In the early decades of the 20th century, when Black writers and performers visited Minneapolis, they needed a place to stay. Even celebrities such as W.E.B. Du Bois, Marian Anderson, Duke Ellington and Langston Hughes were not welcome in local hotels.
So they stayed at Phyllis Wheatley House.
The organization, now known as the Phyllis Wheatley Community Center and named after an 18th-century enslaved woman who became a well-known poet, was created 100 years ago in north Minneapolis.
It began in the midst of the Jim Crow era as a settlement house, one of a number of such places around the country providing services to the urban poor and European immigrants. Black women who were studying at the University of Minnesota but barred from living in its dorms boarded at Phyllis Wheatley House. It went on to provide lodging to people who wouldn’t have found it elsewhere.
Gradually, it grew to provide support of many forms in an era when Black people were often rejected or threatened elsewhere. It offered social services, recreation, culture and a gathering space for adults and children in the North Side’s then small but growing Black community.
“Community centers have been a major influence in helping Black kids be able to enjoy some of the activities that were just normal for white kids,” said Freddie Davis-English, 79, a retired member of the African American Family Services board who was heavily involved with the center when working in juvenile corrections.
Notable people who spent time at the center included civil rights activist W. Harry Davis, an author, civic leader and coach for the amateur Golden Gloves and Olympics boxing. Davis had a lifelong connection to Phyllis Wheatley, where he first coached boxing and later spent years on its board of directors. Davis, who died in 2006 at age 83, was a longtime member of the Minneapolis School Board, founded the Minneapolis Urban Coalition and was the first Black man to run for Minneapolis mayor with major party backing.
The center also holds an important place in Minneapolis music history. Prince’s father, John L. Nelson, played at Phyllis Wheatley and other community centers with his jazz group, the Prince Rogers Trio. Later, Prince himself played there with Grand Central, his band in high school.