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African American refrigerator engineer
Portrait of O’Day H. ShortO'Day H. Short (February 7, 1905 – January 22, 1946) was an African American refrigerator engineer who broke the color barrier in Fontana, California after buying land and constructing a house south of Base Line Road.[1][2][3] Short contacted the FBI and the black press after 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]
During the Dust Bowl, 5,000 Southern white families headed west and found jobs in Fontana, home of Kaiser 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 were light-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]
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 white Chamber of Commerce offered 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 the FBI and local black newspapers.[1]
On December 16, 1945, the house exploded while the Shorts were inside.[1] The family was taken by a friendly neighbor to Kaiser Permanente Hospital.[1][5] Although he lingered for a month, Short died soon after being informed by the District Attorney that none of his family had survived.[1][6]
Authorities claimed that the explosion was due to a faulty oil lamp.[5] However, the coroner's jury was 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 be hearsay.[2] An arson investigator hired by the NAACP, Paul T. Wolfe,[4] found the lamp to be mostly intact, and concluded that the fire was deliberately set from outside the house.[7]
Black newspapers decried the deaths as an injustice.[1][8][9] The ACLU and NAACP organized rallies in Los Angeles and San Bernardino which drew upwards of 6,000 people[1] calling for a full investigation.[2]
The land on which the home stood is now the site of Randall Pepper Elementary School.[1] Grassroots efforts from the community are calling and petitioning for the renaming of the Elementary school or some memorialization of O’Day and the Short family. The official renaming of Randall-Pepper Elementary to become O’Day Short Elementary will be in effect beginning the 2025/2026 School Year.
It would be another 20 years until a black family would again live in downtown Fontana.[2]
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