The Corning-Elmira area has been home to people from different races and ethnicities even before the arrival of European settlers. Members of the Delaware nation living near Corning welcomed Black freedom-seekers in the late 1600s. The Chemung Valley has always been home to people working toward human rights for everyone. They include abolitionists like John Jones and civil rights leaders like Charles and Odessa McGrady.
Read on to learn about their lives and accomplishments and consider the lessons that can be applied in the fight for equality today.
Some of the first white residents of Steuben and Chemung counties enslaved Black people. They included Nathaniel Rochester, who lived in Dansville, as well as George Hornell and Eleazor Lindsley. Austin Steward, was enslaved near Bath and, after suffering brutal mistreatment, managed to earn his freedom.
Both Black and white residents of the area worked to help people gain their freedom and end slavery altogether. Among them was John W. Jones, who had escaped enslavement in Virginia in 1844. From his house in Elmira, he helped more than 800 freedom-seekers on their way from the South to Canada. After the Civil War he dug graves for Confederate soldiers who died at the Elmira Prison Camp, respectfully burying nearly 3,000 people.
Federal housing policy starting in the 1930s transformed the way people lived in the Chemung Valley and elsewhere. The federal government worked with bankers and realtors to create redlining maps that cautioned against investment in Elmira neighborhoods with racial or ethnic minorities.
The government provided tens of millions of dollars in loans for white people to buy houses in the suburbs. Black people were considered negative influences and could not receive loans. Racially restrictive covenants prevented Black people from living in some white neighborhoods unless they were working as servants. Corning Inc. and other local companies signed these covenants.
The Black communities in Elmira and Corning were small but organized effectively to advocate for their rights. Some of the most important leaders were Charles and Odessa McGrady in Corning and George Coleman, owner of the Green Pastures jazz club, in Elmira. They did not work alone but rather led a strong coalition, both Black and white people, to make the community a better place for everyone.