A tiny community located on the edge of Manistee National Forest in Northern Michigan is a national landmark dedicated to the history of black entertainment and culture, and not many people have ever heard about it.

Located 60 miles north of Grand Rapids near Baldwin, Michigan, Idlewild was a well-known African-American vacation and entertainment resort. For fifty years, this African-American Eden offered black families from Chicago, St. Louis, Detroit and New York relaxation and entertainment without humiliation during Michigan's Jim Crow era. While the rest of America visited the Great Lakes, blacks flocked to Idlewild's five lakes to vacation in a place where no door was marked "colored entrance."

Vacationers began arriving after the town's founding in 1912, and they kept coming for the next half-century. The resort grew quickly as thousands of people bought lots and built cottages. Vacationers enjoyed shimmering lakes and rustic surroundings while rubbing elbows with the rich and famous - people like orator, Marcus Garvey; poet, Langston Hughes; novelist, Zora Heale Hurston; and scholar-activist, W.E.B. DuBois.

By 1927, Idlewild prided itself in having the first hospital in Lake County, a hotel, dance pavilion, post office, clubhouse, several grocery stores, a modern electric powerhouse, and an annual Miss Idlewild contest. Popular places to hangout included the Red Rooster Tavern and Miss Riddle's Store - "the only place to go to get gas for your car and fuel for your furnace."

As the list of property owners grew, so did the list of entertainers playing Idlewild's nine nightclubs. Just as the Apollo Theater in New York's Harlem district showcased black talent and jumpstarted the careers of celebrities like Lena Horne and Sarah Vaughan, Idlewild helped kick-off the careers of other black entertainers, including Stevie Wonder and The Four Tops. Idlewild was to become the "Apollo of Michigan."

The Who's Who of entertainers who played in Idlewild's clubs included Bill Cosby, Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Aretha Franklin, Sammy Davis, Jr., B.B. King, and Count Basie. In the 1950s, resorters could watch entertainers like Jackie Wilson, Della Reise, and George Kirby perform at the Paradise Club. And when the show was over, they headed back to cottages located along streets whose names matched the town's ambiance and character - Grandeur, Celestial, Joy, Generosity, and Wealthy.

Idlewild's audiences included many celebrated African-Americans, including "Wilt the Stilt" Chamberlain, the Harlem Globe Trotters and Joe Lewis. There were also prominent people like Daniel Hale Williams, a pioneering heart surgeon who performed the first successful closure of a heart wound, and Madam C. J. Walker, an entrepreneur who became the first African-American female millionaire in the United States.

"Every state had a similar African-American summer resort and Idlewild was the model that all other resorts followed," said Drs. Walker and Wilson, co-authors of Black Eden -The Idlewild Community, and Western Michigan University Professors. "It was a time of 'separate but unequal' across America, and it was a time when everyone thought that these resorts would be around forever." In the 1960s, however, everything changed.

Idlewild, a resort built by segregation, was destroyed by integration. With the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, racial segregation and discrimination in hotels, restaurants, and nightclubs ended. With integration came new opportunities for black entertainers and vacationers to visit locations like Las Vegas and Atlantic City.

When black entertainers headed to these previously white-only clubs and resorts, Idlewild's summer vacationers were right behind them. Within a few years, Idlewild was nearly deserted.

Today, Idlewild is a historic site that needs a helping hand. Without revitalization Idlewild could become Michigan's second black ghost town. Michigan's first registered black ghost town is located just west of Port Huron near Emmett. That town was called Freedom.

Because Idlewild is located in one of the poorest counties in Michigan, outside money will be needed for any planned renaissance. Drs. Walker and Wilson hope to entice entertainers who benefited from Idlewild during its heyday to hold concerts and donate the profits to the Idlewild community. They also hope to reach out to the Donald Trumps and Oprah Winfreys of America for financial help.

Despite its apparent decline, Idlewild is still alive with the sound of music. On July 10, 2004, the community will host its annual Idlewild Jazz and Blues Heritage Festival. Other annual activities include the Idlewild Independence Day parade to be held on July 3, 2004, and Idlewild Week, a seven-day event beginning on August 7, 2004.

Accommodations and food are available in Idlewild at the Morton Hotel and at the Red Rooster Restaurant and Lounge.

(© 2003 Randy Karr)