O'Day Short
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/90/Portrait_of_O%E2%80%99Day_H._Short.jpg/220px-Portrait_of_O%E2%80%99Day_H._Short.jpg)
O'Day H. Short(died January 22, 1946) was anAfrican Americanrefrigerator engineer who broke thecolor barrierinFontana, Californiaafter buying land and constructing a house south of Base Line Road.[1][2][3]Short contacted theFBIand theblack pressafter receiving a warning of imminent violence from vigilantes.[1]On December 16, 1945, the house exploded in a fireball.[1]His wife Helen, and young children Barry and Carol Ann died due to their burns by the following day.[2]O'Day would linger for a month before succumbing to his injuries.[1]
Base Line Road
[edit]During theDust Bowl,5,000 Southern white families headed west and found jobs in Fontana, home ofKaiser Steel,but they did not leave behind their preferences for segregation.[4]African-Americans were welcome to live north of Base Line Road but were not permitted to live south of it.[1]Possibly because he and his family werelight-skinned,however, Short was able to buy a five-acre lot on Randall Avenue and Pepper Street.[1]
While the home was still being completed, Short and his family moved there in the fall of 1945.[1]
Threats
[edit]As word got out that the family was black, neighbors became concerned, and asked a sheriff's deputy to advise Short that he was "out of bounds".[1]The local whiteChamber of Commerceoffered to buy the property back for full value.[1]The seller, once apprised of his mistake, warned Short that the local "vigilante committee" might have to resort to violence.[1][2]
In response, Short contacted theFBIand local black newspapers.[1]
Explosion
[edit]On December 16, 1945, the house exploded while the Shorts were inside.[1]The family was taken by a friendly neighbor toKaiser Permanente Hospital.[1][5]Although he lingered for a month, Short died soon after being informed by theDistrict Attorneythat none of his family had survived.[1][6]
Authorities claimed that the explosion was due to a faulty oil lamp.[5]However, thecoroner's jurywas skeptical of this conclusion and ruled that the fire was of unknown origin,[1]although they were not informed of the threats,[4]as the coroner considered the reports to behearsay.[2]Anarsoninvestigator hired by theNAACP,Paul T. Wolfe,[4]found the lamp to be mostly intact, and concluded that the fire was deliberately set from outside the house.[7]
Aftermath
[edit]Black newspapers decried the deaths as an injustice.[1][8][9]TheACLUand NAACP organized rallies inLos AngelesandSan Bernardinowhich drew upwards of 6,000 people[1]calling for a full investigation.[2]
The land on which the home stood is now the site ofRandall Pepper Elementary School.[1]Grassroots efforts from the community are calling andpetitioningfor the renaming of the Elementary school or some memorialization of O’Day and the Short family.
It would be another 20 years until a black family would again live in downtown Fontana.[2]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^abcdefghijklmnopqrAllen, David (December 16, 2015)."O'Day Short tragedy still smolders in Fontana".Inland Valley Daily Bulletin.
- ^abcdefBradvica, David (June 6, 1999)."All They Wanted was the Right to Live... Anywhere"(PDF).Daily Bulletin.
- ^Delmont, Matt (February 14, 2016)."February 14, 1946".Black Quotidian.
- ^abcDavis, Mike(1995)."Fontana: Junkyard of Dreams".Working People of California.5.University of California Press.doi:10.1525/9780520332775-017.Retrieved8 March2016.
- ^ab"Burns Fatal Fontana Child / Three are Dead in Lamp Blast / Burns Fatal to Fourth of Family"(PDF).Daily Report. December 1945.
- ^"O.H. Short 4th Fontan Victim Dies: Lacked Interest In Recovery"(PDF).Los Angeles Sentinel. Jan 24, 1946.
- ^"NAACP Brands Fontana Fire As Incendiary; Kerosene Theory Flatly Denied By Arson Expert"(PDF).Los Angeles Sentinel. January 10, 1946.
- ^Onion, Rebecca (March 8, 2016)."Roller Skating Socials and a Black Rosie the Riveter: Discovering a different side of black history in the archives of the black press".Slate.
- ^"Violence Threat Against Short Must Not Go Unchallenged: AN EDITORIAL"(PDF).Los Angeles Sentinel. January 3, 1946. p. 1.