Let’s get the basics out of the way: In the summer of 1994, a gallon of gas cost $1.08, a gallon of milk cost $2.88, and a dozen eggs cost 87 cents.
Don’t mistake these as signs of a simpler time, though, because O.J. Simpson became a prime suspect in the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. He pleaded not guilty on July 22, a month after the Bronco chase.
This was also the year the National Urban League Annual Conference last came to Indianapolis, when there were 130,000 fewer people here than there are now and Hall of Fame running back Marshall Faulk was getting ready for his rookie season with the Colts.
In a July 23 op-ed, then-Urban League President and CEO Hugh Price wrote: “This will be my first Urban League conference as president, and I am pleased that it is taking place in Indianapolis, the site of one of our most respected and active affiliates.”
Indianapolis Urban League had just celebrated 29 years of service to the community. Sam Jones was president and CEO.
Price said his three priorities were education and social development for children, building “economic self-sufficiency for families burdened by poverty and disadvantage,” and making sure “we take our rightful place in a multicultural society.”
The Recorder editorial staff wrote on July 23: “We are proud that our city is host to one of the most important organizations in America, the National Urban League. … Our hope is that the meeting in progress in Indianapolis will be noted as one of the most successful and productive gatherings in Urban League annals. We need programs and ideas and leadership. We believe that the League is capable of suggesting both the ways and the means whereby we can solve some of our collective problems. We pray that you have a successful meeting.”
By all accounts as stored in the pages of the Recorder, the Urban League did have a successful meeting that summer.
Recorder intern Angel Streeter wrote in the July 30 edition about conference speakers who highlighted the importance of the Black church because of the institution’s far-sweeping influence.
“The Black church is more than just a savior of souls,” she wrote. “It is also an advocate of Black people and their rights. As an advocate of their rights, it is the Black church’s responsibility to better the African-American community, especially through economic development.”
She quoted Rev. W. Franklyn Richardson of Grace Baptist Church in New York, who said, “In the Black church, the preacher has been historically more a general practitioner because of the needs of the Black community. The role of the church is to bring heaven where we are, and to make heaven a reality rather than an abstract destination.”
Reporter Annette Anderson wrote about businessman Earl Graves, who had a session about economic development and said it’s important to become economically independent.
“For as certain as day follows night,” Graves was quoted as saying, “African Americans will never be free until we become masters of what we need to achieve.”
Contact staff writer Tyler Fenwick at 317-762-7853. Follow him on Twitter @Ty_Fenwick.
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