The legacy of Ida Yarbrough
Albany activist left imprint that endures today
Ida J. Yarbrough is an uniquely Albany place name. Other cities might also have a Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, or something or other named for Lincoln or Washington. The name Ida Yarbrough is mentioned hundreds, if not thousands of times a day by the men and women who live in the Arbor Hill apartments named for her, by the government agency tasked with improving living conditions at the apartments and casually, as part of directions that can only be given in Albany.
But what of the woman behind the name?
Ida Yarbrough was born Ida Mae Tucker in Semora, North Carolina in 1896. Her parents died when she was young and she was raised by relatives in Virginia. In 1918, newly widowed with a young son, she moved to Albany. She found work as a maid, remarried and gave birth to another son. But rather than live a quiet life going to work, raising her children and keeping house, she stepped into the public sphere as an advocate for children and the Black community. She was the first woman to
lead Albany’s Inter-racial Council, a precursor to the Urban League. Yarbrough held the post for five years in the 1950s. She was a trustee in her church, Morning Star Baptist and a member of the Federation of Churches. She often led Community Chest fund drives to help the poor.
Pictures taken of Yarbrough in the 1950s and 60s show a broad-shouldered
woman with a composed expression, strong jaw and glasses. She wore her hair pulled back from her face and piled high.
A story in the Dec. 19, 1958 issue of the Times Union gives a glimpse into Yarbrough’s leadership style. After mentioning accomplishments that earned the attention of both Gov. Averell Harriman and Mayor Erastus Corning,
the reporter wrote: “Mrs. Yarbrough prefers not to discuss publicly the segregation issues which have inflamed the south, but she evidences daily her beliefs in tolerance and understanding — on both sides.
“’There is no need for problems to become serious,’ she says. ‘People should try to understand each other and just do their best themselves. You have to work to earn the respect of others.’”
Later in the story Yarbrough says she
visits her family in Virginia every summer, and has “never felt discomfort there because of Southern racial prejudice. ‘If you feel free yourself, you are free,’ she says with a gentle smile, adding characteristically , “I’ve been lucky, I’ve always been surrounded by kind people.’”
Yarbrough didn’t go to college, but worked to make sure her sons, John Jennings and Walter Yarbrough, went to college. She also financed the education of six of her Southern nieces.
“Each generation has to push its children ahead,” she said.
Yarbrough died in 1969, when she was 73. She didn’t live to see the complex that would bear her name. Work was finished in 1971 with John Jennings leading the effort to secure the funding from local banks.
Jennings was one of Albany’s first Black lawyers, a degree he received from Howard University after he was a grandfather. Before becoming a lawyer specializing in housing law, he was a social worker and a leader in the community, working to improve the lives of Albany’s Black residents. Jennings and his wife, Alma, were among the first Black couples to integrate the Livingston Village apartments, and in 1961, he was named to the state Commission Against Discrimination.
He had powerful friends, among them Bishop David Ball of the Episcopal diocese of Albany. But his position didn’t protect him from racism. William Kennedy wrote about housing segregation in his book, “O Albany” and mentioned what happened when John and Alma Jennings tried to integrate one of Albany’s white neighborhoods:
“As of 1965, not one Negro family had penetrated the Pine Hills neighborhood. One man, an attorney named John Jennings, with the personal backing of Mayor Corning, had bought a home on its fringes, on Marsdale Street, off New Scotland Avenue — but the house burned to the ground before he could move into it.”
The fire was ruled an accident, Kennedy wrote, but Jennings’s family and friends were convinced it was arson. The fire started on the ground floor and footsteps were found leading away from the house.
Undeterred, John and Alma bought a house on West Lawrence Street.
One of Jennings’ grandsons, Robert Higgins, the first Black director of the Department of Surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital, said his grandfather shook off the discrimination and prejudice he faced.
“My grandfather never took exception of people treating him badly. He excelled. But he might never have reached the level he should have because of racism,” Higgins said.
Despite its optimistic start, the Ida J. Yarbrough homes didn’t live up to the legacy of their namesake. By 1977, the Albany Housing Authority discovered the construction was riddled with flaws. By the 1980s, the Yarbrough homes became synonymous with crime, but its reputation has shifted over the last 10 years as the housing authority has poured money into demolition and reconstruction.
Ida Yarbrough’s legacy continues in her family, as well. Both her sons married and had children. John and Alma Jennings had two daughters, Joan and Patricia. Of the two, only Patricia raised her three children in Albany, and only one of them grew up to raise their children in Albany: John Eric Higgins, a lawyer who died in 2017. He and his wife, Katja, raised two daughters in Pine Hills. The oldest, Jasmine Higgins, works at City Hall as a policy analyst and special advisor to Mayor Kathy Sheehan. She is the mayor’s liaison to the city’s Policing Reform and Reinvention Collaborative and spent the summer walking the West Hill, convincing residents to fill out the Census.
“Nearly 40 years have passed since
Nana Yarbrough passed, and nearly 20 since Papa John passed. The world has changed markedly in some respects and not much at all in others. It’s indicative that there is still so much to be done but I’m only 23 — I’m just getting started and I
have a lot more energy left to expend when it comes to fighting the good fight,” Higgins said. “Like Nana Yarbrough said, ‘You don’t leave a community if it doesn’t have exactly what you want. You want to build it yourself.’ That is exactly what I intend to do.”