The Quad-Cities, with Davenport as the largest member, has for years been one of five cities that have been home to a majority of the state's black population.
[4] In recent history, Davenport has been home to the third-largest, in absolute numbers and percentage, African-American community in Iowa, behind both Coralville (2,647 in 2019) and Waterloo (9,529 in 2000, 8,398 in 1980, 10,600 in 2019), and originally behind Des Moines (16,025 in 2000, 13,164 in 1980).
In the 19th century, African-Americans fleeing both slavery and the Civil War came to Davenport because it was a major port in a free territory on the Mississippi River.
In Davenport, white residents became agitated in meetings and newspaper petitions against continued African-American migration to the city were circulated.
[15] According to historian David Brodnax, African Americans in Davenport enjoyed a relative lack of "open violence" from the Civil War to the turn of the 20th century.
But "several high-profile events—including a race riot, waves of hysteria following alleged rapes of white women by black men, a near lynching, and legal harassment of African-American activists—show that even the threat of violence was a tool of social control to maintain class and racial privilege.
Written in humorous dialect, the book reminiscences about the "good old days", often without specifying the years involved and always with an eye toward amusing the reader.
The chapter "Old Time Cullud Folks" mentions Linsey Pitts and gives short descriptions of various people, including John Hanover Warwick, a barber on Third Street who had four sons, one of whom left to become a minstrel; George Washington, a whitewasher and the first black man in the community to marry a white woman; Milton Howard, who worked at the federal arsenal and who learned several languages; Henry McGaw, who started a night janitor service for doctors and lawyers; Jake Busey, the first black person in Davenport to graduate from the public schools, and who had "a style of his own in jugglin' hard words that made the cullud folks gasp".
[21][22] According to John D. Baskerville of the University Northern Iowa, "The years between 1910 and 1920 marked the beginning of a major shift of the African-American population within the United States.
The nation's African-American population shifted away from underdeveloped rural areas in the South to industrial centers in the cities, particularly in the North and the West."
[citation needed] In the late 1970s, when the manufacturing sector began to slow down and shed jobs, African-Americans, often the last hired, were the first to feel pain.
They closed many of the black businesses in The Strip, located along the 600–900 blocks of Harrison Street; including Buckner Hauling, owned by Louis Buckner, one of the area's first African-American-owned garbage collection businesses; and the "Green Apartments," an apartment complex on Eighth Street in which future Super Bowl star Roger Craig grew up.
As black men enlisted to serve during World War II, they wanted to gain equal rights at home.
In 1942, the first civil rights discrimination lawsuit in Davenport was won by Charles Toney and his family against proprietors of an ice cream parlor.
The idea behind the male cotillions in the various communities was to celebrate the achievements of outstanding blacks graduating from high school and bolster self-esteem.
[26] In the early 20th century, steamboats paddling up the Mississippi brought jazz musicians and others to river ports as far north as Davenport, and sometimes St. Paul, Minnesota.
The Coliseum dance hall (1012 W. 4th Street) (nicknamed "the Col"), opened in 1914 and has been a venue for jazz and blues artists as well as other music.
[29] In his memoir, Satchmo, Armstrong said that in 1920, on his second visit to Davenport on the Sidney, he met the almighty Bix Biederbecke, the great cornet genius.
Another white Quad Cities musician, Louie Bellson (born "Luigi Ballasoni") of nearby Moline, Illinois, the son of a music store owner, played drums for the Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, and Duke Ellington bands.
Founded in 1958, Semper Fidelis originally held its meetings in private homes because public places were unwelcoming to minorities, according to a long-time member of the group.
[36] Notable figures and community leaders include Roger Craig, All-Pro NFL running back; Jamie Williams, NFL receiver and original writer of the film Any Given Sunday; Titus Burrage, who frequently danced with Bill "Bojangles" Robinson; Michael Nunn, middleweight boxing champion; Ricky Davis, professional basketball player; Jae Bryson, author and media owner; and Dana Davis, actress and singer.