Ellison Family Home (1922) -- 827 East Second Street

Ida Ellison struggled to provide for her family after the death of her husband, Lewis in 1916. She and her sons, Ralph and Herbert, moved frequently around northeast Oklahoma City most often because of eviction after unpaid rent. In 1922, the family moved into a house owned by J. D. Slaughter, a local businessman and real estate entrepreneur who took the young Ralph Ellison under his wing.

After a brief stint between 1921 and 1922 living in a white neighborhood while Ida worked in an apartment building on West Main, by the middle of 1922, she and her boys moved to 827 East Second Street. Back in the Deuce, Ralph quickly regained footing in both the high and low cultural spheres of the Black community. He had both books and the blues. While the Ellison family lived on East Second, Ralph had ready access to the only library he would be able to enter in segregated Oklahoma City, the hastily set up Dunbar Branch Library. And from the many entertainment establishments on East Second, young Ralph would begin to pay attention to the rhythms of blues and jazz.

Jackson, Lawrence. Ralph Ellison: The Emergence of Genius. New York City, New York. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2002.