INDIANAPOLIS — Records show the first African Americans began arriving here in Indiana in 1746. When we talk about the almost 300-year journey of a culture and all of their contributions, a large part of the conversation has to include Haughville.
Haughville is a neighborhood grown out of iron. The west side area is named after Haugh, Ketcham and Co. Iron Works, an iron foundry originally built on farmland just west of downtown Indianapolis. This was the main attraction in the late 1800s. People moved here for jobs.
“To find jobs, to find labor jobs, to find jobs in the foundries, to find jobs in the factories. And you had that work in Haughville,” said Kisha Tandy, curator of social history at the Indiana State Museum…