Topics Archives - indyencyclopedia.org

African Americans in Business

African Americans have engaged in business activity since the earliest days of Indianapolis. Early in the city’s history, Black entrepreneurs usually operated as independent contractors or sole proprietors and primarily… Read More »African Americans in Business

African Americans in Politics

Black residents have fought for civil rights and participation in politics from the beginning of the city’s history. Indiana’s 1816 Constitution barred African Americans from voting and holding public office.… Read More »African Americans in Politics

Antebellum Politics

Politics in Indianapolis before the Civil War reflected the stresses of a growing city against a background of national issues and changing political parties. Disintegration of the Whig Party about… Read More »Antebellum Politics

Antislavery Movement

Militant opposition to slavery was not widespread in Indianapolis because of the city’s large southern population and general race prejudice. Antislavery sentiments were evident, however, among various groups and organizations,… Read More »Antislavery Movement

Charter Schools

In 2001, Indiana became the 37th state to enact charter school legislation. The Indiana law allows alternative routes for transition to teaching, it provides charter schools significant fiscal and legal… Read More »Charter Schools

Creation of Unigov

Indianapolis had an unusual municipal government structure as of 1967. A nine-member city council, known as the COMMON COUNCIL, was elected at four-year intervals by a hybrid district/at-large system that… Read More »Creation of Unigov

Dickinson v. Indiana State Election Board

In Dickinson v. Indiana State Election Board (1990) and Whitcomb v. Chavis (1971) courts considered whether Marion County state legislative districts were gerrymandered to dilute the votes of Black residents.… Read More »Dickinson v. Indiana State Election Board

Eugenics

In 1907 Indiana Governor Frank Hanly signed the Indiana Sterilization Law, which is widely considered the first eugenics sterilization legislation passed in the world. The new law passed by the… Read More »Eugenics

Festivals

Like most large cities, Indianapolis has a sizeable number of annual festivals focused on the arts and culture, food, sports, religion, ethnic heritage, and seasonal events and celebrations. These festivals… Read More »Festivals

Jazz

Although not a principal originator of jazz music like New Orleans, New York, and Chicago, Indianapolis possesses a rich jazz heritage, centered especially in the city’s African American community. By… Read More »Jazz

A product of the Indianapolis Bicentennial effort (2020–21), the digital Encyclopedia of Indianapolis integrates and accesses the explosion and fragmentation of knowledge created both as born-digital information and as a large new digital archive.

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