Ella: The Queen of ESTL

I am not sure when I came into possession of this photo. My grandmother is in a white gown, a matching headpiece complete with feathers and silver rounded-toe pumps. It is difficult to tell from the photo, but the shoes appear to be satin with a mesh and rhinestone design. She completes the look with white gloves and silver drop earrings. In the photos, she is holding her award: a trophy and a ribbon bouquet. Her stately look is complete with a tiara. To me, she looks like a queen. 

My grandmother was industrious. A hustler. She was crowned Queen at the 007 Club in Saint Louis. According to my mother, 007 was a social club ran by men. They held fundraisers and the woman who sold the most tickets was crowned Queen. Leave it to industrious Ella to sell the most tickets and take home the prize.  

Looking back, she was the Queen of East Saint Louis, its unofficial mayor. When you entered her home, she had the recent copy of the East Saint Louis Monitor and its other recent editions. As we entered her home, tired after a long day of travel with our belongings and luggage, she gave us little time to get settled.

          “Rosalind! Here go the Monitor right here!” 

She would then launch into her state of the city. Filling my mom in on the city’s news and happenings: what the current mayor was doing (whether she approved of what they were doing because she would let you know); the city’s upcoming events (which was her way of asking my mom and dad if they would take her); and finally, how the city had changed and who from her crew had sadly passed on. She was a forever historian of her city and time. 

Those who have heard of East Saint Louis, typically know of the city because of its infamous race riot that began on July 1, 1917. Tempers began to flare due to the city’s demographic changes from the Great Migration. This resulted in clashes over jobs and housing. Upwards of 12,000 African-Americans left the South for East Saint Louis in 1916 and 1917. After a rumor that a white man had been killed by a Black man, white mobs began targeting the Black community in drive-by shootings, beatings and arson.  

In A Little Devil in America, Hanif Abdurraquib recounts a February 3, 1952 performance of Josephine Baker at Kiel Auditorium in her hometown of St. Louis. The concert was to raise money for a local organization fighting school segregation.  At the end of her set, she recalled witnessing the riot: 

“When I was a little girl I remember the horror of the East St. Louis race riot. I was very tiny but the horror of the whole thing impressed me so that here today at the age of forty-five years I can see myself standing on the west bank of the Mississippi looking over into East Saint Louis and watching the glow of the burning of Negro homes lighting the sky. We children stood huddled together in bewilderment, not being able to understand the horrible madness of mob violence but here we were hiding behind the skirts of grown-ups frightened to death with the screams of the Negro families running across the bridge with nothing but what they had on their backs as their worldly belongings.”

I knew nothing about this infamous riot as a little girl. I learned on a recent trip to East Saint Louis that the bells of Truelight Baptist Church rang out at eleven pm on July 1, 1917, as a warning to the city’s Black citizens that trouble was afoot. I also had the opportunity to view the historical marker for Leroy Bundy’s home. Bundy was a Black man who stood trial for causing the riot (of course he did not). He was sentenced to life in prison and was later exonerated by the state’s supreme court. 

I believe I have my grandmother to thank for this gap in my ESTL history growing up: she was the best of East Saint Louis and she made sure I only knew of, and saw, the city at its best. 

My grandmother was a proud graduate of Lincoln High School. If you know older Black people from her generation, high school pride is second to none. My family is split between Lincoln and Eastside, my mother’s high school. I learned from my talks with my mom and grandma that Eastside was a predominantly white school. Lincoln was established in 1909 for the city’s Black population. Located in the city’s south end, the historically Black portion of East Saint Louis, Lincoln produced two greats: Miles Davis and Jackie Joyner-Kersee. 

The day after we laid my grandmother to rest, my mom and her best friend drove me through the south end. I am sure I saw this area as a little girl, but it was incredible to see where my maternal family lived when they first made their way from Mississippi all those decades ago. I also saw the park where Jackie Joyner-Kersee trained and Lincoln High. Although closed years ago, the building still stands. 

Then, we viewed the plot of land where my great-grandmother’s house once sat; the place where my grandma and all of her siblings lived after making their way to the big city. It took my mom a moment to find the exact plot, my grandmother’s house was long gone, and memories do begin to fade. It was a humid day, with the heat coming up from the ground as my Grandma used to say; but I could not miss the opportunity to get out and take a picture on ancestral land. 

We ended our East Saint Louis tour with a snoot at Sandy’s.  My mom and her best friend began to chat with others who were waiting in line for their barbecue; it did not take long before they unearthed connections. One woman had gone to school with my great aunt; another man was a wealth of knowledge about the city’s past. I began asking him questions about the different businesses and industries that used to exist in the city: from Major Cab Company with its headquarters on State Street across from the library; Regal Cab Company across from 19th and Bond; Broadhead Ford; and Lou Brock Dodge, founded by the Cardinals hall of fame outfielder. Our tour through the city was the perfect final salute to our queen. She would have loved to be right there in the backseat with me, touring her city and providing color commentary. 

Ella was a queen for so many reasons. Her name for one exuded regality, but she was queen principally because of her dignity. She had self-respect. She was tenacious; she withstood so many tests and trials. She also managed to break through barriers in a time when they stood tall and were seemingly unsurmountable for a Black woman. In the early seventies, my grandma decided she would buy a house; people like her just did not do that, but leave it to Ella to do just that. Never mind that she was a woman, a single one, and a divorced woman at that. And never mind that the realtor would only let her choose from five houses in the area because of the color of her skin; Ella made a way and she bought that house. She would go on to graduate college at Southern Illinois University - Edwardsville and work for School District 189.  

I miss her every day but I thank for her being our queen and for setting an example. 

Stay tuned for the next installment in our Ella mini-series.