The Wein Bar, located in Cincinnati, Ohio was established in 1934 as a Black and Tan club and is one of the longest known operating establishments that catered to the Black community, its musicians, and in active support of their civil rights. The bar was closed in 1980 after more than 45 years of operation. [1]
The proprietor, Joseph Goldhagen, was a Jewish immigrant from Vyzhnytsia a town in present-day Ukraine. During the 1920s, Joseph was active in the commercial production of illegal alcohol, [2] and once the Prohibition period ended, the bar was opened.
From the founding of the bar, Joseph supported the black community by frequently hosting events, food drives, and providing social support. [3] The original bar had several locations (500 West 4th street, and 413 west 6th street, others), and opened the primary location at 2985 Gilbert Ave after it became difficult to serve the mostly Black customers at the original locations due to discrimination-based zoning laws.
Later, the bar was operated by the extended Goldhagen family, and starting in the 1950s, the bar was primarily managed by Abraham K. Goldhagen (1904–1992). The first of eight children, Abraham was born in Manhattan, New York, and lived most of his adult life in Cincinnati, Ohio while operating the establishment.
The Gilbert Ave bar was located in an historically Black neighborhood, and became the primary operation for most of the bar's existence. The immediate neighborhood is culturally significant as the location of an early public debate about slavery at Lane Seminary, and directly across the street from the bar was the former home of abolitionist, Harriet Beecher Stowe. [4] During the time period of the Wein bar's operations, the Stowe home was designated as a Green Book [5] hotel (Edgemont Inn) and used by Black travelers to find safe housing and other accommodations.
During Abraham's management, the bar was the frequent NAACP meeting place used to organize regional civil rights protests and trips to the Jim Crow south in support African American causes. [6] Alongside fellow activists Julian Bond, Maurice McCracken, Marian Spencer, Fred Shuttlesworth, Ted Berry and others, Abraham used the bar as a nexus for the civil rights movement. Activists, politicians, clergy, and others planned their activities and, notably the plans to make the march to Selma to Montgomery, [7] March on Washington, and many other civil rights events.
Using the bar to manage these civil right activities, Abraham was recognized with various awards including:
Early radio broadcasts with live performances of Black artist were a regularly scheduled occurrence, [11] and the bar had multiple live performances daily. Over time, the bar evolved into an R&B live performance venue with regional and national music entertainment.
Known performers who visited or played at the bar include Fats Waller, Lionel Hampton, Lou Rawls, James Brown, and notably the formation of the James Brown funk era band (The J.B.'s) occurred during a live NAACP fundraising performance at the bar. [12]
Harriet Elisabeth Beecher Stowe was an American author and abolitionist. She came from the religious Beecher family and wrote the popular novel Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852), which depicts the harsh conditions experienced by enslaved African Americans. The book reached an audience of millions as a novel and play, and became influential in the United States and in Great Britain, energizing anti-slavery forces in the American North, while provoking widespread anger in the South. Stowe wrote 30 books, including novels, three travel memoirs, and collections of articles and letters. She was influential both for her writings as well as for her public stances and debates on social issues of the day.
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Lane Seminary, sometimes called Cincinnati Lane Seminary, and later renamed Lane Theological Seminary, was a Presbyterian theological college that operated from 1829 to 1932 in Walnut Hills, Ohio, today a neighborhood in Cincinnati. Its campus was bounded by today's Gilbert, Yale, Park, and Chapel Streets.
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The Harriet Beecher Stowe House is a historic home in Cincinnati, Ohio which was once the residence of influential antislavery author Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of the 1852 novel Uncle Tom's Cabin.
Tyrone Keith Yates is a Hamilton County Municipal Court Judge. He was elected on November 8, 2011.
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The Cincinnati riots of 1836 were caused by racial tensions at a time when African Americans, some of whom had escaped from slavery in the Southern United States, were competing with whites for jobs. The racial riots occurred in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States in April and July 1836 by a mob of whites against black residents. These were part of a pattern of violence at that time. A severe riot had occurred in 1829, led by ethnic Irish, and another riot against blacks broke out in 1841. After the Cincinnati riots of 1829, in which many African Americans lost their homes and property, a growing number of whites, such as the "Lane rebels" who withdrew from the Cincinnati Lane Seminary en masse in 1834 over the issue of abolition, became sympathetic to their plight. The anti-abolitionist rioters of 1836, worried about their jobs if they had to compete with more blacks, attacked both the blacks and white supporters.
The Cincinnati riots of 1841 occurred after a long drought had created widespread unemployment in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. Over a period of several days in September 1841, unemployed whites attacked black residents who defended themselves. Many blacks were rounded up and held behind a cordon and then moved to the jail. According to the authorities, this was for their own protection.
Marian Regelia Alexander Spencer was an American politician who served as Vice Mayor of the Cincinnati City Council in Cincinnati, Ohio. She was the first African American woman to be elected to the Council. The granddaughter of a former slave, she was active in the civil rights movement to desegregate schools and end discrimination, and became the first female president of the Cincinnati NAACP chapter. She also served on the University of Cincinnati board of trustees.
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Black and Tan clubs were nightclubs in the United States in the early 20th century catering to the black and mixed-race ("tan") population. They flourished in the speakeasy era and were often popular places of entertainment linked to the early jazz years. With time the definition simply came to mean black and white clientele.
Samuel Milton Goldhagen was an American Army Air Corps commissioned officer who served during World War II in the Pacific and European theaters. He initially enlisted June 9, 1941, and from his barracks, sent a letter to President Franklin Roosevelt, as a Jewish American, imploring the need to defeat Nazism, and to extend the service term of the enlisted soldiers. A return letter was sent by the White House which included the actual pen used by President Roosevelt to sign the extension of the American draft in preparation for the war effort. Samuel's service included hosting a military support dinner with Hollywood film stars of the day, was present at Pearl Harbor during the attack, and as B-24 Bombardier, became a German POW, and ultimately died from his injuries that occurred during his final mission over Munich, Germany.