Editor’s note: The Courier & Press and The Gleaner are marking Black History Month with a collection of stories about people, places and events from local Black history.
Known as the “boss” of Baptisttown, Ernest Tidrington was a political powerhouse in Evansville.
Moving to Evansville with his parents before he turned one, Tidrington was claimed fully by the Baptisttown community.
According to Courier & Press archives, worked as a deputy sheriff, then moved to the city engineering department and then took a clerical position in the Congressional Library at Washington D.C.
He moved through other positions before becoming an attorney in 1921. Tidrington was a vice supreme councilor of the International Colored Knights of Pythias, an organization with more than 500,000 members.
He is a part of the Baptisttown Neighborhood Walking Tour promoted with the Evansville African American Heritage Trail.
In the information with his stop on the trail, the pamphlet states Tidrington’s influence laid heavily in his ability to control the Black vote in the neighborhood. It was also what led rivals to take issue with him.
In 1930, Tidrington, then 47, was shot to death at the corner of Governor Street and Lincoln Avenue by a political rival. His death was mourned by many, including those he gathered at his home the night his body was brought home from the hospital.
His body “laid in state” from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on his funeral day, with hundreds of people coming to pay their respects, archives state. His funeral itself lasted more than three hours.
He left behind a wife and son, along with six brothers.
One portion of his eulogy quoted in the newspaper stated, “he was a bold, brave, fearless leader.”