Kennedy, Beulah Jones Thornton

Her family attended Wayman A.M.E. Church. Beulah and her siblings were brought up in the church and had a strong faith instilled in them. She was a member of the junior choir and attended service several times a week with her family. As an adult, she was a member of the choir and the missionary society, was on the steward board and served as the church clerk, assisted with ushering, participated in panel discussions, helped put on programs for Black History Week, and co-chaired the Women’s Day programs. Beulah was active in Wayman her entire life

 Beulah attended Bloomington Public Schools and graduated from Bloomington High School in 1943. When she attended grade school at Irving, she experienced racism from white classmates who used to call her and her siblings names. After graduating high school, she attended Illinois State Normal University (ISNU) for two years. At the time, Black students couldn’t live on campus or eat in campus dining facilities. Instead, they had to live with Black families in Normal who opened their homes to them so they could attend ISNU. This was not an issue for her, like it was for other Black students, because Beulah lived at home. She recalled that at the time, many Black students who graduated from ISNU or Illinois Wesleyan University had to leave Bloomington-Normal to get better jobs because all they could get were menial jobs like manual labor, cleaning houses, working in kitchens, as bathroom attendants, chauffeurs, etc…

 Beulah had several jobs throughout her life. While attending ISNU, she worked at Eureka Williams during World War II. She recalled that “even working out there, there would only be certain jobs you could do as a Black person.” “You could not work at a machine. You had to sit there and file. Black men were sweepers mostly.” And once the war was over, all of the Black employees were let go. She also worked at St. Joseph’s Hospital off and on for a few years as a nurse’s aide, and then in 1955, she began a 33-year career at General Electric as a machine operator.

 It was not only through employment that she experienced discrimination, but in many aspects of everyday life. Beulah remembered that if you wanted to go out to eat, you could not sit down and eat in restaurants. “You either ate in the backroom, in the kitchen, or you took your food out” she said. Plus, if you went to the theater, Black theater goers were segregated from white theater goers. Beulah recalled that “at the Irving [Theater], Blacks sat in the back. At the Castle Theater the Blacks sat in the balcony. Never on the main floor.” All of these life experiences made Beulah become a fervent advocate for Civil Rights and Equality.

 And while she worked for change to improve equality for African Americans in Bloomington-Normal, she raised a family as well. In 1946 she married her first husband, Teddy Thornton and had four children: James, Diane, Ethel, and Sharon. However, that marriage did not last. In 1967, Beulah married Merlin Kennedy, and they remained married for the rest of her life.

 Beulah and Merlin were staunch advocates for Civil Rights and worked hard to obtain equal rights for all citizens in Bloomington-Normal. It was the work they were involved with through the local chapter of the NAACP that brought them together. They were heavily involved in the Bloomington-Normal chapter and would remain members for the rest of their lives. Beulah said that she became involved with the organization because she had teenagers, and they were interested in organizing activities for Civil Rights. After she joined, she became the Youth Advisor and served in that role for many years. She was very active with the youth group and helped organize marches around the courthouse square in downtown Bloomington for the younger members of the NAACP. And she was also involved in a number of adult marches and demonstrations including sympathy marches in support of integration in Birmingham, Alabama, a demonstration outside of the Pantagraph because of the unfair treatment of a 15-year-old Black student by the media, and protested outside of Woolworth’s and Kresge’s downtown storefronts calling for an end to segregated lunch counters. Beulah was always ready to march for a cause. Additionally, she also served as the secretary for several years and was on the executive committee of the NAACP too. 

 Beulah and Merlin were instrumental in founding the Human Relations Commissions in both Bloomington (1963) and Normal (1964). Merlin was named the first chairperson of the Bloomington Human Relations Commission.

 However, Beulah and Merlin wanted to take more action than they could through the confines of the NAACP. In May 1965 a group of citizens in Bloomington-Normal (including Beulah and Merlin), who were religiously, racially, philosophically, and economically diverse came together with the purpose of creating a more militant community action group to protest the lack of equal opportunities in housing and employment for Black citizens. That group was called “US.” There were no officers, no dues, no membership list, and little structure. According to Beulah, they used US as a splinter group from the NAACP because there were things they couldn’t do through the NAACP unless they got permission from the national or state branch of that organization. US made their own rules and operated more freely, using more militant action “to make public officials do their jobs.” The group met almost every Monday night in the basement of Union Baptist Church. Beulah and other members of the group would attend meetings of many public agencies such as the Bloomington and Normal council meetings, Public Housing Authority, HR commissions, and Citizens Improvement Committee.

 Some of the demands of US included: that WJBC, WIOK, and The Pantagraph immediately hire a Black reporter, that both cities and all major firms at once begin hiring large numbers of Black citizens for skilled and executive positions, that African-American history be taught in all schools, the public housing must be integrated at once and that people living in public housing serve on the Public Housing Authority board, that police violence be controlled, that more than a token number of Black citizens serve on juries, and that stronger housing ordinances be passed at once. US was adept at disrupting conventions of courtesy and decorum, upsetting “business as usual,” questioning authority, and finding alternative ways to get things done.

 One of the first actions US took was to help Mrs. Louise Pennick, an 80-year-old African American widow, keep her home. Pennick’s home at 1714 Illinois Avenue was in disrepair and she could not afford the upkeep with only $64 per month to live on (and almost half of her monthly income went to pay the mortgage on her small home). In November 1965 the City of Bloomington condemned her home and slated it for demolition as part of urban renewal on Bloomington’s west side. Pennick reached out to Carol Cox, a member of US for assistance. Cox organized volunteers and other community groups to assist with the repairs and raise $1,200 to complete them. However, at every stage of repairs, the Urban Renewal Office and its building inspector delayed, stonewalled, and harassed Pennick. By April 1969, with some repairs still needed, the City began moving towards demolition. Ultimately US and the other community groups that came together to save Pennick’s house prevailed with the City Manager ruling in favor of her keeping her house. Plus, US used this as an opportunity to illustrate that Bloomington’s selective enforcement of housing codes victimized low-income people and robbed them of their human dignity.

 US was instrumental in the fair housing movement. According to Beulah, they would send “testers” into the community to try and obtain housing. When Black couples seeking rental properties were turned way, they would send a white couple (usually member Ralph Smith and his wife Ellen) to try and rent the same property. In instances where Smith and his wife could, they would report the owner of the rental unit to the Bloomington or Normal Human Relations Commission. They did what they could do, but because at that time there were no housing ordinances, their efforts were limited. Members of US fought hard to eliminate housing discrimination in Bloomington-Normal. Their efforts (combined with those of other community organizations such as the NAACP) proved successful when Bloomington passed a fair housing ordinance in July 1967. Organizers continued to put pressure on the Town of Normal to pass a similar ordinance, but once President Lyndon Johnson signed the Federal Fair Housing Act in April 1968, it made it unnecessary for Normal to take action on a fair housing ordinance.

US also worked hard to improve employment opportunities for African Americans at State Farm. Beulah and Merlin “got on State Farm’s case” about not hiring minorities for anything other than “cleaning toilets.” They helped convince the corporate giant to create a training program and hold night classes to improve minorities’ skills. Because of this, State Farm began hiring minorities, and at the promptings of the Kennedys, began approaching the colleges to find minority students too.

 In addition to all of her work with US and the NAACP, Beulah was involved in a wide variety of community organizations and boards such as: member of the Girls Reserve in her youth, the YWCA (serving on the Advisory Board of Race Relations), 3 C’s Club, the Ruby Edwards Club, Habitat for Humanity, Bloomington-Normal Civic Women’s Club, Machinists Lodge 1000, and Keeping Families Together (which was a volunteer service organization that worked to help individuals who were having problems with DCFS and worked to keep families from being separated). She also helped organize community events such as the Committee for Birmingham Musical and a Gospel Music Choral Workshop,

 And she was an avid bowler! She began bowling in the 1960s at Circle Lanes in Bloomington. She bowled for several leagues throughout her life including the Twin City League, the GE League, the Bowlerettes (which she served as secretary and president of the league), the Pin Busters, and the Rockettes (which she served as league president in 1986). She was also a coach for junior bowling at the Oakland Bowl and served on the Corn Belt Junior Bowling Board. Her highest average was 154 and she had a series high of 592. She was inducted in the Bloomington Women’s Bowling Hall of Fame in 1996. Beulah described the best years of her life were the years she was bowling.

 And Beulah was recognized for her hard work and dedication towards fighting discrimination and fighting for equal rights. She received numerous awards during her lifetime including the Martin Luther King award, the Birmingham award, the Culture Fest award, was named a Town Hero from WEEK-TV, and the Bloomington-Normal Human Relations Award in 1996.

 Beulah and Merlin Kennedy were equal partners in their fight for equality. Beulah remained active in the fight for equal rights her entire life until she passed away in 2002. The local story of the Civil Rights movement could not be told without a chapter on Beulah Kennedy.