(Dis)location: Black Exodus

Manor Plaza

I was told that people have to stay at the Booker T. Washington and the Manor Plaza because the hotels downtown wouldn’t let them stay there. Is that true? “That’s true, that’s true. A lot of prejudices down there because, yeah, that could be true. I know we couldn’t get any work anyplace. That’s why I was pretty busy. The first job I got, I had, was the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. And it was on an elevator. And the fellow told me, says, Eddie, there’s an opening on the elevator. I was just gonna... I wanted to get married in ’39, it was like ’38. And I was getting married. So they said you can have the job if the uniform fits you. So the fellow, the guy’s twice as big as me so I said, I made it fit. I said, it fits perfectly. So they said, you’re never gonna get off the elevator because you’re colored. I said, I need a job. But I ended up being the first (African American) clerk and the first supervisor in the history of the Metropolitan in time.” - Eddie Alley

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