta’s story was her motivation to create change.

Alberta was born in Louisiana and primarily raised in Kansas. She reluctantly came to Utah to visit a friend when she was in her late 20s; she never wanted to come to Utah and never wanted to stay, but circumstances convinced her that the Lord had a plan for her and she stayed in SLC until her death in 2005.

Even as a Black woman in the 1940s, Alberta was a working professional with specialized training when she lived in Topeka, Kansas. She was the Assistant Manager, a projectionist, and a cashier at a movie theater and later ran a Café in Topeka.

When she moved to SLC in 1949, she looked for work in the areas she was trained but she faced greater prejudice in SLC than she did in Topeka and could only find work as a domestic servant.

In one of her oral histories, she said “I didn’t go into the domestic work. It was just all that [I] could have. That they would let you do here. You couldn’t do anything else. They wouldn’t hire me for my professionalism. So doing domestic work was an honest work where you get paid.”

She later found out that all throughout Utah and Idaho, many of the White folks simply didn’t know many Black people because they were not in the professional sphere. White people only thought of Black people as servants because that was the only familiarity White people in Utah had with Black people.

She then made it her goal to be more visible to White society in Utah. She volunteered to be a speaker at White community groups and then later worked to help Black students gain scholarships to local colleges and keep college-educated Black people more visible in Utah.

Sources: Alberta Henry oral history interview 1-2, Marriott Library.

J. Gordon McPherson Was Removed From Jury Service Because White Men Objected to Serving with a Black Man

J. Gordon McPherson in 1903.
From the Seattle Republican 1903-07-31

On Feb 26 1900, J. Gordon McPherson (1869-1936), a Black man, was sworn in for jury duty in a SLC court. The next day he was excused by the Judge because the other 11 members of the jury- all white men- objected to his presence.

McPherson was the last juror chosen for the murder of trial of John H Benbrook. All 12 jurors immediately retired to their hotel as they were to be sequestered for the trial.

All the White jurors, led by Edward McCarrick, refused to eat in the same restaurant or share a hotel room with Mr. McPherson. They also refused to walk to the courthouse and ride the elevator with him.

A long-standing practice, in Utah and elsewhere, was to dismiss Black people from being considered for a jury by judging their character to be inadequate or by using peremptory challenge (excuse a potential juror without stating a cause).

McPherson was the 72nd juror drawn for this trial and the prosecution had already used all 15 of their peremptory challenges. The defense found him to be acceptable and of good character as Mr. McPherson came to SLC with the 24th Infantry (Buffalo Solders) and had recently been discharged from the Army with a grade of “Excellent” character, the highest rating possible. It was late at night and the defense accepted McPherson as the final juror.

When court began the next morning, McCarrick and the other jurors declared that they would not serve with a Black man and would rather go to jail for contempt of court. Judge Ogden Hiles and the opposing lawyers met in the Judge’s chambers and worked out an agreement to dismiss McPherson from the jury.

When court resumed the defense withdrew its acceptance of McPherson by using one of their remaining peremptory challenges. The defense also stated that Juror McCarrick was now biased and he was also dismissed. Two other White men were seated for the 12-member jury.

McPherson sued McCarrick for damages to his character but lost the case in the Utah Supreme Court.

J. Gordon McPherson soon left SLC for the West Coast where he became a well-known Preacher eventually known as “Black Billy Sunday.”

Sources: Des News 1900-02-27; SL Herald 1900-02-28

 

Some interesting quotes from the old newspapers:

1) Edward McCarrick, the White juror leading the charge against McPherson:

“When it comes to making me swallow a nigger, it won’t go down… When McPherson was accepted last night there was h—l to pay. I blame only one man- Judge Powers [the Defense Attorney]- he should have had more consideration for the feelings of the 11 white men on that jury. It is the first time in the history of Utah, so far as I know, that the attempt was ever made to have a black man sit with white men in a trial court of any kind. Had the effort been successful this time, a precedent would have been established that would have been a blot on the jurisprudence of the State. As it is, I believe that that sort of a proposition has received tis death blow.” (Des News 1900-02-27)

2) J. Gordon McPherson, the Black juror who was dismissed from service:

“I was raised in the South and may claim to know something of the prejudice against colored men, but I never saw anything in the South equal to this. It was not my desire to mingle with them in a social way at all or force myself upon them. And said as much to the other 11 jurors... I stand the equal of any white man living, before the law. If they do not want to associate with me, that is their privilege but as a citizen before the law I have my rights and I propose to maintain them.” (Des News 1900-02-27)

and

“Though I don’t want to be on the jury, I am indignant that my rights as an American citizen have been denied and trampled upon. There was no law against my serving on the jury yet in this state where they particularly preach the gospel of Christ, the equality of man, I have been cast out. This is outrageous. It is an insult to every colored man in Utah. It is a denial of a right and therefore tyranny.” (SL Herald Republican 1900-02-28)

J. Gordon McPherson later in life.
From the California Eagle, Aug 12 1916.

Thelma Steward Beridon and Education Inequality

Continuing to explore the life of Thelma Steward Beridon (1898-1980) of SLC…

Typing class at LDS Business College ca 1905. From UDSH.
Note only White people in the photograph.

Shortly after Thelma died, her husband, Clarence Beridon, told an interesting story about Thelma during an oral history interview:

Clarence said that Thelma had a good head on her, she was very intelligent.

Thelma tried to enroll at LDS Business College, then located across from the SLC LDS Temple at 70 N Main St (where the current LDS Church Office Building is located).

The College had a program where men and women could go to school to learn business skills and when they finished, they could pay back the cost of school. At the time, the school guaranteed finding students’ jobs after they graduated.

The LDS Business College told Thelma that they would not accept her to the school because no one would hire her “because she was a colored woman,” as told by Clarence.

“She had a very good brain on her. It just wasn’t developed like it should have been. Like if she had been white it would have been different, see. She could have went on, see. They would have accepted her.” Clarence said in his oral history interview.

So instead of being able to learn typing and stenographer skills, Thelma was stuck doing domestic housework for others. She primarily worked for prominent SLC attorney Calvin A Behle (in addition to her NAACP volunteer work- see previous post).

Source: Oral History Interview with Clarence Beridon, interview 4-5, pages 11-13. From Marriot Library University of Utah.

LDS Business College 1961 before it was demolished. From UDSH.

Advertisement for LDS Business College,
From Salt Lake Tribune 1934-09-02

Advertisement for LDS Business College,
Deseret News 1932-09-21

An Attack on Thelma Steward and Wallace Thurman led to the Formation of the Salt Lake Chapter of the NAACP

Calvary Baptist Church Aug 1910, 679 E 300 South,
road construction in foreground. From UDSH

On April 9 1918, 2 Black teenagers were assaulted by about 6 White Soldiers from Ft Douglas at the intersection of 200 South and Main St SLC.

This incident and the lack of any accountability helped spur the creation of the Salt Lake Branch of the NAACP.

The two teenagers were Thelma Steward, age 19, and Wallace Thurman, age 15.

Thelma was the daughter of Samuel Steward- the longtime caretaker of one of SLC’s underground Comfort Stations (previous posts). Wallace went on to be a part of the Harlem Renaissance. Both teenagers were members of the Calvary Baptist Church, at the time located at 679 E 300 South (and now located at 1090 S State).

The two groups physically bumped into each other on Main Street and name calling started. Then Soldiers knocked Wallace down several times and badly beat him. The Soldiers also beat Thelma, then seized her and drove off with her in their automobile letting her out a short time later. Wallace reported that the Soldiers appeared to be drunk.

This incident outraged the Black Community of SLC, especially the membership of the Cavalry Baptist Church and a meeting was held on April 15 1918.

As a result of that meeting Pastor George W. Hart filed a protest with the SL City Council on April 18 1918 in which he stated the SLC Police deliberately stalled any investigation and allowed the Soldiers to escape in their anonymity.

It was this incident that prompted Pastor Hart and many members of the Calvary Baptist Church to organize the Salt Lake Branch of the NAACP in Feb 1919.

Pastor Hart served as the first president and Thelma served as the first secretary.

Sources: Oral History Interviews: James E. Dooley, Albert Fitz 1, Clarence Beridon 4-5, All from Marriott Library; SL Telegram 1918-04-18; Des News 1918-04-18

News clipping headline from Deseret News 1918-04-18

The only image of Thelma I could find, from her obit, SL Trib 1980-05-13