Sampson Levingston leads walking tours in Indianapolis that cover histories even locals are surprised by.
You do n’t “ meet ” Sampson Levingston , as much as you experience him . My first confrontation is in early April , on the weekend of thesolar occultation , inIndianapolis . He ’s hosting a last - minuteWalk and Talk Black History tourof Indiana Avenue — the neighborhood that was once a bustling hub of Black life and entrepreneurship — for the influx of tourists in townsfolk . Looking around our group of 15 or so he ask , “ You ’re all here for theeclipse ? ”
The former jock and marketing major is upbeat and high vigour , coiffure in an outsized puffy black undershirt , and a jaunty yellow knit hat with blue-blooded pompoms stay out from the position ( a remainder from the late NBA All - Star Weekend , I later find out ) . gaudy music waft from his phone , which he inflate with the microphone he uses to project to the group . He jounce while he stand up in place , occasionally pulling out a dance move as he waits for the whole group to register in .
“ I was instantly struck with just how passionate he was , the work that he does and the write up that he ’s trying to enjoin , his unapologetic commitment to the truth even when that makes people uncomfortable , ” say Ryan Huntley , a designer who moved to Indianapolis in 2006 . Though Huntley was not on my finicky go , in his estimate he has participated in about 10 of Levingston ’s offerings .
Photo by Maxine Wallace for Thrillist
“ I cogitate that ’s what I screw the most about him — it ’s that he ’s not scared to make people uncomfortable . And he understand in moments of discomfort , things actually transfer . ”
During the spell , which covers the boulevard and a few side street , Levingston holds up copy of theThe Negro Motorist Green Book , a guide for roadtripping Black Americans published between 1936 and 1967 which catalogued good spaces to wipe out , abide , and recreate . He taper out where positioning listed in the book would be today . He stops in front of themarker for the Senate Avenue YMCA , dedicated by Booker T. Washington and once one of the largest black YMCAs in the US . He asks if we can place anyone in the mural of jazz player on the side of the 75 - twelvemonth - old Musicians ' Repair & Sales construction on Capitol Avenue and slash a bouncy clod if we get it right . He lists David Young , David Baker , JJ Johnson , Freddie Hubbard , and others who were instrumental in the urban center ’s thriving jazz scene in the 1950s and 1960s and points out that their boldness are painted on a shop that once ply official document to many of them .
He talks about the tearing down of the neighborhood once the “ Big Trifecta ” came in : a newfangled interstate was built , along with a preponderantly white university , combine with the expansion of a infirmary . It ’s this rase that Indianapolis residents are usually most surprised about , that Indiana Avenue did n’t always attend the way they know it today . “ A lot of people just assume that college campus has always been there or there was nothing there before the college campus , ” says Levingston . “ Figuring that out is herculean . ”
Photo by Maxine Wallace for Thrillist
Likemany tour that launched in the pandemic , when people were figuring out how to playact tourist in their own backyard , Levingston quickly found that local residents were interested what he had to offer . “ hoi polloi realized that there ’s a lot in their metropolis that they just do n’t screw , ” says Levingston . The tours themselves were spurred by the Black Lives thing protestation — after attending one , Levingston was struck both by the energy of the gang and the polarization of theme . “ I was like , ‘ homo , I wish these the great unwashed here knew a little bit about what I bonk when it come to Indianapolis , ’ ” he say .
He ’d always been interested in the metropolis ’s history , but antecedently keep his passionateness confinedto a blog . When he resolve to do a duty tour , he place an proclamation on Facebook . “ I said , ‘ For those that are interested in buy the farm downtown for the protests or do n’t really know what to do , how about we do a walk history circuit business district and I can talk about what pass off here in our neighborhood ? ’ ” he recall . “ It was a means to get people back together and allow them know how Indianapolis fits in with the narrative of Black Lives Matter and renewing justice . ”
Nineteen of his friend and family sign up up , and somehow the local news post caught wind . They asked him to do another one so they could take footage . But during that filming , they asked him when the next tour would be . “ I was like , ‘ Uhhhh , Saturday , ’ ” tell Levingston . “ So I went home and put more ticket up . ”
Photo by Maxine Wallace for Thrillist
When Levingston starts researchinga novel tour , he first thinks of a question he wants to reply , typically through the lense of the underdogs of account , whether it be Black figures , influential woman , or indigenous heritage . He then looks at the records of the Indiana Historical Society and last through back outlet of newspapers in theHoosier State Chronicleslike the Indianapolis Recorder , which , established in 1865 , is currently the fourthly - longest running Black paper in the US .
History is about the unobserved , he explains , a quality he care . It reminds him of thewaters that incline under the city , literally what lies beneath . “ I thought , man , I wonder what flows beneath the airfoil of me , this living , ventilation , entity . What ’s inside me that mass do n’t see , but is there ? ”
“ I did n’t know that not everybody stops to read historic markers , or wondered why they were rename the street . ”
Raymond Boyd/ Michael Ochs Archive/Getty Images
Levingston ’s Indiana Avenue take the air circuit has now expanded toeight tours around the city , with more in the works . He does one - off themed walks for special function like All - Star Weekend and the late Olympian squad Swim Trials , hold in Indianapolis . He ’ll lecture at institutions likeNewfields Art Museum , and do “ Hawk and Talks ” at local schools , covering everything from sports to nature .
The Indiana Avenue term of enlistment is the only one taken from a strictly Black history detail of opinion , whereas the others are more of a “ Sampson Levingston ” lens . That is , whatever he find the most compelling . It still surprises him that people assay out his knowledge and expertise . “ I thought we just kind of knew this , ” he says . “ I did n’t know that not everybody stop to record historic mark , or inquire why they were rename the street . ”
We get and terminate our tournear the niche of Indiana Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. , Blvd . , where a big triangular brick building wrap the whole block . One one side there ’s a protruding fatal marquee , dismount with incandescent lamp . The brick are accented with green , red , and terra cotta designs and a sign that says WALKER THEATER , is propped up on top of the building in large red majuscule letters .
“ The edifice was named forMadame C.J. Walker , a girl of former hard worker and the first self - made female millionaire in the world , ” says Levingston . deliberate the wealthiest sinister woman and self - made cleaning lady in America at the time of her death in 1919 , Walker made her fortune by spring up and merchandising cosmetics and hair care products for pitch-dark women .
The building was conceived as the corporal headquarters of the Madame C.J. Walker Manufacturing Community but by the time it opened the design expanded to admit a theater , movie house , drugstore , lulu beauty parlor , eatery , and stunner school . It became a hub of the neighbourhood , a residential district center hustle with Commerce Department .
“ She put the focussing on Black people and Black women at a sentence where she kind of had to , but when it was n’t quite expected for her to get that big doing what she did , ” Levingston says , making it clean to me why he chose to begin and cease his tour of duty with this field of operations . “ One thing I really admire about her is how she catered to her residential area . ”
