After two years of planning, applying, and receiving grants, the Cleveland Restoration Society (CRS) begins moving forward with its plan for the African American Civil Rights Trail in Cleveland.
On Monday, February 22nd, officials from the Cleveland Restoration Society (CRS) announced the first three locations for the possible 10 historical markers that will commemorate the associated locations Cleveland’s struggle for civil rights between 1954 and 1976.
In October 2019, CRS received $ 50,000 African American Civil Rights Grant of the National Park Service for his project “In Their Footsteps: Developing an Afro-American Civil Rights Path”. Preserve and highlight stories related to the African American struggle for racial equality in the 1920sth Century.
The first three locations selected are Cory United Methodist Church at 117 E. 105th St .; Glenville High School at 650 E. 113th St .; and an indecisive spot in the Hough neighborhood.
The locations were selected based on a survey conducted last August to gather public input on a list of 20 possible locations. CRS then formed a committee made up of trustees, managing directors, and three “key thinkers,” including Thomas L. Bynum, director and associate professor of history; Professor Donna McIntyre White – both of Cleveland State University’s Department of Black Studies – and James Robenalt, attorney with Thompson Hine and author of Ballots and Bullets: Black Power Politics and Urban Guerrilla Warfare in 1968 in Cleveland.
“For the first three locations, the biggest impact was a combination of the survey results and the known history of the locations,” says Margaret Lann. Director of Preservation Services and Publications for CRS. “Some other sites got high marks on the survey, but they need more research or a little more work on where the marker will go.”
Lann said the committee liked the proximity of the first three locations – Hough and Glenville are neighboring boroughs. She says the markers are supposed to get into underrepresented areas of Cleveland.
“The markers are realizing that there is a whole community of people out there that history hasn’t properly reported,” she says. “The goal is to have more of these markers in under-represented communities.”
ABC News5 article on CRS’s first three Civil Rights Trail decisions.
CRS divides the importance of the three locations:
Cory United Methodist Church
According to researchers and scholars, the Cory United Methodist Church was the largest black church in the city in the 1950s and 60s. The many services made the church an important place for the organization and an important platform for influential civil rights activists to speak to predominantly black listeners. WEB Du Bois (1950) and Thurgood Marshall (1951) addressed the congregation from the pulpit. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke there many times.
An estimated 5,000 people packed the sanctuary and the streets outside of Cory during a visit by Dr. King on May 14, 1963. The Cleveland chapter of Congress on Racial Equality brought black writers Louis Lomax and Malcolm X to speech on April 3, 1964.
At that time, the Muslim minister and human rights activist gave the first iteration of his speech, entitled “The Ballot or the Bullet”. Cory also played an important role at the grassroots level, hosting campaign rallies, voter education, and registration campaigns. The United Freedom Movement (UFM), founded in Cleveland in 1963, held numerous meetings in Cory. The UFM fought for education, employment, health, housing and voting rights. Rev. Sumpter Riley was a senior representative of the organization.
Many of the historical events recognized by these markers show the strength and unity of the communities they live in – and the work the people who live in Glenville and Hough do today.
These markers will highlight this positive work. According to Lann, Cory was responsible for starting a family credit union in 1958 when the black community couldn’t get funding and opened a grocery bank in the 1970s. “The church is still doing these things in the ward today,” she says.
Hough
The Hough Uprising occurred in the summer of 1966. It is believed to have been the result of an argument in a cafe on East 79th Street and Hough Avenue. Be that as it may, there were days of vandalism, looting, arson, and gun violence stemming from years of racial tension and discrimination against black residents. Hough was chosen because the event is widely recognized as the most significant urban riot in Cleveland in response to poor quality housing, criminal injustice and the lack of public housing. Five days of violence ended with four dead, 50 injured and 275 arrested. The event left a lasting mark on the city.
According to Lann, the uprising came about as frustration over unfair housing practices and discrimination. “Businesses and many houses belonged to white landlords who didn’t live there, and many people who lived there fought the unfair practices,” explains Lann. “The events that led to the uprising left a massive impression and shaped unfriendly memories or perceptions of this neighborhood.”
Glenville High School
The CRS African American Civil Rights Trail Committee selected Glenville High School because of its location and the uniqueness of the speech given by Dr. Martin Luther King stopped in front of students in 1967 to one of the hiking trails.
In 2012, a Glenville High School teacher was cleaning up a closet and found a record of Dr. King’s speech to the students. He directed his message to young people and their ability to participate in nonviolent social change.
“The community responded to the news because it was one of the few times that King’s speech was addressed exclusively to young people in Cleveland,” says Lann. “He urged them to get involved, he talked to them about voting and civic engagement – and urged the students to take action.”
All three locations mark history and signs of positive change. “Part of the way will be getting people there to see what happens [positive] Changes are in progress. We can relate many of these events to current events, ”Lann continues. “The struggle for civil rights continues and we want to draw that conclusion.”
This location of the marking point offers the opportunity to speak directly to the next generation. And it recognizes a time when the youth of Cleveland embarked on a new movement. That movement resonates today, says Lann, with the current racist tensions and a new generation of activists. “In the Black Lives Matter movement, young people are very involved in copying this,” she says.
The speech given on the sidelines of the election of the first black mayor, Carl Stokes, is also of great relevance. In addition, the committee recognized a strong correlation between Dr. King and today’s Black Lives Matter movement and its young leaders.
According to Lann, selecting and installing all 10 markers on the Civil Rights Trail will be slow. “You can only have three to four made a year,” she explains the marker. “Hopefully we can start putting markers in the ground. This will of course be staggered, but we hope that we can start this fall. “
Once CRS has started placing the markers, Lann says that she wants to continue on the path. “There’s nothing to be said that we can’t widen the path,” she says. “It won’t end at 10 in my eyes – it’s really just a start.”
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