History of Oak Ridge, Scarboro told to state Elks
Pictured are, from left, Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank, county Com- missioner Anthony Allen, Tennessee State Grand Daughter E. Yvonne Joyce, county Commissioner Aaron Wells, and Eddie L. Wilkes, Grand Tennes- see State president. The Elks received a proclamation from the county officials at the Elks’ world meeting in Oak Ridge’s Doubletree Hotel. (photo:Ben Pounds )
The Tennessee State Association of the Improved Benevolent & Protective Order of the Elks of the World event took place at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Saturday, May 4. The IBPOEW is the largest Black fraternal organization in the world. Atomic Elks Lodge #1301 and Roberta Bohanon Temple #1381 at 262 Wilberforce Avenue in Oak Ridge is the local organization affiliated with them.
Bro. State President Eddie Wilkes spoke positively about the Oak Ridge lodge, adding that they were adding members.
“They’re going to be a great lodge, a great temple,” he said.
One highlight was local historian and Oak Ridge poet laureate Rose Weaver’s presentation of Oak Ridge’s African American history, to the visiting state Elks leaders. She focused on the city’s historically black Scarboro neighborhood.
She explained about Oak Ridge’s creation to enrich uranium for the bombs dropped on Japan in World War II. The federal government which ran the city kept Oak Ridge segregated along racial lines during and immediately after the war. The present-day Scarboro neighborhood in Gamble Valley became the Black part of town after the war. Nowadays it’s mostly a residential area, but Weaver said it once had many of its own businesses including a grocery store, a barber and hair salon, a nightclub, a gas station, a community center with a library and a baseball field where the National Negro League held games.
“Scarboro was a vibrant business community and although Jim Crowism prevailed, residents had all the commodities they needed to survive their everyday lives,” Weaver said.
The first Black town council member was Charles Teasley who was also the first Black supervisor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Although people often don’t count it due to the federal government being in charge, Oak Ridge desegregated Robertsville Middle School and Oak Ridge High School in 1955, one year before neighboring Clinton High School desegregated. Weaver and others call these first Black students at RMS and ORHS the Scarboro 85 after the neighborhood from which they came. Weaver said many Oak Ridge Elks were relatives of the 85.
As on other occasions Weaver promoted the Scarboro 85 Monument planned for Oak Ridge’s A.K. Bissell Park honoring the desegregation of Oak Ridge Schools and the people who made it possible. The city of Oak Ridge and Anderson County government have both committed financially to the project, but the Scarboro 85 monument committee is still looking for private donations on its website https://scarboro85monument.com.
“When you have history, you need to leave something so that other generations are aware of what has transpired,” Weaver said.
County officials Terry Frank, Anderson County Mayor; County Commissioner Anthony Allen; and County Commissioner Aaron Wells presented a resolution honoring the Elks to the visiting Elks, Wilkes and E. Yvonne Joyce, Tennessee state grand daughter. City officials Mayor Pro Tem James Dodson and Fire Chief Travis Solomon honored Tina Henderson Porter, Daughter, Roger Williamson, Exalted Ruler; Shalonda Tuner, and Ernest Commer, all members of Atomic Lodge 1301 with proclamations and lapel pins.
Darnell Price won the local oratorical competition. Throughout the following week the TN State Association provided presentations to the following departments: Special People, Kidney Department and Battered Women in Oak Ridge and Anderson County, showing their efforts to give back through service.